Ghost of Yotei: Best build to beat Takezo the Unrivalled

The first thing you should know about Takezo the Unrivalled in Ghost of Yotei, is that this is the game’s toughest, steepest challenge. Takezo is based upon the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, and does the warrior justice with the game’s hardest boss. The fight is entirely optional and requires you to fight ronin at the Duelling Trees across the land first, but once you’ve fought through them, you’ll be able to challenge Takezo at the Coastal Duelling Tree.

In this guide we’re breaking down our best strategy, charms, and armor for taking down Takezo the Unrivalled in Ghost of Yotei.

Best Armor for Takezo the Unrivalled

For this build, we recommend the Armor of the Undying. This armor regenerates health when enemies stagger, increases the window for Parries and Perfect Parries, and Focus Attacks increase stagger damage — all if weapon aligned. Parrying Takezo is the most efficient way to take him down, and this armor drastically lowers the skill barrier in order to make your parries more consistent.

If you’re looking to take Takezo down faster, though, you can opt for the Bounty Master Armor. This armor disables regular parries, but vastly increases the windows for Perfect Parries and dodges. This armor can feel a bit riskier, as you’ll be unable to easily parry Takezo’s rapid strikes, but Perfect Parries will allow you to make much more headway into cutting down his health bar. The glass cannon option.

Best Charms for Takezo the Unrivalled

These six charms are our best recommendation for fighting Takezo the Unrivalled, along with the Armor of the Undying. These charms focus on making you survive for longer while using Parries and Perfect Parries to fend off Takezo’s attacks.

Charm of Mount Yotei

This charm reduces all damage you take while recovering health whenever you Perfect Parry.

Takezo’s Charm of Bold Deflection

Parrying inflicts a major amount of additional stagger damage.

Charm of Inner Fire

Blizzard damage is reduced by half, drastically increasing your survivability in the later stages of this fight.

Charm of Maskado

Onryo’s Will revives you at full health — very effective if Onryo’s Will only costs two spirit.

Father’s Charm

Perfect Parries recover health.

Charm of Futsunushi

Parries, Perfect Parries, and Perfect Dodges are easier to perform.

Best strategy for Takezo the Unrivalled, Duel Atop the Mountain

Takezo the Unrivalled is the toughest enemy in all of Ghost of Yotei, which means if you’re struggling against him, it’s strongly recommended that you play the rest of the game first to unlock all Hot Springs, Bamboo Strikes, and Altars of Reflection in order to increase your stats accordingly. You should even complete the Mountain Reliquary puzzles to fully upgrade the Charm of Mount Yotei.

Since he wields Dual Blades, you should primarily use the Yari spear to fight him. This synergizes with the Armor of the Undying.

This might take you a few tries, and we recommend using the first “round” to get used to Takezo’s movements and attack patterns. Early on in the fight, before the blizzard sets in, Takezo is very vulnerable to taking shots from the pistol, which usually leaves him open for a few strikes. You can use up your bullets in this fashion early on, since he’ll deflect every shot easily once the blizzard has arrived and the difficulty increases.

While bullets don’t work in the second half of the fight, special attacks and skills that require spirit to use basically always counter Takezo’s combos and stop him in his tracks, no matter which point of the fight you’re at. The Yari’s Thundering Wave skill is great for this, and gives you the perfect chance to catch your breath in the middle of a fight, or inflict the last bit of damage you need.

Takezo’s trickiest move is his disarming strike, which he uses at the end of a combo where it’s impossible to effectively counter. You should always attempt to dodge this strike, as a Parry or Perfect Parry will always fail. Again, use the early round before the blizzard arrives to learn his attack patterns and movement, as they won’t change too much as the fight progresses, they’ll just become far more aggressive.

With some practice, you will be able to take down Takezo the Unrivalled, Duel Atop the Mountain, Ghost of Yotei’s toughest challenge.