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Welcome to IGN’s Walkthrough and Guide for Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This area-based Walkthrough will cover all enemy encounters, items to pick up, secrets to find and more as you complete your journey as the shinobi known as The Wolf.
This guide contains information on the Hirata Estate, a large region that you can explore in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. The estate once ruled over by the Young Lord Kuro now only exists in memory, and you can relive the events of its incursion by a horde of bandits on that dark night long ago.
How to Access the Hirata Estate[edit]
To access the Hirata Estate, you need to first obtain a specific Key Item. In the Ashina Outskirts, look beyond the Outskirts Wall Gate Path Sculptor’s Idol, past the first Samurai General where several ruined buildings are located. At the home at the bottom of the hill is an old woman in a ruined building – and you can speak with her to obtain the Young Lord’s Bell Charm.
With this item, you can return to the Dilapidated Temple and offer it up to the statue of Buddha. As you do this, you will re-live a long forgotten night from three years ago, at a time where the Hirata Estate of Lord Kuro was under attack by a band of thieves.
Dragonspring[edit]
Video Guide: Hirata Estate Dragonspring and Estate Path
When you awaken at the Dragonspring above Hirata Estate, be sure to unlock the nearby Sculptor‘s Idol, and then look behind you for a Pellet. Next, you must jump down to the road below and grapple to the branches below.
At the bottom, you’ll find a Fistful of Ash near a dying Nightjar Ninja – you can ask him a few questions about where – and when – you are. Down on the bridge, a torch-wielding Bandit patrols this end along with another nearby – and will try and burn you with his torch (and these enemies will also call for help if they spot you).
Over at the end of the bridge you can find Dousing Powder to help if you are burned, and down along the rocks below hiding behind a large rock is a Treasure Carp Scale. These rare items are often only found by finding and killing large red Treasure Carp – like the one off the right side of the bridge. Be careful though – as they’ll try to swim away quickly when spotted, but you can give chase before the dive down.
Before crossing the bridge, take the river up the right to find a stretch of small islands where another Treasure Carp swims near a strange pot. This pot is in fact a merchant – the Pot Noble Harunaga, and he really wants Treasure Carp Scales, and will trade to rare items for them, including a Withered Red Fire Gourd that works much like your regular gourd except it can be recharged to heal burns before things get out of hand.
There’s also a mysterious Mask Fragment and the Floating Passage skill (you won’t need the Mask Fragment for some time – so just remember its location for now). If you are sneaky and inspect the waters, you may find two more Treasure Carp swimming under the surface, but you may just have to come back later when you are able to attack fish that deep down. Be sure to also check further up on the rocks for a Light Coin Purse.
Swimming back to the shore you will find many Dogs along with a Bandit hiding among the trees, and the boat has a Mibu Possession Balloon. Up above the shore, another Bandit guards the front gate to the estate with another pack of Dogs.
Estate Path[edit]
To gain entry to the estate, grapple up above the main gate and survey the main path. It leads down a long narrow corridor patrolled by several Bandits to what appears to be a large closed gate – however, there are several homes off to the right of the main estate path. You can of course keep to the outer wall moving right to bypass most of this – but there are many items to find here.
Drop down and commune with the Estate Path Sculptor’s Idol and grab the Ceramic Shard nearby. Then start with the left side of the wall along the main path where you’ll find a Spirit Emblem and Ungo’s Sugar. Be sure to climb up the wall near the sugar, and you’ll spot a Bandit Archer waiting behind a small alcove – hoping to ambush you if you had engaged the other Bandits on the main path.
As you may have realized by now, these Bandits fight dirty. The Archers use fire arrows along with the torch holders – which can deal burn status even if you’re blocking – but you’ll be fine as long as you kill them before they can burn you too much. The Withered Red Gourd will come in handy if you are unable to block too many hits. Bandits can also kick dirt in your face to stun you, or try for perilous stabbing attacks.
The gate up ahead is indeed locked, but you can grab a Fistful of Ash near a broken hole in the wall leading to a looted home. This house has four patrolling bandits (one inside) – which include an Archer and axe-wielder. The axe-wielder tends to be a bit more durable than the rest and can deal major damage, but is more vulnerable to getting his posture broken.
Try ambushing them from above or using distractions to separate them, then go inside to kill the last Bandit who’s pillaging one of the back rooms. Grab the Pellet nearby, then look smaller shacks nearby to find Ako’s Sugar along the back.
