100% "Intended" Walkthrough

This is a 100% Walkthrough of Sekiro done in the way that the game would naturally be done while missing as little as possible.

Intro

This is a Walkthrough that will lead to 100% Achievement Completion while grabbing every dialogue and important item possible. The reason for the "Intended" is that this will lead through the game in the most natural way available. What I mean by this is that certain events only happen before or after other events while certain items can be used in special ways in certain areas.

To give an example, the Divine Abduction Tool can be used to kill monks instantly, so it should be grabbed before encountering monks, but you should go to the monk area before killing a certain boss otherwise you miss interacting with an entire NPC. The "efficient" way of doing things would lead to missing the NPC altogether while the "intended" way will require backtracking now and again so that every interaction is made.

I will also be doing my best to guide through this game while spoiling as little of the games surprises as possible. That said, I will be merely hiding spoilers and easy strategies for bosses behind spoiler tags, so they are still available should you want to see them.

If you have any questions or feedback, let me know in the comments and I hope you enjoy the guide.

If you enjoy this guide and would like similar guides for other Fromsoft Games, I already have one for Elden Ring which I will link below and will be going through the games to make one for each.

Elden Ring Walkthrough

How to 100% in 2 Playthroughs

This game CAN be 100% with only 2 playthroughs of the game so long as you're on PC. It can also be done on consoles from what I understand but I don't own a console and don't feel comfortable instructing others to delete data when I haven't personally tested it, so you'll need to look up a guide on it if you want to do this on console.

Although I don't think this is "intended" I do understand some people don't want to play a game 4 times. This is done by:

• Follow this guide to the game's ending with all requirements completed for all endings
  
• Backup the save data to a separate folder on the computer(this can be right after final boss to save fighting the boss 3 times)
  
• Finish 1st Ending then Quit Game
  
• Replace save data with the backup data
  
• Finish 2nd Ending then Quit Game
  
• Replace save data with the backup data
  
• Finish 3rd Ending then go to New Game Plus
  
• Get to just before making the choice whether or not to do the Shura Ending
  
• Backup the save data to a separate folder on the computer
  
• Finish the Shura Ending then Quit Game
  
• Replace save data with the backup data
  
• Continue the game to get 4 Lapis Lazuli
  
• Grind to get all the skills

A more "intended" way that would let you experience the endings in my recommended order is done by:

• Follow this guide to the game's ending, making sure to at least get 4 Lapis Lazuli(though it's recommended to do as much as possible.)
  
• Finish Immortal Severence Ending by giving just the Dragon Tears
  
• Go to New Game +
  
• Get to just before making the choice whether or not to do the Shura Ending
  
• Backup the save data to a separate folder on the computer
  
• Finish the Shura Ending then Quit Game
  
• Replace save data with the backup data
  
• Follow this guide to the game's ending with all requirements completed for all endings
  
• Backup the save data to a separate folder on the computer(this can be right after final boss to save fighting the boss twice)
  
• Finish Return Ending by giving the Dragon Tears and Frozen Tears then Quit Game
  
• Replace save data with the backup data
  
• Finish Purification Ending by giving the Dragon Tears and Everblossom then go to New Game Plus
  
• Grind to get all the skills + buy all Prosthetic Upgrades

I will explain this more thoroughly later on when actually arriving at the points necessary to do this, but I will explain how to backup the save data here.

Remember to Copy not Cut as that can end up with you accidentally messing up your entire save file if done incorrectly.

• Go to C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Sekiro
  
• Click the Folder and Copy it
  
• Create New Folder wherever(prolly Desktop) and name it something you'll remember
  
• Paste into the New Folder

To replace the current save data with your backup

• Go to the Folder you created and Copy the Folder in there.
  
• Go to C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Sekiro
  
• Paste and click "Replace the files in the destination"

And the backed up saves will be your current saves.

Before Starting

For this guide, I will be providing easy methods of defeating enemies wherever I can. For the purposes of these strategies, and in order to complete all the steps in the order I provide them, grab the skills below in the order listed before grabbing other skills. Optional skills will be put in parenthesis as being very useful from the start but aren’t necessary if you don’t want them.

Mikiri Counter > Grappling Hook Attack > (Suppress Presence > Suppress Sound > Ichimonji > Ascending Carp > Descending Carp) > Emma’s Medicine: Potency > Chasing Slice > Mid-air Prosthetic Tool > Fang and Blade > Projected Force > Nightjar Slash > Nightjar Slash Reversal > Living Force > (Whirlwind Slash > A Shinobi’s Karma: Body > Breath of Life: Light)

Throughout the guide, I recommend always exploring every area thoroughly, even if I don’t explicitly say so, and upgrading your Gourd everytime you get Gourd Seeds and reach a new Idol if you are having trouble progressing or defeating a boss.

With that said, this guide will begin after finishing the tutorial area so lets get started.

Ashina Outskirts Part 1

• Talk with the Sculptor for dialogue.
  
• Leave the building and talk with Emma.
  
• Grab the Dilapidated Temple Idol
  
• Take the path to the right, going up, to talk with Hanbei the Undying.
  
• Go back down and leave out gate then grapple to the left.
  
• Grapple again and grab the Ashina Outskirts Idol
  Either be sneaky and go to the right, or get some ‘hard’ combat practice by going left.
  I recommend killing all the enemies in every area in either case and both sneaking and combat are good skills to improve, though I prefer being sneaky.
  
• Continue along the path until you reach the Outskirts Wall – Gate Path Idol
  
• Grab the Shuriken Wheel from the gate next to the Idol
  
• Kill General Naomori Kawarada for a Gourd Seed and a Prayer Bead.
  
• You can sneak around using the bushes and jumping points on the left to climb on top of the gate above the General then perform a Deathblow either from above or by dropping down on the ground, NOT THE CARTS!, and stabbing him when you get close to cut out half the fight. If you fail the Deathblow, you can grapple over the gate, wait and come back to try again.
  
• Proceed through the area until you encounter a dying soldier on the road next to a broke house.
  Priority order for deathblows is big guy > hat+katana > no hat > hat+gun because hat+gun is really easy to break posture
  
• Talk to the dying soldier then jump into the top of the nearby house to meet an old lady to get the Young Lord’s Bell Charm then talk to the soldier again for more dialogue.
  He has more dialogue if the old lady has Dragonrot. If she has Dragonrot before getting the bell, wait until the next Sculptor’s Idol then speak to Emma, speak to old lady for a blood sample then speak to Emma. Rest and speak to Emma again for a cure.
  
• From the next gate, grapple to the left and up, do this 3 times in a row to reach the top where the Crow’s Bed Memorial Mob awaits. Buy Robert’s Firecracker’s from him.
  
• Go back down and continue along the path to grab the Outskirt’s Wall Stairway Idol behind the chicken.
  
• Turn around and drop down to find a Red Light Memory dialogue of Kuro and Emma.
  
• Turn to the left and talk with Anayama the Peddler and exhaust his dialogue by buying all his information to receive the Flame Barrel Memo.
  
• Rest at the Idol and talk with him again to see his shop with the Phantom Kunai that you will need to buy later for a Prosthetic Upgrade.

Theoretically, you can just continue Ashina Outskirts from here but since I want to explain the easiest ways to kill everything for a more "intended" route where you are always prepared, we will be going to the Hirata Estate and coming back later.

Hirata Estate Part 1

• Travel back to the Dilapidated Temple.
  
• Speak with Emma and the Sculptor and exhaust their dialogues. You should receive the Shinobi Esoteric Text from him now if you haven't already. It just requires having 1 Skill Point.
  
• If the Sculptor has Dragonrot, then the dialogue will be different so make sure to do these steps as soon as you encounter the Sculptor getting Dragonrot.
  
  • Talk to Emma
    
  • Go around the back of the building and Eavesdrop through the hole in the wall for dialogue.
    
  • Get a blood sample from the old lady that gave you the bell charm
    
  • Bring it back to Emma, rest and talk to Emma again.
    
  • After curing the Sculptor, Emma will give you Ashina Sake to give him for dialogue so do so.
• Give the Sculptor the Shuriken Wheel and Robert’s Firecracker’s to get the Loaded Shuriken and Shinobi Firecracker Tools.
  
• Pray at the nearby Buddha Carving to gain access to the Hirata Estate. This requires the Young Lord’s Bell Charm.
  
• Grab the Dragonspring – Hirata Estate Idol and continue along the path.
  
• Talk with the dying birdman for dialogue and jump into the water on the right.
  
• Head to the right and try to kill any carp you see, don’t worry if you don’t succeed as it doesn’t matter much yet.
  
• Continue to the right to meet the Pot Noble Harunaga. He trades items for the Treasure Carp Scales you get by killing the carp in the water. Buy the Floating Passage Text if you want/can and don’t worry about the Mask Fragment: Right right now. The Withered Red Gourd is also mostly useless but you can get it if you want.
  
• Go to the nearby shore and hop the fence for the Estate Path Idol.
  
• Jump the gate to the right and grab the Flame Barrel from the bonfire surrounded by enemies.
  For Deathblow priority it goes Axeman > Archer > Katana > Dogs. The archer is the biggest issue once you’re seen, if you can’t deathblow the Axeman, kill everything else then use stabs to kill him easy(hold attack to stab).
  
• Continue up the slope and talk to the dying man for dialogue then turn left and open up the shortcut door.
  
• Turn back around and jump/grab onto the fence on the right. Eavesdrop then kill the enemies to grab the Shinobi Axe of the Monkey from the shrine.
  
• Go to the opposite side now and talk with Anayama the Peddler for dialogue. If you kill him here, he dies in the present as well so avoid doing that if you want to continue his questline.
  
• Hop onto the gate to eavesdrop then go into the section they are standing in front of to get dialogue from 3 houses.
  
• Return to the Dilapidated Temple and talk with Sculptor to trade the Flame Barrel and Shinobi Axe of the Monkey for the Flame Vent and Loaded Axe Tools and to receive the Prosthetic Esoteric Text

Ashina Outskirts Part 2

• Return to the Outskirts Wall – Stairway Idol and equip the Flame Vent.
  
• Kill the enemies nearby then kill the Chained Ogre for a Prayer Bead and Shinobi Medicine – Rank 1
  Easy strat is to rush in and start hitting him as much as possible until he breaks free. Just as he gets free, hit him with the Flame Vent to scare him and hit him a few times. Run circles around around him until he attacks then attack 1-3 times from behind him depending on the move, you’ll get a feel for it. Use Flame Vent every 15 seconds or so and just keep running circles around him until you can get a Deathblow then do it again. His attack pattern is really predictable and makes running in circles around him causing him to miss every attack every time so long as you pay attention.
  
• Grapple up and grab the Nightjar Monocular.
  You can use it to view that small enemy in the distance and slightly to the right. He announces your presence to everyone if he sees you so sneak around and kill him before you get in a head on fight with anyone. You can ignore this whole area for now though.
  
