Blademaster (Warcraft III)

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For lore, see blademaster.
Blademaster

BTNHeroBlademaster.png
Blademaster2.gif

BTNHeroBlademaster-Reforged.png
Blademaster Reforged Model.jpg

Race Orc
Faction Orcish Horde
Statistics
Hit points 550
Hit point regeneration Always
Hit point regeneration rate 1.15 HP/sec.
Mana 240
Mana Regeneration rate 0.81 Mana/sec.
Level 1-10
Gold 400 (0, If hired first) Gold
Lumber 135 (0, If hired first) Lumber
Food 5 Food
Produced at Altar of Storms
Build time 55 sec.
Hotkey B
Combat
Weapon(s) Blademaster's Sword
Normal attack 24-46 (35 avg)
Range Melee
Cooldown 1.23 (Basic 1.77) sec.
Armor Type Hero
Armor 5 (Basic -2)
Day Sight 180
Night Sight 80
Movement Speed Fast (320)
Sound
Sound Set HeroBladeMaster
Hero Parameters
Primary Attribute Agility
Strength Infocard-heroattributes-str.png 18 (+2/level)
Agility Infocard-heroattributes-agi.png 22 (+1.75/level)
Intelligence Infocard-heroattributes-int.png 16 (+2.25/level)
WC3RoC-logo.png
This article contains lore taken from Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, the manuals, and/or official bonus maps.

Though their numbers are few, the seasoned Blademasters represent an elite fighting force within the Horde. These skilled swordsmen were once part of the ill-fated Burning Blade Clan which consumed itself in the throes of Demonic corruption. With their Clan scattered and broken, the proud Blademasters swore a grim oath to free themselves and their brethren from Demonic control once and for all. Under Thrall's command, the Blademasters have once again joined the Horde and serve as the young Warchief's personal honor guard.

Statistics

Level Strength Hit Points HP Regen Rate Agility Armor (In-game) Cooldown Attack (Ground/Air) Intelligence Mana Mana Regen Rate
1 18 550 1.15 HP/sec. 22 4.6 (5) 1.23 sec. 24-46 (35 avg)/None 16 240 0.81 Mana/sec.
2 20 600 1.25 HP/sec. 23.75 4.9 (5) 1.21 sec. 25-47 (36 avg)/None 18.25 270 0.91 Mana/sec.
3 22 650 1.35 HP/sec. 25.5 5.5 (6) 1.18 sec. 27-49 (38 avg)/None 20.5 300 1.01 Mana/sec.
4 24 700 1.45 HP/sec. 27.25 6.1 (6) 1.15 sec. 29-51 (40 avg)/None 22.75 330 1.11 Mana/sec.
5 26 750 1.55 HP/sec. 29 6.7 (7) 1.12 sec. 31-53 (42 avg)/None 25 375 1.26 Mana/sec.
6 28 800 1.65 HP/sec. 30.75 7.0 (7) 1.11 sec. 32-54 (43 avg)/None 27.25 405 1.36 Mana/sec.
7 30 850 1.75 HP/sec. 32.5 7.6 (8) 1.08 sec. 34-56 (45 avg)/None 29.5 435 1.46 Mana/sec.
8 32 900 1.85 HP/sec. 34.25 8.2 (8) 1.05 sec. 36-58 (47 avg)/None 31.75 465 1.56 Mana/sec.
9 34 950 1.95 HP/sec. 36 8.8 (9) 1.03 sec. 38-60 (49 avg)/None 34 510 1.71 Mana/sec.
10 36 1000 2.05 HP/sec. 37.75 9.1 (9) 1.02 sec. 39-61 (50 avg)/None 36.25 540 1.81 Mana/sec.

Hero names

Tojara, Nikoro, Kajind, Mikasa, Samuro, Akinos, Mazuru, Yozshura, Daisho, Kigami, Arashicage, Moogul the Sly, Jubei.

Information

The Blademaster is a favorite Hero of many Orc commanders. Though he lacks any hero killing skills like the Mountain King, he makes up for it with one of the fastest attack speeds for a Hero combined with high damage.

The Blademaster is one of the most powerful melee Heroes when combined with Mirror Image and Critical Strike. Blademasters can quickly destroy enemy units and buildings when they are powered up with items and levels. The Blademaster's greatest advantage is Mirror Image, which confuses the enemy and focuses their attention on fake copies of the Blademaster. Critical Strike allows the Blademaster to deal very high damage and essentially serves as his "nuke" ability. Wind Walk can allow the Blademaster to go invisible and run away when he's about to die or sneak into enemy towns. The Blademaster's Bladestorm ultimate ability can do serious damage if left unchecked.

There are many point spending strategies with the Blademaster. Most players generally prefer Wind Walk over Mirror Image (due to its numerous cons early game), followed by Critical Strike to conserve the Blademaster's mana for more Wind Walks.

