Builds
Blades are unique for their builds.. as nearly anything can work for them. Though, others are better than others.

All Dex Build-
The Blade is probably the only class that you can get away with doing this. The damage of the blade is high enough to allow you to put a lot of dex into your char, making you do more damage than another class, yet block and hit even more.

All Str Build-
Simply deadly. A couple Multi-hit skills combined with Lightning Flash will take out nearly anyone around your level. The thing is, a lack of dex means if you're fighting more than 1 on 1, you will end up taking a lot of damage easily.

Mid Build-
My prefered build for blades, but others think strength build is better. Try keeping your dex slightly higher than your strength, and adding a little more to your vit than normal. This allows you to survive more than 2-3 hits, and allows you to pull off another attack to take down whatever you're fighting.

General Skills

Heavenly Serenity- A must have for players who like to grind. At the max level (12, mastery of 20), it takes 10 seconds to recharge ALL of your chi, regardless of what your max chi is.

Channel Revival- A skill to use on another player. This ONLY works on other players. It heals health at the cost of chi.

Channel (name please?)- A skill to use on another player. This ONLY works on other players. It heals chi at the cost of chi.

Walk in the Clouds- A must have skill for the players who travel a lot. /return can seriously do damage to your EXP bar when its at 80-99%, causing you to take longer to level. Walk in the Clouds speeds up travel time by a lot. At the higher levels, it requires LESS chi too use over longer distances.

Soaring Dragon- Mostly a convenience, or for those times you feel like messing around. This allows you to jump high into the sky. Upgrading the skill increases the DISTANCE you can jump, not the height. The range of this skill is based on a sphere round your char depending on the level of skill, so it only seems like you can jump to higher places when it is leveled up.

Thunderous Roar- Increases your damage for a SINGLE attack. If the attack misses, the skill goes away. The damage increased will allow you to do SEVERE damage. Combine this with a single-hit skill to maximize its damage.

Finger of Light- This skill stuns another player. The higher its level, the higher chance to stun the opponent. This is a skill that many players find necessary in RvR.