Ghost of Yotei Best Skills to Unlock First (and Why)

The best skills to unlock first in Ghost of Yotei are Shifting Strike, Block Projectiles and the Chain Assassination line from the Onryo group, Lethal Talons and Iron Talon for the kusarigama, Standoff Streak and Ghost Stance from the Revenge group, and Wolf Assassination plus Wolf's Call once you start clearing Wolf Dens. Techniques are bought with skill points from Altars of Reflection, wolf techniques come from Wolf Dens, and guides report no way to respec, so the order you buy them in really matters.

We checked this against GamesRadar's best skills guide, PowerPyx's Altars of Reflection, Wolf Den and platinum guides, Allthings.how's techniques explainer, the PlayStation Blog's builds guide and PowerPyx's Echoes of Sekigahara roadmap in November 2026.

How Skills Work in Ghost of Yotei

Techniques live in the Growth menu, split into four groups: Onryo, Melee, Revenge and Wolf. Each group contains smaller trees, so you will see paths such as Onryo, then Survival, or Revenge, then Attacks, in guides and in game. GamesRadar's verdict is that Ghost of Yotei has less strict build pathing than Ghost of Tsushima, because you end up dipping into almost every group anyway; the real decision is what to buy first.

Most points come from the 61 Altars of Reflection scattered across Ezo, and PowerPyx confirms each one grants a skill point for a new technique. Every one of the 22 Yotei Six Camps contains an altar that you spawn in front of after clearing the camp, which makes camps the most efficient source of points in the early game. Wolf techniques follow their own rule: each Wolf Den you complete unlocks one Wolf skill. Some Revenge techniques stay locked until specific story quests, so do not worry if part of that group is grayed out.

Allthings.how's techniques guide warns that there is no respec, so your choices stick. That makes it worth buying broadly useful techniques before niche ones, and saving a point or two when you know a new weapon is about to arrive from a sensei tale.

Best Onryo Skills to Buy First

GamesRadar calls the Onryo group a limited, generalist set, but it is also the one you will use most, and three picks stand out. Shifting Strike gives you a quick heavy attack whenever you swap melee weapons, and since heavy attacks add stagger and you will be switching weapons constantly to counter different enemy types, it pays off in nearly every fight. Block Projectiles, in the Survival tree, lets you block arrows and kunai, though not bullets. Chain Assassination Master, the last step of the Assassination tree, lets you assassinate up to three enemies one after another, which makes stealth clears of camps far quicker.

A few more Onryo techniques earn their place for specific jobs. Shoulder Charge, under Onryo and Survival, knocks enemies down when you press the button while sprinting, which is the easy way to send someone off a cliff. Disarm Counter and Onryo's Strike, both in the Attacks tree, strip weapons from enemies so you can throw their own blades back at them. If you own the Echoes of Sekigahara expansion, PowerPyx notes that Catch Arrows, under Onryo and Ranged, is bought with an altar skill point and is required for one of that expansion's trophies, so leave a point free for it.

Best Melee Weapon Skills

Each melee weapon has its own tree, and every weapon arrives through a quest. PowerPyx lists the katana (the Wolf Blade) as your starting weapon, the dual katana and odachi as automatic story unlocks from Main Tale: The Way of the Dual Katana and Main Tale: The Saito Brothers, and the yari and kusarigama as rewards for the optional sensei tales The Way of the Yari and The Way of the Kusarigama. Each weapon counters a different enemy type: katana against katanas, dual katana against spears, odachi against brutes, yari against sickles and kusarigama against shields.

• Lethal Talons (kusarigama): lets you assassinate enemies from midrange for a Spirit cost. PowerPyx lists it with Ferocious Whirlwind as the two kusarigama techniques you need for ranged takedowns.
• Iron Talon (kusarigama): removes the Spirit cost from those midrange assassinations, and GamesRadar puts it among its best melee picks.
• Unstoppable Strikes (odachi): your odachi attacks can no longer be interrupted and you take less damage while swinging.
• Deflecting Strikes (dual katana): heavy attacks automatically parry polearms, cutting down on the timing you need against spear users.

The yari also teaches a Typhoon Kick as a charged heavy attack once you finish The Way of the Yari, and it shares the knockdown role with Shoulder Charge. If you favor stealth, put your first melee points into the kusarigama pair; if you prefer open fights, the odachi and dual katana picks keep you swinging through crowds. Either way, our Onryo armor guide shows how thrown-weapon kills and disarms feed Atsu's starting armor.