Between the large house and the sheds is another path leading to a smaller gate with a branch above you can grapple to – letting you oversee a row of homes full of Bandits, many of which sit around a large bonfire. Several Attack Dogs are here, and along the back wall you can find a few drunk thieves along the back path. Kill the first drunk Bandit and his Dog companion and loot the Ceramic Shard near them.
Further ahead, an Archer on a roof watches over a group of Bandits standing around a bonfire. Eavesdrop on them to find out they’re marveling at a Flame Barrel that has lit up the circle – a fitting item to take. Assassinate the Archer first and then take out the Bandits around the fire, watching for reinforcements for the path ahead.
Once the area is clear, be sure to grab the Flame Barrel from the fire, as well as the nearby Mibu Balloon of Wealth, Dousing Powder, and Pellet. Be sure to also check the inner wall for a Fistful of Ash, and look into the homes to find Spirit Emblems.
The path behind the bonfire leads to a narrow path up with more Bandits and a dying man, who begs you to take a special axe from a nearby shrine before passing on. Take a left first to find and open the main estate path gate along with finding Gokan’s Sugar. Nearby, there are two small courtyards.
One has several angry Giant Chickens and Ungo’s Sugar in the house, and a Pellet by the well with yet more Giant Chickens. Be sure to also leap onto the roof of the house to find a nest holding a Light Coin Purse. The opposite courtyard has two Bandits standing by a small temple that holds the Shinobi Axe of the Monkey you can eavesdrop on. Another thief patrols the house that holds a Light Coin Purse you can nab.
Down the main path is two more Bandits trying to break open a door that you can eavesdrop on, and then take them out from behind. Check the cluster of houses they were trying to reach to find several people in homes to talk to. One man you can eavesdrop on talks of a powerful Shinobi Hunter lurking about, while another person begs you to save young lord and gives you an Antidote Powder. One last house in the back has man who will call you a traitor for not being here when you were needed.
Be sure to also check the opposite area on the main path – where a man is trying to gain entrance to a building. This man might be familiar to you if you’ve stumbled upon any interesting characters back at the Ashina Outskirts. Keep talking to him, and he’ll tell you about a three-story Pagoda on the cliff. Before leaving, be sure to look for a small path at the edge to a bamboo grove where you can find a Bundled Jizo Statue.
Continue up main path where a Bandit waits with two more men with shields. These enemies are incredibly frustrating to deal with – and rarely show their faces unless giving a wary slash or charge – however the Shinobi Axe of the Monkey you found can be installed to cleave their shields in two – and instantly break their posture in the process.
While the river looks enticing and can be used as a shortcut – there’s something we need up ahead. Unfortunately the area is guarded by a few Bandits – one Archer by the bushes on the left – and a Shinobi Hunter.
Video Guide: Hirata Estate Bamboo Thicket Slope
This miniboss can be a very tough encounter – mainly because their nature allows them to hear you coming, making a stealth attacks fairly hard – especially with the Bandits in the area. You may want to try luring them towards the bridge with Ceramic Fragments and take the Archers from the bushes before trying to engage the Shinobi Hunter.
Shinobi Hunters carry a large spear, and will use it for all manner of thrusting attacks. This actually means you can turn the tables – provided you got the Mikiri Counter skill and practiced dodging into an upcoming thrust attack. However, be warned as timing incorrectly can be very bad for your health.
To make things worse, the Shinobi Hunter has a very long charge up attack that makes him run forward, and if you’re caught, he’ll skewer you up in the air and slam you down. Still, like his other thrusts – it can be dodged into at the last moment to deal immense posture damage, which is the key to winning this battle. Still, he employs more than just thrusts (which can include rapid jabs) and can also swing with the other haft end of his spear, and may even try to chain it into a perilous sweeping attack you’ll need to jump over.
If you can bait out enough of his thrusts and Mikiri counter them all, you can eventually take him out and gain a Prayer Bead for your troubles. Before moving onto the next area, be sure to look next to a hut on the upper ridge to find a Pellet, as well as a Mibu Possession Balloon by the now open gate.
Bamboo Thicket Slope[edit]
Past the Shinobi Hunter is the Bamboo Thicket Slope Sculptor’s Idol, and a long pathway where a Bandit with a torch patrols – and you can grapple up to a ridge on the left or hide in the bushes and take him out quietly. The path ahead has an Archer watching the road, so instead head up on the ridge that overlooks the river, and look to the right to spot another clearing to jump to, letting you bypass the Archer. From here you can jump up and take out the two sitting Bandits – but be careful if you try to ambush the lone Archer watching the road, as more Archers are waiting on the ridge above.