• Go to the left side of the inside of this broken gate to get a Gourd Seed.
  
• Go to the right and grapple/climb your way across to the cave.
  
• Keep to the right and DO NOT fight the enemy. Instead head to the nearby exit and grapple your way up to unlock a shortcut door.
  
• Now turn back around and head into the cave.
  
• Keep to the right as you jump down into the enemy area and follow the wall to find another tunnel.
  
• Enter the tunnel and hug the wall on the person shaped painting to enter a new area.
  Jump+Deathblow the waiting enemy as they can be instant killed even after spotting you. Then grab the Bell Demon’s Temple Idol. Don’t ring the bell unless you really want to.
  
  • Remember this is effective for killing every one of this particular enemy in the future.
    
  • The nearby bell increases enemy drop rates and sen drops but not experience drops. The enemies will be harder to kill so long as the Bell Demon remains in your inventory. You can just use it anytime to be rid of it though so it’s not that punishing and can be a great way to stock up on Sen as you go.
• Travel back to the Outskirts Wall – Stairway Idol and then clear the area we skipped before and kill General Tenzen Yamauchi for a Prayer Bead
  The easiest method of doing this is to run past, grab the Underbridge Valley Idol and then grapple back up. Kill everything then do a Backstab Deathblow on the General to skip half the fight.
  
• Grab the Underbridge Valley Idol just to the left and down of the broken bridge.
  
• Make your way down and follow the path to the Ashina Castle Gate Fortress Idol.
  
• Sneak around the left side to Eavesdrop on a couple of soldier for dialogue and grapple up to the Red Light Memory for a dialogue of Kuro and Genichiro.
  
• Sneak to the right to Eavesdrop a soldier by his horse.
  
• Hop down into the battlefield to kill Gyoubu Oniwa and collect his Memory and Mechanical Barrel. Memories can be used at the Idol to increase your attack power. Mechanical Barrel will allow you to upgrade Prosthetics when given to the Sculptor.
  Easy strat is to equip the Shinobi Firecracker and have the Grappling Hook Attack Skill. Charge towards him at the start of the fight because he will rear his horse back and talk for a sec, attack him as much as possible while he is talking. As the horse starts to come back down, use the Firecracker to make it rear back up and get more free hits. From here just Deflect and follow him at a normal pace while spamming the grapple button to grapple him every time he turns and then attack with the Grappling Hook Attack once you get close enough. Use the Firecracker every 20 seconds, deflecting his heavy attack as the horse comes down, and just Deflect Deflect Deflect everything while only worrying about attacking when you can grapple. You will break his posture very quickly for an easy victory using just these 3 things.
  
• Go to the right side of the battlefield, opposite the Idol and go up the stairs.
  
• Buy the Gourd Seed from the Battlefield Memorial Mob just around the right side of the building.
  
• Talk to Tengu of Ashina and accept his offer for the Rat Description.
  
• Open the shortcut and talk to the old lady for dialogue.
  
• Climb the stairs in the building and grapple/climb your way to the top to open the chest for a Prayer Bead.
  
• This is your 4th Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade at the Idol for First Prayer Necklace.
  
• Make your way across the battlefield to grab the Ashina Castle Gate Idol.
  
• Open the gate and grapple up to the top of next gate and go to the right to find 3 rats to kill.
  Equip the Loaded Axe to break through their hats.
  
• Go back to Tengu of Ashina for the Ashina Esoteric Text which will unlock another skill tree to spend points on.
  
• Go back to the Ashina Castle Gate Idol and follow the path up.
  
• Grapple onto the gate to Eavesdrop for dialogue about the next enemy.
  
• Enter the area and kill the Blazing Bull for a Prayer Bead and Shinobi Medicine – Rank 2.
  Easy strat is to equip the Shinobi Firecrackers, run around and lead it into killing the enemies then use the Firecrackers to stop its charge and get some free hits. Afterwards, quit locking on to it and then hug it’s butt while it charges, doing a running attack on the opposite side of it’s head everytime it turns. Just keep doing this until it goes berserk. Keep away from it while it hops around and it will eventually tire out. Once it’s tired, finish it off.
  
• Proceed and talk to the praying old lady for dialogue then use any of the Mibu Balloons next to her(I recommend the Mibu Balloon of Soul) to receive a gift from her.
  
• Grab the Ashina Castle Idol.

Remember to upgrade your Gourd by talking to Emma if you haven’t been.

Hirata Estate Part 2

• Travel to the Estate Path Idol.
  
• Go along the path forward, through the shortcut you opened up last time until you make it to the shield enemies then kill them, probably with your Loaded Axe.
  
• Now take out the enemies ahead, killing Shinobi Hunter Enshin of Misen for a Prayer Bead.
  An easy strat is to stealth kill as many of the enemies as possible, then finish off the rest until Enshin is all that’s left. Run and hide in the previous area as he will quit chasing at around the bridge. Wait for the combat music to stop then sneak back and get a deathblow on him to cut out half the fight. For the remaining half, he will often use a spear thrust to attack you so just dodge towards him when he does to perform a Mikiri Counter and deal great posture damage.
  
• Continue and grab the Bamboo Thicket Slope Idol.
  
• Go to the left of the path to jump into the water and follow the water past the bridge to grapple up to the ledge.
  
• Attack the brown bamboo and enter the tunnel then repeatedly wall jump to get to the top.
  
• Grab the Mist Raven’s Feathers from the shrine
  The enemy can be ignored. You can fight them but there isn’t a great, easy method. Just attack, deflect their sword and dodge their kicks and be wary of the fact that they have uninterruptible attacks.
  
• Jump down the ledge and go past the bridge to the burning area to talk to Owl and get the Hidden Temple Key.
  
• Grapple the tree then the roof of the building to grapple from shrine to shrine until you reach a ledge.
  
• Continue along this path and to the right you can Eavesdrop for dialogue.
  
• Go into the tunnel and wall jump to the top to grab the Hirata Estate – Main Hall Idol.
  
• Continue through the area until you find a Samurai. Don’t talk to him until you’re ready to kill Juzou the Drunkard for his Prayer Bead and Unrefined Sake.
  There isn’t a simple easy strat but there is an easy, but messy plan. Sneak around to the left side and kill the 2 enemies in the building then sneak around through the hall. Backstab one of the enemies and kill the archer, then kill the rest of the enemies as well as you can, don’t be afraid to run away. Once all the enemies except Juzou are dead, hide until Juzou loses aggro, sneak around behind him, backstab him then run over and talk to the Samurai to get him to help with the fight. With Juzou’s attention divided and only one health bar, he should be significantly easier. If Samurai is alive, talk to him. If he died, mourn his death and never forget his name, NoGame Sensei.
  
• Head inside and grab the Hirata Audience Chamber Idol and talk with the old lady.
  
• From the Idol, turn around and go through the wall and turn right. There will see a wall with a painting on it.
  
• Hug the painting and it will show you it’s secret room where you can grab a Prayer Bead from the chest.
  
• That’s your 8th Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade to Second Prayer Necklace.
  
• Continue from the Idol and talk to the Surprisingly Hasn’t Died Yet guy for dialogue and then head down the stairs.
  
• Kill Lady Butterfly for her Memory and the Sakura Droplet.
  An easy strat here is to equip the Spinning Shuriken, or Loaded Shuriken if you haven’t upgrade, and then dodge right/left+attack over as she will almost never be able to stop it. If she manages to jump up, hit her with a Shuriken ASAP(hold on the Spinning Shuriken for guarnteed hit+extra damage) then continue. Do this in the second phase as well until she summons her friends then just run in big circles around the arena until they disappear and their lights finish trying to hit you. Provided you do it right, she should be a very easy kill.
  
• Talk with the Sculptor and give him the Unrefined Sake for more dialogue, Mechanical Barrel for dialogue and Prosthetic Upgrade unlock and trade the Mist Raven’s Feather for the Mist Raven Tool

Ashina Castle Part 1

• Travel to the Ashina Castle Idol
  
• Turn to the left and grapple to the branch across from the Praying Old Lady.
  
• Eavesdrop for dialogue and kill them for the Gatehouse Key.
  
• Continue past the bridge and over the gate to grab the Abandoned Dungeon Entrance Idol.
  
• Talk with the Dungeon Memorial Mob and buy the Prayer Bead. The Mask Fragment: Dragon can be bought later.
  
• Travel back across the bridge and turn left to make your way down while hugging the right side to grab the Ashina Reservoir Idol.
  
• Eavesdrop the nearby soldiers for dialogue.
  
• You should recognize this area as the tutorial area. Kill the enemies while going to the left side, making your way up to the building on the left.
  
• Open the gatehouse with the Gatehouse Key to get Gyoubu’s Broken Horn.
  
• Continue through the area to where the Divine Heir was being held in the tutorial to kill Seven Ashina Spears - Shikibu Toshikatsu Yamauchi for a Prayer Bead
  Easy strat is to equip the Flame Vent, Loaded Axe and Shinobi Firecrackers and have oil ready to throw. Sneak behind him for a deathblow then throw oil on him, hit him with the Flame Vent until he is burned then keep your distance and prepare to Mikiri Counter his stabs. DO NOT punish his stab, after the counter wait for his combo attack, deflect it, THEN punish that with the Loaded Axe while he’s off-balance. You can use the Firecrackers to create openings when you wish.
  
• Grab the Red Light Memory dialogue of Kuro in the building.
  Now go back to where you first began the game by heading to the gatehouse and following the cliffside. Once there speak with the samurai, Jinzaemon Kumono, for dialogue.
  
• Now continue inside to talk to the Lone Shadow Longswordsman and then kill him for a Prayer Bead.
  An easy strat is to talk with him, run away, then plunge Deathblow him from the hole above him. Afterwards, basic him until he deflects, then deflect all of his attacks and attack every time a red sign appears. If he does a high jump move, dodge it and attack immediately after he lands.
  
• Keep going forward, ignoring the enemy to the left, and grab the Bottomless Hole Idol.
  
• Talk with Jinzaemon Kumono for more dialogue then continue to talk with the old lady for dialogue.
  
• Travel to the Ashina Castle Idol
  
• Go through the gate to find a Red Light Memory dialogue of Kuro and Emma
  
• Walk up the stairs and kill General Kuranosuke Matsumoto for a Prayer Bead.
  Easy strat is to look at the rooftops on the left side, grapple up and then do a Deathblow from above on the General before quickly killing his gunmen as they have weak posture.
  
• This is your 12th Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade to Third Prayer Necklace.
  
• After killing the General, look to the right and follow the path around to see a Wandering Merchant sitting below.
  
