Last updated: 13 September 2026

Ghost of Yōtei Boss Guide How to Beat the Yōtei Six & Lord Saito

Every named boss in Ghost of Yōtei's main story belongs to the Yōtei Six — the band responsible for slaughtering Atsu's family and leaving her for dead. Unlike Sucker Punch's earlier Ghost of Tsushima, these fights lean harder into weapon-alignment puzzles: each duelist favors specific weapons, and switching to the correct counter on the fly matters more than raw button skill. This guide walks through every Yōtei Six member — The Snake, The Oni, The Kitsune (Oyuki and Dojun), The Spider and The Dragon (the Saito brothers), and Lord Saito himself — with the weapon counters and attack patterns that actually work.

01Who Are the Yōtei Six?

The Yōtei Six are the group of warriors Atsu has sworn to kill in vengeance for her family's murder. Across the prologue and three main story chapters you track down and duel each of them in turn: The Snake, The Oni, The Kitsune, The Spider, The Dragon, and Lord Saito, who leads the group and closes out the story as its final boss.

The game does not lock you into a fixed order — after the prologue, most of the Six can be pursued in whatever sequence you find their leads. That said, The Snake always comes first as a scripted introduction to dueling, and Lord Saito is always last, since finding him is the story's final revelation.

Every duel in this list is a stagger-based sword fight: you build up a boss's stagger meter through clean hits, parries, and the right weapon matchup, then land a finishing strike once they're staggered. Watch each boss's weapon rather than memorizing a single combo — the counters below are matchups, not universal tricks.

02The Snake

The Snake is the prologue duel and exists mainly to teach the game's parry timing before the story properly begins.

• When you fight him: During the prologue, before Atsu sets out on her main journey.
• Strategy: Focus on perfect parries — press the parry input at the exact moment his blade connects rather than early. After a successful parry, punish immediately with a quick counter-strike before he recovers.
• Difficulty: Low. The fight is intentionally forgiving so you can learn the parry window without much risk.

03The Oni

The Oni is fought inside Ishikari Castle after Atsu fights her way through the castle's raiders and reaches its throne room. He wields a single Odachi throughout the entire fight.

• Location: Ishikari Castle, in a private chamber reached after clearing the castle's outer defenses.
• Weapon counter: Use a single Katana. Matching his one-handed alignment lets your hits and parries deal extra stagger damage compared to using dual weapons.
• Fire attacks: One of his glinting attacks leaves a trail of fire on the ground. Don't try to punish it directly — back off and wait for the flames to die out before re-engaging, or you'll take ongoing burn damage.
• If you catch fire: Roll to extinguish yourself, or equip fire-resistant armor beforehand if you're struggling with the burn damage over multiple attempts.
• Fast attacks: His quickest glinting strikes come out too fast to safely punish with a disarm attempt — dodge these rather than trying to counter them.

04The Kitsune (Oyuki & Dojun)

The Kitsune isn't a single duelist — the tale culminates in a fight against Dojun, after a questline involving Oyuki that builds toward the confrontation. Dojun alternates between two very different weapon states mid-fight, which makes this one of the more technical duels in the Yōtei Six.

• Weapon counter — Kusarigama stance: When Dojun is using the Kusarigama (sickle and chain) and trying to keep his distance, switch to the Yari. Its reach lets you keep poking him without closing into his chain's range.
• Weapon counter — Katana and Shield stance: The moment he switches to Katana and Shield, swap to the Kusarigama yourself — it deals bonus stagger damage against shielded opponents and is the fastest way to crack his guard.
• Play defensively: You build his stagger meter through blocking and parrying, not just attacking — hold back and only commit to strikes once he's visibly staggered.
• Smoke bombs: Dojun throws smoke bombs that obscure your view of him. Use your tracking sense the moment the smoke appears so you don't lose him and eat a blind hit.
• Ranged attacks: Some of his Kusarigama attacks reach further than they look and cannot be parried — staying close cuts down on how often he can use them.

05The Spider & The Dragon (The Saito Brothers)

The Spider and The Dragon are brothers — Lord Saito's sons — but despite sharing a chapter, you don't fight them as a single joint boss. The Spider goes down first in his own standalone duel earlier in the questline; The Dragon is the real climax, fought alone at Matsumae Castle while The Spider only snipes from a distance.

• The Spider (first duel): Fought solo at the Tamura Estate earlier in the Saito Brothers questline. This is also where you unlock the Ghost Stance — a stance that lets you kill-streak multiple enemies and land unblockable attacks — worth using here to close the duel out quickly.
• Location (Dragon fight): Matsumae Castle, after Saito's forces stage The Spider's public execution as bait and The Dragon reveals himself to save him.
• The Dragon: Cycles between Katana, Yari, and pistol. He signals an incoming shot from his brother with a visible tell right before it happens — use that tell to time a dodge for The Spider's sniper shot as well as The Dragon's own follow-up gunfire.
• Weapon counter: Focus on parrying the Dragon's opening strike in each combo, which is noticeably slower than his follow-ups, then simply block the faster hits that come after. Once he switches to the Yari, swap to Dual Katanas to build stagger quickly.
• Positioning: The Dragon's combos tend to push you backward. Keep your back toward the center of the arena so you always have room to dodge rather than getting cornered.
• Unblockable openers: Spirit techniques like Heavenly Slash punch through his guard and are worth saving for when he's between weapon switches.

06Lord Saito — Final Boss

Lord Saito is the leader of the Yōtei Six and the game's final boss, fought in two distinct phases that force you to keep re-adjusting your weapon choice.

• Phase 1 — weapon rotation: Saito cycles between the Odachi, Yari, and Kusarigama, avoiding the Katana entirely. Match each weapon with its counter and use perfect parries to interrupt his combos; if you don't have the right weapon equipped when he switches, disengage and dodge until he changes again rather than forcing a bad matchup.
• Phase transition: Once his health drops low enough, a cutscene plays and Saito commits to his Katana for the rest of the fight, restoring his health and gaining a Spirit meter that fuels special techniques.
• Phase 2 — the katana phase: With the fight now single-weapon, use whichever weapon you're most comfortable with — the Katana has no inherent alignment advantage here. Play defensively while he holds Spirit charge, since his techniques hit hard; only go aggressive once he's spent it.
• Pistol threat: Saito still uses a pistol at range in the second phase, so don't drift too far away or you'll eat free gunshots between sword exchanges.
• General approach: Prioritize dodging over parrying if you're making mistakes with timing — dodging is more forgiving, even though clean parries build your own Spirit faster.

07General Tips for Every Yōtei Six Duel

• Weapon alignment is the core mechanic: Every boss in this list favors specific weapon types. Checking what your opponent is wielding and matching or countering it deals significantly more stagger damage than defaulting to your favorite weapon.
• Stock up before triggering a duel: Most Yōtei Six encounters can't be paused to restock mid-fight once the cutscene starts. Top off healing items and check your Spirit techniques before approaching a known duel trigger.
• Stagger, don't just chip damage: Blocking and parrying contribute to a boss's stagger meter even when you're not landing hits — a patient, defensive round can set up a bigger damage window than rushing in.
• Upgrade your gear beforehand: Sharpening and upgrading whichever weapons you plan to counter with meaningfully speeds up these fights, especially against shielded or armored duelists.