Estimated difficulty: 7/10. (Highly skill dependent)

Estimated 100% time: ~50-60+ hours.

Offline/online achievements: 34 offline / 0 online.

Number of playthroughs: 2 if you save scum, 4 if not.

Glitched achievements: None.

Ashina Reservoir

After gaining control of Wolf, stealth your way through the linear section until you reach a window where you will trigger a cutscene.

Revered Blade





After the cutscene continue forward out the door where you will learn the basics of combat. Once again, continue through the linear path until you arrive at the door under the bridge. Call for the Divine Heir, then proceed forward to the first "boss fight". This fight is winnable with enough skill, but whether you win or die leads to the same outcome.

Shinobi Prosthetic

Ashina Outskirts

Prosthetic Tool (1/10)
After arriving at the Sculptors temple, you can interact with the Sculptor, the Undying, and Emma. Emma will be useful for upgrading our Healing Gourd later down the line. Once you're finished, press forwards into Ashina Outskirts and continue on until you arrive in an area with 3 dogs. Either take out the dogs or grapple past them into the small overhang with a hole in the wall. Inside will be a corpse with the Shuriken Wheel prosthetic. You can take this to the Sculptor to unlock a new skill, however, don't return just yet!

Gourd Seed (1/9) & Prayer Bead (1/40)
Just after the gate where we found the Shuriken tool is General Naomori Kawarada who will drop a Gourd Seed and a Prayer Bead. You can grapple and stealth your way onto the awning directly behind him for a free killing blow.

A little further down the path will be an old woman standing in a dilapidated building. Talk to her and chose the "I'm not your son" option to receive the Young Lord's Bell Charm. This will be important for an area later in the game.

Prosthetic Tool (2/10)
To the left of the old woman is a large mountain you can scale by grappling up it from the right side. on top will be a shop you can buy Robert's Firecrackers from for 500 Sen.

Memorial Mob





Just before the Chained Ogre boss is an NPC vendor who sells info. He also sells the Phantom Kunai for 3,000 Sen. This is an important high tier upgrade item. You'll need to buy his info for 10 and 20 Sen, then rest at an Idol for him to start selling stuff.

Prayer Bead (2/40)
Drop down from the mountain and continue to follow the path towards the stairs with the cannon enemy until you enter a small estate grounds. To your right is a Sculptors Idol you can rest at, and just ahead of that is the Chained Ogre boss fight. You can either take him on normally, by dodging his attacks and either dealing enough health/posture damage, or you can stealth cheese him. After he breaks free, kite him back beyond the doorway to his arena and hide in the tall grass far enough for him to lose aggro. Eventually he will turn around and you can sneak up for a free death blow.

Gourd Seed (2/9)
After the fight, immediately grappled up the wall and enter the room to your left to find another Gourd Seed.

Prayer Bead (3/40)
In the next area is another mini boss, General Tenzen Yamauchi. Killing him drops a Prayer Bead.

After wrapping up this area, continue forward for now. The right path leads to an enemy we can't damage just yet. Once you reach the broken bridge drop down to your left to find a Sculptors Idol. Continue to follow the grapple points until the Giant Snake appears, initiating a small stealth sequence. Use the tall grass and ledges to maneuver your way past the snake until you have to shimmy under some icicles. Just beyond this is a palanquin to hide in. Wait for the snake to get close and stab its eye. Run like hell to the next set of grapple points until you arrive at the safety of your next Idol!

Continue forward through the next area of enemies until you arrive in a small courtyard with a tree you can grapple onto. Grapple up to the roof and then drop into the large battlefield for our first proper boss fight, Gyoubu! This boss is not as difficult as he is intimidating. Get used to parrying his attacks, and slashing him 2-3 times between. If he runs far away, grapple him and get 2 swings in before he starts going to town. It may take some getting used to, but perfect parries are incredibly powerful in this game. Once he's defeated you will gain a Memory which you can use at the Idol at the end of the arena to increase your attack power!

Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa





Before leaving the area, turn around and head up the stairs on the far end of the field to find the Tengu of Ashina. He will task you with killing some rats. Head back to the Idol at the gate, continue forward and grapple up to the gateway. Look to your right to see 2 enemies we can eavesdrop. Just beyond them is another one by himself. That is the one we need to kill. After you kill him, return to the Tengu to receive your reward. (This is needed to progress the story later, and will reward 1 of the 5 Skill Books.)

Prayer Bead (4/40)
Immediately head upstairs from the Tengu and look for a grapple point up in the broken rafters. once up there, make your way over to the hole in the wall and climb into it to find this Bead in the chest.

Gourd Seed (3/9)
Purchase for 1,000 Sen from the merchant at the top of the nearby stairs.

Hirata Estate

Now is a good time to head back to the Sculptor and offer the Bell from earlier to the Buddha statue. This will teleport you to the Hirada Estate memory.

Treasure Carp Scale (1-5/12)
Once you arrive at the bridge, jump into the water and swim to the island on the right to find the Noble Pot NPC. Exhaust his dialogue, then hop back in the water and kill all the swimming Carp in the area to find these 4 scales. Sometimes they may refuse to surface. You can try resetting at he Idol, or coming back when we have the dive ability. After grabbing these 4, go the left side of the bridge to find a scale behind the large rocks by the river bank. These scales are needed for Lapis Lazuli, which we need to fully upgrade or prosthetic tools, as well as an optional boss achievement later.

Prosthetic Tool (3/10)
Continue across the giant bridge, then grapple over the wall to find your next Idol. Deal with the enemies here, then jump over the broken wall. Just behind the house here is a tree you can grapple up to to spot a few enemies around a bonfire. Deal with everyone here, then pick up the Flame Barrel at the fire itself.

Prosthetic Tool (4/10)
Continue to the next alley and hook a left into the small house yard. Kill the few enemies here, then open the doors to the small altar on the right to find the Axe of the Monkey. You can also open the giant gate at the far left end of the alley for a shortcut.

Prayer Bead (5/40)
Heading to the far right side of the alley will lead you to a bridge with Shinobi Hunter - Enshin of Misen on the other side. Stealth kill all the enemies in the area (using the bridge to fall back to) and then deal with the Shinobi Hunter. The Mikiri counter is extremely useful against him. You can spend your Beads at the Idol just beyond this area.

Prosthetic Tool (5/10)
Continue forward until you reach a bridge guarded by a large enemy and 2 shield guys. Off the right side of the bridge is a tree branch you can leap of faith grapple to. Follow the path until you reach a building where a purple garbed ninja will ambush you from the roof. Inside the building is the Mist raven.

Return to the bridge and continue forward until you meet your father, Owl, who will give you the Hidden Temple Key. Grapple the tree to the left and follow the grapple path until you reach solid ground again. Ahead is a group of enemies in a cave, and just beyond that is a giant well you can wall jump up to reach your next Idol.

Prayer Bead (6/40)
Just beyond this is a large group of enemies, which you may or may not want to skip, as our next boss is just beyond the pond in the center. Guarding Juzou is another group of enemies which you may want to take out stealthily until it's just him left. There is also an NPC at the right side of the pond you can talk to to help you fight. You can start Juzuo's fight, then retreat to the pond until he loses sight of you, then stealth your way through the building on the left for a free stealth death blow on him. Note that this only works for his first bar. After that, parrying his attacks is the easiest way to deal with him.

Prayer Bead (7/40)
After arriving at the Idol in the estate, do a complete 180 and break the wall here to find 2 enemies patrolling. At the end of this hall is poster on the wall. Hug the wall to reveal a secret room with a chest at the end containing the Bead.

Enter the estate and make your way to the back where you can access the underground section. Here is our next major boss; Lady Butterfly. Her fight can be cheesed pretty heavily by simply attacking once, then dodging to the right, repeat. If she dodges away or jumps up on her wires, simply wait it out until you find another opening to do so. During her 2nd phase, she will summon little illusion guys to attack you. Your best bet is to simply run around, dodging attacks until she dispels them. Doing so will cause yellow homing butterflies to chase you. Either dodge or sprint to avoid it, then repeat the process from phase 1.

The Phantom Lady Butterfly







Prayer Bead (8/40)
Return to the Ashina Castle Gate Idol and make your way through the following area (it's pretty linear) until you arrive at the Blazing Bull boss fight. This enemy can be a bit of an annoyance, but again, can be cheesed a bit. Your safest bet is to sprint behind him as he runs around the area, taking a stab or 2 at his backside. If he ever turns to attack you directly, dodge towards him to get behind him once more and continue stabbing away. Always stay to his rear, as he doesn't have any kick attacks or the like.

