Blademaster

They deal the most damage out of the two melee classes (the other being Guardians), however may lack survivability in comparison to other classes.

Blademasters have access to the same weapons as the other Templar which are: Swords, Homing Pistols, Flamethrowers, Machine Pistols, Hand Grapplers, Nova Guns, Grenade Launchers and Shields.

Overview

Armor

• Which BM set pieces are worth wearing, or at least wearing first?
  
  • The set gloves and torso are both very nice. The gloves have 2% crit and wouldn't be better than Armwraps of Benevolence (with 1% crit but +2 to a necessary skill, and 16 stat points less feed) except for the resists.
    
  • The set Chest Armor is better than Mahomet's because 8%ccm gives 2-3% crit when you load up the crit build (does it integerize? Is my 3.84% crit really just 3%??)
  • The set legs are pretty hard to use unless you can aug on AA or hp% or both.
    My legendary legs give me 600hp more than the set, and that's pretty hard to give up for the three set bonus (5% melee speed and +100 power). How important is the melee speed, anyway? It sure doesn't seem to affect WW animation, but does that mean I'm not WW'ing any faster and don't really get any benefit?
    
  • The set shoulders (big +AC and TAV%, nice with Beamcarvers) and belt (3% crit) look pretty good. I'd probably put the pants on for the 5-set bonus and just give up the 600hp.
  • The set helm (low AC, no hp%, no skill) and boots (low AC, no hp%, no TAV%) both look very bad without mods. I don't think the 7-set bonus is worth giving up the 1k+hp, TAV%, resists and everything else on my legendary helm/boots. Not even close, actually. While the 5-set bonus is indeed good, I can't see any elite BM wearing the 7-piece set, which seems unfortunate.
    

Expertise

The defensive choices are +armor, +hp, and +resists - in that order.
The offensive choices are +crit and +damage.
According to my understanding of game mechanics (e.g., see damage wiki page) the latter (+damage) is very ineffective, and you should only put points into this after maxing out others.
That being said - my very first expertise point was in +Luck, which I understand is actually working now.
I then put 10 expertise points into +armor, one into resist, three into +hp, and then the next 10 into +crit. This'll get you to mid-rank.

Most BM's go straight to 55 and then get ranks, since Plague-Grinders are so cheap and so superior to any other sword you can get (excepting possibly Beamcarvers, though Plagues generally do more damage).
You're going to do good damage and you have 3 mod slots for CCM mods - so crit becomes really important.
Its easy to get near 50% crit rate, and with good swords, get enough CCM to demon/beast to push your effective crit for those mobs up to 95%. So, you're going to do good damage.

In order for your good damage to mean anything, you're going to need to stay alive - and this probably means +armor expertise points first.
I've chosen to get my hp up to 4k and leave my total armor at 800 (73% absorb) - which means both AA and +hp% on every piece of gear.
Some mid-rank BMs stay at 2.5k~3k hp and get their armor above 1100 (79% absorb) - which means both AA and +TAV% on every piece.
Its really important to note that +TAV% gear scales your +armor expertise, while +hp% does not scale the +hp expertise.
This is why you want to go with 10 points in the +armor expertise first, certainly before +hp, and probably before +crit.
There is still some discussion about how effective the +damage expertise is, but at this point, I'd certainly put it last.
The offensive choices are +crit and +damage. According to my understanding of game mechanics (e.g., see damage wiki page) the later (+damage) is very ineffective, and you should only put points into this after maxing out others.

Builds

BM Crit build - This build focuses on maxing out your critical hits.
This build will assume/imply the use of a +1 blademaster skill helm as written for clvl 55
http://www.hellgateaus.net/planner/#Blademaster,55,50,1,v1.0000100000006866150239000170000000

Devine Fury 6/7 - Pure increase to crit %
Aura of Zeal: 9/10 - Your Aura of crit, increases base % to crit and adds 2% crit per mob in aura radius.
Surge of Restoration: 6/7 - Absolutely essential for BM Survivability combined with WW.
Surge of Wrath: 6/7 - Absolutely essential, increases crit chance.
Surge of Mentality: 1/7 - Optional, although a surge proc to recover some power dosent hurt for 1 point.
Surge Mastery: 6/7 - Very essential skill increasing % chance to proc surges and increasing surge duration.
Sweeping Strike: 3/10 - 2nd favourite attack, remember once WW cools down and ur surrounded still?
Whirlwind: 9/10 - The most used and highest DPS attack available.
Parry: /10 - Won't work 1v1 against bosses, although based on the BM's survival I recommend spec'ing what you can afford will help survivabilty
Charge: - Optional, good for 1 point spent.
Matched Blades 6/7 - no brainer you will need this to equip everything.

Weapon Choices

Sword suggestions in order:
Dmitriy's Glory
Falchion of the Fiend
Yongkwang Sword
The Eradicator
The Edge of Abbadon

End game sword suggestions:
Demolition sword
Plague-Grinder
Beamcarver

Tips and Tricks

• Find a sword with +Whirlwind to help you while leveling sub level 30
  
• Swap to a diff weapon set for +Heavens Arc
  
• Use a grappler to pull mobs towards you, and out from pesky spots
  
• Get a couple surges going before activating Whirlwind
  
• Use sweeping strike before using Whirlwind, by the time you are out of WW sweeping strike is back up
• Can alternate between using Path of Righteousness (like blink) and Charge and WW to cover distances fast.
• Spiked Helms have a hidden attribute of +% TAV (total armor value)

Closing Notes

In conclusion, the Blademaster is the highest dps Templar. Able to effectivly solo in all difficulties.
With access to Whirlwind BMs' are very effective in Stonehenge (SH) groups via pulling and killing mobs and doing their fair share of the work.

Starting Stats

• Accuracy: 15
• Strength: 25
• Stamina: 20
• Willpower: 15

• Health: 100
  • Regen rate: 40/min
• Power: 70
  • Recharge rate: 165/min

• Movement speed: 110

• Critical Chance: 1% / 1%
• Critical Damage: 80% / 80%

• Shields: 100
  • Recovery Rate: 360/min

• Armor: 0
• Damage Absorbed: 0%

Defences

• Stun: 50
• Ignite: 50
• Shock: 50
• Phase: 50
• Poison: 50

Equipment

• Novice Broadsword
  • Damage: 12-16 physical
  • Attack Rate: Normal
  • Interrupt Strength: 15
  • Shield overload: 100%
  • Range: 2m

• Novice Broadsword
  • Damage: 12-16 physical
  • Attack Rate: Normal
  • Interrupt Strength: 15
  • Shield overload: 100%
  • Range: 2m

• Training Grappler
  • Damage: 2-4 physical
  • Rate of fire: 25/min
  • Interrupt Strength: 15
  • Range: 16m