Phantom Blade Zero: How to Defeat Jing Ye, The Outlaw

Wuxia action-RPG Phantom Blade Zero offers numerous combat options and approaches, but its early hours restrict you based on your available gear. Mounted on his trusty horse and wielding one of the most useful weapons found in the early game, Jing Ye The Outlaw serves as a frustrating Crimson Forest hurdle, but don’t lose hope.

There are some useful strategies to get through this feisty boss fight, techniques which will also come in handy later on in Phantom Blade Zero. While Soul’s gear is somewhat limited by this point, the Jing Ye fight is an excellent showcase for your Phantom Edge Dread Axe, and a perfect opportunity to practice some tricky parries as well.

How to Beat Jing Ye, The Outlaw, Phase 1: Get Him Off That Horse

The first phase of the Jing Ye fight can definitely be frustrating, forcing you to chase him down while he dashes around the arena on horseback. Jing Ye’s naginata has plenty of reach, and he’ll often rush you for a few hits before escaping to prep a long-distance attack. The severed head he keeps at his waist can unleash a cycle of homing blood projectiles, but he’ll just as often toss a spinning boomerang blade to mix things up further.

Unless you rush Jing Ye immediately at the start of the fight, he’ll typically begin with either of these projectile attacks, so be prepared to parry. The blade is quick, but the homing projectiles are quite slow and can come in multiple waves; I’ve seen up to four waves fired at once, but he’ll usually release two or three. Parrying the blood projectiles is possible, but expect Jing Ye to rush forward for an attack before they’ve completed their cycle, which can be a clumsy mixup to account for.

Your best bet is to stay close to him, looking out for his blue and red strikes. Note that, unlike some later bosses, Jing Ye’s color-coded attacks do not utilize tricky timing, so get used to immediately parrying blues and dodging reds immediately after those signals appear.

Additionally, you can get a lot of hits off on Jing Ye while he’s mounted and swinging his naginata, and staying on his left side can often keep you out of range of his mounted swings. Use this positioning to chip damage and wear down his Sha-Chi, then punish him while he’s stunned on his horse.

He’ll occasionally do a leap attack as well, especially if you keep your distance. These attacks can be color-coded and counterable, though they’re usually easiest to dodge. You can typically dismount Jing Ye after stunning him twice and punishing the stun, which will chuck him into the dust and begin the next phase of the fight.

How to Beat Jing Ye, The Outlaw, Phase 2: The Axe and the Shield

For his second phase, Jing Ye draws a spiked shield that can be a real pain to work around. You’ve seen these before in the hands of Maskwalkers in Weeping Creek Valley, but this particular spiked shield has extra durability. Attempt to run Jing Ye down at this point and you’ll quickly ravage your health bar, and well-timed parries alone can’t destroy it. This meants that you’ll need to bring out your Dread Axe.

Like other Phantom Edges, the Dread Axe has limited uses—you should have three max at this point—which means that each swing needs to count. It can be hard to find a perfect opening during this phase, as there’s no effective way to stun Jing Ye outright, so expect to tank a little bit of damage while you prepare.

The Dread Axe can be charged into a combo to extend its damage and guard break potential. Simply pressing right trigger will swing the axe once, but your best bet is to charge the Dread Axe completely and trigger its slow three-hit combo. Two of these combos should be sufficient to shatter that spiked shield.

Bear in mind, however, that every hit on that shield procs damage. Using your Sha-Chi Essence ability even once in this fight can outright kill you if Jing Ye’s shield is still in play, and the Dread Axe results in some damage as well. In this case, the tradeoff juice from a fully charged Dread Axe combo is worth the squeeze.

Note that following through with additional Dread Axe swings will not damage Jing Ye’s shield if his back is to you or he’s knocked to the floor. Make sure that you’re hitting his shield with the axe, or you’ll have wasted one of its precious swing.

How to Beat Jing Ye, The Outlaw, Phase 3: Shield-Free and Punishable

You’ll notice a few different maneuvers after Jing Ye is knocked off his horse, though these can be interruptible once that shield is destroyed. For one, He likes to slash dust into your face and disable your target-lock. This isn’t a big deal, just prepare to perfect-parry or dodge the resultant strike, as he’ll take this opportunity to leap from across the arena to try and catch you unaware.

In addition, Jing Ye will use an attack you may have seen a few times before, a quick hit which briefly darkens the screen. Attempt to block or parry this attack and you’ll lose all or most of your Sha-Chi, which can then stun you completely. Just to cover your bases, you may want to lean more towards dodging rather than perfect-parrying to avoid this stun outright.

Otherwise, Jing Ye loves to take this opportunity to drain your health with an unblockable attack and extend the fight. If his shield is already destroyed, just be patient and accept that a few of these drain-attacks might occur before the duel is done; just punish him when you can and close the distance often.

The good news, though? After you defeat Jing Ye, you’ll obtain his Outlaw Warblade and its health-draining potential. While its DPS ceiling is lower than Phantom Blade Zero‘s other primary weapons, it’s a great asset that can carry you well past the mid-game, especially if you regularly take damage during boss fights and need a top-off. Just don’t use it on any puppets.

Your Rating