Ghost of Tsushima relies on stealth as much as it relies on brute strength.

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Ghost Of Tsushima: Everything you need to know about Stealth and Gadgets

If you want to stalk through the shadows and tall grasses of Tsushima unseen, this guide has everything you need to know about being a true Ghost

Written by Stacey Henley

7 min readPublished on 04.09.2020 · 14:49 UTC

A big part of Ghost Of Tsushima is about becoming the eponymous Ghost, including turning your back on the traditions of the samurai to embrace stealth, trickery, and silent assassinations. The game will force stealth on you at some points and force action on you at others, but mostly the game leaves it up to you to decide how you want to play.

If sneaking silently is more your style, you'll want to know the best build for that type of run, along with how to assassinate, how to use your gadgets, and how stealthy attacks can even complement the more fast and furious flow of action combat. If you’d prefer head-on attacks, the Ghost of Tsushima Action Guide might be more suitable. You can’t take back Tsushima without stealth, though, and this guide will help Jin become the Ghost he was always supposed to be.

Assassinations

Calling Ghost Of Tsushima ‘Assassin’s Creed: Japan’ is a mite unfair – it borrows from Arkham, Sekiro and Horizon Zero Dawn as much – but the assassinations are by far the strongest comparison to Ubisoft's massive franchise. Using assassinations is the most effective way you can play to ensure a ‘true stealth’ run goes smoothly. It is worth nothing, though, that a few of the Ghost weapons can actually cause you to fail a forced stealth mission, even if Jin manages to evade detection.

For assassinations, you just need to sneak up on enemies and tap Square. Unlocking the chain assassination is a must as soon as you can, though; enemies often stand in pairs, so once you can chain them together it’s much easier to not be spotted.

There’s nothing especially new before you get to the Ghost weapons; hide in pampas grass or on rooftops, use Focused Hearing to spot where enemies are, don’t risk running in open spaces, and only strike when you’re out of sight. Make use of R2 to hide under buildings or squeeze through gaps, too. Other than that, the basic assassinations are like everything you’ve played before, except this time Jin feels bad about it.

Kunai

While not the most stealthy gadget, this is easily the best weapon the game gives you in terms of utility and firepower. This thrown dagger should be the ranged item you focus on upgrading at the trapper, as the Kunai can be a useful attack while hidden in the grass, as well as a saving throw when you’re surrounded.

Though designed to be thrown from the shadows, running into a crowd and unleashing a torrent of kunai definitely makes you feel like an untouchable warrior; a full set can take out 15 men. They’re effective if an enemy is getting too close and you haven’t unlocked the opposing Stance yet too, making this a crucial all-round weapon in your arsenal.

Smoke Bombs

Any stealth fighter worth their sake has a smoke bomb in their pocket, and Jin Sakai is no different. Smoke bombs are probably the most versatile thing the game gives you, so understanding how they work is a big part of becoming the Ghost.

Smoke bombs, as their name implies, create a puff of smoke for you to disappear into. The best use is to escape from combat when the going gets tough, but that’s far from the only option. Throwing a smoke bomb in an exposed space can allow you to transition between two cover points, or can make it easier to sneak up on an enemy to assassinate while closing sightlines.

As if that's not enough, with the right upgrades a smoke grenade can even be used to heal you. Although smoke bombs can frustratingly cause you to fail forced stealth quests (enemies know you’re in an area even if they can see you), for general stealth play you’ll find most situations can be made better via the use of a smoke bomb.

Wind Chimes

While this ‘weapon’ doesn’t cause any damage, it can be perfect for building more accessible stealth scenarios. Though chain assassinations are useful when it comes to duos, if the enemies are in larger groups it can be an ordeal to take them out silently: which is a requirement for some missions. This is where the wind chime comes in.

Lobbing one a little distance away from a group can lure a guard away from the pack so that they’re on their own, letting you pick off the enemies one by one. Just be aware that the guards aren’t distracted too much by the wind chimes; in fact, it often makes your quarry on edge. Be sure to approach any startled enemy soldiers from the side rather than head-on when you use this item.

Blow Darts

The blow dart isn’t anything unique to Ghost Of Tsushima, but by the time you unlock it, you’ll probably notice it changes the paradigm of Sucker Punch's latest game quite a bit. You get this weapon during Yukiro’s first mission, and it’s a more effective ranged weapon than the bow for most encounters.

As we covered in the Combat Guide, archers are amongst the most irritating enemies in the game – but a poison dart can make short work of them. Because they’re elevated, poisoning an archer doesn’t give away your position as often as poisoning a warrior does, either.

If you’re going to blowdart a warrior, though, using the hallucination dart on the brute will do the most damage. If you’ve yet to unlock the Wind stance, then neutralising a spearman might be the better option.

Sticky Bombs

These aren’t really stealthy at all, and you’re unlikely to be able to complete a forced stealth mission while using them. However, if thrown from a rooftop, they can be effective at eliminating a decent sized crowd while you’re on a liberation mission. They’re also great in action gameplay, especially if you’ve unlocked the technique which makes you invincible to your own bombs.

Be careful if there’s hostages though; sticky bombs give the game away and using them puts the hostages in as much danger as just running around blindly would (although using these items does at least do some serious damage). With most enemies, sticky bombs aren’t quite strong enough for a one-hit kill, so be prepared to sweep up after the carnage.

Black Powder Bombs

Even less than the sticky bombs, the black powder bombs offer basically zero stealth. However, while chucking them at a brute in hand-to-hand battle is one way to go, you can still use them for a more ghostly purpose.

An upgraded bomb with explosive shrapnel is arguably your strongest projectile, so one thing to do is to throw it in a crowd and then scarper. Not only will it kill the enemies around it, but the noise will lure even more foes to investigate the scene. This method will insta-fail a stealth mission, but provides a big boost to your Ghost Stance meter and brings a second crowd to either bomb again, kunai to death or sneak up and fight the old-fashioned way.

Charms & Techniques

Charms and Techniques can make you an unstoppable Ghost. — Charms and Techniques can make you an unstoppable Ghost
© Sony Interactive Entertainment

As you go through the game, you’ll unlock various Charms and Techniques. The charms are gained from side quests, and you unlock more slots at Fox Shrines, while the Techniques come from levelling up, and can be used for Deflection, Evasion, Stances, Exploration, Evolving and Ghost. Charms can be mixed and matched at will, while the Techniques are permanent.

Because of the range of approaches on offer, you’ll want to switch the Charms around for each mission, and will want a balance of all Techniques (aside from Exploration).

The charms are split into Attack, Defense, Ranged, Ghost, and Special. You’ll want the Unseen Respite Charm which makes smoke bombs heal you, but also Shadows, Hidden Sight, Swift Return, Toxic Demise and Advantage. On the Technique side of things, upgrading your favourite Ghost weapon is a no brainer, but you should seriously think about giving most of them a bit of a boost. Aside from that, though, the Techniques are mainly built for action gameplay.

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