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The most wonderful thing aboutKunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddessis that its levels always have something up their sleeve to take you by surprise. No level ever ends up feeling quite the same as any that came before it, and the Great Cherry Tree of Nakahara is no different.
What starts as a regular level will quickly become a large-scale boss battle once night hits. It can be a slightly complicated boss to wrap your head around, especially due to the large stage it all takes place in. Have no fear, our guide is here to bring you to victory against this defiled tree.
Recommended Soh And Villager Set-Up
Villager Set-Up
For this mission,you’ll have a total of six villagersthat can assist you. None of them are particularly hidden so you should have no issues finding them. Just don’t forget to scale to the highest levels of the Cherry Tree. You’ll likely find them all while searching for this stage’s defilements.
Once you’ve recruited all six of them, you’ll want to equip them with some suitable roles.Despite the various contraptionsaround the stage that can be repaired, such as the towers,you’ll actually want to ignore these, so don’t assign roles based on that. Here’s what we recommend:
Once you’ve assigned them all, move them all to the southern edge of the map facing the Cherry Tree near where the broken towers are. Once night falls, this is where Yoshiro will be moved too, so sending your Villagers here first will save you some time.
Don’t waste your crystals carving the Spirit Path for Yoshiro as she won’t actually use it during this mission.
Soh Set-Up
Seeing as how you’re fighting a defiled Cherry Tree, you’re able to imagine that this battle won’t quite go like the other bosses in the game. Which you would be right in thinking, asYatsurao doesn’t have a whole body you can just slash at.
As such, you’re going to need to build Soh for perseverance rather than raw damage-dealing as this fight requires a bit more strategising. In the table below we’ve listed some equipment and abilities that should let you speed through this mission with ease.
Kochin’s Ward
Not Applicable
Raises a barrier around Soh thatenemies cannot pass through, and damages any that attack it.
Taijo’s Favor
Givesextra defenceand resistance to knockback to all Villagers in the stage.
Happiness And Anger
Lowers Soh’s attack power, but increases the Villagers' in turn.
Shiden Dance
15
This replaces Soh’s attacks with stationary ones thatdeal more damage but reduce movement during attacksand attack speed.
Shiden Form 2
5
This lets youcharge the Dance Attack after the first Regular Attack, which can be unleashed for massive Resist Gauge damage.
As Soh, you will beignoring the summoned enemiesentirely in this mission, instead focusing exclusively on taking down Yatsurao. The Villagers should be more than enough to handle any enemies that come near Yoshiro, so don’t be too afraid if the warning message that enemies are near her pops up.
If you want to achieve one of the optional objectives, you mustignore using Tsuba Guards entirelyfor this mission, though you are rewarded with Rabbit’s Cup Mazo Talisman.
Where To Find Every Defilement
In the Cherry Tree of Nakahara stage,there are ten defilements for you to purge. Thankfully, many of them are grouped together so they shouldn’t take you exceptionally long to find.
Defilement 1
This defilement is found right atthe back of the stagewhere Yoshiro will go at night.
Defilement 2
This defilement is found at thecorner of the scaffoldingright beside the corrupted Torii gate.
Defilement 3
This defilement is found in thenorthwest corner of the mapbeside an already-built tower.
Defilement 4
This defilement can be found by theback of the scaffoldingnear where many sections are broken.
Defilement 5
This defilement is found in theeast of the mapat the corner near where Yoshiro begins in this stage.
Defilement 6
This defilement is found by the back of the scaffolding,up a levelby itself.
Defilement 7-8
These two defilements are found together on the western side of the scaffoldingon the first level.
Defilement 9-10
These final two defilements are found together on thevery top level of the scaffoldingsurrounding the Cherry Tree.
Once you’ve purged each defilement, you can pick up your reward from the Shrine beside the corrupted Torii Gate - thePickpocket Mazo talisman.
How To Defeat Yatsurao
Once night falls, this stage does not continue like the ones you have played previously. Instead, it turns into a boss fight against the tree itself as it manifests into Yatsurao. Yoshiro will be ushered into the southern edge of the stage.
