Parting Hooks.

Once owned by the Elite Shadow Warden Soulclaimer, Parting Hooks are silver hooks curved like the moon, and they favour a player who lets the enemy act first.

Every shaft curves like a waning moon, ending in slender points and grips wrapped in frayed cord. They function as a counter weapon. Rather than starting a fight, the hooks adopt a guard stance, hold until the enemy swings, then slash back along their arcs.

This sets them apart from Armybreaker. Armybreaker charges forward, whereas the hooks trail slightly, giving the opponent room to overextend. Players who struggle with repeated manual parries get the most from them, because the stance does the blocking and the countering by itself. The typical mistake is greed: grabbing the counter half a step too soon ruins the stance and exposes you.

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:

• Reach Pangzhen
• Beat Soulclaimer, Elite Shadow Warden

1. Go to Pangzhen and light the Dockside Warehouse bell.
2. Jump down from the bell and walk into the big courtyard. Beat Soulclaimer, the Elite Shadow Warden, and the hooks are yours.
3. Take the stairs out of the arena, and you will see the Pangzhen Docks bell to your right.

Its moveset boils down to a single defensive posture plus a closing technique, with combos covering the remainder.

Counter via the Guard Stance

To adopt the self-acting guard stance, keep Block pressed and add Heavy. Melee strikes from enemies get stopped and thrown back at them, and the reply scales with what it answers, so a weightier blow earns a stronger response.

Only Black-Flash attacks get past it. Blocking and countering both fail against them, which leaves dodging as the response.

Peerless Hook

This is the signature martial art of the hooks: Peerless Hook uses up 1 Sha-Chi, and foes have no way to block it.

Stance timing

The enemy has to commit before the hooks do anything. If you enter the stance too soon, while no swing is yet coming, there is nothing to counter and the setup falls apart. Hold until the attack lands, and allow the stance to respond.

Four forms of upgrade

At level 5 you get Counter Follow-Up, at level 15 Counteroffensive, and at level 25 Divine Beast Bind. Poised to Strike is unlocked at level 10 and strengthened at levels 20 and 30. Across its forms the weapon moves from guarding to grappling.

Perks from levelling

Gained while the weapon rises from level 1 to 60.

Soul Tempering

Levelling steps

Reaching level 60 from level 1 takes 59 upgrades, which multiply stats by up to 6.9. At the final level the readout is Damage 1,987 with Guard Break 814.

Strengths

• Many attacks get blocked and countered by the guard stance without input, which suits anyone whose manual parrying is weak.
• Since the counter grows with the blow received, hard boss strikes are repaid with hard punishment.
• Shields are torn apart by strong guard-break power.
• With Foretelling Strike, a perfect parry of a Blue-flash attack yields a Counter at no cost.

Weaknesses

• Nothing about the stance protects you from Black-Flash attacks, which can be neither blocked nor countered.
• Fights are never started with it. Going into the stance prematurely squanders it and leaves you open.

Best used for

• When facing a run of blockable attacks, reply after the enemy completes the sequence.
• When facing shield users, because of its strong guard-break power.