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.

Stances

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.

Skills

Button	Skill Name	Skill Description	Stance	HM Skill
LMB	Straight Jab	Basic Kung-Fu Stance LMB attack. Has 3 attack sequences. This is usually used to initiate the basic Earth build Ani-cancel, so you will need to put in skill points for this skill. Can leave out skill points for this if you are using Ice build. Generates Focus.	Kung-Fu	Yes
LMB	Frost Palm	Basic Elemental Stance LMB attack. Used in Ice build with Snowball to Ani-cancel. Additional skill points can either increase cast speed and projectile speed or for PVP to penetrate deflect. Generates Focus.	Elemental	No
LMB	Barrage	Same skill as the Force Master	While Jumping/Gliding	No
RMB	Cobalt Punch	Used with Straight Jab (LMB) for Earth build Ani-cancel. Uses Focus.	Kung-Fu	Yes
RMB	Right Punch	Main dps of Ice build Kung-Fu stance. Just hold the RMB button or dps. Can be spec'd to have AOE damage. Generates Energy needed to activate Kingfist/Frost Storm. Uses Focus. Can be found in Cobalt Punch (RMB) skill tree.	Kung-Fu	Yes
RMB	Snowball	Used in Ice build with Frost Palm to Ani-cancel. Can be spec'd to heal user. This skill is used in combination with Burning Tundra to be able to cast it again 2 times. Uses Focus but has a chance to generate Focus if enemy is critically hit inside of Burning Tundra.	Elemental	Yes
RMB	Ripple Punch	Earth build Elemental stance used with Whirlwind. This is usually spec'd on early levels to clear large groups of mobs by kiting and gathering them, cast Whirlwind and then deal large amount of damage with this skill. Attack speed increases as you cast consecutively on an enemy within Whirlwind. Uses Focus. Can be found in Snowball (RMB) skill tree.	Elemental	Yes
F	Breeze Kick	Used in Ice build Kung-Fu stance. It can be cast after a hit with Lightning Fist (1). Generates Focus and Energy. Can be found in Cobalt Punch (RMB) skill tree.	Kung-Fu	No
F	Breaking Claw	Used in Earth build Kung-Fu stance Ani-cancel. It can be cast when you hit with cobalt punch and have Chi Level 1 or greater. Can be found in Cobalt Punch (RMB) skill tree.	Kung-Fu	No
F	Iron Shoulder	Used in both Earth and Ice build. It is used mainly to increase your Chi levels. Can only be used when Cobalt Punch (RMB) crits in Earth build. For Ice build it can be cast by stacking 10 Energy, also known as Full Bloom status. Consumes the Full bloom when used. Generates Focus.	Kung-Fu	Yes
F	Awakend Iron Shoulder	Available when Warlocks cast Soul Burn. Has a 4 second internal cooldown. Can only be cast when you have Energy or in Full Bloom Status or hit with a Cobalt Punch	Kung-Fu	No
F	Retreat	Standard escape.	Dazed, Knockdown or Fainted	No
F	Howling Blast	Manual Counterattack when you successfully i-frame. Can be spec'd to charge a defending opponent. Generates Focus	Kung-Fu	Yes
F	Meteor Strike	Brings an airborne opponent down to the ground while increasing your evade chance to 100%	Kung-Fu	No
F	Dragon Fist	Available after hitting opponent with King Fist or Frost Storm. Hold RMB for continuous attack.	Kung-Fu	No
F	Windstorm	Can be cast when attaining 5 levels of Chi in Elemental stance or when opponent is airborne. First shot makes enemies airborne again. Great for PVP.	Elemental	No
Tab	Stance Shift	Shift between Kung-Fu and Elemental stance.	Kung-Fu Elemental	No
Tab	Second Wind	All-rounder escape skill. Can be spec'd to escape from Stun, Daze, Grabbed, Phatom Grippped or Grappled.	Knockdown or Unconcious	Yes
1	Elbow Smash		Kung-Fu Elemental	Yes
1	Body Kick		Grabbed or Phantom-gripped	No
1	Tornado		Knockdown	No
2	Lightning Fist		Kung-Fu	Yes
2	Displace		Elemental	No
2	Somersault Kick		Knockdown	No
2	Slip Kick		Grabbed Phatom-gripped Grappled	No
3	Frost Nova		Elemental	No
3	Ground Ripple		Kung-Fu	No
4	Leg Sweep		Kung-Fu	Yes
4	Glacial Beam		Elemental	Yes
4	Rising Dragon Strike		Kung-Fu	No
Z	Focus Chi		Kung-Fu Elemental	No
X	Chi Burst		Kung-Fu Elemental	Yes
X	Slipping Lotus		Kung-Fu Elemental	No
C	Self Defense Chi		Kung-Fu Elemental	No
V	Kingfist		Kung-Fu	Yes
V	Frost Storm		Elemental	Yes
V	Burning Tundra		Elemental	Yes
V	Whirlwind		Kung-Fu	Yes
Q	Dash Left		Kung-Fu	No
Q	Left Step		Elemental	No
E	Dash Right		Kung-Fu	No
E	Right Step		Elemental	No
S	Backstep		Kung-Fu	No
S	Backstep		Elemental	No