Phantom Blade Zero · Builds
Outlaw Warblade build: how do you heal while you attack?
This build lives on the drain of Outlaw Warblade. Damage you take while charging Reckless Cleave becomes Recoverable HP, and the Sha-Chi Combo (Y Y) turns your own HP into Recoverable HP for more damage; your attacks win it back, and three Defensive accessories cut whatever still gets through.
What goes in the Outlaw Warblade build?
Each effect is the game’s own text at the first level; the number after it is the fully polished or upgraded value.
The game will not let you equip more than three accessories of the same category, which is why this build stops at three.
| Piece | Slot | What it does | Why it is in this build |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outlaw Warblade | Weapon | Skills you use: Reckless Cleave (Lv. 5), Reaping Retreat, Bloodthirst Frenzy, Ruthless Outlaw | All three drain skills restore HP, and its Soul Tempering, Ruthless Outlaw, raises your damage the longer you keep Recoverable HP. |
| Ancient Armor Fragment | Accessory · Defensive | The higher your HP, the greater the damage reduction, up to 20% at full HP.Fully polished: 20% → 40% | The drain keeps your HP near full, which is where this cut is biggest. |
| Boulderguard | Accessory · Defensive | Reduces damage taken by 15% while not Guard-Broken.Fully polished: 15% → 20% | A flat cut on every hit while you are not Guard-Broken. |
| Mother’s Talisman | Accessory · Defensive | Restores 10% HP when Guard-Broken.Fully polished: 10% → 20% | Pays HP back at the one moment Boulderguard stops working. |
| Kuye Dew | Medicine | Reduces damage taken by 20% for 15 seconds and restores 40% HP over 10 seconds.Fully upgraded: Reduces damage taken by 40% for 25 seconds and restores 60% HP over 10 seconds. | Your emergency heal for the last phase: a damage cut plus HP over time. |
How do you play it?
- Raise Outlaw Warblade to level 5 to unlock Reckless Cleave.
- Open with Reckless Cleave: hold L1 + Y to charge. Damage you take during the charge becomes Recoverable HP, and landing the strike gives 50% of it back.
- Between openings, follow any Y attack with X for Reaping Retreat: a retreating slash that drains life and restores more HP while Recoverable HP is still showing.
- When you have Sha-Chi Essence, press L2 for Bloodthirst Frenzy. It cannot be blocked, pins the enemy down and drains its blood.
- If you are Guard-Broken, Mother’s Talisman heals you. Keep Kuye Dew for the last phase, when trading hits gets too costly.
The game text of Reckless Cleave, Reaping Retreat and Bloodthirst Frenzy says the drain has no effect on Puppets, Golden Bodies or Phantom Bodies. Livingwood Talisman brings part of it back.
What can you swap in?
What if your guard keeps breaking?
Swap Boulderguard for Agarwood Prayer Beads. You spend less time Guard-Broken, so the gap that Mother’s Talisman has to cover gets shorter.
| Piece | Slot | What it does | Why it is in this build |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agarwood Prayer Beads | Accessory · Support | Reduces recovery time from Guard-Broken by 15%.Fully polished: 15% → 30% | Shorter Guard Break, faster back to draining. |
What do you wear against Puppets?
Swap Ancient Armor Fragment for Livingwood Talisman in fights against Puppets, Golden Bodies or Phantom Bodies. It gives your Lifesteal back at part strength.
| Piece | Slot | What it does | Why it is in this build |
|---|---|---|---|
| Livingwood Talisman | Accessory · Defensive | Bleed and Lifesteal are 50% effective against Puppets, Phantoms, and Golden Bodies.Fully polished: 50% → 70% | Lifesteal works on enemies that normally ignore it. |
Where do you get each piece?
Where do you get Outlaw Warblade?
Chapter 2, Crimson Forest — nearest bell: Outlaw Trap (dropped by Jing Ye, the Outlaw)
Where do you get Ancient Armor Fragment?
On the map:
Where do you get Boulderguard?
No chest holds it and no enemy drops it. It is buried in a grave mound in the stables beside the Axemaster’s cell, and digging there only turns it up after the disciple who starts Four Fierce Axes has told you who lies there.
First, defeat Peng Meng, the Axemaster. Until he is dead, the disciple only begs you to stay away.
Go back to the Outpost Bell. The Petrified Mandate Disciple hides in a house about 78 m east of it. Talk to him after the fight: now he tells you that the Axemaster’s three brothers were buried in a hurry, in the stables.
Travel to The Axemaster’s Holding Cell Bell and go through the door beside it. Inside is a hastily piled grave mound, with neither offerings nor a headstone. Walk up to it and choose Examine the Grave, and Boulderguard is yours. Without the disciple’s story it is just a nameless grave, and you find nothing.
Petrified Mandate Disciple: About 78 m east of the Outpost Bell (Weeping Creek Valley), about 4 m below it
Nearest Bell: OutpostApproximate: distances are estimated from the game data, and the map painting is not to scale.Open this spot on the map →
The grave mound: through the door beside The Axemaster’s Holding Cell BellNearest Bell: The Axemaster’s Holding CellApproximate: distances are estimated from the game data, and the map painting is not to scale.Open this spot on the map →Where do you get Mother’s Talisman?
A reward from the quest A Dream of Motherhood, during this step: Find the puppet containing the weaver's soul.
Where do you get Kuye Dew?
A pickup in the Crimson Forest (Chapter 2): the map card shows the spot and the nearest Bell.
Where do you get Agarwood Prayer Beads?
A reward from the quest Leave None Alive, during this step: Bring Huijue's relic to the Kuye Temple monk in Village of Lu.
Where do you get Livingwood Talisman?
On the map:
Frequently asked questions
Does the Outlaw Warblade drain work on every enemy?
The game text of Reckless Cleave, Reaping Retreat and Bloodthirst Frenzy says the drain has no effect on Puppets, Golden Bodies or Phantom Bodies. Livingwood Talisman brings part of it back.
Can you wear more than three Defensive accessories?
The game will not let you equip more than three accessories of the same category, which is why this build stops at three.
When does Ancient Armor Fragment help most?
The drain keeps your HP near full, which is where this cut is biggest.
Read next
Sources for this page 3
- Every name and effect is the game’s own text Official Phantom Blade Zero launch localisation tables, accessory table and Medicine texts: every item’s effect at its first and at its fully polished or upgraded level, and each weapon’s skill texts, checked 8 November 2026.
- Where each piece comes from Official Phantom Blade Zero game data (chest and pickup positions, quest rewards, boss drops), the same as on each piece’s own page on this site.
- Which pieces go together, and in what order you use them Our reading The combinations and the order of play are ours, put together from the item and skill texts above.