Switching Stances
This brings us to switching stances. As you improve your skills in Ghost of Tsushima you’ll get used to constantly holding R2 to switch between Stone, Water, Moon, and Wind stance. Each is capable of breaking the guard of a particular enemy type, which we’ve gone over in our detailed Weapon Stances guide.
The long and the short of it, though, is that any enemy, regardless of how much armor or what weapon/shield they are using, can be smashed to pieces by repeatedly hitting triangle. After about the third triangle, your enemy will get staggered and you can land strikes. The only thing you need to obviously watch out for are unblockable moves and getting surrounded by enemies.
Do note that upgrading your stances with technique points is advisable since it will improve your ability to more quickly stagger enemies, as well as unlock stance-specific moves.
Indeed, all stances have special attacks that are typically performed by a combination of holding and tapping triangle. These take a while to charge but are useful for taking enemies down quickly. In our experience, though, they aren’t really essential. They just look cool.
