Besides mastering moves and deciding what weapons you prefer, choosing the right Naraka: Bladepoint hero is half the battle. Each character comes with a unique F Skill and Ultimate move which could turn a match around in your favour. There are six characters to choose from, but if you pre-order the game you'll also get access to a bonus hero: Yoto Hime.
It's difficult to say which character is going to be the best, as that's down to personal preference. That said, some heroes are better played as support than they are offensive, such as Kurumi with her healing abilities. Matari is best played by those who enjoy stealth takedowns and Temulch's Ultimate blocks incoming ranged attacks—if you're playing duos or trios, choose a Naraka: Bladepoint character that complements your teammates' choices.
It's also worth noting that there are three variations of each F Skill and Ultimate to choose from that will slightly alter how the moves work, so choose wisely. While we spend more time with the game now it's launched, we'll turn this list into a tier list to help you out. In the meantime, taste glory on the battlefield with our Naraka: Bladepoint tips.
Here are all the Naraka: Bladepoint characters
Viper Ning
- F Skill: Yushan Enigma
- Ultimate: Twilight Crimson
Yushan Enigma creates a powerful blast that will knock your enemies back, which is a pretty good crowd-control technique. Blue Focus can also be interrupted and you can also choose a variation where enemies will be unable to use skills or Ultimates, but Focus moves will be uninterruptable.
Her Ultimate, Twilight Crimson, renders all nearby enemies visible and stuns them for five seconds, making her very dangerous in close quarters combat. Again, enemies can be barred temporarily from using skills or Ultimates and will be stunned for a shorter time, depending on what effect you go for.
Kurumi
- F Skill: Ward
- Ultimate: Sacred Circle
Ward allows you to heal yourself and a teammate, making Kurumi an essential choice in duos and trios matches. The downside is that she can't attack while healing, so try to make sure you're far enough away from danger before deploying it. A healing link between you and a teammate will last about 30 seconds and will work on knocked-out friendlies.
Sacred Circle is effectively a healing circle Kurumi can cast, but it can be affected by other elemental forces—by Viper Ning's moves, for example. It lasts for 15 seconds and comes with a variation that can improve armour over health or can instantly heal all teammates when activated.
Matari
- F Skill: Silent Flutter
- Ultimate: Unseen Wings
Matari's F Skill allows you to teleport a certain distance. Hold down F to charge the skills and teleport further afield. The variations for this skill allow you to leave a marker to return to, should you wish to scout ahead.
Unseen Wings activates a stealth mode of sorts and the Silent Flutter cooldown is reduced. She'll be invisible when standing still, but will be partially visible when moving. It lasts for 25 seconds and depending on what variation you choose, all nearby teammates will enter stealth mode for 12 seconds, or damage dealt will increase during special states, like wall-running.
Tarka Ji
- F Skill: Inner Fire
- Ultimate: Blackout
Inner Fire puts Tarka Ji into a defensive state where he can block melee attacks and counterattack after successful blocks. The Bide variation can also block ranged projectiles and Gigaflame allows you to channel energy to create a big fireball, which knocks enemies back and deals high damage.
When using Blackout, you'll be engulfed in flames and it'll knock enemies backs while also increasing agility. The Frenzy variant will allow you to regain Rage—which is needed to deploy Ultimate moves—as you deal damage to enemies.
Temulch
- F Skill: Zephyr Wind
- Ultimate: Zephyr Prison
Temulch's moves are based around summoning, and Zephyr Wind allows you to summon three wisp wards, which form a whirlwind. It'll block non-explosive projectiles and you have the option of tracking enemies or assaulting them.
Zephyr Prison creates a wind barrier around Temulch which can knock enemies back. It blocks all ranged attacks and all enemies who try to breach the barrier will be slowed unless that enemy is also Temulch. The Enchanted variation sees his recovery speed increase and Summon will create more wisp wards.
Tianhai
- F Skill: The Divine Bell
- Ultimate: Titan's Call
Tianhai is another Hero who does well upfront. The Divine Bell skill allows you to resist all physical attacks and ranged projectiles. Depending on what variation you use, you'll be able to either disarm enemies or send nearby enemies flying.
Titan's Call transforms Tianhai into a Varja, which is like a battle monk. You can use this Ultimate in open areas because the Varja is huge. You can grab enemies who are nearby or a little in the distance and smash them into the ground, which is as satisfying as it sounds. You can also stomp which disables enemies from using their grappling hooks.
You can also grab your teammates and restore their health and armour, if you fancy playing as a big friendly giant, or do some stomping while holding an enemy to heal only yourself.
Yoto Hime
- F Skill: Spirt Slash
- Ultimate: Ominous Blade
When using Spirit Slash, you'll be able to throw your blades at opponents, as well as teleporting you to the enemy's location to slash them again. You'll also be able to block projectiles and defeating enemies while it's active resets the cooldown clock, which is handy.
Using Ominous Blade summons a massive blade that she'll swing three times. You can also fling the blade around like a projectile and using it near Cairns increases its damage. Enemy health bars will also be revealed when taking damage from it.
Naraka Bladepoint character creation: How to make your own hero
If you head into the Hero tab and choose a character, you'll be able to customise their clothes, headwear and accessories. You can also choose a new face for them, either for a menu of presets or by uploading a photo of your face, if you want to see something really scary.
Plenty of redditors have been hard at work creating some weird and wonderful characters, including Sexy Squidward?
