For Honor: How to Play & Counter Shugoki

Playing The Shugoki – For Honor

The fat samurai himself, Shugoki is a very slow but powerful character that can manhandle any opponent that stands in his way during battles in For Honor. Shugoki’s weapon of choice is the kanabo, a giant club that has various mental rivets allowing it to apply the force of the blow into more concentrated areas. He is a frontline fighter and one that can easily break an enemy formation thanks to the wide sweeping moves he possess. However, Shugoki lacks mobility meaning it’s very important to pick your fights carefully as you will not always escape if your health is low.

His base move set is a series of slow, yet powerful blows that can take huge chunks out of your opponents life bar. These eat a lot of stamina, however, so you will need to make sure your blows are more paced than say a Berzerker or Peacekeeper. Take it slow and don’t try to just do a frenzy of blows against your opponent as it will leave you winded and exposed for an easy kill. Only use your heavy strikes to either finish a foe off, initiate an attack if they don’t see you, or to force them back. Shugoki’s heavy strikes are insanely powerful and will force most normal size soldiers to back up.

You want to always keep your opponent on the defensive so use your size as an advantage and block entrances or escape routes. Unlike other For Honor heroes, this fat samurai can actually deal damage through blocks via the Punch Through Feat. While you can switch this for a ranged attack or bigger health bar, we highly recommend keeping this Feat. Being able to literally force your way through regardless if they block or not can be a huge mental game you can play on your opponents. A clever Shugoki will always keep in a state of panic that can work wonders with the Juggernaut Feat.

This skill when activated allows our lovable fat samurai to have his damage levels spiked at the cost of speed. Now you are slow already so this isn’t as big of a deal if you have someone cornered. This with Punch Through can easily wear down an opponent even if they are blocking, as they will not be able to trade damage with you unless they want to die. The other skill that works well in combination with this is Throw Father, as it can both allow you to get some much-needed breathing room or knock an enemy clear off a cliff if they’ve failed to mind their footing.

Finally, for your passive either Regenerate or Staggering Blow work wonderfully for this big guy. Being able to regenerate health out of combat makes the Shugoki’s survivability insane in big game modes like Domination. Since it can be harder to run to places for healing, this is a nice addition that simply allows players to take a quick break but not run too far from the battle. Staggering Blow is just great for either fighting more than one enemy or just completely throwing an enemy off guard. Once activated the Shugoki can just knock people away with his heavy attacks which can cause an exceptional amount of panic on the For Honor battlefield.

However, if you are having trouble killing a Shogoki in For Honor, remember that speed and range are your best advantage. This big guy doesn’t have much of an escape route or dodge ability, so if you can predict and dance around his attacks then you’ll be fine. Ranged fighters like Valkyire are huge counters to the Shogoki in For Honor as she can stay out of his effective range. Do not try and engage him in a point blank fight because he will typically win due to his high health pool and powerful heavy strikes. Shugoki thrives in point blank range combat, so don’t give them a chance to apply pressure and put you on the defensive.

Remember if you are losing you can always run away from them as the chances of them catching up are slim to none. These fat samurais are better at holding down objectives or staying behind troops, so try and kite them out from their territory. Forcing them to move beyond the line of soldiers will give them less escape options and typically result in them dying if they ever try to run in For Honor.

The Shugoki is the wrecking ball of the battlefield so treat him as such when playing this brute. You can crack skulls and break entire formations with his strikes, so always make sure to be pushing with your team. It’s very hard to kill a Shugoki on their objective, however, it is still possible. A good Shugoki is one of the most intimidating heroes on the battlefield so get out there and practice striking fear into the hearts of your For Honor enemies. Even if you are just a fat samurai with a big ol’ club.

For more guides, tips, and tricks visit our ever expanding For Honor wiki.