Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Cheats and Tips

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is an action-adventure game published by Activision on PC, PS4 and Xbox One. The game follows a Sengoku period shinobi known as "Wolf" as he attempts to take revenge on a samurai who attacked him and kidnapped his lord. Below you will find Sekiro cheats and tips for surviving longer and a list of important combat tips for Sekiro.

We also have an excellent, in-depth guide, which is available free here: Sekiro Walkthrough and Guide

Sekiro Cheats and Tips for Surviving Longer

As mentioned, the game is brutal and unforgiving. Constant death will have consequences in the form of Dragonrot. Here are some generic tips that will help you survive longer.

Stick to the high ground. Your grappling hook is an invaluable tool for securing a good vantage point for scouting targets and escaping tough encounters.

Avoid direct confrontations when you can. Find alternate routes that you can climb, shimmy, or grapple. These may lead you to good positions where you can ambush unaware enemies.

In case you get thrown or you jumped off a cliff, you can use your grappling hook to save yourself if there are grappling points nearby. You can also use your grappling hook in quick succession, even while in mid-air.

Stealth is very important in the game. Catching unaware enemies will allow you to instantly kill non-boss enemies. You can whittle down enemy numbers by taking out isolated enemies individually.

You can perform stealth attacks on some tough enemies. Doing so will allows you to instantly remove a deathblow counter to them, making the succeeding battle significantly manageable instead of fighting them by conventional means.

Fighting multiple enemies is not recommended since it will be very difficult to deal with their erratic attacks without a breather. Always learn when to disengage and escape. Once they give up their chase, return and slowly reduce their numbers by stealth or normal kills.

When dealing with multiple enemies, it is recommended to remove the lock-on, if you locked on an enemy within the mob. This will allow you to move and escape freely.

You are invulnerable when performing deathblow animations. This is quite important when you're surrounded. Sometimes, it's better to finish off a weakened enemy to take advantage of this.

You're not required to fight all enemies in order to proceed with the stage. If you're having problems dealing with an enemy, you can always disengage and find an alternate route. However, these mini-bosses and tougher enemies will often carry important items like Prayer Beads and Gourd Seeds so bypassing most of them won't help you in the long run. Defeated mini-bosses are permanently gone so you don't have to worry about running into them again.

There's no stamina consumed when dodging so use it as often as needed. Your motion is also fluid so you can use your quick step to attack aggressively or perform quick counterattacks. You can even increase the distance of your dodge or run around the battlefield by holding the dodge button.

Opening your menu does not pause the game. Make sure you're checking your stuff in a safe location.

Take note that idols are not entirely safe zones; there are idols with enemies nearby and if you aggro them, they can still kill you even if you commune with the idol.

Try to acquire the Breath of Life: Light Skill as soon as possible. This will allow you to recover a bit of HP for every successful Deathblow. This will help you conserve your healing items. Deathblows performed on non-human creatures will also recover your HP.

Don't resurrect immediately upon dying. Normal enemies will usually lose interest and leave you once you fall. If you resurrect after they turn their backs, this will allow you to catch them surprise and land a deathblow on them. For bosses, you have to roll away after resurrecting, then heal up as needed.

More tips and in-depth help is available in our Sekiro Walkthrough and Guide.

Important Combat Tips

Due to the enemies' erratic behavior and unpredictability, it's unwise to stick with the same strategies or attack patterns against all of them. Different enemies require different techniques to defeat.

Parrying/deflecting is an invaluable skill that times practice to master. Successfully performing this will damage the enemy's posture heavily, leaving them open for a deathblow or counterattack.

Parrying/deflecting is not the only way to deal with certain enemies, especially bosses. There will be times that you'll have to react to dangerous/ unblockable attacks. For example, a sweep attack can be evaded with a jump. Press jump again to step on the face of the enemy. For thrust attacks, Mikiri Counter is essential or you have to get out of the way. For grabs like what the Chained Ogre does, you have to keep distance while the grab animation's on.

Practice the combat fundamentals with Hanbei the Undying to get comfortable with the combat system, especially the deflection and evasion. You can unlock more training sessions with him as you learn new skills.

You'll take more damage if you get hit while in mid-air. The same thing can be said for airborne enemies.

Learn to prioritize which enemies to take down first. Ranged enemies like gunners and archers should be prioritized. When you're going to perform a stealth deathblow, targeting tougher enemies can make your encounters significantly easier.

Like enemy strikes, you can deflect some bullets and ordinary projectiles.

You can perform a charged attack or lunge by pressing and holding the attack button. This is perfect against slow enemies, right after you evade or deflect their attacks. However, the wind-up moments will leave you vulnerable so proper timing is necessary to pull this off.

Don't be intimidated by enemies with large weapons; most of the time you can parry or block their attacks. This will give you attack opportunities while protecting yourself.

You don't need to learn multiple combat skills early on. Prioritize on getting the latent and martial art skills first, especially the ones that will complement your prosthetic tool.

There's no stamina consumed when dodging so use it as often as needed. Your motion is also fluid so you can use your quick step to attack aggressively or perform quick counterattacks.

If you encounter a boss or enemy that you're struggling to defeat, there's a chance that you may have not acquired the specific tool or skill for the job. While it's possible to defeat them by normal means, having the right tools or skills will significantly increase your chances of defeating them. One example is the Mikiri Counter against spear users and the Flame Vent prosthetic tool against the Chained Ogre.

More tips and in-depth help is available in our Sekiro Walkthrough and Guide. We also have a number of Sekiro FAQs where you can read up on all the answers and ask your own questions.

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