Himeji Castle is an iconic landmark in Japan, and its impressive scale means it’s not the easiest to infiltrate inAssassin’s Creed Shadows. While there are plenty of rooftops to run along as Naoe, making it frequently easy to avoid engagement, tracking down all five samurai daisho stationed inside can be challenging. This process should be a lot faster with a careful Naoe run than with a large-scale Yasuke brawl, but either can work.
If you do work your way through the entirety of Himeji Castle, you’ll be rewarded with somelegendaryAssassin’s Creed Shadowsarmorand its associated engraving along with a healthy chunk of XP. You’ll have to work your way through a more controlled infiltration of the castle for a main story quest, so if you’re in no rush to clear out the location, waiting to get a feel for it first through the story mission can make taking on the complete endeavor less intimidating.
Himeji Castle Location
Southwest Corner Of Harima
Himeji Castle can be found in the Harima regionin the southwest corner of theAssassin’s Creed Shadowsmap, close to the southern coast. It’s not too far from the starting region of Izumi Settsu, but you’ll be better off waiting to hit the region until Naoe and Yasuke are closing in on level 30. Once you are, you can head west from familiar locations like Amagasaki and Takatsuki to eventually end up in its vicinity.
All Samurai Daisho Locations In Himeji Castle
All Around The Perimeter
Approaching Himeji Castle from the south, you can find a couple of easy ways to scale the walls to the left of the main entrance. From here, you can work your way up into and along the western wing of the castle, where you’ll find thefirst samurai daisho in a courtyard filled with explosive barrels. Thanks to the convenient set decoration, this daisho should be particularly easy to eliminate.
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Continuing to move along the rooftops of the outer wall, you can make your way to thenortheast corner of the castle, where you’ll find the second samurai daisho standing among some banners. With the right gear, you should be able to get an easy drop assassination on this one before moving on.
At this stage in the game, the assassin robes that you can acquire from Naoe’s personal quests are some of your strongest options for stealthy infiltrations.
Next, you can hit the southeastern end of the castle.Directly to the west of the pond in the southeastern area, you can find the third samurai daishoin the vicinity of the nearby building. If this one needs more than one assassination to kill him, you can disengage and loop back fairly easily.
With the perimeter taken care of, you canmove north to find the fourth samurai daisho on a red wooden bridge. This is a beefy one, so ifguaranteed assassination is off, you’ll need a good set of assassination-focused gear to take him down in one blow. If you can’t, he’s isolated enough to make finishing the fight in the open relatively safe as long as you attack from behind.
Thefifth samurai daisho is located near the top of the central tenshu towerwith the viewpoint. I wasn’t able to spot this one with eagle vision while exploring, but he’s easy to find once you know where to look. Head there along the rooftops and climb the exterior of the building to drop in through the hatch in the roof. Dropping down another floor, you’ll find the samurai daisho with his back to you, making for another easy assassination.
Legendary Chest Location In Himeji Castle
Check Inside The Tenshu
Himeji Castle’s legendary chest is located a few more floors down. Two guards are located in the same room as the chest, so your fastest path to the treasure will be drop assassinating one of them from a couple floors up and fighting the other. The legendary chest contains the following:
The Defense Master Clothing and associated engraving reward Yasuke for successful parries byrestoring 10% health every time he manages a parry. If you’re a fan of aSekiro-style approach to timing, this is a strong option, but you might be better off with alternatives if you tend to dodge more than parry.
Other Rewards In Himeji Castle
The Kura Key Is Easy To Find
It’s possible to manage all of Himeji Castle’s daisho without running into too much other loot, but you may make some stops along the way to pick up chests and resources. One mid-sized chest found on the southern end of the castle is definitely worth grabbing, as you can find it in a building right after you enter from this side. Another can be grabbed easily on the eastern wall as you loop your way back around later, and thoroughly exploring the tenshu will yield some additional chests.
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Miki Castle has a nice piece of legendary gear inside, but you might want to know how to track down and eliminate each samurai daisho first.
Beyond these ones, picking up other minor chests will depend on whether you want to jump down from the walls and make your way through buildings in riskier areas. If you want to hit the storage sheds, you’llfind the kura key in a guarded nook right next to the central tenshuentrance. This will also open double doors in the basement of the tenshu, where you’re able to find a mother lode of resources and a chest, giving you plenty to smuggle before you exit Himeji Castle and continue on your journey throughAssassin’s Creed Shadows.
