Bladesong is one of those games that looks overwhelming the moment you open it. There are sliders everywhere, strange red lines on the blade, and a lot of information being shown all at once. The good thing is that you don’t need to understand everything immediately. The sword-making system is deep, but it’s also very forgiving, and you can make a solid, believable sword surprisingly fast once you understand the core ideas.
This Bladesong Sword Maker Guide walks you through the basics of sword creation in Bladesong, focusing on how the tools work and how to think about shaping a blade rather than memorizing every option.
Sword Making
When you first launch Bladesong, the only mode you really need to care about is Creative Mode. This gives you full freedom to experiment without worrying about requirements or restrictions.
Inside Creative Mode, choose Forge Blade. This takes you into the sword creation interface. There is also an option to paste “Magic Words,” which are basically shareable sword codes, but that’s something you’ll use later.
If the in-game tutorial appears in the corner, it’s worth completing. It explains the absolute basics. If you ever close it by accident, you can bring it back by pressing Escape and selecting the short tutorial option.
Forge Screen
Before shaping the blade, it helps to understand how to view it properly.
- Right mouse button rotates the camera
- Mouse wheel zooms in and out
- Middle mouse button slides the camera along the blade
At the top of the screen are a few useful view controls:
- Object mode lets you place the sword on a surface instead of floating
- The surface selector changes what the sword is resting on
- Screenshot mode is purely for visuals and sharing your work
These tools don’t affect the sword itself, but they make it much easier to see what you’re doing.
Setting the Blade Length
Every sword starts as a short billet of metal. The first real step is deciding how long the blade should be.
Select Draw Out and drag the red length line until the blade reaches the size you want. For a typical one-handed sword, something around 70–80 cm is a good reference.
To be more precise, enable the cross-section display. This panel shows blade length, weight, thickness, width, and point of balance. You don’t need to understand all of it yet, but the length readout is extremely helpful.
Once the length feels right, move on. Constantly changing length later will throw off everything else.
Flattening the Blade
After setting length, use Flatten to turn the block of metal into something blade-like.
Increase the flatten percentage until the cross-section no longer looks like a square. Around 60–70% works well for a starting blade.
You’ll notice red lines and white blend nodes on the blade. These let you control where the effect starts, ends, and how smoothly it transitions. You can flatten only part of the blade or blend the effect gradually instead of ending it sharply.
This blending system is one of the most important concepts in Bladesong.
Controlling Width and Taper
To adjust how wide the blade is, use Broaden. A small increase across the entire blade usually looks natural.
If you want the blade to gradually change width from hilt to tip, use Profile Taper instead. This creates a smooth, continuous change without needing multiple effects.
Next, apply Distal Taper. This reduces thickness toward the tip and is one of the most important tools for realistic swords. Even a light distal taper dramatically improves balance and feel.
Watching the cross-section shrink as you move toward the tip helps you understand how the blade is being shaped.
Creating the Point and Edge
To turn the blade into an actual weapon, you need a point and an edge.
Point
Use the Point tool to shape the tip. You can adjust intensity and layer multiple point effects if needed. Small changes go a long way here.
Edge (Cross-Section Tool)
This tool defines the blade’s edge geometry.
You can control:
- Sharpness
- Spine thickness
- Grind angle (flat, convex, or hollow)
Holding Shift while adjusting allows for fine control. Always watch the cross-section display while doing this. It’s the best way to understand what’s really happening to the blade.
Be careful with Narrow Grind. Unlike regular narrowing, it eats into the blade and dulls edges, which is usually not what you want early on.
Effect Order and Layering
Most shaping effects in Bladesong stack additively, meaning they simply add together. However, cross-sections and fullers behave differently. They override each other depending on order.
If your blade suddenly looks wrong:
- Check the order of effects
- Rearrange them using Ctrl + Up/Down
- Or delete and reapply them
There’s no single correct order, but understanding that order matters will save you a lot of confusion.
Curvature and Flamboyance
Curvature bends the blade. Light curvature across the whole blade can create katana-style shapes, while multiple curves and blends allow more complex designs.
Flamboyance adds wave-like effects. One type bends the blade’s spine, while another cuts waves into the edges. These are mostly stylistic, but they can dramatically change the sword’s personality.
You don’t need flamboyance for your first sword, but it’s worth experimenting with once you’re comfortable.
Fullers
Fullers are grooves cut into the blade to reduce weight and add visual detail.
Important things to know:
- Fullers only apply to the spine
- Depth and width are controlled separately
- They do not apply over cross-sections
Side fullers let you place grooves off-center. Even a shallow fuller can make a sword look far more realistic.
Polishing the Blade
Polishing does exactly what it sounds like: it makes the blade shiny.
Because polish makes details harder to see, it’s best applied last. You can also blend polish so parts of the blade look more worn than others.
Building the Hilt
Hilts are modular and very easy to work with.
You can mix and match:
- Guards
- Grips
- Pommels
- Decorative components
Parts snap together using orange arrows. You can scale, rotate, duplicate, and rearrange pieces freely.
Basic controls:
- W / S to scale
- A / D to rotate
- Q / E to cycle parts
- Hold Shift for fine adjustments
- Shift-click to duplicate pieces
Removing parts is as simple as dragging them off.
Decorations, Runes, and Materials
Decorations include runes, studs, spikes, emblems, and more. Shift-clicking is extremely useful for repeating symbols without re-adjusting each one.
Materials can be applied to hilt components, including metals, woods, wraps, and experimental glowing materials. At the time of writing, blade materials are not available, but hilts offer plenty of visual customization.
Using Magic Words as Backups
Before making major changes, copy your sword’s Magic Words. Pasting them creates an exact duplicate.
This lets you experiment freely without fear of ruining your work. Think of it as creating manual save points.
Bladesong isn’t about making a perfect sword on your first attempt. It’s about learning how the tools interact and slowly building intuition. Watch the cross-section display, make small changes, blend effects smoothly, and don’t be afraid to experiment.