Samanosuke Akechi is the campaign's backbone, and his playstyle revolves around the Oni Gauntlet. The gauntlet lets him absorb the souls Genma drop -- red for upgrades, yellow for health, blue for magic -- which means every fight is also an investment in his future power. Unlike Kaede, Samanosuke is built to engage, farm, and grow stronger through combat, so leaning into fights is usually correct.
His toolkit includes a basic Katana, the three elemental weapons (Raizan, Enryuu, Shippuu), the ultimate Bishamon Sword, and ranged options in the Normal Bow and Matchlock. Each elemental weapon doubles as a magic spell, so weapon choice is also spell choice. The remaster's weapon-swap button lets you change elements on the fly, which is a major upgrade over the original's menu-only swapping.
Two techniques define high-level Samanosuke play: the Issen counter for burst damage, and the charged attack for stagger and guard-break. Master both early, because they carry every fight from fodder to final boss and make your soul farming far more efficient.
Samanosuke's Core Toolkit
Samanosuke Akechi is the campaign's backbone, and his playstyle revolves around the Oni Gauntlet. The gauntlet lets him absorb the souls Genma drop -- red for upgrades, yellow for health, blue for magic -- which means every fight is also an investment in his future power. Unlike Kaede, Samanosuke is built to engage, farm, and grow stronger through combat, so leaning into fights is usually correct.
His toolkit includes a basic Katana, the three elemental weapons (Raizan, Enryuu, Shippuu), the ultimate Bishamon Sword, and ranged options in the Normal Bow and Matchlock. Each elemental weapon doubles as a magic spell, so weapon choice is also spell choice. The remaster's weapon-swap button lets you change elements on the fly, which is a major upgrade over the original's menu-only swapping.
Two techniques define high-level Samanosuke play: the Issen counter for burst damage, and the charged attack for stagger and guard-break. Master both early, because they carry every fight from fodder to final boss and make your soul farming far more efficient.
Recommended Build and Weapon Priority
The strongest Samanosuke build concentrates resources rather than spreading them. Pick one elemental weapon as your main and push it to maximum first. Enryuu is the most popular main because its fire magic chunks bosses and melts clustered groups, giving you a reliable answer to the game's hardest fights. Keep Raizan as a secondary for its stun utility against fast enemies, and use Shippuu situationally for crowd clear.
Upgrade priority follows your main weapon. At each Oni shrine, pour red souls into your chosen weapon's level, which raises both its melee damage and its magic spell. Only after your main is maxed should you branch into a second element, and even then favor depth over breadth -- a maxed Enryuu plus a half-leveled Raizan beats three partially-leveled weapons.
For ranged tools, keep the Normal Bow and Matchlock for utility -- pulling enemies, hitting switches, softening distant foes -- but never invest souls into them. They are situational, and your elemental weapons are where every soul should go. Once the Bishamon Sword is available, it replaces your main for most fights.
Soul Spending Strategy
Soul spending strategy is what separates a smooth run from a stalled one. The core rule: spend red souls the moment you have a meaningful upgrade available, rather than hoarding. Hoarding souls means you fight under-powered and absorb fewer souls overall, because weaker weapons kill slower and leave you taking more damage. A rolling upgrade curve keeps you strong enough to farm efficiently.
Concentrate on your main weapon until it is maxed, then expand. Resist the urge to evenly level all three elements; the marginal value of a maxed weapon's magic far exceeds the small per-level gains of spreading souls around. Treat yellow and blue souls as reactive resources -- spend them as needed during fights rather than worrying about wasting them, since they refill from combat anyway.
One exception: before a known tough fight or boss, top off your health and magic at a shrine by fighting nearby enemies, then enter the arena full. Arriving at a boss with maxed resources lets you open with your strongest magic and play aggressively, which is usually faster and safer than a defensive approach on partial resources.
Boss Combat Approach
Against bosses, Samanosuke's plan is to bait, punish, and burst. Learn each boss's telegraphs and identify the safe window after their big attacks -- that is your moment to land a charged strike or an Issen counter. Avoid mashing combos, because most bosses will trade favorably against string attacks and chip you down. Single, well-timed hits win boss fights.
Use elemental magic as opening burst. Lead with your main weapon's strongest spell as the fight starts and whenever you have a full magic meter, then refill from any minions or soul drops the boss produces. If a boss is aggressive and hard to pin, switch to Raizan to stun it and create a safe melee window. Against the enhanced Marcellus and Fortinbras, patience is mandatory: respect their damage, dodge their patterns, and only commit to attacks you know you can land.
Finally, manage your healing conservatively. Yellow souls handle chip damage, so save herbs for true emergencies. If you enter a boss fight full on health, magic, and items, you have every tool to win; if you arrive depleted, retreat and farm first.
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