Prayer Bead (9/40)
After eliminating the bull, continue forward to the next Idol. Follow the staircase upwards to find Gerenal Kuranosuke Matsumoto surrounded by gunmen. You should be easily able to take out all of the gunners in 1 hit, then use the rooftops around the area to escape the mini boss so he resets and you can climb behind him for a free death blow (only works on his first bar). Kill him for the Bead.

Gourd Seed (4/9)
After killing the mini boss, position yourself in front of the castle door at the top of the stairs. Hook a right, followed by another right to find an NPC hiding behind a wall. Talk to him and he will ask you to clear the area of enemies. Doing so will allow him to relocate to the Dilapidated Temple where he will sell a Gourd Seed for 2,000 Sen.

Gourd Seed (5/9)
Afterwards, continue to grapple up the rooftops until you reach the highest roof. Follow the roofing around to the side, being cautious of the dude who's about to dive bomb you into the Shadow Realm. Once you reach the side there will be an open window you can grapple into with an Idol and a chest. The Seed is in the chest.

Prosthetic Tool (6/10)
Continue forward into the building and you'll enter an open room with blue robed samurai patrolling. Drop down the center of this area to find a room past the 3 enemies with a chest containing the Sabimaru. Alternatively, you can wait until a little later in the game to grab this, as we will be coming back to this area.

Prayer Bead (10/40)
In the same area with the 2 samurai patrolling are 2 more praying in an adjacent room. After dealing with them, hug the poster wall behind the sword ahead to find a chest with the Bead.

Prayer Bead (11/40)
Use the Homeward Idol to return to the upper section and proceed as normal. Cut across the room with the patrolling samurai and head upstairs to find another Idol. Open the door directly across to find Ashina Elite - Jinusuke Saze. Your best bet for him is to stand around and parry his quick 2-hit attack over and over. This ends the fight in ~30 seconds.

After the fight, head out the window on the left and climb up to the top of the building for our next major boss fight. Genichiro can be very tricky at first, especially since his posture recovery is so fast. The trick to his fight is to be very aggressive while still perfect parrying his attacks. You don't want to give him a chance to recover. If he ever does an overhead jump attack, always prepare to Mikiri the following lunge, unless he preps for a sweep. After his initial 2 phases, he will transform and gain lightning abilities. The same principle of being overly aggressive still applies. Also be sure to always redirect his lightning attacks back at him for posture damage and an opening to land 3 or so hits. It'll take some practice but you'll eventually get the run where you best him! This will also reward 1 of the 3 Ninjutsu Techniques.

Genichiro Ashina





After the fight, talk to Emma, then head downstairs and exhaust Kuro's dialogue until you're told to interact with an incense burner. Do so, then talk to Kuro again until you're directed to find Lord Isshin (he won't spawn if you leave too early, or if you never completed the first Tengu of Ashina quest step.) Exit through the window and head to the building immediately to your right to find Isshin inside. Exhaust his dialogue, then return to Kuro and exhaust his dialogue as well. Don't forget to pick up the Gun Fort Shrine Key directly next to him.

Prosthetic Tool (7/10)
Warp back to the Antechamber idol of Ashina Castle, and drop into the hoie in the center of the room with the patrolling samurai. If you didn't pick up the Sabimaru tool earlier, now is the time to do so. After grabbing the tool, open the door to the right and continue out past a spear enemy up ahead to find the Old Grave Idol. Drop down the cliff into the hole in the wall to buy the Iron Fortress for 1,600 Sen. The anti air skill is also a good purchase. Don't worry if you don't buy the tool, there's another way to get it later.

Head back to where the spear enemy was and turn under a doorway to a bridge with 2 enemies that you can eavesdrop. Just beyond is a wooded area with some monkeys and another Idol that we'll grab for a later time. If you want to grab a scroll from the Tengu here, don't talk to him until you've bought the final skill of any book. However, you will be able to grab it at a later time if you miss it here.

After grabbing both Idols, warp back to the Ashina Castle Idol of Ashina Castle. Instead of going up the stairs where we fought a mini boss earlier, hook a left and open the large door to your right. Inside you'll find a giant hole you can drop down to yet another Idol.

Prayer Bead (12/40)
Just up ahead is an area with 2 large enemies and a bunch of smaller ones. You might recognize this area as the prologue. Clear out the immediate enemies, then take the same stealth path we took in the prologue to first meet Kuro, Once inside, exit out the front and stealth blow Ashina Spears - Shikibu Toshikatsu Yamauchi. After that, deal with him as usual. Mikiri works wonders on him.

Prayer Bead (13/40)
Next, backtrack towards where we started the game from. Drop into the well and you will find Lone Shadow Longswordman. Backstab him for a free health bar and then deal with the second bar as normal.

Warp back to the Ashina Castle Idol of Ashina Castle, and do a 180 towards the old woman praying. To your rirght is a tree branch you can grapple just a ways off. Ahead are two enemies you can eavesdrop. Killing them gives you the Gatehouse key which we'll need in a bit. Grapple over the wall and continue into the next area to find the Abandoned Dungeon Idol.

Prayer Bead (14/40)
Right next to the Idol is a shop selling the Bead for 1,400 Sen.

Run through the next area, ignoring all the enemies, as they can't be killed. At the end will be another Idol. Make your way through the channel of water ahead and you will arrive at an elevator that will take you to our next major area of the game.



Gourd Seed (6/9)
After arriving at Senpou Temple, make your way up the path until you have to grapple into a building. In the next room will be a few monks and some kind of mummified monk? The seed is in front of the mummy guy.

Prayer Bead (15/40)
Continue out the window until you arrive at a broken bridge. To your left is a tree you can grapple to, leading to the next Idol. Follow the cliffside to the right until you climb up onto solid ground again. Once you arrive at the large wooden bridge, head inside to find the Armored Warrior. This boss is more of a gimmick than anything. You need to force him to break the side paneling of the bridge for you to throw him out of, since we can't deal any health damage to him. Continue to parry his attacks until his bar is filled, then try to aim him out of one of the broken pieces when you death blow him.

Treasure Carp Scale (6-7/12)
After arriving at the Temple Grounds Idol, drop immediately into the water below to find 2 more Treasure Carp enemies.

Prayer Bead (16/40)
From here, follow the mostly linear path until you come to a large building with a bunch of the little dudes with straw hats. Past this building is a path that splits two ways; up and down. Up leads to the next main boss, however the bottom path leads to an optional boss who drops the Bead. Take care of all the wolves and lizards on your way down in case you need an area to fall back to. Once you reach his room, kill all the little centipede guys first, then retreat for a bit to reset the boss. You can grapple on to the rafters for a free stealth blow. If you're unlucky like me, and he auto-agros you, use a Gachin's Sugar to hide your presence. To kill him quickly you want to make sure you perfect parry his flurry attack. It will be a quick dish of 4 swipes, followed by 5 swipes, and a final overhead. If he ever does an unblockable sweep make sure to jump on his head for massive posture damage.

Now return to where the path splits and head up this time. Once you reach the main building there will be a door to open on your right leading to an Idol. From here, follow the hall to the left to exit the building and enter a large cave. You'll come to a section with a few centipede guys and a hole in the wall to the left you can crouch under. After going through, continue forward and crouch under into a slightly flooded cubby into another room with centipede dudes. Directly above the High Priest (Monk in purple) is a grapple point. Continue to follow this path until you're outside. Open the doors of the shrine to find our 4th skill book.

Return to the Main Hall Idol and interact with the bell on the table in front to initiate the Folding Screen Monkey boss. This boss is a bit of a gimmick with each monkey operating a little different, and contributing 25% of the health bar each.

• White Monkey: Spawns immediately behind you when you start the fight and will follow behind you. He is invisible the entire time.
  
• Green Monkey: Spawns on the big tree in the center and follows a set path. Chase him above the bell, then ring it to stun and kill him.
  
• Orange Monkey: Leaves a fire trail and will alert the other monkeys if he sees you. This will cause them to change locations. He spawns on the rooftop surrounding the big tree.
  
• Purple Monkey: Spawns on the rooftops to the left of the large tree. You can either open the large door to the left, or simply go the top left building, grapple up, then stealth kill him.

Each monkey dies in pretty much 1 hit and you can use the bell you received to reset their positions to make life easier. Note that every time you alert a monkey, spectral white monkeys will spawn that hunt you down no matter where you are. They inflict Fear when they hit you and this will instantly kill you on build up. Killing the monkeys also grants our 2nd of 3 Ninjutsu.

Folding Screen Monkeys





After the cutscene, talk with the Divine Child to receive the Mortal Blade. Speak with her again to obtain Rice. This will be important for one of the endings. Now we're going to warp back to the Ashina Reservoir Idol of Ashina Castle. It's time to head to the Depths.



