Dusk the Puppeteer

Dusk the Puppeteer is a hidden, optional Phantom Blade Zero boss at the bottom of the Broken Puppet Pit in the Village of Lu, opened by collecting all six Firefly Memory Flowers. Kill his puppets first, block or deflect his stones, dodge the giant hands, and hit the weaker clone after he splits. He drops the Puppeteer's Bell and the Illusory Pipa Head.

Dusk the Puppeteer is a fight you win by ignoring him: destroying his puppets damages Dusk and drains his Sha-Chi, so the boss bar falls fastest while you clear the arena around him. He is a hidden boss in the Village of Lu after you find six memory flowers, and the reward is the Puppeteer's Bell, the Phantom Edge that lends Soul a pair of shield puppets of his own. PCGamesN finds that "None of his attacks are hard to see coming or hard to dodge."

In PowerPyx's Oct 29, 2026 recording the fight proper starts at 1:30: Soul walks out onto the rocky floor of the pit under high cliff walls as the bar reading "Dusk, the Puppeteer" appears, with a red-lit figure waiting in the haze ahead.

Quick facts

Where	Bottom of the Broken Puppet Pit, Village of Lu
Chapter	No chapter of its own; the Village of Lu's story chapter is 5, Heartless Remnants
Required	No, and hidden behind a fog barrier
Phases	Two: he splits into two bodies at low health
Nearest bell	Broken Puppet Pit Bottom, several dozen meters away
Rewards	Puppeteer's Bell and Illusory Pipa Head
Bell at level 1	Two puppets for up to 15 seconds, Summon Health 1,911, Summon Damage 22

Six flowers and a fog barrier

Collect every Firefly Memory Flower in the Village of Lu (Game8); one grows just above Zhuo Bi's arena. The region's flower sets are on Collectibles.
Interact with the fog barrier behind the Temple of Blue Fireflies.
Follow the path to the Broken Puppet Pit bell. KeenGamer describes the same trip as following the path to the angler and dropping into the ravine.
Jump off the ledge to start the fight. AllThings.how names two bells in the pit, the Entrance bell at the top and the Bottom bell nearest the arena.

Puppets first

Game8 says to focus on clearing them, ranged puppets before the rest, with wide weapons such as the Scarlet Wraithblade or Hunter's Chain Sickle. PCGamesN agrees: "Focus on the summons when they appear." PPE kills the small, quick puppets first and leaves the slow largest one for a while, and expects to switch between parries and dodges all fight, watching the whole arena rather than Dusk alone.

The puppets are also your healing. Game8 suggests unlocking Blood Remedy and Endless Renewal levels 1 and 2, so executing puppets restores HP and can return Medicine and Remnant Sparks (Skills and Upgrades); PPE heals off them with the Outlaw Warblade.

What Dusk throws at you

Stone barrage: block. PPE deflects the stones back, which stuns him for little Sha-Chi: rush in while he is stunned. Dodge the heavier thrown objects.
Giant hand puppets: their slams deal massive damage. Dodge.
Claw rush: a combo ending in a Killer Move, usually up close. Perfect dodge the end of it.
Two small puppets, then a blink-in Brutal Move: puppets strike from both sides, then he blinks in. Perfect parry right after the puppets finish, for a Ghoststep.
Spinning threads, then two summons at your sides: dodge (a plain dodge still avoids the damage if you miss the perfect timing), or parry. PPE adds that the summoned puppets stay in the arena if you do not perfect dodge the summon.
Palm blasts: air blasts from his palms. PPE says to parry each one, releasing and pressing again, then counter the last hit.

Two Dusks

At low health Dusk splits into two bodies, each with all his melee and ranged attacks. Hit the weaker clone, which Game8 says takes far more health and Sha-Chi damage than the original, and switch targets the moment the damaged bar changes, since he can swap bodies at any time. PPE says to keep the two apart, focus whichever you stun, dodge far away when a marker appears in the arena, and use a Phantom Edge's area damage when they stand together.

The Puppeteer's Bell

The bell summons one Sword-and-Shield Puppet and one Spear-and-Shield Puppet for 2 Phantom Edge resource, only where Sha-Chi is dense. Its Abyssal Bell Soul Temper, for Herald's Lingering Threads from Mount Soulrend and 5,000 Remnant Dust, adds a third puppet (Phantom Edges). Summoning is not rare: 41.9% of Steam players had called an ally with a Summon-type Phantom Edge by Nov 9, 2026 (the achievement A Friend from Thin Air), the bell being one of them. With the bell comes the Illusory Pipa Head, a piece of the Illusory Pipa mystery that Jewel at the Crossroads moves on (Heartless Remnants).

Frequently asked questions

How do you unlock Dusk the Puppeteer in Phantom Blade Zero? Collect all six Firefly Memory Flowers in the Village of Lu, then interact with the fog barrier behind the Temple of Blue Fireflies and follow the path down to the Broken Puppet Pit, Game8 says. One of the six grows just above Zhuo Bi's arena at the village entrance.

Which Dusk should you attack after he splits? The weaker clone, which takes far more health and Sha-Chi damage. Watch the bar: Dusk can swap bodies at any time, and the damaged bar changing is your cue to switch targets.