Bravely Default 2: Hellblade Guide

At the very end of Chapter 4, you finally confront Adam, the one responsible for pretty much everything that happened up until that point in Bravely Default 2, who is also the owner of the Hellblade Asterisk. as shown through the story, he is unrivaled in terms of sheer power, and for a good reason. Hellblades are powerful warriors, able to harness the elements and infuse their weapons with them. Here in this guide, we will analyze everything a Hellblade can do.

Hellblade guide and overview

To put it simply, Hellblades are interesting. Their kit is filled with very strong attacks, that also damage the user. In paper this sounds odd, but Hellblades are similar to Dark Knights of other games, that benefit more when their HP is low. The same goes for a Hellblade, who unlock their true potential when they are heavily damaged.

Hellblade Abilities

1. Ruby Blades: Expend 25% of the user’s maximum HP in order to perform three powerful fire-imbued physical attacks at regular intervals – 25% HP cost
2. Sapphire Blades: Expend 25% of the user’s maximum HP in order to perform three powerful water-imbued physical attacks at regular intervals – 25% HP cost
3. Dread Blade: Attempt to fill a target with dread – 25% HP cost
4. Diamond Blades: Expend 25% of the user’s maximum HP in order to perform three powerful lightning-imbued physical attacks at regular intervals – 25% HP cost
5. Minus Strike: Inflict damage on a target equal to the user’s maximum HP minus their current HP – 1 BP cost
6. Carnelian Blades: Expend 25% of the user’s maximum HP in order to perform three powerful earth-imbued physical attacks at regular intervals – 25% HP cost
7. Emerald Blades: Expend 25% of the user’s maximum HP in order to perform three powerful wind-imbued physical attacks at regular intervals – 25% HP cost
8. Terrorise: Perform a physical attack that’s extremely effective against targets suffering from dread – 44 MP cost
9. Quartz Blades: Expend 25% of the user’s maximum HP in order to perform three powerful light-imbued physical attacks at regular intervals – 25% HP cost
10. Onyx Blades: Expend 25% of the user’s maximum HP in order to perform three powerful darkness-imbued physical attacks at regular intervals – 25% HP cost
11. Death Throes: The user is doomed. In exchange, attack and defence are increased by 50%. Stats cannot be increased beyond 200% of their base value – 10 MP cost
12. Surpassing Power: The upper limit for the amount of damage that can be inflicted is increased so it can exceed 9999 – Passive/ 1 Slot
13. Ultima Sword: Sacrifice all MP in order to inflict damage on a target proportional to the amount of MP expended.
14. Last Resort: Physical and magical attack power increase as HP is reduced – Passive/ 1 Slot
15. Deathstorm: Bombard all targets with ten magical sword strikes imbued with random elements, after which the user will be left with on HP, zero MP and -3 BP.

Hellblade Specialities

• Speciality I: Deal with the Devil – 8% of HP and MP are restored at the end of each turn, but being knocked out will reduce BP to -3.
• Speciality II: Strength in Adversity – Taking damage equal to more than 25% of max. HP will cause attack and defence to be increased by 10% for three turns.

Hellblade Weapon Affinity

• Swords: S
• Daggers: C
• Axes: C
• Spears: D
• Bows: D
• Staffs: A
• Shields: A

Hellblade Overview

If you take a look at the Hellblade’s skill tree, you will realize it’s quite simple. Almost every ability of theirs damages an enemy, at the cost of some HP, alongside some niche skills too. However, your eye will catch one, very significant passive ability, that is mandatory for everyone in your party. That would be Surpassing Power. Even if you don’t plan ever using the Hellblade Job, you need to level it up just for this skill alone.

Surpassing Power is what makes your attacks bypass the 9999 damage cap, enabling them to cause some serious damage, with a new limit of 99999. This will completely change the way you will play from now on, aiming to reach the highest damage possible, which trust me, you will need it. This ability is mandatory if you want to make your life easier to the post-game’s bosses, as their HP far surpass what you’ve been dealing with up until now, hence why you need that extra firepower.

Besides having the most important passive ability in the game, Hellblades are of course a considerable force in battle. They hit hard, they have AOE attacks and their Specialities makes them stronger as time passes, in a fight. Berserkers are a good pair suggestion, as they also have abilities that get stronger the less HP you have, resulting to absurd amounts of damage overall. Other than them, feel free to experiment as Hellblades are simple attackers, making them rather versatile. Just make sure to have a healer on standby, to mitigate the big loss of HP at the battle goes on.

That would be the end of this Hellblade guide, making it quite a brief one, but the specific Job doesn’t need any more analyzing, considering how straightforward it is. Covering all elemental weaknesses, above average stats, a game-breaking passive ability and self-buffing, makes this class a literal powerhouse that awaits to be used. Which brings us to the next Job we will be taking a look at, the Bravebearer, who is the game’s last Job you unlock.

Bravely default 2 is exclusively available on the Nintendo Switch.