Defeating the Phantom Blade Zero Aberrant Three-Faced Puppet is difficult but this is a boss you're meant to discover early and come back to later. It's also a much simpler fight than it seems as you effectively just have to play very defensively until you break the puppet's guard and then go on the attack. The main issue is that the Three-Faced Puppet has a lot of health and takes a long time to defeat. My tips below will help you bring this Phantom Blade Zero boss as quickly and painlessly as possible.
Phantom Blade Zero Three-Faced Puppet boss fight tips
The Aberrant Three-Faced Puppet boss in Phantom Blade Zero is a test of your endurance and the fundamentals of combat that you probably won't have honed the first time you face it. After dying, Soul will even talk about how this is not an enemy he can face now, but it's not invincible. You just need to come back later once you've got some better weapons and accessories (your weapons should be at least level 10), improved your health and Sha-Chi, and mastered parrying – taking in some Phantom Blade Zero tips will help too:
- Be prepared for a long fight: Even with upgraded gear, the Three-Faced Puppet is still incredibly spongey and takes a very long time to wear down. When I finally beat it, it took around seven minutes of almost constant parrying, and losing focus even briefly can put a quick end to your attempt.
- Parry, parry, parry: I've mentioned it plenty already, but this is the best tip I can give for overcoming this fight. The Three-Face Puppet's attacks are quite fast but well-telegraphed and reasonably predictable, meaning they're easier to parry than they look. Since the Three-Faced Puppet also doesn't seem to have any blue-flash attacks, you've got to perfect parry every attack you can to quickly break its guard.
- Get the Ancient Armor Fragment Accessory: You can find this Accessory outside the Crimson Manor, which is reached via a lift under the Sha-Chi Tower in Weeping Creek Valley. It provides great damage resistance, making many of the Three-Faced Puppet's attacks less deadly, so the fight is less likely to go very wrong very quickly. I'd argue it's one of the best Accessories in the game and you should wear it for every boss fight at the very least.
- Don't try to attack while the puppet's guard is up: The Three-Faced Puppet attacks relentlessly, so there's very little point in trying to get a hit or two in as this will likely harm you more than the puppet, especially if you end up missing a parry as a result. But once you break its guard, go all-out with Sha-Chi attacks and Power Surges.
- Switching weapons is essential: Because you must be so defensive in the face of the puppet's hard and fast attacks, including plenty of devastating Sha-Chi-draining blows, keeping your Sha-Chi up is crucial. Keep an eye on your Sha-Chi bar and switch weapons as soon as it gets close to emptying, instantly refilling it.
- Heal when the puppet goes through a rift: The puppet attacks relentlessly throughout the boss fight, so you don't get many chances to heal, but make the most of the brief opportunities when it flies through a portal.
Endure the parry-fest and you'll bring down the Three-Faced Puppet eventually, though there aren't many useful rewards for doing so. You'll get 30,600 Remnant Dust, the Three-Headed Doll story item, and the next step of the Triple Threat quest, which is to find out the identity of the puppet.
If you haven't already, make sure you defeat the Phantom Blade Zero Hua boss and collect the Phantom Blade Zero Flesh Lily for Yu'er.
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