Crescent Blade.

Crescent Blade packs two combat approaches into one lengthy polearm. You can mow down a rank with a sweep, or whirl it until the blade's dragon stirs.

Its shaft is heavy and long, and the arc is broad enough for one swing to catch multiple foes. Used without any charge, it serves mainly against crowds and shields. When built around its charge, though, it turns into an executioner's tool, since a blow struck during Qinglong Form splits weaker enemies in half.

It arrives late, inside Mirage Estate, along the main route shortly before the last region of Mount Soulrend. Other two-handers, like Armybreaker and Juggernaut, rival it; they too break guards, yet they build up to a rush and a slash fed by parries, not a charged form.

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:

• White Serpent Eye, Black Serpent Fang and Red Serpent Tongue, gathered during The Four Serpent Houses, which unlock the door

1. Head into the Green Serpent House in Pangzhen and use its rear door to enter Mirage Estate.
2. Go by Nuo Mask Altar, Back Hill and Shaded Bamboo Path, and then light the Opera House Bell.
3. Fight and beat Yuding, No. 12 Crescent Blade Puppet, at the Training Grounds. Winning gives you the weapon, and she will not return afterward.

Qinglong Form, a brief state that can be entered in several ways but spent in only one, accounts for most of what makes this weapon unusual.

Crescent Storm: attacking as you charge

Keep the button held and pay Sha-Chi to whirl the blade in an unbroken attack. The whirl inflicts damage while also charging the weapon, and once fully charged it places you in Qinglong Form for a brief period.

Qinglong Cleave closes the form

Only usable during Qinglong Form, this attack instantly slays weaker enemies. The form ends once it is used, so hold it for a target it will really finish off instead of swinging the moment the form starts.

Warm-Wine Qinglong Cleave

One Sha-Chi is the price of the Power Surge. Soul drives enemies backward, moves forward at a deliberate speed and slices a rend through space. Weaker enemies die instantly to it as well, and since Qinglong Form remains afterward, a second cleave can follow right away rather than starting the spin over.

Sweeps and lifted shields

Outside the form, the broad arc lets a single sweep strike a line of enemies, and from the front the blade can pry a lifted shield open. This keeps the weapon handy during periods when you lack Sha-Chi for spinning.

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

• Weaker enemies are removed by Qinglong Cleave in a single blow, saving time against mixed groups.
• Because Crescent Storm keeps attacking as it charges, you never stand idle on the way to Qinglong Form.
• After shoving foes back, Warm-Wine Qinglong Cleave grants the form, setting up a second cleave.
• Thanks to Sundering Stroke, the charge can be skipped altogether: equip the weapon or deflect a Blue-flash Attack.

Weaknesses

• Only weaker enemies fall to the instant kill, so it cannot be used as a shortcut against all foes.
• Keeping Crescent Storm going drains Sha-Chi, and Qinglong Form is over quickly.
• Since Qinglong Cleave finishes the form, a swing that misses forces you to charge again from scratch.
• You obtain it well into the game, and the material for tempering it is located in the next region, gated by a quest condition.

Best used for

• Mixed groups containing weaker enemies: spin to enter the form, then cleave.
• Lined-up enemies and lifted shields, attacking from the front with the broad sweep.
• Following Soul Tempering, as a weapon to swap in, which puts you into Qinglong Form the instant you change to it.

A puppet infatuated with generals of the stage

The heroic generals of the stage had captivated Yuding, so her master placed this blade in her grasp. Afterward she had no equal in combat. According to the item description, it is a blade etched with Qinglong, and its sweeping and cleaving strokes can cut through anything.

• For the achievement The Four Freed, Yuding is counted with three other great puppets.
• Both the French and the Spanish names of this weapon are Guandao.