Blade is one of the strongest characters in Marvel Rivals Zombies Mode, especially at Nightmare 4 difficulty where most characters hit a wall. This melee build turns Blade into a damage powerhouse capable of solo clearing the highest difficulty, with some players hitting over 4 billion damage in a single match.
Why Blade Dominates Nightmare 4
Blade jumps from S-tier in lower difficulties straight to SS-tier in Nightmare 4. His ranged build works fine through Nightmare 3, but the red sword build becomes mandatory for the highest difficulty. The build relies on Blade's Bloodline Awakening ability (vampire mode) to maintain constant lifesteal and boosted attack speed, making him nearly impossible to kill when properly geared.
The main advantage: extended melee range works like a ranged attack, letting you safely kill explosive zombies from a distance and hit both Scarlet Witch bosses at once during the final wave.
Pre-Match Trait Setup
Put all your trait points into the red (Ancestral Sword) tree before starting any match. You don't need max level, but it helps.
Ancestral Sword Traits (Red Tree Focus)
Invest everything into these four categories:
- Attack Speed - Increases sword swing speed
- Damage - Boosts sword damage output
- Attack Range - Extends sword reach
- Lifesteal Ratio - Improves health recovery per hit
Each trait also gives bonus health as you level it. The damage scaling from red tree traits beats general damage increases from purple tree options by a huge margin, making this focused investment critical for Nightmare 4.
Daywalker Dash Traits (Purple Tree - Skip This)
The blue build focuses on dash abilities but can't keep up with the red sword build in Nightmare 4. These traits exist but you shouldn't touch them for this build.
Ability Selection
Your ability choices barely matter since this build revolves around primary sword attacks in Bloodline Awakening mode, not active skills.
Available Modifications
Shotgun Slot:
- Hunter's Shotgun (Default): Standard ranged fire
- Day Walking (Level 5): Hook pull to target location
- Iron Caltrops (Level 5): Creates slowing zone when hitting terrain
L Shift Slot:
- Daywalker Dash (Default): Pulls hit enemies when wielding gun
- Bonded Chase (Level 15): Creates tracking ankh on hit that returns when enemy dies
- Nocturnal Harmony (Level 15): Similar ankh mechanic on dash hits
Ultimate Slot:
- Thousand-Fold Slash (Default): Iaido strike creating slashing zone with reduced healing debuff
- Concussive Strike (Level 25): Adds stun to iaido strike
- Lunar Wrath (Level 25): Summons Hand of Khonshu talons along slash path
Default options work fine. Some players run orange abilities for shotgun and dash with green ultimate, but you'll barely use them during Nightmare 4 anyway.
Bloodline Awakening: The Core Mechanic
Turn on Bloodline Awakening (vampire mode) the instant you spawn. This gives you:
- Faster sword attacks
- Active lifesteal on all sword hits
- Movement speed boost
- Reduced healing effectiveness (doesn't matter in Zombies Mode)
After dying and respawning, reactivate Bloodline Awakening immediately. The attack speed boost makes this entire build work, and lifesteal keeps you alive. Forgetting to stay in vampire mode will tank your effectiveness.
Khonshu's Blessings Priority
The blessing shop makes or breaks this build. Knowing what to grab and when to refresh separates successful Nightmare 4 runs from failures.
Red Tree Blessings (Top Priority)
These three form your foundation. Keep refreshing the shop until you get all three, even if purple and blue options keep showing up:
Early Game Priority: On The Hunt > Sweeping Edge > Swift Edge
These three blessings transform Blade from decent to unstoppable. Don't settle for weak purple or blue blessings during the first five waves.
Secondary Red Blessings
Crimson Will - Increases lifesteal ratio during Bloodline Awakening. Get at least one stack once you've secured core damage and range blessings. More important after wave 5 when staying alive gets harder.
Blade Dance - Makes Daywalker Dash trigger Spinning Slash on enemy hits. Technically a dash blessing, but the effect is strong. Consider this after you've locked down core blessings, mostly for fun rather than necessity.