• Talk to the Wandering Merchant for dialogue then kill all of the enemies in close vicinity before talking to him again for the Nightjar Beacon Memo. He will move to the temple after this and will be selling a Gourd Seed. He will also move to the temple after killing Genichiro but you won’t get the Nightjar Beacon Memo in that case.
  
• Grapple to the nearby rooftop with smoke coming off of it and make your way upwards.
  
• Continue along the roof to get to the Upper Tower – Antechamber Idol
  I recommend running past all these enemies and just grappling up to the window, they aren’t worth the effort without the nearby idol.
  
• Grab the Gourd Seed from the chest near the idol.
  
• Continue forward and go into the room on the right side. In there will be a painting on the far wall between 2 suits of armor.
  
• Hug the painting and grab the Prayer Bead.
  
• Continue forward and up the stairs to grab the Upper Tower – Ashina Dojo Idol.
  
• Grab the Red Light Memory dialogue of Kuro and Emma from the previous room and head downstairs and turn left.
  
• Break through the wall behind the 2 samurai enemies and continue forward.
  
• Go up the stairs to find Isshin’s Letter.
  
• Travel back to the Upper Tower – Antechamber Idol and then hop into the hole in the middle of room, using the grapple to get on the ledge.
  
• Keep going down and open up both shortcut doors and grab Sabimaru (Upgrade Material) from the chest
  
• Go through the back door and follow the path to grab the Old Grave Idol.
  
• Jump off the ledge onto the building below with a hole in the roof and go inside to talk to Blackhat Badger.
  
• Buy the Anti-Air Deathblow Text from him THEN buy the Iron Fortress. Once you buy the Iron Fortress he will leave so buy the Anti-air Deathblow Text first.
  
• Go back to the Idol and head back to take the other path past the spear monk that leads to the bridge.
  
• Eavesdrop this conversation to learn information for Anayama the Peddler to continue his questline.
  
• Continue past the bridge and make your way down the hill to grab the Great Serpent Shrine Idol.

Sunken Valley Part 1

• Travel back to the Dilapidated Temple.
  
• Talk to Fujioka the Info Broker and buy the Gourd Seed if you haven’t already.
  
• Talk to the Sculptor and trade in your Gyoubu’s Broken Horn and Iron Fortress for the Loaded Spear and Loaded Umbrella Tools.
  
• Travel to Outskirts Wall – Stairway and talk with Anayama the Peddler to give him the salt info, rest and talk to him again for a new request.
  
• From the Great Serpent Shrine Idol, jump over the ledge and grapple to the other side.
  
• Make your way down to grab the Under-Shrine Valley Idol.
  
• Turn around and grapple across to where the gunmen are.
  
• On the other side, climb up the rocks and follow the path to the graves.
  
• Jump down to grab a Prayer Bead in the open.
  
• Homeward Idol back to the Under-Shrine Valley Idol.
  
• Make your way down this time and grapple across to kill a gunman.
  
• Grapple your way across to kill another gunman and look up.
  
• Climb up the rock and continue forward to grapple and climb up to a building.
  
• Grab the Gourd Seed near the building
  
• Jump down from the building to get back across the gap and climb down to the previous path.
  
• Continue down and across until you grapple onto a tree branch.
  
• Jump down and grab the Sunken Valley Idol.
  
• Equip your Loaded Umbrella and get ready to move quickly.
  
• Jump over the ledge and grapple until you reach Snake Eyes Shirafuji. Ignore them for now.
  
• Go left from Snake Eyes and hug the wall to get across.
  
• Either sprint or use your Loaded Umbrella to cross the bridge and grapple over to the other side.
  
• From here, take out the enemies as you wish or simply run past them as you make your way up and into the cave.
  
• Inside the cave, grab the Gun Fort Idol.
  
• Now use your advantage of being behind to kill all the rifle gunmen outside and make your way back to Snake Eyes.
  
• Kill Snake Eyes Shirafuji for a Prayer Bead.
  An easy strat is to Deathblow his first healthbar away then you can just fight as normal, though I recommend deflecting bullets with the Umbrella rather than the sword.
  
• Homeward Idol back to the Gun Fort Idol.
  
• Head into the tunnel in front of you to kill Long-Arm Centipede Giraffe for a Prayer Bead.
  An easy strat is to spam Deflect while he is attack and to double jump when he does his Red-Signed sweep attack. Literally don’t even attack this guy, just Deflect and Deathblow and he will basically kill himself.
  
• This is your 16th Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade to Fourth Prayer Necklace.
  
• Grab the Large Fan from the altar.
  
• Fall into the floor and crouch down to explore until you reach the exit.
  
• From the exit, look right and up to grapple your way across to a caveroom.
  
• After leaving the caveroom, grapple up and down and across until you can hop down to grab a Prayer Bead.

Senpou Temple Part 1

• Travel back to the Dilapidated Temple.
  
• Talk with the Sculptor and Trade in your Large Fan for the Divine Abduction Tool.
  
• Travel to the Abandoned Dungeon Entrance Idol
  
• Go down the stairs and keep to the left to find and talk to Doujun and receive the Surgeon’s Bloody Letter.
  
• Keep going and grab the Underground Waterway Idol.
  
• Swim through the water to the end and use the elevator.
  
• Go up the stairs and find religion
  
• Talk to the buddha painting on the wall for dialogue.
  
• Grab the Senpou Temple, Mt. Kongo Idol
  Note that the Divine Abduction is an AoE that will kill any monks of any size that it hits automatically so it is fantastic for this area.
  
• Go out the door and immediately right to speak to Kotaro.
  
• Continue up the slope and talk to Blackhat Badger for dialogue.
  
• Keep going up the slope to follow the path to the temple.
  
• Grapple to the beam above you on the left side of the temple and make your way inside.
  
• Continue down the stairs and grab the Gourd Seed in front of the dead monk.
  
• Continue through the window and talk to the praying old lady for dialogue.
  
• Follow the path, hugging the left wall and grapple up and across to the tunnel
  
• Climb your way up to grab the Shugendo Idol.
  
• Look to the left to find a platform on the cliff below and follow that platform to talk to the Shugendo Memorial Mob.
  
• Go back to the Idol and now take the path leading up until you find some rocks to climb.
  
• Climb the rocks and grapple up to the bridge but don’t enter it yet.
  
• Turn away from the bridge to see a bunch of buddhas with red and white pinwheels.
  
• Climb up to the end to get the Red and White Pinwheel.
  
• On your way back to the bridge, hug the right side of the cliff and find where you can jump down.
  
• Jump down onto the rocks then down onto the wooden platform.
  
• Go to the end of the wooden platform and jump across to grab the rock hanging out.
  
• Climb the rocks and go left to find a wall jump.
  
• Wall jump to the top and grab the White Pinwheel.
  
• Make your way up to the building and enter the side room to grab Monkey Booze
  
• Open the shortcut door and you’ll find the Bell Demon’s Temple Idol again
  
• Make your way back to the bridge from before by following the path in reverse and using the grapples.
  
• At the bridge, kill the Armoured Warrior for a Prayer Bead and Breath of Nature – Shadow.
  This fight is a gimmick fight where you have to get him to break a wall and/or railing and then Deathblow him over the side. The easiest strat for this fight is to equip the Loaded Axe, Deflect or dodge his attacks to perform small hits and then use Mikiri Counter to put him way off balance. While he is off balance or if you can get behind him, hit him with the Axe for big damage. Once he is near done, make sure he is near an opening, break his posture then put him between you and the opening before using the Deathblow. His posture will remain broken for a few moments so you have time to maneuver.
  
• Finish crossing the bridge and grab the Temple Grounds Idol.
  
• Continue forward to the building.
  You can sneak by jumping into the water and sneaking the left side to grapple up, then keep sneaking left to jump up and sneak through the building to the opposite side to the exit.
  
• From the exit of the building, jump down to the right to the roof of the building below.
  
• Use the hole to kill Long-Arm Centipede Sen’un for a Prayer Bead.
  An easy strat is to grapple inside and Deathblow him for his first healthbar. Afterward, use jump Deathblow to kill all of his mini-me’s and get him alone. Finally just Deflect all of his attacks, doing a double jump when he does his Red-Signed sweep, and his posture will quickly break for another Deathblow just like the previous one.
  
• Leave the building and go up the slope until you reach the next building.
  
• Climb the stairs behind it to the large building and make your way around to the opposite side.
  
• Go inside the building to grab the Main Hall Idol.
  
• Talk to the monk to receive the Holy Chapter: Infested
  
• Leave the building the same way that you entered and turn right to find a cave.
  
• Enter the cave and keep going until you reach a ledge.
  
• Hop down and turn around to crouch into the tunnel and follow it to it’s end.
  
• At it’s end, climb and grapple your way up to the top.
  
• Open the nearby shrine to get the Senpou Esoteric Text.

Ashina Castle Part 2

• Travel back to the Upper Tower – Ashina Dojo Idol
  
• Proceed into the room and kill Ashina Elite - Jinsuke Saze for a Prayer Bead.
  An easy strat is to equip Shinobi Firecrackers, Sabimaru and Loaded Umbrella. Use a Gachiin’s Sugar and stealth while hugging the wall on the left. Baskstab Deathblow him, use Firecrackers when he gets up then hit him with Sabimaru to poison him. Use Loaded Umbrella to deflect his attacks and fight defensively until he’s dead.
  
• This is your 20th Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade to the Fifth Prayer Necklace.
  
• Read the painting on the wall to learn how to use Reverse Lightning, which will be useful in the next fight.
  
• Leave the window and climb to the top to kill Genichiro for his Memory and the Bloodsmoke Ninjutsu
  So for this fight, there isn’t a great easy strat besides using sugars to help your stats, but I wouldn’t recommend using an easy strat for this fight even if one existed. I consider this fight to be the fight that will most improve your skill for the future Because of this, I recommend this strategy to make the fight more predictable and improve your skill for the future.
  Stay aggressive and keep close to Genichiro. Basic attack him until he deflects then Deflect his counterattack.
  If he jumps into the air with his sword, dodge it and Mikiri Counter him(or jump over him if it’s his second phase and then hit him from behind)
  If he does a charged bow attack, dodge it. If he does a jumping bow attack, deflect all of the arrows.
  Follow this basic back and forth battle of skill until phase 3.
  Phase 3, stay aggressive and when he jumps into the air, jump into the air with him. Block when he does his lightning attack and spam attack to launch the lightning back and get free hits on him.
  
• Once he’s defeated, grab the Castle Tower Lookout Idol
  
• Talk with Emma for dialogue
  
• Grab the Upper Tower – Kuro’s Room Idol
  
• Talk to Kuro, then talk to him again for the Immortal Severance Text
  
• Interact with Incense Burner then talk to Kuro again.
  
• Watch him take an hour to walk 5ft then talk to him again.
  
• Open the window and follow the incense to talk to Isshin Ashina and receive some Unrefined Sake.
  