Prosthetic Tool (8/10)
Head to the locked building near the riflemen and use the key we got earlier to open the door. Inside is a chest with the tool.

Return to the room where we started the game from. This time swim into the water and grapple into the new area. Ignore the enemy in the bottom for now and head straight for the Idol on the other side of the cavern. Proceed forward and talk to Jinzaemon if you progressed his quest. Sending him to the dungeon will eventually give you 3 Fatty Wax, ignoring to mention it will eventually give you a special Jizo Statue.

Press forward until you see the old woman and dive into the large hole in front of you. Spam the grapple button as it's a bit of a fall and you don't want to miss your stop! Continue forward and drop into the illuminated hole to find your next Idol. Welcome to Blighttown the Poison Pool. There are a lot of upgrade materials in the area which will be good to pick up, as well as another Idol a little closer to our next mandatory boss; Snake Eyes Shirahagi.

Prayer Bead (17/40)
You can use a Gachin's Sugar to sneak around the area and get free stealth blows on the enemies as well as Snake Eyes. Once you drain her first bar you can fight her normally or abuse the Mortal Blade for a quick fight. Using it while jumping deals more damage (this is a glitch and may be patched).

Prayer Bead (18/40)
Immediately after killing Snake Eyes, press forward looking up and to the left for a grapple point. Crouch under the first low ceiling, then jump up to the left again. Wall jump up the wall and grapple on to the statue head to find the Bead.

Return to where we came from and follow the main path into a large cavern where you can grapple up the far wall. Once you arrive in the Hidden Forest, follow the tree branches across until you arrive at a second misted area with a large building in the center. Ignore the bottom part of the first area, as that leads to a Headless. An enemy we don't want to fight just yet.

Prayer Bead (19/20)
After reaching the second area, follow the cliff wall to the left to a tree you can grapple up. Below you will be Tokujiro the Glutton and a few monkeys. You can lure the monkeys up to you and deal with them there so your fight with him can be 1 on 1, but this may screw you out of a free stealth blow. I used a Gachiin's Sugar and just killed monkeys while dodging his attacks. His fight is exactly the dame as the boss at Hirata Estate.

From here grapple on to the cliff ahead and swing across the tree branches leading up to the roof of the large central building. Loop around to find the hole in the wall and jump to get a stealth blow on the "boss", Mist Noble. After that simply spam attack to kill him. Exit the back of the now destroyed building and head further into the forest to our next Idol.

Treasure Carp Scale (8-10/12)
Next to the Idol is a Memorial Mob selling 2 scales for 500 Sen each. If you don't want to spend the money, that's fine I'll cover 2 additional spots later on. Additionally, follow the creek to the purple ninja to find 1 more scale behind him.

Gourd Seed (7/9)
In the middle of the village is a large tree glowing orange, with a bunch of enemies praying around it. The Seed is at the base of the tree.

Continue forward through the village, but don't stop to chat with the locals. They will infinitely (as far as I'm aware) respawn and barely give any XP or Sen. Instead, follow the village through to the right side to reach an Idol next to a water wheel. Before continuing, head to the far right side of the village where the dock is to locate the Pine Resin Ember on a rooftop. This is an important upgrade material.

Prayer Bead (20/40)
Follow the path ahead and talk with O'rin of the Water to initiate her fight. It's difficult to hit her, so your best bet is to parry her flurry attacks and stomp on her head when she does he unblockable sweep.

Prayer Bead (21/40)
Directly after O'rin you will come across a mob of enemies trying to gank a house. Crouch under the right side of the house and head left to find a Shinobi Wall above you. After entering, Jump on the rock just outside the house and turn around to grapple into the attic. The Bead is near the altar.

I recommend returning to the Idol near the water wheel as the next boss can be a bit tough. Once ready, follow the path to the left of the house to find the Corrupt Monk boss. She sports an incredibly fast posture recovery, large combos, and pretty high damage. Unless you're stacked on Divine Confetti, you're also not going to do much to her health bar. The best way to deal with this boss is learn her combos and get good at perfect parrying them, then deciding which unblockable she's following up with (Mikiri or jumping on her head.) After each of her combos make sure to get in a few swings to keep her posture building. Defeating her gives us the Mibu Breathing Technique which we'll need for a lot of stuff later on. After killing the Monk, head into the cave and grab the stone from the altar.

Prayer Bead (22/40)
Before leaving this zone, head back to Mibu Village and dive into the lake in the center to find this Bead in a sunken chest.

Prayer Bead (23/40)
We're going to take a quick pit stop back to the Temple Grounds Idol of Mt. Kongo. Drop into the water where we got the scales from and dive under the surface to find this Bead resting on the sunken statue. If you didn't get all 4 scales from Hirata, now is a good chance to do so as well. Also grab the Holy Chapter: Infested item nearby.



Now it's time to head to Sunken Valley for the next key item. Warp to the Great Serpent Shrine Idol in Ashina Castle (assuming you grabbed it earlier). Once here, if you've completely mastered a skill book, talk to the Tengu for our last book. If you didn't get the chance to grab the book here don't worry, another chance will present itself.

Prayer Bead (24/40)
Follow the path until you reach the next Idol. From there, turn around 180 degrees and look for a grapple point leading over to a ledge with 2 gunmen. Scale the walls to your left until you reach a large cliffside with a bunch of altars (your map will update to Ashina Outskirts). the bead is in front of one of the altars.

Gourd Seed (8/9)
Cross over the chasm to the first rifleman and into the cave to find another one. Instead of continuing right, climb the scalable wall to your left. Continue to follow this path to the Seed, tucked behind the small shack.

Prayer Bead (25/40)
Return to where we came from and continue down the path to the right this time. You'll eventually wind up at an Idol and a section where you have to grapple through riflemen shooting you from afar. not to long into this is Snake Eyes Shirafuji. Killing her drops the Bead.

Prayer bead (26/40)
Continue to bob and weave your way through the Gun Fort until you arrive at your next Idol. In the room just ahead is Long-Arm Centipede Giraffe. Dealing with him is exactly the same as the other Centipede boss, except this one will be way easier due to our increased attack and posture damage.

Prosthetic Tool (9/10)
This tool is located on the statue just behind Giraffe.

Prayer Bead (27/40)
Instead of exiting out of the large wooden doors, drop into the hole to the left of the room and follow the cavern through. Hook a left past the tiny altar and look straight up to follow a grapple chain across the wooden beams. At the end of this path is the Bead surrounded by geckos and a few tiny Centipede dudes.

Treasure Carp Scale (11-12/12)
Head back to Giraffes room and exit out the large wooden doors. After dropping into the water below, you can find 2 treasure Carp swimming in this lake, as well as an extra scale near the end of it.



Killing both the Corrupt Monk and the Guardian Ape will cause certain enemies to despawn and be replaced by new ones. This means you could lose out on certain Beads, Prosthetic Tools ,etc. If you followed this guide up to this point than you're fine to proceed.



Prosthetic Tool (10/10)
Continue to navigate through the fairly linear cliffs until you arrive at the Guardian Apes arena. This fight can be a bit tough, but definitely not the hardest. The first phase is actually much harder than the second. practice learning his moveset, perfect parrying him, and when to squeeze in a few attacks. Once the second phase starts you can use a Divine Confetti for a bit more damage against him. Also use your Mortal Blade whenever you feel safe to do so for some increased damage. After the fight, grab the Idol and enter the cave behind it for our next key item.

Guardian Ape





Prayer Bead (28-29/40)
Now, we're not done with the Guardian Ape just yet. Warp over to the Poison Pool Idol in Ashina Depths. Return to the same path just beyond where Snake Eyes was to find Guardian Ape hanging out in this cave. He'll have 2 health bars again, but the entire fight is just phase 2 of the original encounter. After you drain 1 bar, he'll call his girlfriend over to complain to the manager. She can easily be dealt with by spamming Mortal Blade as she has low health and low posture. Once you've dealt with both apes you'll obtain 2 Beads and our final Ninjutsu! Make sure you perform the final death blow after the fight to kill the centipede!

Guardian Ape Immortality Severed





All Ninjutsu Techniques

Now comes a lot of clean up in regards to important items for 3 of the 4 endings. You can also stop by the Sculptor to fit all your tools in.

All Prosthetic Tools







Return to the Abandoned Dungeon Idol in Ashina Castle, and exit out towards the castle itself to find things are a little different. Progress forward and hop into the moat below. You can find an extra Treasure Carp scale at the far end if you need one, as well as a Treasure Carp in the tunnel we need to enter to progress. Grapple your way up and head to the staircase where a mini boss used to be. You can reactivate the Idol here for a checkpoint.

