Week 4 of Ghost of Tsushima’s Nightmare mode challenges is already underway, but fans have until this Friday to beat it and claim the rewards. As usual, this challenge is incredibly tough, and will likely require a lot of attempts even from the most skilled players, but it is beatable. For those players that may be struggling to win, there are a few things to keep in mind about this week’s story challenge that will make things a lot easier. With any luck, these tips will help players beat this story challenge and claim Ki level 110 epic gear as a reward.
It should be said that players shouldn’t worry about Nightmare mode until hitting 100 Ki. It isn’t unlocked until the player’s gear level is high and even if it was it would be nearly impossible. Next, players should understand that this mode will take a lot of patience. In Ghost of Tsushima’s main story, Jin is able to rush headlong into most battles and still come out on top, but Nightmare mode will push players to their limits with powerful new enemies and difficult situations. This week’s story challenge adds a new modifier that is particularly challenging, so preparation is extremely important.
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends - Week 4 Nightmare Story Challenge
First off, the level players can expect to be playing this week is Tides of Battle, the eighth story mission available to players in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends. On top of that, the modifier this week’s Ghost of Tsushima: Legends story challenge is called Dull Katanas, which makes it so that enemies cannot be killed with melee attacks. This only applies to standard katana attacks, and does not include damage from assassinations. It’s important to keep in mind that melee attacks still deal damage, but the final blow must be dealt with a ranged attack, ghost weapon, class ability, or assassination.
With that in mind, it would be wise to equip a powerful ranged weapon as well as Ghost weapons that are offensive. Having access to the smoke bomb for extra critical strikes/assassinations, sticky bombs, kunai, or even the thrown dirt that lights foes on fire will allow for the player to finish off enemies that they’ve weakened. Finally, class abilities such as the Ronin’s spirit dog and the Samurai’s life drain are also able to kill enemies. In terms of which ranged weapons to bring, bombs or short bows tend to work the best, as players will likely be in close quarters most of the time.
Tides of Battle - Fire Spirits
During this mission, Fire Spirits will be very prevalent throughout. There are two main ways players can handle these machines depending on how brave they are feeling. The safest way to take care of Fire Spirits is to run straight for them as soon as the player is spotted, hitting it twice to take it out of commission before ducking away and hiding or running into the fray. If ignored, it will shoot AoEs of fiery arrows at the player repeatedly until destroyed.
With that in mind, the Fire Spirit AoE damage also affects enemies, dealing ranged damage to them and lighting them on fire. Both of these damage sources are capable of killing enemies, so it is a valid strategy to leave the Fire Spirts alive, luring enemies into the AoE in order to deal the finishing blow or damage groups. In the first area, there is one Fire Spirit on the ship docked in the harbor, but in the second chapter the Fire Spirit cannot be destroyed and is part of a scripted event. Finally, in the last area there is a Fire Spirit on each boat. It’s recommended to swim to each boat and destroy all three before engaging any one ship’s crew.
Communication in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends
Ideally, players will be tackling this challenge on voice chat with a close and trusted friend, but that isn’t always possible unfortunately. In the event that players are using matchmaking, communication is still just as vital to ensuring victory. While Ghost of Tsushima: Legends does have voice chat built into the game, players without mics or those that are uncomfortable using voice chat with strangers have another option, the pinging system.
Players can ping certain objects to alert their teammates about them. Oni treasures, resupply locations, healing drums, and even enemies can all be targeted by the ping in order to better coordinate attacks. Most enemies in Nightmare Mode can’t be assassinated in one hit, so coordinating strikes with a teammate is a good way to take out enemies while remaining hidden. It’s equally important to stay together at all times, as though there isn’t a linking curse, it’s likely that one’s teammate will go down relatively frequently, so being at the ready to revive fallen ghosts is very important.
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends - 110 Ki Gear
In order to get gear at the highest level available in Ghost of Tsushima: Legends, 110 Ki, players have to win the Nightmare story mode mission while completing all bonus objectives. This includes finding Gyozen’s lost scroll, opening the Oni Treasure, and surviving Gyozen’s curse. Which chapter the scroll and treasure appears in is random and will change every time, but players should be sure to use guiding wind so that they don’t accidentally miss it. Swiping up on the touch pad will show the objectives in the upper left hand corner of the screen, using this can help players know when a scroll or treasure is nearby.
In the third and final chapter of the story mission, it may be very tempting to skip Gyozen’s curse given how tough the rest of the mission was, but players wanting to get their guaranteed piece of 110 ki gear will have to endure it. In this case, it lowers the player’s maximum health, further emphasizing the importance of sticking together and working as a team. Players that manage to win with all three bonus objectives will have their first reward be a Ki level 110 piece of gear with rarity Epic or higher. What’s more, the first time the player completes this on a class they’ll get an awesome piece of cosmetic gear.
Ghost of Tsushima: Legends is available now on PS4.