• DO NOT give him any drinks just yet but do go through the rest of his dialogue options.
  
• Return to Kuro’s location and read the Divine Heir’s Letter on the floor.
  
• Interact with the Incense Burner for information
  
• Talk with Emma the Physician and give her the Unrefined Sake and Monkey Booze for extra dialogue.
  
• Grab the Gun Fort Shrine Key from next to Kuro.
  
• Talk to Kuro for the Fragrant Flower Note
  
• Talk with Emma for more dialogue.
  
• Talk to Kuro again
  
• At this time you should be able to talk to Kuro to give him the Sakura Droplet, which will give you an extra life. If not then try resting and exhaust his dialogue to get this option.
  
• Use the Shinobi Door by hugging it to reach the Dilapidated Temple and talk with the Sculptor for dialogue.
  
• Travel to the Great Serpent Shrine Idol and talk with Tengu of Ashina. If you followed my recommendations for the Skills at the start of the guide, you should have mastered Living Force and be eligible for him to give you the Mushin Esoteric Text. While you can master any skill tree, Living Force is the one that will help the most in the near future.

Senpou Temple Part 2

• Travel to the Main Hall Idol
  
• Ring the bell on the altar to get the Illusive Hall Bell.
  
• Talk with the nearby monk then use the Illusive Hall Bell to reset the area.
  
• Kill the Folding Screen Monkeys for their Memory and the Puppeteer Ninjutsu.
  The easy strat is to kill the invisible monkey behind you at the start then use a Gachiin’s Sugar to turn invisible and kill the Orange Monkey with the gong. The Purple Monkey is deaf and the Green Monkey is blind, so chase the Purple Monkey into the dark room and the Green Monkey into the waterfall area, or ring the big bell to deafen him. If you’re quick, you can Gachiin Sugar all of them. You can also reset their positions by using the Illusive Hall Bell as it will not reset the ones you’ve already beaten.
  
• Grab the Inner Sanctum Idol after the fight.
  
• Speak to the Divine Child to obtain the Mortal Blade and Mortal Draw.
  
• Speak to the Divine Child again to obtain Rice.
  
• Travel to Senpou Temple. Mt. Kongo Idol
  
• Talk to Kotaro again and make a choice of Pinwheel and/or Destination. For first playthrough, if you’re planning to do all the endings, I recommend Anayama the Peddler as he gives the best long-term reward and this is the only playthrough it’s worthwhile to do his questline. Remember NOT to use the Divine Abduction on Kotaro if doing the Red and White Pinwheel, he will walk to where you suggest so the Divine Abduction WILL kill him.
  
  • If you give him the Red and White Pinwheel and Suggest a destination, you can suggest going to the Abandoned Dungeon(Bad Ending) or Anayama the Peddler(Neutral Ending).
    
  • If you give him the White Pinwheel, talk to him until he asks to be spirited away and then use the Divine Abduction on him, you will get his Good Ending.
    
  • Bad Ending gives a special single use Red Lump, Neutral Ending gives a permanent merchant discount and the Good Ending gives a special Taro Persimmon which gives extra dialogue.
• After you whisk Kotaro away, equip the Puppeteer Ninjutsu and head down the slope.
  
• Sneak up behind the rat and assassinate him, then use the attack button while assassinating to turn him into a puppet. He will then operate the kite and hold it in place.
  
• Climb back up the cliff and talk to Blackhat Badger to continue his story.
  
• Make your way up the slope and through the temple again to talk to the praying old lady on the other side.
  
• Give her the Rice the Divine Child gave you to get extra dialogue.
  
• Grapple up the nearby giant tree then grapple the kite to reach the other side.
  
• Look to the right and down to see a branch in the distance then take a leap of faith to grapple the branch.
  
• Grapple your way down and enter the cave to grab the Sunken Valley Cavern Idol.
  
• Talk to Blackhat Badger to continue his story.
  
• Travel to wherever you sent Kotaro to.
  
  • Outskirts Wall – Stairway Idol to talk with Anayama the Peddler and Kotaro for dialogue and to increase Anayama’s inventory if you chose to send him there.
    
  • Abandoned Dungeon Entrance Idol to talk with Doujun if you sent him there. Rest and return to Doujun for more dialogue then rest and return again for another request.
    
  • Inner Sanctum Idol if you used the White Pinwheel and Divine Abduction. Travel through the nearby beam of light to talk with Kotaro again and receive a Taro Persimmon. Also talk with the nearby monk for more dialogue.
• Travel to the Inner Sanctum Idol and talk with the Divine Child to receive more Rice
  
• Travel to Upper Tower - Kuro's Room and report to Kuro
  
• Travel to the Dilapidated Temple and talk to Hanbei the Undying.
  
• Rest and talk with him again to finish his questline and receive the Hidden Tooth.
  
• Talk with Fujioka the Info Broker for dialogue.

The Hidden Tooth can be used to die in a way that allows you to revive multiple times in a single battle. This allows for a strategy where you can revive 3 times, and if you use a Bundled Jizo Statue as well then you can revive 4 times, giving you up to 5 lives to kill the boss with.

Sunken Valley Part 2

• Travel to the Gun Fort Idol
  
• Cross the bridge and go through the tunnel to open the door behind the buddha statue using the Gun Fort Shrine Key
  
• Cross the bridge and make your way through the water to the cave to grab the Riven Cave Idol.
  
• Grapple and climb your way up to the area with the giant statues.
  
• Make your way through the area however you wish, you have a lot of options, until you see a large group of monkeys grouped together.
  
• If you can kill all the monkeys in this group then you can get Monkey Booze but I recommend waiting as there is a much easier strategy in a little bit.
  
• Grapple to the giants statue behind the group of monkeys and jump/grapple your way across to grab the Bodhisattva Valley Idol
  
• Talk to the praying old lady and give her the Rice that you got from the Divine Child.
  
• Jump down and kill the Guardian Ape for it’s Memory and the Slender Finger.
  The easy strat for this fight is to equip the Shinobi Firecrackers, Flame Vent and Loaded Spear as well as oil. For Phase 1, run up to the Ape and use the Firecrackers to stun it, then throw Oil on him, use the Flame Vent and attack immediately to activate Living Force and set your blade on fire for extra damage against him. Don’t block any of his attacks in this phase, only dodge, jump over, and run around to avoid damage. Try to aim for his front side when you can to stun him. Use Firecrackers and Flame Vent With fire damage, the fight shouldn’t be too difficult.
  For Phase 2, Deflect his attacks as much as possible, run away whenever he puts his head back on and after you Deflect an attack that causes him to fall over(usually one where he strikes down as hard as he can from above his head) use your loaded spear TWICE in quick succession to stab into him and rip out his parasite then attack several times until he recovers. This deals MASSIVE damage to him and will quickly end the fight.
  
• Grab the Guardian Ape’s Watering Hole Idol
  
• Head into the nearby cave and grab the Lotus of the Palace.
  
• Travel back to Upper Tower – Kuro’s Room and report to Kuro to receive Page’s Diary then talk to him again to receive Okami’s Ancient Text.
  
• Talk with Emma to receive Immortal Severance Scrap
  
• Talk with Kuro again.
  
• Rest and then hide behind one of the screen walls to Eavesdrop on Kuro and Emma
  
• Rest again and climb the stairs to talk with Emma and accept her request.
  
• Travel to the Dilapidated Temple and talk with the Sculptor to trade the Slender Finger for the Finger Whistle Tool
  
• Travel to the Inner Sanctum and talk with the Divine Child for more Rice
  
• Travel to Riven Cave and make your way forward to the large group of monkeys again.
  
• Equip and use the Finger Whistle Tool to cause all the monkeys to fight each other and then kill the last one standing for Monkey Booze.

Ashina Depths

• Travel to the Bottomless Hole Idol
  
• Go up the slope to jump into the hole and grapple as soon as you can.
  
• This gets a little messy because there are multiple grapple points but grapple around until you find yourself in a room with an enemy.
  
• Jump down the small hole inside the room to grab the Ashina Depths Idol.
  
• Travel down and grapple to the far left corner of the room behind the giant statue to grab the Poison Pool Idol.
  
• Follow the path left of the Idol to kill Snake Eyes Shirahagi for a Prayer Bead
  The easy strat is to sneak behind him to Deathblow one healthbar away and then use hit and run tactics to whittle away at his posture and vitality(hit a couple time, dodge and run in a circle to his back and hit him some more. This becomes doubly effective when you have the attention of one or more of the cannons as you can use them to keep knocking him over for easy hits. Just run to him before the cannon fires, run away after it fires, cash in on the free hits.
  
• Continue into the tunnel behind Snake Eyes and jump down to talk to a dying gunman for dialogue.
  
• Turn around and look up and right to jump+grapple onto the ledge.
  
• Follow this tunnel, crouching down through the path until you are able to stand between 2 crouch paths.
  
• Climb up the wall, then wall jump and grapple onto the statue for a Prayer Bead.
  
• Go back down to the crouching path and continue left to steal some Booze from the monkey(Monkey Booze).
  
• Jump down and kill the Headless Ape completely for his Memory, the Bestowal Ninjutsu and 2 Prayer Beads.
  The easy strat is to equip Loaded Spear and Shinobi Firecrackers then Deflect his attacks until he falls over, run away from his screams and if he jump in the air the run away to dodge the landing and then Deflect his overhead attack to make him fall over. After he falls over, use Loaded Spear TWICE in quick succession to rip out his parasite for major damage and some free hits until you perform the first Deathblow.
  After his Guardian Ape ally shows up, do hit and run tactics on the Headless Ape by hitting once and running away until he screams. Run away from the scream and watch for the Guardian Ape to charge you. They will do this EVERY time. Drop Firecrackers to knock the Guardian Ape off balance and the hit them as much as you can to stunlock them until they run away. Repeat this strategy until the Guardian Ape is dead(usually on the second time) and then finish off the Headless Ape using the same strategy as the first phase.
  
• This is your 24th Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade to Sixth Prayer Necklace.
  
• Grab the Guardian Ape’s Burrow Idol
  
• Grapple up to the top then jump down to talk to Jinzaemon Kumono for dialogue. Don’t lure him to the Abandoned Dungeon unless you want to finish Doujun’s questline INSTEAD of Jinzaemon’s. Both give fairly lackluster rewards and are only for lore purposes.
  
• Continue forward to grab the Hidden Forest Idol
  
• Grapple across the branches to where the fire is and talk to the dying monk below the statue for dialogue.
  
• Put the bonfire between you and the buddha and then turn around to find a tree branch just below you.
  
• Jump onto that treebranch, then jump onto the treebranch leading to the right just below it.
  
• Cross the branch to get onto the ledge and hug the wall to get across.
  
