Aureate.

Getting Aureate means completing the entire true-ending checklist, and the bulk of its damage is dealt by blades you are not holding.

Zuo Shang carries this longsword, forged of solid gold for one hand and said to have an edge silk-smooth. Winning it demands completing everything on the checklist for the true ending, which stretches over side Tales, fights at the Long Pillars, plus optional bosses in every corner of the map.

A spectral blade appears when you swap weapons or parry a Blue-flash attack, blades remain behind after Sha-Chi combos and explode, and the Power Surge produces an entire ring of swords. This distinguishes it from other one-handed options such as Freezing Chaos, which changes forms, and Wild Oriole Sword, which sends out blade waves.

It comes into your hands just as the story wraps up, so it suits another playthrough, or the map cleanup that follows the ending. Weapons persist between cycles, so a fresh one can start with it equipped.

Because Phantom Blade Zero has no published 0–100 bars for stats, this page gives the weapon's numbers as they stand at level 1.

These numbers are taken from values the game itself lists for level 1; they were not confirmed through play.

Before you start:

• All purple-icon Tales complete
• Long Pillars, five of them, all completed
• Zhu Yuan and Bi Feng beaten
• Every relic of Quick Hand Zhang's gathered

1. Ten Tales marked by purple icons have to be done ahead of Mirage Estate. They are Deep in the Valley, Crimson Manor, Illusion of Inanis, Pillars of Kunlun, Sha-Chi Powered Boat, Allure of Vanity, Illusory Pipa, Secrets at the Heart of the Lake, Whence the Weeping and The Herald's Illusion.
2. Once inside Mirage Estate, finish Bloodline Awakening by clearing each of the five Long Pillars.
3. Prior to going past The Last Chance Bell, you must also beat Zhu Yuan and Bi Feng and complete the relic requests of Quick Hand Zhang.
4. Beyond The Last Chance, beat Leng Tu and Meng Hua, and then go through the golden portal found on top of Soulrend Cliff.
5. At The Fallen Dream, take down Zuo Shang for the sword, Broken Lóng Body and Radiant Heart. Both the blade and the material for tempering it are delivered after the credits finish.

Aureate offers the Standard Combo, Sha-Chi Combo, Golden Lóng Sword, Living Sword and Radiant Lóng Sword Formation. The final three make it stand out.

Golden Lóng Sword: equip it, or deflect a blue flash

Changing weapons, or turning aside a Blue-flash Attack, calls forth a ghostly blade. Hence there is good cause to carry the sword as a mid-fight switch instead of only wielding it when a battle opens.

Living Sword: delayed explosive blades

Blades are planted by Sha-Chi combos and later explode. Because the move links the sword's bonus damage to Sha-Chi spent on combos, fighters who already use those strings are rewarded.

Radiant Lóng Sword Formation

A complete ring of swords is called up by the Power Surge.

Perks from levelling

Every upgrade adds one weapon level, and the abilities below unlock at the levels given.

Soul Tempering

Myst, whom you meet in Pangzhen, makes this possible. One tempering per weapon is the limit.

Materials for upgrading

Strengths

• Strong players habitually switch weapons and deflect Blue-flash Attacks, and Golden Lóng Sword gives a bonus for each.
• Exploding blades from Living Sword pile onto your Sha-Chi combos, which makes each chain count for more than its individual strikes.
• Since the fight also gives the tempering material, there is nothing more to hunt once the sword is yours.

Weaknesses

• Just one locked Tale can make it unobtainable for an entire save, so you must plan well ahead of the fight.
• Since the story's final battle precedes its arrival, it offers nothing to that playthrough unless you carry on afterwards.
• Anyone who holds a single weapon and shuns switching, deflecting and Sha-Chi chains gains little, as its effects depend on exactly those actions.

Best used for

• Fresh cycles, bringing the sword along from the original file.
• One of two weapons in a loadout, swapped in to set off Golden Lóng Sword.
• Fights built around parrying where Blue-flash Attacks come often.

A sword that shares a title

Among the Shadow Edicts, Zuo Shang holds the title Purple Shadow, and the sword has the same name in Chinese, 紫冥剑. He uses it to collect Golden Sword Energy along the blade, so each strike flows directly into the following one. With Sha-Chi he can also drag weapons nearby and release them either one after another or at once. The moves passed to you follow a comparable idea, with swords working at a distance from the hand.