Phantom Blade Zero: Best Weapons and Where to Find Them

What are the best weapons in Phantom Blade Zero? In this guide, I'm going to cover all of the game's weapons, detailing their strengths and weaknesses, while also giving them an overall rating.

For the purposes of this guide, I've tested each weapon against both groups of enemies and singular bosses — although I'd argue that being effective against the latter is more important in the grand scheme of things.

Best Weapons in Phantom Blade Zero

A weapon's worth is almost always decided by its perks, which are unlocked as you upgrade its level. The materials needed to upgrade a weapon's level are spread across the entire game.

However, available materials are gated by progression. To upgrade a weapon to its maximum level, you'll need materials that can only be found near the end of Soul's adventure.

Perks become available at four set upgrade levels on every weapon. These levels are 5, 10, 15, and 25.

Fortunately, you don't have to worry too much about levelling up weapons that you may swap out later on. This is because you can refund all spent materials in the forge menu, allowing you to then allocate them to a different weapon.

It's worth noting, however, that at upgrade level 10 and above, resetting a weapon costs you a Weapon Reforge Talisman — a consumable item that's found at various points in the game. You can also buy them from merchants, but currency is limited.

Generally speaking, you should come across more than enough Reforge Talismans to reset at least a dozen weapons or so.

As such, it's always worth experimenting with each new weapon that you discover. You never know when a certain blade will feel just right.

Weapons in Phantom Blade Zero are split between three categories: one-handed, two-handed, and dual-wield.

Best One-Handed Weapons

One-handed weapons are typically middle-of-the-road options, offering solid damage and decent attack speeds. They're also easy to use, for the most part.

Sanguine

Location: Soul's starting weapon

Attack Speed: Fast

Ease of Use: Easy

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• Possibly the most straightforward weapon in the game; it's super reliable from start to finish
• Fast combos with deceptively long reach
• Perks are all easy to understand and immediately useful
• Chi-Infused Blade, the level 5 perk, grants a significant damage boost for a very, very generous 40 seconds; it's probably one of the single best manual activation perks in the game
• You simply can't go wrong with this weapon

Weaknesses:

• Uninspired level 15 and level 25 perks do little to bolster the weapon's power
• Struggles to stand out against other, more specialised one-handed weapons found later in the game

Jagged Steel

Location: Taken from the Chapter 1 boss Jagged Steel

Attack Speed: Average

Ease of Use: Easy

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• A beastly blade against anything that bleeds, inflicting a nice chunk of extra damage when the enemy's bleed gauge is full
• With later perks unlocked, your opponent's bleed gauge racks up very, very quickly
• Simple but effective combos, with attacks that have good reach
• Soul is invulnerable while performing Blood Blade's vertical slash on guard-broken foes
• The additional damage really adds up once you're used to the weapon's rhythm

Weaknesses:

• Bleed only applies to natural, living enemies, so you need to have the Living Wood accessory from Chapter 3 equipped at all times to make Jagged Steel truly useful
• The bleed gauge is a hidden value, and not being able to see it means you're always guessing as to when the bleed damage will trigger

The Fanatic's Broken Blade

Location: Taken from the Chapter 2 boss Hua Qianxiao

Attack Speed: Average

Ease of Use: Hard

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• Unique power-up mechanics make this weapon stand out; Soul must drink to unleash its power
• An effective blade in the right hands
• All attacks have fantastic range when Soul is either tipsy or drunk
• Long range attacks are great for hitting enemies from relative safety, even when they're not guard-broken
• Its perks make maintaining Soul's drunken state much easier
• Fairly long combos

Weaknesses:

• Drinking leaves Soul vulnerable and must be well timed
• Requires a lot of set up (and resource investment) to become a truly good weapon
• Other blades are arguably just as effective with less effort

Tianxuan Bronze Sword

Location: Taken from the Chapter 3 boss Master Bi Yuan

Attack Speed: Average

Ease of Use: Easy

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• Very high damage and guard break stats in comparison to other one-handed weapons
• Really solid combos and long-reaching attacks
• Blocking consumes much less sha-chi
• Its level 15 perk, Resolute Stillness, adds medium-range projectiles to some attacks, making for a very versatile fighting style
• Its level 25 perk, All Things Converge, unlocks what is essentially a type of parry, complete with a strong counterattack
• A pretty amazing all-round weapon, but you need to deal with one major weakness...

