Ghost of Tsushima: Tips and tricks for beginners

Whether you play as an honorable samurai or strike from the shadows as the Ghost, there are a few tips you'll want to know beforehand in Ghost of Tsushima. Certain attacks cut through enemies like butter, and some ranged weapons won't do too much damage unless you use the right ammo.

While the game has great combat, it's open world is fairly sparse. You can read more about the game in our review.

Longbow shots will kill enemies with helmets

Even with a fully upgraded half bow, your shots won't penetrate Mongol armor. Lookouts near camps and forts tend to wear armored helmets, so headshots are out of the question... unless you have the longbow, earned after completing the Mythic Tale, "The Curse of Uchitsune." Using the longbow almost always gets an instant kill if you're aiming for the head. This is especially useful if you want to play as the Ghost and complete objectives without being detected.

Longbows can be upgraded at bowers with a mix of supplies, bamboo, and yer wood to increase their damage, draw speed, zoom, stability, reload speed, and range. In addition to heavy arrows, you can also unlock explosive arrows with the longbow.

Use specific stances against different enemies

There are four stances in Ghost of Tsushima that are more effective against particular enemies: Stone, effective against Swordsmen; Water, effective against Shieldsmen; Wind, effective against Spearsmen; and Moon, effective against Brutes. By using the correct stance against a corresponding enemy, heavy attacks will deal additional stagger damage, making Mongols more prone to your strikes.

Each of these stances can be upgraded with four attacks to deal even more damage, parry incoming attacks, and attack more quickly.

Observe and kill Mongol leaders to unlock stances

To unlock the above stances, you need to either observe or kill Mongol leaders. These are the guys in heavy full-body armor. What I didn't realize at first was that you could double up on observing and killing the same leader. If you need to observe and kill six leaders to unlock your next stance, for example, you can observe and kill the same leader to get you two steps closer to the next stance instead of just one.

To observe a leader, you'll need to get close to them without being spotted, and then hold down the right trigger. Until you unlock the Ghost Stance later in the game, you cannot assassinate Mongol leaders from behind in one strike.

Any color flower can unlock dyes

You'll find a variety of flower colors throughout each of the three regions, but these mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. What matters when you're collecting flowers is how many you have. The dyes you can unlock don't have anything to do with which colors you have picked. As long as you have the appropriate amount, you can purchase dyes from merchants.

Use Dance of Wrath during boss battles

Dance of Wrath is a technique learned through the Mythic Tale, "The Spirit of Yarikawa's Vengeance." Initiating this move will cost three Resolve, but it unleashed three consecutive unblockable attacks that deal high damage. This is incredibly useful during boss battles as it will reduce their stagger meters quickly with no effort on your part. If you've have enough Resolve, you can use Dance of Wrath up to three times in a row.

Any extra tips?

Do you have anything yo'd like us to add? Anything you've foudn while playing? Sound off in the comments below.