To deal with them, you can try grappling up right below the archers to ambush one and alert the nearby Bandits, then let them chase you back down out of range of the remaining Archers to pick them off. Once the Bandits are dead, leap back up to finish the rest of the Archers and grab the Oil nearby. When you go back to kill the first Archer, look for another ridge across the path that you can grapple to and find Dousing Powder in a small clearing.
Before heading to the bridge, admire the river below for a moment, you can swim upstream to the waterfall to find a Treasure Carp to kill for its Treasure Carp Scale, and then jump to a platform above to get Contact Medicine. Look to the right of the medicine and you can spot a hidden bamboo door covering a cave entrance – slash it aside and step in.
The cave leads to a narrow shaft you can use wall jump to get up onto a high ridge overlooking the waterfall and the bridge. More importantly, a path goes the other way leading to the three-tiered pagoda that the talkative bandit-who-will-turn-merchant spoke of.
Waiting for you atop the roof is an enemy Ninja in a purple cloak. This enemy is incredibly fast and dangerous – possibly too dangerous for you to take on at this stage in the game, as he’s able to use martial arts in wicked ways, including a perilous stabbing kick, and a perilous spinning sweep kick! With so many different running sword sweeps and kicks, it’s hard to accurately track his movements, so be ready for some really punishing combo attacks. Be extremely careful if he leaps into the air, as he’ll slam down with his foot with a powerful shockwave than can hit you even if you dodge nearby.
Thankfully, he only has the one health bar, but it will still take a lot more punishment than usual to take down, so make use of those Mikiri Counters for his thrust kick, or jumping down on his foot sweep to punish him. If his kicks are getting to confusing, back up and fight carefully, and don’t get trapped in his combo spinning kicks he loves so much.
Defeat him, and you can help yourself to the treasure in the pagoda. Actually, if he’s just too frustrating to deal with at this point, you can run around the pagoda to lose sight of him and open the door before he reaches you. The treasure inside is the Mist Raven’s Feather, a valuable object that can be made into a Prosthetic Tool. With the Mist Raven Prosthetic Tool, you can actually absorb an incoming attack and teleport in the direction you hold to gain the advantage of your opponent, so be sure to try it out!
Now back to the bridge leading to the main estate – a large Taro Troop Brute blocks the way with two Shield Bandits, and possibly an archer, making the approach a really great deathtrap. However, you can disorient the lead Brute by jumping off to the left to grapple to a nearby branch, then pop up behind the shield-users and ambush them quickly before finishing off the Brute. In a pinch, the Shield Bandits advance fairly slowly, so you can also bait out the Brute alone too. Be sure to pick up the Fistful of Ash before moving up the stairs.
At the entrance to the burning estate you will find everything on fire, and lying against a rock in the middle is your mentor and father, Owl. Speak to him, and heed his dying wish to take the Hidden Temple Key, where the young Lord Kuro is hiding. The way behind will burst into flame, so you must grapple up to the only tree still standing, then to the top of the tower not on fire. As a good rule of thumb, if it looks like it’s on fire, don’t jump into it or you’ll burn to death quickly. Instead, look back down the river for a number of lighted shrines along the cliff walls, and grapple between them down to the right where a path leads to a small house.
The other side of this building leads to a small graveyard and bamboo grove, where a couple of Bandits are patrolling and looking into a large cave. You can eavesdrop on them to learn that this is the only way into the main estate.
Be wary, as the two Bandits looking into the cave are guarded by two more Bandits – one with a shield via a path on the left, and an Archer stands against the back of the grove in support – so hug the left wall to take the Archer first, and then lure the others out.
Before heading into the cave, note an alternate path lead among the bamboo leading down a slope to two regular Shinobi Hunters. One will walk halfway up the slope, and you can backstab him on the way down, but must face the other head on.
They aren’t as durable as the Mini-boss, and only have one health bar, but they can still utilize many perilous thrust attacks, including one from behind if you try and dodge around them, so be extra cautious. Killing the second one will grant you a Bulging Coin Purse, and you can find a Mibu Balloon of Soul and Pellet in the back of the clearing. On the way back up the slope, look for a small hole on the right wall to duck into and find a Mibu Possession Balloon and alternate path back to the river.
Back at the cemetery, enter the cave and watch out for lurking Bandits on the right side. The path leads to a well you can wall jump up using consecutive wall jumps, and leads out to the burning estate.
Main Hall[edit]
Video Guide: Hirata Estate Main Hall and Audience Chamber
At the top of the well, look behind you to find some Oil by a building, and past it is the Main Hall Sculptor’s Idol. Many of the buildings and walls are on fire here – limiting your way forward, so hug the left wall until you can turn a corner going right to where a Bandit Archer waits.
