Yuzan is a rhythm fight disguised as a ranged fight. She plays blades and orbs at you from the well testing grounds, and the temptation is to close distance immediately. The correct answer is to learn the volley timings first, because her red blades land much later than the animation suggests and her teal orb is an instant kill if you try to tank it.
Location and unlock
Yuzan is a main-path boss in the Village of Lu, Chapter 3, fought in the well testing grounds. She is the region’s fourth mandatory fight, after Zhuo Bi, Bi Yuan, and Bi Hai, and she comes after the optional Dusk detour. The Village of Lu route places her at step 12, immediately before Mu Xiaokui at the Lakeside.
There is no unlock condition. She is on the critical path to the chapter finale, and her arena sits beneath the well the region has been circling since the opening.
Reward and missable warning
Defeating Yuzan grants the Heartrend Pipa. The boss table and the Village of Lu route both name it, but the site’s Phantom Edges guide follows the 24 documented edges and notes that the count is inconsistent: Fextralife lists 24, the official line says 25, and a Chinese database adds Heartrend Pipa and Abyssal Bell. Treat the Pipa as a real drop with an undocumented effect rather than assuming a specific ability.
Yuzan also counts toward the Four Great Puppets achievement, alongside Yubi, Yuding, and Yucong. That makes the kill worth taking even if you never use the Pipa. She is mandatory, so the drop is not missable on a completed run; boss drops are one-per-run and there is no refight.
Fight plan: learn the volley, then close
Yuzan has 52,100 HP and fights at range with a pipa. The fight has two halves: surviving the volleys and closing the gap.
The red blade volley. A red orb precedes the red blades, and the hit lands roughly 2.4–2.5 seconds after the orb — much later than a normal projectile. On Wayfarer, the volley hits for around 270. Dodge on the arrival, not on the orb. This is the single most common timing error in the fight.
The blue blades. The blue blade can come two or three times, and there is a blue-then-red pair that punishes anyone who dodges once and stands up. Count the repeats before you commit to a punish.
The white orb volley. The white orb sequence is a three-beat volley. Treat it as three separate dodges, not one long dodge.
The teal orb. The teal orb is a grab and an instant kill. Do not tank it, do not try to parry it, and do not stand in it while looking for the next blade. Leave the lane.
The close-range pipa. Once you are in, the close pipa swing is parryable. That is your entry: survive the volley, close during the recovery, parry the close swing, and take your punish. Then reset to range and repeat.
The late blue dive is the other timing check. It arrives after the volley pattern, so do not assume the sequence is over when the last blade passes.
Attack tells
| Tell | Response | Punish |
|---|---|---|
| Red orb, then red blades | Dodge late, about 2.4–2.5 seconds after the orb | Re-enter after the volley |
| Blue blade, 2–3 repeats | Count the repeats, dodge each | Punish only after the last |
| Blue-then-red pair | Dodge both beats | Do not stand up after the blue |
| White orb, three beats | Three separate dodges | Punish after the third |
| Teal orb | Leave the lane — instant-kill grab | Do not tank or parry |
| Late blue dive | Dodge on the arrival | Punish the landing |
| Close pipa swing | Parry | Main damage window |
The colour rule is literal here: blue blades are parryable, red blades are dodge-only. The teal orb is neither — it is a grab, and the source calls it an instant death. If you are unsure, leaving the lane is always better than testing the hitbox.
Recommended weapon and build
Bring a mobile main with a reliable close-range parry. The fight is about covering distance without committing to a long animation, then converting one close pipa parry into damage. A slow heavy weapon makes the approach miserable and leaves you stuck in the volley lanes.
No elemental weakness is documented for Yuzan. Do not build around Bleed on the assumption that a puppet-like opponent is vulnerable; the source does not publish a resistance table. Keep a weapon swap for the Sha-Chi refill, and prioritize movement over burst. The best builds guide covers the mobile options for the Village of Lu.
Common mistakes
- Dodging the red blades on the orb. They land about 2.4–2.5 seconds later.
- Dodging the blue blade once. It can repeat two or three times.
- Standing up after the blue in a blue-then-red pair. The red is the second beat.
- Tanking the teal orb. It is an instant-kill grab.
- Treating the white orb volley as one dodge. It is three beats.
- Ignoring the late blue dive. The volley is not over when the last blade passes.
- Trying to out-range her. The close pipa parry is the damage window.
Sources & confidence
The 52,100 HP figure, the red-blade 2.4–2.5 second delay, the roughly 270 Wayfarer damage, the two-to-three blue repeats, the blue-then-red pair, the three-beat white orb volley, the late blue dive, the parryable close pipa, and the teal-orb instant death all come from the AllThingsHow Yuzan breakdown, cross-checked against KeenGamer and the Village of Lu route. The Heartrend Pipa’s presence in the drop table is confirmed, but its effect is not in the repo’s 24-edge list; the edge-count conflict is flagged rather than resolved. The Four Great Puppets grouping comes from the compendium’s achievement section.
Sources & further reading
- Yuzan boss fight — AllThingsHow
- All bosses and rewards — KeenGamer
- Village of Lu walkthrough — PowerPyx
- Phantom Edge count note — Fextralife
We link to the primary source for every hard number. If a source conflicts, we say so in the text.
By the PBZ Guide Team · Reviewed by the editorial desk Written in English from primary sources and cross-checked play routes. Spot an error? Tell us and we will update the guide. We link to the primary source for every hard number. If a source conflicts, we say so in the text.