Phantom Blade Zero Hua Boss Guide - Deadly Betrothed

Where do you find Hua, Deadly Betrothed?

Hua is an optional encounter beneath the Sha-Chi Tower in Weeping Creek Valley. Follow the descending route toward the flower-filled arena and check the nearby bell before committing to the fight. Treat this as an optional branch rather than a mandatory progression gate, and confirm the location against your current map.

What are Hua’s HP, Sha-Chi, and phase count?

The level-3 encounter is listed with 21,060 HP and 3,150 Sha-Chi. A Pathbreaker walkthrough records the same HP, while a Hellwalker fight guide describes one phase. These are launch-period encounter references; the configuration level is not a recommended player level and the full level-scaling table is not a list of actual encounters.

Field	Reference	Scope
Identity	Hua, Deadly Betrothed	Optional Puppet boss
Configuration level	3	Encounter configuration, not player level
HP	21,060	Level-3 reference; also listed for Pathbreaker
Sha-Chi	3,150	Level-3 configuration
Attack stat	101	Not final damage to Soul
Sha-Chi Attack stat	102	Not a universal per-move meter loss
Phases	1	Reported Hellwalker encounter; no separate phase threshold supplied
Reward	Scarlet Wraithblade; 9,000 Remnant Dust	Pick up the quest flowers separately

Changing attack frequency as health falls does not by itself establish a second phase. Keep the original difficulty impressions below separate from these numerical records.

Which weaknesses and resistances matter?

The encounter configuration lists Fire as a weakness, Lightning as a smaller weakness, Frost and Water as resistances, and Poison as an immunity. Ordinary Bleed does not affect this Puppet. A Bleed weapon can still deal direct hit damage, so evaluate the weapon and its status effect separately.

Element	Recorded resistance parameter
Fire	−30%
Lightning	−16%
Frost	30%
Water	30%
Poison	100%

These are resistance parameters, not independently measured final-damage multipliers. Do not turn them directly into a promised damage increase without the relevant formula and setup. Record your equipment with the boss preparation guide before comparing results.

How do you handle flowers, grabs, and sword sequences?

Keep clear space around flower hazards and defend through the full sequence before retaliating. Watch delayed ground explosions, converging flowers, tracking projectiles, and the grab that may follow. These threats require attention to positioning as well as sword defense. Do not reduce the encounter to a close-range duel or assume every apparent pause is recovery.

Pattern	Suggested response	Evidence limit
Ground flower patches	Leave before delayed explosions; avoid overlapping patches	Move clear; no measured fuse supplied
Circling flowers	Move outward before they converge and explode	Safe radius unmeasured
White tracking flowers	Block or sidestep them, then watch for the teleport and grab	Do not start healing or charging while Hua is still attacking
Red-warning grab	Prioritize evasion and avoid committing to offense	No universal button or frame timing asserted
Black-smoke slam	Evade the stamina-draining attack and watch subsequent flowers	Check stamina and hazard state
Sword strings	Defend follow-ups before countering	Do not generalize one chain to every follow-up

Review controls in the combat basics guide.

When can you counterattack or use Dread Axe?

Counter after confirming that the current sequence or stun opening is still safe. A Dread Axe knockdown can help extend an existing opening, but its timing must fit your setup. No guaranteed loop, universal hit count, or fixed recovery duration is established here, so begin with a restrained punish and verify the result.

How should you test your own punish window?

Begin with one short action, then confirm that you can defend afterward. Record the preceding move, weapon, and nearby hazards. Add another hit only after repeatable safe results. A stun opening does not prove the same action fits after an ordinary swing.

For broader preparation, see the beginner guide.

What does the provisional difficulty score mean?

The original player notes rate this fight 7.5 out of 10 overall. These are subjective impressions, not official ratings or measured boss attributes. They can describe the author’s experience, but cannot predict another player’s difficulty. The counterattack error-tolerance score is preserved as originally supplied; the notes do not define whether a higher score means more forgiveness or greater difficulty, so it cannot support a comparison.

Category	Original provisional impression
Overall	7.5 / 10
Attack speed	8 / 10
Move complexity	7 / 10
Attack range	7 / 10
Combo pressure	8 / 10
Counterattack error tolerance	7 / 10; scale direction unspecified in the original notes

How much damage do Hua’s attacks deal in recorded examples?

One Pathbreaker demonstration uses an 850-HP Soul and records ordinary hits near 100 HP and large hits near 300 HP. Its Wayfarer examples are about 70 and 210 HP respectively. The complete defensive loadout is not documented, so these are observations from that setup, not fixed damage for every player.

Hit type	Pathbreaker example	Wayfarer example
Ordinary blade hit or fast reaching slash	About 100 HP	About 70 HP
Heavy finisher or exploding ground patch	About 300 HP	About 210 HP
Individual cut during the grab	About 300 HP	About 210 HP

A grab can contain multiple damaging cuts. The per-cut figure is not the total cost of being grabbed. No reproducible universal break duration in seconds is available; stop when Hua recovers rather than converting a possible combo count into a timer.