Crafting items in Like A Dragon: Ishin will reward you with some of the most powerful weapons in the game. While you will receive some incredibly worthy rewards for your efforts, hunting down crafting materials can pose a challenge.
As you progress toward the endgame, you'll notice just how many crafting items only appear after completing Ishin's most difficult challenges. The Shinsengumi Battle Dungeon's Sanada Stronghold and Mukurogai's Arena are two essential locations to acquire most of the rare crafting materials you will need, but they are not the only sources you'll need to visit.
10 Golden Medicine Case
The Golden Medicine Case can be received as a substory reward, or, more reliably, from the latter Battle Dungeon stages, particularly the final location – Sanada Stronghold. Many of the most scarce materials can be reliably farmed from Sanada Nobuyasu by challenging stage 20 of the Battle Dungeon's Sanada Stronghold (SS).
You'll want to get your hands on a bunch of these Golden Medicine Cases, as you'll need them to craft both the Blade Of The Shogun – a katana, and Nihongo – a powerful spear special weapon.
The former offers Light elemental damage and increases their effects by 75 percent. If you prefer spears, Nihongo will charge your Heat Gauge by 15 per second.
9 Torn Haori
The Torn Haori is a special crafting item used to craft the blade of one of the story's main characters, Nagakura Shinpachi. In addition to mimicking Shinpachi's katana in appearance, it also allows Ryoma to mimic his signature attack as well.
This rare material can also be found in the Battle Dungeon, notably on SS stages 18 and 20 (the final room). Luckily, a Torn Haori serves no other purpose, so once you acquire five of this rare crafting material, you won't need to grind out more of them unless you want multiple copies of the weapon.
8 Snake Eyepatch
Much like the Torn Haori, the Snake Eyepatch is a crafting material taken straight from the attire of another one of Ishin's best characters – Okita Soji. The second of three crafting materials designed for a single weapon, the Snake Eyepatch is most notably found in The Arena or as a reward from SS stages 17 or 20 of the Battle Dungeons.
This item will allow you to craft the Kiku Ichimonji katana, Soji's signature weapon. While the only perk is being able to use Okita Soji's signature attack, this is a must-have weapon if you are a Soji or Majima fan.
Soji's signature attack certainly cannot be replicated by any of the many combat skills available to Ryoma. Even if you have no interest in Soji, you will need to acquire this item if you hope to complete 100 percent of the game.
7 Godslayer's Talisman
The Godslayer's Talisman is a more versatile crafting material that is used to craft powerful weapons like the Demon Smasher or Futsu-no-Mitama. Unfortunately, you will have to acquire more than five of these to declare yourself finished with hunting them, especially if you are aiming for a completionist run.
The Arena has some to offer, or you can head back to SS stages nine, 11, 18, or 20 of the Battle Dungeon for a chance at acquiring this rare curiosity. You'll also receive one for completing substory six, The Mochi Mystery.
6 Great Serpent Skin
The Great Serpent Skin is a required crafting item in the recipes for Tonbokiri – a spear, and Ame-no-Murakumo – a powerful katana.
Both weapons are exceptional and Ame-no-Murakumo has an argument for one of the strongest swords in the game, provided you like playing at low HP. This katana possesses a matching set of two perks that both increase attack by nine percent when at low health.
Head back to the usual spots for this material, particularly Battle Dungeon SS stages eight, 15, 17, or 20 for a chance to drop the Great Serpent Skin. You'll also receive an additional two skins by completing substory 39: A Clean Streak, or substory 50: The Desperate Fisherman.
5 Picture Of A Ghost
The Picture Of A Ghost is a unique crafting material that cannot be farmed at the Battle Dungeon, as other items can. It is an essential material for crafting the Yaksha Blade – an important prerequisite weapon for several recipes.
While this is not the only specialized crafting item, it's easily one of the rarest, especially if you haven't explored Rakugai thoroughly.
The most reliable way to get this item is by locating substory 27: The Mysterious Merchant. You must locate a mysterious man in a shed in Rakugai, adjacent to a cart.
Once you bring him a few common items, he will open his store and begin to sell the Picture Of A Ghost material.
4 Gold Seal
The Gold Seal is an exceptionally useful and equally rare crafting material that you'll be hunting throughout your journey through the Battle Dungeon. It's required for key Katanas like Otenta and Mikazuki Munechika as well as in rare and powerful accessories like the Double Worship Talisman.
As usual, head back to the Sanada Stronghold and get cracking, as you'll need to run through stages six, ten, 13, or 17 in this difficult third Dungeon area to acquire some Gold Seals.
If you're a completionist then you'll only need to acquire a handful of these materials, so don't worry about needing to farm many.
3 Crimson Bead
The Crimson Bead is one of the most in-demand crafting materials as it is a featured part of several recipes, including the Dojigiri katana, the Bonbori Lantern special weapon, and Brawler's Binding breastplate. Its wide variety of uses makes it a valuable commodity for you to stock up on, as you never know when it may come in handy.
You will want to farm around ten for safety's sake, but luckily you can do so without going too far out of your way. While they can be located in stages six, 13, 18, or 20, your best bet is usually to head straight to 20 both because of the other items you can acquire there, but also because it gives you three to five quick drop chances that have a good chance to drop a Crimson Bead.
2 The Dragon Items
The undisputed most-used crafting items are undoubtedly the set of Dragon items:
- Tear Of The Dragon
- Eye Of The Dragon
- Dragon Whisker
- Dragon Fang
These rarities serve a variety of purposes across the crafting spectrum and are used in some of the most powerful recipes you can find.
The items that require these materials include Last of the Dragons (katana), Spring In Full Bloom (gun), Model 14 (gun), Dragon Hawk (gun), Divine Dragon Emblem (headband), and other incredible accessories.
Each of these items can be acquired by clearing the final stage of the Sanada Stronghold as per usual, except for the Tear Of The Dragon. This material can be acquired from SS stages three, five, seven, nine, 11, or 13 instead.
1 Kiwami Hammers
The only item rarer than the most-used rare crafting materials is one that you can only acquire in a limited amount – Kiwami hammers. This exceptional item is used to immediately grant crafted items the Best-quality tier (gold).
Usually, you can use Iron, Bronze, Silver, or Gold hammers to level up the quality of your gear, but certain enchanted items will need a Kiwami hammer to achieve Best-quality.
You can receive one Kiwami hammer from completing 100 percent of the Battle Dungeons, and another from completing 100 percent of the memoirs after finishing the game.
A third can be received by owning the Digital Deluxe edition of the game, but no others can be acquired as of now. With only three uses, make sure to choose something special for your limited Kiwami hammers.