I spent most of last weekend glued to my controller, working my way through Ghost of Yotei’s frozen open world, and one side activity that had me hooked faster than anything else was the bamboo strike minigame. I wasted almost four hours wandering aimlessly before I figured out the best tricks to track them all down, so I put this guide together to save you the same frustration. If you’re trying to track down all bamboo strikes Ghost of Yotei has hidden across its mountains and villages, you’re in the right place.
What All Bamboo Strikes Ghost of Yotei Entail, and Why They’re Worth Your Time
If you’re new to the Tsushima franchise, bamboo strikes are short, rhythm-based minigames scattered across the open world. You’ll find them next to clusters of tall, thick bamboo stalks, usually paired with a small stone altar stacked with offering bowls. To complete one, you just press the attack button in time with the on-screen flash prompts to slice through every stalk in a single sequence. It sounds simple, but later strikes add extra prompts that can throw you off if you’re not paying attention.
You might be wondering if it’s even worth taking time away from the main story to hunt these down, and the short answer is yes. The rewards are not just cosmetic — they directly make your playthrough easier, especially if you like exploring the high mountain regions of Yotei where stamina is everything. I skipped them on my first playthrough and had to backtrack after I kept falling off cliff edges mid-climb because my stamina bar was too short. Here’s exactly what you get for completing them:
Even if you’re a casual player who doesn’t care about 100% completion, the stamina boosts alone make hunting these worth the effort. I noticed a huge difference in how easy it was to traverse the northern snow peaks after I finished just 6 of the 12 strikes.
Key Tips to Locate Bamboo Strikes Without Wasting Time
The biggest mistake I made when I first started hunting these was not upgrading my exploration skills first. You can spend hours wandering around looking for bamboo clusters, but a simple skill upgrade will cut that time in half. Upgrade your exploration sense skill to level 3 first before you start hunting. At max level, any bamboo strike within 100 meters of your location will pop up as a small green icon on your mini-map, no guesswork required.
You don’t have to clear every enemy camp to access these spots, either. Most bamboo strikes are placed in neutral, peaceful areas away from bandit camps and Mongol outposts. The only exceptions are the two strikes near the northern fortress, which you can access by sneaking around the back edge of the camp instead of fighting your way through the front gates. I did that on my first run and didn’t have to fight a single enemy to get to them.
If you don’t want to rely on the mini-map, look for tall bamboo clusters peeking over the tops of trees or rock formations. Bamboo only grows in areas with access to fresh water, so check near rivers, hot springs, and small lake edges first. I found 7 of the 12 strikes just by following river paths around the southern and central regions of the map.
Step-by-Step Process to Nail Every Bamboo Strike on Your First Try
Once you find a bamboo strike, the last thing you want is to fumble the button prompts and have to retry. I got a 100% first-try success rate after I figured out a few simple tricks that work for every strike in the game, no matter how many prompts it has. First, don’t mash buttons even if you think you know the rhythm. The prompts are timed to match the sound of the wind blowing through the bamboo, so listen for the soft whoosh sound right before the flash appears on screen. That’s your cue to press the attack button.
If you’re playing on a controller, turn on vibration feedback if you haven’t already. The controller will give a small rumble right before each prompt pops up, which is way easier to pick up on than the visual flash alone, especially if you’re playing in a bright room. I play on PC both with controller and keyboard, and my first-try rate drops from 90% to 60% when I use keyboard, so I always switch to controller for these minigames if I can.
If you do mess up, don’t hit retry immediately. Walk 10 or 15 steps away from the bamboo cluster, wait 2 seconds, then walk back and interact with the altar again. This resets the rhythm sequence instead of making you retry the same exact timing that you already messed up. I used to get stuck on the 5-prompt northern strikes for 3 or 4 retries until I figured out this trick, and now I never have to retry more than once.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hunting Bamboo Strikes
There are a few common mistakes that make hunting these way more frustrating than it needs to be, and I made almost all of them on my first run. The biggest one is ignoring small island locations off the main coast. Two of the 12 bamboo strikes are located on small, unmarked islands off the southwestern edge of the map, and most players never find them because they don’t bother taking a boat out to explore the smaller islands. I spent an hour scrolling through player forums before I found that tip, so save yourself the hassle and check those islands first.
Another mistake is trying to hunt for them during blizzard weather. Heavy snow covers the top of the bamboo stalks, making them almost impossible to spot from a distance, and the exploration sense skill has reduced range during bad weather. Adjust the in-game weather to clear at a nearby shrine before you start hunting, and you’ll be able to spot bamboo clusters from twice as far away. It only takes 30 seconds to change the weather, and it saves you hours of wandering.
Don’t leave the area immediately after you complete a strike, either. Almost every bamboo strike location has a small hidden chest buried under the altar or tucked behind a rock right next to the bamboo cluster. These chests usually have high-tier crafting materials like refined steel and special leather that you need to upgrade your best weapons and armor. I missed 8 of these chests on my first run, and I had to go back to every location just to collect them, which was a huge waste of time.
The last mistake is trying to hunt these while you’re in the middle of main story missions. A lot of main missions restrict fast travel and block off certain areas of the map, so you’ll end up getting stuck halfway through your hunt. I recommend setting aside a 2 to 3 hour window free of main story quests to track all of these down, so you don’t have to pause and restart your hunt every time you trigger a new story cutscene.
At the end of the day, hunting these little side activities is one of the small joys of exploring Yotei’s vast, snowy open world. You don’t have to rush through them, either — take your time, enjoy the scenery, and you’ll stumble across most of all bamboo strikes Ghost of Yotei has to offer without even trying too hard. If you get stuck on a specific location or can’t nail a tricky sequence, drop a comment below and I’ll help you figure it out.