Fighting off Ghost of Tsushima can be quick and brutal, especially if you have the right tools and techniques to deal with different enemies. Stances allow you to change your fighting style to suit the enemy you're up against, allowing you to remove them quickly and with less risk to your own fragile health bar.
To unlock postures, you will have to kill or observe captains who are in enemy camps. Before entering an enemy controlled area, you can open the map and hover over the locations icon and check the location objectives. If there is an enemy captain present, you will have a bonus objective to observe it. This will allow you to progress further to your next position.
All combat positions
Calculation
- Basic position known at the start of the game
- Is effective against enemies armed with swords
Water
- Unlocks after 3 kills or observations
- Effective against enemies armed with shields
Wind
- Unlocks after 8 kills or observations
- Effective against enemies armed with spears
Lune
- Unlocks after 12 attacks or observations
- Effective against large enemies armed with clubs
Ghost
- unlocks as the campaign progresses
- murder everyone
How to observe enemy captains
When you find a location with a captain, you can choose to kill them or observe them first. If you can get close enough to them without being seen, you'll get a prompt to hold the R2 button for five seconds, allowing you to study them. You can use your sharpened senses by tapping the touchpad to find them, but make sure to avoid being seen by other enemies. If you succeed, you will get a progression slot to your next position, and another when you kill the captain.
How to change position
During combat, you can quickly change positions by holding down the R2 button and then pressing the button corresponding to the position. They will appear in a radial menu at the bottom right of the screen while R2 is held:
