Phantom Blade Zero: Missables – Every Quest and Item You Can Lock Yourself Out Of

The game seems pretty linear when you get started, but as time passes, more and more small hidden choices open up. And what sucks more than missing out on a quest cause you talked to the wrong person at the wrong time or defeated the wrong boss in the wrong order? In Phantom Blade Zero, most of the regions and locations are open 24/7, but there are some quests that fail if you advance other quests before them. These are also known as “missables” and this is what I’ve set out to write down to make sure no one misses anything they don’t want to.

This guide lists them in the order you reach them, with the exact event that closes each one. If you miss something, New Game+ resets quests, so you get another chance on your next cycle.

Quick checklist

Do these before each cutoff:

Before using the Thieves’ Camp Bell

• Free Quick Hand Zhang at the Trail of Cages
• Finish Apprentice Healer

Before beating Bai Chilian, Lady of the Twin Serpents

• Give Yu’er the Flesh Lily
• Finish A Healer’s Mercy
• Finish Purge the Sect
• Finish Festering Secret
• Finish Honor Among Thieves
• Talk to the frightened deserter at the Outpost again after beating Peng Meng

Before opening the one-way door in the Smuggler’s Tunnel

• Talk to Old Man Gen in the Village of Lu

Before entering the Village of Lu well

• Bring the wounded thief his Thief’s Manual

When the Kuye Temple monk in the Village of Lu asks if you believe in the Lady of the Veil

• Answer “Do not believe”, then bring him his Prayer Beads

Before entering the Pangzhen backstreet

• Agree to Old Man Gen’s request

Before beating Yubi, No. 21 Swordfighter Puppet

• Beat Wu Lengshuang, the Soft Sword
• Examine Bi Taotao’s body

Before the Seven-Stars Formation fight

• Let Red leave the Dovecote tower without killing her

At every Mandate master

• Kill him while he kneels

Before picking up the Missing Lift Crank

• Talk to Liu Yi
• Talk to Zhou Pingzi

When Chen Zhu asks to be spared

• Choose to fight him

Before crossing the bridge to the Mirage Estate

• Finish what you need around Mirrorwood and the Crimson Forest Sha-Chi Tower

Before the Mirrorwood fight with the Three-Faced Puppet

• Equip Blazing Edge as your main weapon

Before fighting The Crusher and the Saw

• Give Lu Jieyuan Cui’s Red Ribbon and Lu Sanqian’s letter

Before fighting Leng Tu

• Finish Secrets at the Heart of the Lake
• Finish all five Long Pillar trials

Weeping Creek Valley

Apprentice Healer

Closes when: you use the Thieves’ Camp Bell for the first time.

Yu’er moves from the Outpost to the Thieves’ Camp at that point, and this Tale only runs at the Outpost. Accept it, find the three herbs, and hand them in first.

You lose: Medicine Case and The Healer’s Legacy achievement.

Flesh Lily

Closes when: you beat Bai Chilian without having given Yu’er the Flesh Lily.

The Tale carries on in Pangzhen either way, but the ending changes. Yu’er’s father leaves you a Tarnished Jade Pendant instead of the Blessed Jade Pendant.

You lose: Blessed Jade Pendant and The Healer’s Legacy achievement.

Four Fierce Axes: Boulderguard

Closes when: you beat Bai Chilian without speaking to the frightened deserter again.

The frightened deserter at the Outpost tells you about the Four Axes. After you beat the first Axemaster, Peng Meng, go back and talk to him. He points you to a grave, where you can find the Stone Axe Talisman. He leaves when the Outpost turns, so speak to him before beating Bai Chilian. The grave stays, so you can dig it up any time after that.

You lose: Boulderguard, which reduces damage taken by 15% while you’re not Guard-Broken.

Crimson Forest

Quick Hand Zhang

Closes when: you reach the Thieves’ Camp with Zhang still locked in his cage.

Zhang hangs in a cage near the Trail of Cages Bell. Lower the cage and open it the first time you pass. If you walk on to the Thieves’ Camp first, he’s gone for good.

This is the costliest miss in the game because he starts two questlines.

You lose: The Wily Hare’s Three Dens, Quick Hand’s Request, his hideouts in other regions, and his treasure rewards, including the Flying Dagger, Goldblaze and Fine Thread.

A Healer’s Mercy

Closes when: you beat Bai Chilian.

Take it from Yu’er at the Thieves’ Camp, treat the four thieves, and report back.

You lose: Calming Gourd and The Healer’s Legacy achievement.

Honor Among Thieves

Closes when: you beat Bai Chilian.

Take the Nimble Thief’s blood letter to the Gentle Thief at the camp and answer his three questions.

You lose: Silent Wrap.

Village of Lu

Old Man Gen: The Journey Home

This Tale has two deadlines.

Talk to him before opening the one-way door in the Smuggler’s Tunnel. If you open it first, he disappears. That also stops Leave None Alive from starting through him.