Weaknesses:

• You cannot parry when using this weapon, which is a massive kicker considering parries are so integral to the game's combat system, and putting a stop to your opponent's attack strings
• This sword requires significant investment to be truly worth it; its level 25 perk is a necessity so that you can defend yourself properly

Wild Oriole Sword

Location: Taken from the Chapter 3 boss Mu Xiaokui

Attack Speed: Fast

Ease of Use: Medium

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• Fast, agile combos
• Can temporarily power up with L1 + triangle, adding medium-range blade waves to heavy attacks, which is great for keeping the pressure up on enemies
• Capable of surprisingly high damage when using its perks correctly, marking enemies with the waves
• Marked enemies also have their sha-chi drained at a fast rate; this can force bosses into a guard-broken state very effectively
• A fantastic weapon for highly aggressive styles of play

Weaknesses:

• Oriole Song, the weapon's powered-up state, only lasts for 10 seconds, so it has to be used with good timing to maximise its effect
• You can drain your sha-chi very quickly if you spam heavy attacks in a bid to make use of the marking mechanic
• You need a large amount of sha-chi to make this weapon sing, and so it's most effective towards the end of the game, when Soul's stats are upgraded

Soft Snake Sword

Location: Taken from the optional boss Wu Lengshuang. She's found in the optional region of the Mandate Encampment, which can be accessed near the end of Chapter 4, once you've got the Flaming Mane Phantom Edge

Attack Speed: Average

Ease of Use: Hard

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• An excellent weapon for defensive styles of play
• For players who love to parry anything and everything, this weapon shines at upgrade level 20 and above, where its unique parry technique can strip huge amounts of sha-chi from the opponent
• Its level 5 perk, Inner Stillness, removes the sha-chi drain when holding L1 to block
• Its level 15 perk, Sword Blossom Shield, is very powerful, allowing you to negate an enemy's standard strikes with careful timing before unleashing a high damage counterattack
• Especially effective against singular foes, like bosses, where breaking their sha-chi is key

Weaknesses:

• Slightly awkward combos can be difficult to follow
• Standard attacks lack reach
• Has a relatively steep learning curve, as you need to master its various parries to bring out its damage, which is otherwise underwhelming
• The weapon's altered guard stance greatly reduces Soul's mobility

Best Two-Handed Weapons

Two-handed weapons tend to be slower in terms of attack speed, but they often come with high attack values and especially destructive perks. They can be a little difficult to wield to maximum effect.

Sanguine Reach

Location: Collect it from the weapon rack after meeting Forge for the first time

Attack Speed: Average

Ease of Use: Easy

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• A really solid weapon that's great for dealing with groups of lesser enemies because of its long reach
• Its level 15 perk, Sweeping Slash, is quite easy to trigger because of the sword's reach and active hitbox, granting a nice damage buff for a generous 25 seconds
• Starting combos and continuing them is easy because of the weapon's attack range
• A decent choice of weapon for a more defensive style of play, as you can keep your opponent at a relatively safe distance, giving you slightly more time to react to their movements

Weaknesses:

• Ultimately struggles to stand out against other two-handed weapons with more impactful perks
• Takes just a little too much effort to properly harness its attack buffs

Scarlet Wraithblade

Location: Taken from an optional boss in Chapter 1, Hua the Bride. At the base of the steam tower, find a hole in the ground around the back of the tower. Drop down and slide down a number of broken bridges, before landing in an area with multiple enemies. Defeat them, and then climb the stairs to find the boss.

