Codex · Weapons
Juggernaut
荡寇凶刃Dàngkòu Xiōngrèn
A polearm with “a massive blade on the end that charges up every time you parry”, as PC Gamer described it. The Chinese name 荡寇凶刃 comes from fan readings of the menus.
What the name means
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 荡寇 | dàngkòu | sweep away the bandits |
| 凶刃 | xiōngrèn | fierce, murderous blade |
The real culture behind it
荡寇, “sweep away the bandits”, is also the title of a famous counterblast. Yu Wanchun’s 19th-century novel Dangkou zhi (荡寇志, Quelling the Bandits) picks up where Jin Shengtan’s 70-chapter Water Margin breaks off and, instead of pardoning the 108 outlaws of Liangshan, has the government crush them. The same 寇 names the 倭寇, the pirates Qi Jiguang fought on the Ming coast.
The weapon belongs to the family of long-hafted heavy blades such as the 大刀 and the 朴刀 (pōdāo). Their anti-cavalry cousins have a real record: the Tang modao (陌刀), with which Li Siye’s infantry won at Xiangji Temple in 757, and the Song zhanmadao (斩马刀), “horse-cutting sabre”, made by the tens of thousands in 1072. The comparisons are ours, not S-GAME’s.
Go deeper
- Zhanmadao & Modao: China's Horse-Cutting Great SabresThe real zhanmadao: the Han “horse-cutting sword” in the Han shu, Li Siye's Tang modao, the Song great sabre of 1072, Qing long sabres and the 1930s dadao.
- Guandao: Guan Yu's Crescent Blade, Myth vs HistoryWhat a guandao is: Guan Yu's legendary Green Dragon Crescent Blade, the 82-jin myth, its Song-dynasty origins, Qing exam blades and its place in Phantom Blade Zero.
- 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
- PC Gamer: Phantom Blade Zero preview (2025)
- Song shi (History of Song), ch. 197: Treatise on Military Affairs
- Yu Wanchun, Dangkou zhi (荡寇志), Qing dynasty
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.