Phantom Blade Zero’s best weapon might just be the first one you get

Why is bleed always so strong? I guess the entire concept of dealing damage, but also building a status bar on an enemy that deals even more damage when it reaches full, is a bit OP as ideas go. Anyone who’s played Elden Ring for any length of time has likely experienced Reduvia and Rivers of Blood, most likely when Nerijus invaded and wiped out their health bar in the starting area.

Well, Phantom Blade Zero also has an extremely strong bleed weapon early in the game: Jagged Steel, which you get from the first boss you face (who also happens to be called Jagged Steel). During this boss fight, you’ll experience the joys of bleed first hand while trying to block him, but this sword is well worth it:

• Its central weapon mechanic is Blood Blade, a stackable buff that increases bleed buildup and damage.
• At Level 5, it gets a special attack against guard-broken enemies which grants a Blood Blade stack.
• At Level 10 it gets more bleed buildup.
• At Level 15, you can charge a slash to build stacks of Blood Blade before unleashing them.
• At Level 20, it gets even more bleed buildup.

And this isn’t mentioning its powered-up left trigger combo which unleashes a flurry of slashes that rapidly apply bleed buildup, basically a guaranteed bleed proc every time. A significant portion of Phantom Blade Zero’s bosses are humans who are all susceptible to bleed, making it very strong early in the game.

But if you’re thinking: surely it’s not effective against all enemies? You’d be right. There are Puppets, Golden Bodies, and Phantom Bodies which bleed doesn’t work on. Or at least it doesn’t until you grab the Livingwood Talisman in the Village of Lu in a chest near the Smuggler’s Tunnel, an accessory that makes bleed work on all of the above at 50% effectiveness.

You can also polish this accessory to improve that to 70%, so now you have a very powerful bleed weapon that can apply it to every enemy and boss in the game at almost full effectiveness. I’m about 30 hours in as I write this and even though I’ve experimented with various weapons, and have some dual-swords in my second slot, I’m still using Jagged Steel. It’s just really damn strong, especially in terms of its offensive skills.

So, if you’re looking for a weapon to make the early game easier in Phantom Blade Zero, invest in Jagged Steel—you won’t regret it.