Soulclaimer

Soulclaimer, Elite Shadow Warden, is Phantom Blade Zero's required boss at the Pangzhen docks, fought past the Dockside Warehouse bell just before the boat to Meigu Lake. Most of his attacks can be blocked; parry the blue spin after he runs off, dodge his red combo enders and let him strike first. He drops the Parting Hooks.

Let Soulclaimer, Elite Shadow Warden, swing first: most of his attacks can be blocked, the one to parry is the blue spin he makes after running away, and attacking into his crossed-weapon guard hands him a counter you cannot interrupt. He is a required main-story boss of The Four Serpent Houses, the chapter after The Heart's Trail, fought at the Pangzhen docks with two Baishan Sect disciples often at his side, and has 76,300 HP on Pathbreaker. You meet him past the Dockside Warehouse bell just before you get the boat at the edge of Pangzhen, and he drops the Parting Hooks, a counter weapon. Steam counts him only as a third of Three Wardens Fall, the achievement for downing him, Cavalrybane and Heartpiercer, and that trio rose from 21.3% of Steam players on Nov 4 to 34.8% on Nov 9, 2026.

The arena in PowerPyx's Oct 29, 2026 recording is a stone-paved yard among market stalls and hanging basket lanterns: at 0:27 a cloaked figure in dark armor trades blows with Soul under the bar "Soulclaimer, Elite Shadow Warden".

To the Dockside Warehouse

From the Pavilion of Knowledge Crossroads, Maxroll's route heads up the stairs on the left and burns the wall of vines, follows the path to the roof, climbs the wall and uses the chain to cross to the Dockside Warehouse bell; save there before the fight. After it, the house on the right by the water holds a Sha-Chi Amber Fragment upstairs, and the Pangzhen Docks bell unlocks the Sha-Chi Powered Boat. Maxroll then sends you back to the Village of Lu for the Mandate Encampment, a detour it ties to the perfect ending (Endings).

Game8's page is unsure of the place itself: it puts him in "the ruins of an old village" of Pangzhen while its introduction says Meigu Lake. Maxroll and PCGamesN both place him at the Pangzhen docks.

Let him swing first

Play defensively. Game8 says most of his attacks can be blocked.
Hold block through his fast strings and be ready to dodge their red-glint enders.
Let him strike first. When he crosses his weapons to block you, a cinematic counterattack that cannot be interrupted often follows; attack only when he is staggered or just starting a combo.
Interrupt the spin. Game8 suggests a weapon skill mid-spin, such as the Baishan Stormswords, whose wind follow-up can knock him back.

Spins, leaps and the crossed guard

Run-away spin: he backs off, then spins toward you. PCGamesN calls it "the only real attack to worry about"; it is blue, so parry it.
Sideways spin into a blue glint: parryable, and you can interrupt him mid-spin instead of waiting for the glint.
Swift limbo strike: a quick red-glint combo ender. Hold block and be ready to dodge.
Forward tumble leap: another red-glint ender. Hold block or dodge.
Sha-Chi draining leap: slower, with more time to react. Parry or block it.
Crossed-weapon guard: his block, usually followed by a counterattack that cannot be interrupted. Do not attack into it.

The Banyan Tree rematch

AllThings.how lists him at two levels, 13 and 18, with 76,300 and 116,280 HP, and Maxroll meets him again in a tag team. In Meigu Lake's Banyan Tree challenge, the final wave pairs Cavalrybane and Soulclaimer, both Elite Shadow Wardens. Maxroll's advice is to burn one down rather than split your damage: "Soulclaimer is a bit easier to stick to and burn down, but isn't as much of a threat if ignored," while Cavalrybane is harder to take out first but more dangerous left alone.

The Parting Hooks

KeenGamer ranks the Parting Hooks S-tier among Phantom Blade Zero's weapons. Their Guard Stance "automatically blocks and counters eligible enemy attacks", it writes, though not Black Flash attacks, which you still have to dodge. The hooks' place against the other blades is on Weapons.