Buy attack speed boosting items at the Goblin Merchant and Marketplace to further enhance the Blademaster's power.

Blademaster Counters

During early game, try to discourage Blademaster rushes before they can cause too much havoc on your base. Mid/late-game, try to target him before he can unleash his attacks and pick out your core units.

  • Human players should build an Arcane Tower near their town hall - Feedback will destroy his mana and prevent him from using Wind Walk as much. Use Flying Machines to detect invisible Blademasters.
  • Orc players should build Burrows near their town hall so the Peons can defend themselves if he tries attacking them. Use the Troll Witch Doctor's Sentry Wards to detect invisible Blademasters.
  • Undead players should build a Nerubian Tower near their mine; though it deals little damage, it is better than nothing and the Blademaster is slowed while he attacks. Dust is also another alternative if your army is at base. Also build in a manner that he will have trouble trying to reach your units or core buildings. Bring a Shade along your army to detect invisible Blademasters.
  • Night Elf players should Detonate their Wisps if he tries targeting them. Try to build in a manner that he will have trouble trying to reach your units or core buildings. Since Night Elves lack an early defense tower, they should build in a manner that the Blademaster has trouble trying to reach core units or buildings. The Keeper of the Grove's Entangle combined with Dust is the best option against Blademasters early game. The Priestess of the Moon's Scout can be used to detect invisible Blademasters.

Spells and abilities

Wind Walk

BTNWindWalkOn.png
Allows the Blademaster to become invisible, and move faster for a set amount of time. When the Blademaster attacks a unit to break invisibility, he will deal bonus damage.
Cooldown Mana Cost
2 sec. 75
Level Duration Effect Hero Level Req
1 20 sec. Invisible, +10% movement speed, 40 bonus damage 1
2 35 sec. Invisible, +40% movement speed, 70 bonus damage 3
3 50 sec. Invisible, +70% Movement speed, 100 bonus damage 5

Notes: Cooldown occurs when Wind Walk breaks. During Wind Walk the Blademaster can walk through units and is able to exceed 400 speed limit and reach 522 speed limit.

  • Use Wind Walk to get away when the Blademaster is about to die. Use Wind Walk to scout the map without being attacked. You can walk into an enemy town, look around, then leave.
  • Use Wind Walk to sneak into an enemy town or upon stopped collections of enemy units and do a Bladestorm.
  • Wind Walk can be used for soloing Creeps at the start of the game. A cool trick is to run into a group of Creeps, kill the "leader" (the monster that carries the best items in the group) and Wind Walk away when you're done.
  • The Blademaster can use Wind Walk early in the game to use Fountains of Health, Fountains of Mana, or other Neutral buildings while they are still being defended by Creeps.
  • Because Hero Speed is capped at 400, the Blademaster is not able to advance beyond 400 speed. 400 is reached with Level 2 Wind Walk. The Blademaster's speed does not increase after level 2. The main benefit of the third level is the increased damage and duration.
  • Wind Walk can be used to walk through units.
Wind Walk Counters

Detect Invisibility. Undead and Night Elf players arguably have it the easiest, because both races' shops have access to the Dust of Appearance item, allowing them to detect any invisible unit in its range when activated. Night Elf players may alternatively Detonate their Wisps, though this should only be done if the Wisp is about to die.

Mirror Image

BTNMirrorImage.png
Confuses the enemy by creating illusions of the Blademaster and dispelling all magic from the Blademaster.
Duration Cooldown Mana Cost
60 sec. 3 sec. 80
Level Effect Hero Level Req
1 Creates 1 illusion 1
2 Creates 2 illusion 3
3 Creates 3 illusion 5

Mirror Image is a very effective spell because he is invulnerable for a brief second when activated to make the clones. This also breaks any focused attempts on him.

When used, the player and allies can discern the real Blademaster from illusions as the latter will be colored blue; for the enemy, they will see the exact copy of the Blademaster. Illusions cannot use items, and cannot utilize spells. However, as they're still considered summoned units, they can be used to trap stunned enemies. If the Blademaster levels up with illusions created from this spell, the illusions will level up with him.

Unlike the Wand of Illusion, the Blademaster's illusions deal 20% damage and will also level up with the Blademaster if he does do so while they are active, making it harder to discern the real Blademaster.

When using the spell, control the Blademaster and his illusions. If the player becomes careless and only directs the actual Blademaster, then enemy players can quickly discern the real Blademaster and go for him instead. To confuse the average player more, use beneficial spells on a mirror image and control it more than the actual Blademaster to fool the enemy into thinking it is the actual Blademaster.

Despite this, Mirror Image takes low priority.

Mirror Image Counters

As summoned units, illusions can be quickly destroyed by any sort of dispel magic.

