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Weapons

Best Early Game Weapons in Phantom Blade Zero

Thirteen weapons you can hold before the mid-game, where each one comes from, and the order that keeps your Sha-Chi and your upgrade materials from fighting each other.

By Parryline Staff Published Updated

"Early game" here means the prologue through the end of Chapter 3, before Mandate Encampment. In that stretch you get one starting sword, a pile of boss drops, and just enough upgrade material to make one or two of them real. The trap is not picking a weak weapon. It is spreading upgrades across five weapons and arriving at the mid-game with none of them finished.

Where this fits: use the boss order to see which fight unlocks each drop, and the Jagged Steel weapon guide if you want the full upgrade path for the Chapter 1 blade.

The 13 early weapons #

Every entry below is a weapon the sources place before Mandate Encampment. The "read" column is the source's early-game verdict, not a tier list: a weapon can be strong later and still be a bad idea to upgrade now.

Weapon Type How you get it Early-game read
Sanguine One-Handed Soul's starting weapon The most stable start. Its Lv.5 skill, Chi-Infused Blade, gives a long damage buff and is one of the most useful manual skills in the whole game.
Sanguine Twin Dual-Wield Pickup near the ladder outside the Jagged Steel arena Fast attacks that drain posture. Swapping between it and Sanguine refills Sha-Chi, which makes it the key second weapon for the Chapter 1 boss.
Sanguine Reach Two-Handed Weapon rack after you first meet the Forge Long reach and a wide hitbox. Its Lv.15 Sweeping Slash gives a 25-second damage buff, so it scales with the same upgrade resources as Sanguine.
Jagged Steel One-Handed Defeat the Chapter 1 boss, Jagged Steel Excellent bleed against living enemies; useless against Puppets, Golden Bodies and Phantom Bodies. It needs the Chapter 3 Living Wood accessory before it feels complete.
The Fanatic's Broken Blade One-Handed Defeat the Chapter 2 boss, Hua Qianxiao Drinking enters Tipsy and turns light attacks into ranged flying blades. Strong, but resource-hungry and timing-dependent; not a beginner's first pick.
White Serpent & Crimson Viper Dual-Wield Defeat Bai Chilian at the end of Crimson Forest; received after waking in Village of Lu A natural early-to-mid upgrade for dual-wield players, with damage that holds up through the next chapter.
Outlaw Warblade Two-Handed Defeat the Chapter 2 boss, Jing Ye, in Crimson Forest Strong life steal and good boss-fight sustain. One aggregator ranks it second overall, but that is a search-summary claim, not a tested number.
Tianxuan Bronze Sword One-Handed Defeat the Chapter 3 boss, Master Bi Yuan High damage and guard damage for a one-hander. It cannot parry in its base form; Lv.25's All Things Converge adds a counter instead.
Wild Oriole Sword One-Handed Defeat the Chapter 3 boss, Mu Xiaokui Fast and aggressive. Oriole Song lasts only 10 seconds, and heavy attacks send sword energy while draining Sha-Chi quickly.
Bastion Phantom Edge / weapon Defeat the Chapter 3 boss, Zhuo Bi Available early, but the sources do not give a handling verdict. Treat it as a tool to test rather than a recommended main.
Iron Gauntlets Martial Phantom Edge Defeat Stone Hand Iron Fever in Crimson Forest An early fist option. The sources list it without a damage or ranking claim.
Heartrend Pipa Phantom Edge Defeat Yuzan in Village of Lu A ranged, sound-based Phantom Edge. Useful when you want distance without giving up the boss drop slot.
Fiend Saws Dual-Wield Defeat Jade Dancer or Iron Fiend in Village of Lu A burst-oriented dual-wield pair. The sources do not agree on a single ranking, so test it against the enemy type in front of you.

Only Jagged Steel (240 damage / 124 status) has confirmed base stats in the sources we checked. The rest are listed without numbers rather than filled in from memory.

The order we would actually pick them #

The right order is not the order the bosses appear. It is the order that gives you a working weapon at every difficulty spike without spending materials twice.

  1. Start with Sanguine

    Do not swap off the starting one-handed sword early. Its Lv.5 skill, Chi-Infused Blade, gives a long damage buff that is enough to carry you to the first boss.

  2. Grab Sanguine Twin before the arena

    Pick up Sanguine Twin near the ladder outside the Jagged Steel arena. Its fast dual-wield attacks drain posture quickly, and swapping between it and Sanguine refills your Sha-Chi.

