Defiance Charge Blades Guide

Defiance Charge Blades Guide by Dracian

Hey !

Since many of you asked for it, here’s a recap about the Charge Blades.

I have to say that, before intensively testing them, I thought Blades would perhaps be the less attractive addition of that DLC. I was definitely wrong. Blades are fun, though as Tekrunner mentionned in an other thread they are the most Power and Perk dependant weapons. Let’s see that in details.

I – Build options :

EGO Power : Blur.

And nothing else. I have tested with Cloak, and it was a disaster. Seriously. The assassin cloaked in the shadows who cut the throat of his enemies won’t work. Prefer the ninja on Adrenaline who jumps from enemies to enemies. Far more effective. Remember also that Blur removes the damage penality applied to melee attacks against shields. Pretty useful against 99ers and Dark Matter.

About the viable perks, here’s a list sorted by order of priority/usefulness :

• Sonic Strike : +60% melee DMG while Blur is active. Absolute must-have, no question.
• Thick Skinned : 50% DR when shield breaks (3s). Obviously, one the most useful perks in the game.
• Agressive Defense : 15% shield recharge on a melee kill. Extremely useful, especially when fighting against groups of enemies.
• Juggernaut : 15% DR on a melee kill (5s). Same as the previous perk.
• Cellular Armor : Permanent 6% DR. Never useless.
• Detachment : 12% DR on a kill (3s). Stacks with Juggernaut, TS and/or CA. Hell yeah.
• Nothing To Lose : +30% melee DMG when shields are down
• Second Wind : -12s on Blur cooldown
• Hyperactive : +45% movement speed on a melee kill (5s)
• Escape Artist : +45% movement speed on shield break (5s)
• Intimidation : +75% DMG to flinching, knocked back or knocked down enemies
• Regeneration : +3% HP regeneration
• Rear Guard : 30% DR from behind.
• Endurance Runner : +6s to Blur duration
• Fortitude : +225 HP.

Note that some perks in that list can become absolutely useless in certain situation. Example : all perks giving something on a melee kill during duels.

Personally, my build featured the nine first perks on that list, though I did test a wide combination of perks, including the ones on the bottom of that list.

Now, about the shields, the “Brawler” ones will be the most useful here, alongside with the usual “Regenerator” shields. “Contender” are quite useless since your shield will rarely have enough time to regen to its maximum.

As for the shield’s type, I would recommend either Ironclads or Rebels (PvE only for Rebels). Rhinos and Tachyons may work but the 9.6s delay before recharge is quite annoying. Lower capacity shields such as Resparks and Hurricanes won’t protect you enough.

Personally, my build featured a Epic Rhino Brawler IV EX. Pretty nice, though it would have been better if it were an Ironclad.

The other thing you’ll have to think about carefully is your secondary/primary weapon. You’ll need something that has enough punch at middle range to take out extremely dangerous targets. My choice went naturally on SMG, particularly on Pulsers and Tachmag Pulsers. Assault Rifles such as FRC Assault Carbine, VBI Assault Rifle or VOT Blast Rifle are other viable options.

Last thing : the grenade. Best is obviously a Frag grenade. Bio may be interesting for crowd control (snare the targets you don’t fight). I went for a 0s Frag Grenade. Simple, efficient.

That said, let’s take a look at the various enemies you’ll encounter with your blade.

II – Enemy types (and tips on how to deal with them) :

A – Mutants :

Level of threat : Easy to Medium
Level of entertainment : High

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBX7IhrCStE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRsA3o44Vo0

First video was made during a Mutant Extermination Arkfall, while the second was made during the “KTAM Power” mission.

As you can see, Mutants are not a real big threat when blading. Of course, you’ll still have to be careful with Elites and Biomen, but aside from that, it’s really manageable. If you’re a rookie with blades, I should recommend to train, test and experiment against them.

Forbidden enemies : none

B – Raiders :

Level of threat : Medium
Level of entertainment : High

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrioN_VJjL4

A little bit more tough than the Mutants, Raiders are also an entertaining faction to fight with Blades. Once trained enough against Mutants, those should be the next step in your training. Once again : be careful with Elite and try to avoid Rioters (their Shotgun hurts quite a lot, especially Elite one). And of course, avoid Tankers at all cost : only engage them with your secondary weapon.

Forbidden enemies : Tankers and Rioters. Rioters can be engaged with a blade once knocked back but Tankers are a NO.

C – 99ers :

Level of threat : Medium to Challenging
Level of entertainment : High

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3SyTnwRMTk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKDTikQGHzQ

And we continue, raising the level of encounters, still kicking ***** with our blade. Once Raiders mastered, go for 99ers. They should be the first enemies you’ll deal with who are equiped with shields. Fortunately, those shields are not that good and should be destroyed with one charged strike for regular troopers. Under Blur, as you’ll see in the second video, it’s even more easy, like cutting through butter.

However, you should be cautious. It’s not because that I say it’s manageable, easy or things like that that you can rush every enemy on sight. Believe me : engaging a Blacklung escorted by two Elite Goldrushers is a BAD idea. Remember that you have a secondary weapon that can be used to soften enemies before meleeing them.

