Phantom Blade Zero Wan Jun Coppermaul Boss Fight Guide

Wan Jun — better known as Coppermaul — is one of the earliest major roadblocks in Phantom Blade Zero, and learning the right Phantom Blade Zero Wan Jun Coppermaul strategy separates a clean first attempt from a string of frustrating resets. This towering warhammer-wielder fights dirtier than most early bosses, scattering grit across the arena to blind you at the worst possible second, so a careful approach matters far more than raw aggression. According to community reports on the Phantom Blade Zero Steam page, he is the gatekeeper who decides whether new players keep their aggressive opener or are forced to learn defensive timing before the mid-game opens up.

Get the timing right and you walk away with the Bashpole Phantom Edge, a mid-game reward that reshapes several builds and unlocks new punish windows in later fights. Below is the full breakdown of his attack list, the dirty mechanics that trip newcomers up, and a phase-by-phase plan you can follow even on your first try — all drawn from player testing rather than guesswork.

Who Is Wan Jun, Aka Coppermaul

Wan Jun earns the nickname Coppermaul from the heavy bronze-toned warhammer he drags around, and his design philosophy is blunt: crowd control plus punishing single-target strikes. He is the second named boss most players encounter after the prologue fights, and his arena — a walled compound ringed by broken carts and dirt mounds — is half the fight. Those mounds are intentional; he kicks dirt into the air mid-combo to obscure the camera, which is why a defensive Phantom Blade Zero Wan Jun Coppermaul strategy matters more than the pure dodge-roll approach that works against lighter enemies.

His posture is slow but committed. Every swing commits him to a follow-up, which means reacting late usually means trading two for one rather than just one hit. According to the official Phantom Blade Zero site, Coppermaul is designed to test whether players have internalized the dodge and parry windows from earlier encounters — a point echoed by IGN's action-RPG review, which highlights his role as a "skill check before the mid-game opens up."

Core Stats at a Glance

This stat block is the foundation of every Phantom Blade Zero Wan Jun Coppermaul strategy built around stamina economy. If your shield breaks twice during phase 1, you will have no buffer for the dirt-scatter storm that defines phase 2.

Reading Wan Jun's Moveset

Coppermaul's attack list looks short on paper, but each move has a long recovery, which means recognizing which swing is incoming is half the defense. The trick is to learn the telegraph rather than the move itself — the wind-up duration tells you how far you need to back off, and the arc tells you whether to parry or sidestep. Because his recovery windows are wide, you can afford to play patient, and that patience pays off in clean parries rather than panic rolls.

Standard Hammer Swings

His bread-and-butter is a three-hit combo: overhead smash, horizontal sweep, and a follow-up butt-strike. The overhead is the safest parry in his kit because its wind-up animation is long, and the horizontal sweep is the most punishing move if you panic-dodge, since it catches rolls both forward and sideways. Holding neutral and waiting for the parry flash, as outlined in the broader how to parry guide, will reliably catch the first hit and open a wide punish window.

Dirt Scatter AoE

His signature dirty move. Wan Jun kicks the ground and kicks up a dust cloud covering roughly six meters, blinding you for about 1.5 seconds. The trick: do not roll blindly into the cloud. Instead, sidestep perpendicular to the windup direction (always toward his back-left shoulder) and you will clear most of the radius. Players who follow a generic dodge-first approach tend to overextend here and eat the follow-up hammer slam that always lands the moment the cloud clears.

Grab and Throw

At medium range, Coppermaul occasionally lunges into a grab that ends with a body-check into the nearest wall. This is the only move with a true unparryable window — you must back away or use a Ghostep to phase through. The detailed mechanics of Ghostep and when to spend it are covered in the Ghostep mechanics guide, but the short answer for this fight is: do not waste it on phase 1, save it for the phase 2 grab which can combo into a one-shot.

Move Reference Table

This table is the core of any Phantom Blade Zero Wan Jun Coppermaul strategy that focuses on parry-first defense. Notice that dodge is rarely the optimal answer against his kit — the moves are designed to catch panicked rolls, which is why so many first attempts end with the player rolling directly into the butt-strike finisher.

Phase Breakdown and State Transitions

Coppermaul has two clearly defined phases tied to a Breached state mechanic at roughly 60% HP. Understanding when the transition triggers, and what changes after, is critical because phase 2 introduces a new attack chain and removes the long punish windows that make phase 1 manageable. If you have played other bosses in the game, the same recovery rules from the breached state recovery guide apply here, but the timing windows are noticeably tighter because of his slow-but-committed swing arc.

