Parting Hooks Guide - Auto-Counter Guard Stance Build

Overview

The Parting Hooks are a Dual-Wield main weapon built around one idea: defense that attacks back. The in-game card reads, “The hooks trace arcs like waning moons. They can assume a Guard Stance to turn defense into offense and have high shield-breaking power,” and the lore line names its former owner: “A pair of silver hooks once wielded by Soulclaimer, Elite Shadow Warden.” PBZ GG’s stat table records 288 Damage and 118 Guard Break at level 1, and the Sha-Chi combo ends in a pullback strike with high shield-breaking power.

How to Get Parting Hooks: Soulclaimer, 2/3 of the Wardens Chain

Per Game Rant’s weapons table and Destructoid’s locations list, Parting Hooks drops from Soulclaimer in the northeast docks of Pangzhen. The practical route, collated from Game Rant’s Meigu Lake walkthrough and ItemLevel’s Pangzhen roundup: repair the Flaming Mane Phantom Edge first, rest at the Pavilion of Knowledge Crossroads, burn the thorn-covered path along The Heart’s Trail, and climb through the Mandate Lodgings to the Dockside Warehouse bell. Soulclaimer waits at street level past the rooftops - a faster, meaner Maskwalker variant who fights alongside two E’mei fighters.

Our Soulclaimer boss guide covers the fight itself. The strategic context: this kill is 2/3 of the Three Wardens Fall bronze trophy, which requires defeating the three Shadow Wardens. Cavalrybane in Pangzhen’s marketplace drops the Armybreaker (1/3), Soulclaimer drops the Parting Hooks (2/3), and Heartpiercer at White Serpent House in Meigu Lake drops the Sundering Dual Axes (3/3) - check the trophy guide so you do not miss the chain.

Guard Stance: the Full-Auto Turtle Engine

Hold block + heavy attack and the hooks drop into Guard Stance. GameSpot’s perk text and games.gg’s unlock table agree on the rules: the stance automatically blocks and counters enemy melee attacks, and the stronger the incoming hit, the harder the counter strikes back. That is the whole sales pitch - you hold one button, the weapon parries on your behalf, and you only commit to offense when the enemy’s string ends and it is spent.

KeenGamer ranks the Parting Hooks S-tier for exactly this: it is the best defensive counterattack weapon in Phantom Blade Zero, ideal “for players who find repeated manual parries difficult,” and its default loop against aggressive enemies is to Guard Stance through blockable strings, then punish the recovery. The honest limits, from the same sources:

• Black-flash attacks bypass the stance entirely - per GameSpot and games.gg, unblockable black-flash moves must be dodged on sight until level 25.
• Counters cost real Sha-Chi. Push Square’s review notes the counter “takes a hefty chunk of sha-chi to use,” so turtling against an endless string will drain you - you still need to read the fight.
• The stance rewards patience, not passivity. KeenGamer’s recommended rhythm is stance through the string, step out, answer the whiffed finisher.

Two habits separate good Parting Hooks play from great play. First, treat the Sha-Chi combo’s final pullback strike - the one with high shield-breaking power - as your guard-breaker: Guard Stance cracks the enemy’s rhythm, the pullback cracks their shield. Second, never cancel a counter window early; the counterattack scales with the incoming attack’s strength, so the hardest-hitting bosses are paradoxically the ones this weapon tames fastest.

Peerless Hooks and the Upgrade Path

The Power Surge, Peerless Hooks, consumes one Sha-Chi Essence to unleash the weapon’s martial technique - an unblockable chain that games.gg lists as the weapon’s listed Power Surge. It is your punish button once Guard Stance has created the window.

The level-gated arts turn the weapon from a shield into a fortress:

• Lv. 5 Counter Follow-Up — after countering a blue-flash attack, light or heavy attack performs different follow-ups.
• Lv. 10/20/30 Poised to Strike — extends Guard Stance duration, up to “greatly” at Lv. 3.
• Lv. 15 Counteroffensive — a successful counter raises Attack for 10 seconds, and attacks against shield-bearing enemies instantly break their shields.
• Lv. 25 Divine Beast Bind — the big one: Counter can now block and counter black-flash attacks, closing the stance’s only hole.

Soul Tempering with the Song of Parting adds Foretelling Strike: parrying a blue-flash attack with block triggers Counter automatically. See the Soul Tempering guide for the economy before you commit - tempering is irreversible.

Build Positioning: the Turtle Core

Parting Hooks’ job in a loadout is to create openings, not spend them - pair it with your highest burst option and let Guard Stance generate the window. TheGamer’s Five Best Builds article slots it into the Guard Breaker build alongside the Crescent Blade, with the Hunter’s Chain Sickle and Kuyu Prayer Beads as Edges and the Baishan Writ boosting enemy Sha-Chi depletion; our own best builds page routes it through summon and Sha-Chi setups for the same reason. If raw dual-wield damage is what you want instead, the all weapons list ranks every alternative by source and niche.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Soulclaimer optional? Push Square lists him as an optional Chapter 4 boss, but he sits on the main path toward the Pangzhen docks, so most players will fight him naturally.

Does Guard Stance work on bosses? Yes - blockable boss strings are countered automatically; only black-flash attacks (until Divine Beast Bind at Lv. 25) and grabs break the stance.

What does Peerless Hooks cost? One Sha-Chi Essence per activation, and the attack is unblockable per PBZ GG and Game Rant’s tables.

Sources

• KeenGamer — Phantom Blade Zero: Best Weapons Tier List
• Game Rant — Where to Find Every Weapon in Phantom Blade Zero
• Destructoid — All weapons in Phantom Blade Zero and how to find them
• games.gg — Phantom Blade Zero: All Weapons & How to Unlock Them
• GameSpot — How To Get All Weapons In Phantom Blade Zero
• PBZ GG — Parting Hooks: How to Get and Stats

Source: launch-week guides, cross-checked October 30 - November 3, 2026. Exact Guard Stance Sha-Chi costs: community mapping in progress.