Phantom Blade Zero True Ending Guide: All Requirements and Cut-Off Points

Phantom Blade Zero has several endings, and the best one, which AllThings.How calls the Final Battle ending, asks you to complete a long list of side content before specific story checkpoints. Miss a deadline and you will get a different ending on that playthrough. This guide collects every requirement reported in public guides so you can plan ahead. It contains mild spoilers about late-game locations but not about the story itself.

The short version

According to games.gg, you need to:

1. Complete the ten purple-icon quests before entering the Mirage Estate.
2. Complete Bloodline Awakening by defeating the Gold-Masked One at all five Lóng Pillars.
3. Finish Quick Hand Zhang's requests.
4. Collect the four Acolyte masks and the two Crystal Puppet Eyes.
5. Do all of this before passing The Last Chance bell on Mount Soulrend.

The ten purple quests

games.gg lists these quests, all marked with a purple icon, as required before the Mirage Estate:

• Allure of Vanity
• Crimson Manor
• Deep in the Valley
• Illusion of Inanis
• Illusory Pipa
• Pillars of Kunlun
• Secrets at the Heart of the Lake
• Sha-Chi Powered Boat
• The Herald's Illusion
• Whence the Weeping

Secrets at the Heart of the Lake is particularly important. AllThings.How explains that skipping it entirely gives you the Annihilation ending, while finishing it but leaving a Lóng Pillar undone gives Lóng's Roar. See our endings guide. For the Illusory Pipa line, read the Illusory Pipa guide.

Bloodline Awakening

The five pillars are in Weeping Creek Valley (via the Sha-Chi tower key route), the Crimson Forest (near Iron Fever and Mirrorwood), an eastern island in Meigu Lake, the Phantom Illusionist's realm behind the Four Guardians' Mirror, and the Mirage Estate. The deadlines from games.gg's pillar guide are strict: finish the first four before opening the Green Serpent House door in Pangzhen, and the fifth before The Last Chance bell. Full routes are in Lóng Pillar locations.

The four Acolyte masks

games.gg places the Acolytes as follows:

• Yanru in the Village of Lu.
• Lei Ting in Pangzhen, reached with the Flaming Mane near the Pond of Fading Song.
• Guhe on the eastern island of Meigu Lake.
• Hansui in Crimson Manor, fought alongside the Puppet Scavenger.

PCGamesN notes that the masks open the frozen part of Meigu Lake, which is also home to the Blizzard Blademaster. The masks are needed for the Four Guardians' Mirror, so you need them for the fourth pillar too.

Crystal Puppet Eyes and the mirror realm

games.gg says the two Crystal Puppet Eyes come from the Mountain of Imprisonment and Crimson Manor. With all four masks, use the mirror in northwestern Meigu Lake to enter the Phantom Illusionist's realm. Beat the realm's final boss, find the puppet statue that appears, insert both eyes, then defeat every puppet monk at the ritual. Only then does Secrets at the Heart of the Lake complete. Clear the fourth Lóng Pillar on the same visit to save a trip.

Quick Hand Zhang

There are sixteen relics across five regions. The last set is in the Mirage Estate and one depends on the Opera Ticket. Details: Quick Hand Zhang's requests.

Points of no return

• Green Serpent House door (Pangzhen): leads into the Mirage Estate. Purple quests and the first four pillars must be done.
• The Last Chance bell (Mount Soulrend): final cut-off for the fifth pillar and Quick Hand Zhang.

Rewards

games.gg lists outfits tied to the true ending route, including The Hunt, Kindred, Blizzard and Legacy. After the Final Battle ending, Inanis offers a New Cycle that carries your weapons and Phantom Edges over. PCGamesN adds that completed side quests bring allies into the Mount Soulrend fights; see the Meng Hua guide.

If you miss something, you can still get the true ending on a New Game Plus run, since quests reset.