Iron Blade Chen - Boss Guide
Iron Blade Chen is an optional boss you'll find in the Phantom Blade Trainee training grounds and honestly he's not required to beat the game at all but the thing is he drops the Venomous Softblade which is literally the best weapon in the entire game for Parry Master builds so tbh you really want to do this fight and the fight itself is kind of a mirror match in the worst possible way because Chen uses all the same Phantom Blade techniques you do I mean he parries he Ghoststeps and in phase two he basically starts reading your inputs like the game is straight up cheating and if you've been coasting on aggression without learning the defensive mechanics Chen is the wakeup call you've been avoiding and I've died to this so many times it's not even funny and the arena is this circular training courtyard surrounded by Phantom Blade Trainees who just stand there watching which is kind of creepy ngl and the enclosed space means you pretty much can't create distance easily because Chen controls the center of the arena and you're stuck fighting from the edges and this really matters because his phase two gap closer covers the entire arena in about half a second which I swear feels faster than that when you're actually in the fight and trying to dodge it and you know what maybe I'm just bad at this game who knows
Phase One: The Student
So here's the thing. Chen opens with basic sword combos nothing too scary at first. And it's three hit strings with a slight pause between the second and third hit. But here's what matters, that third hit is a Brutal Move blue flash every single time so parry it. Seriously this is the game's way of testing whether you've actually learned the parry mechanic before the real fight starts. Because if you're blocking instead of parrying you'll run out of Sha-Chi within the first minute and die I've done that more times than I want to admit ngl. Anyway after each parry Chen staggers for about two seconds and you can land 2 to 3 hits then back off and the reason is he has this counter parry move that triggers if you're still attacking when the stagger ends and the tell for it is a brief sword spin animation so if you see him spin the blade dodge backward immediately the counter parry is a Killer Move red flash with almost no wind up and honestly it's maybe the fastest red flash in the game and it catches aggressive players constantly like it's designed to punish greed imo.
Also at 70% health Chen starts mixing in a thrust attack that covers about half the arena and it's a Brutal Move with a longer tell than his combo finisher the windup has him pull the sword back to his hip before lunging which looks pretty cool actually and the parry timing is slightly later than the combo finisher you need to wait for the forward movement to start then parry because if you're too early you'll whiff and leave yourself open to the follow up slash and that follow up hurts like hell you know and look two hits back off wait for the next combo that's basically the whole rhythm and stuff like that
Phase Two: The Master
At 40% health he just drops the student act completely and his sword glows with Sha-Chi and his attack patterns change entirely he gains three new moves that define the second half of the fight and the first one is a dash cross slash that covers the entire arena it's a Killer Move so you can't block it and you need to dodge into it for a Ghoststep and the timing is generous compared to his counter parry wait for the dash sound effect count one beat then dodge and if you Ghoststep this move consistently phase two becomes manageable and I'm not 100% sure but I think the timing window is about 400ms or so second new thing is a Sha-Chi wave projectile he swings his sword in a wide arc and sends a crescent of energy across the arena and it's a Brutal Move you can parry and parrying it reflects the wave back at Chen for significant damage which is honestly so satisfying the wave travels fast but the tell is huge he always sheathes the sword briefly before the wave so it's sheath pause swing and you parry on the swing
And the third attack is a healing stance and this is kind of the fight's DPS check honestly. He steps back plants his sword in the ground and regenerates health. If you don't deal enough damage during the stance to exceed his healing the fight extends indefinitely which sucks. So use your heaviest attacks the moment you see him plant the sword. The Iron Tide build trivializes this phase because the Savage Axe charged heavy outdamages his healing by a wide margin. With Parry Master you'll need to land the full post Ghoststep combo plus a Phantom Edge ability to break the heal and with Hybrid Flex Dragon Fire charged shots from range will do it if you start shooting immediately tbh.
Recommended Builds
Parry Master is the safest choice for a first clear imo and the extended parry windows make phase one consistent while the Bow of Silent Wind lets you poke safely while learning phase two's patterns and Venomous Softblade's extended parry frames are literally the whole reason to run this build against Chen but tbh landing the counter parry dodge on his Killer Moves is harder than it looks so having more margin on the Brutal Moves keeps your Sha-Chi healthy which is kind of the point of the build or whatever
Iron Tide can kill Chen faster but the counter parry in phase one will end runs if you're too greedy and the rule is simple two hits back off no exceptions and if you follow that rule Iron Tide's damage output overwhelms his healing stance without needing any special strategy but if you get impatient and go for a third hit you will eat the counter parry and probably die and I've done this so many times it's not even funny ngl
Anyway the drop is Venomous Softblade guaranteed first kill and this weapon has the longest parry frames in the game and is essentially required for high difficulty Parry Master play and he also drops 3 to 5 skill points and a rare evolution material for swords so it's worth farming on higher difficulties for the material drops even after you have the blade and stuff like that you get the idea