How to beat the Aberrant Three-Faced Puppet in Phantom Blade Zero

The Aberrant Three-Faced Puppet is the first optional boss you can encounter in Phantom Blade Zero, but it's definitely not one you're supposed to beat when you first find it.

It's definitely possible, but with no Phantom Edges and only your un-upgraded starting weapon, you don't deal anywhere near enough damage to be likely to defeat her, and won't for a while. Here are some tips that'll help you best her when you're ready:

• Return later: There's no rush to defeat this boss or complete the Triple Threat quest. Defeating her doesn't give you a weapon or anything that's useful in the early game, either, so there's really no reason to bang your head against the fight. To beat her when you first meet her, you basically have to no-hit the entire thing, so it's not really worth it. As you can see in the video above, I returned later in the game and the fight was much more manageable.

• Upgrade your weapon and polish your accessories: In particular, I recommend the Ancient Armor Fragment, Jewel's Knot, and Resonance Talisman for increased damage negation, HP, and Sha-Chi. Also upgrade your weapon—remember you can buy extra materials from vendors. Upgrading your weapon will also unlock new useful skills and ways to deal damage.

• Use the Livingwood Talisman to inflict bleed on her: Puppet bodies aren't susceptible to bleed, but if you grab the Livingwood Talisman in a chest near the Smuggler's Tunnel in the Village of Lu and polish it, you'll deal bleed at 70% effectiveness to the boss with a weapon like Jagged Steel, doing some bonus damage.

• Dodge her smoky black attacks: These drain your stamina fully if you try to block them, so dodge. Luckily, she doesn't have too many red or blue attacks to dodge counter or parry counter, respectively, which makes things easier.

• Always be attacking: Your regular attacks don't cost stamina, but they do still deal damage and deplete her Sha-Chi over time, so keep up the aggression, blocking her attacks between yours. When her Sha-Chi is broken, spend stamina on Sha-Chi combos to deal proper damage, and don't forget your LT attack when your weapon is powered up.

After you complete the fight, you'll get the Three-Headed Doll story item. The next stage of the Triple Threat quest won't appear until much later when you're exploring one of the final areas in Pangzhen, so I'd suggest returning to this guide when you arrive there.

You'll have to find three quest-marked Memory Flowers in the area, which will lead you to a rematch against the puppet in the Crimson Forest, though you'll need the Soul Tempered version of the Sanguine Reach weapon you get from Forge to fight the boss. This requires Scorching Flame fragments:

1. The first comes from defeating Zhu Yuan, The Searing Blade below the Pangzhen Sha-Chi Tower. You get to this by entering Meigu Lake, accessible via north Pangzhen, then continuing north along the shore, before using the exploding enemy to blow up the barrier leading to the lift.
2. The second comes from completing the third Long Pillar challenge in east Meigu Lake.

Once you have both of these, you can Soul Temper Sanguine Reach into Blazing Edge after you've met Myst at the Order's underground tavern in Pangzhen, which you already will have at this point.

Now you can return to the Crimson Forest's Mirrorwood and rematch the boss, now called Yucong, No.34 Twisted Puppet, though be prepared for a long fight.