Ghost of Tsushima: Legends

Techniques: 4-3-1/4

This build allows you to have your ultimate very often – great for damage and teleporting around for speed or certain skips. It also has the maximum Blast Radius, which makes Bomb Jumps much more forgiving. If you like, you could swap the Melee Charm to a Defence Charm for even more Injured Resolve Gain – you can get resolve by throwing Black Powder Bombs at your feet if you have spares! A Smoke Bomb can also be an excellent choice.

Techniques: 4-4-1/4

This is a basic template for Story speedrunning, as well as general Story gameplay. It makes use of the Blowgun’s strong damage at range and the speed of the Assassin’s ultimate to enable very quick and efficient clearing. Different missions and modifiers may require slight changes to the build, especially when speedrunning. Heaven’s Sting, Restorative Rhythm and the Mist of Yagata may see some use, the former for attuned Mongols and the latter two to combat the damage that the tethering variant of Gyozen’s Curse may cause. Minor stat changes may also be beneficial – it’s best to check out what top Story players have used!

Techniques: 1/3-4-1/4

This build is well-suited to Rivals maps that have attuned non-Oni enemies – you have a chance to kill them without the attunement via Heaven’s String. The status focus is also ideal for Rivals, and your darts will be very impactful. The Assassin’s ultimate is also very handy for moving around and dealing damage quickly.

Leaderboard speedrun

Techniques: 4-3-4

A build focused leaderboard speedrunning in Nightmare Survival. Although Assassin isn’t very common at the highest level of NMSV speedrunning, you can still perform quite well with it. Very high damage overall, requires you to be able to avoid damage well.

Leaderboard speedrun 2

Techniques: 4-3-4

An alternate version of the build above, with a Smoke Bomb.

General Bomb Assassin

Techniques: 4-3-4

A build focused around killing enemy spawns very quickly with Black Powder Bombs. It places a lot more emphasis on killing quickly than cooldown sustainability.

Poison Assassin

Techniques: 1/3-4-4

This is a template for a build that revolves around using Toxic Vanish to lower large groups of enemies so that you can finish them off with your Spirit Kunai. It has great sustainability with the cooldown reduction of the Spirit Kunai, but requires some careful strategy to use well at higher difficulties. The high Ghost Weapon Damage will help you secure your Spirit Kunai kills more easily, though it can still be tough when playing with a matchmade group. You also have plenty of single-target damage from your ultimate and Blowgun. Stealth Attack Damage will help you secure your assassinations for Chain Vanish. You may want to work some healing in – the Mist of Yagata is a good option.

Toxic Vanish Bombs

Techniques: 4-4-4

A variant of the build above, but with Black Powder Bombs as another source of group damage and caltrops to increase our damage even more. We lose some single target DPS and safety compare to the blowgun/smoke variant, but in return we have better sustain and AoE damage because of Forbidden Medicine/caltrops

Hybrid Stealth/Melee

Techniques: 1-4-1/4

Jack of all trades, or just good at everything? Great hybrid build with stealth attacks, melee, poison and strong ultimate. Legendary is not necessary in this setup, you can pick whatever you like.
Damage numbers:
80% stealth attack damage
36% melee damage
56% ultimate damage
18% status damage
On top of all 20% Oni damage

Overall a great and versatile build for all kinds of playstyles.

Ultimate Melee

Techniques: 4-4-1/4

A variant of the build above, but more focused around melee combat. flash stuns for some resolve and great with follow-up melee attacks, Demon Seeds for weaken effects and more duration. On top Masamunes Edge to increase your melee and ultimate damage.

Ultimate Resolve

Techniques: 4-3-1

A very interesting build that has lots of resolve generation with flash, concussion and sticky bombs in combo with maximum blast radius. Caltrops for the extra status effect duration, stagger and deep bags for another 1 -1.5 resolve bars. Build is very safe with flash stuns 30% duration and great sustain with Forbidden Medicine/refreshing vanish.
With the right timing you can easily hit double ultimate’s.

Stealth Assassin

Techniques: 2/1-2/3/4-2/4

A full stealth build. Definitely not meta, but it has lots of synergy and can be very, very fun. Techniques-wise, Super Strike + Chain Vanish or Critical Hit + Overshadowed would be good pairings. You have lots of freedom with the second row, with the choice between more Stealth Attack Damage to staggered targets, great cooldown reduction from Deft Hands or some health damage with your Blowgun.

Melee Striker

Techniques: 4-4-3

A great build for players that enjoy straight-up melee combat. Lots to offer, with powerful status effects, great resolve generation and plenty of melee boosts. Again, off-meta, but highly enjoyable.

Toxic Striker

Techniques: 4-4-3

Offmeta Toxic vanish build, high risk high reward, very tactical build that revolves around staggered targets and Stone Striker double damage Heavenly Strikes. Build is focused around damage and duration to get enemies staggered for a longer time, means we can make good use of the 40% damage increase from all source.

Art of Sarugami

Techniques: 4-4-4

Yet another off-meta delight! Great crowd control (Intimidating Counter, Blowgun stagger damage, Glare, Kunai and Caltrops) and good damage output against groups (everything) and single targets (counter attacks, Blowgun, Overshadowed). Super strong status effects, be it poison, fire or blinding.

Lightning Striker

Techniques: 4-3-3

You guessed it – more off-meta shenanigans! Loads of fire damage, excellent group killing and cooldown refreshing potential with Black Powder Bombs and the Spirit Kunai, Stone Striker-like damage with Masamune’s Edge + Heavenly Rebuke. A recipe for fiery fun!

Utility Assassin

Techniques: 4-4-1/4

A great melee/ultimate-focused build that is very safe, with great resolve generation and group damage from the Sticky Bomb with maximum blast radius, resolve, stuns and healing from Flash Forbidden Medicine and massive single-target damage (or, potentially, multi-target damage, especially with the 5-hit option) from your ultimate. Be sure to make good use of “double ulting” with this one! Make sure you have a full 4 resolve, then throw a Sticky and a Flash (or a Sticky and 2-3 Concussions) into a large group and use your ultimate before they hit the enemies – if done correctly, you’ll have a second ultimate right after your first! Once again, the Blowgun, Bomb Pack/Forbidden Medicine and the Weightless Spirit are all viable picks as damage/resolve tools. You can also swap the Sticky Bomb for Kunai.

Sustain Toxic Vanish

Techniques: 4-4-4

A classic Toxic Vanish + Spirit Kunai setup, this time more suited to Hellmode with an organised group. Great group damage and cooldown sustainability from Toxic + Chain Vanish and Spirit Kunai, amazing single-target damage from the Blowgun and Overshadowed.

The Weightless Assassin

Techniques: 4-4-1

A build focused entirely around the melee/ultimate playstyle. Very quick resolve generation with the Weightless Spirit (can farm from Disciples and enemies that are far away, too), and an incredibly safe and impactful ultimate that can kill basic Oni Archers in a single strike, even without Masamune’s Edge activating – 1 Kunai + 1 ult strike also kills a Tengu! As with the other melee/ultimate builds, the Blowgun, Bomb Pack/Forbidden Medicine and the Weightless Spirit are all viable ranged weapon choices. You can also swap the Kunai for a Sticky Bomb, if you like!

Cooldown Assassin

Techniques: 4-4-4

The Toxic Vanish + Spirit Kunai setup, this time more suited to solo play. The same benefits as above, but without the Ghost Weapon or Stealth Attack Damage – no chance of your Vanish or Spirit Kunai setups being spoiled by teammates! Cooldown Reduction on Kill is a very nice bonus, as you will only need 2 kills to refresh your Spirit Kunai.