Prayer Bead (30/40)
Make your way up the rooftops the same way you did early on in the game and enter the same window leading to the Antechamber Idol. Rest up, then drop into the hole where we originally found Subimaru to find another Chained Ogre. Killing this one should be pretty easy by this point. You can also abuse Firecrackers and Mortal Blade to make things quicker.

Prayer Bead (31/40)
Exit out of the back door and grab the Old grave Idol for safety if you'd like. Head back to the bridge that leads to the forest where we found Tengu for the 2nd time. This time, Lone Shadow Masanaga the Spear-Bearer and a few wolves will be there. Deal with the 3 wolves, then head up the staircase and stealth around the right side of the building for a free stealth blow. During his second phase I highly recommend using the Flame Vent to burn him and prevent his posture from lowering.

Prayer bead (32/40)
Return to the Antechamber Idol and make your way up to where the Ashina Elite mini boss used to be. rest at the Idol for safety! Where the elite used to be is Lone Shadow Vilehand and an extra enemy to the left of the room. You can sneak in to stealth kill the enemy so you can deal with him 1 on 1. He's exactly the same as Masanaga, except he won't buff himself during the second phase.



From here, exit out of the window and climb up to where we fought Genichiro. After the cutscene talk to Owl and you will be given a choice. Choose to Break the Iron Code, stay loyal to kuro. This will give us access to 3 of the 4 endings as well as initiate Owls boss fight.

Owl is a lot like Genichiro, but much easier in my opinion. You want to have a very good balance of perfect parries and aggressively attacking between combos to keep his posture up. He has a few things to watch out for, however. If he ever throws a slow arching orb, dodge away as that will prevent healing. If he reaches in his pocket for powder, get the hell out, it explodes! I also highly recommend equipping the Shuriken tool for his second phase. He will occasionally throw out acid and hide behind it to heal his posture (he will start glowing whitish - blue). Throw a shuriken to interrupt that!

Great Shinobi - Owl





Head down the stairs and follow the dialogue prompts from Kuro and Emma to progress the story. From this point on we have access to the final area of the game, but we're going to grab some key items first. There's nothing explicitly stopping you from going to the Fountainhead Palace, you just can't kill the Dragon until you're completely prepared. Doing so could lock you out of specific endings.

• If you talked to the Divine Child and got the rice earlier you're already set. If not, head to her Idol now and do so.
  
• Eat the rice, discard it, or give it to the old woman at either Senpou Temple or Sunken Valley, then request more rice. Do so 3 times and the Divine Child will grow sick. (You may need to warp to another Idol then back again for her to give you more.)
  
• She will ask for a Persimmon. There's a good chance you've found one already, but if not you can quickly buy one from the Memorial Mob at the Shugendo Idol in Mt. Kongo. Once you give her the Persimmon, she will give you Rice for Kuro.
  
• Give the rice to Kuro, then rest at the Idol and he will turn it into a Sweet Ball of Rice. Eat it in front of him, then return to the Divine Child and speak with her.
  
• Next she will ask for the Holy Chapter: Infested. There's a chance you picked it up from the Mibu Village lake when diving for the bead. If not, head there now and grab it.
  
• Rest at the Idol, then interact with the blue beam leading back to the Folding Screen Monkey boss arena. The Divine Child can be located in front of the giant tree for us to talk to.
  
• She will ask you to locate a book from the High Priest. If you followed the guide you may remember him from where we got the 5th and final skill book. If not, head to the Main Hall Idol. Exit out the back left into a cave and you will eventually enter a room with little Centipede guys. To the left is a small cubby you can crouch through. Follow the linear path until you arrive in an area with a Monk in blue attire. Grab the book from him , then use the Homeward Idol to return to the Inner Sanctum and return it to the Divine Child.
  
• She will then ask for 2 serpent fruits. Warp to the Bodhisattva Valley idol in Sunken Valley and navigate yourself all the way to the poison pool at the bottom. Follow the river until you find a Memorial Mob in front of a cave, then go inside it. Make sure you have the Puppeteer Ninjutsu equipped, then push forward , following the linear cave path until you see the Great Serpent's face near a shrine. Take a left and follow the path to a monkey you can backstab to turn into a puppet. He will distract the snake long enough for you to grapple up to the cliff above. Inside the small temple is the first fruit.
  
• Keep the Ninjutsu equipped and warp back to the first Idol of Mt. Kongo. Head down the cliffs to the right to see a straw hat guy near a crank. Backstab him and turn him into a puppet to make him fly the kite. Now run through the level to the area with the Monks and the mummy guy where we got a Prayer Bead from. Hop out the window and climb up into the large tree so you can grapple the kite. Jump off to the right and spam the grapple button to fling across the branches back to solid ground. Enter the cave and push forward to a large wooden beam with the serpent directly below. Hop off and land the blow to finally kill her for the second fruit.

Great Serpent

• Bring both fruits to the Divine Child then rest. Eavesdrop on her attempting to eat them, then rest again. Finally, talk to her to receive the Frozen Tears.

• Return to Kuro's room, and hide at the wall behind the incense burner that has holes in it. Eavesdrop on Kuro's conversation, then rest to move Emma upstairs.
  
• Head upstairs and talk to Emma. Choose "I agree, Kuro must live". Rest and speak with her once more to receive Tomoe's Note.
  
• Warp to the Old Grave Idol in Ashina Castle and head through the gate to the left to find Emma. Talk to her, then warp to the Dilapidated Temple. Head to the back of the temple and eavesdrop on Emma. Head inside and ask her about what you overheard, then chose the "What are you hiding?" option to receive Father's Bell Charm.
  
• Interact with the Buddha statue to be warped to a new version of Hirata Estate.

Prayer Bead (33/40)
After arriving in Hinata Estate, kill the 3 enemies behind you, then walk up to the burning section to find Lone Shadow Masanaga the Spear-Bearer. He will whistle for 3 dogs constantly, but we can abuse him by pulling him out of this arena to the staircase. Out here he never called his dogs and they never followed for some reason. If you get him low enough down the stairs his AI will wig out and you can keep wailing on him until the death blow shows up.

Prayer Bead (34/40)
Head back to where you fought Juzou the Drunkard to find him once more. Kill him for the Bead. His fight is exactly the same as the first time, the only difference being the adds around him.

Progress into the estate to where we originally fought Lady Butterfly. in her place will be Owl, but this time he isn't playing around. Owl is a lot more aggressive in this fight and throws his explosives a lot more. However, he's lost his anti-heal orb and poison. On his second phase he will have a spectral owl flying around that you can ignore unless Owl goes invisible. if he does, keep eyes on the owl and stay away from it as he will leap out and smash you. Your best bet for this fight is to be unrelenting. I found 2 swings and then parry his moves to be the sweet spot. Stay close to him and abuse every opening you ca. His posture recovery is insane. Once you kill him you will be given our next ending related item.

Father Surpassed







It's finally time to head to Fountainhead Palace now that we have every non-Shura ending set to go. Warp to the Wedding Cave Door in Ashina Depths. Head inside the cave and pray at the small hut in the center.

Ashina Traveler





Follow the path up to discover the True Corrupted Monk. Simply allow her to do all the work, parrying her unrelenting attacks until you get the death blow for phase 1. Immediately grapple on to a tree overlooking the center for phase 2. She will summon a bunch of fog and you can get a free death blow instantly ending this phase. Phase 3 is exactly the same as phase 1, just be careful of her...vomit? attack. It can build up Terror which will instantly kill you.

Corrupted Monk





Push forward and repel down the mountain to the Palace grounds. Stay away from the center lake, as a specific mini boss will shoot homing lightning at you, as well as a giant Carp trying to devour you. Simply follow the buildings and rooftops until you arrive at the Mibu Manor Idol. Navigate your way through this section however you see fit until you reach the Sakura Viewing Stage Idol.

Prayer Bead (35/40)
After resting at the Idol, hook an immediate left and loop around the outer walls of the building. Once you reach the backside the Sakura Bull will come into view. Continue to run past it all the way to the very back where it spawned so you have room to fight it and the archers above can't see you. You can deal with it the same way you did the Blazing Bull. Divine Confetti will also give you extra damage against it.

Prayer Bead (36/40)
Jump across the bridge and follow the rooftops until you find a large square area with a bunch of the warrior enemies around it and one in the center dressed in purple. Clear them out, then rest at the Idol before the huge tree. Grapple on to the tree to find Okami Leader Shizu, the one responsible for electrifying the water if you went in. You can simply spam attack on her to kill her.