Yatsurao is split into two distinct phases, once against the various tongue appendages it has, and the second against its humanoid-like roots.
One of the optional objectives is toensure Yoshiro receives no damage. You can give your Villagers more precise placements near her to ensure no Seethe approaches her.
First Stage
Once night falls, you must scale the Cherry Tree tolocate the various glowing tonguesit has situated around its bark. Ignore any enemies the boss spawns and let the Villagers handle them.
The locations of the tongues are the same every time you fight Yatsurao so you shouldn’t struggle finding them.None of them are at surface level, and they only appear one at a time. After you’ve defeated three of them, you will face a cutscene and be brought to the second phase of the first phase.
Here, you aretrapped behind the treeaway from Yoshiro and must defeat three tongues again. This time, however, Yatsurao will have summoneda humanoid-like root that will followyou as you attempt to destroy its tongues. This root hits exceptionally hard, sotry to avoid them rather than blocking their attacks.
Placing a Kochin’s Ward in front of the tongueswill stop the root from approaching you at all, giving you more breathing room to destroy them.
The final tongue will be situated higher than you can hit with your regular attacks, so simplyperforming an attack in the airis the only real strategy here. Just be careful of the toxic pools that Yatsurao can summon here.
If Soh dies here,this phase will be skippedand you will be brought immediately to the second stage where Yatsurao will have more health than normal.
Second Stage
Once the second stage begins, Soh will be returned to Yoshiro and the Villagers, though you will no longer be able to climb Yatsurao anymore either. It is now a baiting game,luring out Yatsurao’s rootsto attack the many tongues along it.
They have a few distinct moves they can use now, so learn the patterns of them to effectively avoid the attacks and deal the highest amount of damage possible.
Counter
Root Swipe - Yatsurao
Yatsurao will lift its root into the air at either side of the stage and then swipe itacross the full length.
You can easily avoid this bydodging as it approaches. This is a better strategy than running away.
Root Trust - Yatsurao
Yatsurao will pull back a root and then thrust it forward at high speed. This attack isunblockable.
Dodging is the only effective means of avoiding this attack. Make sure you’re nowhere near Yoshiro when it starts as it candefeat her in just two strikes.
If you manage to avoid this, the root willstay idle for a few seconds, letting you attack the tongues on it.
Impaling Roots - Yatsurao
The ground will become highlighted with a red and blue circle before aroot thrusts upwardsfrom it.
This attack can be avoided by justrunning awayfrom it, just don’t be near Yoshiro as it may damage her as well.
Summoned Seethe
Amorphous blobs will drop from the sky,releasing enemiesafter a short delay.
This can be destroyed in justtwo or three hits, so strike them if you’re close, but you can ignore them otherwise.
Root Slam - Humanoid Root
The humanoid root will ascend before quickly dropping down,damaging everyonearound them.
This attack is well-telegraphed, soback away for a momentuntil the attack finishes
Toxic Pool - Humanoid Root
The humanoid root will create atoxic poolaround itself, indicated by a blue and red circle.
Once you see the blue and red circle appear, step back andattack with the bowinstead, The root will reposition after a short period.
That’s the entirety of its moveset. None of them are exceptionally hard to recognise, it’s more the balancing act ofavoiding both Yatsurao and the humanoid root’sattacks at the same time, all the while keeping Yoshiro safe from the summoned enemies.
If you want to achieve an optional objective, you can actuallyguide the Root Thurst into the humanoid root. This will also immediately stun Yatsurao.
The goal here is tobait Yatsurao’s rootso that you can destroy the tongues on it. You don’t need to destroy every tongue, just the vast majority of them. As long as you can avoid the thrusts and defeat the humanoid root, keeping it stunned should be simple.
With Yatsurao defeated, the Great Cherry Tree of Nakahara is purified, and you’ve unlocked theCannoneer Roleto boot. Congratulations!