  3. Equip Jagged Steel for living enemies

    After the Chapter 1 boss, equip Jagged Steel when the enemy bleeds. Keep Sanguine Twin as the backup so you always have a weapon swap available for Sha-Chi.

  4. Choose a Chapter 2 main

    Take White Serpent and Crimson Viper after Bai Chilian for dual-wield damage, or Outlaw Warblade after Jing Ye for lifesteal and boss sustain.

  5. Switch off bleed for puppet bosses

    Jagged Steel's bleed does nothing to Puppets, Golden Bodies and Phantom Bodies. For those fights, use a dual-wield or a high guard-damage weapon instead.

The Chapter 3 drops are where the order gets personal. Tianxuan Bronze Sword hits hard and drains guard, but the inability to parry changes how you have to play; if you have spent the whole game learning to parry, losing that option for a damage number is a bad trade. Wild Oriole Sword keeps the aggressive pace but asks you to refill Sha-Chi constantly. Neither is a strict upgrade over a weapon you already know.

What to upgrade, and what to leave alone #

Upgrade the weapon you are actually using, not the one with the best reputation. Sanguine is the cheapest reliable investment because you start with it and its buff stays useful even after you replace the blade itself. Jagged Steel is worth committing to only if you are comfortable with the bleed playstyle and you have the Living Wood accessory on the horizon.

Leave Bastion, Iron Gauntlets and Heartrend Pipa at base until a fight specifically asks for them. They are tools with a job, not main weapons, and the early material economy does not reward spreading thin. The same applies to Fiend Saws: if you already have White Serpent & Crimson Viper, the saws are a sidegrade, not a reason to restart your upgrades.

Source conflict — Hua Qianxiao's drop: AllThingsHow lists The Fanatic's Broken Blade; Beebom lists Outlaw Warblade; Push Square assigns Outlaw Warblade to Jing Ye instead. The sources do not reconcile, so check the weapon card in your own game before you plan a build around either drop.

TODO

Base damage and status values for every weapon except Jagged Steel are not in the sources we checked. Drop rates are also unlisted: the sources say "defeat to obtain" and do not describe a chance, so this page does not claim a 100% drop. Per-level upgrade costs are pending in-game capture.

FAQ #

What is the best early game weapon in Phantom Blade Zero?

Sanguine is the safest start because you already own it and its Lv.5 skill gives a long damage buff. Once Jagged Steel drops in Chapter 1, it becomes the better pick against living enemies, while Sanguine Twin stays useful as a fast posture-breaking swap.

Where do you find Sanguine Twin?

It is a pickup near the ladder outside the Jagged Steel arena in Weeping Creek Valley. Grab it before you drop into the riverbed fight.

Which weapon should I upgrade first?

Upgrade Sanguine first if you want the cheapest reliable damage buff, then Jagged Steel if you like its bleed playstyle. Upgrade materials are gated by story progress, and the per-level quantities are not in the sources we checked, so plan to test costs at the forge.

Why does Jagged Steel do nothing to some bosses?

Its Bleed effect does not work on Puppets, Golden Bodies or Phantom Bodies. Against those enemies, switch to a dual-wield or a high guard-damage weapon instead of trying to force the bleed bar.

Can the Tianxuan Bronze Sword parry?

Not in its base form. Its Lv.25 skill, All Things Converge, adds a counter that behaves like a parry, which is a long way to wait for a defensive option.

What does Hua Qianxiao drop?

The sources disagree. AllThingsHow says The Fanatic's Broken Blade; Beebom says Outlaw Warblade, which Push Square instead assigns to Jing Ye. Check the weapon card in your own game before planning around either drop.

Parryline Staff

Editorial team

We test on a fresh save on the current build. Anything we have not confirmed stays marked as a TODO instead of being filled in with a guess. Read our editorial standards.

Sources #

Where this weapon list comes from (accessed Nov 7, 2026)

Screenshots and credits

  • No third-party screenshots, key art or soundtrack files are used on this page; every figure here is written from testing notes and the sources listed above.
  • When screenshots are added, they will be captured by Parryline during normal gameplay, and each caption will name the platform and build plus the capture method.

Data is based on the current version of Phantom Blade Zero. Last updated . Spotted something out of date? Tell us with a screenshot and we will re-test it.

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