12 Hardest Bosses In Ghost Of Tsushima

Highlights

• In Ghost of Tsushima, there are several bosses that players must face throughout the game. Each boss has their unique fighting style, attacks, and strategies. Here is a list of some of the most challenging bosses in the game:
• Kaede – Appears during the Legend of Tadayori mythic tale. She has rapid combo attacks, and the strongest stance against her is the Stone stance.
• Tengu Demon – Fought at the end of The Curse of Uchitsune tale. He is easy to overwhelm with attacks and uses bats to confuse the player and throw them off.

It is safe to say that the boss fights in Ghost of Tsushima are some of the best a game has had in a while. They offer real difficulty that doesn’t get frustrating as you die possibly over and over again while at the same time offering extreme satisfaction when you finally watch the boss that has been giving you trouble fall before the might of Jin’s sword.

Very few boss fights are more satisfying than a one-vs-one dual to the death like this. Expect some hard boss fights ahead as we go through the list of which ones will most likely give you trouble during your fight to take back your homeland.

Updated July 2nd, 2024, by Hamza Haq: Ghost of Tsushima’s power fantasy has always been about living out the life of a samurai and all the tropes that come with it. Nothing is more quintessentially samurai than a duel to the death with nothing but the blade to carry you to victory. When all is said and done, that is what duels against bosses in the game boil down to: a no-holds-barred fight against a skilled opponent.

12 Kaede

• Appears during the Legend of Tadayori mythic tale
• Avoid her rapid combo attacks
• The strongest stance against her is the Stone stance

If you follow the side missions, you will most likely come across Kaede. For many players, she was the first boss fight that they came across, and the first boss that taught them what difficulty is. She appears during the Legend of Tadayori mythic tale and mistakes Jin for a thief who stole a samurai’s blade and who wishes to steal the armor of Tadayori. This boss is anything but easy for most players who encountered her first. She isn’t the hardest boss to take down, thankfully, but she puts up one heck of a fight.

11 Tengu Demon

• Fought at the end of The Curse of Uchitsune tale
• Easy to overwhelm with attacks
• Uses bats to confuse the player and throw them off

The Tengu Demon is an amazing boss fight that proves to be quite difficult for the beginning of the game. By this point, you have gotten some technique points and are well on your way to becoming a great swordsman, but you may still feel the need to collect the legendary cursed bow of Uchitsune. During the entire boss fight, there are birds that surround the arena that can prove to be a bit of a distraction. The Tengu Demon uses various slashes and jabs just like many other swordsmen but also has some added unblockable attacks that can get a little annoying at times.

10 Kojiro

• Relentless 7-hit sword combo.
• Charm of Mizu-no-kami is a big help to get off parries.
• Is prone to spamming unblockable attacks.

Kojiro is the final boss in the Six Blades of Kojiro Mythic Tale, which becomes available during Act 2 of the game. To earn the right to face off against Kojiro, Jin will first have to win five duels against his lieutenants spread out across the Toyotama region, which are difficult fights in their own right.

Kojiro’s attack pattern is the combination of the five preceding duels, forcing players to stay on their toes during the entire fight, fingers ready to dodge and attack at a moment’s notice. It’s a rewarding duel in more ways than one and one of the best-designed fights in the game.

9 Spirit Of Yarikawa

• Appears in the Spirit of Yarikawa Vengeance side mission
• Uses wild slashing attacks that can be difficult to dodge or parry
• Gives players the Dance of the Wraith attack after defeating them

Be brave enough to search for the spirit of Yarikawa who is killing people across the land in act two and you will be met with a great boss battle in the Garden of the Gods once you discover that someone has asked the spirit to kill you. We all know that this isn’t a spirit, but the boss certainly dresses like one with a long flowing white garb and headdress that will eventually get stained with blood. This boss periodically uses wild slashing attacks that can be hard to dodge and parry at first. As an added bonus, when you finally defeat this “spirit,” you will gain the ability to use Dance of the Wraith.

8 Owan, The Exiled Monk

• Vulnerable to Sarugami Armor’s perfect dodge attack.
• Susceptible to Moon Stance’s heavy attack.
• Dodges all regular attacks, parries, and perfect dodges.

The duel against Owan is part of the Hidden Cove Tournament, a side event in the Iki Island DLC. Despite technically not being a boss fight, the duel against Owan is conceptually impossible to win unless players figure out the trick behind his combat style. The difficulty lies in the fact that the most common methods of dueling in Ghost of Tsushima, parrying and dodging, are both functionally useless against Owan; he will dodge every time.