• Jump onto the ledge and kill Tokujiro the Glutton for a Prayer Bead and Unrefined Sake.
  The easy strat is to equip the Finger Whistle, Puppeteer Ninjutsu and a Gachiin’s Sugar. Use the sugar then hop down and grapple over to the right to sneak behind the gunmonkey. Backstab and Puppeteer the monkey then quickly Deathblow Tokujiro for his first healthbar. Grapple away and use the Finger Whistle to turn all the monkeys crazy make all the enemies fight each other while you use the distraction to damage Tokujiro. Once it’s just you, Tokujiro and your Musketeer monkey, defeat him the normal way with Deflects, dodges and attacks. He is very open whenever he is drinking or spitting out his poison so take advantage of that for an easy win.
  
• Continue past the boss area and then climb/grapple your way up to the cliff.
  
• Grapple and walk across the tree branch to get to the roof of the house then circle around to find a hold in the roof.
  
• Kill the Mist Noble for a lackluster reward.
  The easy strat is Deathblow his first healthbar then beat him to death. He’s just easy.
  
• Travel back to the dying monk for dialogue.
  
• Continue past the house of the Mist Noble and to the left to find a path leading down.
  
• Grapple your way down and grab the Mibu Village Idol.
  
• Go down and talk to the Exiled Memorial Mob and purchase the Mottled Purple Gourd and Dragonspring Sake. He also has 2 Treasure Carp Scales for sale that you can buy now or later.
  
• Continue up the path into the village and grapple the first tree you see to get on the roof of a house.
  
• Enter through the hole and talk to Basket Wearer Shosuke for dialogue.
  
• Grapple up and out of his house and then swim across the pond and grapple onto the other shore.
  
• Go down the slope and climb onto the house for Pine Resin Amber.
  
• Cross the pond again and go back to Basket Wearer Shosuke. Note that there is sometimes a glitch where he won’t progress. You can try resting and returning but if he won’t progress, it doesn’t really matter as he doesn’t actually give anything besides 1 line of dialogue.
  
• Grapple out of the house and the cross the roofs to the left to get to the white tree.
  
• Grab the Gourd Seed from beneath the tree.
  
• Turn around from the tree and grapple onto the branch then look to the right and grapple onto the house.
  
• Continue to the top of this hill to grab an Ashina Sake.
  
• Turn to the right and grapple onto the ledge above.
  
• Go down the slope and sprint+jump over the gap to the house.
  
• Go through the house and across the bridge to grab the Water Mill Idol.
  
• Go up the slope to talk with Jinzaemon Kumono for dialogue.
  
• Keep going up and talk to O’Rin of the Water for dialogue.
  
• Kill O’Rin of the Water for a Prayer Bead and Breath of Life – Shadow
  The easy strat for her is to focus on Deflecting and double jump her whenever she finishes a combo and tries to use one of her Red-Signed attacks.
  
• Return to Jinzaemon Kumono and talk with him for Jinza’s Jizo Statue.
  
• Continue past where O’Rin was and cross the bridge.
  
• Kill all of the enemies and Eavesdrop the door for dialogue.
  
• Crouch underneath the house via the crawlspace to the right of the stairs.
  
• Hug to floor to use the door to enter the building and talk with the village head.
  
• Leave the house through the side and turn around to grapple into the roof.
  
• Grab the Prayer Bead from the shrine.
  
• Jump out of the roof and into the water then back onto the shore so that you are back in front of the house.
  
• Continue past the house, to the left and up the slope.
  
• Kill the Corrupted Monk for her Memory and the Mibu Breathing Technique.
  The easy strat is to equip a Gachiin’s Sugar, Contact Medicine and the Mist Raven. Use the Sugar right at the entrance then stealth and hug the left wall really close until you get around to the altar. She should have appeared but not aggro’d on you yet. Get all the way behind her but not close up yet, then use the Contact Medicine. Walk closely behind her until just before you start touching, then use the Mist Raven without pressing any directional button and it will cause you to fly straight up. Quickly Deathblow her from above for an instant win.
  
• Grab the Wedding Cave Door Idol.
  
• Head into the cave behind the altar to grab the Shelter Stone.
  
• Inspect the Altar of the Shelter Stone for dialogue.

Underwater Backtracking

Now that you have the Mibu Breathing Technique, we can go get some underwater items that we missed. You can also travel to all water locations you’ve been to before to grab the loot there as well if you like but I will only be covering the currently important areas.

• Travel back to the Mibu Village Idol
  
• Go up the slope to the pond and dive underwater
  
• On the right side of the pond at the bottom is a chest with a Prayer Bead.
  
• This is your 28thth Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade to Seventh Prayer Necklace.
  
• Kill the Red-Eyed Carp for Red Carp Eyes. This is only needed if you’re doing Doujun’s questline.
  
• Travel to the Temple Grounds Idol
  
• Jump down onto the roof, then down into the water.
  
• Dive underwater to grab the Prayer Bead from the buddha statue as well as the Holy Chapter: Infested if you missed it for some reason.

Ashina Castle Revisited Part 1

• Travel to the Dilapidated Shrine and talk to Fujioka the Info Broker for dialogue.
  
• Travel to the Abandoned Dungeon Entrance since you can’t use the Ashina Castle Gate, the Bottomless Hole or the shortcut door in Dilapidated Temple anymore.
  
• Go down the stairs and give the Red Carp Eyes to Doujun if you’re doing his questline. Then rest, return to him, rest, then go past where he normally is and into the water. On the island to the left you will find him to receive the Academic's Red Lump.
  
• Head towards the castle and Eavesdrop on the soldier.
  
• Keep going forward and grapple up the gate then cross the bridge.
  
• Talk to the dying soldier just inside the gate.
  
• Jump down into the water and dive under.
  
• Enter the tunnel and make your way to the other end.
  
• Surface and grapple your way out of the moat.
  
• Turn left and open both of the shortcut doors.
  
• Hop down to the bottom of the room and open the shortcut door there to grab the Ashina Reservoir Idol
  
• Grapple back up and take the path going right to grab the Ashina Castle Idol
  
• Climb the stairs and talk to the dying soldier on the right.
  
• Grapple up to the rooftop on the left, then grapple the bridge leading to the roof of the castle.
  
• Get onto the roof and then go left.
  
• Make your way around the roof and grapple into the window to grab the Upper Tower – Antechamber Idol.
  
• Head into the larger room and grapple/jump your way down to the bottom.
  
• Kill the Chained Ogre for a Prayer Bead and Shinobi Medicine – Rank 3
  The easy strat is to equip the Flame Vent and Deathblow him while jumping down, it takes some aim but it can be done easily with practice, to take out one of his healthbars. After that, use Flame Vent and attack immediately for Living Force and then keep swinging until the fire burns out, then do it again.
  
• Open the shortcut door and then head to the opposite door which should already be open.
  
• Head outside and to the right stealthily to Eavesdrop on the monk.
  
• Keep going and grab the Old Grave Idol.
  
• Turn around and head right towards the Great Serpent Shrine but as you enter the first building, stealth and Eavesdrop for dialogue.
  
• Kill Lone Shadow Masanaga the Spear-Bearer for a Prayer Bead.
  The easy strat is to equip Flame Vent then sneak around back and Deathblow his first healthbar away. Immediately Flame Vent and attack for Living Force and then get a bunch of free hits on him. You can keep using Living Force to inflict burn and nearly stunlock him to death.
  
• Grab the Great Serpent Shrine Idol.
  
• Travel back to the Upper Tower – Antechamber Idol
  
• Make your way through the large room to the other side then up the stairs to grab the Upper Tower – Ashina Dojo Idol.
  
• Enter the room and kill Lone Shadow Vilehand for a Prayer Bead.
  The easy strat is to equip Flame Vent and Puppeteer Ninjutsu. Stealth before entering and sneak to the left to backstab the shinobi laying in wait to ambush you and activate the Puppeteer Ninjutsu on him to make him your ally instead. After that, let the 2 of them fight it out with you attacking from behind every time he tries to go on the offensive. Once your ally is dead, use Flame Vent and Living Force to burn the shinobi and finish off his first healthbar. Then repeat as needed until he is fully dead. If you lose the offensive, he can be easily deflected and you can attack everytime the Red-Sign appears to stop his attack without issue.
  
• This is your 32nd Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade to Eighth Prayer Necklace.
  
• Head out the window and talk to the dying birdman for dialogue.
  
• Carefully make your way around the outside of the rooftop, making sure not to go all the way to the top of the roof.
  
• Go across the rooftop to Isshin Ashida’s house.
  
• Grab the chest just outside of it for the Black Scroll
  
• Go around to the other side of the house to Eavesdrop on Isshin and Emma.
  
• Talk with Isshin and give him the Unrefined Sake, Monkey Booze and Dragonspring Sake. Save the Ashina Sake for Emma.

Ending Decision Part 1

From here you will be given a choice. Obey the Iron Code or Break the Iron Code.

If you obey, the game will end and you will get the Shura Ending. If you refuse then the game will continue.

I believe the game is "intended" to be completed with the endings in the following order.

Immortal Severance > Shura > Return > Purification.

The reason for Purification being after Return is that, despite the extra steps in Return and many others opinion that it’s the most “complete”, I’d argue Purification feels more like a “True” Ending for the story as it is the only ending in which a very important thing happens that really feels like it ends the story. So I personally recommend finishing the endings using the above order to get the most satisfaction from the experience.

The rest of this guide from here will be under the assumption that you are following in the order of endings listed above but if not then you can scroll down towards the bottom to see my tips for the Shura Ending.

Ashina Castle Revisited Part 2

• Now go to the rooftop to make a decision. For the purposes of this guide, Break the Iron Code as this choice can’t be taken back and I think the “intended” path is obey on the second playthrough.
  
• Kill Great Shinobi - Owl for his Memory and Aromatic Branch.
  The easy strat here is to equip the Shinobi Firecrackers and Whirlwind Slash then keep a distance while running in circles back and forth to wait for an opportunity. If he throws 1 shuriken and slashes or 2 shuriken and overhead slashes, run sideways and back to avoid the attacks and then Whirlwind Slash him. If he does just a slash attack, run almost straight back because there is usually a second slash then after avoiding both, use Firecrackers and Whirlwind Blade him. Avoid his small anti-healing bomb and if drops a smoke bomb, keep a large distance until you can lock on again. This strategy will take out both phases pretty easily.
  
• Grab the Castle Tower Lookout Idol
  
• Head downstairs and grab the Upper Tower – Kuro’s Room Idol
  
• Talk to Kuro, then talk again, then talk again, the interact with the Incense Burner then talk to him one more time.
  
• Rest and talk to him again to be given a Sweet Rice Ball.

Divine Child - 'Return' Ending Preparation

• Travel to the Inner Sanctum Idol
  
• Talk to the Divine Child
  
• Travel to the Shugendo Idol
  
• Look left and down to see a wooden platform then follow it to the Shugendo Memorial Mob.
  
