Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice best skills

Sekiro’s skill system is FromSoftware’s deepest yet, with certain powerful abilities changing up the way you tackle engagements with almost every foe. Here are our picks of the best skills in Sekiro that we’ve used so far.

You gain skill points by gaining experience from defeating enemies. You lose half of your experience when you die, but once you fill the bar and gain a skill point it’s yours to keep.

This means that skill points are precious, and you want to get the most out of each one.

If you’ve got a few Skill Points burning a hole in the pocket of your shinobi shozoku, but have settled on a set-up that you like it might be wise to hold onto them. Completing the Dancing Dragon Mask out of the Mask Fragments you find throughout the world lets you trade Skill Points for attack boosts, which could really give you the edge in the late game.

Whirlwind Slash

One of the first combat art skills that you can acquire is Whirlwind Slash, a swirling sword strike that deals damage to enemies even if they’re guarding.

Even though it’s the first skill on the tree, don’t be fooled, it’s one of the best pick-ups you can make. Not only does it have good reach and hit multiple enemies, but the damage it deals through guard makes it one of – if not the – cheesiest moves in the game.

It’s incredible at whittling down mini-bosses who block all of your hits and finishing off enemies with a sliver of health left – an invaluable tool in your arsenal.

Mikiri Counter

Anything that lets you deal with attacks that are usually unblockable is very powerful, which makes Mikiri Counter an essential pick-up.

This lets you turn enemies’ unblockable thrusts against them to deal big posture damage. It’s finicky to pull off, but can turn the tide of battle quickly when used correctly.

Chasing Slice

Chasing Slice is most commonly used in conjunction with your Loaded Shuriken to close a lot of distance quickly.

A quick shuriken throw can be used to interrupt an enemy’s combo, then you can Chasing Slice to retaliate and punish their opening.

Fang and Blade

Fang and Blade let you play like you’re a mini-boss yourself. It adds a second powerful attack to your Shinobi Axe which tends to break through enemies’ guards and is uninterruptible. An uninterruptible attack is awesome for trading health with foes that are just about to go down – especially mini-bosses or fast enemies that you want to finish sooner rather than later

It’s also a great weapon for dealing heavy posture damage to tough boss enemies.

Suppress Presence

While you’re moving around in Sekiro, things are a lot easier without every Tom, Dick, and Harry running over to cave your head in at every opportunity.

This isn’t going to turn you into a ghost, but really helps to isolate groups of enemies and take them out without aggroing the whole group.

Breath of Life: Light

Often, Sekiro can turn into a bit of a war of attrition as you finally succumb to chip damage between checkpoints.

The Breath of Life: Light skill returns a chunk of vitality to your health bar when you perform a deathblow. Yep, health back when you kill enemies, when you stealth them, when you break their posture, everything – it’s great.

Not only is this great during basic areas, but the small boost you get between rounds against enemies with multiple health bars can prove invaluable.