Starter Hints and Tips

Getting ready to delve into Ghost of Yotei but don’t want to go in blind, or perhaps you’ve played around a bit and wanted to check in on some things? Either way, this page aims to provide some hints, tips and observations that may help you get revenge on the Yotei Six!

Page Breakdown¶

Growth¶

• Atsu will gain health every time she bathes at a new hot spring for the first time. If you’re getting killed by bosses in one or two hits, it’s probably because you haven’t washed the new character grime off of you yet - get some baths in and enjoy the vitality!

• Bamboo Strikes will permanently upgrade your Spirit when completed, up to a maximum of six Spirit tabs with the ability to passively regenerate up to two Spirit.

• Shrines and Altars will give you Technique points Atsu can spend on her various skill trees.

• Clear Wolf Dens to increase Atsu’s bond with her wolf, allowing you to invest more points in her “Wolf” skill trees.

• Be sure to seek out rumors of masters who can teach Atsu how to use new weapons and techniques, unlocking whole new skill trees or unlocking skills on existing skill trees.

• When all else fails, explore and check the icons on your map to find out what rewards await you for completing said markers. You can earn new weapons, stat boosts, charms and more by exploring.

Equipment¶

• The more charms you find, the more charms you can equip, and the more of your minor charm slots upgrade to major charm slots. Even if you don’t care about actually wearing a charm, obtaining it still benefits you!

• Upgradeable charms do not need to be equipped in order to complete their upgrade requirements, but they must be found. It’s a good idea to go out of your way to obtain upgradeable charms as soon as possible just so they can upgrade as you quest and explore.

• Most resources - textiles, young bamboo and metal - are easy enough to find everywhere. Precious woods and precious metals are more uncommon and tend to be found in out-of-the-way places in just about every region. A few resources are mostly region-specific, however. Oni Raider Mask Pieces can be found by defeating Oni Raiders in the Ishikari Plain region, Shinobi Steel is dropped by minions of the Kitsune in Teshio Ridge and Gun Parts can be seized from Saito’s elite soldiers in Oshima Coast.

• Pick flowers up as you roam, as you can use these to buy new cosmetics, be they new hats, masks or dyes for weapons and armor.

• Most regions have a Dye House (or functional equivalent) that you can visit to purchase new dyes for your armor and weapons.

• Keep your weapons upgraded! That extra damage really, really helps, especially once you start seriously challenging The Oni and The Kitsune.

Exploration¶

• You can gain map and/or quest information by defeating random enemies (Atsu will automatically interrogate the last one when they’re defeated - no extra effort on your part is required) or by talking to or helping various settlers. In many cases their info will be added to your map automatically, but when their directions are more vague you may get a Traveler’s Map, instead, which requires manual placement. Just keep in mind that virtually every Travelers Map can be “solved” by lining up rivers, coastlines or region boundaries.

• The Cartographer can also sell you Traveler’s Maps. He appears at the following locations: Yotei’s Shadow Inn (Yotei Grasslands), Huranui’s Rest Inn (Tokachi Range), Northern Ferry (Nayoro Wilds), Red Crane Inn (Teshio Ridge) and Ishikari Market (Ishikari Plain).

• The Golden Bird will appear and attempt to guide you to points of interest on your map when you’re close - shrines, wolf dense, hot springs, bamboo strikes, etc. It’s worth your while to follow this bird whenever you see it, even if you don’t intend to complete the aforementioned side activity when you get there, at least you’ll have it marked on your map!

• Campfires can guide you to other points of interest on your map - where there’s smoke, there’s fire, after all, and humans tend to be behind fire. Whether this leads you to a village, a site you need to liberate, or a random encounter with settlers, merchants or ronin, there’s usually something interesting at the end of a smoke trail.

• Pick up resources as you go - you can nab bamboo and flowers while on horseback and you can carry 999 of each material. They’re useful for trading, selling and crafting. Better to have them and not need them then need them and not have them.

• Buy low, sell high! You can trade bamboo to the Ainu merchant for metals on a 1:1 basis, and you can sell metals to other merchants for 7 mon each (as opposed to 3 mon for bamboo). Trade excess bamboo for metal and sell metal for a significant markup!

• Atsu may be a competent fighter, but she’s not superhuman… well, not superhuman enough to survive exposure to a blizzard. Fully upgrading Taro’s Armor will give you the perk “Fire and Cold damage reduced by a major amount”, making it easier to explore Teshio Ridge, as you’re less likely to freeze to death. Without this, be mindful of fires you can rest at to recover from cold damage.

Combat¶

• You can start out many fights with a Standoff by pressing . This is a good way to eliminate an enemy (or enemies) before the fight really gets started!

• When engaged in a standoff, pay attention to the enemy’s feet. At first you just need to wait for the enemy to move, but eventually they’ll start feinting, which may catch you off-guard if you’re watching the wrong cues. Once the enemy starts moving their feet and actually charging at you, however, it’s time to strike! The timing window is fairly generous, so don’t prematurely attack - just wait for their feet to move and you’re golden.

• Use throwables and consumables! Kunai are good for breaking your opponent’s guard, Oni’s Flame makes your attacks unblockable and increases your damage output and Smoke Bombs are basically an “I win” button against weaker enemies. You can loot more and craft more while camping - there’s no reason to be precious with them.

• Playing defensively is rewarded early on, especially on higher difficulties, but later in the game enemies will become more varied and competent, forcing you to be aggressive about thinning the herd lest you get overwhelmed. Against stronger enemies you can’t always settle for the quick kill, so get in the odd heavy attack when you can, stay defensively responsible, work down their guard, and eliminate your target when their guard finally breaks.

• Onryo’s Howl is charged by killing enemies without taking a hit. When full, press + to unleash the howl and terrify enemies, making it easy to pick one or two off.

• The Charm of Onryo’s Protection will reduce how much Onryo’s Howl charge you lose each time you get hit, making it easier to more reliably fall back on this ability.

• Eating a meal while camping will give you an extra Spirit bead. There’s no good reason not to camp out and enjoy a meal before every challenging quest or bounty.

• Fire arrows can set dry grass aflame, potentially killing numerous enemies. Just be sure not to get burned by your own fire!

• Defeated enemies will sometimes drop their weapons, which you can pick up and throw , a free, fairly powerful projectile you can take advantage of for some improved damage. You can also find these weapons stored around enemy camps.

Stealth¶

• Atsu is a mercenary, not a trained assassin. She can get away with some stealth takedowns early on, but if you want to reliably clear enemy camps without being detected, investing in the Chain Assassination skills in the Onryo/Assassination tree will help a ton.

• Bows seem like a great way to thin the herd in stealth situations, but be wary of helmets - they’re not easily pierced with arrows, especially the Hankyu. Even the Yumi might struggle against helmeted enemies, especially if you’re not keeping it upgraded!

• Complete the quest [The Tale of the Kitsune] to unlock the “listen” ability, which will highlight enemies for you by pressing . This is mostly used as a counter-stealth tool, but you can also use it against less sneaky foes to scout them out, even through walls and at a distance - a very, very handy tool for stealthily infiltrating enemy strongholds.

• You can throw empty sake jars to lure enemies into more vulnerable positions.

• You are undetectable in high grass unless the enemy is actively searching for you. If they start spotting you you’ll see a white icon fill up. If you alert them, the icon will turn yellow, at which point they’re not hostile, but they’ll find you if they get close. If the icon turns red, they’ve identified you and will start attacking!