Purple Tree Blessings (Defense)
Moonlight Protection - Gives damage resistance. This becomes your main defensive stat. Stack it multiple times when available, especially during waves 5-10.
Vitality Boost - Increases max health. Only grab the +100 or +450 health versions. Completely skip this before wave 5. Between waves 5-15, slowly build health to around 12,000-14,000 total.
Power Surge - Increases general damage. Works but red tree damage scaling is better. Only consider this when red options aren't available and you have spare points.
Full Moon - Increases moon power from objective completions. Buy this whenever it shows up. Boss fights give you 200 points instead of 150, speeding up your progression.
Blue Tree Blessings (Usually Skip)
Don't grab blue blessings in Nightmare 4. Two exist that create cool visual effects if you're running lower difficulties:
Sacrifice Sigil - 15% chance to spawn ankhs when killing enemies. Ankhs pull zombies toward the center. More copies increase the chance. Creates satisfying visual feedback when your spinning sword spawns tons of ankhs that cluster enemies together, but you don't need it to succeed.
Lunar Blade - Spawns moon blades while dealing sword damage. Similar to Sacrifice Sigil, looks cool and helps with crowd control but uses resources better spent on critical red and purple blessings.
These work well in Nightmare 3 and below but hurt your optimization in Nightmare 4.
Blessing Point Breakpoints
Blade's damage spikes hard at specific blessing point totals.
120 Red Blessing Points: This is a massive damage breakpoint. Your DPS explodes once you hit this number. Push toward 120 red points before investing heavily in defense.
20, 60, 120 Point Tiers: Each tier upgrades your blessing effects. Focus on hitting the next tier instead of spreading points across different blessing types.
Health Management Through the Match
Your max health needs change as you progress:
Waves 1-5: Ignore Vitality Boost completely. Damage output keeps you alive through lifesteal. Spending points on health here delays your damage scaling.
Waves 5-15: Start grabbing health increases, but only +100 or +450 versions. Aim for roughly 12,000 total health.
Wave 15-20: Keep building to 14,000 max health if you want, though 12,000 works for most players. Going past 14,000 wastes points that could boost damage or resistance.
Why This Works: 12,000 health gives enough survivability for the final wave with proper damage resistance stacks. 14,000 adds comfort for cautious play.
Blade's vampiric healing scales with damage output. Higher damage naturally means more healing per hit. Once your damage hits the right level, extra health gives you less value than damage resistance percentages.
Combat Positioning
Understanding Blade's effective range and watching your surroundings determines success in chaotic Nightmare 4 fights.
Learning Your Range
Blade's Ancestral Sword doesn't show clear indicators for max reach with Sweeping Edge upgrades. Spend early waves watching the distance where sword swings connect with enemies to get a feel for your range.
With enough range investment, you can create a damage bubble around yourself. Melee zombies die before reaching you, letting you farm from stationary positions during horde phases. Ranged zombies force you to reposition.
Movement Patterns
Playing solo, move in circles around the courtyard. Keep moving to stop zombies from piling up behind you.
Playing in groups, coordinate rotation directions with teammates. The biggest threat isn't the horde in front of you but small zombie groups closing paths behind you when another player (Thor, Magik, or another Blade) rotates the opposite direction. Check your rear regularly to avoid getting surrounded and killed by backstabs.
Team Play
If you're running with a coordinated team that's already carrying with high damage, focus on horde management instead of pure damage. Stay aware of rotations and call out your position to prevent accidental trapping.
Boss Fights
Namor and Scarlet Witch
When facing both Namor and Scarlet Witch together, dump all damage into Scarlet Witch first. Seems backwards since Namor shows up first in the mode, but his invincibility phases drag fights out forever. Killing Scarlet Witch first cuts down overall danger and damage taken.
Wave 20: Double Scarlet Witch
The final wave spawns two Scarlet Witch bosses. Use this damage strategy:
Hit Both Equally: Alternate attacks or position to hit both with sword swings. Getting both bosses low at the same time makes the final stand phase way easier since your sword's splash damage can finish both targets efficiently.
