The final mission of Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun tasks your team of ninja to kill the traitorous rebel leader Noboru, who resides in the heavily-defended Sunpu Castle. Naturally, this being the last mission, you’ll encounter one of the most complex and difficulty challenges in the game so far. Be prepared — you’ll need to tackle each challenge with all four characters or you’ll raise an alarm and the evil general will escape.
Once again, this guide is all about cutting a path through the mission without raising the alarm. There are multiple paths you can take — and more than a few optional mini-objectives you can explore on your own. Yuki will have to use her pick-pocketing tricks, Aiko has a costume to steal, and Takuma’s grenade can finally get some use thanks to the noise of firing rifles. Check out our full walkthrough for Mission 13 in the guide below.
Table of Contents – Shadow Tactics Walkthrough
- Tutorial
- Mission 1: The Siege of Osaka
- Mission 2: Trouble on the Nakasendo
- Mission 3: The Thieves of Imai
- Mission 4: Escape from Mount Tsuru
- Mission 5: Killing Lord Yabu
- Mission 6: Spies In Hida Village
- Mission 7: Suganuma Rescue
- Mission 8: Attack on Kanazawa
- Mission 9: The Death of Kage-sama
- Mission 10: Betrayal at Mount Tsuru
- Mission 11: Matsuyama City
- Mission 12: A Fateful Meeting
Walkthrough | The Death of Noboru
This it it – the final mission of Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. The last four remaining heroes set off to Sunpu Castle to kill the villainous Noboru, brother to the Shogun. He resides in Sunpu Castle, a vast fortress with an entire army guarding the walls. Mugen is no longer with you, so samurai cannot be swiftly defeated.
Like previous missions, your heroes are split into two teams – Aiko / Yuki, and Hayato / Takuma. To reach the upper castle, you’ll first need to reach the wells – Yuki can steal a key to the wells on her end, and Aiko can collect a disguise near the key-holding guard.
To make progress, we’ll first need to steal the key and collect a disguise for Aiko. After that, both teams (Hayato / Takum & Yuki / Aiko) will need to converge in the center and enter one of the wells. The key is required to progress, and it is found in the garden in the very center of the castle.
Step #1: Get the Key
Infiltrating the Castle: We’ll need to steal the key. Start with Aiko / Yuki and swim right to the vines. Hookshot up to the top of the guard tower and take down the guard to infiltrate the castle.
The Storage Area: The storage area with the ox-drawn cart is your first obstacle. The guards here have good coverage – there’s no one you can kill from the tower using stealth. Time your run right, and you can slip by the standing straw hat near the tower – use sneezing powder to reach the cart. From the cart, continue left to the vines to climb over the wall and leave the storage area.
Move to the bushes beside the large main gate leading up to the next tier of the castle. The path is guarded by a sentry samurai, a straw hat, and another patrolling guard. Time your run, and you can make it to the hook on the tall gate.
Through the Small Garden: From the top of the large gate house, there’s a garden where several civilians are tending small trees on the rocks. Hop down from the gate and climb onto the rooftop to reach the open north gate. Use sneezing powder to make this area easier to stealth through – powder the guard watching the vines as you climb with Yuki / Aiko.
Entering the Center Garden: From the small garden, climb onto the scaffolding near the door to the center garden where the key / disguise is located. Take a breather on this raised platform, then move to the door with Aiko. The door is guarded by a single soldier – hit him with sneezing powder, then rush inside and stab him from behind to clear the path into the garden for Yuki.
Getting the Key: There are four soldiers in the garden, and one samurai patrolling with the key. Two soldiers are standing near the towers – lure the first to the roof with a whistle and a trap to get rid of him. The other two are sitting – one faces the inner garden, the straw hat watches the civilian in the disguise Aiko needs. Use sneezing powder on the guard sitting on the rock to block his vision until the guard falls. Repeat this trick at the second tower to get rid of the next standing guard.
Now you can freely kill the guard sitting at the stone when the samurai isn’t looking. Do the same with the straw hat watching the woman in the kimino. When the guards are clear, the key is easy to take – sneak behind the samurai with Yuki.
Getting Aiko’s Disguise: Follow the previous steps, and the central garden will be totally clear – except for the samurai. When the civilian is wandering around, toss sneezing powder at the kimono-wearing woman, knock her out and steal her kimono. Don’t worry, if the second civilian sees you, she’s only got the samurai to contact. The samurai will not leave his patrol path.
Step #2: Enter the Wells
To continue, you’ll need to access one of the wells to reach the upper tier of Sunpu castle. Here, we’ll explain how to get all four heroes to access the well along the northeast corner of the castle – Well B. You can also access Well A, but getting Takuma to this location is also especially difficult.
Well B: Now for the bigger part – getting Takuma, Hayato, Yuki and Aiko all the way up to the northeast corner of the castle so they can access the well.
Through the Causeway: The entrance to the castle is a long causeway that’s guarded by multiple samurai on the upper tier. Snipe the guard in the toward above Hayato / Takuma’s position, then sneak into the causeway. Slip behind the straw hat – don’t kill him – and stay low. This takes lots of saving and stones to get through without being spotted. There’s no easy way. You just have to be patient.
NOTE: It helps have have Aiko in disguise – she can help distract and kill guards in areas other characters can’t easily reach. Use Aiko to reach the central plinth and kill the patrolling samurai – that makes this section much, much easier. The real challenge is getting Takuma through without being seen.