Prayer Bead (37/40)
After killing Shizu, we can now safely jump into the waters below. Dive all the way to the bottom and you will see 2 Headless enemies and the skeleton of a giant Carp just beyond them. The Bead is in the chest at the base of the skeleton, as well as a Treasure Scale next to it if you still need them.

Next, swim closer to the surface and look for a jumble of sunken buildings. Somewhere amongst this pile is a cave we can enter where the giant Carp is patrolling. Use the broken buildings around the area to swim undetected until you reach the back of the cavern. You should see a building with a hole in the front you can enter to swim up to the safety of dry land.

Gourd Seed (9/9)
Enter the next building and clear it of the Nobles. You can open the door to the left for a "shortcut", but the Seed and way forward is to the right. Open the chest to find this. Once you deliver it to Emma you will unlock an achievement.

Ultimate Healing Gourd





Lapis Lazuli (1-2/10)
Instead of continuing out the right door, go out the left one and immediately hook a right. Head to the end of the path and off in the distance above you is a cave you can grapple up to. Pass through, then grapple to the next roof and drop down to find another Pot Noble. Purchase the 2 Lapis for 12 scales, then talk to him until he asks if you'll listen to his secret. Do so to receive the Truly Precious Bait. Also purchase Floating Passage for 5 Scales before you feed the Carp Truly Precious Bait. This is required for all Skills and the Pot Nobles will die after completing their quest.

Return to the Palace Grounds Idol, but this time exit out the right door. Hook an immediate right around the building to find a grapple up to the roof. Walk straight to find a tree branch to the left you can grapple to (you should be facing out towards where we fought Shizu). From here, grapple to the roof below you and keep going left, from roof to roof. Once at the left most roof, drop down to the grassy cliff and finally on to one last roof. Drop down once more, then jump over to where the giant Noble is. Don't worry, he's friendly. Talk to him, then ring the bell to his right to summon the giant Carp.

If you picked up any Precious Bait from the bottom of the lake you can feed 2 to the Carp for 4 scales. However, if you didn't, feed him the Truly Precious Bait to poison him. Be sure to talk to the Noble for your scales! Now warp to the Bodhisattva Valley Idol and drop into the Guardian Apes arena to find the Carp's corpse. Grab the item off it.

Great Colored Carp





Lapis Lazuli (3/10)
Return to the Pot Noble Idol in Fountainhead Palace to find our 3rd Lapis Lazuli near the Pot Noble.

Lapis Lazuli (4/10)
Return to the Palace Grounds Idol, and exit out the right door. Drop to the grass directly below you on your right. Head to the left and locate the Shichimen Warrior below you and apply an Ako's Sugar + Divine Confetti. Hop down and start wailing on him, avoiding his attacks and popping Pacifying Agent as necessary to reduce Terror build up. After a while he will teleport. Locate him and prepare to block his laser beam. Continue to wail on him until his first bar is gone. Reapply your buffs and repeat for the second bar. He drops our 4th Lazuli.

Finally, return to the Palace Grounds Idol once more. This time, exit the right door and grapple up the trees to the staircase. It's time to confront the Divine Dragon. Climb to the top of the stairs and pray near the body.

Once in the Divine Realm, just wait around while a bunch of mini dragon guys spawn. Kill one, then don't attack them, just run around and let them spawn. Eventually they will grow trees you can grapple into. Jump up and then jumping blow one of the dragons in the middle of the hoard to do a large sweeping attack, killing all the other ones around it. Repeat until the health bar is depleted.

Next, the Divine Dragon will spawn and blow you back. Dodge its attacks by jumping for sweeps, or sprinting side to side for the overheads. Eventually one of the trees will become electrified. Grapple up and redirect the lightning back at the dragon by hitting the attack button. At a certain point the Dragon will go into a last stand sort of frenzy. Continue to dodge his attacks until 3 trees grow. Grapple the one that gets electrified but DO NOT spam to redirect the lightning. instead, wait until you see his face get close then shoot him or you will miss and have to redo the frenzy. Finally, walk up to him and stab his eye for the final piece of the ending puzzle.

Gracious Gift of Tears







Prayer bead (38/40)
After arriving back at Ashina Castle, speak with Emma then hop out the window to her left. Drop down 1 floor and locate the open window to the dojo. Grab the Idol, then head downstairs and hook a left around the corner. break the sliding door to reveal a secret area where Ashina Elite - Ujinari Mizou will be waiting for you. Just like the first Elite from very early in the game, let him do all the work. Keep parrying his 2 hit cross slash.

Prayer Bead (39/40)
Exit back out the window we came through and descend the rooftops to ground level where the stairs are. At the bottom of the stairs hook a right and drop into the hole to reach the Ashina Reservoir once more. Sit at the Idol, then use a Gachiin's Sugar + Puppeteer Ninjutsu to make life easier. Sneak around the right side through the 2 flaming piles and stealth blow the samurai on the left. he should make the 1st bar pretty easy to deal with. For the second bar abuse the fact that this guys loves to thrust and sweep. Be careful, he loves to do a follow up after you Mikiri him.

Prayer Bead (40/40)
Climb back up the hole to find a guard near the Ashina Castle Idol who you can speak to, then head over the walls next to him and look for a kite off in the distance (going the normal route to Genichiro). Grapple the kite to fling yourself to the Old Grave Idol. From here, look for a giant bridge with a large battle taking place. After cleaning up the enemies on the bridge, you should see Shigekichi of the Red Guard sitting in the middle of the court. His fight is exactly the same as the other drunkards except he breathes fire instead of poison. Now you can craft your final set of Beads!

Peak Physical Strength





After killing him, head through the hole in the wall above to the area where we fought the first Chained Ogre of the game. Progress through this area backwards, towards the house where we got the bell for Hirata Estate. Up the staircase will be another Chained Ogre. Skip past him and continue towards the burning section of the area to find an Idol. Use it to warp to Demon of Hatred's arena. I highly recommend grabbing the Idol to your left as you spawn in.

Lapis Lazuli (5-6/10)
Demon of Hatred is genuinely not as bad as he seems. He has a very limited moveset that can almost all be avoided by simply locking on to him and running right. Always stay locked on, always run right, and always stay pretty much directly under him. Don't give him any room to use his ranged attacks as they have massive AOE and hurt / inflict burn. During phase 1 there's really only 2 moves to watch out for.

• If he does his unblockable dash attack, you MUST jump. Keep running right but you have to jump or you will get hit.
  
• If he jumps high into the air, run away from him and jump last second to grapple over and punish him.

Phase 2 is almost exactly the same as phase 1, except his large overhead slam attack now spawns a huge row of fire. Run right and jump to avoid that attack. You can also grapple him during that to punish him after + close the distance. He will also shoot burning bodies at you if you're far away. Easy enough to avoid, but thought I'd mention it.

Finally, phase 3. He will always start this phase with an unblockable sweep that spawns a ring of fire. Don't feel pressured or scared if you get trapped inside it, just continue to fight him like normal and it will dissipate after a few seconds. The biggest thing to watch out for during this phase is his dash attack, which he can now do 2 times in a row, so be prepared. Once you finally manage to slay him you will be rewarded with your final 2 Lazuli for this playthrough. We'll have to get the rest in NG+.

Demon of Hatred

Before wrapping up the game, we have 2 Shichimen Warriors left to kill. I left them for here because by this point you should have a decent stock of Ako's Sugars and Divine Confetti. Plus our damage should help kill them relatively quickly.

• The first and most important, is found where we killed the Immortal Ape and his girlfriend. Warp to the Hidden Forest Idol, rest, then drop down into the arena to find him. Killing him gives us the Malcontents Ring which we need for a high tier upgrade.
  
• The second is found at the Bottomless Hole Idol. Killing him gives us the Ceremonial Tanto (infinite Combat Arts on use).

It's finally time to end our first playthrough. Warp back to Ashina Reservoir and head to the secret exit where we fought and lost to Genichiro during the prologue. This is arguable the hardest boss in the game, as you have to go through 4 health bars across 2 bosses, so prepare yourself if you intend to fight legitimately.

Phase 1
Phase 1 pits you against Genichiro in his Tomoe form. His posture bar fills up rather quickly, so taking time to master this phase without taking much, if any, damage is good. His only new move is the Mortal Blade which has a greyish black hue when he's about to use it. Simply dodge or run away to avoid it.

Phase 2
Now we fight Isshin in his sword from. This is another easy phase with a quick posture bar. It make take a few tries to learn his moves, but much like Owl and Geni you want to be very aggressive. Perfect parry his combos then get 2-3 swings in. Learn which moves are safe and always be on the lookout for his thrust attack so you can Mikiri him. If he ever charges up his sword with wind, wait until the last second to dodge. This attack also has a delayed burst so be careful.

