In one corner, you have a whole army full of impressionable young men looking for clarity and guidance in uncertain times where their religions, community leaders, and social structures have failed, and in the other, you have a big meaty lummox who can’t string two polysyllabic words together. Nevertheless, people seem to trust him to have all the answers. But enough about Joe Rogan; let’s show you how to take down Bessho Harumasa, a.k.a. the Ox in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Preparation
This is actually gonna be a pretty straightforward bit of work. The biggest issue is that you’re looking at two heavy boss fights back to back, both of which are pretty unforgiving if you fuck up at any given moment. If you’ve been rocking a naginata thus far, you’re going to want to switch to the best katana you can get your hands on. You’ll need the speed and the ability to easily cancel out of a swing, neither of which are things Yasuke can do very well with the naginata.
The mission: ‘Broken Horn’
You’ll start out talking with Nakamura Tadashige. You’ll get a big four-way dialogue tree here in the middle and to the surprise of no one, your responses don’t mean jack shit. Have we recommended Canon Mode to y’all yet? Because we recommend it. Lord, this game loves its meaningless choices.
Anyway, for a choice that does matter, when you get the chance to pick who’s up first, run with Naoe. Her side is nice and simple. Once you get control, assassinate the two oblivious soldiers up ahead, then climb the structure right in front of you all the way to the highest point. You’ll end up on top of a house, above a courtyard swarming with gunmen.
Mark ‘em all, and then, you’re gonna want to start from the one furthest back on the right, near the bridge, since he’s watching all the others. Work your way clockwise back to where you started, killing as you go. Although, you should ignore the two guys by the busted wheelbarrow. They don’t have guns, and they’re just far enough apart where you can’t even double assassinate ‘em. Keep going, kill the rest on the ground, just save the one in the tower for last.
Once they’re done for, head to the bridge entrance where you killed the first guy, and look for Yasuke. He’s got his hands full dealing with a soldier who tries to yell for help, but gags on his own blood before he can get a word in. Thus always to all snitches. Despite that, though, the Ox finally shows up for a quick chat. When he’s done, though, you’ll be going head-to-head with his right hand man, The Tsuno. In case you were wondering, that means “horn” in Japanese. Cute touch, Oxy.
Anyway, when you get the choice, Yasuke will be taking over from here. The Tsuno isn’t necessarily difficult by himself. He does decent damage, especially since his weapon can inflict poison. And he can parry with a quick slash if you get overzealous, but limiting your attacks to three at a time can avoid that problem. Most of the trouble comes from having to deal with his trash mob friends during the fight. Take them out ASAP before getting too involved with the main event. Be patient and aware; don’t button mash; keep yourself from getting surrounded, you should be fine.
After a kind-of heartbreaking cutscene, you’ll get to choose who ultimately gets the big fat kill on the Ox. Naoe can stick a fork in the Ox pretty easily and knock off a bunch of his health,, however his two henchmen can call in reinforcements, and even at her strongest, Naoe can’t do enough pure damage to these two to keep them from being a problem. So, stick with Yasuke, fight your way into the inner courtyard. In case you didn’t take the hint, kill the henchmen first, and fast, before they call for backup. As for the Ox, it’s gonna be a rough fight. His kanubo hits like the hand of God, and while most of his combos are easily dodgeable, he’s got a set of attacks with no red glint warning. Dodge twice if that ends up happening, or you’re taking a massive chunk of damage. Thankfully, he’s not much for blocking, so get your hits in whenever you can, he’ll go down eventually. But it’s a hard fight, no matter how you approach it.
Once it’s done, and a couple more meaningless dialogue choices—sadly, one of them involves the Ox never giving up the Tsuno’s real name, that fucker—the Ox will be just another slab of beef, and you’ll get the Daybreak’s Fury kanabo, a great new engraving that makes broken armor explode in shrapnel, and 2000 XP. Pretty pretty good.
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