Ghost of Tsushima: How to Beat the Lord Shimura Final Boss Fight
The duel with your uncle, Lord Shimura, is a heartfelt conclusion to Ghost of Tsushima's story. We'll show you how to claim victory here.
The finale of Ghost of Tsushima sees the Ghost fight Lord Shimura in a climactic duel with honor and survival on the line. We'll show you how to beat the Lord Shimura final boss fight in our guide below, as well as what tips and strategies you can use to beat the jito of Tsushima.
On this page:
- How to Beat the Lord Shimura Final Boss Fight in Ghost of Tsushima
- Lord Shimura Tips and Strategy
- Lord Shimura Rewards
How to Beat the Lord Shimura Final Boss Fight in Ghost of Tsushima
To beat the Lord Shimura final boss fight in Ghost of Tsushima you'll need to be incredibly adaptable and have your reflexes on point, as Shimura is quick and often changes his attack patterns on the fly to be more unpredictable. That being said, there are certain patterns and weaknesses in Lord Shimura's technique that we've laid out below.
Lord Shimura Tips and Strategy
- Unlike in most fights, you can't change or choose your armor going in. Whatever you were wearing, Jin swaps to the Ronin Attire before the fight (presumably because it'll look more cinematic) and it won't let you wear anything else.
- Shimura's attacks do huge damage and he's very agile, able to dodge and parry all but the fastest attacks. He doesn't have a lot of health though, and your best strategy is to chip away at him with quick attacks and counterattacks.
- Shimura's stagger resistance is incredibly high, and when staggered he's barely stopped for an instant before recuperating. Unless you can pull off multiple perfect parries in quick succession, there's no way to stagger him, and even if you can, it won't help much. Focusing on this tactic won't help you much.
- Shimura's attack patterns change over time, each basic combo becoming longer as you damage him more and more. By the end of the fight, he'll have gone from single slashes or stabs to four-hit combos that include both parryable and unblockable attacks.
- For the reason above, you'll want to counterattack as early in the combo as possible to minimize the chance of getting hit by an attack you're not used to.
- Shimura's most dangerous attack is one where he holds his sword above his hand in an arc, his other hand holding the end of the blade as though to support its weight. This is followed by an incredibly fast unblockable downwards swing, giving you only scant seconds to dodge. All you need to do is take a single hop back with the Circle button, but the window between the animation starting and the attack landing is minimal.
- When Shimura draws his right arm back for a stab, be careful. The window of time to parry this attack is very small, and Shimura often changes how long he'll hold his arm there to throw you off.
- If you're fast, you can hit him in the wind-up to attacks and cancel the whole thing. It's very difficult, but can do a lot if you know when to strike.
- You don't actually need to get rid of all his health to win the fight. Once he has about an eighth of it remaining, it'll automatically transfer to a cinematic wherein you land a finishing blow the end the battle.
If you want all the guides you'd ever need on Ghost of Tsushima, why not check out our full Guides Hub here? Whether it's bosses, collectibles or getting the best armor and weapons, we've got everything you'll need to liberate Tsushima here.
Lord Shimura Rewards
For defeating Lord Shimura and completing the game you'll get the Mono No Aware trophy, as well as a choice that determines which of two rewards you receive. We've laid out the choice and which option you should pick here.
After all that emotion, you might want something a little more sedate. Fortunately, our Ghost of Tsushima content is here to provide. Mike's review of the game can be found here, or check out one of the game's cutest hidden features right here.