Best Revenge Skills

GamesRadar describes Revenge as a mix of techniques that do not fit elsewhere, and several of its best options unlock later through the story. Standoff Streak, in the Attacks tree, adds one more enemy you can cut down during a Standoff, which is effectively a free kill at the start of most fights. It is also the prerequisite for Standoff Unlock: Pistol, which stays hidden until you have Standoff Streak and have finished Sensei Tale: Guns and Consequences in Oshima Coast; with it, you can fire the tanzutsu during a standoff, which is how the From the Hip trophy is earned.

Hostile Intuition sits in a Survival tree that opens through a story quest, and once available it outlines nearby enemies in red after you listen in, which makes scouting camps much easier. Ghost Stance, in the Attacks tree, unlocks through the main story, and after a significant kill streak it lets Atsu enter a frenzy that cuts down several enemies. Expect these later in a playthrough; buy them the moment they appear.

Best Wolf Skills

Wolf techniques are earned rather than bought with altar points: each of the 10 Wolf Dens you complete unlocks one Wolf skill, and after any four dens Atsu learns the Song of the Wolf, which guides you to the rest. GamesRadar's two favorites are Wolf Assassination, near the top of the Combat tree, which lets the wolf join your assassinations or critical strikes so you effectively take out one extra enemy, and Wolf's Call in the Summon tree, which lets you summon the wolf near Yotei Six Camps. The best wolf technique of all, a summon you can use anywhere at any time, is locked behind completing every den.

PowerPyx's trophy notes point to three more useful options. Wolf Howl and Wolf Strike Summon both sit in the Summon tree and become available after two dens; Wolf Strike Summon gives a chance for the wolf to appear when you hit an enemy with an empty sake jar. Wolf Standoff gives your wolf a chance to join you in standoffs. Because each den gives exactly one unlock, it pays to clear dens as soon as their regions open rather than leaving them for the cleanup phase.

A Sensible Unlock Order

For the first region, spend your early altar points on Shifting Strike and Block Projectiles, then start down the Assassination tree toward Chain Assassination Master. Clear the first Wolf Dens you find and take Wolf's Call, since having the wolf available at camps also gives you the companion that some techniques rely on.

Once the kusarigama arrives in Teshio Ridge, buy Ferocious Whirlwind, Lethal Talons and Iron Talon in that order, then pick up Standoff Streak so every big fight opens with an extra kill. Take Hostile Intuition and Ghost Stance as soon as the story unlocks them, and finish the wolf trees as dens fall. Late in the game, spend leftovers on whichever weapon tree matches your favorite build; the PlayStation Blog's builds guide outlines melee, stealth, ranged, dueling and quickfire setups that show how techniques, armor and charms fit together.

Trophy hunters can fold five trophies into this order. PowerPyx ties The Owl's Talon to Ferocious Whirlwind and Lethal Talons, From the Hip to Standoff Streak plus the pistol standoff unlock, Sayonara to Shoulder Charge or the yari's Typhoon Kick, You Dropped This to Disarm Counter or Onryo's Strike, and Wolf Bait to Wolf Howl and Wolf Strike Summon. Buying those techniques as soon as they are available means the trophies tend to pop during normal play instead of in a cleanup session.

Points are rarely the bottleneck if you clear camps and follow the altars, and our collectibles guide shows where they are. Everything you unlock also carries into a second run, as our New Game Plus guide explains, and the trophies tied to specific techniques are listed in our trophy guide.

Skip the Altar Hunt and the Material Grind

Techniques are only half of a strong build; the weapons, armor, charms and upgrade materials around them take just as long to gather. The store's Story Mode save covers that side: its page describes Story Mode fully completed with infinite money, ammo, flowers, plants, food, textiles, small bamboo, metals, shinobi steel and black powder, plus all masks, hats, armor, weapons and charms. It is PS5 only, needs PlayStation Plus on the same account being modded, and covers single-player Story Mode, not Legends or Most Wanted.

If unlocked techniques are specifically what you want, the store's NG+ starter save is the listing whose page includes all skills unlocked, along with max health and stamina and a completed New Game so New Game Plus is open; its page says it does not affect trophies. Both are listed on the Ghost of Yotei hub.

Frequently Asked Questions