Your journey to end the tyranny of Saito’s Yotei Six and avenge Atsu’s family isn’t going to be an all-killer, no-filler adventure like a Tarantino flick. You’ll need every bit of experience you’ll cqn get, and in the case of Ghost of Yotei, every single one of your Techniques counts here.
Techniques are this game’s version of skills, and you can earn technique points by finding and praying at the various Altar of Reflections spread across the world.
And as someone who’s now achieved the Platinum Trophy for this game, I’ve compiled my expertise to give you my picks for the best Techniques to get, which will greatly benefit you in the grand scheme of your playthrough.
10
Persistent Echoes
The Hearing Band-Aid
Type | Revenge |
|---|---|
Technique Tree | Survival |
You’ll unlock the ability to listen and detect your surroundings during your hunt for the Kitsune, but once that happens, it’s a really good idea to find and invest a technique point into Persistent Echoes.
This technique makes it so that Atsu’s detection of nearby enemies and their outlines remains even after you’re done scanning the environment. This is especially useful when you’re opting for a stealth route to conquer enemy camps or fortresses, since you’ll need to keep tabs on every enemy in your vicinity.
9
Indomitable Counter
Survival of the Fittest
Type | Melee |
|---|---|
Technique Tree | Odachi |
With all the different weapons available in Ghost of Yotei, this one may be dependent on your preference, but I’m going to be real with you here—the Odachi was one of my least-used weapons, but at least it had a few notable, useful techniques that worked universally.
And of those techniques, I strongly recommend Indomitable Counter. This allows the Bulwark Stance of the Odachi to perfectly counter any incoming attacks, including the unavoidable red glint attacks, as long as you nail the timing down.
The window is slightly tricky, but you’ll know you’ve pulled it off if the incoming red glint attack turns blue, which then allows you to dish out a Focus attack in retaliation.
8
Strength of Lightning
Sting Like a Bee
Type | Melee |
|---|---|
Technique Tree | Katana |
Similar to the previous one, this is another weapon technique that enhances their capabilities and usage, but this time, we’re looking at one that benefits the Katana.
The Strength of Lightning Technique increases your stagger damage against opposing katana or Odachi-wielding enemies. And this is especially helpful when you’re in Duels, as your heavy attacks from the Katana will be more viable in chipping the posture bar and leaving the boss or major target vulnerable to staggers.
7
Safe Fall
Cushion that Landing
Type | Onryo |
|---|---|
Technique Tree | Survival |
This one may sound like an obvious pick, but that’s precisely why it’s in the bottom tier of this list. One of the earliest techniques that you have a chance to pick up is Safe Fall, which allows you to cushion your landing by pressing the circle button right before you land.
It’s a universally beneficial technique you need to grab immediately to make your exploration go faster and to help you avoid hindrances like this, where you can receive unnecessary fall damage.
6
Deflecting Strikes
No More Yari Backshots
Type | Melee |
|---|---|
Technique Tree | Dual Katana |
One of my biggest annoyances, both back in Tsushima and even now in Yotei, is the polearm-wielding enemies. Their attacks can be finicky to predict and parry, but that’s where the Deflecting Strikes technique comes into play.
Jin used to have a Spear Defense ability in his Wind Stance that allowed you to auto-parry incoming spear attacks. And, well, in a similar vein, this technique allows Atsu to automatically parry polearm attacks from enemies with her Dual Katana heavy attacks.
Considering that I honestly think they’re the best weapons to use in the game, this technique will make short work of these pesky targets, enough to easily stagger or outright kill them when they’re aggroed at you.
5
Chain Assassination
Quick and Easy
Type | Onryo |
|---|---|
Technique Tree | Assassination |
While I’m personally not a fan of these kinds of abilities—it’s a video game for crying out loud, you can’t hate on fun now. Chain Assassination allows you to chain together another assassination on a closeby target.
This is another obvious pick, but it can be overlooked if you prefer to rush into enemy camps or encounters. But trust me, you’ll need this, because some enemy strongholds have dozens of enemies, so it’s better to go through the hassle of individually taking them down via stealth.
And what better way to do that than with Chain Assassination? Oh, and you can also use this with your Smoke Bombs to get some easy kills in mob fights as long as enemies are near each other when you activate it.
4
Iai Lightning Strikes
All in the Timing
Type | Melee |
|---|---|
Technique Tree | Dual Katana |
I absolutely adore the combat improvements made in this game. To add a technical touch during fights, I love using the Iai Lightning Strikes technique whenever possible, which requires you to precisely input your heavy weapon strikes to unleash attacks that can interrupt enemies.
It can be confusing at first, but you mainly need to add a brief pause between your heavy attacks, and as soon as you see the blue glint from your katana, press heavy attack again and repeat.
I wouldn’t recommend this in large-scale fights where you have little to no breathing room, but for one-on-one fights, this can be a great technique to use with your Katana.
3
Lethal Talons
Get Over Here!
Type | Melee |
|---|---|
Technique Tree | Kusarigama |
Although I found the Kusarigama as one of the more situational weapons in that I only used it to break away the shields of enemies, the Lethal Talon ability is easily the highlight of its dedicated tree.
Lethal Talons allow you to perform assassinations from a distance at the cost of a single spirit orb. It honestly trivializes stealth to the point where you can easily clear camps out just by pulling enemies to yourself for the kill.
It may not work on brutes at first or leaders at first, but as long as you upgrade your assassination technique tree, you’ll be able to use Lethal Talons to take them out of the equation like trash mobs, too.
2
Takezo’s Dual Slash
Bite of a True Warrior
Type | Melee |
|---|---|
Technique Tree | Dual Katana |
You already know I mentioned earlier that the Dual Katana is my favorite weapon to use in this game. And with that being said, Takezo’s Dual Slash is easily the best technique for them and is just generally extremely powerful.
This technique can unleash a special move that interrupts any ongoing attack from the enemy and hits them with a deadly slash. The only caveat is that you’ll need to beat all of Takezo’s disciples in his sidequest and then his first bout, where he’ll end up teaching Atsu this technique before inviting her for the final showdown at Mount Yotei.
1
Onryo’s Strike
I’m Not Gonna Sugarcoat It
Type | Onryo |
|---|---|
Technique Tree | Attacks |
Quite possibly, one of my favorite techniques to use in the game, along with a couple of my friends’, is Onryo’s Strike. Whether it be crowd control fights or duels, you’d be surprised at how great it is, especially when you can get it pretty early on in your Onryo technique tree.
Onryo’s Strike allows you to launch a devastating strike that disarms the enemy, and has a chance to terrify nearby enemies in the process. The only downside that I honestly think this ability has is how it eats up three spirit orbs, so I strongly recommend going out of your way to upgrade the spirit gauge via the Bamboo Strike activities.
And if you manage to disarm an enemy that’s been a thorn in your side in a fight, you also get a freebie weapon to throw right back at them for an easy kill or stagger damage.
Ghost of Yotei
- Released
-
October 2, 2025
- ESRB
-
Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Language, Partial Nudity, Use of Alcohol
