Best Combat Styles Guide for Like A Dragon: Ishin
This page contains a guide on the best combat styles in Like A Dragon: Ishin! (LAD Ishin/Yakuza: Ishin), including recommended battle stances to level up, the best skills for each recommended style, and other useful tips.
Like A Dragon: Ishin Best Abilities to Get
Best Combat Style: Swordsman
The Swordsman combat style is the best style in the game owing to its excellent versatility, simplicity, ease of use during one-on-one boss battles, and very good close-range damage output. Swordsman style can be used to guard against both melee and ranged attacks and is generally the easiest to master out of all the other combat styles.
The Swordsman combat style is among the most reliable styles to use during boss battles (duels) where you can easily take down your opponent by using counters and quick punishes. You will, however, occasionally find yourself surrounded by multiple enemies which is arguably the only situation the Swordsman style somewhat falls behind.
Recommended Swordsman Style Abilities
| Ability Name | Type | Prequisite |
|---|---|---|
| Enhance Great Swordsman Strike | Swordsman | – |
| Details | Essential for improving damage output with a single sword (starting weapon) by extending combo to max. | |
| Mugenbo Knowledge | Swordsman | – |
| Details | Lets you guard immediately when your guard is broken, useful as Guard Break countermeasure and universally useful regardless of your weapon. | |
| Enhance Swordsman Speed | Swordsman | – |
| Details | Improves comboing for greater damage output. | |
| Beauty Kazamidori | Swordsman | – |
| Details | Useful counter attack move that can stun enemies, useful against bosses. | |
| 9th Dan One Swordsman Rank Up | Swordsman | |
| Details | Greatly improves melee damage output per strike. | |
Good Combat Style: Gunman
The Gunman combat style that relies on using pistols to pepper enemies safely form a distance. While not as strong as the Swordsman combat style during the beginning chapters of the main story, the Gunman becomes more powerful as you unlock more abilities from the ability panel during the middle to late stages of the game.
The Gunman combat style performs well when you are outnumbered. By acquiring skills that increase your rate of fire and damage per shot, you will be able to mow down most regular enemies in a short amount of time. This becomes more apparent when you obtain the Golden Gun (arguably the best pistol in the game) by trading a massive amount of points at the Gambling Hall.
Recommended Gunman Style Abilities
| Ability Name | Type | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Enhance Rapid Fire Rate | Pistol | – |
| Details | Greatly improves ranged damage output with faster firing speed. | |
| 9th Dan Pistol Rank Up | Pistol | – |
| Details | Greatly improves ranged damage output per shot. | |
Good Combat Style: Brawler
The Brawler combat style is suited for advanced players who are adept at one-on-one situations like boss battles. The main strength of the Brawler style is allowing you to parry and get behind your opponent to unload on them with follow up attacks.
Outside of abilities that are exclusive to the Brawler style, a number of skills from this style’s skill panel are universally useful for improving evasion and overall survivability in battle.
Recommended Brawler Style Abilities
| Ability Name | Type | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Health Increase | Brawler | – |
| Details | Increases your maximum health for better survivability. | |
| Komaki Dharma Evasion | Brawler | – |
| Details | Useful for easier dodging and universally useful regardless of your weapon | |
| Knowledge of Fortitude | Brawler | – |
| Details | Lets you get up faster after getting knocked down. | |
| Iaido Knowledge | Brawler | – |
| Details | Increases damage of the attack when drawing a sword or gun. | |
Try to focus on two combat styles only during the main story.
It is recommended to focus on two combat styles while going through the main story. The reason for this is that switching between three or more styles will cause you to level any of them up much slower than just maining two. In Like A Dragon: Ishin, your combat style will rank up the more you use it. Doing so will also let you earn Soul Spheres that you can use to unlock and upgrade abilities in the game.
Like A Dragon: Ishin Tips and Tricks for Beginners
Once you are satisfied with the skills you have unlocked and general strategy in battle (playstyle), you can start using and experimenting with other combat styles.
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