Soul Fighter

The Soul Fighter is the only class that is able to deal heavy damage up close and from a distance. Their swift strikes are complemented by their equally-rapid dashes, keeping them from taking harm, and precisely positioning themselves to take advantage of their opponent’s vulnerabilities. Soul Fighters actively manage their ranged and melee abilities by changing stances to best fit the situation. Elemental stance abilities will freeze enemies in place, while Kung Fu stance focuses on fast close-combat combos. At their maximum Chi level the Soul Fighter unlocks their most powerful and devastating attack, laying waste to opponents with a single strike. A flexible and fast warrior, the Soul Fighter can be efficient as a solo combatant, but relies on the support of others in more difficult challenges. However, as a master of the Chi, their party-healing buffs ensure they’re a welcome addition in any group. - Official Class Description

Difficulty Rating: Normal (2.5/5)

Races

This class has race limitations and can only be played with three playable races: the Gon, Jin, and the Yun.

Overiew

The Soul Fighter is the second hybrid class for Blade & Soul, merging the Frost control abilities of the Force Master with the Kung Fu Master’s reactive and reflexive moves. Each set of skills is tied to an associated stance—Elemental or Kung Fu—and switching between stances is done manually. While not quite as complex as the Kung Fu Master, the Soul Fighter can take dedication and finesse to master.

Kung Fu Stance is the primary, default stance. Like the Kung Fu Master, this stance works best when you can adequately react to your opponent’s moves—this class boasts the greatest number of dashes, counters, and invulnerability skills of any other class in the game. And use of these defensive maneuvers will allow even more powerful abilities to be used.

Elemental Stance has more range-based skills, but with longer cooldowns as a tradeoff. The strength of this stance can be seen when stacking multiple abilities onto hapless opponents, and preventing their escape.

- Official in-depth look

Play-style

The Soul Fighter focuses on dealing two types of damage: Frost and Earth. Not all skills will have an associated elemental damage, but those that do will have their damage increased with the selection of the right items; so building a focus around one of these damage types is advantageous in the long run, especially as you get to the endgame dungeons.

For solo play and questing, it’s easier to stay in Kung Fu Stance for the powerful and quick responses to enemy attacks, switching only to Elemental Stance when the crowd control abilities are required. However, in a party situation, the Soul Fighter will need to juggle both stances to maximize their contribution. Unlike the Kung Fu Masters they borrow some of their martial arts style from, Soul Fighters cannot generate additional threat. Despite that, their defensive abilities make them perfectly suited to solo lesser monsters, while their party members focus on taking down the boss. Soul Fighters also have a dedicated skill for party buffs providing resurrection, healing, or Focus recovery.

In Arena PvP, the Soul Fighter is blessed with choice, as a competent player can choose to focus on either stance to compete. A skilled Soul Fighter player will determine which stance will be the most appropriate for both their opponent’s class, and when it will be advantageous to turn the tide of battle.

- Official in-depth look

Resource Mechanics

Energy

You achieve Full Bloom by stacking 10 Energy.  There are 2 ways to stack Energy. Breeze Kick (F) and Right Punch (RMB).  Once you are able to stack 10 Energy, the Iron Shoulder (F) will be usable.

Chi

You can activate the Kingfist/Frost Storm (V)(Kung Fu Stance) or Windstorm (F)(Elemental Stance) by stacking 5 (five) Chi.  You can immediately achieve 5 Chi levels by using Focus Chi (Z).  The other ways to get Chi is to use Iron Shoulder (F) and Displace (2)

Soulburn Buff

When Warlocks activate their Soulburn, you will have the chance to activate the Awakened Iron Shoulder which does not require 10 stacks of Energy. However, it is affected by its internal cooldown. If Awakened Iron Shoulder successfuly damages an enemy, it will automatically grant you 5 levels of Chi and in turn lets you use Kingfist/Windstorm (V). Awakened Iron Shoulder is only available in Kung Fu Stance.

Media

Screenshots

The following screenshots were taken from the official class description.

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  Soul Fighter 01

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  Soul Fighter 02

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  Soul Fighter 03

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  Soul Fighter 04

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  Soul Fighter 05

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  Soul Fighter 06

Videos

Soul Fighter Overview

Classes

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