The Fanatic’s Broken Blade is the most unusual weapon you’ll find in Phantom Blade Zero. It’s a one-handed sword whose entire identity is built around one thing: drinking. Soul literally takes a drink mid-fight to power up, enters a Tipsy state, and if you keep going, escalates into a full Drunk state with automatic dodging, flying sword attacks, and a movement style that looks completely unhinged from the outside. It’s wuxia drunken kung fu — directly inspired by the classic Hong Kong cinema style — and it’s one of the highest-skill-ceiling weapons in the game.
This guide covers exactly where to find the Fanatic’s Broken Blade, how to beat Hua Qianxiao the Sword Fanatic, the full Tipsy and Drunk state system, all upgrade perks, how to Soul Temper it into the Drunken Sword, and tips to actually make it work in combat.
Phantom Blade Zero Fanatic’s Broken Blade – TL;DR
- Dropped by Hua Qianxiao, the Sword Fanatic — a Chapter 2 boss near the Pangzhen Bridge Overlook in Crimson Forest
- Hua Qianxiao drinks mid-fight, guards harder while drinking, then sends flying sword strikes when he finishes — the weapon telegraphs exactly what the boss does
- Base stats: 228 DMG and 96 Guard Break
- Core mechanic: Bottomless Drink — press heavy attack and block simultaneously to drink, restore Sha-Chi, and enter the Tipsy state
- Tipsy: Sha-Chi restored, all attacks become flying sword strikes with damage falling off at range. Lasts 15 seconds
- Drunk: Press L2 while Tipsy to go fully Drunk — stronger flying swords, automatic dodging, no guard, restricted movement. Lasts 20 seconds
- Drunk Power Surge: unleashes a Flying Sword Flurry without spending a Sha-Chi Essence charge, then resets Soul to sober
- Level 5 perk: Boundless Thirst — increases Sha-Chi restored by Drink and speeds up the drinking animation
- Level 15 perk: Drunken Counter — while Drunk, press L1 just before a blockable attack lands to auto-evade while taking a Drink
- Soul Temper material: Fanatic’s Obsession ×1 → transforms into The Fanatic’s Drunken Sword (Hua Qianxiao’s blade fully reforged)
- Rated Hard ease of use — high ceiling, needs setup, but flying sword range is excellent once Tipsy
Where to Find the Fanatic’s Broken Blade – Hua Qianxiao Location
The Fanatic’s Broken Blade drops from Hua Qianxiao, the Sword Fanatic, a Chapter 2 main story boss. He’s located near the Pangzhen Bridge Overlook bell in the Crimson Forest region. This is not a hidden boss — you’ll encounter him as part of the main quest, so you won’t miss him if you’re following the story.
Region: Crimson Forest
Boss: Hua Qianxiao, the Sword Fanatic
Nearest Bell: Pangzhen Bridge Overlook
Defeat Hua Qianxiao and the weapon card appears over his body. The weapon is automatically added to your inventory, with a prompt to equip it immediately if you want. For related guides in the Crimson Forest area, see our Crimson Forest Weeping Portal Puzzle guide and the Crimson Forest Tunnel Crank guide.
How to Beat Hua Qianxiao, the Sword Fanatic
Hua Qianxiao is a sword-obsessed drunkard who fights in exactly the same style as the weapon he drops. He literally lies down mid-fight to drink from a wine jar, guards harder while drinking, and then sends his sword flying at you once he finishes. This boss teaches you the Fanatic’s Broken Blade’s core mechanic through the fight itself. Here’s what to watch for:
- The Drinking Phase — when Hua lies down to drink, his guard strengthens significantly. Don’t waste your Sha-Chi trying to brute-force through it. Back off, build your meter, and prepare for the flying sword barrage that follows.
- Flying Sword Attacks — after drinking, Hua sends his blade flying in arcing patterns. These have mid-range coverage and can catch you if you dodge straight sideways. Ghoststep through them (red flash) rather than trying to parry.
- His Sober Phase is the Attack Window — between drink phases, Hua fights with more conventional sword combos. Parry the blue-flash Brutal Moves to drain his Sha-Chi, then punish the recovery windows aggressively.
- Don’t rush the drinking window — it feels wrong to let a boss power up unopposed, but spending a full combo into his fortified guard just wastes your Sha-Chi. Let the drink finish, read the flying swords, then re-engage.
- Stay mid-range — too close and you eat his transition combo out of the drink animation. Too far and the flying swords have more time to adjust their arc. Stay at medium distance and Ghoststep through the projectiles.
The Fanatic’s Broken Blade – Stats and Weapon Overview
- Type: One-Handed (Primary Blade)
- Base Damage: 228
- Guard Break: 96
- Power Surge: Drink Until Dawn — effect changes depending on Soul’s current state (Sober, Tipsy, or Drunk)
The 96 Guard Break is low compared to other weapons — lower than every Sanguine variant. This weapon is not built for smashing through enemy defenses. It’s built for range, evasion, and sustained flying sword pressure once the drinking state is active. The base damage of 228 sits in a normal range, but again, the Fanatic’s Broken Blade’s real output is in its state-dependent attack system, not its flat numbers.
