Codex · Bosses
Jagged Steel
残钢Cán Gāngthe Frenzied Brute
The introductory Chapter 1 boss in Chinese hands-on coverage (A9VG); he drops the bleed blade that shares his English name, Jagged Steel (残钢刃). The English boss plate comes from fan readings and press.
What the name means
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 残 | cán | broken, damaged; also cruel (残暴) |
| 钢 | gāng | steel |
| 痴狂暴徒 | chīkuáng bàotú | “frenzied brute”: 痴狂 crazed + 暴徒 thug |
The real culture behind it
残 means broken or left over — 残缺, incomplete; 残骸, wreckage — and also cruel, as in 残暴. 钢 is steel. “Broken steel” is a scrapyard name, and his serrated bleed blade wears it literally: serrated edges were never standard on Chinese military sabres, so this one sits on the kungfupunk side of the ledger.
Chinese smiths prized the opposite, 百炼钢, “hundred-refined steel”, heated, hammered and folded again and again to drive out slag. The epithet 痴狂暴徒 pairs 痴狂, crazed, with 暴徒, a thug; it is the same 痴 that makes Hua Qianxiao a “sword fanatic” (剑痴), here tipped over into frenzy.
Go deeper
- Hundred-Refined Steel: How Chinese Smiths Folded SteelChinese sword forging explained: cast iron, puddled steel, hundred-refined folding, co-fusion steel and composite blades, with original texts, dates and layer maths.
- Phantom Blade Zero Weapons & Their Real Chinese OriginsEvery Phantom Blade Zero weapon named so far, from Sanguine to the Tiger Cannon, matched to its real Chinese counterpart: jian, dao, miao dao, guandao and more.
- Dao: The Chinese Sabre, From Ring-Pommel to OxtailWhat a dao sword is, how the Chinese sabre evolved from the Han ring-pommel dao to Qing willow-leaf and oxtail sabres, why armies chose it, and how it is used.
Sources & further reading
- A9VG: hands-on and interview (9 Oct 2026)
- GosuGamers preview: 10 things to know about the boss fights, weapons and story
Game details come from official material and press coverage; names marked “fan reading” will be checked against the retail build. Anything labelled as our reading is interpretation, not a developer statement.