How to unlock new Stances

Ghost of Tsushima brings players into a massive open world filled with danger and if you want to survive the Mongol invasion, you’re going to need to unlock your true abilities as a Samurai. As you play through Jin Sakai’s story, you’ll have the opportunity to unlock various fighting Stances. When equipped, these Stances will grant you additional defensive or offensive abilities against certain enemies. In this guide, we’ll show you how to unlock new Stances, and talk a bit about each one.

There are four main Stances that players can unlock and equip in Ghost of Tsushima. When you first begin the game, you’ll have one of these Stances unlocked, the Stone Stance. The other three must be unlocked by observing or killing Mongol leaders that you encounter around the game world.

The Stone Stance is most effective against Swordsmen, allowing you to quickly attack and move out of reach.

The four main Stances that players can unlock include:

Stone Stance – Most effective when used against Swordsmen.
Water Stance – Most effective against Shieldmen.
Wind Stance – Most effective when used against Spearmen.
Moon Stance – Most effect against Brutes.

Once you have learned a new Stance, you can also unlock additional Techniques (or skills) for that Stance, similar to the regular Techniques that you unlock throughout normal leveling in Ghost of Tsushima. This allows you to become even more fearsome on the battlefield and opens you up to new offensive and defensive measures to use against your enemies.

Stances are a vital part of the combat strategy in Ghost of Tsushima. While it is possible to use the same one against all enemies, we highly recommend swapping between them based on which type of enemy unit you are fighting. Thankfully, this can be done on the fly by holding R2 and then pressing X, Square, Triangle, or Circle to change between the Stances. This can even be done in the middle of combat.

Now that you know how to unlock Stances, you can head back over to our Ghost of Tsushima guide for even more helpful content and information.