Like A Dragon: Ishin offers a varied and seamless combat style that is being hailed as the best in the series. With four distinct combat styles ranging from a bare-fisted Brawler to a sword-swinging, gunslinging Wild Dancer, there are plenty of ways to defeat your foes in Ishin.
Whether you prefer to get up close and personal with your blade, enjoy raining bullets upon your enemies, or are somewhere in between, there are a set of weapons that stand above the rest. One thing to keep in mind when choosing a weapon is the effect it will have on leveling up your preferred style. While guns and katanas can help Swordsman, Gunman, or Wild Dancer to level up, special weapons grant no experience to any style's upgrade tree. Check our helpful FAQ for more details about Ishin before you dive in.
10 Bonbori Lantern
Speaking of special weapons, the Bonbori Lantern is one such choice you can craft once you're done farming experience for your combat style of choice. Despite its inability to help you level up, there's no denying the sheer power behind a swing from this lantern.
This hard-hitting beat stick will let you take the fight to your opponent with unprecedented damage and some added elemental damage. Elemental augments are extremely useful and rare intrinsic traits, so you shouldn't underestimate the value that a wind and poison-imbued weapon can have against a variety of opponents.
9 Model 14
Once you visit William Bradley and learn every gun-focused combat tip you can from the fast-drawing American, you'll be ready to wield this incredible gun. Once you upgrade your Model 2 to its final form, the Model 14 will be yours to use as you see fit.
With a very solid 460 Attack stat and an intrinsic perk that lets you charge up for more damage, there's plenty of power behind this small firearm. The charging effect can triple your single-shot damage at the cost of a slight time delay, but it's well worth the risk if you're good at spacing yourself away from enemies.
8 Dragon Hawk
If you prefer a gun with a faster style of play than the Model 14, then look no further than the Dragon Hawk. With an equally strong Attack of 445 and two intrinsic perks to support it, this revolver is second to none when it comes to being quick on the draw.
Its two perks work in tandem with the first one granting a 20 percent chance to fire two bullets with one pull of your trigger. The second perk increases the gun's base rate of fire in order to give you a better chance of activating the two bullets in one shot. This unique perk combination makes the Dragon Hawk worth a try and gives you plenty of flexibility against charging opponents.
7 Golden Sword
The Golden Sword, like many of these weapons, will take plenty of time investment and upgrade materials to craft. However, for those who enjoy using their Heat actions to deal massive damage, this may be the best sword in the game.
Topping the 1,000 Attack mark, the Golden Sword also reduces the overall Heat consumed whenever you use a Heat action by seven percent. You may notice this perk appears twice on the sword, stacking for an added effect that sets it above and beyond other options that usually can only provide a single heat reduction perk.
6 Murasame
Murasame is a top-notch sword if you want to inflict a status effect on your foes that will decimate their health. Despite falling just ten points short of the 1,000 Attack mark, the Murasame provides additional poison damage that puts it ahead of the Golden Sword.
In addition to its poison damage, Murasame is also 20 percent more powerful against armored enemies, bringing its total Attack power to almost 1,100 without factoring in the added poison damage. Stronger armored enemies appear more frequently as you progress, so this late-game sword can help tear through the hardest portions of the game with ease.
5 Futsu-no-Mitama
Futsu-no-Mitama sees the devastating power of a sword like Murasame and kicks things up a notch with a slightly improved base Attack and an additional perk to help its poison. The initial poison damage is an excellent cherry on top of the damage, but things get even better with the increased elemental effect perk.
Futsu-no-Mitama gains 75 percent more damage from elemental attacks, bumping the pain inflicted from poison quite a bit, almost doubling it. While you will want to be sure you're using this weapon against enemies that are weak to poison, it offers unrivaled power if you choose the right moment to unsheathe it.
4 Okanehira
Attack power isn't everything, but it definitely doesn't hurt to clock in 1,020 Attack to make a case for being one of the best elemental katanas available. Okanehira does just that, brandishing the fire element effect as its main draw aside from the already impressive base damage.
However, Okanehira takes a page out of Murasame's book, adding the 20 percent more damage against armored opposition perk to its powerful repertoire. The ability to melt health bars with fire damage on top of added efficacy against the resilience of armored opponents makes Okanehira a flexible and flashy choice for Swordsman or Wild Dancer savants.
3 Golden Gun
If slicing through enemies hasn't made you want to go on a brief fishing excursion, then you're probably bloodthirsty enough to handle the infamous Golden Gun. This powerful weapon possesses the same perks as the Golden Sword, allowing you to take advantage of two perks that reduce your Heat consumption by seven percent each.
On top of its powerful perk options, it's impossible not to mention the Golden Gun's 515 Attack stat that sets it head-and-shoulders above any other weapon in its class. The Gunman build simply isn't complete without this rare revolver, so get to grinding out materials to craft this gem if you want to feel true power in your bullets.
2 Oni-Maru
Oni-maru is a simplistic sword that ticks the two requirements to earn its place among Ishin's best weapons: a high Attack stat and an incredibly potent intrinsic perk. Oni-maru tops the katana charts at 1,130 Attack while also boasting one of the most useful, but perhaps somewhat underrated perks in the game.
Attacks from Oni-maru will break the guard of your enemies 14 percent more often, making it impossible to guard against your strength forever. A Swordsman will benefit most heavily from this perk, as it's very hard to break an enemy's guard by simply wailing on them with your sword – unless you have the Oni-maru.
1 Blade Of The Shogun
The Blade of the Shogun's epic name is only outdone by its immense base Attack and powerful perk combination. At 1,045 Attack, Blade of the Shogun sits near the top of all katanas, but its set of elemental perks pushes the damage numbers even higher.
Imbued with the powerful light element, the blade ramps up that light damage as the second perk boosts the effects of all elemental effects by 75 percent, similar to the Futsu-no-Mitama, but with more power to show off. Once you've beaten enough of the Arena and searched the land for upgrade and crafting materials, rejoice and craft the Blade of the Shogun to bring your wrath upon any enemy you encounter in Like A Dragon: Ishin.