If I understand correctly one of the key goals in the redesign of Blade was to stop it being a heal tool.
The notes relating to it are in the middle of the linked post, but the points relating to the automatic forging are:
- On reaching 5 Chi, Spirit Blade now automatically forges with a duration of 5 attacks. If your Spirit Blade is already forged, 5 attacks are added to it. The diminishing returns are gone.
- Chi is no longer lost when the Spirit Blade shatters.
- Basic abilities have a reduced chance to generate Chi.
- Power, Elite, and Special abilities have an increased chance to generate Chi.
The weapons themselves have been redesigned to function in parallel with the changes. For example:
Soviet Techsword
- Whenever you hit with a Blade ability, you deal 0.25CP extra damage. Whenever you hit with a non-Blade ability, you have an 18% chance to generate 1 Chi.