• Talk with him to get some dialogue and a free Persimmon.
  
• Travel back to the Inner Sanctum Idol
  
• Give the Divince Child the Taro Persimmon if you helped Kotaro, and a regular Persimmon if you didn’t to receive Rice(this is the only time in a single playthrough that you can carry 2 Rice at once) and Rice for Kuro.
  
• Travel to Upper Tower – Kuro’s Room
  
• Talk with Kuro to give him the Rice for Kuro
  
• Rest and talk to Kuro again for a Sweet Rice Ball.
  
• Eat the Sweet Rice Ball you were just given(you can tell in the description) while standing next to Kuro then talk to him for dialogue.
  
• Travel back to the Inner Sanctum Idol
  
• Talk with the Divine Child for dialogue
  
• Talk again and give her the Holy Chapter: Infested
  
• Rest then use the blue light nearby to go to the Halls of Illusion.
  
• Talk with the Divine Child across the bridge.
  
• Travel to the Main Hall Idol
  
• Go left and follow the path to the exit to find the cave
  
• Enter the cave and travel to the ledge and hop down
  
• Turn around and crouch through the passage
  
• Climb up and go to the end of the path to find the Head Priest and grab the Holy Chapter: Dragon’s Return.
  
• Homeward Idol and travel to the Inner Sanctum Idol again
  
• Talk to the Divine Child to give her the Holy Chapter: Dragon’s Return and receive a request from her.
  
• Travel to Sunken Valley Cavern Idol
  
• Go out the exit leading down and make your way onto the wooden.
  
• You should see what to do here to receive Fresh Serpent Viscera as well as sweet revenge!
  
• Take a moment to admire your new look.
  
• Travel back to Inner Sanctum Idol
  
• Talk with the Divine Child for dialogue.
  
• Travel to Bodhisattva Valley
  
• Turn right to find a path going down
  
• Grapple your way down to the bottom
  
• Grapple your way across going right to find the Toxic Memorial Mob and talk with him. You can also buy the Green Mossy Gourd here but it’s not really useful for anything.
  
• Go into the cave behind the Toxic Memorial Mob and make your way down.
  
• Make your way through the cave and when you reach a pillar that divides a left and right path, equip the Puppeteer Ninjutsu and take the left one
  
• Backstab and Puppeteer the Monkey then run back up to the pillar.
  
• Take the right path when the time is right to grab the Dried Serpent Viscera
  
• Look to the right and grapple up for an exit.
  
• Travel back to the Inner Sanctum Idol
  
• Give the Divine Child the “Persimmons”
  
• Rest and Eavesdrop on the door before preparing what you will tell the authorities when they ask. You can always skip through the dialogue here. Just saying
  
• Rest again and talk to the Divine Child to receive Frozen Tears.
  
• Talk again and Request Rice to receive Fine Snow.

Fountainhead Palace Part 1

• Travel to the Wedding Cave Door Idol
  
• Go inside the cave and pray inside the palanquin
  
• Follow the path to grab the Fountainhead Palace Idol
  
• Proceed to the bridge to kill True Monk for her Memory and the Dragon’s Tally Board which is an amazing item that will add Divine Confetti to all merchants for this and all future playthroughs. The Divine Confetti will be very useful very soon.
  The easy strat is Equip Shinobi Firecrackers and Fistfuls of Ash. Before starting, take note of the branches as you can grapple onto them, then make sure to notice the branch wayyy in the back and up on the other side of the bridge. That branch is where you will go as soon as you finsih Phase 1. Start the fight swinging for easy damage then be ready to Deflect, double jump and Mikiri Counter her attacks until you get the first Deathblow. Go to the branch I mentioned earlier and look down while spamming target lock. When you lock on, jump to the target for a Plunging Deathblow and start Phase 3. Once the parasite makes it’s appearance, use Fistful of Ash and spam 3-4 attacks then repeat. If you run out of Ash, use Firecrackers with 2-4 hits then repeat and the Boss should be dead before you run out.
  
• Grab the Vermillion Bridge Idol
  
• Note that this area has A LOT of variety with enemies hidden all over, long range and short range with stealthy and straight-forward paths. You can proceed however you like but I will be explaining the shortest, most straightforward path there with the least amount of enemies.
  
• Grapple down and travel immediately left through the broken buildings
  
• Sprint until you see a patrol and buildings on the right then grapple onto the roof of the largest building
  
• Run to the opposite side of the rooftop then hop down onto the next rooftop
  
• Run along the top of the fence going to the right until you reach the end.
  
• Hop down and hug the right wall until you reach the door on the right
  
• Go through the door and grab the Mibu Manor Idol
  
• Go through the opening on the right and talk with the old lady for dialogue and keep talking until you’ve exhausted the dialogue.
  
• Follow her advice and go through the left door and go all the way left until you reach the wall.
  
• Turn right and look up for a Grapple point then grapple into the roof
  
• Go straight forward and wait for the guards to pass then hop down
  
• Follow the left wall closesly all the way to the end and around the corner to fall in a hole filled with water.
  
• Dive in and go to the other opening before hopping out.
  
• Open the chest for Water of the Palace and grab the 3 Carp Scales scattered around.
  
• Dive back in, hop out the original hole and keep going to go through the door on the left.
  
• Go through both doors and grab the Flower Viewing Stage Idol
  
• Go left from the Idol and around the corner to kill the Sakura Bull of the Palace for a Prayer Bead and A Beast’s Karma
  The easy strat is to Equip Shinobi Firecrackers, grapple onto the roof near the Idol, kill the 3 Okami on the rooftop, preferably without being detected, then Deathblow it from above. After that just do the same thing as with the Blazing Bull, hug the butt and get hits in when you can. If you need a quick escape, there is a grapple above you as well.
  
• Go back to the idol and cross the bridge
  
• Go around the left side of the building and grapple up to the wooden platform
  
• Follow this path going left to jump over to the rocks on the other side of the small waterfall
  
• Grapple up to the building and turn right to go down the stairs
  
• Go through the building and hop down to kill the enemies for a Dragonspring Sake
  
• Grab the Great Sakura Idol
  
• Kill Okami Leader Shizu for a Prayer Bead
  The easy strat is to Lightning Reversal or dodge the first jumping lightning attack, then Anti-Air Deathblow the second jumping lightning attack for an insta-kill.
  
• Jump of the ledge into the water on the left and swim for the building rooftop.
  
• Talk to the old lady and exhaust her dialogue.
  
• Look to the right of the old lady and notice the half underwater building in the distance. Swim to it without going underwater.
  
• When you hit land on the right side of the building, go just a few steps until you are swimming again.
  
• Dive down and to the right a bit and keep going down until you see a fish skeleton.
  
• Dive down to that fish skeleton as quickly as possible to open and loot the chest for a Prayer Bead.
  
• Kill the Headless here for Yashariku’s Spiritfall. Spiritfall’s are like the sugars but are infinite but use Spirit Emblems as a cost.
  The easy strat is to go back to where you were standing on land, equip the Mottled Purple Gourd, Gachiin’s Sugar and Divine Confetti, and then use the Gourd then Gachiin’s Sugar then the Confetti before diving back down to fight. Focus on the non-illusory one as if you kill the “real” one then the illusory one will disappear anyway. With Gachiin’s Sugar, neither will notice you until you get close and the illusory one may not even see you for the whole fight. Other than that, just dodge their attacks, use the Purple Gourd if your terror gets too high and attack often. The Confetti cannot be used underwater but the Purple Gourd can hence why you have to Confetti before diving.
  
• With the Headless dead, explore the lake as you wish to collect Treasure Carp Scales and Precious Bait.
  
• You’ll need at least 2 Precious Bait for later but there are 3 in the lake. The first bait is on a log at the bottom. Second can be found on the ridge just above, under the roof of the upside down building. Third is up some more and just under the docks semi-near the roof where the old lady is.
  
• Go back to the roof where the old lady is.
  
• Dive underwater from the opposite side of the roof where she is on and follow the left wall to find a cave.
  
• Go through the cave to the building on the other side for an exit
  
• If you’re having trouble, us a Gachiin’s Sugar.
  
• Surface and then grapple to grab the Palace Grounds Idol.
  
• Go inside the building and open the shortcut door on the left.
  
• Rest and then go back in the building to talk to the old lady.
  
• Go deeper into the building to grab the chest containing a Gourd Seed.
  
• Congratulations! That is all the Gourd Seeds!
  
• Leave the building and turn around to grapple onto the roof.
  
• Go to the opposite side of the roof and look to the left to find a branch to grapple
  
• Jump and grapple on to the branch then jump and grapple onto the roof below.
  
• Grapple to the next building then turn right and make your way down to grab the Feeding Grounds Idol.
  
• Talk with the fishman for dialogue then ring the bell.
  
• Feed the Precious Bait at least twice.
  
• Talk with the fishman again to receive 4 Treasure Carp Scale.
  
• Travel back to the Palace Grounds Idol
  
• Go into the building and through the shortcut door on the left.
  
• Turn right and cross the stream while looking left to find a grapple point.
  
• Jump off the ledge and grapple into the tunnel
  
• Go through the tunnel and across the roof to grab the Near Pot Noble Idol.
  
• Talk with Pot Noble Koremori and purchase both of his Lapis Lazuli. The Mask Fragment: Left can be purchased later.
  
• Talk with him again after buying both the Lapis Lazuli and then talk again to hear his secret and receive the Truly Precious Bait.
  
• Don’t do anything with it yet as you will have a choice to make with it.

Hirata Estate Revisited

• Travel to the Dilapidated Temple Idol.
  
• Talk with the Sculptor for dialogue and give him the Monkey Booze and Dragonspring Sake for more dialogue
  
• Rest at the Idol and go inside to see Emma sitting next to the Sculptor. If she is not in there, then make sure you've given him Unrefined Sake and Ashina Sake as well and rest again because this is your last good opportunity to get special dialogue.
  
• Sneak around back and Eavesdrop on them for dialogue.
  
• Talk with Emma for dialogue then rest at the Idol.
  
• Talk with Sculptor for dialogue.
  
• Travel upstairs to talk with Emma and receive Tomoe’s Note
  
• Talk to her again to give her the Ashina Sake and Dragonspring Sake for dialogue. Note that this is possibly the last time she will accept drinks from you as she sometimes becomes glitched and won’t have the option anymore.
  
• Talk again to exhaust any remaining dialogue she may have.
  
• Travel back downstairs and open the nearby window.
  
• Turn right to head to Isshin.
  
• Talk with Isshin for dialogue.
  
• Travel to Old Grave and go left to talk with Emma for dialogue then talk with her again.
  
• Travel to the Dilapidated Temple again and talk with Emma and the Sculptor for dialogue.
  
• Exit the building and go around the backside to the hole in the wall to Eavesdrop on Emma and the Sculptor.
  
