Blade

Duelist Midnight Sons

Duelist · 350 HP · First appeared 1973 · Human

Origin

Eric Brooks — Blade — first appeared in The Tomb of Dracula #10 in 1973, created by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan. He was conceived as a vampire-hunter supporting cast member for Marvel's Dracula book, born to a mother who was bitten in childbirth, leaving him with a vampire's strengths and a human's mortality. The 'daywalker' framing — immune to sunlight, strong by day — came later, codified across solo runs.

Comic history

Blade's character grew in popularity well after his 1973 debut. The 1998 Wesley Snipes film mainstreamed the character and in turn drove a comic relaunch through the 2000s. Marc Guggenheim and Howard Chaykin's 2006 ongoing established the modern Blade voice — terse, surgical, allergic to ceremony. In recent runs he has been a fixture of the Avengers, the MI-13, and the Midnight Sons vampire-hunter team alongside Hannibal King and Frank Drake.

Blade in Marvel Rivals

Blade is a 350 HP Duelist who pairs melee swordplay with a shotgun off-hand. Ancestral Sword is the close-range damage; Hunter's Shotgun gives him a burst option at mid-range so he is not strictly a melee threat. Daywalker Dash is the closer. Scarlet Shroud is the survivability layer. The 350 HP value is high for a Duelist, which puts him closer to a bruiser archetype than a glass-cannon — he is meant to commit and live to commit again.

Abilities

Ancestral Sword is the primary melee attack. Hunter's Shotgun is the alternate ranged option. Daywalker Dash is the gap-closer. Scarlet Shroud is his defensive layer. Bloodline Awakening enhances his combat output. Thousand-Fold Slash, his ultimate, is a flurry of strikes that punishes any enemy he can stick to.

Spotting Blade in Rivaldle

Blade's 350 HP is unique among Duelists, so a single HP cell narrows him quickly. His 1973 origin year is also unique. The Midnight Sons affiliation is shared only with Elsa Bloodstone, which narrows quickly when paired with role. In Pixelation Mode the all-black leather kit and bald silhouette read clearly. In Emoji Mode the sword-and-vampire combination is essentially literal.

Try the puzzle

Blade is a possible answer in every Rivaldle mode. The fastest way to spot him is usually a combination of two columns in Classic Mode plus a quick read of the silhouette or pixelation. Once you get a feel for the database fingerprints — the unique HP value, the unique origin year, the Midnight Sons affiliation paired with role — most heroes can be solved in two or three guesses.

Play Classic Silhouette Emoji