Jagged Steel.

Jagged Steel is the rusted, chipped blade wielded by Weeping Creek Valley's first boss, and it offers a bleed setup you can use right away in the early game.

Its edge is broken and its surface rusty, but wounds it makes still refuse to close. Each strike fills a Bleed Gauge, and a full gauge inflicts Blood Loss on the enemy in one go. Facing the brute himself teaches you the effect firsthand, after which it becomes yours to wield.

Regular combos fill the Bleed Gauge, upgrades increase bleed buildup, and the Blood Blade buff allows you to accumulate bonuses before spending them. Plenty of bosses in the game are human and vulnerable to bleed, so the blade is extremely powerful early on.

Enemies immune to bleeding are what hold it back. Puppets, Golden Bodies and Phantom Bodies disregard the effect, so the Livingwood Talisman is an essential accessory for this weapon.

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:

• Beat Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute

1. Head to Weeping Creek Valley and get to Rustblade Pavilion.
2. Kill Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute. The blade is the prize for winning, and you can pick it up right beside the battle site.

All of the blade's abilities feed the Bleed Gauge. Once it is full, Blood Loss deals the damage in a single burst.

Bleed Gauge and Blood Loss

Strikes cause Bleeding and raise the gauge. When it is full, Blood Loss goes off.

Blood Blade and how it is upgraded

Blood Blade is a buff that stacks, raising both bleed buildup and damage. The blade picks up a special attack at level 5 that works on guard-broken enemies and awards a stack. Level 10 brings extra bleed buildup. From level 15, a charged slash lets you accumulate stacks before unleashing them. Level 20 gives yet more bleed buildup, followed by Frenzied Blood Blade at level 25, while Relentless Bleed carries on at levels 10, 20 and 30.

Jagged Steel Rampage

Spending 1 Sha-Chi makes the blade launch a wild barrage of slashes, which rapidly fills the gauge and sets off Blood Loss. Because it cannot be blocked, enemies that guard are still affected.

Open Wounds

Open Wounds, an upgrade through Soul Tempering, means your attacks continue to raise the Bleed Gauge despite being blocked by the enemy.

Bleed-proof enemies

Immunity is the default for Puppets, Golden Bodies and Phantom Bodies. Open the chest by the Smuggler's Tunnel in the Village of Lu to take the Livingwood Talisman, which makes bleed effective against all three at half strength (50 percent), improving to 70 percent when polished.

Levelling steps

Soul Tempering

Strengths

• Regular strikes fill bleed, so the weapon is effective from the very first battle.
• The Bleed Gauge fills very rapidly with Rampage, which no block can stop.
• Numerous bosses are human, so Blood Loss is effective against them.

Weaknesses

• Bleed is normally ignored by Puppets, Golden Bodies and Phantom Bodies.
• When the Livingwood Talisman is missing, the weapon cannot apply its core effect on those enemies, and with it the effect still works only in part.
• The Iron Butcher Mask, dropped by an optional boss, is required for Open Wounds.

Best used for

• Opening bosses and human enemies, since Blood Loss may end a battle outright.
• Dealing damage once a guard is broken, preferably paired with a partner that breaks guards, such as Wooden Sanguine.
• Puppets, Golden Bodies and Phantom Bodies take bleed at 70 percent when you carry a Livingwood Talisman that has been polished.

A disciple of Huangxing, a Pillar of the Mandate, was robbed of the blade by the brute who afterward covered his face in scrap metal to suppress his Sha-Chi. Chipped beyond repair even then, and rusted throughout, it nonetheless inflicts wounds that keep bleeding.