Advanced Tactics

[Akos]

I'm curious if anyone else has "advanced" tactics that are maybe not as immediately obvious or maybe a bit of meta-game cheese. I'll give a few of mine~

Hayato's pebble has more uses than turning a guards attention away for a second while you slip past. Often patrols will be synchronized in such a way that it can be difficult to find an opening; Hayato can disrupt this synchronization by pestering enemies with pebbles, which makes them stand in places for several seconds. You can actually throw several stones to keep an enemy in place for a long period of time which is often long enough to have another party member get the kill on something the distracted guard should have been keeping an eye on. After 3-4 pebbles an enemy will enter into an alert state, which can also present opportunities as they abandon their post to investigate the area.

Hayato is able to take out at least two enemies simultaneously with his Shuriken and Katana with proper timing. The Shuriken has a large alert radius, and a nearby enemy will immediately turn to see their dying companion. With proper timing and positioning Hayato can throw his Shuriken into one enemy, and then quickly strike down the other enemy as it turns towards its companion before they can enter into an alert state and summon additional guards. Pair him with Yuki/Aiko to coordinate the deaths of up to 4 different enemies simultaneously, easily clearing large areas of observers.

Hayato and Yuki/Aiko can also take out lone enemies even if they are being watched over by other enemies. Position Yuki/Aiko within melee range of the unit you need to kill and then switch over to Hayato and ready up the Shuriken. As soon as the Shuriken hits (nearly instant) have Yuki/Aiko grab the body. This skips the death animation of the target that would otherwise alert other enemies, and immediately enters a stealth state. From there have Yuki/Aiko move the body somewhere out of sight and get on with the mission.

Hayato and Yuki can work together to lure an enemy that would otherwise see Yuki before reaching her trap (limited cover, or no good hiding spots, etc.) Position Hayato in such a way that the investigating enemy will not be able to see him and toss a Shuriken into his spine as he searches for Yuki. Yuki can then immediately grab the body to keep it hidden.

Yuki can take advantage of "transitions" to kill an enemy that would otherwise see her if she alerted them with a bird call. Position your trap right next to a door, near the edge of the water, or next to to a ledge, call the enemy, and then duck out of sight. With proper timing Yuki will jump/swim/door out of the enemies field of vision before they become alert, and then wander over and maim themselves on the trap. Grab the body and toss it into your hiding spot from there.

Mugen can coordinate with the rest of the team in a similar way using his Sake assuming he wouldn't be able to kill the enemy himself without being seen. Have Mugen toss out the sake as a distraction and then distance himself enough that the investigating enemy wouldn't detect him. Have Hayato/Yuki/Aiko positioned so that the investigating enemy has their back to them and then take them out with a dash melee attack or the Shuriken.

Yuki can send enemies into an alert state by pestering them with bird calls, usually two is enough to do it, which often results in them running to her position rather than carefully approaching it. Enemies in alert states ignore their scripted patrols, and present opportunities for you to take them out.

Yuki's trap doesn't work on Samurai, but will get them to stop their patrol, stand still for several seconds, and then enter into an alert state. Again, this can presents opportunities to coordinate their death in out-of-sight areas or just disrupt their synchronization enough that you can sneak past or take them out.

That's all I have for now. Do you have off the wall strategies that work? Let me know!

[ANIM Rawrs]

I dont know if you would consider this advanced, but basically you can use the tanuki together with yuki to get enemies further away then just by using one. Lure them with the tanuki and turn it off. Before they walk away use the bird call from yuki to lure them further. I think you could even chain this with proper timing and space. Not tried chaining it though.

Also you can use aiko and yuki together to kill allot of enemies in the striped green vision cone. Blind them with aiko and kill them with yuki. Or better let hayato throw the shuriken and let yuki do the pick up.

Edit: Once you get the guns you can use pretty much everybody to take out samurais solo. Just make sure you shoot them out of range of their vision once they get shot and move around the small vision cone. The game says you need teamwork, but you only need one if done correctly.

Also remember you can let takuma shoot 2 people by using the guns in repetition. So use A and F in quick succession.

edit2: Also if you want to people to run when ducked in shadowmode (shift) remember to press space before giving in your command. This way they will stand up and run before doing whatever command you gave them.

[SquareDildo]

Distracting samurai and straw hats with stones and bird call is less effective, but not pointless. It can give you a moment to run past them. Yuki's bird call has a slightly longer effect on them. If you set up Yuki on the opposite side, you might even be able to walk past a pair of straw hats or samurai. If you use a fast method (Hayato melee), you might be able to kill an enemy watched by a samurai or straw hat (if the vision is not solid green).

Unlike straw hats, samurai will leave their posts to investigate footprints. Without sounding the alarm! They will also investigate distant bodies and walk up to them instead of immediately calling the alarm. This can be a lot of time if you already have a solid plan. Especially if he has a looong line of vision. The method can also be used to lure them where no one will see them die.

A guard knocked down with fists won't immediately rise the alarm when he wakes up. He will just enter cautious/investigation mode. Just make sure no one sees the body. If a civilian wakes up and has no guards to alarm, he will instead run to a building and hide forever.

Guns can be used as a non-lethal stun method against samurai. It lasts a dozen of seconds or so.

If a patrol includes regular guards and samurai, it can be distracted as usual. This includes bird call, sake, and Kuma.

If a samurai is regularly having a conversation, you can send him investigating by delaying the other party. This can give you more time and different field of view than even the conversation.

You can chain distraction methods, including stone throw and bird call, to keep straw hats or samurai turned for longer. Time it so one skill works as soon as another finishes.

You can deliberately miss with matchlock pistols to make noise. This can be useful if you can't get away with killing.

When using shadow mode, when you don't want skills to be executed at EXACTLY the same time, you can leave one character further away. This way you can use distance like a fuse, longer distance means longer delay. This is useful if you trust your planning and measurement more than your finger dexterity.

[Marcus]

you can lure enemy into bush and kill him there and his body will get hidden automatically...

yuki can kill 3 enemies at once(trap, jump kill, base attack kill), it require proper positioning etc..(in last mission there was patrol with 3 guards I put trap behind boxes went to edge of building behind boxes use birdvoice used vines to get up the building 2 guards went to trap one died to trap other to jump kill and 3rd one then came and killed him with base attack(well I may got lucky there bit most of times they all came at same time and I still could take them out but not without taking dmg and maybe alarm on too, but there may be way still...)

kuma can walk map and grab all base enemies to one place then grenade or something aoe and all die at once(tho I saw this on speedrun video with rock kill..)

throwing civilians to building will not kill them but they wont come back(possible all kind of "door" hiding places will work same...wells etc...)

you can throw enemies into deep and take out enemies even without weapons(saw in video also...)
throwing barrels or bodies will knock enemies out even samurai(didnt try this one but it could be possible to take body in upper lvl or building and throw it on samurai and knock him out with other chars than mugen and then kill samurai without gun or mugen help...)

you can throw bodies to the detection area and enemies will come to them as mentioned before but you need to take them out before they come too close to them, but you can throw unconscious enemy in view cone enemy will come to him and wake him without sounding alarm which gives you new opportunities( lure him further with no alarm out of enemy view...then kill them various ways...or just throw another body/unconscious enemy to knock all of them out...then do whats best for you....or just pass behind them...)