Medicine upgrades in Phantom Blade Zero are locked behind story progress. After meeting the Apprentice Healer at the Green Serpent House, you can improve your medicine through the Upgrade Equipment menu at bells, provided you have Healer's Memories and Remnant Dust.
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How to Unlock Medicine Upgrades
How to Upgrade Medicine
Which Healer's Memories You Need
Which Medicine to Upgrade First
Green Serpent Brew
How to Unlock Medicine Upgrades in Phantom Blade Zero
Finding an upgrade material doesn't mean you can spend it immediately. Before meeting the Apprentice Healer, the medicine upgrade system is unavailable even if you've already collected the necessary memories.
Where to Find the Apprentice Healer
Continue through Pangzhen's second chapter until you defeat Xie Qiudong, The Divine Healer. Follow the street beyond the fight and watch for a large building decorated with green banners. The bell outside identifies the Green Serpent House.
Enter the building and speak with the Apprentice Healer. This conversation unlocks medicine upgrades through the bell system.
That distinction matters because you won't need to return to the Green Serpent House every time you collect another upgrade material.
How to Upgrade Medicine at a Bell
Once you've unlocked the service, upgrading your medicine is straightforward:
- Interact with a bell and select Upgrade Equipment.
- Open the Medicines tab and choose the item you want to improve.
- Review the next level's effects and required materials.
- Spend the necessary Healer's Memory and Remnant Dust to confirm the upgrade.
Each medicine is improved individually. Upgrading one healing item doesn't automatically strengthen everything else in your inventory.
It's worth checking the next level's benefits before spending your materials. Not every upgrade provides the same kind of improvement, and some medicines become more useful through additional effects or charges rather than a simple increase in healing.
Which Healer's Memories Do You Need?
Medicine improvements use different grades of Healer's Memories as their levels increase. You can't use the same material for every upgrade.
- Apprentice Healer's Memory: Required to bring medicine to Level 2.
- Skilled Healer's Memory: Used for further upgrades through Level 4.
- Master Healer's Memory: Required for higher upgrades beyond Level 4.
These materials can be obtained during exploration or purchased from Quick Hand Zhang at hideouts that stock them.
You'll also need Remnant Dust, so collecting the correct memory isn't always enough to complete an upgrade.
Why Can't I Upgrade My Medicine?
If the upgrade option isn't available, the reason usually depends on where you are in the process.
If you haven't reached the Green Serpent House, continue progressing through Pangzhen until you can speak with the Apprentice Healer.
If you've already unlocked the Medicines tab but can't upgrade a particular item, check whether you have the correct memory tier and enough Remnant Dust.
I wouldn't spend time looking for another upgrade NPC when the menu is already available. The next step is checking what the selected medicine requires.
Which Medicine Should You Upgrade First?
The best upgrade depends on the medicine you actually use in combat. Some improve HP recovery, while others strengthen benefits involving Sha-Chi or damage reduction.
For example, the Healing Gourd initially restores 40% HP. Its first upgrade increases that to 45%, while later improvements can provide extra healing when your health is critically low and increase the number of available uses.
That makes it a sensible early priority if you're regularly running low on health during difficult encounters.
More Healing or More Uses?
It's worth considering whether the strength of each medicine use or the number of uses is causing you more trouble.
If you frequently survive an encounter but finish with very little health, stronger recovery can help you recover more efficiently.
If you regularly exhaust your medicine before the fight ends, an upgrade that increases available uses may be more valuable than a small improvement to recovery strength.
For builds that depend heavily on Sha-Chi abilities, a medicine with Sha-Chi-related benefits may deserve more attention.
My recommendation is to compare the upcoming upgrade effects with your usual combat habits before committing your memories. An upgraded medicine is most useful when it's one you're already relying on.
Green Serpent Brew and Medicine Upgrades
Your first visit to the Green Serpent House also rewards you with Green Serpent Brew, a medicine that removes negative status effects.
This is a separate recovery item rather than an automatic improvement to your existing medicine. It can also be upgraded using the medicine system once you've unlocked the necessary materials.
If you received Green Serpent Brew but haven't improved your other medicines yet, visit a bell and open Upgrade Equipment. The Green Serpent House provides access to the system, while bells let you manage upgrades afterward.
Once the system is available, you can gradually strengthen your preferred medicines as you find additional memories and accumulate Remnant Dust throughout the game.
