Ghost of Yotei: Best build to beat Takezo the Unrivalled

If you’re looking for the ultimate challenge in Ghost of Yotei, prepare to face Takezo the Unrivalled. Inspired by the famous samurai Miyamoto Musashi, Takezo is the game’s most difficult boss. This fight isn’t part of the main story – you have to unlock it by defeating other wandering samurai at various duelling grounds throughout the world. Once you’ve proven yourself at the Duelling Trees, you can challenge Takezo at the Coastal Duelling Tree.

This guide shares our top tips for defeating Takezo the Unrivalled in Ghost of Yotei, including the best techniques, charms, and armor to use.

Best Armor for Takezo the Unrivalled

We suggest using the Armor of the Undying for this strategy. It helps you regain health when you stagger enemies, gives you more time to perform parries and perfect parries, and boosts the damage of your Focus Attacks – but only if your weapon is aligned. This armor makes parrying Takezo much easier and more reliable, which is the best way to defeat him.

If you want to defeat Takezo more quickly, the Bounty Master Armor is a good choice. It removes your ability to do standard parries, but makes it much easier to time Perfect Parries and dodges. While this armor is a bit riskier – you won’t be able to block Takezo’s fast attacks as easily – landing Perfect Parries will significantly damage him. It’s a high-risk, high-reward strategy.

Best Charms for Takezo the Unrivalled

Okay, so if you’re going up against Takezo the Unrivalled, I’ve found a setup that *really* helps. I recommend using these six specific charms, along with the Armor of the Undying. Basically, they’re all about boosting your survivability, letting you hang in there longer and rely on well-timed Parries and Perfect Parries to deal with his attacks. It’s a defensive strategy that’s worked great for me!

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

Taking half damage from Blizzard makes it much easier to survive as the fight goes on.

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 hardest opponent in Ghost of Yotei. If you’re having trouble defeating him, it’s best to explore more of the game first. Completing side activities like finding Hot Springs, Bamboo Strikes, and Altars of Reflection will boost your stats and make the fight easier. Don’t forget to solve the Mountain Reliquary puzzles to fully upgrade your Charm of Mount Yotei for maximum benefit.

Okay, so I’ve learned that this guy uses dual blades, and the best way to take him down is actually with a Yari spear! Apparently, using the Yari really works well with the Undying Armor – it’s a great combo to use in the fight.

You might need a few attempts to defeat Takezo, and we suggest using your first try to learn how he moves and attacks. At the beginning of the fight, before the blizzard starts, he’s easily hit with the pistol, which will create openings for you to attack. It’s a good idea to use all your pistol bullets during this phase, as he’ll start blocking them once the blizzard arrives and the fight gets harder.

Later in the fight, bullets aren’t effective, but special moves and skills that use spirit energy will consistently interrupt Takezo’s attacks at any point. The Thundering Wave skill with the Yari is particularly useful for creating openings, letting you either recover or finish him off.

Takezo’s most dangerous attack is a strike he uses at the end of his attack sequences, making it very difficult to block or counter. Always try to dodge this strike, as attempting to block or perfectly block it won’t work. It’s best to learn his attacks and how he moves early in the fight, before the blizzard starts. His patterns don’t change much, but he does become more aggressive as the battle goes on.

After a little practice, you’ll be able to defeat Takezo the Unrivalled in the challenging Duel Atop the Mountain, which is the hardest fight in Ghost of Yotei.

2025-10-08 16:49