Phase 3
This is where it gets fun. Isshin's spear mode is a pretty difficulty fight. He is incredibly fast, very aggressive, and can close distance quick. His posture bar is still very quick to fill, but his attacks and speed make it much harder to do so. The best advice I can really give is practice. Learn his moves, when to parry, when to run. Learn what moves are safe to punish. If you know there's a large opening you could use Mortal Blade for good damage. He still has a thrust you can Mikiri so watch out for that. The only move worth noting is his wind attack is now a large sweep. He will delay it for a few seconds so don't jump immediately.

Phase 4
Welcome to potential hell. This is phase 3 but with lightning. The same starts you used in phase 3 will work here, but you need to be very cautious of the lightning. It's easy enough to dodge by gaining distance on him, but his posture bar fills pretty slow this phase, so getting any damage in that we can is good. This means being brave enough to redirect the lightning back at him. To do so, wait until he starts his attack and count to 1 in your head. Jump, then spam the attack button. This does a good amount of posture damage and stuns him momentarily for you to attack.

Now, there is a way to cheese this encounter. If you didn't kill the Shichimen Warrior at the Bottomless Hole Idol, doing so will grant you an item that gives you infinite Combat Art when you use it. This means we can Mortal Blade as much as we like.

Complete phases 1 and 2 like normal. These are very easy to master and you should be able to get to a point where you breeze through them. Once the spear phase starts run far away from Isshin. Keep a modest distance and force him to do his leap attack. As soon as he does, sprint towards him and dodge underneath him. From behind him you can Mortal Blade and then run away before he gets a chance to attack you. Repeat this over and over for phases 3 and 4. Doing this even prevents him from ever being close enough to use his lightning attack!

Sword Saint, Isshin Ashina





As soon as you kill Isshin and see your XP bar start to fill, quit out of the game. Make a back up of your save, then load back into the game. To find your save, go to:
C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Roaming\Sekiro\<steam id number>\S0000.sl2
Copy the file somewhere safe and rename it (such as removing one of the zeros.) Load back into the game and choose an ending. Once you get the achievement, delete the save in the folder and replace/rename the old save.

• Immortal Severance - Divine Dragons Tears
  
• Purification - Divine Dragons Tears + Aromatic Flower
  
• Return - Divine Dragons Tears + Frozen Tears

Immortal Severance





Purification





Dragon's Homecoming

• 6 Lapis Lazuli + a few extra Treasure Scales for NG+
  
• Phantom Kunai (Anayama the Peddler)
  
• Pine Resin Ember (Rooftop in Mibu Village)
  
• Malcontent's Ring (Shichimen Warrior in Guardian Ape's Burrow)
  
• 40 Prayer Beads
  
• 9 Gourd Seeds
  
• 5 Skill Books
  
• 3 Ninjutsu Arts
  
• All 3 non-Shura endings

If you have everything listed you're safe to enter NG+ without worry! However, you may wish to stay on NG and farm out some of the minor upgrade materials.

Once you're ready, start NG+. Don't worry about maxing out your skills on NG. All of your skills, upgrades, resources, etc. will carry into NG+ and it will be even easier to acquire XP and Sen, so maxing them out shouldn't be an issue. Note that you will receive Kuro's Charm upon starting NG+. if you give this back to him, it will make the game substantially harder, but you will receive a large XP increase. It's your call on whether you want to use that or not.

• The first objective is to speed through the game up until the Owl (Father) fight outside Kuro's room. Collect any easy to grab scales along the way if you need 12 for the Pot Noble. We're going to need to do their quest.
  
• Make a back up of your save BEFORE talking to Owl. This is because we need the Shura ending for our final ending achievement + all bosses, but we still need to go down the non-Shura path for our last 4 Lazuli.
  
• After backing up your save, choose to "Obey the Iron Code, forsake Kuro."

Phase 1
Phase 1 pits you against Emma. She's a fairly straightforward fight having a couple of basic slash combos. The biggest one to learn hoe to block is her 4 hit that leaves her open for abuse. She also has the cross slash attack that Isshin has so watch out for that. A very easy way to deal with her is to perfect parry her combos, then follow up with Mortal Blade.

Phase 2
Phase 2 is against Isshin and he's almost identical to his sword form from the non-Shura endings, jsut not as aggressive. He will actively i-frame your attacks, so it's best to let him lead the charge. Using the Mortal Blade is really strong against him as well. Either perfect parry his large overhead, or when he charges his cross slash run away and punish that with it.

Phase 3
Phase 3 is the same as the last one, except now he has fire and a few new moves. His large overhead will be followed by a sweeping slash that sets fire around you and is extremely difficult to avoid. I usually just ran away from this attack instead of trying to block or dodge it. He has a charged up overhead that acts similar to Demon of Hatred where it creates a giant trail of fire. And finally, an arena wide flare up followed by a flurry of slashes. Believe it or not, just jumping to the side then sprinting is the easiest way to avoid this. Once again, Mortal Blade is extremely abusable here.

Isshin Ashina





Man Without Equal





Shura





Reload your save and this time, choose to break the Iron Code and set yourself on the non-Shura path. Progress through the game until you've reached the Fountainhead Palace where we can get our last 4 Lazuli. The easiest to obtain are the 2 you can by from the Pot Noble, 1 for doing the Pot Noble quest, and 1 for killing the Shichimen Warrior in the area.

You will more than likely still need to grind out a LOT of XP for all your skill points. There's no truly quick way to do it, but I've listed a few methods in the achievements personal section of the guide. Good luck!

Earn every other achievement. Congrats!

Kill every major boss. This will require 2 playthroughs as you must kill every non-Shura and Shura ending bosses.

Main Game

• Gyoubu Masatake Oniwa
  
• Lady Butterfly (missable)
  
• Genichiro
  
• Folding Screen Monkeys
  
• Corrupted Monk
  
• Guardian Ape
  
• Headless Ape (missable)

Non-Shura Endings

• True Corrupted Monk (any ending)
  
• Divine Dragon (any enidng)
  
• Demon of Hatred (any ending)
  
• Isshin, the Sword Saint (any ending)
  
• Owl (any ending)
  
• Owl - Father (Prification ending)

Shura Ending

• Emma, the Gentle Blade
  
• Isshin Ashina

This can only be earned on a non-Shura playthrough. You must visit each of the following:

• Ashina Outskirts
  
• Ashina Castle
  
• Ashina Reservoir
  
• Abandoned Dungeon
  
• Senpou Temple, Mt. Kongo
  
• Ashina Depths
  
• Sunken Valley
  
• Fountainhead Palace

Maxing out your Prosthetic Tool will take 2 playthroughs, as we need 10 Lapis Lazuli, but we can only get 6 per run. There are also 3 unique materials to keep an eye for during your NG run.

Phantom Kunai
This is sold by Anayama the Peddler, the merchant located just before the 1st Chained Ogre boss fight. Purchase his info for 10 and 20 Sen, then rest at an Idol. Talk to him again and he will sell this for 3,000 Sen.

Pine Resin Ember
Located on the roof of a building to the right of Mibu Village.

Malcontent's Ring
After killing Headless Ape, rest at the Hidden Forest Idol and a Shichimen Warrior will spawn where we fought him. Kill him for the ring.

Lapis Lazuli

• 2 can be bought from either Pot Noble for 6 Treasure Scales each.
  
• 1 can be found on the Pot Nobles body after completing their questline.
  
• 1 can be obtained by killing the Shichimen Warrior located just before Shizu in Fountainhead Palace.
  
• 2 are obtained by killing Demon of Hatred.

There is also a number of basic materials that you will need to farm or purchase. If you wish to purchase items from Anayama, you will have to eavesdrop on the soldiers who talk about needing salt near Ashina Castle and relay that info to him. For other shops you will need to acquire the Dragon's Tally Board for killing True Corrupted Monk.

Scrap Iron
Drops from Ashina Guards or Hirata Estate Bandits. Can be purchased from any Memorial Mob after entering NG+.

Scrap Magnetite
Drops from the red dual wield enemy to the left of the Ashina Castle staircase (after killing Divine Dragon). You can also farm this while farming Adamantite Scraps. 2 Can be purchased from Shugendo Memorial Mob at the Shugendo Idol in Senpou Temple.

Adamantite Scrap
Drops from the Purple Shinobi at the top of the Antechamber Idol who spawns after Divine Dragon. It's pretty rare, so I recommend grinding this while you grind XP off him. Can be purchased from the Exiled Memorial Mob at Mibu Village.

