In the Mandate Encampment, find Corpse-Eating Xue in a clearing among the graves, down in the hollow beneath the Mass Grave bell. This stooped, hood-covered corpse eater wields a long staff topped with an enormous claw. She seizes you to feed, and green-glowing copies surround her throughout the battle, so she is never by herself.
Quick answer: Dodge Corpse-Eating Xue’s pinning and red grabs, parry her overhead claw slam, and keep attacking her rather than her endlessly replaced look-alikes, especially when she heals below 70 percent health.
Where to find Corpse-Eating Xue
Make the Mass Grave bell in the Mandate Encampment your first rest stop. For help locating it, consult the Phantom Blade Zero bells list, which covers every rest point.
Descend from the bell by dropping along the cliff ledges into the pit. There’s only one route, and once you jump down, you can’t get back up to the bell.
Head across the pit toward the dwellings glowing red; Xue waits in the graveyard clearing before them. Approaching her begins the fight, signaled by a boss bar labeled “Corpse-Eating Xue”.
Death returns you to the Mass Grave bell, and Xue’s health is restored to full when you go back.
How the Corpse-Eating Xue fight plays out
Xue fights inside a swarm. Shadowy Madwoman look-alikes built in her image rush you from the opening seconds. They glow green and carry darts, firebombs, hoes, and twin blades. Up to four of them can be active at once, and each one you kill is replaced by a new one.
She also heals. Once her health drops below 70 percent, she gains a move that restores about 30 percent of her health over three seconds. She can use it once every 20 seconds. Her grab attacks also give some of her health back.
Expect a long fight. On Pathbreaker, a first attempt can last around 169 seconds and still end in death.
Corpse-Eating Xue moveset
Red flash lunge
A red flash appears at her head just before she lunges toward you through the crowd of look-alikes. Watch for that flash, because the lunge can come from behind the swarm.
Overhead claw slam
She hoists the clawed end of her staff far above you, then slams it into the ground.
Tendril sweep
A twin blue-white flash appears on her body first. She then sweeps the claw staff through a broad arc, trailing black tendrils.
Claw jab
She pulls the clawed hand back at her side and then thrusts it forward at you.
Pinning grab
The claw catches you and pins you to the ground. Xue hunches over you to feed, and black blood sprays while your health drains.
Red grab
Her body flares red as she grabs you and lifts you into the air. The attack ends in a burst of blood.
Tips for the Corpse-Eating Xue fight
Rest at the Mass Grave bell before every attempt so all of your gourd charges are full. The drop into the pit only goes one way, and every death sends you back to that bell anyway.
When the clawed hand rises high, prepare for the slam. You can parry it, and a clean parry throws orange sparks. The timing is covered in the parry and dodge guide.
Her grabs do the most damage. The pinning grab and the red grab both drain your health and restore some of hers. Be ready to dodge any time she reaches for you.
Look-alikes keep replacing the ones you kill, so keep your focus on Xue. Chasing down every look-alike won’t thin out the crowd.
Below 70 percent health she can recover about 30 percent of it. Keep attacking during that stretch instead of backing away.
Corpse-Eating Xue rewards and the Xue, Admirer of Heroes quest
When you beat her, Xue drops 66,000 Remnant Dust and a book called Wulin Tales: Xue’s Item List. The book names three keepsakes she took from heroes: a Broken Iron Sword, a Heroine’s Hairpin, and a Pitch-Black Scabbard.
The fight also starts the side quest Xue, Admirer of Heroes. Your quest log confirms it with the objective “Collect the Heroes’ Belongings from Xue (0/3)”.
Gather all three Heroes’ Belongings and bring them to the Child of Insight in Pangzhen to earn the Sha-Chi Headscarf. The full route is in the walkthrough on how to get the Sha-Chi Headscarf. To see where this fight sits among the rest, check the list of all Phantom Blade Zero bosses.
