Phantom Blade Zero fast travel: how Traverse works and where to find Talismans
How Traverse works, why it will not cross regions and where every Traversal Talisman is hiding.
Quick answer
Fast travel here is called Traverse. Stand at a bell, choose Traverse and click the bell you want on the map. It costs nothing, stays inside your current region and refuses to start in combat. The Traversal Talisman covers the rest. Use one out in the field and it drops you at a bell you have touched. The best pile is five in a single pickup in Crimson Forest, southwest of the Thieves’ Camp bell.
Phantom Blade Zero has nine regions and 161 bells, and you will cross some of them more than once. Side quests send you back, upgrades send you back and the perfect ending sends you back a lot. Fast travel decides how much of that is loading screens and how much is walking.
There are two systems. One is free and lives at bells, the other is an item you spend. Both come with rules the game never explains, and a few talisman pickups are worth the detour.
How to fast travel
- Go to any bell you have touched before. Press E and the menu opens.
- Pick Traverse. It is the first row.
- Find your destination on the map. The map lists only bells you have touched. Scroll to zoom, drag to move and press T to reset the view.
- Click the bell once. There is no confirmation prompt. A loading screen plays, then you stand beside that bell with its E prompt showing.
Large regions need one extra step. Zoomed all the way out, the Traverse map will not scroll sideways, so bells at the far edge never come into view. Zoom in a notch, pull the map across until the bell is centred and click once the ring locks onto it.
The map footer also lists Tab for the world map and R for the collectibles view of the region you are in.
When Traverse unlocks
The first bell has no travel option. At The Beginning the menu holds three rows and none of them moves you anywhere. Reach First Meeting with Yu’er, the second bell, and Traverse takes the top slot in every bell menu after it.
The menu grows as you play. Upgrade Equipment appears once the Outpost Forge is found, and shop bells add Store. The full menu has Traverse first and Leave last, with Store, Upgrade Equipment, Save and Train Abilities in between. The beginner tips guide explains what each row does.
The rules of Traverse
| Rule | What the game says | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Bells only | Traverse starts from a bell | Out in the field it is not offered. That is the talisman’s job |
| Touched bells only | Only bells you rang before are listed | Skip a bell and you walk back to it later. Touch every one you pass |
| Current region only | “Can only fast travel to Bells within the current region” | Bells in other regions are not on the list |
| No combat | “Cannot traverse while in combat” | Win the fight, then travel. You cannot run out of one |
| Free | No cost shown and nothing is spent | No talisman and no Remnant Dust, ever |
The region rule matters most. Traverse does not jump to any bell in the world. If you try to leave your region the game says “Cannot traverse to other region” and the trip never starts. Regions are linked by the story, so you cross into the next one as the chapters take you there.
Press E on the bell when you arrive. Touching it restores HP and medicine, so every trip doubles as a heal.
What a Traversal Talisman is for
The item text is short. Break the talisman when no bell is near and you land at whichever rung bell you choose. It is a consumable. One use, one trip, gone.
That makes it a way out of long dead ends. It does not replace bell fast travel, because bell fast travel is free and the talisman is not. Stand next to a bell and the game points you to Traverse instead.
From Quick Hand Zhang a talisman costs 2,000 Remnant Dust. He keeps a stall in five places. Crimson Forest comes first, then Lu, Pangzhen and Meigu Lake, and finally the Mirage Estate. The perfect ending guide has his hideouts.
Do not buy them early. 2,000 Remnant Dust is a lot in the first chapters, and the free ones below pile up fast. Spend dust on gear first. The upgrade guide has the costs and the accessory guide explains why polish crystals never refund.
Where to find Traversal Talismans
| Where | How to get it |
|---|---|
| Weeping Creek Valley, waterfall cave | Last stop of Steel and Steam. Climb the brazier-lit wall at the back, follow the planks to the cave mouth and swing across on the hanging chain. A small red shrine sits just past the landing. The talisman is at its foot |
| Weeping Creek Valley, mountain path | Where the mountain path ends, beyond the scaffolding in the south of the valley |
| Weeping Creek Valley, lower river canyon | A Brute guards it in the river canyon. Fight it, because enemies stay dead and you do not get a second go at its Dust |
| Weeping Creek Valley, Axemaster’s cell area | Up on the wooden platform just north of the cell, under crates you can smash |
| Weeping Creek Valley, lower river valley | Beside the big pipe |
| Weeping Creek Valley, upper plateau | Past the Madwoman where the plateau ends |
| Crimson Forest, Thieves’ Camp ledge | One pickup, five talismans. Roughly 40 metres southwest of the Thieves’ Camp bell a rock wall rises behind a stone lantern. Climb it and follow the plank ledge for 4 metres. The glint is on the boards |
| Crimson Forest, lower forest path | A corpse slumped against a rock |
| Village of Lu, stream | Hop off the bridge that links the bells at the Temple of Blue Fireflies and the Well of the Three Puppets. The fall is harmless. Search the crates among the glowing blue flowers on the bank and hold E, because a quick tap can miss |
The Crimson Forest ledge is the one to remember. Five talismans at once means you can stop thinking about this system for most of the game. The Lu stream earns the detour twice. Petal II of Firefly’s Memory Flower is on the same bank, a few steps on.
When to use a talisman
Spend one when getting home on foot would take longer than getting out there did. A far ledge or a spur with no bell close by is the usual case. You grab the reward, break the talisman and land at a bell near your next objective.
Do not use one to skip a short walk. Do not use one for a single quest turn in. Run to the nearest bell, Traverse from there and keep the talisman for a real dead end.
Carry a spare any time you explore somewhere new. That is the job they were made for.
Getting around without fast travel
Ring every bell you pass. The destination list only holds bells you have rung. The one you skipped is the one you will walk back to.
A red thread points toward the nearest bell when you are lost. Hold V for Mind’s Eye and it points to the quest you are tracking. Between the two you can always find the next stop.
Look for a shortcut back after you ring a new bell. The game loves ladders and loops, and one often links the new bell to the last one.
In Meigu Lake the Sha-Chi boat takes you to island bells. You reach those by boat, then Traverse works from them like any other bell.
Bells are also the only place to save, and the game keeps 20 manual saves. Make one before a boss and one before any story choice. The perfect ending guide lists the points of no return, and the Last Chance bell at Mount Soulrend is the biggest. Ring it last.
Why Traverse will not work
| Message or problem | Fix |
|---|---|
| No Traverse row in the bell menu | You are at The Beginning. Ring First Meeting with Yu’er and it appears everywhere |
| Cannot traverse to other region | Choose a bell inside your current region. The next region comes with the story |
| Cannot traverse while in combat | Win the fight, then travel |
| The bell you want is not on the map | You have not rung it. Walk there once |
| The map will not scroll to a far bell | Zoom in one step and drag the map |
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Guide by
George
George grew up on Dark Souls and Call of Duty, and he still has strong opinions about both. He also plays Arma, where he walks a very long way to get shot by someone he never saw. He says it’s part of the experience.
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