I'm gonna be real with you farming in Phantom Blade Zero isn't that bad honestly the respawn system is generous and bell checkpoints are everywhere and drop rates for common materials are reasonable and you'll mostly farm because you want to try a new weapon and need to catch it up to your main not because the game forces you to grind which is a nice change of pace from some other games I could name and honestly that's one of the things I appreciate most about PB Zero is that it respects your time while still giving you reasons to engage with the farming system if you want to and the coins and stones and Phantom Edge stuff etc all add up pretty quick once you know the right spots.
But if you're gonna farm you might as well do it efficiently you know and I've tested basically every farming route in the game and these are the ones that actually give you the best return per minute and I'm ranking them by tier so you know which ones are worth your time and which are just okay and the tier ranking isn't just my opinion it's based on coins per hour and material drop rates and how fast the loop is and all that stuff and I've been burned by bad farming guides before so I'm not gonna waste your time with routes that don't work.
Bloodsoaked Arena - Endgame Coin Farm
This is the best farming spot in the game period and I've tested everything else and nothing comes close and right before the final boss fog gate there's an arena where three elite enemies spawn in sequence and they respawn every time you rest at the nearby bell with no loading screens and no long runbacks and you can clear the loop in about 45 seconds with a maxed weapon and the coins just pile up it's honestly kind of ridiculous.
The route is simple you rest at the Final Approach bell and kill three Crimson Phantoms in the arena and rest again and each clear gives you 2000-3000 coins plus roughly a 15% chance at a +3 evolution stone from each Phantom and occasionally you'll get +2 stones as well. And the Greedy Pendant accessory from the Crossroads Bazaar merchant gives 10% bonus coins and it literally pays for itself in about 20 minutes of farming here and I never take it off when I'm doing farming runs seriously just buy it.
Serpent Cultist Path - Midgame Material Farm
The best midgame spot for sword and spear evolution materials and the path between the Grotto Depths bell and the Serpent Cultist boss arena has six cultists packed into a straight line which makes the loop super fast and consistent and you'll get four Serpent Cultists that drop sword evolution stones and two Spear Acolytes that drop spear evolution stones at about 20% rate and there's a Serpent Cultist mini-boss at the end that respawns and drops +2 sword stones at roughly 25% and you should kill him on each loop if you have the damage output.
When your weapon hits +1 and you're struggling with the Zone 3 boss just do three loops here and you'll hit +2 and the boss will feel way more manageable and that's basically the farming sweet spot where a small time investment pays off big in progression and you don't have to go overboard.
Collapsed Mineshaft - Greatsword & Dual Blade Stones
If you're running a greatsword or dual blade build this is your spot and the mining tunnels are filled with Miner Phantoms that drop both greatsword and dual blade evolution stones and the route is start at the Tunnel Entrance bell and clear the three mining chambers in sequence and loop back with each chamber having 4-5 enemies and the third chamber has a Rockbreaker elite that hits like a truck so you want to kill the small enemies first and then fight the elite one-on-one and don't get greedy because the Rockbreaker will punish you hard if you try to rush it. The drop rates are about 18% for +1 greatsword stones and 15% for +1 dual blade stones with occasional +2 stones from the Rockbreaker and honestly this is one of the most efficient routes in the game if you're running those weapon types.
Garrison Courtyard - Early Game Starter Farm
Not the most efficient farm but it's the earliest one available and the courtyard between the Garrison Entrance bell and the Commander boss arena has seven sword soldiers that respawn quickly and you get about 3000 coins per hour which is bad by later standards but useful when you're saving for the Thunderclap Dual Blades at the Bazaar and honestly this is actually a better parry training ground than a farm because the soldiers have predictable blue-flash attacks and you can practice parry timing here for 20 minutes and come out significantly better at the game and I've done this on multiple playthroughs just to warm up before hard boss fights. Only farm here if you're stuck on the first boss and need a few more levels or want the merchant weapons and otherwise just move on because better spots open up fast and you'll waste less time.
Farming Tips
Buy the Greedy Pendant as soon as you reach the Crossroads Bazaar because the +10% coin bonus applies to everything and the accessory slot competition isn't fierce early game and it's honestly one of the best investments in the game for anyone who plans to farm at all and I can't think of a reason not to buy it immediately.
Don't farm before Zone 2 the Garrison farm is inefficient and you're better off pushing to the Whispering Grotto and farming there if you really need materials and the coin difference is huge and your time is better spent progressing the story until you reach proper farming spots.
Bell resting resets enemies and unlike some soulslikes where enemies only respawn on death or zone transition resting at a bell in PB Zero fully resets the area and this makes farming loops fast and consistent and you can basically chain runs without any downtime which is amazing for efficiency and I wish more games did this honestly.
And the most important tip is that Phantom Edge drops are not farmable at all and enemy-dropped Phantom Edges are first-kill guaranteed and then never drop again so don't waste hours trying to farm duplicates like I did on my first playthrough because it literally doesn't work and I found that out the hard way and now I'm telling you so you don't make the same mistake and honestly I spent like 3 hours in the Collapsed Mineshaft before I realized nothing was dropping and that was a very frustrating evening and I'd rather you not repeat my stupidity lol.