The trick is to either use the Sarugami Armor’s dodge follow-up, which will allow Jin to perform an AoE attack that hits Owan no matter what, or use heavy attacks while in the Moon Stance to break his guard. Regular parries, perfect parries, and perfect dodges will always whiff when used against Owan. He is a master at the side-step; it’s hard-coded into his moveset.

7 Sao

• Appears in the Bokken Duel Arena in Fune’s Refuge
• Uses a combo that can blind and stun the player
• Dodge roll to easily avoid combo

The fight with Sao isn’t actually a boss fight, but instead one of the duels that players can participate in to win prizes. Sao even becomes a merchant after the fight. These fights aren’t unlocked until after doing a mission for Fune’s Refuge. These fights aren’t like normal fights. Instead of being a fight to the death, players aim to get more hits than their opponent.

The first person in the match to score five hits on their opponent is the winner. Sao takes this seriously and uses a combo that is difficult to dodge and players caught in it will get stunned. Sao can then automatically score a point without even trying. The key to this fight is for a player to be light on their feet and dodge roll whenever Sao gets close.

6 General Temuge

• Appears during the main campaign when defending Yarikawa Stronghold
• Uses a sword and shield instead of a katana
• Periodically lights sword on fire

This boss is one of the few that likes to shake things up and use a sword & shield combination in place of the standard sword that many other bosses default to. You challenge General Temuge during the main questline in Ghost of Tsushima when defending the Yarikawa Stronghold. He loves to hide behind his shield, making it annoying to stagger him. Luckily, by this point in the game, you should have the water style which will help you little that stagger bar down. He has the added annoyance of applying fire to his weapon and making you roll to put yourself out or risk more damage to your health.

5 General Bartu

• Guard of one of the Mongol camps
• Holds a piece of the Mongol Armor
• Uses a sword and shield

Here we have another Mongol general who holds a piece of Mongol armor. While he doesn’t attack in the same way as Temuge by lighting his weapon on fire, he is a challenge to take down. He throws in some heavy kicks when you get close and uses the occasional shield bash to throw your guard off. He uses his blade more than other generals and can get in some solid hits that will damage Jin pretty heavily.

4 Lady Masako

• Becomes a boss during the Conspirator mission in her storyline
• A very mobile fighter with multiple combos
• Water stance helps players defend against her combo attacks

While helping Lady Masako throughout the game, she becomes blinded with rage and wants to kill you for helping those who took her family from her. You two must duel it out in a beautiful arena covered in red leaves while enemy forces approach. For an older woman, she has the moves of a ferocious animal as she swings her blade wildly in her enraged state. She puts up a good fight and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by her furious blows. It’s at this time that some heavy armor is handy.

3 The Eagle

• The final boss of the main campaign of the Iki Island DLC
• Attacks with multiple combos that can be devastating
• Switches between a sword and spear often

The Eagle is the new Mongol commander that players fight at the end of the Iki Island DLC. Players first meet her toward the beginning of the DLC when she forces Jin to drink her poison. After taking down her army through the DLC, it finally comes to a close when Jin catches up to her and they have a duel to the death.

She is a difficult opponent who uses frequent combos and switches her weapon consistently. One minute she will be using her sword and the next she will be using a spear. Players will need to adjust their playstyle accordingly to not get caught in one of her devastating attacks.

2 Khotun Khan

• The final boss of the main campaign
• The only boss in the main game that uses a polearm
• Has wide swings and fast-paced moves

Khotun Khan is an interesting boss fight considering his choice of weapon is a polearm, which is not used by any other boss in the game. He has incredibly fast-paced moves for someone of his stature with wide swings to top it off. These wide swings of his can be hard to dodge and his fast movement can allow him to get in a few more hits if one connects, making it hard to keep Jin’s health up. He is undoubtedly one of the toughest bosses that Jin goes up against throughout the game.

1 Lord Shimura

• The final boss of the game and appears during the epilogue
• Uses fast jabs and slashes that can throw players off
• Practice parrying to help with the fight

Progress through the entire game and you get to face your dear old uncle. With Jin lost to the way of the ghost, Lord Shimura is ordered to take Jin’s head. It is a sad fight that gets worse when Lord Shimura cries at the thought that he must take the life of someone he considered to be his son. Despite him being much older than you, he can move like the greatest fighters in the land and can throw fast jabs and slashes that can easily throw you off. You better hope your parry game is up to the challenge.