Your first steps in Ashina Outskirts can be incredibly punishing. The Chained Ogre, elite samurai generals, and sniper towers will test your limits. This starter guide outlines the best items, combat principles, and early routing strategies to conquer the outskirts.
1. Key Quick Items
Equip these items to your quick-access slots to maintain momentum during intense combat:
- Pellets: These provide slow, gradual health regeneration over time. Use them for minor chip damage between fights, saving your Healing Gourd for emergencies.
- Fistful of Ash: Don't overlook this pocket dirt. Throwing a fistful of ash at close range will temporarily blind and stun any enemy or boss, giving you a 3-second window to heal, reposition, or execute a free strike.
- Ceramic Shards: Throw these at walls or floors near cover to make a sound, drawing a single guard toward your position for an easy stealth deathblow.
2. Combat Rules of the Outskirts
Unlocking early stealth advantages makes direct combat much easier.
- Stealth Deathblows on Mini-Bosses: Almost every mini-boss in the outskirts (like General Naomori Kawarada and General Tenzen Yamauchi) can be snuck up on. Sneak around their arena to perform a stealth deathblow from behind or from a roof. This immediately removes one of their two health bars before the fight officially starts.
- Aggressive Posture Build-up: In Sekiro, blocking enemies still take posture damage. Keep attacking them until you see a bright orange parry flash, which indicates they have deflected you and are about to strike back. Prepare to deflect immediately!
3. Recommended Routing
The secret to conquering the outskirts easily is split-routing with Hirata Estate.
- Get the Bell Charm: Early in the outskirts, you will meet an old lady in a ruined house who gives you the Young Lord's Bell Charm. Go back to the Dilapidated Temple and offer it to the gold Buddha statue. See Walkthrough Act 1: Ashina Outskirts Part 1.
- Visit Hirata Estate First: Before tackling the Chained Ogre in Ashina Outskirts, play through the first part of Hirata Estate. Find the Loaded Axe (breaks wooden shields) and the Flame Vent (inflicts fire damage). See Walkthrough Act 1: Hirata Estate Part 1.
- Return to the Outskirts: Bring the Flame Vent back to the outskirts. Since the Chained Ogre is red-eyed, he is terrified of fire. Blasting him with the Flame Vent stuns him for 5 seconds, making the fight trivial. See Walkthrough Act 1: Ashina Outskirts Part 2.
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