To kill the two samurai – use Aiko to stab the Straw Hat watching the main causeway gatehouse, then shoot / stab the samurai standing still. You’ll need to use sneezing powder on the Straw Hat in the causeway to block his vision. Then you can precisely time the patrolling samurai near the crates in the upper-left corner of his patrol, when the two patrolling guards aren’t looking toward the causeway.
Getting through the Training Ground: Takuma and Hayato need to sneak through the training ground and continue east, then move north. All three guards inside the training area are looking at one another – use Aiko, Hayato, and Takuma’s sniper rifle to pick off all three at the same time, then use Aiko in disguise to distract the trio patrol until Hayato can hide all the bodies.
NOTE: Use the door to the tower in the small training ground. At the top of the tower, there’s a crate with x2 rifle rounds for Takuma.
Entering the Stables: Through the small training ground door, you’ll reach the stables area. A straw hat is watching the door. Kill him with Aiko – if a civilian sees you, drag the body to the bushes. You can hide before the guards come to investigate. With the straw hat down, Takuma and Hayato can sneak into the storage area.
With Aiko, kill the two guards just north of the door. One is watching from the bottom of the ramp. The other is facing the door itself. Kill them, hide the bodies while the samurai is patrolling, and Takuma can reach the next tier easy.
Lowering the Rope Ladder: Up the tiers from the stables, you’ll find a raised rope ladder. First order of business – shoot the guard on the tower. Takuma needs to reach the upper tiers to do that – use Aiko to stab the patrolling guard that goes down the dead end to talk to another guard. Get rid of them both and hide the bodies behind the nearby rock.
Next, you’ll need to clear the two guards looking at each other. One is next to a cannon, the other is watching the cannon. Clear these guards, then the one in the tower. Aiko can distract, Hayato can stab, and you’ll be able to clear the area with minimal interference.
Up on the small house in the upper tier, a nobleman patrols – the soldiers here change positions depending on if the nobleman is talking to the samurai. Use the hook to climb up into the square tier with the small house when the nobleman is talking – distract the guard looking toward the hook with a stone.
Hide in the bushes, then sneak into the house with Hayato when the nobleman leaves. Now you can lower the rope ladder so Takuma can climb up. From this house, you can kill a few of the guards and hide their bodies without anyone seeing.
NOTE: To make this area slightly easier, use the crane on the balcony with the rope ladder. It will crush the two civilians when the nobleman meets the samurai. The samurai will leave his position to examine the civilians and he’ll never move.
Entering Well B: Getting through the last two straw hats is a challenge. Use a sniper shot and a shuriken, or use Aiko’s sneezing powder to get in close for a dual melee attack.
Step #3: Kill Lord Noboru
All four heroes will appear in a well at the top tier of the castle, just below the central keep. To end this war, you’ll need to climb up the keep and confront Noboru on the balcony. On the first path, two guards patrol while two straw hats watch from above. A fifth guard watches the patrol – use Aiko in disguise to stab and hide him in the bushes first. Next, lure the pair of patrollers into an ambush. Use Kuma or Yuki’s whistle.
Use Aiko to distract the guard sitting on the battlements, then sneak everyone to the large bush outside the shooting range.
Getting through the Shooting Range: There are multiple ways through the shooting range, but my favorite is – using Takuma’s bomb! See the small yard about the shooting range? There are two samurai and a third sitting soldier in this area blocking your way to Noboru’s keep. Use Takuma’s grenade – throw it right as the samurai gives the fire order, and it will explode as the soldiers fire their rifles. The noise of the rifles will mask the sound of the grenade explosion – you can kill both samurai blocking your path in one blast.
- NOTE: Directly above the two samurai, there’s a heavy stone Takuma can shoot with his rifle. This will crush the samurai, and counts as an “accidental” kill, so it will not raise an alarm.
Infiltrating Noboru’s Keep: To begin climbing up the keep, you’ll need to cross through the courtyard at the base of the pagoda. Enter with Aiko in disguise – there are no samurai here – and kill the one patrolling Straw Hat while the lower guards are distracted. Once he’s gone, you can double-kill the guards staring at each other with Shadow Mode. When they’re down, get the Straw Hats so Takuma can get the ammo crate at their position.
Killing Noboru: Climb the ladder on the small house and use the rope to reach the outer wall. Hop down and follow the wall across to reach the cliffs behind the keep. Use the hooks to climb up to the second rooftop, and cross over to the front balcony – sneak by the samurai while the center samurai talks to each. At the front balcony, there are three Straw Hats – simultaneously kill them with Aiko (in disguise), Hayato and a sniper shot from Takuma.
To reach Noboru’s balcony, sneak behind the patrolling samurai on the third rooftop. To get by them, walk onto the ramp above, drop down behind them when they patrol toward the front of the castle, then run and hop to the back rooftop where the hook is located.
To get by the last samurai, wait for them to stand in the corner. Sneak by, then use the hook. The rest is all automatic – but, you can choose to kill Noboru however you want after the short cutscene. Do it to complete the mission.
Congratulations! That’s it for Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. There’s still plenty of badges to earn and reasons to replay previous missions. There are tons of alternate paths and strategies we weren’t able to dig into here, so go back and try experimenting with all the skills you’ve learned along the way.
