Games have introduced us to so many fascinating characters. May them be heroes or villains, some of them, in their own ways, became an inspiration for us because of their story or the
Often times, along with some of these characters are their weapons. Stumbling upon this article, you might be a fan of the game, Overwatch. If not, you could potentially be one after knowing more about the weapon that we’ll be tackling here in this article.
The weapon that we’ll be getting to know more of in this article is the Dragonblade, Genji’s sword in Overwatch. We’ll be discussing everything we possibly can about the sword and how Genji is the perfect wielder of the Dragonblade. If you would like a Dragonblade for yourself, check it out here on Amazon.
What Does the Dragonblade Look Like?
Genji’s Dragonblade, also known as Ryu Ichimonji, has a very futuristic look that complements his appearance as a cyborg ninja. His sword is like a mix of a lightsaber, a plasma sword, and a katana.
The handle and base of the blade is made of extremely durable metal. It’s that or it’s a material that resembles metal. We say this because once we begin to get more scientific with Genji’s weapons, even the strongest metal that we know today isn’t strong enough to survive Genji’s speed and power.
Yes, Genji is in fact that powerful once you dive deeper into the numbers. The sword might just melt or get broken into pieces once Genji starts to perform extremely powerful stunts.
A sort of green plasma-like material serves as the edge for Genji’s sword. The body of the blade then has a jagged design from its base up until near its very tip. Like a katana, the Dragonblade is curved.
Genji’s Original Sword
Of course, Genji hasn’t always been a cyborg. Before he was that, he was a normal human being. Before he had the Dragonblade, he had a different sword as shown in the photo above. It appears to be a normal katana though we can’t really tell for sure as not much about the sword is known.
Not a lot of story was told about Genji’s original sword when he was still fully human. Nothing even about the sword’s name was mentioned. His story then progressed to how he came about becoming into the cyborg ninja that he is.
It can be understandable though as the main focus about Genji is him not being the human that he once was. Instead, it is more about Genji, the cyborg ninja that players get to use in the games.
Genji’s transition into becoming a cyborg ninja is a very deep and interesting story.
How Did Genji Acquire the Dragonblade?
As mentioned earlier, Genji has a very fascinating backstory. Genji, along with his older brother Hanzo, is part of the Shimada clan. During feudal Japan, the Shimada clan was a group made up of elite ninjas.
They resided in Shimada castle located in Hanamura, Japan. Yes, a castle. Through time, the Shimada clan flourished even more. However, unlike other stories you might have heard about protagonists, Hanzo and Genji’s story is different.
Typically, protagonists that come from elite families do good and don’t dwell much on illegal things or at all. The Shimada clan, however, has built a massive criminal empire. They dealt with illegal substances, arms and much more shadier things.
With the Shimada clan, the eldest son of the leader takes his place. This was Hanzo. You might think that Genji would end up getting selfish or greedy and put Hanzo in harm’s way. However, that’s not what happened.
Hanzo might not have that problem with Genji, but he still had a problem with his younger brother. Living the good life, Genji didn’t want anything to do with the activities being done by his clan.
He just wanted to have fun. How did this become a problem? Their father spoiled Genji… probably because he wasn’t going to be the leader anyway. Genji lived a life of luxury and dwelled only on leisure activities.
However, when their father died, Hanzo took over. While Hanzo was doing his job as the leader of the clan, Genji did not change. He still went about his frivolous lifestyle. This was when the problem started.
High-ranking members of the Shimada clan began to see Genji as a liability. Because of this, they tried to have Hanzo deal with Genji and make him help out with managing the clan. For whatever reason, Genji refused.
Maybe he doesn’t want to be part of the Shimada’s illegal enterprise. Maybe he just wants to live his carefree life. Maybe it’s both. Whatever his reasons were, he got in trouble for it. The elders of the Shimada clan weren’t having it.
They were able to manipulate both of them leading Hanzo to kill Genji. However, killing his brother didn’t put Hanzo’s mind and heart at peace. Because of this, he left the Shimada clan but would return to the castle once per year to pay respect to Genji.
Hanzo may have thought that he killed his brother but this wasn’t actually the case. It could be it if it weren’t for a saving grace that came to Genji. While severely injured, Dr Angela Ziegler came just in time to still be able to rescue Genji.
Doctor Angela, or Mercy, from the organization Overwatch. Her motivation to have Genji was that they saw Genji as a potential asset for their global security force. Overwatch had a very ironic plan for Genji.
For them to help him fully recover though, they would have to reconstruct his body. But before this, they asked that Genji would help them battle the Shimada clan in exchange. With this, Genji agreed.
Overwatch turned Genji into the cyborg ninja that we all know him to be today. Along with his reconstructed body, they gave him new weapons. This, of course, includes his sword, the Dragonblade.