Spawn Safety: During final stand, allies respawn in the same spot no matter what's happening on the battlefield. Scarlet Witch's stun bubbles stack up heavily on spawn points. Dash away from spawn immediately after respawning to avoid getting chain-stunned into helplessness.
Defensive Tools: Blade's block can absorb Namor's spear attacks to prevent stuns. Block also works against bubble stuns as a last resort, though getting away from spawn points fast is better.
Build Progression Timeline
Waves 1-3 (Foundation)
Shop exclusively for On The Hunt, Sweeping Edge, and Swift Edge. Refresh repeatedly instead of buying weak options. The build feels slow here but speeds up fast once you've grabbed core blessings.
Early waves need patience. Damage improves bit by bit with each blessing stack.
Waves 4-7 (Scaling)
Keep prioritizing red tree blessings while starting to grab Moonlight Protection stacks for damage resistance. If your max health is still under 8,000, consider one Vitality Boost purchase if a good version appears.
After the Namor boss, you can spend moon power for real blessing accumulation. The build starts feeling powerful as sword range extends significantly.
Waves 8-15 (Power Spike)
Push toward 120 red blessing points if you haven't hit it yet. Balance red purchases with Moonlight Protection stacks and gradual health building toward 12,000.
Blade carries matches hard during this phase. Proper positioning makes you nearly immortal through lifesteal as long as your damage stays high enough to kill threats before they overwhelm your healing.
Waves 16-20 (Final Tuning)
Fine-tune defensive stats while maxing out red blessing points. Make sure health hits the 12,000-14,000 range. Grab final Crimson Will stacks if lifesteal feels weak (rare with proper damage output).
Blade plays effortlessly during these waves if you executed earlier phases right. The character basically runs itself once fully geared.
What Not to Build
Don't Invest In:
- Blessings or traits affecting Daywalker Dash in Nightmare 4
- Blessings or traits affecting Ultimate abilities
- Lifesteal blessings beyond one Crimson Will stack (your base lifesteal is enough)
- Purple tree damage increases (red tree scales better)
- Blue tree ankh generation (kills optimization)
- Health beyond 14,000 (diminishing returns)
- Elemental effects beyond one stack for minimal crowd control
These waste moon power that should go toward core damage, range, speed, and resistance blessings. The build works through basic sword attacks in Bloodline Awakening mode, making ability blessings completely unnecessary.
Refreshing the shop costs less than buying bad blessings. In Nightmare 4, the shop will constantly offer blue and purple options that look tempting but delay critical red blessing acquisition.
Performance Expectations
Damage Output: Properly built Blade hits 2-4+ billion damage in Nightmare 4 matches, with higher numbers possible when solo carrying or in tuned group comps.
Survivability: With correct blessing priorities and 12,000+ health, Blade should rarely die outside of positioning mistakes or spawn point stun stacking. Vampiric healing handles incoming damage from normal enemies.
Power Curve: Blade feels weak during waves 1-5, competent during 6-10, strong during 11-15, and dominant during 16-20.
Solo Capability: This build can solo clear Nightmare 4 when executed properly, making it one of the most reliable solo carry options available.
Versus Alternatives: The ranged blue build still works for Nightmare 3 and below but falls off hard in Nightmare 4. Other melee characters struggle badly at highest difficulty, making Blade's combination of range, speed, lifesteal, and damage scaling uniquely effective.
Why This Build Works
Blade performs well in Zombies Mode across all difficulties but truly shines in Nightmare 4 where most characters hit severe limitations. The combination of pseudo-ranged melee attacks, self-sustaining lifesteal, and superior red tree damage scaling creates a character that gets stronger as difficulty increases instead of weaker.
The build needs patience during early waves while you establish core blessings and demands discipline to refresh shops instead of accepting bad purchases. Once properly geared around wave 7-8, Blade turns into a self-sufficient damage dealer capable of carrying entire teams or completing solo runs.
Time investment before hitting comfortable power: roughly 5-7 waves. After that, the character maintains dominance through wave 20 completion.