Do you like wielding giant swords? If yes, you should know Blade and Soul released a new class last week called the Warden. The Warden uses a giant sword to protect its allies as they take down enemies around them. Over the weekend I've enjoyed making a Warden and attempting to level it to the max. I did not make it to max level yet but I can tell you about my time and the fun I've been having. This is our first impression of the Warden in Blade and Soul.
As stated above the Warden uses a giant greatsword. This class is limited to just the Gon and Jin races. The Warden style of gameplay is to be a self-sacrifice tank. It uses skills and attacks that will sacrifice its own hp to harm enemies. I found this to be a fun mechanic. After a while of leveling, I started to notice my health was disappearing though I was not really taking damage from enemies. I realized then that the descriptor the developers made for the Warden was quite literal. The same with any other class, it has two elements Frost and Lightning.
I stated before I did not reach max level yet, but it should also be stated I have not reached a high enough to where I have unlocked the element use yet. As far as frost element is concerned a lot of the attacks are AOE. You will put that greatsword to great ground slamming use causing your enemies to become stunned with all the back to back sword slamming you will do. Now with what I know, Blade Master and Kungfu Masters are said to be tank classes. BM being the defensive type and KM being the offensive type. I would say the Warden is an offensive AOE type. Pretty much all the attacks under the Frost element are AOE, making this class good for tanking multiple enemies at once.
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As a Warden, you will have the ability to Soul Flare as well as each element having a stance. The lightning element has the Frenzy Stance and Frost has the Sentry Stance. I know the frenzy stance is one where the Warden sacrifices health and gets an increase in speed. In the sentry stance Wardens get an increase in their speed and defense. The Warden having two different elements that offer two different play styles is pretty unique. In my mind how it comes across from a view of traditional MMORPG's; Frost is more for main tanking while Lightning may be your off tank.
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Warden so far has been a pretty fun class to play. It is a most welcome addition to being one of my favorite classes in Blade and Soul. If you would like more information on the Warden class, be sure to check out the BnS site for all that information as well as their Youtube page for videos and preview of the Warden class where the developers go over the class in a bit of detail.
Note: Our copy was reviewed on (platform) with a code provided by PR.
