Zuo Shang in Diverging Paths was an opening tutorial, and The Hunt from Reckless Pursuit was an on-rails carriage duel. Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute, is the first main boss in Phantom Blade Zero that will flatten you if you try to button-mash through his combos.
Found in Weeping Creek Valley you face during the Against the Flow main quest, this hulking Maskwalker—formerly Peng Meng, eldest of the Four Fierce Axes—has undergone Transcension into a roided-out monstrosity. He enters the arena wielding a big rusty cleaver that inflicts Bleed buildup, and he will happily turn your 66-day lifespan into sixty-six seconds if you disrespect his reach. That’s why we’re here with a few tips and strategies we used to kill Jagged Steel so you can also beat him down without serious trouble.
Phantom Blade Zero Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute Location
You will encounter Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute as a main story boss in an open, flooded clearing behind the waterfalls in Weeping Creek Valley right after slicing through the Red Thread Barrier.
Before rushing him, deal with the two minions loitering in the water. While they occasionally trade useless swings with the boss, one will inevitably aggro onto you during the battle and interrupt your combo strings. Lure them out to take them down or let the boss deal with them while you stand still and study his moves before the fight, and breathe easy knowing that if The Frenzied Brute kills you, dead minions won’t respawn on your run back.
Jagged Steel Attack Moveset and How to Counter
Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Blade, moves unpredictably, thrives on chaos, and hits incredibly hard, but his startup animations are massive. If you get the hang of what each windup means, it makes the difference between an easy win and a total disaster.
| Attack | Move and Counter Tips |
|---|---|
| Triple Slam | Move: The Brute raises his blade overhead and brings it crashing down three times in succession. Occasionally, he skips the opening two swings and triggers only the final leaping slam as a solo attack.
How to Counter: You can parry each downward slam as they come, but dodging left, right, or directly through his legs on the final descent is far better. His recovery after the slam is sluggish, leaving his back completely exposed for a long punish window. |
| Standard Sword Combos | Move: The Frenzied Brute performs quick horizontal and diagonal slashes strung together in chains of two to four hits. He usually prefaces these strikes by jogging forward with his sword arm cocked far behind his shoulder.
How to Counter: Parry every swing to eat away at his guard meter, or hold block if caught off-guard. Backing up slightly out of his reach will also cause the later swings in the combo to whiff harmlessly. |
| Spinning Slashes | Move: Jagged Steel rotates his torso and spins forward across the ground like a top, slashing in wide, continuous horizontal circles.
How to Counter: Hold block through the first two attacks to absorb the momentum without draining Soul’s Sha-Chi meter. Once you understand his moves, parry on the third rotation to deflect the blade, stagger him out of the spin, and knock him off balance. |
| Blue-Flash Attack | Move: A three-hit close-range combo that concludes with a blue flash swing.
How to Counter: Block or deflect the first two slashes, then stand your ground and tap L1 / LB right as the blue glint connects. A successful parry costs zero Sha-Chi, takes a big part out of his posture bar, and triggers a Ghoststep that teleports Soul behind The Frenzied Brute to deliver a counterattack combo string. |
| Red-Flash Strike | Move: Jagged Steel has a sudden unblockable lunge or overhead leap that starts with a red flash. This single attack comes straight out of a neutral stance without any combo.
How to Counter: Since red attacks bypass your guard frames, they cannot be blocked or parried. Instead, dodge with R1 or Circle to roll diagonally toward him or to the side. Executing a Perfect Dodge triggers a Ghoststep that puts you right behind him while he recovers. |
| Red-Flash Combo | Move: Watch The Frenzied Brute’s right hand or body for a faint red glow that kicks off a punishing six-hit combo. He throws five fast slashes you can block or parry before executing a red flash strike that goes right through your guard.
How to Counter: Block or parry the first five hits while keeping a close eye on your Sha-Chi meter. As soon as the windup for the sixth strike begins, immediately dodge left or right or forward through the blow to evade the unblockable finisher and punish his whiff recovery. |
How to Defeat Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute
The dying Iron Mask earlier warned you about a jagged, rusty blade that causes blood loss, and he was not exaggerating. Every strike Soul receives from Jagged Steel’s cleaver, along with standard blocks that aren’t perfect deflections, inflicts Bleed buildup. If the red Bleed gauge shown in the screen’s bottom left gets filled, you suffer Blood Loss, where Soul’s blood gushes all over, tearing off a massive chunk of maximum HP. You must rely on sharp deflections, clean dodges, or spacing rather than passively holding your guard up against his attacks.
Equip the Sanguine Twin dual blades found just outside this arena near the ladder. Jagged Steel’s frontal guard is stout, but his turn rate after heavy slams is atrocious. Whenever he whiffs a leaping overhead slam or a red-flash strike, dodge behind him and let loose with the blades’ fast normal attack. The sheer amount of hits burns through his posture far faster than what slow weapons can manage.
Sha-Chi being depleted halts your offense and leaves you open to a guard break. When your yellow bar is reduced to nil during a strike, hit the weapon swap button. Switching between Sanguine and Sanguine Twin on the fly restores your Sha-Chi so you can keep pounding his guard without missing a beat.
Draining his guard leaves the Frenzied Brute staggered and completely defenseless. Go wild with the standard combos, then trigger your charged Power Surge or weapon art right before his guard meter comes back. This extends his hitstun for the entire duration of the special attack, carving off large parts of his stamina before he can reset.
Once Jagged Steel is below 50% HP, he speeds up his moves. His combos work together very fast, and he mixes in red-flash lunges with far less warning. Stop overcommitting to greedy frontal combos. Keep a moderate distance, bait out his leaping slam, slip behind his back, and let timed deflections do the heavy lifting until he takes his last breaths.
Jagged Steel, the Frenzied Brute Rewards
- Weapon: Jagged Steel (One-Handed Sword)
- Base Attack: 240
- Status Effects: 124
- Innate Trait: Inflicts Bleed buildup on hit that can create massive Hemorrhage bursts against enemy targets.
- Weapon Skill (L2): Jagged Steel Rampage (a frenzy of fast cleaves that shreds enemy guard meters).
Equip it in place of your standard Sanguine blade to carry that same Bleed threat into the rest of Weeping Creek Valley or beyond.