Becoming a cyborg, Genji gained enhanced strength, speed, agility and overall becoming a living weapon.
Genji’s Wakizashi
Aside from his Dragonblade, Genji was also given a wakizashi or a short sword and his shurikens. When deflecting attacks, his wakizashi is what he uses. His shorter sword looks more basic and much more simpler than the Dragonblade.
However, the materials used to forge this weapon is stronger than any traditional metal known by man. To prove, Genji, in game, is able to deflect not just 3 attacks per seconds, not just 5 and not even just 10 attacks per second. He can deflect so much more in just a single second.
One of the characters in Overwatch, Bastion, can deliver 1,800 rounds per minute. This means that in 2 seconds, he can deliver 60 rounds per minute. Genji can easily deflect and reflect all those 60 rounds without breaking a sweat.
While
That is an insane amount of movement for 2 seconds. If you’re not impressed, don’t worry, Genji can do way more than just that. If you’re not satisfied with Genji being able to handle Bastion, well, let us tell you that he can actually still handle 5 Bastions sending him 360 bullets in 2 seconds.
The energy that he needs to muster is equal to a quarter of a ton of TNT. That just doesn’t display Genji’s power but also shows just how indestructible his wakizashi is. By the time of this writing, not a single sword can survive being used to release that much energy.
Strategy for Genji
Because this article focuses much on his swords, we still haven’t covered anything about his primary weapon, his shurikens. In the game, Genji is a very mobile character. He is very fast and is ideal for close range combat.
This is to maximize his spread shuriken and also speed. However, Genji isn’t also that bad when it comes to range combat. His swift strike also makes him harder to kill as it doesn’t only allow him to be deadly but also allows Genji to make an escape if he is in a tight spot.
Swift strike makes Genji dash forward and everyone that gets caught in his dash gets punished. It does a decent amount of damage to most heroes except to tanks. That means that swift strike can be better used for attacking softer targets, maneuvering or dealing swift but small damages.
His deflect is incredible. Do note though that he can only send ranged attacks back to his enemies but not melee attacks. If used properly, his deflect can deal an insane amount of damage and can turn things around.
With Genji though, you have a well-balanced character. He is fast but not the fastest and he also does damage but not the biggest too. He is right around the middle and that can be enough if that type of gameplay suits you.
Interesting Facts about Genji
Overall, Genji is a very skillful character with a really good backstory. To end this article, we’ll leave you with a few interesting facts about our favorite cyborg ninja. Genji’s character in Overwatch might actually be inspired by a classic Japanese novel, The Tale of Genji.
In the Tale of Genji, the Genji in the story is known to be such a
Sojiro, Hanzo and Genji’s father, gave Genji the nickname, “Sparrow”. With some of Genji’s scenes, he is associated with a Japanese sparrowhawk feather sometimes using one as his calling card.
If you already tried playing Overwatch as Genji, you might have failed to notice that Genji is actually ambidextrous. This means that he is good with using both his right and left arm when fighting.
When using his shurikens and his Dragonblade, Genji uses his right hand. However, when using deflect and swift strike, he uses his wakizashi with his left hand. Were you able to notice that upon seeing how Genji moves in Overwatch?
In his supposed 10th death anniversary, Genji confronted Hanzo letting him know that he actually survived. He also made Hanzo know that he has forgiven him and that Hanzo should forgive himself too.
He also told Hanzo about making a decision and choosing which side to fight with. He then disappears leaving Hanzo to think deeply about what he said. Before he left, Genji told Hanzo that he still believes that there’s still hope for Hanzo.
Pertaining to his Dragonblade, he doesn’t allow anyone else to repair or even examine it. By now, you should already know just how powerful his swords are. There could be a different reason why he doesn’t let anyone touch his swords but one might just be to keep the secret of how it was forged.
Because he doesn’t allow anyone else to care for his swords, he does the maintenance of them by himself. Another interesting trivia about Genji was that at first, he wasn’t at peace with becoming the cyborg Shimada.
He was troubled by it and thought it was a curse. It was when he met Zenyatta, an omnic guru, that Genji began to accept what he has become. He realized that while he may become part cyborg, his soul and his heart were still intact.
We hope were able able to impart to you some knowledge about Genji and his Dragonblade and wakizashi. He is an extremely skillful fighter and offers a very fun style of gameplay. His swords are also unbelievably durable. His swords are so strong that nothing has yet to break or shatter them.
Not even Genji’s superhuman skills were able to break his swords. That might not sound much but his speed and power can easily shatter and probably even melt ordinary swords effortlessly.
If you’ve learned anything new here, we hope you remember them the next time you choose Genji as your character when playing Overwatch.