Agree to his request before entering the Pangzhen backstreet. Once the door is open, go back to him and accept. Reaching the backstreet without agreeing fails the Tale. He also leaves the Village of Lu at that point.

You lose: War Wagon and the Together Till the End achievement.

Leave None Alive

Closes when: either of two people dies before you bring them their relic.

• The wounded thief dies when you enter the Village of Lu well. Bring him the Thief’s Manual first.
• The Kuye Temple monk asks “Do you… believe in the Lady of the Veil…?” Answering “Believe” kills him. Answer “Do not believe”, then bring him the Prayer Beads.

Both relics come from monsters at the old camps, so you can only get them after beating Bai Chilian.

You lose: Arrowward from the thief and Agarwood Prayer Beads from the monk. The Tale fails if both die without you holding it.

Mandate Encampment

Secrets of the Baishan Sect

Closes when: you beat Yubi, No. 21 Swordfighter Puppet, without the quest in your journal.

Yubi is Bi Taotao’s puppet form. The Tale only pays out if it’s active when she falls, and it fails on the spot if it isn’t. You still get the Baishan Stormswords either way.

You can pick the Tale up from the Baishan disciples at the Thieves’ Camp, but you don’t have to. Beating Wu Lengshuang, the Soft Sword starts it too. Play it in this order:

1. Beat Wu Lengshuang.
2. Examine Bi Taotao’s body.
3. Beat Yubi.

You lose: Broken Vessel and The Last of Baishan achievement.

Daughter of the Dark Sect

Closes when: you kill Red, the Mysterious Swordswoman, or start the Seven-Stars Formation fight before she leaves.

Red waits on top of the Dovecote tower. Talk to her, and if a fight starts, don’t finish her off. Walk away and she swings off the tower on a rope, which moves the Tale on. Beat the Chief Disciple of the Seven-Stars Formation afterward to complete it.

You lose: the Tale, plus the second Twin Heroes’ Memory Flower petal and the Sha-Chi Amber that appear after the Seven-Stars fight.

Mountain of Imprisonment

Hero’s Lament and Don’t Forget Me

Closes when: you pick up the Missing Lift Crank before speaking to the prisoners.

Both Liu Yi and Zhou Pingzi die if you take the crank before you’ve talked to them, so speak to each one first.

You lose: Ink Cut from Liu Yi, plus Don’t Forget Me.

Ledger of Atonement and Bai Xue

Closes when: you choose to spare the agonized Maskwalker, Chen Zhu.

After you bring him the ledger, you get two options:

• “Never mind. Leave him be.” ends things here, and Bai Xue’s Tale never starts.
• “This won’t absolve you of your sins.” starts a fight. Win it and the puppet beside him starts the Bai Xue Tale.

You lose: the Bai Xue Tale and its reward, Snow and Blood.

Cui

Closes when: you start the fight with The Crusher and the Saw on Soulrend Cliff.

To finish the Tale, you need both of these before that fight:

• Cui’s Red Ribbon from meeting Cui in the Village of Lu
• The letter from Lu Sanqian, who must have drunk the Rootless Dew

Give both to Lu Jieyuan before the fight. The Tale fails on the fight’s opening scene if you’re missing either one.

You lose: the rest of the Cui Tale and Lu Jieyuan’s help in that fight.

Mandate masters

The Undying Heroic Spirit

Closes when: you botch three of the six masters.

Six corrupted Mandate masters wait in the world, three in the Pangzhen backstreet and three in the Mandate Encampment. You reach several of them before you get the Tale, so handle every one carefully from the first.

Clear the monsters around a master and he kneels and asks you to end it. Kill him while he’s kneeling. A clean release leaves a Memory Flower behind. Kill him before he kneels, or wait until he turns on you, and no flower appears. That master counts as botched.

The flowers only count after you beat the Seven-Stars Formation and speak to the Wolf Leader at the Order’s Tavern in Pangzhen, who gives you the Tale. Go back and touch each flower after that.

You lose: Hero’s Courage.

Late game

Crossing into the Mirage Estate

Crossing the bridge at the Green Serpent House switches off nine Crimson Forest bells for good and covers Mirrorwood in snow:

• Mirrorwood Lóng Pillar
• Parting Mists
• Mirrorwood Depths
• Threadbound Great Tree
• Crimson Forest Sha-Chi Tower Gate
• Crimson Forest Sha-Chi Tower Base
• Crimson Forest Sha-Chi Tower 6th Floor
• Human-Faced Banyan
• Burial Grounds

If Secrets at the Heart of the Lake isn’t finished, the game warns you first and lets you turn back. Take the warning seriously: choose “There’s still unfinished business. Return later.” if you have anything left there.

Triple Threat

Closes when: you finish the Mirrorwood fight without Blazing Edge.

The Three-Faced Puppet flees to Mirrorwood, and it only appears there after you cross the bridge above. Have Blazing Edge as your main weapon. Otherwise the fight ends at phase two and the Tale fails. You still get Freezing Chaos.

You lose: phase three and Chaos Iron Fragment II.