The Bottomless Drink System – Sober, Tipsy, and Drunk Explained
This is the entire identity of the weapon. Every important decision while using it comes down to managing these three states.
Sober State (Default)
Soul’s normal combat state. Standard combos, standard attacks, standard Sha-Chi generation. This is where you set up for a drink. The Sha-Chi Triangle attacks are still available, and during this phase you can press heavy attack and block simultaneously to initiate a Drink.
Tipsy State (15 seconds)
After drinking, Soul enters the Tipsy state. Sha-Chi is restored by the drink. More importantly, all attacks become flying sword strikes — the blade leaves Soul’s hand and travels to the target. These attacks deal less damage at longer distances, so the sweet spot is medium range where you get the reach advantage without the damage falloff. The Tipsy state lasts 15 seconds. During this state you can press L2 to go Drunk.
Drunk State (20 seconds)
Going Drunk from the Tipsy state is a major escalation. Flying sword damage increases. Movement becomes heavily restricted and Soul cannot block, but he gains automatic dodging — Soul’s swaying movement style causes attacks to miss at a surprising rate without you manually inputting dodges. The Drunk state lasts 20 seconds. During it, pressing L2 again unleashes the Power Surge variant: a Flying Sword Flurry that does not consume a Sha-Chi Essence charge. Activating it returns Soul to Sober.
The Power Surge – Drink Until Dawn
The Power Surge behaves differently based on Soul’s current state when it’s activated:
- Sober: Standard Power Surge — consumes 1 Sha-Chi Essence
- Tipsy: Enhanced version using the Tipsy flying sword style
- Drunk: Flying Sword Flurry — free, costs no Essence, then resets to Sober
The Drunk Power Surge is the weapon’s payoff moment. Getting there and timing the free Flying Sword Flurry on a staggered or guard-broken boss is the highest-damage window the Fanatic’s Broken Blade has.
The Fanatic’s Broken Blade – All Upgrade Perks
Perks unlock at levels 5, 10, 15, and 25 with a weapon cap of 30. The Fanatic’s Broken Blade’s upgrade path tightens up the drinking system and makes the Drunk state more reliable and rewarding.
Level 5 – Boundless Thirst
Two things happen at level 5: the amount of Sha-Chi restored by Drink increases, and the drinking animation becomes faster. Both matter. A faster drink means smaller vulnerability windows when you initiate the state change — the moment you press to drink, you’re exposed, and shortening that is a real combat benefit. More Sha-Chi restored means you come out of the drink with more offensive resource to spend on flying sword combos immediately.
Level 10 – Drunken Clarity
The level 10 perk enhances how the Drunk and Tipsy states interact with Soul’s combat options. It deepens the passive benefits while in the altered states, giving the flying sword strikes more consistency and improving the overall feel of the Drunken system at this tier.
Level 15 – Drunken Counter
This is the defensive perk that makes the Drunk state genuinely viable at higher difficulty. While Drunk, press L1 just before a blockable attack lands to automatically evade it while simultaneously taking a Drink. This means a well-timed Drunken Counter does two things at once: it dodges damage and either enters Tipsy (from Sober) or refreshes toward Drunk. Learning the timing on this turns the Drunk state’s restricted movement from a liability into an opportunity — you’re trading a block for a drink, which keeps your state active and your Sha-Chi topped up simultaneously.
Level 25 – Advanced Upgrade
The final major perk tier pushes the Fanatic’s Broken Blade to its ceiling, fully rewarding players who have mastered the Drunk state loop and want to take it into late-game encounters.
How to Soul Temper the Fanatic’s Broken Blade
The Fanatic’s Broken Blade can be permanently transformed through Soul Tempering once you meet Myst at her tavern in Pangzhen — around Chapter 4.
- Soul Temper Material: Fanatic’s Obsession ×1
- Result: The Fanatic’s Drunken Sword
The Fanatic’s Drunken Sword is Hua Qianxiao’s blade fully reforged — the broken sword restored and elevated. This is the evolved endpoint of the Drunken style playstyle. As with all Soul Temper upgrades, this is permanent and irreversible. The Fanatic’s Obsession material is found through progression — don’t spend it until you’re committed to this weapon as your primary one-handed blade.
Combat Tips for the Fanatic’s Broken Blade
This Is a Hard Weapon — Accept the Learning Curve
Push Square rates the Fanatic’s Broken Blade as Hard ease of use, and that’s accurate. The drinking window leaves Soul momentarily vulnerable. The Drunk state removes your guard. Flying sword damage falls off at range. None of this is intuitive coming from simpler weapons. Give yourself time to understand the state transitions before judging the weapon. Once the loop clicks, it’s one of the most fun and distinctive playstyles in the game.