The burning buildings give way to a large path with many Bandits patrolling the area, and you can grapple to the roof here to scope it out. A large pond separates the main hall, but fire prevents you from crossing it this early. Instead you’ll have to carefully engage the two Archers, two torch-wielding Bandits, and one axe-wielder.
To make matters worse, two more Bandits may hear the commotion from inside the long building and come out to fight. Otherwise, you can head in afterwards to grab several Spirit Emblems, and loot a Dousing Powder in the nearest room by a suit of armor, and Divine Confetti in the next room – but watch that a Bandit isn’t waiting in the hall on the other side. With this area clear, cross into the pond and find a Ceramic Shard on a small island.
Mini-boss – Juzou the Drunkard[edit]
This enemy is a fairly intimidating foe, to say nothing of the Bandit force that guards him. Because of this, a frontal assault is pretty unwise, but you can perform some hit-and-run tactics on his friends, though you’ll need to be careful to ensure when you finally face Juzou alone you are still in fighting form.
Note that you can also find a man by the pond’s edge that offers to help in battle – but he’ll rush in madly to attack and almost always gets himself killed thanks to Juzou’s poison attacks, but at the very least he can serve as a distraction – though you may want to wait until the battle is going your way before asking him to help clean things up.
If opting for the stealth route, head to the far side of the pond and enter the nearest building, noting that you can sneak under the porch if need be. There’s a Light Coin Purse in the room as well as a Bandit, with another waiting in the hall outside – but remember that you can toss a Ceramic Shard from behind a wall to lure an enemy to your location.
With the two enemies in the wing gone, you can sneak along the hall to where Juzou and his henchmen wait – but from here you’ll have to employ hit and run attacks to quickly kill an enemy or two – and then running away while they search the area. You can also try leading Juzou away from his men to a secluded area, but just be careful you don’t accidentally drag the fight to his friends.
When facing Juzou, you’ll find that he has a penchant for taking large swigs of poisonous swill and spitting it all over his blade to infuse it – or he may just projectile spit large bursts at you – so for this reason you’ll want to have Antidote Powder on hand. Still, he becomes vulnerable in the moment he takes a swig or sprays his blade, so make use of this to get some damage in.
Juzou also likes to fight by using sumo-style moves, including powerful palm strike attacks and leg drop attack if he manages to hit you on the upward kick first. He also swings his incredibly long sword with power – and may use two hands for a powerful downward swing.
Otherwise he likes to perform long sweeping strikes, including a low perilous sweep you’ll have to jump over. If he puts his palm back, beware of either two quick attacks, or one giant one, and if he pulls both hands back, he’ll attempt a very powerful grab.
Since almost all of his attacks deal high posture damage due to his size, you’ll want to be careful trading blows – it may be best to get a few hits in between his combos or poison swigging, then back off and wait for your posture to go down, while slowly chipping at his health.
When you get him down to one health bar left, it may also be a good time to summon your friend nearby if you haven’t. This way, you should have only one enemy for Insouke to fight against, and the second Juzou focuses his attention on this newcomer, you can unleash constant attacks on his back to rack up posture damage and finish him quickly – and also ensuring the survival of your companion.
When Juzou goes down, he’ll drop Unrefined Sake and a Prayer Bead. Sadly, you don’t really get a reward for keeping Insouke alive. Now with Juzou dead, the entrance to the main building is now available to you.
Audience Chamber[edit]
Step carefully inside, in these darkened halls there are still Bandits lurking about: an Archer and other Bandit are at the end of the hallway, and will start alternating patrols as you get near. In the room on the left you can find Dousing Powder, and the room beyond holds a Pellet. Be sure to also check the end of the left hall the Bandits were in to find Oil by a dead end… or is it?
Look at the wall at the end of the passage with a painting and hug the wall to reveal a Secret Shinobi Revolving Door, which leads to a secret room! Inside here are many untouched spoils, including a Mibu Balloon of Wealth and Light Coin Purse. Head down the hall to the left to find a room with Divine Confetti, and a large screen on the other side of the room that hides a chest you can open to find a Prayer Bead!
Since that path is a dead end, go through the large rooms on the right past the bodies and looted chests to spot the Audience Chamber Sculptor’s Idol, as well as Mibu Balloon of Soul in the nearby room, and a crying woman – the Timid Maid that eventually gives you the Young Lord’s Bell Charm. She passes on a mysterious vision she saw, and begs you to help her son and find Lord Kuro deeper into the mansion.
