Ghost of Yotei Legends Classes: Which Class to Pick

There are four classes in Ghost of Yotei Legends: Samurai, Archer, Mercenary and Shinobi. Every class carries a katana and a ranged weapon, then builds around its own focus weapon and tech tree, so the real decision is about role: Samurai for stagger and staying power, Archer for ranged damage, Mercenary for thrown-weapon utility and Shinobi for stealth and vanish. Legends, the free online co-op mode for Ghost of Yōtei, launched on PS5 on March 10, 2026, and class balance has moved a lot since then, so everything below reflects the patches through version 1.602.

We checked this against Sucker Punch's official patch notes for versions 1.511 through 1.602, the PlayStation Blog's Legends launch coverage and its raid interview with lead designer Darren Bridges, Game Rant's Legends build guides and PowerPyx's Legends trophy roadmap in November 2026.

The Four Classes at a Glance

Sucker Punch's own descriptions are short but precise. The Samurai wields the odachi and has access to the widest range of weapon types. The Archer uses the yari and can carry one additional ranged weapon. The Mercenary fights with dual katana and leans on utility abilities, and the Shinobi uses the kusarigama with a set of stealth-focused skills. All four share the katana and a ranged slot as a baseline, so every class can answer both close-range and distant threats.

None of the classes is locked to its signature weapon. The PlayStation Blog's pre-launch explainer says each tech tree leans toward the class's focus weapon, but any class can equip other weapons, and any class can complete every challenge in the mode. Classes also earn their own armor cosmetics by completing feats, and those unlocks come from play rather than purchases.

Before you commit, spend a few minutes in the Legends lobby. It includes a training area for practicing perfect parries plus a Bamboo Strike score challenge, so you can feel out the odachi, yari, dual katana and kusarigama without risking a mission. Legends also tells its own story: a storyteller narrates the missions as a myth, and the Yotei Six return as towering supernatural bosses, so class ranks and gear here are a separate track from Atsu's campaign.

The four Legends classes: Sucker Punch's descriptions, with ability names from Game Rant's build guides and the official patch notes

Class	Focus weapon	Official specialty	Abilities named in guides and patch notes
Samurai	Odachi	Widest range of weapon types	Spirit Pull, Hachiman's Strike
Archer	Yari	Carries an extra ranged weapon	Empowered Hunt, Shadow Flame Arrow, Eye of Uchitsune
Mercenary	Dual katana	Utility-focused abilities	Spirit Throw, Spirit Animal, Takemikazuchi's Smite
Shinobi	Kusarigama	Stealth-focused skills	Vanish, Shadow Strike

Samurai: Stagger, Sustain and the Saito Answer

The Samurai came out of the April patches as the mode's frontline anchor. Update 1.600 on April 6, 2026 slightly reduced Samurai class ability cooldowns, slightly extended their duration, raised Samurai stagger damage, granted extra Spirit and Ultimate charge for staggering enemies and increased the effectiveness of healing on the class. Update 1.601 then fixed a bug that let enemy attacks cancel Samurai and Shinobi ultimates mid-animation.

Game Rant's Samurai build centers on Spirit Pull, a class ability that leeches health from nearby enemies while boosting your melee damage against them. It pairs that with the Hachiman's Gift perk, which restores a large chunk of health during the three hits of Hachiman's Strike and drops a small healing incense, instead of the alternative upgrade that extends the strike to five hits. The same guide notes that the Samurai can use every weapon type once it reaches rank 20, which makes it the most flexible class for adapting to whatever a mission throws at you.

That stagger focus matters most at the very top of the mode. PowerPyx's raid notes describe Lord Saito as extremely vulnerable to stagger damage and recommend a Samurai running gear stacked with enemy stagger damage properties. If your group keeps stalling on the final boss, a well-built Samurai is the most direct fix, and the full encounter breakdown is in our Legends raid guide.

Archer: Still Deadly, Just With Less Free Ammo

The Archer has absorbed more nerfs in the official patch notes than any other class, mostly aimed at long-range sniping. Patch 1.511 on March 13, 2026 significantly cut Ultimate gain from the True Aim Yumi. Update 1.600 went further: Resupply, Archer's Supplies and Empowered Hunt now return less ammo, True Aim Yumi and tanegashima headshots deal less damage, and the Consuming Flame ability no longer generates Spirit or Ultimate charge.

The same patch nudged the class toward the medium bow. The Hankyu received more ammo capacity and more damage, and Game Rant's Archer build already favored the Storm Hankyu, which removes the need to aim while drawing and allows rapid fire, especially when paired with Empowered Hunt for Story and Survival. For Incursions and raids, where enemies arrive in large groups, that guide switches the class ability to Shadow Flame Arrow, an incendiary shot that explodes over a wide area on impact.

