Tips for Ghost of Tsushima’s Lethal Mode
Preparing for a new kind of challenge
I have a suggestion for Sucker Punch: change this game’s title to Ghost of Sekiro: Time to Die Twice. I’m currently playing through the “Lethal Mode”, where the difficulty spiked to a whole new level. I personally thought that the game was quite easy even on its hard difficulty setting, especially in the later sections of the game. Various players and critics also have the same comments regarding this, stating that the game wasn’t created for difficulty. But I guess Sucker Punch was listening and gave us Lethal Mode to shatter our expectations.
In Lethal Mode, fights become more exhilarating and every victory gained becomes a tale of legend. I am already feeling it in my bones — after I finish this game in this difficulty setting — I will be the True Ghost of Tsushima. But before that, let’s talk about this mode and what it has to offer. I am also going to include learnings from my own play through to set you up well for the challenge ahead.
Before I get started; I’ll be talking about effective builds, and this will spoil some armor you may unlock later in the game. So, consider this your warning.
What is Lethal Mode?
In Lethal Mode, all hits matter. Most of the time you are two to three hits from death, and depending on your equipment and who you are fighting, you can die from a single strike. Technically speaking, the damage done to you is twice that of the medium difficulty setting. But to balance this, your katana does more damage when compared to other game modes. A lot more damage. So if the flow of battle is on your side, you will be downing enemies left and right, but the moment you lose concentration, oh boy, get ready to die. The time for parrying is also considerably stricter this time around, and since there are multiple variants of enemy types in the game, each with their own move set, parrying just became ten times harder. I realized this the hard way after finding my parrying technique on spearmen largely ineffective initially — it was an art that I thought I had mastered in Hard Mode. Additionally, the awareness of enemies is also considerably heightened so using a stealthier approach requires more precision and care than ever before.
Another thing to keep a note of is that enemies are much more aggressive and will punish you for mashing the square button. So straight off, control is an important thing to master before heading into this mode. If you haven’t been discouraged by these additions, let’s head into some of the things you can do to mitigate your deaths and place you on a bit of advantage early on the game.
Resolve and Charms is Key
The game is reliant on a singular valuable resource: Resolve. Compared to other resources such as Ghost Tools and your maximum health points, Resolve is as precious as gold in this game mode. So gathering as much of it as you can is essential. The best way to do this is to invest in the “Wind of Resolve” technique. Also keep in mind, that the first island has the most bamboo strikes, making this a main priority for you early on.
Resolve can be used for deadly techniques later into the game that can definitely put the odds into your favor. Aside from that, you can use it for healing, but I don’t suggest you do that. Instead, I suggest you to be proactive with your resolve points and use them for your techniques. Battles in Lethal Mode are all about finishing fast: the longer you stay in the fight, the more chances the enemy will have to hit you. So be proactive and make sure that you aren’t cornered.
Finding shrines and maximizing your charms are also equally important. You can easily maximize your charm capacity early on the game and by doing so, you can get to your desired builds much faster. So investing in the “Wind of Inari” and the “Wind of Charms” techniques can yield to maximum profits even in the early sections of the game.
Deflection vs Evasion
Going through the game a second time, I tried targeting the evasion tree first. I realized that evading is still lenient in Lethal Mode and pressing circle would usually get me out from an attack quite easily. Also, that awesome dodge roll made it easier for me to escape enemies when they were surrounding me. But I would not discount the deflection tree because of its coveted and glorious “Deflect Arrows” technique. Arrows are the worst in Lethal Mode and will effortlessly take you out in the later sections of the game. So try to unlock that technique as fast as you can.
Ultimately, if you can handle the strict parry times of Lethal Mode, then by all means, go for it. It will make you feel unstoppable in combat. If not, invest the rest of your points into the evasion tree early on as it is easier than parrying enemy attacks.
Builds
The game is already supported by excellent RPG design that helps you approach the game in any way you want, may it be Samurai, Ghost, or a mix of both. There are some builds that I recommend for you to try out for Lethal Mode, but don’t let it stop your creativity to create the perfect build you want.
The Undying
This is a fairly cheap build that you can get very early on the game. I rolled with this build until the second island because it gives me the Resolve points and the sustain I need while fighting, and considering that I can wear this armor set even while doing Ghost stuff, there are not many drawbacks to it, because if I do get spotted, I can still fight off enemies quite easily. Also, it goes very well if you complete the deflection tree first since you increase your resolve gains during combat.
The Mountain
This makes you unstoppable in combat. Staggering your opponents is an important aspect of the game, and this build can easily stagger opponents in two to three hits. It can open them up for your fast hitting attacks and there is also a decent chance that it will knock them down. During that state, you can easily execute them, and by doing so, you heal 10%. Additionally, by simply staggering your enemies you net yourself some sweet Resolve points, making this build versatile in any combat situations.
The Ghost
This is my end-build during my hard playthrough, and I can’t wait until I can fully upgrade my Ghost armor and use this build. This build makes your enemies cower in fear when they see you cut down their friends. It makes you a force of nature. However, it does not reward you for being hasty. Unlike the other builds I have shared, there is little to no sustain with this build, and you are relying on building your Resolve points through assassinations before getting into the real fight. This build is not good in duels either since you’re pretty squishy. But you can get to your Ghost Stance faster and get one-hit kills with it easily.
Air Juggle Cheese
If you just want to cheese through the game (I don’t blame you), you can simply do the air juggle cheese, in where you kick the opponent and then use your bow and concentration and keep them in the air, until they die. It is quite a difficult combo to master, but the right charms will make it much easier to achieve.
It’s not as effective as it was in Hard Mode since enemies in Lethal Mode will definitely try to attack you the moment you draw your bow, but it’s a good finisher for fights when there are four or fewer enemies left. Doing this makes the game feel more like Tekken and its quite funny when you do it. But I’m sure your ancestors will not like you cheesing through the entire game.
I personally don’t like this mechanic — in fact, I had hoped Sucker Punch would remove it. But I guess we’re stuck with it. You can find multiple YouTube videos on the subject if you’re interested to give it a try yourself.
Conclusion
In my honest opinion, Lethal Mode is the best way to play Ghost of Tsushima, because it rewards the game’s crisp and responsive combat system. It forces you to adapt and use every tool in your arsenal and it punishes you for underestimating your opponents. It is a good gameplay design and balanced at most parts, but I primarily think that it is because of how polished the game already was on its first launch. Lethal Mode is a strong compliment to an already excellent game, and this mode truly makes me feel like I’m the Ghost of Tsushima.
As of the moment, there is no trophy for finishing the game in Lethal Mode, so players who go in this daunting journey are only rewarded with an epic experience in an already epic game. But fingers-crossed for an achievement dedicated to finishing this mode in the future.
