Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Contributor: Burntoutpixie

Sekiro is an action-adventure game from the critically acclaimed publisher of Demon’s Souls and the Dark Souls trilogy. Sekiro, unlike Dark Souls, is not an action RPG. Sekiro is considered harder than Dark Souls because of the single build, and the lack of summons. The guides provided on this website are created to make the game as enjoyable, and easy, as possible. This guide will provide you with some vital information for new players that makes the game as enjoyable as possible.

Sekiro - Basics

While Sekiro is not a “souls” game, it takes a lot of inspiration from souls games. The story of Sekiro is told primarily through NPC interaction as well as item descriptions. While the story is easier to piece together than the Souls games, it’s still harder to piece together than traditional games.

Prepare to Die

First time Sekiro players should be expected to die over a hundred times (or much more) over the course of the game. The environments and areas are challenging, with enemies getting progressively harder throughout the game, but the bosses and the minibosses provide the most challenge for new players. Do not go into this game expecting a difficulty mode, detailed in-game tutorials, or anything of the sort. The more you master the combat mechanics, the easier the game will become.

Death

Whether you are a souls veteran playing Sekiro for the first time, or completely new to the From Software games, death can be slightly confusing in Sekiro. Death, resurrection, and unseen aid are three game mechanics that work hand in hand. The first time you die in Sekiro after the tutorial, you will hear Kuro’s voice, and the game pops up a small tutorial with information on resurrection. Wolf has a set number of resurrection nodes. If you die, you can resurrect once, but if you die again without completing a deathblow, you will be unable to resurrect again. When Wolf dies, you will lose half your money and half your xp.

Every time you die, meaning your health goes to zero and you chose to not use a resurrection or you cannot use a resurrection and Wolf gets transported back to the last rested at Idol, the game will roll for Unseen Aid. Unseen Aid is a percentage chance that you will not lose half your money and half your xp. The more you die, the lower the unseen aid percentage will be, but there is a way to reset your unseen aid back to normal.

Leveling Wolf

There are three mechanics used to level wolf: Prayer Beads, Memories, and Skills.

Prayers Beads are pickups found around the world or found by killing minibosses. Four prayer beads creates a prayer bead necklace and each prayer bead necklace increases Wolf’s vitality and posture bars. There are a total of 40 prayer beads, or 10 prayer bead necklaces, to find in a single save file. If you go to NG+ you will get coin purse drops instead of prayer beads from minibosses and chests.

Memories can only be obtained after killing a boss. When you kill a main game boss in Sekiro, you will get a memory that includes a brief lore tidbit about the boss. Using the memory at an Idol will increase your attack power. Attack power is capped at 99 in a single save file.

Skills are used to give Wolf unique abilities. Like the other leveling options, skills are finite in a save file. There are five total skill trees, some of which are given to you, some have to be found. Skills are acquired by killing enemies and gathering XP. When the XP bar is maxed out, a skill point will be added. XP can be halved if you die, but you will always keep the skill points you acquire. Skill points also become increasingly harder to acquire, with the cap being raised a little each time you get a skill point.

Shinobi Prosthetic

The Shinobi prosthetic is an item you get very early on in Sekiro. Throughout the world, you will find items to add to the prosthetic tool. To upgrade the prosthetic tools you will need to have both money and upgrade materials. Most upgrade materials can be farmed from enemies at various stages of the game. There are a few single used upgrade materials that can be found by killing various bosses and minibosses.

Money/Sen

Sen is a resource used to buy consumables from merchants as well as upgrade the Shinobi Prosthetic. Money is the closest there is to souls in the Dark Souls games. Every enemy drops money upon death, and there are coin purses that contain a small or large amount of money. Merchants also sell coin purses for you to buy. In a first playthrough, it is highly recommended to buy these coin purses. This ensures your hard-earned cash does not disappear upon death.

Helpful Tips and Tricks

There is a Prosthetic Tool for each situation

Prosthetic Tools, and their respective upgrades, can be used to trivilize some bosses, deal with large mobs, and even turn monkey against monkey. Play around with the prosthetics tools throughout the game, and you’ll be surprised at how useful they are.

Use your consumables

Look, we get it. You want to make sure you have enough of that one consumable (looking at you Divine Confetti) for when you need it. Sekiro is extremely generous with most drop rates, and there are skills to help increase drop rates. While it feels like you’re strapped for cash early game, by late game you’ll have enough money to literally throw it at enemies. Like the prosthetic tools, consumables are meant to be used throughout the game, and can give you an edge in dire situations.

Use Hanbei to Practice

Hanebi the Undying, found in Dilapidated Temple, is useful for a first playthrough. You can practice attacking, blocking, parrying, and even practice combat arts. Hanbei is slower than standard enemies, has larger tells, and dies in a few hits, but he is useful to get familiarized with the combat of the game.

This is not Dark Souls

One of the most common things you’ll hear in regards to Sekiro is that it’s not Dark Souls. What most people mean by this is that Sekiro is designed and separately completely different than the Dark Souls trilogy. Some of the most notable differences that impact gameplay:

• There is no stamina bar! Feel free to sprint to your hearts content

• You don’t take chip damage from blocking attacks

• You are meant to trade blows with enemies

• Dodging is not the answer for all attacks, but is sometimes necessary

• Aggression is rewarded more than hesitation. If you pause too long, an enemy or boss can recover posture and be reset to zero faster than you would think