Note that there is no bell checkpoint in this area, so if you're killed, you'll need to retrace the above steps

Attack Speed: Slow

Ease of Use: Medium

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• Inherently high damage and high guard break on every swing
• Spider lily perks are devastating when used correctly (and when the weapon is levelled up enough)
• Exploding flowers can be used to extend combos, making up for one of the sword's biggest weaknesses
• Corralling multiple foes around your lilies can make very short work of their sha-chi
• The flowers' sha-chi sapping can really do a number on slower-moving bosses

Weaknesses:

• Combo-ending attacks are brutally slow to the point where even guard-broken enemies sometimes have an opportunity to retaliate
• Proper use of the spider lilies is necessary to cover the weapon's attack speed issues

Outlaw Warblade

Location: Taken from the Chapter 2 boss The Outlaw

Attack Speed: Average

Ease of Use: Medium

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• Successful standard attacks heal Soul for a small amount of health, making this a fantastic weapon for more defensive styles of play
• The sword's L2 special attack is one of the best in the game, draining a huge amount of health from the enemy
• Really good reach
• Attack speed feels pretty fast compared to most two-handed weapons
• Its level 15 perk, Survival Shield, grants invincibility for 10 seconds and is relatively easy to trigger
• The healing you get from this blade can offset healing items almost completely, as long as your defence is on point
• Easily one of the best defensive weapons in the game

Weaknesses:

• You can only drain health from living, natural enemies, and so you need to have the Living Wood accessory from Chapter 3 equipped at all times to make the Outlaw Warblade truly useful
• Healing from standard attacks is a flat value, not percentage-based, so increasing Soul's health with accessories has no additional effect
• Heavy attacks take a chunk of Soul's health, replacing it with recoverable HP, so you need to be conscious of being overly aggressive
• Overall damage is a little low

Armybreaker

Location: Taken from Chapter 4 boss Cavalrybane

Attack Speed: Average

Ease of Use: Easy

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• Wide, sweeping attacks that are great for dealing with multiple enemies
  
• Relatively high damage for how fast its attack speed is
• Its level 5 perk, Mighty Rush, can be useful against groups, allowing you to mow lesser foes down with one rushing attack
• Straightforward to use and a solid weapon across the board

Weaknesses:

• Its signature rush attacks are a little weak, especially against bosses
• You need to unlock its level 25 perk, Conquering Slash, to really make the rush attacks stand out

Best Dual-Wield Weapons

Dual-wield weapons are largely your fast and agile options, and they're usually packing rather technical perks.

Sanguine Twin

Location: You're forced to pick up this weapon as part of the game's early tutorial section

Attack Speed: Fast

Ease of Use: Easy

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• Easy to use with fast combos
• The number of slashes in both standard and heavy combos can lock smaller opponents down with little effort
• Its level 5 perk, Chi-Infused Blade, hands you a significant damage boost for 20 seconds
• With its later perks, it can feel like this weapon simply never stops attacking, which is great when chipping away at the health bar of a guard-broken boss

Weaknesses:

• Short range combo starters mean you need to be up close and personal at all times
• Rather unexciting perks
• Ultimately outclassed by more technical dual-wield weapons, although they obviously take more time to master

White Serpent & Crimson Viper

Location: Taken from the Chapter 2 boss Bai Chilian

Attack Speed: Fast

Ease of Use: Medium

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• One of the absolute best special L1 + triangle attacks in the game, allowing Soul to spin a shockingly high-damage blade around his person even when he's not attacking
• The smaller dagger can be thrown as a ranged projectile, allowing for damage from a safe distance
• An incredibly versatile weapon with fast standard attacks in addition to its special abilities
• High damage, extremely long combos can be performed by alternating between standard and heavy attacks
• A weapon for any and all situations once you've got used to its rhythm

Weaknesses:

• Standard combo starters are very short range
• The special blade-spinning technique drains sha-chi quite quickly, so you need to be very careful when playing defensively
• The need to manage your sha-chi ultimately limits this weapon's damage output; an issue that other dual-wield blades don't necessarily have to deal with