As you move down the long outdoor hallway, an Archer will appear at the other end to try and pin you down. You can try and dodge the incoming arrows, or just dip behind a wall and let him come investigate before surprising him.
Just past the Archer is the eternally wounded Inosuke Nogami, who warns you that the boss ahead uses illusions that cannot be overcome except by using Snap Seeds – and he’ll give you the one he has.
In the audience chamber, inspect the large tatami mat in the center of the room and move it aside to reveal a passage down into a tunnel leading to the Hidden Temple – you must use the Hidden Temple key to enter, so if you don’t have it, return to the Bamboo Thicket Slope and find Owl at the main hall entrance to get it.
Video Guide: Lady Butterfly Boss Battle
This fight will be an interesting one – as you’ll soon find out. Lady Butterfly appears to have but one health bar, but an immense rate of posture recovery. Because of this, you’re going to want to prioritize lowering her health until you see her posture bar turn red – allowing you to deal posture damage that won’t regenerate.
In battle, Lady Butterfly is a slippery opponent, she can loose a salvo of kunai at you from a distance in many different ways. If she charges up, she’ll unload several bursts while dashing back and forth around the room before getting extremely close for a melee attack.
She’ll also make use of invisible wires as platforms to jump between, often before throwing Kunai, or jumping down to attack – including a perilous leg grab strike from above that will deal major damage. When in close range, she’ll alternate between knife strikes and multiple kicks that can end with a powerful downward axe kick that can deal lots of posture damage (she can also do this from the air). Also beware of a running perilous sweep attack – but it can be jumped over.
Given Lady Butterfly’s knack for hopping around in the air, you can cancel her flight with well-timed shuriken attacks that deal damage and posture, and if she isn’t able to block them (especially when jumping or preparing a perilous attack) she’ll immediately crash to the ground and become vulnerable.
Once her health has fallen to at least halfway, it’s time to rack up that posture damage, and shut her down with shuriken whenever she takes to the air. Be sure to accurately block through her close range strikes and then apply some of your own, and she’ll soon fall to a Deathblow.
However this is not the end of Lady Butterfly. As you were warned earlier, she employs illusion techniques, and her body will vanish as several small shadowy creatures appear on all sides with various weapons – including spears that can stab with perilous strikes.
At this point, engaging them isn’t much worth it – so you have two options: Run and avoid them at all costs (while also watching for her kunai projectiles), or use a Snap Seed to immediately dispel those around you. Unfortunately, you may not have many Snap Seeds to work with, other than the one given to you earlier. If you’ve explored Ashina Outskirts, you can find five more in the valley with the Great Serpent.
After a short while, Lady Butterfly will snap her fingers and dispel the spirits into butterflies that will all gather above en masse before flying down at you – so start sprinting around the room to avoid them. After this, you can start engaging her for round two.
This time, she’ll summon small groups of blazing butterflies before many of her attacks that will shoot out towards you like projectiles, meaning you have a new threat to avoid at all costs while also finding opening to strike. Make sure to dodge the salvos first before trying to counter attack. Shuriken attacks still work while she jumps around – but beware, because she’ll routinely bring back the illusions to haunt you from time to time. She also will prepare a much longer kicking combo attack that can be difficult to block effectively, but can rack up posture damage if you can time most of the deflections. This attack always ends with a sweeping strike, so be ready to jump forward and down on her to deal even more posture damage.
Take your time with this battle, and don’t worry about letting her posture reset early when the illusions come in – you’ll have your chance to make it stick when she gets lower on health, and then capitalize with shuriken shots when she tries to jump in the air.
When she finally loses all of her posture a final time, go for the Deathblow, and follow up with a Shinobi Execution to defeat Lady Butterfly. This will earn you the Memory: Lady Butterfly, as well as a Sakura Droplet that can give you one additional resurrection, but it appears only the young lord can utilize it.
After the battle, the memory of that forgotten night at the Hirata Estate concludes with a dramatic twists, and another clue to the Wolf’s power is revealed. The Wolf will reawaken back at the Dilapidated Temple, and you can speak to the Sculptor to talk about what you just witnessed. Even though the memory is concluded, you can still go back to the Hirata Estate at any time to keep searching for items or buy things from the Noble Pot merchant.
Remember that you also got some Unrefined Sake from Juzou, and you can share it with the Sculptor to get a bit of good ol’ storytime.
If you haven’t completed the Ashina Outskirts, now would be the time to continue that quest – otherwise, the Ashina Castle awaits.
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