Phantom Blade Zero: 10 Beginner Tips for Your First Journey

1. Use your healing and Phantom Edges

When several enemies close in, relying on your main weapon alone can leave you surrounded. Use a suitable Phantom Edge, your secondary weapon, to remove the biggest threat before dealing with the rest.

The same applies to healing. Saving a dose is rarely worthwhile if it turns a manageable fight into a defeat. Spend resources when they give you a good chance of getting through.

Ordinary enemies you have defeated do not respawn simply because you rest at a bell. Each group you clear leaves a safer stretch of road for later exploration.

2. Check your upgrades before blaming your timing

If enemies are becoming harder to bring down, check the equipment you actually use. Early on, focus your materials on your two main weapons and two regularly used Phantom Edges, upgrading them as far as your current resources allow.

Weapon upgrades can unlock moves as well as improve stats. Holding all your materials for a weapon you might find much later means giving up those benefits now.

You can reset upgrades and recover materials for another weapon. Check the reset requirements first, as doing so may require a particular item.

3. Adjust the difficulty when you get stuck

The three standard difficulty settings can be changed outside combat. Wayfarer suits a more relaxed journey, while Hellwalker offers a tougher challenge. Sixty-Six Days unlocks after completing the game and has separate rules; you cannot switch from it to a standard setting.

If one encounter is stopping your progress after repeated attempts, try a lower setting. You can return to a greater challenge once you are more familiar with your weapons and the combat system.

4. Come back to difficult optional bosses

An early optional boss does not have to be defeated the moment you find it. If repeated attempts are getting you nowhere, continue along the main route and explore elsewhere.

Return with stronger weapons, better equipment and more character upgrades. Equipment growth matters here, and a difficult encounter can become more manageable after you improve your build.

5. Speak to the old archer on the inn roof

At the inn in the early creek-valley area, climb onto the roof and speak to the old archer. Follow his side quest to obtain the bow-type Phantom Edge.

Besides giving you a ranged option in combat, the bow can shoot down certain hanging objects so you can collect the supplies inside.

Some side quests change as the story advances. Completing a task with a useful exploration reward early lets you benefit from it throughout more of the journey.

6. Switch main weapons to manage Sha-Chi

You can equip two main weapons. Switching restores Sha-Chi, the resource used in offense and defense, helping you extend an attack sequence or prepare to guard the counterattack.

Try fighting a round with your first weapon, then switch when your Sha-Chi is running low. Weapon switching has a cooldown, so plan around it rather than treating it as an unlimited refill.

Give the two weapons different jobs: one might offer mobility while the other breaks shields. If a main weapon already handles shields, you can use a Phantom Edge slot for ranged attacks or summons instead.

7. Read new weapon skills and try them out

There are more than 30 main weapons and 25 Phantom Edges to discover. Damage numbers only tell part of the story: reach, moves and special effects determine which situations a weapon handles well.

For example, the heavy blade that creates red flowers can break shields and drain the Sha-Chi of enemies standing in its flower field. Gauntlets are also worth testing against shielded opponents.

Read the skill descriptions, then try the attacks and combos yourself. That gives you a much clearer idea of a weapon's purpose than its stats alone.

8. A nearby map icon may be on another floor

The map gives you a general direction, but the route to an objective is not always obvious. In areas with several levels, a nearby icon may lead to an entrance above or below you.

Look for ladders, rooftops, paths under bridges and routes branching off to the side. Detours can hold upgrade materials or collectibles that help your character grow.

Use the map's collection details to check what you are missing, including bells, weapons and stone fragments, before searching an area again.

9. Pay attention to purple quests

Purple quests mark important story-related side quests. They can reveal more of the world, lead to hidden bosses and weapons, and may affect the ending.

If you want to see more of the story, read the dialogue and keep track of these quests. Before advancing through a major story event, check whether any are still unfinished.

Some quest lines change with story progress and characters' circumstances. Leaving every side quest until the end can mean missing some of them.

10. Check the shop when you are short on materials

If an upgrade only needs another material or two, look through the shop's stock before retracing an entire map. It may already sell what you need.

You can upgrade equipment and buy supplies at bells. Whenever you rest, check your regular weapons, accessories and healing items: what can be improved, which materials are missing and whether the shop has them.

A quick check before setting off can make the next stretch easier.