Bonesaw Guide - How to Get This Endgame Two-Handed Weapon

Overview

The Bonesaw is the heaviest argument in Phantom Blade Zero’s endgame Two-Handed class — a Common-rarity great weapon that outclasses flashier blades through one stubborn idea: every hit feeds a gauge, and the gauge feeds Bleed. It drops from the game’s nastiest dual encounter, The Crusher and the Saw, in the final region of Mount Soulrend, and it is the natural capstone for a big-swing, guard-break-heavy build.

How to Get the Bonesaw

The Bonesaw is the guaranteed drop from The Crusher and the Saw, the two-on-one boss fight in Mount Soulrend during the A Soul’s Worth sequence — our Crusher and the Saw boss guide breaks down how to survive the pair’s alternating pressure. On the map, the encounter sits near The Last Chance bell, deep in the final stretch of the Mount Soulrend walkthrough.

Two things to know before the fight:

• It is a dual boss. The Crusher crowds you with slow, armored pressure while the Saw punishes greed with fast saw strings. Bring a defensive second weapon — Parting Hooks or the Soft Snake Sword — and do not be proud about fighting them one at a time using the arena’s pillars.
• Everything after this point escalates. Mount Soulrend’s remaining encounters assume you are leveling something endgame-grade. The Bonesaw’s upgrade track (Broadplate Metal → Polished → Flawless, plus Solvents) starts demanding real Remnant Dust — see the remnant dust farming route before you commit 100k+ dust to the level 60 push.

Traits and Moves: The Bloodsaw Engine

The Bonesaw’s kit is a self-reinforcing loop built around guard breaks and Bleed:

• Guard-Break Pursuit (Lv.5) — press Heavy Attack against a Guard-Broken enemy to perform a follow-up attack. This is the opening ritual: break the guard, cash in immediately.
• Cruel Advantage Lv.1 (Lv.10) — slightly increases damage dealt to Guard-Broken enemies. It stacks with Guard-Break Pursuit, so the punish window hits noticeably harder than your baseline swings.
• Bloodsaw (Lv.15) — each hit builds the Bloodsaw Gauge; when full, Bloodsaw activates for 15 seconds, during which all attacks build the enemy’s Bleed Gauge and can trigger Blood Loss. Standard Bleed restriction applies: no effect on Puppets, Golden Bodies, or Phantom Bodies.
• Elimination (Lv.25) — after performing Guard-Break Pursuit, the Bloodsaw Gauge builds greatly. This closes the loop: break guard → Pursuit → Bloodsaw online → every subsequent swing bleeds.

Its move set complements the traits:

• Sha-Chi Combo — Heavy + Heavy, unleashable after any swing in the Standard Combo; with enough Sha-Chi it becomes an enhanced attack with increased damage and Guard Break. This is your guard-break fuel.
• The Best Offense — standard blocks consume more Sha-Chi than usual, but after a parry, your next attack gains increased Sha-Chi Depletion. The Bonesaw wants you parrying, not turtling: the parry tax is the price, the Sha-Chi damage is the payoff.
• Savage Finale (Power Surge) — consumes 1 Sha-Chi Essence to unleash a brutal series of grinding saw attacks, dealing increased damage to Guard-Broken enemies. Unblockable. The correct order of operations is etched into the kit: parry → enhanced Sha-Chi Combo → guard break → Pursuit → Savage Finale on the broken target.

Builds: Big Swings, Guard-Break Support

The Bonesaw wants a partner that creates the openings it cashes in. The community-standard pairings:

• Soft Snake Sword + Bonesaw — the whip-sword’s timed fend-offs crush Sha-Chi and its defensive kit covers the Bonesaw’s slow recovery frames. Break the guard with the snake, swap, and let the saw finish.
• Parting Hooks + Bonesaw — Guard Stance auto-blocks while you walk into range, then swap mid-combo (swapping refills Sha-Chi) straight into the enhanced Sha-Chi Combo.
• Baishan Stormswords + Bonesaw — if you would rather pressure than defend: wind-and-thunder gauge upkeep melts Sha-Chi from the other direction, and the Bonesaw reaps the guard breaks.

Whichever partner you pick, keep the discipline the weapon teaches: parry on purpose. The Best Offense punishes passive blocking with higher Sha-Chi costs, so holding block as a default actively starves your own Power Surge.

Soul Tempering: Prey on the Mighty

Tempering the Bonesaw costs 5,000 Remnant Dust + 1 Craftsman’s Tool Kit (see the Soul Tempering guide for Myst’s locations and material sources). The reward is Prey on the Mighty: when fighting boss-level enemies, Bloodsaw Gauge buildup rate is increased, and while Bloodsaw is active, Bleed Gauge buildup rate is also increased.

That is the entire endgame argument for the weapon. Un-tempered, the Bonesaw is a strong AoE bruiser with a boss-sized appetite for setup; tempered, its engine spins up fast enough that boss fights become Bloodsaw uptime fights — keep the gauge rolling and Blood Loss ticks do the sustained damage work while you save Savage Finale for the stagger. Budget the Craftsman’s Tool Kit carefully: tool kits are rare, and the Bonesaw competes for them with every other late weapon you love.

Verdict

The Bonesaw will not out-dance a Dual-Wield speed build, and it knows it. What it offers is the cleanest guard-break → Bleed → unblockable Power Surge chain in the Two-Handed class, a kit that teaches correct parry habits, and — after Soul Tempering — a boss-specific engine that keeps pace with Mount Soulrend’s finale. RPS’s weapon ranking and keengamer’s tier coverage both slot it as a top-tier endgame great weapon, and its 312 base Damage ties for the highest Lv.1 card in its class. If you beat The Crusher and the Saw, you already own the weapon your build has been waiting for. Compare it against every other blade in the weapons list, and plan your material budget in the Soul Tempering guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Bonesaw better than the Crescent Blade? They tie at 312 base Damage, but they solve different problems: Crescent Blade’s Qinglong Cleave deletes weaker enemies outright, while the Bonesaw’s Bloodsaw loop is built for sustained boss damage. For Mount Soulrend’s boss-heavy back half, the Bonesaw pulls ahead; for farming mobs, Qinglong is faster.

Does the Bonesaw’s Bleed work on every enemy? No — Blood Loss never triggers on Puppets, Golden Bodies, or Phantom Bodies. Against those enemy types you are playing a pure guard-break weapon, so lean harder on Guard-Break Pursuit and Savage Finale.

When should I Soul Temper the Bonesaw? As soon as you have a spare Craftsman’s Tool Kit. Prey on the Mighty only matters against bosses, and the back half of Mount Soulrend is almost nothing but bosses — there is no better time to have it online.

Can I refund Bonesaw upgrade materials if I change my mind? Yes — upgrades are reversible with a Weapon Reforge Talisman from level 10 up, and free below that. Experimenting with the endgame great weapons costs nothing but dust you can earn back.

Sources

• Rock Paper Shotgun — Phantom Blade Zero weapon ranking (Bonesaw entry)
• keengamer — Phantom Blade Zero Best Weapons Tier List
• keengamer — All Weapons and How to Get Them

Source: community-verified launch data (November 4, 2026). Stat and trait table: pbz.gg weapon card values cross-checked against keengamer tier coverage.