Two utility picks keep an Archer useful as ammo gets tighter. Resupply converts Spirit into ammunition, and the Bountiful Ammo ultimate perk restores 65 percent of your ammo. The class ultimate, Eye of Uchitsune, recharges quickly off frequent headshots and kills. Update 1.602 on April 24, 2026 also closed two Archer bugs, one that let Shadow Flame Arrow fire infinitely and one that let Yumi arrows be drawn and shot twice as fast, so build videos recorded before that date can overstate how strong the class is today.

Mercenary: Thrown Weapons and Weakening Debuffs

The Mercenary is the toolbox class. In Game Rant's build its two class abilities are Spirit Throw, which conjures a weapon and hurls it at enemies on a 30-second cooldown, and Spirit Animal, which poisons and staggers nearby enemies. Its ultimate, Takemikazuchi's Smite, deals heavy damage and makes enemies drop their weapons, which you can then pick up and throw back.

Two passives define this class in the late game. Pressure raises the stagger damage of thrown weapons by 20 percent, and Deft Onslaught reduces Ghost Tool cooldowns whenever a thrown weapon kills an enemy. Stack those with the Spirit Shatter perk, which makes thrown weapons shatter on impact and apply Weaken, plus the Weakening Blast ultimate perk, which leaves enemies Weakened and Poisoned, and the Mercenary becomes a debuff engine for the whole team.

One caution: update 1.600 significantly reduced the Spirit and Ultimate gained from the Spirit Shatter ability, so the class no longer refuels its ultimate as quickly as launch-week builds suggested. Game Rant's recommended Ghost Tools for the class are Kunai, Smoke Bombs, Concussion Bombs and Blind Bombs, and the same 1.600 update fixed a bug where a Blind Bomb could block Archer ultimates and player pings, so bombing a crowd no longer gets in your teammates' way.

Shinobi: Vanish Is the Best Team Utility in the Mode

The Shinobi pairs the kusarigama with stealth skills, and its vanish turned out to be stronger than Sucker Punch planned. In a May 15, 2026 PlayStation Blog interview, lead designer Darren Bridges explained that vanishing stops the Dragon's bombs from tracking a player, and that if the whole team vanishes together the entire bomb-drop sequence is skipped. The studio did not design that interaction; it was discovered during testing.

Game Rant's Dragon raid walkthrough recommends a Shinobi for the same reason. The class ability can shroud the whole team, or turn the Shinobi invisible while reviving a downed ally so the revive is not interrupted. That makes the Shinobi the most useful pick for whoever handles revives in a pickup group, and a strong second slot for any team that struggles with tracking attacks.

The class ultimate is Shadow Strike. Update 1.600 fixed an exploit where the un-upgraded Shadow Strike could start more attacks than intended, reduced cases of players getting stuck after using it, and added the ability to sprint during the ultimate. Update 1.601 then stopped enemy attacks from canceling it. The Vanishing Kusarigama, a legendary whose vanish duration was extended in 1.600, is a natural fit for this class, and our legendary items breakdown covers what each named legendary does.

Ranks, Switching Classes and Building a Team

Class rank is the long grind. The Legends trophy list asks you to reach rank 25 with one class for Student No More and with all four for No More Lessons, and PowerPyx notes that each additional class levels faster than the first because you can reuse most of the gear you have already unlocked. Update 1.512 on March 20, 2026 also adjusted the Vitality I and Vitality II skills on every class and moved their unlock ranks earlier, so a fresh class reaches a comfortable health pool sooner than it did at launch.

You are not stuck with your first pick inside the raid either. Before each raid boss there is a Modify Class stone that lets you change gear, upgrade weapons or switch class, and after a wipe you can return there to adjust. If a group keeps failing the same boss, try moving one player to Samurai for stagger and another to Shinobi for vanish before the next attempt rather than repeating the same lineup.

For pickup groups, a practical baseline is one Samurai to hold the line and stagger bosses, one Shinobi for vanish and revives, one Archer to clear Bo-Hiya and destroy gates from range, and one Mercenary for weakening debuffs and crowd control. Duplicates are allowed, and nothing stops four players from running the same class, but spreading roles covers more of the mechanics the bosses throw at you. If you also play the single-player Most Wanted mode, its four hunters loosely mirror these classes, which our Most Wanted guide explains, and the rank trophies are covered in our trophy guide.

Want Every Class Maxed Before Your First Raid?

Getting four classes to rank 25 while chasing good perk rolls takes a lot of evenings. If you would rather start at the top, the store's Ghost of Yotei Legends mode save puts all four classes (Samurai, Archer, Mercenary and Shinobi) at rank 998, which its page notes is above the normal maximum, along with infinite Crystal, Blessing and Essence currency, more than 250 epic weapons and every emote, ability and technique.

The page is clear about its limits: it is for PS5, PlayStation Plus is required on the same account being modded, you must already own the game, and because Legends is online co-op you will be matched with other players. It also warns that the gear roster can push your inventory past its cap, so you may need to dismantle items before picking up more. The other Ghost of Yotei services sit on the Ghost of Yotei hub.

Frequently Asked Questions