Phantom Blade Zero Soul Tempering Guide: How to Unlock It, Cost and Every Known Upgrade

Soul Tempering is Phantom Blade Zero's second upgrade track. Normal upgrades raise a weapon's level with materials and Remnant Dust. Soul Tempering is a one-time upgrade that either transforms a weapon into a new named weapon or gives it a permanent named effect. It also counts toward two trophies, so it is worth understanding early.

How to unlock it

AllThings.How explains that you unlock Soul Tempering by talking to Myst in the Order's underground tavern in Pangzhen, which you reach during the story quest Town of Death. She sits at a low table with a teapot. Her menu includes "Soul Temper", along with talk about the Illusory Pipa and the Boatmaster of Meigu Lake.

How it works and what it costs

Each temper costs 5,000 Remnant Dust plus one key item that is specific to that weapon, according to AllThings.How. The key item only works on the weapon named on its card. On the upgrade screen, switch from normal upgrading to Soul Tempering mode. The screen turns purple and shows the upgrade's name, its effect and whether you own the key item.

Main weapon upgrades

AllThings.How lists these (weapon → upgrade, key item):

• Sanguine Twin → Shadowless Edge (transforms), Chaos Twin Daggers.
• Sanguine → Infernal Rouge (transforms), Bastion of Mó Mask.
• Sanguine Reach → Blazing Edge (transforms), Flaming Grip.
• Tianxuan Bronze Sword → Effortless Action, Bronze Essence. Lets you block while Guard-Broken by spending a little HP.
• Scarlet Wraithblade → Lingering Grudge, Embroidered Shoes. Red Spider Lilies build a gauge that explodes; allies inside them use less Sha-Chi and heal more.
• Jagged Steel → Open Wounds, Iron Butcher Mask. Attacks build Bleed even when blocked.
• Outlaw Warblade → Ruthless Outlaw, Six Paths Warrant. Up to 25% more damage the longer you hold Recoverable HP.
• White Serpent & Crimson Viper → Hundred-Knot Serpents, Serpent's Memory.
• Fiend Saws → Endless Fiend Form, Heel Reinforcement Part.

Where some key items come from

PCGamesN and games.gg identify several sources:

• Iron Butcher Mask: Iron Butcher in the Mountain of Imprisonment.
• Embroidered Shoes: Grief-Stricken Jin at Meigu Lake.
• Scorching Flames: Zhu Yuan; PCGamesN describes it as a fragment for Sanguine Reach's temper.
• Quenched Flaming Grip: the Meigu Lake Lóng Pillar, the other half of the Flaming Grip.
• Chaos Iron Fragment I: the Phantom Illusionist Ruins pillar, for Sanguine Twin.
• Bastion of Mó Mask: the Mirage Estate pillar, for Sanguine.

See Lóng Pillar locations for routes. We could not confirm the complete recipe for Blazing Edge beyond these two pieces.

Phantom Edge upgrades

TechWiser and AllThings.How list a tempering key for every edge. Some examples:

• Dread Axe → Rapid Charge (30% faster charge), Blood Oath Dagger.
• Hunter's Chain Sickle → Gleaming Hook, Alloyed Scythe Blade (from the Puppet Scavenger fight).
• Bastion → Fierce Reprisal, Border Banner.
• Fire Meteor → Bone-Eating Ghostfire, Everlasting Flame.
• Iron Gauntlets → Fist Wave, Worldbreaker Fist.
• Kuye Temple Prayer Beads → Golden Formation, Kuye Temple Sutra.
• Thunder Spear → Cascading Thunder, Thunder Core (a chest in Pangzhen).
• You Loong's Deluge → Scalding Steam, High-power Pump (from the second You Loong fight).
• Puppeteer's Bell → Abyssal Bell.
• Inanis' Radiant Fan → Nirvana, Violet Blossom.

The full table for all 25 edges is in our Phantom Edges database. We could not find the Tiger Cannon's tempering material, so it is marked TBD there.

Trophies

The trophy list has A Tempered Ten (temper 10 weapons) and Phantom Arsenal (temper 10 Phantom Edges). See the trophy guide.

Tips

• Budget 5,000 Remnant Dust per temper; see Remnant Dust farming.
• Temper the weapons you actually use first. Jagged Steel's Open Wounds suits the beginner build.
• Keep any key item you find; each one only fits one weapon.