Choose My Adventure: Entering the fray in Blade & Soul

Hello, friends, and welcome to a spankin’ new series of Choose My Adventure. This month, I’m going to be diving into NCSoft’s wuxia-inspired Blade & Soul. I know many MMO fans have been anxiously awaiting the Western release of the game, which finally landed stateside last month. For my part, I admittedly didn’t have a whole lot of interest in the game until I was able to futz around in the beta, which piqued my excitement with its action-centric combat and flashy martial arts. I didn’t get to delve into it too deeply, however, so I’m looking forward to see how the game pans out beyond the small taste I got during beta.

As is the custom ’round these here parts, this week’s article will be all about creating my character so I can jump headlong into the game for a new and (hopefully) exciting adventure.

Before we dive into the character creation options available for your consideration, here’s a quick primer for those who haven’t had Blade & Soul on their figurative radars: The game is heavily inspired by the wuxia genre, which the average Western audience probably knows best as the high-flying, laws-of-physics-defying brand of martial arts popularized by the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was apparently released in 2000. I guess this is what getting old feels like.

Anyway, the game puts the player in the shoes of a student of the Hongmoon school of martial arts who (spoiler alert) sets out on a journey to master the martial arts and exact vengeance upon their master’s murderer. Despite being rooted in wuxia tradition, however, the game falls decidedly on the fantasy side of the spectrum, and players can look forward to encountering mythical creatures and exploring fantastical locales on their quests.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s dive into the meaty bits. There are really only two major decisions to be made in regard to character creation, but they’re important decisions to make. Those decisions are, of course, which race and class my character should be. Now, this is a wee bit tricky, because of the game’s seven classes, four of them are race-exclusive, and the other three can be taken by only two or three of the game’s four races. So with that in mind, I’m going to give precedence to class, since that has a significantly greater impact on gameplay than race. With that being said, I’m going to start out by going over the four races of Blade & Soul, because if y’all are anything like me, the flavor and aesthetic of a race might be just as important — if not more so — as the mechanical aspects of a class.

The Jin, whose name apparently means “unyielding effort” in the “ancient language of the eastern continent” according to the official site, are for the most part your vanilla humans: “Jin warriors may look fairly ordinary,” the race description reads, “but beneath a somewhat plain exterior lays incredible strength and tenacity, typical of the heirs of the Black Tortoise.” I’m not sure what exactly the Black Tortoise is (outside of the obvious literal interpretation, obviously), but it sounds important. The Jin are known for their versatility and “never-say-die attitude,” and they have a reputation for being friendly, selfless, and morally resolute. As a result, many Jin make names for themselves as wandering warriors who offer their services to those in need.

The Gon are a race of hulking and intimidating people who believe that their race was born from the “breath of Dragons,” and predictably enough, they value physical power and strength in combat above all else. They are known for their pride, determination, and sheer tenacity to overcome all obstacles in their path. Despite their intimidating physiques and unwavering pride, however, the Gon are quick to trust others and tend to use their might to help the helpless. Their trusting nature, the official description notes, “can make Gon somewhat easy to trick,” but those who prove themselves worthy of a Gon’s trust will find themselves with a steadfast ally of undying loyalty.

The Yun are a rather peculiar race of peoples in that they are comprised solely of females. Described as being “intrinsically entwined to the natural world” and “heavily attuned to the rhythms of nature,” the Yun trace their history back to the mythical bird Funghuang, who endowed them with elegance, grace, and “innate aesthetic skills [that] make them some of the best artisans in the realm.” The Yun hold dignity as the highest ideal, and they seek balance in all things, demonstrated by their predilection to “balance their time spent fighting by teaching and meditating with others.”

Easily identifiable by their short statures and impractically massive, animal-like ears, the Lyn are descendants of the Kirin, mythical creatures known for being “both mischievous and unpredictable.” The Lyn thoroughly embody these traits, and they are able to use their preternaturally acute senses to detect danger and treachery that would go unnoticed by the other races. They are also apparently famous for using these same preternatural senses to “converse with beings from the Spirit Realm, granting them the ability to commune with Familiars and harness the power of the earth.” While all of that is fine and dandy, the race’s most important trait is obviously how squeal-inducingly adorable they are.

Now that we’ve laid out all the options for my character’s race, let’s talk class. Like I said earlier, Blade & Soul offers seven classes to choose from, four of which are race-exclusive. Without further preamble, here are your choices.

