Quick answer: To use a remedy, press R for Use Lower Medicine or T for Use Upper Medicine, depending on its slot. The Healing Gourd gives back 40% HP; touching or resting at a bell restores HP and Medicine.
Phantom Blade Zero handles healing through Medicine, a set of drinkable remedies with a limited number of uses. Soul starts with the Healing Gourd. Bells top up both your health and your remedies.
Drink medicine with R or T
Soul carries two medicine slots, lower and upper, and each holds one remedy. On keyboard and mouse, R drinks from the lower slot and T drinks from the upper slot. Both bindings appear under Settings > Controls (see the full controls) in the Combat Assist section as “Use Lower Medicine” and “Use Upper Medicine”, and you can rebind either one there.
The equipped remedy shows up in the bottom-left corner of the screen, at the start of the HP bar. For the Healing Gourd, that icon is a gourd. The key that drinks it (R) sits underneath, next to the number of uses you have left. In the opening duel against Zuo Shang it reads 4.
Every drink removes one use from that counter, so the number drops as you heal during a fight. Once it reaches 0, the slot stops working until you refill it.
Refill HP and Medicine at bells
Bells are where you recover. The tutorial puts it plainly: “Touch the Bell to restore HP and Medicine. The first touch reveals new areas on the map.” When you touch the first one, the game adds a line of its own: “This bell rings for you alone. It will mend all your wounds.”
Rest at a bell with E and both your HP and your Medicine uses go back to full. The bell menu then opens with Traverse, Upgrade Equipment, Train Abilities, Save and Leave.
Dying also refills you. Soul respawns at the last bell he rested at, with HP and Medicine both full, and the E prompt is waiting on the bell beside him. On PATHBREAKER, the default difficulty, Remnant Dust is not lost on death.
Upgrade the Healing Gourd
The Healing Gourd’s store text reads: “A standard-issue gourd carried on Order missions, filled with secret medicine from the Serpent House that can heal wounds. Though Soul has left the Order, he still keeps one with him.” At Lv. 1 it does one thing: “Restores 40% HP.” Upgrades raise the amount it heals, add a bonus when your health is low, and give it more uses.
| Level (uses) | Effect | Remnant Dust |
|---|---|---|
| Lv. 2 (2 uses) | “Restores 45% HP.” | 2,000 |
| Lv. 3 (2 uses) | “Restores 45% HP. Restores an additional 10% HP when HP is below 20%.” | 3,000 |
| Lv. 4 (3 uses) | Same as Lv. 3 | 4,000 |
| Lv. 5 (3 uses) | “Restores 50% HP. Restores an additional 10% HP when HP is below 20%.” | 5,000 |
| Lv. 6 (3 uses) | “Restores 50% HP. Restores an additional 15% HP when HP is below 20%.” | 6,000 |
| Lv. 7 (4 uses) | Same as Lv. 6 | 7,000 |
Taking the gourd from Lv. 1 to Lv. 7 costs 27,000 Remnant Dust in total. Dust alone isn’t enough, though. Each tier of Medicine upgrade also requires a Healer’s Memory item. Quick Hand Zhang sells all three at his hideouts, and they can also be found in the world, including in Mandate Encampment, Meigu Lake and Mountain of Imprisonment.
| Item | Required for | Price | Zhang’s hideouts |
|---|---|---|---|
 Apprentice Healer’s Memory | “Required to upgrade Medicine to Lv. 2.” | 7,440 | Pangzhen, Meigu Lake |
 Skilled Healer’s Memory | “Required to upgrade Medicine from Lv. 2-4.” | 9,920 | Pangzhen, Meigu Lake, Mirage Estate |
 Master Healer’s Memory | “Required to upgrade Medicine from Lv. 4 to max level.” | 16,000 | Meigu Lake, Mirage Estate |
Abilities that add Medicine uses and healing
To train abilities, rest at a bell and choose Train Abilities. Four of them affect healing. The cheapest, Healing Art, adds one use to your Medicine for 5,000 Remnant Dust.
| Ability | Remnant Dust | Effect |
|---|---|---|
 Healing Art | 5,000 | “Increases Medicine uses by 1.” |
 Blood Remedy | 20,000 | “Defeating enemies has a chance to restore Medicines.” |
 Endless Renewal · Lv. 1 | 20,000 | “[Execute] Assassinations and Executions restore HP and Sha-Chi.” |
 Quick Remedy | 45,000 | “Using Medicine while being attacked cancels the stagger.” |
Accessories that improve healing
Five accessories change what happens when you drink Medicine or get Guard-Broken. Each one is tied to a region and the nearest bell.
| Accessory | Effect | Region | Nearest bell |
|---|---|---|---|
 Medicine Case | “Increases healing from Medicine by 20%.” | Weeping Creek Valley | Outpost |
 Manor Medicine Pot | “Using Medicine has a 8% chance not to consume a use.” | Pangzhen | Huang Manor Crossroads |
 Calming Gourd | “Using medicine lets you recover from Guard Break and prevents Sha-Chi consumption for 3 seconds.” | Crimson Forest | Thieves’ Camp |
 Mother’s Talisman | “Restores 10% HP when Guard-Broken.” | Village of Lu | Well of the Three Puppets |
 Blessed Jade Pendant | One random effect of four after using Medicine | Pangzhen | Ancestral Shrine Square |
The Blessed Jade Pendant is a gamble. One of its four outcomes is “Immediately restores all HP and 50% Sha-Chi.” The other three burn or poison both you and nearby enemies, or conjure a Chaos fireball.
Other remedies and ways to recover HP
The Healing Gourd is one of 17 remedies. Others trade raw healing for timing or side effects:
- Longevity Tonic: “Restores all HP.”
- Merciful Dew: “Restores 60% HP over 10 seconds.”
- Vessel Restorative: “Restores 70% HP and increases natural Sha-Chi recovery speed by 50% for 5 seconds.”
- Kuye Dew: “Reduces damage taken by 20% for 15 seconds and restores 40% HP over 10 seconds.” (see how to increase defense)
- Everflow: “Restores 20% HP. When no uses remain, defeating any enemy restores 1 use.”
The Outlaw Warblade from the weapons list can also restore your health. It is described as “A ruthless, blood-drinking warblade with high Shield-Breaking power. It can drain enemy blood to restore HP, or consume own HP to cut enemies down.” When Bloodthirst Frenzy, its Power Surge art, lands a hit, it drains blood and restores HP. Neither type of life drain affects Puppets, Golden Bodies or Phantom Bodies.
Memory Flowers raise your maximum HP. The game’s hint reads: “Find blue Memory Flowers on the map to reveal echoes of the past. Collect enough to increase your maximum HP!”