• Go back inside and talk with Emma about what you overheard to receive Father’s Bell Charm.
  
• Use the Father’s Bell Charm on the Buddha
  
• Homeward Idol back to Dilapidated Temple and talk to Emma again for dialogue.
  
• Use the Buddha again to re-enter
  
• Walk forward into the burning area
  
• Kill Lone Shadow Masanaga the Spear-Bearer for a Prayer Bead
  The easy strat is to equip Puppeteer Ninjutsu, Loaded Axe, Flame Vent and Finger Whistle. Turn around after using the Buddha and Puppeteer the big guy with the club then help him kill the 2 shield guys. Run back up and just as you enter the building and the battle starts, turn around and run away to the other side of the bridge and stealth. Wait for him to lose aggro then run back up and backstab him. Hit him with the Flame Vent and Living Force and kill him like any other Lone Shadow. If he called his dogs and they are around, use the Finger Whistle to turn them hostile to everything to take some of the pressure off of you.
  
• This is your 36th Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade to Ninth Prayer Necklace.
  
• Go left through the hole in the wall then go right to grab the Hirata Estate – Main Idol
  
• Take the way forward to follow the path to where you fought Juzou the Drunkard before.
  
• Go into the building on the left side to grab Ashina Sake
  
• Eavesdrop on Juzou the Drunkard for dialogue
  
• Kill Juzou the Drunkard a second time for a Prayer Bead
  The easy strat is actually easy and simple this time. Equip Loaded Shuriken, Flame Vent and Gachiin’s Sugar. Clear out the building to the left and then use Gachiin’s Sugar. Use Shuriken on the Shinobi next to Juzou and then run away into the water to get Juzou to de-aggro but keep the Shinobi. Kill him as usual then use Gachiin’s Sugar again if needed. Sneak up behind Juzou and Deathblow him then immediately hit him with Flame Vent and Living Force for a quick burn. Run over and kill the other two enemies that haven’t seen you yet then finish Juzou off just like the you did the Glutton.
  
• Continue inside to grab the Hirata Audience Chamber Idol
  
• Continue forward and head downstairs to kill Owl (Father)
  The easy strat is to be equip the Flame Vent then stay aggressive. Attack until he deflects then Deflect his attack and keep on him. You are looking for 1 particular counterattack from him where he elbows you then slashes then throws out powder then slashes with the explosion. Deflect the elbow and the slash then start moving forward and to the right. As soon as he starts his slash, dodge forward and immediately hit him with the Flame Vent + Living Force to try to get a burn on him. It’s not uncommon for it to take 2 Flame Vents to do this but once he’s burned, he will quit recovering Posture and die quickly. After you get the first Deathblow, he will summon his Owl. The fight is the same except for the owl will block your screen a bit, when he disappears with the owl you need to run away until he reappears, and when he summons the owl to him, run as far away as possible to avoid the damage he will launch at you.
  
• Grab the Hirata Estate – Hidden Temple Idol for his Memory and the Aromatic Branch.
  
• Travel back to the Dilapidated Temple and talk with Emma and Sculptor for more dialogue.
  
• Sneak around the back and Eavesdrop on them for more dialogue.

Cleanup

It’s now time to cleanup a bunch of mini-bosses we skipped due to lacking unlimited Divine Confetti and good timing to fight them as well as finish off some dialogue options.

• Travel to Wedding Cave Door Idol
  
• Go down the steps and get into the building on the left via the door underneath it.
  
• Talk with the Village Head and give him the Water of the Palace to receive Dragonspring Sake.
  
• Rest and return to receive 5 Treasure Carp Scales
  
• Travel to Bottomless Hole Idol
  
• Turn around and jump down to kill the Shichimen Warrior for the Ceremonial Tanto
  The easy strat is to equip Shinobi Firecrackers, Divine Confetti and Mottled Purple Gourd. Jump into the arena and rush towards the boss to use Firecrackers before he starts chanting prevent it. After the Firecrackers, watch for him to jump in the air to get away then jump up close to him to Anti-Air Deathblow him. If he doesn’t jump then keep a little distance and wait for him to jump in the air. Note that you can only do this Deathblow if you have Divine Confetti applied to your weapon. After his first healthbar is gone, He will disappear and appear at one end of the cavern. Dodge his beam by running sideways then rush in. Keep a little distance away until he jumps into the air again then rush in to Anti-Air Deathblow him again. Alternatively, just beat him to death while using Divine Confetti and dodging his beam attack.
  
• Travel to the Poison Pool Idol
  
• Grapple across and go through the left tunnel again to get to the area where you fought the Headless Ape.
  
• Kill the Shichimen Warrior that is now there for the Malcontent’s Ring.
  
• The easy strat is the same as above.
  
• Travel to Palace Grounds Idol
  
• Go into the building, left through the shortcut door and jump down to the ledge just below.
  
• Look over the ledge and kill the Shichimen Warrior below for a Lapis Lazuli.
  
• The easy strat is the same as above however this time he starts off with the beam attack and he is MUCH less prone to jumping around so be prepared to beat him to death and watch for the dogs if you get too close to one of the edges.
  
• Travel to the Dilapidated Temple
  
• Purchase the Malcontent Prosthetic Tool Upgrade from the Sculptor for dialogue.
  
• Travel to Bell Demon’s Temple Idol
  
• Go down the stairs and to the right to use the shinobi door
  
• Go through the tunnel to reach the cave
  
• Kill the Headless for Ako’s Spiritfall
  The easy strat is to equip Malcontent, Phenix’s Lilac Umbrella, Ceremonial Tanto, Mottled Purple Gourd, Divine Confetti and Yashariku’s Sugar(the Spiritfall is not recommended if possible). Use the Tanto, a Healing Gourd, Purple Gourd, Confetti and Sugar then run up close to the enemy and use Malcontent to stagger him then beat him to death. After the deathblow, use Malcontent again and beat him to death again. Refresh Gourd and Confetti if needed but you shouldn’t even need to block or dodge. In the event that you use Malcontent 3 times, switch to the Umbrella and Deflect+Attack using the Umbrella to Deflect his attack and hit him with Projected Force which does very good damage. If he should disappear, don’t try to lock on, just press back on your movement to turn around and you will be facing him, even if you can’t see it, then you can lock on after you’re safe. This first one should just need 2 Malcontent uses though.
  
• Travel to Hidden Forest Idol
  
• Jump down to the bottom and go left.
  
• Kill the Headless for Gachiin’s Spiritfall
  The easy strat is the same as above though you may need extra use of Malcontent.
  
• Travel to Castle Tower Lookout Idol
  
• Turn around and go straight off the rooftop and jump into the water below
  
• Dive down and kill the underwater Headless for Ungo’s Spiritfall.
  The easy strat is to buy the Phantom Kunai (Upgrade Material) from Anayama the Peddler and upgrade to the Phantom Kunai at the Sculptor. Equip the Phantom Kunai and Ceremonial Tanto then go underwater and lock-on to the Headless. Just left of the Headless is a bamboo ramp that you can climb up, use it to just barely leave the water while still locked on. Use the Phantom Kunai until you’re out of Spirit Emblems then use Ceremonial Tanto and Healing Gourd. Repeat until you run out then finish him off. If this isn’t available, just Purple Gourd and Confetti up before jumping in and do hit and run tactics until he’s dead.
  
• Travel to Under-Shrine Valley Idol
  
• Turn around and grapple and climb across until you see the graves.
  
• Hop down and go right to the water and dive under
  
• Go through the tunnel to the other side and resurface
  
• Kill the Headless for Gokan’s Spiritfall
  The easy strat is the same as the one’s before it but this time you will almost certainly need to use the Phoenix’s Lilac Umbrella for the 2nd Phase.
  
• Travel to Upper Tower – Kuro’s Room
  
• Talk with Kuro for dialogue
  
• Go out the window and over to Isshin’s residence to give him the Ashina Sake and Dragonspring Sake for dialogue

Fountainhead Palace Part 2

• Travel to the Estate Path Idol
  
• Make your way to the water and to Pot Noble Harunaga
  
• Talk with him and after spending at least 6 Treasure Carp Scales total, he will give you his Truly Precious Bait.
  
• Travel to Feeding Grounds Idol
  
• Ring the Bell
  
• This is where you make your choice. Whichever Pot Noble you choose will live and the other will die. All the dead nobles merchandise will go to the living noble so you must travel to them to buy things. Both give the same rewards, it’s just a personal choice. The one benefit of Koremori over Harunaga is that he is next to an Idol and that is all.
  
• Feed your choice of Truly Precious Bait
  
• Rest and then talk with the fishman
  
• Travel to Guardian Ape’s Watering Hole
  
• Grab the Great White Whisker nearby
  
• Travel to Feeding Grounds Idol
  
• Talk with the fishman and give him the Great White Whisker
  
• Rest and talk with the old lady.
  
• Travel to where the chosen Pot Noble was originally to get a Lapis Lazuli and talk with the Pot Noble again. Koremori will have moved to the area just over the ledge.
  
• Travel to Sanctuary Idol
  
• Head up the stairs and pray at the altar
  
• Kill the Divine Dragon for his Memory and Divine Dragon’s Tears
  This is a gimmicky fight but the easy strat is to kill the enemies until they start appearing around you and look like they are chanting. Run in circles until a vine shows up then grapple onto it. Lock onto to one near the center of a large group and deathblow them to kill everything around it. Don’t worry about the dark ones as they are copies that don’t count towards the kill. Repeat until they are all dead to start Phase 2. In Phase 2, it’s time to play catch. Grapple from tree to tree to get to the lightning tree. When the lightning strikes you, press deflect to grab it, aim at the dragon and attack to fire it out. Run back in and do it again until dead.[/list]

Grand Finale

• Talk with Emma to receive the Secret Passage Key then talk to her again.
  
• Go through the window and up the rooftop to grab the Castle Tower Lookout Idol
  
• Go to the opposite side from the Idol, hop off and go left to go back inside and grab the Upper Tower Ashina Dojo Idol.
  
• Go back out the window and straight ahead and down to grapple into the window and grab the Upper Tower – Antechamber Idol.
  
• Travel back to Castle Tower Lookout Idol
  
• Turn left and head to Isshin’s residence and go downstairs very carefully to Eavesdrop on Ashina Elite – Ujinari Mizuo
  
• Kill Ashina Elite – Ujinari Mizuo for a Prayer Bead
  The easy strat is to equip Gachiin’s Spiritfall and Flame Vent. Get his attention then run away upstairs until he loses aggro. Come back and use Gachiin’s Spiritfall and stealth into the room to Deathblow him. Wait until he’s nearly back up then Flame Vent + Living Force him and beat him to death, using Flame Vent + Living Force every time he recovers.
  