Forbidden enemies : none even if some combinations of enemies should encourage a cautious retreat and a middle range fight with your secondary weapon.

D – Dark Matter :

Level of threat : Challenging to Hard
Level of entertainment : High

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjJJSi_N4Io

Unfortunately, this is the only vid I have while fighting Dark Matter… Alpha Server closure caught me by surprise and I never had the time to go for Sutro Tower.

So… Dark Matter. Man, those guys ar tough S.O.B. when blading. Personally I consider them the ultimate enemies to fight with a blade (you’ll see why later).

Engaging Dark Matter with Charge Blade will require you to play smartly and to really pick up the fights you want to do : here, meleeing everyone on sight is a VERY BAD idea. However, with enough practice, and if you know what you are doing, Dark Matter will cease to be a Hard enemy and to become a Challenging one.

Forbidden enemies : Monitors and Bulwarks. Bulwark for obvious reasons, Monitors because of their circle kick that will knock you down leaving you defenseless on the ground (bye bye if there are other enemies around). However, once knocked down/back, these two enemies can be engaged in melee, though it’ll be far from effective against Bulwarks.

E – Scrappers :

Level of threat : Challenging to Hard
Level of entertainment : Medium to Low

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhgzA1b9Nek

Enough with the entertaining enemies, we’ll see now the factions you should avoid meleeing… First one being Scrappers.

Even if it’s not really visible on the vid, Scrappers are a pain in the *** to fight. Omnivolts have an armor that’ll ignore a great part of your damage, Helibots will always keep you at distance and Forges are just L.O.L.

Not really entertaining. If you want to melee Scrappers, go for Rampage : SMASH, but avoid using the Blade against them.

Forbidden enemies : Forges and Helibots. Elite Omnivolts should be avoided too if you really want to use the blade against Scrappers.

F – Hellbugs :

Level of threat : Hard
Level of entertainment : Low

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4ioGBoRb7w

If there’s an enemy against who the blade is particularly inefficient, it’s the Hellbugs. Clearly, I respect Datak Tarr for having been able to kill two skitterlings in less than 5 minutes.

OK, I’m exagerating a little bit, but seriously, you should really avoid using Blades against them. Why ? Skitterlings are extremely mobile, Archers will always try to keep you at distance and will sludge you like no one else, Warriors have armor and will try to sludge you too and Monarch, well… They’re Monarch, so good luck trying to kill them with your blade. And this is the same with Elemental Hellbugs.

Definitely an enemy to avoid when blading.

Forbidden enemies : Archers, Warriors and Monarchs.

G – Volges :

Level of threat : Impossible
Level of entertainment : Low

Obviously, I don’t have vid featuring blade fights against Volge. Unless your character has suicidal tendencies, I strongly recommend against using Blades against Volges. Why ?

First, by the time you’ll arrive at close distance, their weapons should have broken your shield. Second, Every single Volge has a close quarter attack that will knock you down. Third, their HP/Shield pool is extremely large.

So no. Or at least, not alone (I’d count at least with 5+ other players around that should be doable, though extremely long and painful)

Note that I wasn’t able to fight against Echelon, Rogue E-Rep and Afflicted.

III – PvPing with Blades

I have also briefly tried duels with blades. Here’s the vid :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rTJWitoy3o

My first impressions about Blades in PvP is that it’s quite difficult to kill someone with them. As you’ll see in the vid, it’s quite difficult to chain two successful hits or to have the final hit with a blade. I not doubt lack some practice and Duels are a very special type of PvP, but, yeah, that’s pretty hard to use, even with Blur and the right Perks.

Now, about the other PvP types (TDM, C&H and SW), it’ll be a little bit difficult to give you some hints since I wasn’t able to test them there. You’ll have to try by yourselves !

In conclusion, I would say that Blades are a cool addition to the game. For once, you can do a melee character without being laughed at. And this is great.

Devs : if I may, here are a few suggestions that would be nice in order to improve blades :

• About current Blade damage, I think it’s OK how it is now. However, a slight increase of the AoE of the Jump Strike could be nice.
• Giving Blades bonus just like every other weapon could be really nice. Of course, a brand new set of bonuses would have to be created (example : movement speed x1.02 to x1.07, melee attack speed x1.02 to x1.07, +xx% to movement speed after melee kill and things like that)
• Same goes for mods. Being able to change blade’s color is cool, but mods just like any other weapon may be interesting too (not buyable in the Cash Shop, ofc)
• This has already been said, but adding a Blade weapon Skill would be a cool addition, even if in exchange blades are little bit tuned down (the last thing I want is OP blades, believe me)
• Increase the number of possible moves by assigning some to the zoom button (right-click by defaut). Example, right now, we have slash moves, all assigned to the left click. Why not adding moves with the point of the blade ? You could have a fast hit, a charged one with a little move forward and for the jump strike, perhaps something like a dive toward the enemy.
• Same goes for Parry moves that could be assigned to the reload button, for example. You couldn’t parry bullets, of course, except perhaps while Blur is active and maybe a new perk ?