Ghost of Yōtei builds guide – creative ways to slay the Six

A yellow kimono. A damaged lacquered hat. The Ghost mask with its kintsugi effect.

More than a simple garment, Atsu’s outfit from Ghost of Yōtei’s trailers and artwork has quickly become iconic. And while this is the outfit you’ll begin your journey with, you’ll quickly be searching for upgraded armour and speciality gear if you plan on surviving Ezo.

Understanding the challenges that lay ahead of you, developer SuckerPunch has introduced a builds system to Ghost of Yōtei, allowing players to combine the special features of armour and outfits with the boons offered by the charms found throughout the world. At the start, you can have three builds, and eventually you will be able to save up to five at any one time.

To help you in your hunt for the Yōtei Six, we’ve put together a selection of unique builds to try out during your time at the edge of Japan. Note that while this guide names amour sets and charms, it avoids spoilers and specific details. However, we recommend spending a few hours exploring Ezo yourself, before delving further into this article.

The Warrior – Combat and Melee

Built around stagger damage and useful for facing multiple foes at once, this build will boost your health, increase your ability to push enemies back and put you in strong stead during combat scenarios.

To make the most of this build, focus on parrying incoming attacks and using your heavy attack to stagger enemies quickly, but make sure you select the correct weapon for your opponent, as this armour’s abilities are only triggered when you are weapon-aligned.

• Armour: Armour of the Undying
  • Found: The Undying Samurai questline
  • Benefits:
    • Staggers restore health if weapon aligned
    • Window to perform perfect parry and dodge increased if weapon aligned
    • Focus attacks increase stagger damage if weapon aligned
• Charms:
  • Charm of Thoughtful Restoration
    • Gain increase to maximum health
  • Father’s Charm
    • Perfect parries regain a moderate amount of Health
  • Takezo’s Charm of Bold Deflection
    • Parrying inflicts additional stagger damage
  • Charm of Shattering Strike
    • Shields destroyed with the Kusarigama unleash an explosion of shrapnel, inflicting stagger damage to nearby enemies
  • Charm of Thunderous Assault
    • Staggering an enemy with the odachi has a chance to knock down that enemy
  • Charm of Cannon Steps
    • The Yari’s Typhoon kick has a chance to instantly stagger an enemy

The Ghost – Stealth and Assassination

Perfect for infiltration missions or when you’re outnumbered but not yet discovered, this build will slow down enemy detection speed and allow you to silently take down multiple opponents at once.

For this build, keep out of sight, sneak up on enemies and trigger the chain assasination ability, allowing you to take several of them down quickly. If you are detected, sake jars and smoke bombs allow you to return to the shadows.

• Armour: Crimson Kimono
  • Found: Crimson Kimono questline
  • Perks:
    • Chain assassinations can be performed with kunai
    • Enemy detection is reduced
    • Kusarigama assassinations can be unleashed from further away
• Charms:
  • Charm of Lingering Shadows
    • Reduces enemy detection speed
  • Charm of the Wary Opponent
    • Press L2 to focus on an enemy that has begun to detect you
  • Charm of the Blind Drunk
    • Throwing a sake jar at an enemy will briefly blind them
  • Charm of Masaka
    • Using a smoke bomb regains health
  • Charm of the Fearful End
    • All types of assassinations have a chance to terrify nearby enemies
  • Charm of Assassin’s Resolve
    • All types of assassinations grant an additional amount of Spirit

The Dragonfly – Ranged

Want to take enemies on from a distance? This build focuses on the use of Atu’s dual bows, allowing you to put down enemies from farther with precision and speed.

This build works best if you hit enemies with either bow, making use of the time-slowing Concentration feature, which is extended by the attributes of the chosen charms. You can then quickly close the gap for a chance to refill your quiver, before retreating to a safe distance to continue your volley.

• Armour: Dragonfly Armour
  • Found: Daijiro questline 
  • Perks:
    • Fully drawing your bow creates a brief timed glint. Firing your arrow during this glint empowers your shot, increasing its damage and range
    • Firing an empowered arrow grants an amount of concentration 
    • Increase arrow reload speed
• Charms:
  • Mother’s Charm
    • The wind quickens your arrows, increasing their damage
  • Charm of True Aim
    • The Yumi locks onto enemies and fires two arrows
  • Charm of Kibitsuhiko
    • Land headshots while using Concentration to extend its duration
  • Charm of Iron Focus
    • Increases total concentration time
  • Charm of Archer’s Fortune
    • An increased chance to recover arrows that kill or miss their target

The Dueller – Risk and Reward

A risky choice, this build is all about precision and allows you to plow through opponents, provided you have your timing right. It is especially useful during 1-on-1 duels.

Perfect parries are key here; performing one allows you to land multiple damaging blows on your opponent while retaining and regaining health through the choice of charms. But be warned – regular parries are disabled, opening you up to devastating damage if you miss your window, which is why this build leans heavily on health-related perks.

• Armour: Bounty Master Armour
  • Found: Soma the Condemned bounty
  • Perks:
    • Perfect parry windows are increased, but regular parries are disabled
    • A perfect parry enables additional counter attacks
    • All Spirit gains are increased
• Charms:
  • Father’s Charm
    • Perfect parries regain health
  • Takezo’s Charm of Bold Deflection
    • Parrying inflicts additional stagger damage
  • Charm of Thoughtful Restoration
    • Gain an increase to maximum health
  • Charm of Healing
    • While at half health or less, potency of the Heal technique increases
  • Charm of Masakado
    • Onryō’s Will revives you at full health

The Firefly – Quickfire Chaos

Focused on the use of flaming kunai, with this chaotic build you can overwhelm groups of enemies while your armour and charms buff damage and burn time, igniting enemies and melting shields.

This build’s attributes can refill your Kunai through assassinations and looting to keep your fiery attack going.

• Armour: Nine Tail Armour
  • Found: Kitsune questline 
  • Perks:
    • Quickfire weapon damage and duration of status effects are increased
    • Assassinations has a chance of dropping quickfire ammo
    • Enemy detection speed and assassination noise is reduced
• Charms:
  • Charm of Burning Blades
    • Kunai now inflict fire damage and ignite flammable objects
  • Charm of the Hidden Blades
    • Throw additional kunai
  • Charm of Homusubi
    • Inflict increased fire damage to enemies
  • Charm of Lingering Affliction
    • All harmful status effects on enemies last longer and deal additional damage
  • Charm of Uncanny Aim
    • Quickfire weapon damage increased
  • Charm of Generous Opponents
    • Chance to recover quickfire weapons when looting the dead

Additional tip: All armour sets and many charms can be upgraded several levels, increasing their special effects. To fully benefit from these builds, focus on reaching the top level with your chosen armour and charms.

These builds will help you on your hunt for the Yōtei Six, but they are not the only options. Combining one of the many other discoverable armour pieces with your chosen combination of charms allows you to craft a build that perfectly suits your own playstyle.

Play around and discover what works for you. You’re going to need all the help you can get as you face The Snake, The Oni, The Kitsune, The Spider, The Dragon, and Lord Saito.

Ghost of Yōtei is out now on PS5.