Lump of Fat Wax
Drops from Nobles at Fountainhead Palace. Farm this while farming Grave Wax.

Lump of Grave Wax
Drops from Palace Nobles at Fountainhead Palace. Use the 2 Nobles near the Sakura Viewing Stage Idol.

Black Gunpowder
Can be purchased from Anayama the Peddler, or any Memorial Mob after entering NG+.

Yellow Gunpowder
Drops from red samurai on the Ashina Castle staircase. Farm this while farming Fulminated Mercury.

Fulminated Mercury
Drops from the red gunner and cannon samurai on the Ashina Castle staircase. (Ashina Castle Idol after Divine Dragon)

This will likely be the last achievement you earn, as it takes a substantial amount of XP to get enough skill points. There's really no one fast way to do this, so prepare for a bit of a grind. Some popular methods are:

• Continuing the NG+ cycle. Each playthrough gives more Sen and XP for killing enemies. If you're confident in your skills this is the least boring method.
  
• Killing the Purple Shinobi at the top of the Antechamber Idol (after Divine Dragon). Some people like to also jump down to the wooden beam below the next room and let the Chained Ogre kill the dudes in that room, then use the Homeward Idol to rinse and repeat.
  
• Farming Fountainhead Palace.
  
• Farming the path leading up to Demon of Hatred.

You will also need to purchase the Floating Passage Text from one of the Pot Nobles for 5 treasure Scales.

There are 10 Prosthetic Tools to collect.

Shuriken Wheel
Ashina Outskirts (Outskirts Wall - Gate Path). After reaching the Idol it can be found by grappling into the hole in the wall and looking left.

Robert's Firecrackers
Purchased from the Memorial Mob for 500 Sen.

Flame Barrel
Hirata Estate (Estate Path). One of the items found in front of a bonfire where enemies are resting.

Axe of the Monkey
Hirata Estate (Estate Path). Located directly after the Flame Barrel location. Continue forward and hook a left in the alley, followed by another left through the gate. The Axe is in the small shrine to the right.

Mist Raven's Feather
Hirata Estate. Found near the bridge directly before the burning section with Owl. Jump off the right side of the bridge and grapple the distant tree branch. Follow the path to a shrine containing the tool.

Sabimaru
Ashina Castle (Antechamber). After arriving at the Idol, head into the room where you can jump down the center to reach a lower floor. After jumping down you can find the tool in a nearby chest.

Iron Fortress
Ashina Castle (Old Grave). From the Idol head left into the building with the hole in the roof. Inside is a merchant selling the tool for 1,600 Sen.

Gyoubu's Broken Horn
Ashina Castle (Ashina Castle Idol). Grapple across the moat near the old woman to find 2 enemies you can eavesdrop. Killing them gives the Gatehouse Key. Warp to the Ashina Reservoir Idol and open the locked building up ahead, near the riflemen.

Large Fan
Found at the base of the statue in Long Arm Centipede Giraffe's arena.

Slender Finger
Kill Guardian Ape.

There are 3 Ninjutsu Techniques to find, 2 of them being story-related.

Bloodsmoke - Defeat Genichiro at Ashina Castle.
Puppeteer - Defeat the Folding Screen Monkeys.
Bestowal - Defeated the optional Headless Ape boss fight.

There are 40 Prayer Beads to collect throughout the world. It's important to note that all the beads from Ashina Outskirts and your first trip through Ashina Castle are missable. Make sure you grab them all as you progress.

Ashina Outskirts (5)

• Kill General Naomori Kawarada.
  
• Kill Chained Ogre.
  
• Kill Tenzen Yamauchi.
  
• After killing Gyoubu, head up the large staircase at the far end of his arena to the room with Tengu standing in it. On the 2nd floor is a broken beam you can grapple to, and above that is a hole in the floor you can climb up. The Bead is in the chest.
  
• Kill Blazing Bull.

Hirata Estate (3)

• Kill Shinobi Hunter - Enshin of Misen
  
• Kill Juzou the Drunkard
  
• After killing Juzuo, enter the estate and find a hallway to the left with 2 enemies patrolling. At the far end of this hall is a poster on the wall that acts as a Shinobi Wall. Once on the other side, locate a chest at back of the room with the Bead.

Ashina Castle - Phase 1 (5)

• Kill Gerenal Kuranosuke Matsumoto.
  
• After arriving at the Antechamber Idol, exit into the room with 2 samurai patrolling. To the right behind a breakable wall are 2 more praying. The scroll on the far wall serves as a Shinobi Wall leading to the chest with this Bead.
  
• Kill Ashina Elite - Jinusuke Saze
  
• Kill Ashina Spears - Shikibu Toshikatsu Yamauchi.
  
• Kill Lone Shadow Longswordman.

Abandoned Dungeon (1)

• Purchase from the Memorial Mob for 1,400 Sen.

Senpou Temple, Mt. Kongo (3)

• Kill Armored Warrior.
  
• Kill Long Arm Centipede Sen-Un.
  
• From the Temple Grounds Idol, drop down and dive underneath the water.

Ashina Depths (8)

• Kill Snake Eyes Shirahagi.
  
• Directly after killing Snake Eyes, look up and to the left for a grapple point. Crouch under the first low ceiling, then climb the wall to your left. Follow this until you reach a large statue. The Bead is on top.
  
• Kill Tokujiro the Glutton.
  
• Kill O'rin of the Water.
  
• Directly after O'rin will be a group of enemies in front of a house. Crouch under the right side to find a Shinobi Wall above you. After using it, jump on to the rock in front and then grapple into the attic. The Bead is in front of the altar.
  
• In a chest at the bottom of the Mibu Village lake.
  
• Kill Headless Ape. Gives 2 Beads.

Sunken Valley (4)

• From the Under-Shrine Valley Idol, do a complete 180 and head to the end of the path to find a grapple point. Follow this path past the riflemen and scale the wall to find a section of Ashina Outskirts with giant altars of some kind. It's in front of one of the altars.
  
• Kill Snake Eyes Shirafuji.
  
• Kill Long-arm Centipede Giraffe.
  
• After killing Giraffe, drop into the hole to the left of his arena. Follow the grapple points until you reach a small area with a few small Centipede enemies. The Bead is located there.

Ashina Castle - Phase 2 (3)

• Kill Lone Shadow Masanaga the Spear-Bearer.
  
• Kill Lone Shadow Vilehand.
  
• Kill Chained Ogre.

Fountainhead Palace (3)

• Kill the Sakura Bull.
  
• Kill Okami Leader Shizu.
  
• After killing Shizu, dive into the water and head all the way to the bottom to find the skeleton of a Giant Carp. The Bead is at it's base.

Hirata Estate - Purification Ending (2)

• Kill Lone Shadow Masanaga the Spear-Bearer.
  
• Kill Juzou the Drunkard.

Ashina Castle - Phase 3 (2)

• Kill Ashina Elite - Ujinari Mizou.
  
• Kill Seven Ashina Spears - Shume Masaji Oniwa.

Ashina Outskirts Revisited (1)
Kill Shigekichi of the Red Guard.

There are 9 Seeds throughout the game.

Ashina Outskirts (3)

• Kill General Naomori Kawarada.
  
• After killing Chained Ogre, grapple into the building and look left.
  
• After killing Gyoubu, head up the large staircase at the far end of the battlefield. All the way at the top will be a Memorial Mob selling the Seed for 1,000 Sen.

Ashina Castle (2)

• After arriving at the Ashina Castle staircase, grapple on to the roofs to the right and look for an NPC below you hiding behind a wall. Talk to him to move him to the Dilapidated Temple where he will sell the seed for 2,000 Sen.
  
• Found in a chest directly before the Antechamber idol.

Senpou Temple, Mt. Kongo (1)

• After grappling into the cricket room, continue into the immediate next room to finds this in front of the mummy-like Monk enemy.

Sunken Valley (1)

• After arriving at the Under-Valley Shrine Idol, grapple across to where the gunner and straw hat enemies are. Push forward until you see another gunner, then look up and to the left for another path you can follow. The Seed is at the end of the path behind the small hut.

Ashina Depths (1)
After arriving in Mibu Village, look for an orane glowing tree in the center of the village. The Seed is at it's base.

Fountainhead Palace (1)
Once you arrive at the Palace Grounds Idol, kill all the red garbed Nobles and open the chest in the same room to find the Seed.

Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose "Break the Iron Code, stay loyal to Kuro". Complete the rest of the game and choose to only give Kuro the Dragon's Tears at the end.

Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose "Break the Iron Code, stay loyal to Kuro". You must then complete all of this BEFORE defeating Divine Dragon.

