Ghost Stance

**Ghost stance** is a unique stance that Jin Sakai made that becomes available to Jin Sakai in *Ghost of Tsushima*, representing the terrifying "aura" of the Ghost.

## Acquisition

There is no stance requirement, as this stance is unlocked once Jin wins his duel with General Temuge during "*The Ghost of Yarikawa*" story mission; as a result, Jin will attain this stance regardless of how many stances he has thus far. This story mission gives the tutorial for the Ghost Stance.

However, for most players, Players will likely have unlocked all four basic stances, making Ghost stance the supposed fifth and final stance Jin gains access to.

## Stance Mechanics

Unlike the normal stances available to Jin, Ghost Stance is a limited stance, both in how he can access and how long he can hold it.

### Entering the Stance

Instead of accessing the stance through the  menu, Jin has to fulfill one of two prerequisites:

* Kill seven (7) total enemy units without being damaged by an enemy. This will be displayed as a kill counter around the Stance icon in the bottom right.
	+ Wild animals, such as Bears, and enemy dogs will count as an enemy unit. Falcons will not count.
	+ Enemies who are terrified will not count towards the kill counter, unless killed while in the beginning of their fleeing animation.
* Assassinate a Mongolian Leader. Players will know this has been fulfilled as Jin will behead the Leader. This will fully fill up the kill counter.

If Jin is hit by any attack from an enemy (including bashes), the kill counter will fully reset. Being damaged by the environment (fire, fall damage, etc) will not affect the kill counter.

Once the kill counter is fully filled, the Stance icon will flash, replacing the current Stance's icon with an icon of the Ghost's mask. It will show a tooltip to press " + " to activate the stance. As mentioned above, if Jin takes damage even when the kill counter is full, the kill counter will reset and these elements will disappear.

### During the Stance

Upon activating Ghost stance, Jin will hold a special stance while the screen turns black and white as dramatic music plays. All enemies will stop attacking Jin, while those nearby will stand in fear. As a result, these nearby enemies will be fully disarmed, open to an attack from Jin.

Jin will not have access to any of his special skills, instead attacking with either  or  (including jump +  or  to perform a slash or kick, respectively, from the jump) to perform unblockable attacks. If any of these attacks (excluding the kick) connect with an enemy, Jin will perform two slashes on the enemy, executing them no matter how much health they may have. Each instance of killing an enemy during Ghost stance has a chance of terrifying nearby enemies.

If activated during a Duel, Ghost stance will instead allow Jin to perform up to three unblockable attacks, each dealing high amounts of health and stagger damage. Typically, two strikes from Ghost stance will fully stagger the enemy. Just like in the open world battles, dueling enemies will also not attack Jin while Ghost stance is on.

Jin can kill up to three (3) enemies (or performing three strikes during a Duel) before Ghost stance deactivates. Upon killing an enemy while there are no nearby enemies, Ghost stance will also prematurely end. As a result, Ghost stance can be held almost indefinitely as long as Jin remains in combat and nearby enemies.

Just like the Mythic techniques Dance of Wrath and Heavenly Strike, activating Ghost stance when there are no enemies around will not consume the kill counter. It will also automatically deactivate the stance after performing the activation animation.

## Upgrades

Ghost Stance does not have any upgrade options in the Techniques menu. However, there are ways it can be modified: one through armor, another through a Charm.

Equipping the Ghost Armor reduces the amount of kills needed to activate Ghost Stance. Without upgrades, the Ghost Armor will reduce the prerequisite down to 6. When upgraded to level 3, this will be further reduced to 5.

In New Game+, the Charm called "the Charm of Ghostly Fury" can be purchased from Baku the Voiceless, which will modify Ghost Stance. With the Charm equipped, being damaged by an enemy will no longer completely reset the kill counter. Instead, each instance of damage will simply reduce the counter by one. Additionally, the Charm allows Jin to attack one more enemy during Ghost Stance, up to four (4) enemies or four strikes during a Duel.