This past weekend marked another major milestone for Blade & Soul with the first closed beta event for North American and European players. This was the first test in a series of five, with the next testing weekend scheduled for November 13-16. There is still plenty of time to sign up for a chance to participate in upcoming tests on the official website, and don’t forget that all players who purchase one of the three available Founder’s Packs are guaranteed access to all upcoming beta tests.

While we wait for the second closed beta weekend to arrive, the next installment in the class spotlight series for Blade & Soul shines some light on what makes the Kung Fu Master tick. As the name suggests, this class is a master of martial combat, with the Kung Fu Master being one of the more difficult classes in Blade & Soul to truly master. As noted in the official announcement for Kung Fu Master Class Week:

“The Kung Fu Master is likely the most complex class, requiring excellent reflexes, strong situational awareness, and quick decision making. This class, more than any other, has a strong variety of skills that are triggered from specific conditions, and those conditions are usually gained from successfully landed hits, dodges, counters, or critical strikes.”

Situational awareness and the ability to make effective use of a series of unique combo chains are major aspects of combat in Blade & Soul overall, but are paramount with the Kung Fu Master. From my experiences with the class so far, I’d definitely consider its playstyle to be very fluid and kinetic, and far more vital than what I was expecting from a primary melee combatant.

Mind you, melee combat in MMOs has come a long way from the days of taunt > auto-attack > button mash > repeat, but in a more general sense Blade & Soul has managed to provide melee classes that are far more viable under a wide variety of conditions and combat situations than what has been the norm. For the Kung Fu Master what that means is the ability to react appropriately in different situations by executing a strong series of counters, combos, and conditions.

An example combo for the Kung Fu Master can be seen below, or you can also view more info on combos and skills for the class on the official website.

Learn more about the Kung Fu Master in Blade & Soul:

• Kung Fu Master Class Week
• Official Kung Fu Master Class Page (updated with new info)
• Kung Fu Master Livestream this Thursday at 10am PST on official Blade & Soul Twitch Channel