Blade

Blade is a combat arts skill that determines a character's effectiveness with blade-type weapons, such as one-handed swords or dual-handed claymores. Weapons under the Blade category include both short and long blades. You can increase your skill level by using Blade-type weapons. Highly recommended for most classes, as blades are commonly found throughout Cyrodiil and effective at close range.
 * Governing attribute: Strength

Skill levels

 * Novice (0-24): Basic Power Attack with a damage bonus in all directions
 * Apprentice (25-49): Gain damage bonuses with a Mastery Standing Power Attack
 * Journeyman (50-74): Gain Mastery Left and Right Power Attacks, which have a chance to disarm
 * Expert (75-99): Gain Mastery Backwards Power Attack, which has a chance of knockdown
 * Master (100): Gain Mastery Forward Power Attack, with a chance to paralyze

Leveling tips

 * A weak dagger used only with non-Power Attacks is the fastest way to train this skill. Daggers have the highest attack speed of all Blade weapons and do the least damage per hit. Fortunately, the skill increases based only on the number of hits and not damage.
 * Fighting your own summoned creatures is a great way to train this skill at home.
 * Low fatigue causes the weapon to do less damage, thus allowing more hits before killing the target.
 * Using a weak sword or dagger and healing your opponent is a good way to train both Blade and Restoration.
 * The Peryite's Shrine is a good place to practice (before finishing the quest) due to the NPCs being "essential" characters, meaning that they cannot die nor can they fight back, since they are "frozen". Note: Every hit counts as an assault, although you will not get a bounty (Many players have reported that the stack of unreported assaults will crash the game).
 * Using a sparring weapon is a great way to level up without killing anything. The sparring weapons do not lose durability.
 * The Langourwine Blade works very well for training as it does 0 damage.
 * Upon gaining access to Cloud Ruler Temple, watching two Blades members spar on the grass will increase the Blade skill by 2 after several moments.

Blade trainers

 * Refer to the Trainers page.
 * In the Fighter's Stronghold plug-in you can purchase a sparring partner for the Battlehorn Castle and just spar with him.

Books that permanently increase the Blade skill

 * Words and Philosophy
 * 2920, Morning Star (v1)
 * Song of Hrormir
 * Fire and Darkness
 * Battle of Sancre Tor

Leveling text

 * Apprentice-level text:
 * The cuts and nicks from long practice sessions with all manner of blades has its benefits. You are now an Apprentice with Blade weapons. You have a new Standing power attack, which does extra damage. Press and hold Attack to use this power attack.


 * Journeyman-level text:
 * The cuts and nicks from long practice sessions with all manner of blades has its benefits. You are now a Journeyman with Blade weapons. Your Sidestep power attack now has a chance to disarm your opponent. Press and hold Attack while moving left or right to use this power attack.


 * Expert-level text:
 * The cuts and nicks from long practice sessions with all manner of blades has its benefits. You are now an Expert with Blade weapons. Your Sweeping power attack now has a chance to knock down your opponent. Press and hold Attack while moving backward to use this power attack.


 * Master-level text:
 * The cuts and nicks from long practice sessions with all manner of blades has its benefits. You are now a Master with Blade weapons. Your Rushing power attack now has a chance to paralyze your opponent. Press and hold Attack while moving forward to use this power attack.

NPC Dialogue
Once your Blade skill level reaches 70 or higher, NPCs will say to you: "Looks like you're handy with a blade."

Usefulness
Blades swing faster than blunt weapons, but do less damage. Daggers do little physical damage but can be swung extremely fast. A good tactic with a dagger is to enchant it, and then strike repeatedly allowing the cast on strike effect to activate multiple times. This tactic can dish out large amounts of damage quickly, but rapidly drains your weapon's magic meter. Long Blades are favored by "sword and board" (fighting with a sword and a shield) players. Claymores swing faster than Warhammers or Battle Axes but are less likely to cause your opponent to stagger because they do less damage. General swords are advised for use with lesser melee oriented classes i.e. rogues, mages, and marksmen.