Sanguine Twin.

Two short-handled blades, one per hand, make up Sanguine Twin, the quickest offshoot of the Sanguine family.

Forge produced them for Soul on Inanis' order, working from Sanguine's material and cutting a shorter shape. The one-handed original pushes forward with heavy hits, but the Twin counts on a thick, rapid rain of attacks that leaves an enemy too occupied with defending to strike back.

Within the opening stretch of the game, prior to Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute, you pick it up, making it among the very first candidates for your main weapon slot. At the beginning it goes well beside Sanguine, and shortly after beside Jagged Steel. Dual-wield weapons arriving later feature more intricate mechanics, so what keeps this one valuable over time is its rapid normal strikes, and finally the tempered version called Shadowless Edge.

Before you start:

• Merely arriving here along the early route

1. Starting from The Beginning Bell in Weeping Creek Valley, walk the main route to The Lady’s Rift and the waterfall. Slide down the rope there and Yu'er is waiting.
2. Go back up and carry on beside the creek, passing her. Just ahead sits the weapon rack with Sanguine Twin, before the ladder that takes you to the First Meeting with Yu'er Bell.
3. Grab it off the rack. This is a guaranteed item on the main path, not an enemy drop, and you reach it prior to the Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute, battle.

Its moves are a Standard Combo, a Sha-Chi Combo and Dual-Blade Flurry. Tempo defines it: swings follow one another with barely any gap, so an enemy who remains within range is hit again and again.

Flurry that gets past the guard

One point of Sha-Chi Essence pays for this Power Surge, which lets loose a spinning burst of cuts from both blades. Blocking has no effect on it, so it slips by shields and raised guards rather than hammering against them. Wear an enemy's guard down with the fast basic attacks first, then cash in with the flurry.

Burning posture against a slow turner

A slow-turning foe is the ideal victim of a barrage of light strikes. Take Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute: after he whiffs an overhead slam or red-flash strike, dodge to his rear and keep the quick normal attacks coming. Slower weapons wear his guard down more sluggishly than these small blows.

Route for unlocking the dual-wield skills

Level 5 gives the weapon its own Chi-Infused Blade, a boost to swing tempo and shield pressure that deepens its natural strengths. After it, Shadow Execution is unlocked at Level 10 and ranked up at Level 20 and Level 30, whereas Relentless Pursuit and Blades at Will become available at Level 15 and Level 25.

Perks from levelling

Every upgrade lifts the weapon by one level, and these moves and passives become available at the levels listed.

Materials for upgrading

Meeting Forge at the Outpost unlocks upgrading. Dual-wield weapons need metal of their own type, and every step additionally takes Remnant Dust.

Soul Tempering

Soul Tempering becomes available when Myst in Pangzhen has been met. Collecting the two Chaos Iron fragments is the preparation: one lies with the Long Pillar of the Phantom Illusionist Ruins, and Yucong in Crimson Forest yields the other once defeated.

Strengths

• Quick basic attacks pin an enemy back and give them little chance to reply.
• Dual-Blade Flurry cannot be blocked, so shields and raised guards do not stop it.
• Enemies that turn slowly lose guard fast under the weight of numerous light hits.
• Bleed is not what drives its damage, so it stays useful against puppets like Hua.

Weaknesses

• When all you are doing is striking the guard, blunt, heavy weapons such as Juggernaut and Bashpole get through shields and thick armor faster.
• No status effect or unique state belongs to it, so it has fewer gimmicks than dual-wield weapons obtained afterwards.
• Two distinct objectives late in the game stand in the way of tempering it, one of them a very lengthy optional boss fight.

Best used for

• Fights early on against Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute, and Peng Meng.
• Teaming it with Jagged Steel, so that one weapon covers defence and the other applies Bleed whenever an opening appears.
• Bosses that are puppets, against which Bleed does nothing.
• Quick enemies in light armor who can be overwhelmed with hits.

Item text calls them twin blades with short handles, which Forge copied from Sanguine's material; their blows fall like rain and nothing is as fast. Forge likewise used that material to produce the long Sanguine Reach.