A quick beginner’s guide to Final Blade

Final Blade was developed by newcomer SkyPeople studio, with help from localisation guru Glohow. After two years exclusively in the hands of South Korean and Chinese players, the game is now celebrating its global launch. Hurrah! But if you’re a Western warrior who’s wet behind the ears, our handy beginner’s guide will help you prepare for the fight.

What is Final Blade?

It’s the latest anime-styled online RPG out of South Korea. There are multiple gameplay modes to get to grips with, a clan system for multiplayer co-op play, and much more.
Collect hundreds of colourful characters – all rendered in equally colourful 2.5D graphics – as you fight your way through each chapter of the fantastical story.

Speaking of, Final Blade’s plot has plenty of twists and turns but can be boiled down to a good-versus-evil epic. The game is set in a magical world, where heroes and villains are squabbling over a sword. Not just any sword, either – one imbued with the power of mythical warriors past. It’s a bit Excalibur or The One Ring. You – the Black Prince – must recruit and command a band of warriors as you attempt to ‘unmess’ the mess this world is in.

Character classes and formations

Although there are more than 300 heroes to recruit, every hero belongs to one of five character classes: Assassin, Mage, Warrior, Marksman and Monk. Each class has advantages and disadvantages: Assassins are nimble and dish out high-damage attacks, Mages cause large-scale magical damage and offer crucial buffers, Warriors are strong and provide a robust first line of defence, Marksmen are long-range specialists with their own debuffers, whilst Monks support the party with buffers and healing spells. Variety is the spice of life, and your party will benefit from being a mix of classes.

You can maximise the effectiveness of your party by selecting and enhancing the most strategic battle formations from the menu. For example, you can choose and customise a formation which puts your Warriors at the front, and your Marksmen at the rear.

Summoning heroes

Let’s make no bones about it – Final Blade is a gacha game. That means the heroes you acquire are determined by a roll of the dice. But you don’t always need to spend sapphires for a roll; you get a limited number of hero summonings for free. Maybe you’ll end up with a low-starred duplicate, but maybe you’ll get a rare, high-starred hero who could make the difference to your party. Good luck!

Handy tip: Save up your sapphires for a summoning spree, and you’ll spend less. After 10 summonings in a single go, the cost of consecutive summoning will drop by 10%.

Combining and enhancing heroes

In Final Blade, your heroes will get stronger as you invest in them with experience and other in-game resources. We highly recommend developing your origin heroes as a priority – they’re Woohee, Inrang, Yongju, Diane and Muchun.

Although you’re bound to summon heroes you don’t want in your party at some point, they’re not a total lost cause. The combine function lets you throw a mix of unwanted heroes into a randomiser for a chance to get someone better. You’ll unlock this ability once you’ve levelled two heroes to the max. Keep in mind that your new hero may be a totally different class from the heroes you combine. But sometimes a little unpredictability is a good thing.

Earning sapphires and collecting spirits

More sapphires means more chances to buy, enhance and summon, so you’ll want as many as possible. There are multiple ways to earn sapphires, including exchanging unused and unwanted items.

In adventure mode, defeated enemies leave behind little red spirits. Tap them quickly, and they’ll earn you sapphires and pearls. Whilst you usually have to do this manually, there is the opportunity to hire a fairy who will do the spirit-collecting for you.

Quick-fire tips

Once you’ve completed the intro tutorial, where you’re aided by ever-chipper tutor Siru, there are a few things you should do straight away:

• Collect the sapphires from the Guide menu
• Summon one (or more) heroes so you’ll have a full party of five
• Decide your hero formation
• Clear the last stage of Chapter 1 for 10 free summonings
• Use the x2 speed and auto-play functions to clear stages more quickly

Now the game has launched worldwide, there’s no better time to join the fight. Download Final Blade for free on Google Play and iOS.

This article is sponsored as part of Steel Media Preferred Partners.