• Go back upstairs and make your way down to grab the Old Grave Idol
  
• Turn back towards the alleyway and make a right towards the Great Serpent Shrine to Eavesdrop on the monk.
  
• Go across the bridge and down to grab the Great Serpent Shrine Idol.
  
• Travel back to Castle Tower Lookout Idol
  
• Go right, hop onto the roof then go left.
  
• Follow the smoke down to bottom then hop off the roof next to a door.
  
• Ignore the door for now and turn around to grab the nearby Ashina Castle Idol.
  
• Travel to the Dilapidated Temple Idol
  
• Talk to Fujioka the Info Broker for dialogue
  
• You can’t use the grapple point anymore and there is no Idols working for Ashina Outskirts.
  
• Travel back to Ashina Castle Idol
  
• Talk to the dying soldier to learn some info.
  
• Grapple to the roof above him and look off in the distance to see a kite.
  
• Make your way to the kite and grapple it to talk with a dying birdman for dialogue.
  
• Look to the left and down to see a tree with a light at it’s base then go to it to talk to Blackhat Badger and receive Mibu Pilgrimage Balloon.
  
• Make your way down and cross the bridge then go right to grab the Underbridge Valley Idol
  
• Go back up and enter the fort to kill Shigekichi of the Red Guard for a Prayer Bead
  The easy strat is to skip him for now and come back via the Outskirts Wall - Stairway Idol after backstabbing all the gunmen on the way. Equip the Loaded Spear and Flame Vent then, when entering from the Outskirts Wall – Stairway Idol door, you can backstab him. Immediately follow up with a double Loaded Spear twice! So Loaded Spear to stab, then pull with it, then do it again. This will rip off his armor. Afterwards, lead him out of the fort through the door you entered. He has allies in the fort but not outside it so you can lead him to an area better suited to you. Hit him with Flame Vent + Living Force and start hitting him while doing the same strats you’ve done on the Drunkard and the Glutton.
  
• Go through the fort and grapple up to the Outskirts Wall – Stairway Idol.
  
• Talk with Anayama the Peddler, assuming you sent Kotaro to him, to receive Promissory Note.
  
• Follow the path past the Idol until you reach a fiery area.
  
• Talk with the dying soldier for dialogue.
  
• Grab the Flames of Hatred Idol
  
• Kill the Demon of Hatred for his Memory and x2 Lapis Lazuli
  The easiest strat here is a glitch and I think that defeats the point so the easy legit strat is to equip Malcontent, Divine Confetti and possibly the Withered Red Gourd(I don’t see it as necessary but it can help). For Phase 1, walk to the nearest pool of water and apply Divine Confetti than rush in as fast as possible. He won’t attack right away so you can get some free hits in. When he leaves his stance, sprint in cirlcles counter-clockwise(to the right) and keep as close to him as possible. This dodges every attack he does except his Red-Signed Sweep attack, in which case jump immediately, and his fiery jumping attack, in which case run away then jump as he lands and grapple him for free hits. After he lands his attack on the ground, spank his butt until he recovers then circle again. If he did his Red-Signed Sweep, chase him. In fact anytime he runs, chase him as quickly as possible. At around 2/3 health and 1/3 health, he will stagger for easy free hits. Once you beat his Phase 1, it’s on to Phase 2.
  Phase 2 you should run a little distance away and apply the Red Gourd if you want as well as the Divine Confetti. Once he blows smoke, rush in. This Phase is just like Phase 1 except that after he does his Red-Signed Sweep, don’t chase him and instead run straight right or left, jumping at the last moment then grappling for some free hits. He will still stagger at around 2/3 and 1/3 health for more free damage.
  Phase 3 will have him add 3 new mechanics. Red Gourd and Divine Confetti and make sure to rush him ASAP. Right at the start, he will spin around, doing a Red-Signed Sweep for a large distance. You only need to jump 2 of them then start hitting him. Once he causes the explosion, use Malcontent to freeze him for free hits. Then use it again when you get an opportunity, and then a third time, all the while taking advantage of free hits and you can have him at ¼ health or lower in no time. His second new mechanic is that when he does his original Red-Sign Sweep, rush towards him then be ready to jump again and chase. His third new mechanic is that he will summon meteors. Just run forward+right and keep going until he drops his second foot on the ground and you will dodge all of them. Because of saving Malcontent for Phase 3, it is the easiest of the 3 Phases.
  
• Grab the Ashina Castle Gate Idol
  
• Go across from the Idol to the tower to talk with the old lady for dialogue.
  
• Travel to Ashina Castle Idol
  
• Go left and to the door then enter the door and hop down to grab the Ashina Reservoir Idol
  
• Eavesdrop Seven Ashina Spears – Shume Masaji Oniwa for dialogue.
  
• Kill Seven Ashina Spears – Shume Masaji Oniwa for a Prayer Bead.
  The easy strat is to equip Puppeteer’s Ninjutsu, Gachiin’s Sugar and Flame Vent. Use Gachiin’s Sugar and sneak around the right side and deathblow+Puppeteer the samurai general. Immediately Flame Vent+Living Force Oniwa and start beating him down. Back up when he finally recovers and as soon as he is distracted, Flame Vent+Living Force and start beating him down again. Eventually the general will probably die. When that happens and when you’ve run out of Spirit Emblems, just Mikiri Counter and Deflect him until he breaks his own posture, which should be very low by the time you don’t have Flame Vent.
  
• This is your 40th Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade to Tenth Prayer Necklace.
  
• Congratulations! That is all the Prayer Beads!
  
• Go left and grapple/climb across to grab the Near Secret Passage Idol.
  
• You can grind/purchase/collect things after beating the game provided you don’t go right through the playthrough, so no pressure right now.
  
• Go through the tunnel and kill the final boss for his Memory and Dragon Flash.
  The easy strat for the final boss is to stay aggressive and perform Deflects, Mikiri Counters and Lightning Reversals. Staying offensive keeps the enemy on the defensive and allows you to more easily counter their every move.
  
• Once you have beaten the boss talk to Kuro to finish the game. If you plan to do all 3 endings, this is where you’d backup the save.
  
  • Give him the Dragon’s Tears for Immortal Severance
    
  • Give him Dragon’s Tears + Frozen Tears for Return
    
  • Give him Dragon’s Tears + Everblossom for Purification
    
  • Once more, I personally recommend Immortal Severance > Shura > Return > Purification but it’s up to you.

How To Get Remaining Achievements

With this playthrough done, ignoring the 3 non-shura endings, you will need to:

• Complete the Shura Ending
  
• Upgrade All Prosthetic Tools
  
• Unlock All Skills

Once these 3 things have been done, all remaining achievements will be acquired.

Shura Ending

In order to get this ending you must make it to the choice on the rooftop after collecting the Mortal Blade, Lotus of the Palace and Shelter Stone and then choose to Obey the Iron Code.

If this Ending is done on your 2nd Playthrough while following this guide, it should unlock the 'Shura', 'Isshin Ashina' and 'Man Without Equal' Achievements

• Kill Emma the Gentle Blade and Isshin Ashina for his Memory and One Mind.
  
  There is no easy strat to this fight as it is another like Genichiro. Breaking Posture is how you’ll get kills while Vitality damage is how you’ll keep their posture from recovering. Keep on the offensive as much as possible, run far away if you need to heal, and learn the difference between their Red-Signed Poke, Sweep and Grab. The Poke should be Mikiri Countered, Sweep should be jumped on and the Grab needs to be dodged or ran away from.
  On Isshin’s final phase, his style changes drastically and there will be a lot of moves that inflict burn. A Loaded Umbrella can help a lot with his attack that makes pillars of fire by first dodging the pillars and using the Umbrella to Deflect all of his attacks with little effort. If you learn his patterns, you can take advantage of his rhythm for the win.

Upgrade All Prosthetic Tools

Most tools are self-explanatory and easily upgraded with money as you will have enough resources within 2 playthroughs to buy everything. The outliers are that you will need x4 Lapis Lazuli and likely will need some extra Fulminated Mercury.

• Lapis Lazuli is easy, just get to Fountainhead Palace, buy 2 Lapis, feed the Giant Carp the Truly Precious Bait to collect another and kill the Shichimen Warrior in Fountainhead for the 4th.
  
• The Fulminated Mercury can be farmed from Outskirts Wall – Stairway during the final invasion in the game. Just get the Bell Demon and use Mibu Possession Balloon to raise item drop and kill the gunmen with backstabs to get the mercury. This will also get you a good amount of experience.

Unlock All Skills

Simple, grind out the experience. It takes longer the more levels you get so don’t bother buying attack with skill levels as it’s not worth it.

The more you go through NG+, the more experience you get so save grinding for your last run. You will also get bonus experience for giving Kuro his charm at the beginning of any NG+. As long as you never turn the difficulty back down, this effect will last you all game but will also make all enemies harder. So it’s a question of will it save you time or will it make enemies waste more of your time and that’s a personal decision.

The best grind spot is at the Upper Tower - Antechamber Idol during the final invasion.

• Kill the Shinobi nearby then break all the walls.
  
• Rest then Deathblow
  
• Rest then Deathblow
  
• Repeat until you can buy all skills.

This is tedious so save this as the last thing you want to do as you’ll have plenty of opportunity to not do this.

[Althax]

Excellent guide. The walkthrough gives you decent tips and directions to help you figure out where you should be going and what goals you should have. This doesn’t take the challenge away at all but gave me tips and suggestions (some I followed and others I didn’t and used my own strategies) to help you on your way.

Just finished NG on my PlayStation, used the save scum to get the 3 long endings and now I’m going for shura and the 100%. That’s something I never would have thought was capable of without your guide. Great guide, thank you!

[DA1Q]

why is the dialouge where i eavsdrop on the divine child after eating the kakis 10 hours long ?

[jbulkin03]

I must say, Thank you. Can you do something similar for Elden Ring?

[URFIR3D]

I just wanted to say thank you for the excellent guide. This was my 4th try at this game, and my first time using the guide, it's a big part of the reason I finally completed the game. I love the combat in this game but I don't love feeling lost. I know that's part of the FromSoft games, but it's just not for me.

[Supreme Leader]

Good guide, but sometimes your directions to things are pure ass.

[BawlerLeKid]

Good guide, liked your approach on this ''intented'' thing. Lots of work, it shows.
Although some section were a little unclear and I found myself asking ''what tf is he talking about?'' Happened 3 or 4 times, but they were minor.

4/5

[󠀡󠀡EXIRE]

Great guide, currently on Sunken Valley pt 2

[Carl Sagan's Killer Bone Marrow]

Consume the RIce she gives you, rest and try again.

[generic hooman moat.gg]

What are you supposed to do if the divine child doesn't ask for a persimmon

[generic hooman moat.gg]

Another tip, try and not die at all before meeting the old lady with the bell or you're fucked for getting blood samples for the dragonrot