Drink During Enemy Recovery Windows
The moment you press to drink is a vulnerability window. Enemies can and will interrupt it if they’re mid-combo. Only initiate a Drink when an enemy is in recovery — after their combo string ends, after a parry, during a boss’s phase transition pause. After the level 5 perk speeds up the animation, the window shrinks meaningfully, but the rule stays the same.
Stay Mid-Range in Tipsy and Drunk States
Flying sword damage falls off over distance. Point-blank range loses the range advantage of the weapon entirely, and maximum range loses too much damage. The sweet spot is mid-range — close enough that the flying sword hits near full damage, far enough that you’re not eating direct retaliation from the enemy. Once you’ve found that range naturally, staying in it becomes second nature.
Use the Drunk State Against Bosses in Open Phases
The Drunk state’s automatic dodging works best during phases where a boss is repeatedly attacking — it passively avoids a lot of incoming damage while you maintain your flying sword pressure. During phases where the boss has long wind-ups or repositions often, Drunk is less useful because the restricted movement limits your ability to reposition with them. Read the boss phase before committing to Drunk.
Time the Drunk Power Surge on Stagger
The free Flying Sword Flurry from Drunk costs no Sha-Chi Essence and resets Soul to Sober. It’s the weapon’s highest single burst window. Hold it until a boss is staggered, their guard is broken, or they’re in a phase transition — then activate for maximum damage. Using it outside those windows isn’t wrong, but it wastes the reset that follows, since you’ll want to re-enter the Drunk loop as soon as possible.
Level 15 Drunken Counter Is the Real Investment Payoff
The Drunken Counter at level 15 transforms how the Drunk state plays. Before it, being Drunk means you’re accepting restricted movement in exchange for flying sword power and auto-dodges. After it, you gain a parry-equivalent that also fuels your next drink. If you’re going to commit upgrade materials to this weapon, make getting to level 15 a clear goal. The Drunken Counter is what separates skilled Fanatic’s Broken Blade players from everyone else.
Pair It With a Weapon That Covers Its Guard Break Weakness
The 96 Guard Break is the lowest of any weapon in the Sanguine family and among the lowest in Chapter 2. For fights where you need to break enemy guard quickly, swap to Wooden Sanguine (Guard Break 188) to crack the defense, then switch back to the Fanatic’s Broken Blade to dish out Tipsy flying sword damage during the stagger window. The Sha-Chi refill on weapon switch keeps both weapons fuelled. This two-weapon loop is the cleanest way to cover the Broken Blade’s only real weakness.
Best Phantom Edge Pairing for the Fanatic’s Broken Blade
The Fanatic’s Broken Blade generates Sha-Chi through drinking and flying sword hits, but has lower direct Sha-Chi generation per hit during Sober. A Phantom Edge that either builds Sha-Chi quickly or extends your damage window helps:
- Ranged Phantom Edges: The Feather Bow or similar mid-range options complement the Tipsy flying sword range. During Tipsy state you’re already at medium distance — a ranged Phantom Edge woven into the string keeps damage going without closing the gap.
- Sha-Chi Dump Phantom Edges: Edges that spend a large chunk of Sha-Chi for burst damage work well with Bottomless Drink’s Sha-Chi restoration — drink to refill, then dump it through an aggressive Phantom Edge combo.
- Area Control Phantom Edges: During Drunk state’s restricted movement, a Phantom Edge that manages the space around Soul keeps enemies from walking straight into point-blank while you can’t guard.
See the full secondary weapon list in our Phantom Blade Zero All Phantom Edges guide.
Is the Fanatic’s Broken Blade Worth Investing In?
If you want the most unique combat identity in the game and you’re willing to put in the time to learn it, yes. The Fanatic’s Broken Blade has the highest skill ceiling of any weapon available in the first two chapters. Other blades are arguably just as effective with less effort — the base Sanguine with Chi-Infused Blade at level 5 is simpler and reliable. But simpler doesn’t mean better for everyone.
The flying sword range advantage once Tipsy is genuinely strong, especially for aggressive players who want pressure from a safe distance. The Drunk Power Surge costing no Essence charge is a real combat advantage. And the Drunken Counter at level 15 is one of the most satisfying defensive mechanics in the game once you have the timing down.
Try it up to level 5 for free, unlock Boundless Thirst, and spend a few fights in Tipsy state. If the playstyle clicks, commit. If you’d rather have something more hands-off, refund and put the materials elsewhere — no shame in that either.
More Phantom Blade Zero Weapon Guides
- Scarlet Wraithblade Weapon Guide
- Jagged Steel Weapon Guide
- Sanguine Reach Weapon Guide
- Sanguine Twin Weapon Guide
- Sanguine Weapon Guide (All Variants)
- Wooden Sanguine Weapon Guide
- All Weapons in Phantom Blade Zero
- All Phantom Edges List
- Whence the Weeping Quest Walkthrough
- Festering Secret Quest Walkthrough
- Deep in the Valley Quest Guide
- Perfect Ending / True Ending Guide
- All Chapters List
Pick up Phantom Blade Zero on the official website, Steam, PS5, or Epic Games Store.