In case it isn’t obvious, Blade Masters favor swords as their weapons of choice. Blade Masters strike a solid balance between offensive and defensive abilities, making them versatile combatants in any situation. According to the game’s official site, Blade Master techniques “rely on high attack speed and careful maneuvering around an enemy, dodging and parrying without pause, while countering any attacks with devastating ease.” One of the key abilities available to Blade Masters is the capability to switch between stances, with each stance offering a unique set of skills to help them adapt to the ebb and flow of battle. In a nutshell, the Blade Master is a well-rounded class, and the official site describes them as “easy to use but difficult to master.”

Available races: Yun, Jin

Destroyers, the race-exclusive class of the Gon, harness the race’s inherent physical might to wield massive greataxes with disconcerting ease. Unsurprisingly, they specialize in dishing out devastating damage while also being capable of withstanding even the most relentless onslaught. But Destroyers don’t use their tremendous strength just to wield the monumental axes for which they are known. They’re also quite fond of taking a more “hands-on” approach and simply lifting their puny enemies off the ground, whether to deliver spine-snapping bearhugs or to use them as a makeshift club to bludgeon other foes into submission. If you’re the kind of player who thinks that the best defense is no defense because screw that, I’ve got a giant axe, then the Destroyer is probably right up your alley.

Available Races: Gon

Summoners, exclusive to the Lyn race, are particularly unique among Blade & Soul’s classes thanks to their ability to summon feline familiars to fight alongside them. While the duo of a floppy-eared, fluffy-tailed Lyn and an adorable little kitty might not seem like the most fearsome opponents, their collective cuteness is deceiving. Summoners let their familiars do all the dirty work of going hand-to-hand with their enemies, preferring to keep a safe distance and support their familiars with ranged abilities that can empower their familiars and enfeeble their foes in equal measure. The official class description notes that, although it is “a great class for novices, actually mastering the Summoner is a difficult process given their wide range of tactics and abilities.”

Available Races: Lyn

The Force Master stands out from the crowd by being the only class in the game to rely almost exclusively on ranged attacks, which makes them particularly formidable foes against those who rely on hand-to-hand combat to defend themselves. Force Masters wield the elemental powers of fire and ice, and knowing when to switch between their respective stances is essential to achieving victory. Despite the distinct advantage bestowed by being the only pure-ranged class in the game, Force Masters don’t have much in the way of physical defenses, so they have to rely on the control capabilities of their ice attacks to keep enemies at bay.

Available Races: Yun, Lyn, Gon

If you like your hand-to-hand combat to be a bit more literal, then look no further than the Kung Fu Master. These pugilistic powerhouses scoff at such inelegant weapons as swords and axes, instead arming themselves with nothing more than a pair of heavy gauntlets to amplify the destructive capabilities of their mighty fists. Although Kung Fu Masters require fast reflexes and even faster fingers to play well, their ability to parry, dodge, and counter with blinding speed and pinpoint precision makes them an intimidating opponent capable of overwhelming enemies with an endless flurry of fists and feet alike.

Available Races: Gon, Jin, Yun

The name alone probably tells you everything you need to know about this Jin-exclusive master of stealth and subterfuge. Assassins have turned the element of surprise into an art form, and they use their talents of deception and underhanded trickery to strike with blinding speed. Although Assassins are skilled with their trademark daggers, they also know that there’s more than one way to skin a cat — or kill a man with ruthless efficiency, as the case may be. Sure, there’s something charmingly old-fashioned about straight-up shiving enemies when their backs are turned, but Assassins like to spice things up from time to time, using poison, explosives, smoke bombs, shuriken, and other deadly tools that are sure to liven up any party.

Available Races: Jin

The Lyn apparently decided that they wanted to get in on the Blade Master action, but thanks to their diminutive stature compared to other practicioners of the style, they had to make a few modifications of their own. Thus the Blade Dancer was born. Blade Dancers, like Blade Masters, excel at swordsmanship, but unlike Blade Masters, who strike a sound balance between offense and defense, Blade Dancers rely on lightning-fast attacks, high mobility, and control abilities to compensate for their lack of defense.

Available Races: Lyn

Now that we’ve listed all of the contenders, the rest is up to you folks. Take to the polls and vote on my character’s race, gender, and class, and over the weekend I’ll roll it up and take my first steps into the world of Blade & Soul. Remember to get your votes in by Friday, February 5th, at 11:59 p.m. EST, and be sure to check back next week to help decide where my adventures will lead me next. Until then!