Phase 1: The Steady Wall

From 100% down to 60% HP, Wan Jun fights at a measured pace: one combo, then a pause, then another combo. He only chains two combos back-to-back after a successful Breached proc, which means the optimal Phantom Blade Zero Wan Jun Coppermaul strategy in this phase is conservative — parry the opener, take the guaranteed 2-3 hit punish, and reset to mid-range. Greedy players who press for 5+ hit combos will eat the butt-strike finisher every single time, because his recovery is long but not unlimited.

Phase 2: The Dirty Storm

After he hits Breached, Coppermaul roars, slams the ground, and enters a higher aggression mode where his attack cadence jumps by roughly 30%. The dirt scatter AoE becomes chained — he kicks dust, swings once, kicks dust again — and his grab cooldown drops to every other cycle. Phase 2 also introduces a new overhead slam that can one-shot players at low HP, which is why most deaths happen in the first 30 seconds of this phase. This is the section of the fight where your saved dodge and Ghostep resources finally matter, and where players who built a defensive stamina pool in phase 1 reap the rewards.

Phase Comparison Table

Players who try to play phase 2 the same way they played phase 1 — the most common mistake — will reset repeatedly. The recommended approach is to spend your Ghostep charges in phase 2 only, particularly on the chained grab, and switch from parry-first defense to a parry-and-backstep hybrid that prioritizes survival over damage until the last 20% of his HP.

Recommended Builds and Strategy Routes

Three viable approaches exist for solo players, each with different risk profiles. The right pick depends on whether you have already invested in Sha-Chi upgrade nodes, whether you have a reliable parry build, or whether you prefer a slow heavy-hitting style. The mechanics behind these build paths are explained in the broader combat guide, but here is how they apply specifically to this boss fight.

Solo Melee Build (Recommended First Clear)

Stack damage on the overhead parry punish window and burn him down before phase 2 becomes chaotic. The optimal opener is to bait the overhead smash, parry it for a posture break, then commit a full 3-hit punish before resetting. Repeat for phase 1, then switch to backstep-first defense for phase 2. This Phantom Blade Zero Wan Jun Coppermaul strategy is the most consistent because it does not rely on perfect Sha-Chi timing and works with any weapon you have already upgraded.

Sha-Chi Burst Build

For players who have already unlocked the Sha-Chi upgrade tree, you can proc the burst damage state during his butt-strike recovery and chunk 15–20% of his HP in a single window. The Sha-Chi mechanics guide covers the timing in detail, but the short version: proc it right as his hammer is buried in the ground from the butt-strike finisher. Risk is high because if you mistime the proc, you waste the buff and end up in a punish window with no recovery tools left.

Heavy Tank Build (Safe but Slow)

For players struggling with the parry timing, a shield-and-stamina build works but takes roughly 4–6 minutes per attempt. Block the overhead, sidestep the sweep, dodge the butt-strike, repeat. You will take chip damage from the dirt scatter, so bring healing consumables. This is not the fastest Phantom Blade Zero Wan Jun Coppermaul strategy, but it is the most forgiving for first-timers who would rather learn the patterns than risk a quick death.

Build Comparison Table

The clear-time variance between builds is roughly 2x, so picking the right one for your skill level matters. Most players do best with the solo melee route because it teaches the parry timing that every later boss requires, and that investment pays dividends across the rest of the campaign.

Rewards and What to Do After the Kill

Beating Wan Jun rewards the Bashpole Phantom Edge, a mid-game weapon that scales with Strength and unlocks a unique charged-slam punish move when fully upgraded. The Bashpole also interacts with several later fights — its charged slam can proc Breached state in two hits against a handful of mid-game bosses, which makes it a worthwhile pickup even if you intend to switch weapons later. According to community testing logged on the Phantom Blade Zero Steam page, the Bashpole's charged slam has a hidden armor-pierce property that bypasses the first block of several humanoid bosses in the mid-game rotation.

After clearing the fight, you will unlock the Bashpole Upgrade Path at the hub blacksmith, plus a small stash of crafting materials dropped from his weapon rack. The official Phantom Blade Zero site confirms this drop table, and players have reported that two of the rarer crafting mats are gated behind this specific boss — so do not