If the Blademaster and his illusions attack at different speeds, then an observant player can quickly determine the actual Blademaster by holding the "Alt" button or having their health bar settings always show. When the actual Blademaster strikes, the target will lose more health, making it quite obvious as to who is real.

Critical Strike (Passive)

PASBTNCriticalStrike.png
Gives a 15% chance that the Blademaster will do more damage on his attacks.
Level Effect Hero Level Req
1 2 times normal damage 1
2 3 times normal damage 3
3 4 times normal damage 5

There are few players that pass up Critical Strike. Critical Strike can allow for some very high damage attacks as the Blademaster gets equipment and levels.

When activated, the Blademaster swings his katana down towards the unfortunate target with heavy force. Red numbers will also appear indicating a Critical Strike and how much damage he has dealt from the attack.

Critical Strike does not work on buildings.

Critical Strike does not receive damage from the Keeper of the Grove's Thorns Aura. However, the Blademaster's base attack associated with a Critical Strike still interacts with Thorns appropriately.

Bladestorm (Ultimate)

BTNWhirlwind.png
Causes a bladestorm of destructive force around the Blademaster, rendering him immune to magic and dealing 110 damage per second to nearby enemy land units.
Duration Cooldown Mana Cost Area of Effect Allowed Targets Effect Hero Level Req
7 sec. 120 sec. 200 20 Ground, Structure, Enemy, Neutral Spell Immunity, 110 damage per second 6

The Blademaster is not invulnerable while casting Bladestorm, but has Spell Immunity.

Bladestorm does equal damage to all of the units in its area.

Bladestorm is great against low hit point buildings such as Towers and Farms. Use it on a group of lined up buildings to quickly destroy them. You can use them on any buildings you want to kill quickly.

It's best to use Bladestorm against units that are all lined up. The enemy will typically (if they are good) start running away from the Bladestorm which means you will have to control it very carefully so the Blademaster is always attacking something.

Before using Bladestorm make sure there isn't anything in the way that will prevent the Blademaster from reaching the enemy while he's doing his Bladestorm. A common mistake is to cast Bladestorm then to become trapped, unable to reach the enemy before the timer runs out.

For maximum usage, use Wind Walk, run up to a cluster of enemies, trigger the Wind Walk damage and then cast Bladestorm. This works extremely well if the enemy doesn't have any units capable of detecting invisibility.

Bladestorm Counters

The best defense against Bladestorm is to run away until it is over.

Quotes

Patch changes

  • WC3tFT-logo.png Patch 1.31.0 (2019-05-28):
    • Wind Walk cooldown now starts when the Blademaster breaks invisibility rather than when the spell is cast.
    • Wind Walk cooldown reduced from 5 to 2.
    • Critical Strike multiplier now applies to raw damage bonuses.
  • WC3tFT-logo.png Patch 1.30.0 (2018-08-08): Base Agility reduced from 24 to 22.
  • WC3tFT-logo.png Patch 1.29.0b (2018-04-10):
    • Mirror Image mana cost reduced from 115 to 100.
    • Critical Strike multiplier is now calculated before raw damage bonuses.
  • WC3tFT-logo.png Patch 1.25b (2011-03-08): Wind Walk duration reduced to 20/35/50 from 20/40/60.
  • WC3tFT-logo.png Patch 1.17 (2004-09-20):
    • Wind Walk now allows the Blademaster to walk through units.
    • Wind Walk's backstab damage reduced to 40/70/100 from 50/85/120.
  • WC3tFT-logo.png Patch 1.16 (2004-07-01): Bladestorm mana cost reduced to 200 from 250.
  • WC3tFT-logo.png Patch 1.15 (2004-05-10):
    • Speed increased to 320 from 300.
    • Wind Walk bonus damage increased to 50/85/120 from 50/75/100.
  • WC3tFT-logo.png Patch 1.10 (2003-07-03):
    • Mirror Image cost reduced to 125 from 150.
    • Reign of Chaos
      • Wind Walk now has a cooldown of 5 seconds, costs 75 mana at all levels (changed from 100/75/25), and deals "backstab" damage. When a Blademaster attacks while using Wind Walk, he deals bonus damage to his victim.
    • The Frozen Throne
      • Blademaster's base Agility increased to 24 from 23.
  • WC3tFT-logo.png Patch 1.07 (2003-07-01): Speed decreased to 300 from 320.
  • WC3RoC-logo.png Patch 1.06 (2003-06-03): Bladestorm cooldown reduced to 3 minutes, down from 4 minutes.
  • WC3RoC-logo.png Patch 1.04 (2002-11-04): Critical Strike no longer receives damage from Thorns Aura. However, the Blademaster's base attack associated with a Critical Strike still interacts with Thorns appropriately.

External links