For better or worse, fighting is a huge part of Ghost of Tsushima, bringing together stylistic swordplay with thoughtful strategy. Too many of us tend to pour resources into improving armor and buying new skills instead of mastering the game's four different combat stances, but it's only by switching stance properly that our favorite ghostly samurai can become a real terror. They each counter a different foe, of course, but a seasoned player will learn that properly wielding all stances with finesse can make any battle faster and way more enjoyable.
This guide explains all combat stances in Ghost of Tsushima, how to unlock them, and the best ways to master each one.
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How Combat Stances Work in Ghost of Tsushima
In terms of fighting, stances are variations of your sword-fighting that specialise in dealing more damage to individual enemy class. You are awarded newstances by defeating mongol leaders as you advance your way through the game which add new methods and variations of attacking to your arsenal. Different stances alter how you use your attacks in combat, some stances you learn may have special abilities that will let you target the specific weaknesses of the enemy classes. While there is a combat stance available which can attack all types of opponents, use the appropriate stance can increase your ability to cause staggering of all kinds of enemies dramatically, which will help you to increase your odds of success in all kinds of battle a lot.
You will find that the real trick to mastery is being capable of quickly changing between stances depending on the target that is directly in front of you.
Stone Stance: Best Against Swordsmen
The earliest combat stance you can unlock in Ghost of Tsushima is the Stone Stance. As swordsman enemies will be the most frequently encountered foe in Ghost of Tsushima, it will be beneficial for you to make use of the Stone Stance from start to finish. Its attacks will deal significantly increased guard damage to your swordsman foes and open them up for a slew of damaging attacks.
How to Use Stone Stance Effectively
Some assume that because Stone Stance is automatically given when players first begin their adventure, they don’t take it very seriously. This stance may be easily accessible, but the various upgraded techniques it offers makes it a beast during offense. Jin will especially benefit against rival swordsmen.
Take them out with a few heavy attacks and once their guard is down; follow that up with some powerful light attack combos that will leave them dumbfounded, whether they’re clad in the heaviest of armor or not.
Stone Stance can be useful in all cases, and more particularly against opponents who will mostly have their weapon as much of an advantage over your hero as theirs, during a duel, for example .
Water Stance: Best Against Shield Enemies
When you defeat enough of them you unlock the water stance - it's basically a counterstance and it is absolutely fantastic for when dealing with shield enemies. Having foes brandish shields early can be incredibly irritating, since you really struggle to land any shots while facing them and this tactic helps to overcome it since water sttance is characterized by an incredibly heavy hitting sword.
How to Use Water Stance Effectively
The most prominent special move found in the Water Stance is the flurry of attacks you unleash when holding down the heavy attack button. These strikes make short work of any shields and can leave the opponent completely susceptible once their guard has been broken. When faced with multiple shielding enemies in the same arena, go to the Water Stance as soon as possible to try and eliminate them and get some openings as fast as you can. Water Stance even functions great against groups of enemies thanks to its very aggressive chained attacks.
Wind Stance: Best Against Spearmen
Spearmen are almost guaranteed to kill you further in the game purely because of the reach and the ability to completely cancel pretty much anything that you do. To counter that, there is Wind Stance, an ability tailored for that sole purpose. Each of their attacks is structured around leaving enemies who use longer reaching attacks off-balance so they're easy to get close to and maintain damage.
How to Use Wind Stance Effectively
It would be silly for the developers to have a mechanic that can dismount them if there wasn't at least one reason to do so, and there are a number of reasons to knock spearmen around on their butts and have them stagger as they pick their spears up. Instead of walking in their face when they are attacking, just stand around out of the radius for a few seconds and using the Wind Stance to disrupt their balance. You could also use the wind stomp to send them flying, if the improved Typhoon Kick has been unlocked, and give yourself more of a space during team fights. If there are a couple more spearmen than usual among the bad guys you face, wind stance might even start looking like your safest choice of stance to even play around in.
Moon Stance: Best Against Brutes
One of the hardest enemies you’ll face are brutes in Ghost of Tsushima. The brutal brutes wear down your health and defense with their huge weapon and high-health pool, all while laying down a lot of damage to you. Moon Stance was created exactly for the purpose of taking down these heavily armored brutes.
How to Use Moon Stance Effectively
The Moon Stance specializes in aggressive spinning and hefty stagger. Using its heavy attacks consecutively breaks brute posture at an alarmingly fast rate, which allows Jin to dispatch tank-type enemies without much in the way of a prolonged war. You need Moon Stance against axe or hammer-style brutes as a general rule, and you must be careful not to attack indiscriminately as a well-timed hit can send Jin reeling backward to eat a powerful counter. The enhanced spin attacks are devastating once multiple brutes have become the norm in the late game.
The Secret to Mastering Combat: Stance Switching
A lot of new players will use the different stances as if they were entirely different fighting games, and will stick with a single stance the whole match. It’s best not to. Ghost of Tsushima’s best fighters will switch stances as they go through a fight targeting different enemy types.
Most fights will feature sword wielders, shielded guys, spearmen, and brutes fighting at the same time.
Staying in one stance throughout will just have you struggling against some of your enemies a bit harder. Pick a guy to target and quickly switch to the optimal stance and you’ll quickly find your stagger damage so high it will be like cheating, and will just end fights that much faster. Once you start switching stances, the fights become more fluid, faster and way more interesting.
Best Techniques to Unlock Early
While all stance upgrades are valuable, players should prioritize techniques that improve stagger damage and unlock advanced heavy attacks.
These upgrades dramatically increase the effectiveness of every stance and make encounters significantly easier.
Because combat remains central throughout the entire game, investing Technique Points into stance improvements often provides better value than many situational abilities.
Conclusion
The four combat stances, and how to use them efficiently, are arguably the single most important component of Ghost of Tsushima gameplay. As we’ve detailed in previous guides, each of them is perfectly countered against specific types of foes – Stone Stance for sword wielders, Water Stance for shield wearers, Wind Stance for spear users, and Moon Stance for heavily-armed brutes. You’ll really find your footing and appreciate how good the combat system feels when you start getting into the rhythm of switching stances quickly after the first enemy you encounter. LootBar offers discounted Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR’S CUT key and for over 200 supported games/apps with fast delivery and safe transactions.