• Return to Kuro's room, and hide at the wall behind the incense burner that has holes in it. Eavesdrop on Kuro's conversation, then rest to move Emma upstairs.
  
• Head upstairs and talk to Emma. Choose "I agree, Kuro must live". Rest and speak with her once more to receive Tomoe's Note.
  
• Warp to the Old Grave Idol in Ashina Castle and head through the gate to the left to find Emma. Talk to her, then warp to the Dilapidated Temple. Head to the back of the temple and eavesdrop on Emma. Head inside and ask her about what you overheard, then chose the "What are you hiding?" option to receive Father's Bell Charm.
  
• Interact with the Buddha statue to be warped to a new version of Hirata Estate.
  
• Once there, make your way back to where we fought Lady Butterfly. This time, you will need to fight Owl. Once he's killed you will receive the Aromatic Flower.

Progress through the game as normal, then choose to give Kuro the Divine Dragon's Tears + Aromatic Flower at the end.

Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose "Break the Iron Code, stay loyal to Kuro". You must then complete all of this BEFORE defeating Divine Dragon.

• Talk to the Divine Child to receive Rice. Eat the rice, discard it, or give it to the old woman at either Senpou Temple or Sunken Valley, then request more rice. Do so 3 times and the Divine Child will grow sick. (You may need to warp to another Idol then back again for her to give you more.)
  
• She will ask for a Persimmon. There's a good chance you've found one already, but if not you can quickly buy one from the Memorial Mob at the Shugendo Idol in Mt. Kongo. Once you give her the Persimmon, she will give you Rice for Kuro.
  
• Give the rice to Kuro, then rest at the Idol and he will turn it into a Sweet Ball of Rice. Eat it in front of him, then return to the Divine Child and speak with her.
  
• Next she will ask for the Holy Chapter: Infested. There's a chance you picked it up from the Mibu Village lake when diving for the bead. If not, head there now and grab it.
  
• Rest at the Idol, then interact with the blue beam leading back to the Folding Screen Monkey boss arena. The Divine Child can be located in front of the giant tree for us to talk to.
  
• She will ask you to locate a book from the High Priest. If you followed the guide you may remember him from where we got the 5th and final skill book. If not, head to the Main Hall Idol. Exit out the back left into a cave and you will eventually enter a room with little Centipede guys. To the left is a small cubby you can crouch through. Follow the linear path until you arrive in an area with a Monk in blue attire. Grab the book from him , then use the Homeward Idol to return to the Inner Sanctum and return it to the Divine Child.
  
• She will then ask for 2 serpent fruits. Warp to the Bodhisattva Valley idol in Sunken Valley and navigate yourself all the way to the poison pool at the bottom. Follow the river until you find a Memorial Mob in front of a cave, then go inside it. Make sure you have the Puppeteer Ninjutsu equipped, then push forward , following the linear cave path until you see the Great Serpent's face near a shrine. Take a left and follow the path to a monkey you can backstab to turn into a puppet. He will distract the snake long enough for you to grapple up to the cliff above. Inside the small temple is the first fruit.
  
• Keep the Ninjutsu equipped and warp back to the first Idol of Mt. Kongo. Head down the cliffs to the right to see a straw hat guy near a crank. Backstab him and turn him into a puppet to make him fly the kite. Now run through the level to the area with the Monks and the mummy guy where we got a Prayer Bead from. Hop out the window and climb up into the large tree so you can grapple the kite. Jump off to the right and spam the grapple button to fling across the branches back to solid ground. Enter the cave and push forward to a large wooden beam with the serpent directly below. Hop off and land the blow to finally kill her for the second fruit.
  
• Bring both fruits to the Divine Child, rest, then eavesdrop at the door. Rest once more, then talk to her to receive Frozen Tears.

Progress through the game as normal, then choose to give Kuro the Divine Dragon's Tears + Frozen Tears at the end.

Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose to "Obey the Iron Code, forsake Kuro".

Only obtainable on a non-Shura playthrough. Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose "Break the Iron Code, stay loyal to Kuro". This will be the final boss regardless of which non-Shura ending you choose.

Simply max out any of the 5 Skill Books. This should happen fairly early into your NG playthrough.

You can earn 6 Lapis Lazuli per playthrough.

• 2 can be bought from either Pot Noble for 6 Treasure Scales each.
  
• 1 can be found on the Pot Nobles body after completing their questline.
  
• 1 can be obtained by killing the Shichimen Warrior located just before Shizu in Fountainhead Palace.
  
• 2 are obtained by killing Demon of Hatred.

You must then upgrade any Tool with Lapis Lazuli to earn this achievement.

Story related, cannot miss. Will unlock after talking to Kuro during the prologue.

Story related, cannot miss. This will unlock once you arrive at the Dilapidated Temple for the first time.

Throughout the game are NPCs set up in tents known as the Memorial Mob. Talking to any of them will unlock this. The earliest one is found in Ashina Outskirts, near the old woman who gives you the Hirata Estate bell. Climb the mountain to her right to find the shop at the top.

Die and resurrect. You did it.

Story related, cannot miss. Kill Gyoubu.

Early into Ashina Outskirts you will find an old woman ringing a bell who will give it to you if you talk to her. Head back to the Dilapidated Temple and interact with the Buddha statue to be warped into Hirata Estate. Lady Butterfly is found at the end of the zone.

Story related, cannot miss. Kill Genichiro.

Story related, cannot miss. Kill Guardian Ape.

After killing Guardian Ape, warp to the Poison Pool Idol in Ashina Depths. Continue just beyond where we killed Snake eyes to find the Headless Ape in a giant cavern. Note that a second Guardian Ape will join the fight on his second health bar.

Story related, cannot miss. Kill the Folding Screen Monkeys.

Only obtainable on a non-Shura playthrough. Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose "Break the Iron Code, stay loyal to Kuro", then kill Owl.

Only obtainable on a Purification playthrough. Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose "Break the Iron Code, stay loyal to Kuro". Follow the steps for the Purification ending where you will fight and kill a harder version of Owl at the Hirata Estate.

Only obtainable on a non-Shura playthrough. Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose "Break the Iron Code, stay loyal to Kuro". Progress to the Fountainhead Palace where you will fight her at the entrance.

Only obtainable on a non-Shura playthrough. Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose "Break the Iron Code, stay loyal to Kuro". Progress to the Fountainhead Palace, where you will confront him at the end of the zone.

Only obtainable on a Shura playthrough. Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose "Obey the Iron Code, forsake Kuro". This will be the final boss.

Only obtainable on a non-Shura playthrough. Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose "Break the Iron Code, stay loyal to Kuro". Progress until you've defeated the Divine Dragon. Once back at Ashina Castle, descend to the staircase Idol. To the side you will find a dying soldier who tells you to scale the wall to his side and look for the kite off in the distance (you can see it by taking the normal route of progression to Genichiro). Grapple the kite to end up back in Ashina Outskirts where you can progress backwards towards where the Dilapidated Temple would be. Instead, you will find an Idol that will warp you to Demon's arena.

Equip the Puppeteer Ninjutsu and warp back to the first Idol of Mt. Kongo. Head down the cliffs to the right to see a straw hat guy near a crank. Backstab him and turn him into a puppet to make him fly the kite. Now run through the level to the area with the Monks and the mummy guy where we got a Prayer Bead from. Hop out the window and climb up into the large tree so you can grapple the kite. Jump off to the right and spam the grapple button to fling across the branches back to solid ground. Enter the cave and push forward to a large wooden beam with the serpent directly below. Hop off and land the blow to finally kill her.

Only obtainable on a non-Shura playthrough. Once you have to make your decision with Owl, choose "Break the Iron Code, stay loyal to Kuro". Progress through to Fountainhead Palace. There are 2 Pot Nobles in the game;

• One at Hirata Estate. He can be found just off the right side of the first bridge in the zone (where the small Carp are)
  
• One at Fountainhead Palace. After reaching the Palace Grounds Idol, open the door to your left, and head over the cliffs to the right. Above and to your right is a cave you can grapple into. At the end of this path is the Noble.

Purchase items worth 7 Treasure Scales at either Pot Noble (recommended to purchase Lapis Lazuli) and he will give you a Truly Precious Bait. Return to the Palace Grounds Idol and exit out of the right door this time. Hook a right around the outside wall and grapple on to the roof, then continue straight. Look left for a tree branch you can swing to. Follow the rooftops to the end of the path where you will see a large, friendly Noble. Ring the bell to his right and feed the Truly Precious Bait to the Giant Carp to poison him. Once done, warp to the Bodhisattva Valley idol, where we killed Guardian Ape, to find the Carp dead. Pick up the item in front of him.