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Unofficial guide · Launch edition · Last checked Confirmed Reported Conflict After unlock

Hua Qianxiao, the Sword Fanatic: boss guide

Hua Qianxiao is a required boss at the start of Crimson Forest, a drunken-style swordsman. Previews and a review agree on how the fight feels, but nobody has published a full move list yet, and the launch build may differ. Reported · Respec

Full name from the Steam achievement "A Thousand Cups Drained": Hua Qianxiao, the Sword Fanatic Confirmed · Steam.

A masked swordsman in dark armoured robes and a tricorn-style hat stands on a bridge, embers drifting in the grey sky behind him.
A masked swordsman on a bridge, from the BWIKI Hua Qianxiao image. Image: S-GAME / BWIKI

At a glance

Hua Qianxiao · sources
Where to find the fight
Start of Crimson Forest, on the bridge leading in. Required.
Reported · PowerPyx
Phases
Not confirmed yet
Reported · Respec
Reward
Reports say a drunken-style sword. Steam's achievement list names a weapon called Fanatic's Broken Blade that enters a [Drunk] state; reviews call his reward the Fanatic's Drunken Sword. We think they are the same weapon but have not confirmed it.
Reported · Respec
Best weapon or Phantom Edge
Updates after unlock
After unlock

How the fight goes

What the fight feels like

He is a human-sized duellist who sways and stumbles like a drunken fighter. A review says he uses drunken movement to dodge your attacks and can counter with his sword from a distance, and the reviewer needed several attempts.

The drinking buffs

A Chinese preview says drinking gives him self-buffs, and that you must keep interrupting his actions or he can seem impossible to damage. The same preview calls him a gatekeeper boss with showy drunken moves.

Feints and the narrow bridge

A fan wiki, which cites no source for this, says his feints move the shoulders while the blade path decides where the hit lands, that his sword rhythm is off-beat, and that the narrow bridge rules out running in circles. Treat this as unverified.

How to beat Hua Qianxiao

Blue marks mean parry, red marks mean dodge Reported · TheSixthAxis Reported · TheSixthAxis. The combat guide covers timing and the Sha-Chi meter.

What we are still checking

Sources and checks

Official and store pages

Press, reviews and data sites

Other sources