Bashpole Phantom Edge Guide - How to Get It

Overview

The Bashpole is a Destructive-class Phantom Edge — Epic’s official guide calls it a giant mace, and destructoid’s catalog credits it plainly: it breaks wooden planks. Those two facts undersell it. In combat the Bashpole is one of the best guard-breakers in Phantom Blade Zero, a spinning hammer swing that weakens whole shield walls at once; in exploration its Groundbreaker ability opens the weakened plank floors that hide rooms, shortcuts, and treasure under half the game’s regions. Our best Phantom Edges ranking places it S-tier, second overall — behind only the Hunter’s Chain Sickle.

How to Get: Wan Jun, the Coppermaul

The Bashpole is a boss drop with a key chain in front of it, and every link matters.

1. Reach Pangzhen and defeat Gu Wanyue, the boss by the well near the Pond of Fading Song bell.
2. Drop into the Well of Wei Sanchuan beside her arena and recover the Mandate Encampment Outer Gate Key from a corpse below.
3. Return to the Village of Lu and unlock the chained gate at the region’s start to open Mandate Encampment.
4. Push through the camp to the battlefield area and ring the Beneath the Watchtower bell.
5. Break the chain-sealed gate beside the bell with the Dread Axe — itself the drop from Peng Meng, the Axemaster, in Weeping Creek Valley — and step into Wan Jun’s arena.

Wan Jun, the Coppermaul is a heavy ogre-style brawler, and the fight is kinder than his frame suggests. TheGamer’s unlock guide notes he hits slower and softer than he looks, with wide recovery windows after every hammer string; nearly everything he throws can be parried or dodged, and direct offensive pressure breaks his guard without parry-perfect play. GameRant’s recommended cheese works: bring the Scarlet Wraithblade from Hua, Deadly Betrothed, whose Sha-Chi red lilies drain his gauge while you stay safe. Kill him and the Bashpole is yours — a dedicated boss page for Wan Jun is queued for a future update, so treat this section as the route and the fight in one. Ring the Main Encampment Gate bell inside the arena before moving on.

Groundbreaker: The Plank Floors of Half the Game

PCGamesN’s review frames Phantom Blade Zero as a game where “exploration, backtracking, finding keys, secret bosses, and blocked paths are core” — and Groundbreaker is the tool the backtracking was built around. Cracked wooden planks appear from the Crimson Forest onward; once the Bashpole is yours, every one becomes a door. The prompt fires with the Edge unequipped, so exploration never costs you a combat slot.

Per KeenGamer’s Bashpole guide, the revisits that pay for themselves:

• Battlefield Ruins (Mandate Encampment): break the floor by the bell for a Phantom Remedy.
• Main Encampment Gate: smash through near Wan Jun’s arena to open the route toward the Dovecote.
• Sunset Path: drop into the river building downstream for a Sha-Chi Amber Fragment.
• Village of Lu: the sealed ground near Master Lan’s home hides the Border Banner, a Soul Tempering material.
• Crimson Forest: the early plank floors you walked past in Chapter 2 finally open.

Combat: Crowd Control for Shield Walls

In a fight, hold R2 and Soul spins the Bashpole around his head — up to three rotations before a slam, or release early to slam sooner (TheGamer’s moveset notes). The swing hits everything around you, which is exactly the point: shield-bearing enemies are common from the mid-game on, and a single spin weakens multiple guards at once. KeenGamer’s ability table rounds out the kit: Skyfall Bash (level 5) adds an airborne slam, Forceful Interrupt (level 10) improves stagger, Seismic Impact (level 15) sends a shockwave out of ground slams, Follow-Through (level 25) chains a second slam at no Remnant Spark cost, and the Soul Tempered Whirling Advance — block plus Phantom Edge together — lets you advance while spinning, purchased with 1 Pigeon Feed and 5,000 Remnant Dust.

Bashpole vs. Iron Gauntlets: Division of Labor

The natural comparison is the Iron Gauntlets, the other S-tier guard-breaker. Our best Phantom Edges guide draws the line cleanly: the Bashpole is the wide option, weakening every guard in a crowd in one spin; the Gauntlets are the narrow option, cracking one shielded or stoneskin target fast while their Fist Focus buff supercharges your main weapon. Crowded shield walls are a Bashpole problem; a single elite with a tower shield is a Gauntlets problem. If a region stacks both, equipping the pair deletes shields as a mechanic entirely — but most players should run one and spend the second slot on mobility or sustain.

Verdict

The Bashpole is the strongest argument in the game for doing side content the moment it opens. The Gu Wanyue key detour, the Dread Axe gate, and one slow boss buy you a permanent master key to the world’s floors and the definitive answer to shielded crowds. Clear Wan Jun when Mandate Encampment opens, revisit the Crimson Forest floors the same evening, and put the Edge away — Groundbreaker works even in your pocket.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Wan Jun, the Coppermaul missable? No — he is optional, but his arena stays open once Mandate Encampment unlocks, and nothing in the story closes it.

What does the Bashpole cost to use in combat? The spinning swing and slam spend Remnant Spark like other Phantom Edge combos; the Follow-Through upgrade refunds part of that cost by chaining a free second slam.

Where do I use Groundbreaker first? The Battlefield Ruins floor beside the bell you rang before Wan Jun — it is a thirty-second walk from the arena and pays out a Phantom Remedy immediately.

Sources

• Destructoid — All Phantom Edges in Phantom Blade Zero and how to find them
• PCGamesN — Phantom Blade Zero review
• KeenGamer — Phantom Blade Zero: How to Get Bashpole
• GameRant — How to Get Bashpole in Phantom Blade Zero
• TheGamer — Bashpole Location Guide for Phantom Blade Zero
• Epic Games — Official Phantom Edge Locations Guide

Sources: site-internal best Phantom Edges ranking, destructoid catalog, PCGamesN review framing, KeenGamer route and ability table, GameRant and TheGamer unlock guides cross-checked November 5, 2026.