Water Stance

**Water Stance** is the second stance that becomes available to Jin Sakai in *Ghost of Tsushima*, attained after Jin observes and/or kills three Mongolian Leaders . A solid stance with a mixture of elegant and swift swings, it specializes in overpowering enemies with burst damage by performing a flurry of strikes with its held Heavy Attack, especially to enemies with shields.

This stance is effective against all shield-bearing enemies, which ranges from the normal Mongolian Shieldmen to the Mongolian Brutes who carry a tower shield.

## Acquisition

Water Stance becomes available to the player after observing and/or killing Mongol Leaders, located at camps marked as Mongol territory, a total of three (3) times.

Observing counts separate from killing; observe a Leader by approaching nearby them without being detected, and once there is line of sight, press  when prompted. As a result, it is possible to get the Stance with only two (2) Mongol Leaders, and shouldn't take anymore than killing three (3) Mongol Leaders to attain Water Stance.

The player can switch to Water Stance by holding  then pressing .

## Basic Moveset

During Water Stance, Jin will hold his katana above his head horizontally in his right hand, facing towards his left.

The Water Stance's Heavy Attack chain, **Shieldbreaker**, consists of two elegant slashes that swing upwards in a diagonal, with the third strike being a firm overhead cut down the middle.

The Water Stance's held Heavy Attack, **Flurry Strike**, involves Jin holding his katana down to his left side, pointed with the palm facing slightly upwards. When released, he will unleash three swift strikes smoothly, the first two cutting from the lower left to the upper right then back to the lower left, followed by a horizontal strike from left to right. As a result, Flurry Strike deals a high rate of damage in a small amount of time, easily breaking the guard of a Shieldman and killing enemies who are open from being Staggered.

## Upgrades

Upgrades to Water Stance focus on improving Flurry Strike, first by increasing how many times Jin will swing during the chain, later increasing how much damage each strike deals on consecutive hits.

### Flowing Strikes

Flowing Strikes allows the player to perform an additional strike during Flurry Strike that goes from the bottom right to the top left, modifying the combo to become  (hold)   . This allows players to perform a torrent of strikes upon their enemy, dishing out even more damage in one attempt.

Flowing Strikes requires 1 Technique point.

### Strength of Tides

Strength of Tides increases how much Stagger damage Jin deals to shieldmen with any of the Water Stance's Heavy Attack moves.

Strength of Tides requires 1 Technique point and Flowing Strikes to be unlocked.

### Surging Strikes

Surging Strikes allows the player to perform one more strike during Flurry Strike that goes from the top left to the bottom right, modifying the combo to become  (hold)    . This allows players to perform a flood of strikes upon their enemy, easily dealing high amounts of damage and even Staggering Shieldmen from 100 to 0.

Surging Strikes requires 1 Technique point and the previous abilities to be unlocked.

### Downpour

Downpour increases the damage dealt by Flurry Strike, where for every strike that lands, the next strike will deal more damage. This allows Jin to be rewarded for hitting enemies with all five strikes of Flurry Strike.

Downpour requires 2 Technique points and the previous abilities to be unlocked.

## Trivia

* The stance that Jin assumes during Water Stance can be assumed to be a modification of existing stances in Japanese traditional martial arts, being a likely mix of the Jodan-no-Kamae (上段の構え; *joudan no kamae*; lit. "upper level stance") and the Kasumi-no-Kamae (霞の構え; lit. "haze stance"), where the blade is above his head but is held horizontally. However, instead of holding his katana with both hands, Jin holds it only with his right hand.
* Each of the four main stance symbols are meant to represent the button they are mapped to.
	+ The Water Stance is mapped to the  button, and is represented by a circular shield.