Fiend Saws

Location: Taken from the Chapter 3 boss Jade Dancer

Attack Speed: Fast

Ease of Use: Easy

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• Extremely fast attacks and long combos
• Attacks are shockingly far-reaching for a dual-wield weapon
• Much like Jagged Steel, this weapon features a hidden gauge that builds up on the enemy with every attack, and it can add a lot of extra damage once it's fully upgraded
• Its level 25 perk, Corrosive Severance, lets you trigger the extra damage at any time with a push of R1, allowing you to extend combos and even interrupt enemies
• It's easy to upgrade the extra damage by making use of the different perks; simple charge combos alter and increase the damage with little additional effort
• You can deal massive amounts of damage by activating the weapon's L2 attack, increasing damage against guard-broken foes
• In terms of sheer damage momentum, very few weapons stack up against the Fiend Saws when it comes to delivering pain; it can practically melt health bars if you stagger your various attacks correctly

Weaknesses:

• Building up this weapon's additional damage bursts can become quite tedious during longer fights

Baishan Stormswords

Location: Taken from the optional boss Yubi. She's found in the optional region of the Mandate Encampment, which can be accessed near the end of Chapter 4, once you've got the Flaming Mane Phantom Edge

Attack Speed: Fast

Ease of Use: Medium

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• At the time of writing this guide, the Baishan Stormswords are arguably the strongest weapon in the game
• Capable of borderline broken damage output once its Wind Blade and Thunder Blade buffs are activated — and reaching that point is far from difficult
• Fast combos with really good reach
• Its level 15 perk, Wind Infusion, makes building the Wind Gauge incredibly easy, as both standard attacks and parries contribute
• These blades are already strong, but being in the Baishan's Blessing state (both blades are activated) can make them utterly devastating
• Ending Baishan's Blessing early unleashes the special Lightning Storm technique — and you can do it just before the powered-up state ends, maximising all of your damage
• When used correctly, these swords rip lesser enemies to shreds, and tear through boss health bars

Weaknesses:

• Building up the Wind Gauge is easy, especially when Wind Infusion is unlocked, but building up the Thunder Gauge can be slightly tricky, as it requires careful spending of your sha-chi
• Baishan's Blessing activates automatically, and if you trigger it at the wrong time — like when a boss has recovered from its guard-broken state — its meagre 20 seconds of activation can be gone before you know it

Parting Hooks

Location: Taken from the optional Chapter 4 boss Soulclaimer, who can be found towards the north of the map once you've unlocked the Flaming Mane Phantom Edge

Attack Speed: Fast

Ease of Use: Medium

Our Rating:

Strengths:

• Arguably the best counterattacking weapon in the game
• Fast standard attacks and meaty, wide-reaching strong attacks
• The whole weapon is built around countering with its unique parry technique, which can be used against any melee attack
• The counter's damage scales to the power of the enemy's strike, allowing for huge chunks of damage against bosses who favour powerful blows
• The counter's timing is quite generous, so making good use of it comes naturally once you know your opponent's moves
• Counters can be followed up with additional attacks once the weapon is upgraded, allowing defensive players to rack up significant damage without being overly aggressive
• Its level 15 perk, Counteroffensive, is insane; it gives a brief damage bonus after countering, and makes your attacks break enemy shields instantly, trivialising shield-based foes
• Its level 25 perk, Divine Beast Bind, allows you to counter all kinds of attacks — even Black-Flash strikes that usually can't be blocked or parried without losing most of your sha-chi

Weaknesses:

• You need to know your opponent's moves to get the best out of this weapon, as the counter itself takes a hefty chunk of sha-chi to use
• Constant counterattacks may not be possible depending on the amount of sha-chi you're working with, nullifying this weapon's greatest strengths

This guide is currently under construction. Check back soon for more weapons as we put them to the test.

What do you think are the best weapons in Phantom Blade Zero? Shout out your favourite swords in the comments section below.