Sekiro Shadows Die Twice Intended Walkthrough

This is a Walkthrough that will lead to 100% Success Completion while getting every possible dialogue and key item. The reason it’s “intended” is that it will guide you through the game in the most natural way possible. Check out our Sekiro Shadows Die Twice Intended Walkthrough guide without delay!

Sekiro Shadows Die Twice Intended Walkthrough

Welcome to our Sekiro Shadows Die Twice Intended Walkthrough guide. 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.

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.
  If the Sculptor has Dragonrot, then the dialogue will be different. Talk to Emma, 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.

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. Memories can be used at the Idol to increase your attack power.
  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 before grabbing 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 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 Prayer Bead 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.
• This is your 16th Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade to Fourth Prayer Necklace.
• 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.
• 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.
• This is your 20th Prayer Bead. Time to upgrade to the Fifth Prayer Necklace.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Travel to the Inner Sanctum Idol and talk with the Divine Child to receive more Rice