While Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is undeniably a very difficult game — arguably the toughest one FromSoftware has ever made, even — there are several ways you can make your journey through the war-torn land of Ashina a little easier. One of the main ones is unlocking various passive and active skills that improve your effectiveness in combat and give you special new moves to play with.
Do get these skills, you'll need to accrue Skill Points by earning Experience (XP), which is done by slaying enemies and bosses. This process is simple enough, but generally, XP is hard to come by fast in most areas since the majority of the foes you'll face don't give much of it.
Luckily, there are a handful of locations where you can kill elite enemies that drop lots of XP pretty quickly, and these are the places where you should "farm" by resting at a nearby bonfire Sculptor's Idol to respawn them over and over. We've listed the best of these farming spots below, including ones you can find in the early, mid, and endgame.
Something important to touch on before getting into the details of each farm, though, is that you can improve your XP (and money) gains by 20% by giving the Kuro's Charm item back to Kuro at the start of the game. Unfortunately, this option only becomes available if you've began New Game Plus in a previous playthrough, but if you've done so, keep it in mind next time you start a new one. Just be aware that doing so will make Sekiro take chip damage from blocked attacks, forcing you to perfectly deflect strikes to avoid damage.
Sekiro: Best XP farms in early and mid-game
These are the best farming spots you can take advantage of before defeating the Corrupted Monk Apparition, Guardian Ape, and Folding Screen Monkeys bosses, which begins Sekiro's late/endgame. They either won't be accessible after you do so, or won't be worth your time compared to later farms.
Ashina Outskirts — Ashina Castle Gate
After you've defeated Gyoubu Oniwa, you'll immediately see a Sculptor's Idol next to the large gate. This is the Ashina Castle Gate checkpoint, and can be fast traveled to from any other Sculptor's Idol or using the Homeward Idol.
- Once you're at the Ashina Castle Gate checkpoint, you'll want to go forward and kill the soldier with the rifle. You can rush at him and he usually misses.
- Grapple up onto the gate behind him and turn right, then kill the assassin behind the first tree you see. Sneak up behind him for an easy takedown.
- Next, you will see two more assassins next to the other large tree. Sneak halfway to one of them, then sprint up behind him and land a Deathblow. Get ready to battle the last assassin, as he'll have spotted you.
- Use the Loaded Axe Shinobi Prosthetic to instantly break the last assassin's helmet. This will instantly allow you to Deathblow him.
- Run to the right and drop back down to where the Ashina Castle Gate checkpoint is to rest. Respawn all the enemies and repeat this process as many times as you like.
- The assassins provide significantly more XP than normal enemies, so farming one of them is almost equivalent to three or four standard rank-and-file.
Ashina Castle — Upper Tower Antechamber
After you've defeated the Blazing Bull boss, you'll have to defeat a general and grapple up the buildings to reach the Ashina Castle Upper Tower Antechamber. There will be many enemies attacking you on your ascent, so be careful. Once you reach this area, you'll see the Sculptor's Idol this farm is centered around.
- Once you're at the Upper Tower Antechamber, you'll want to go forward a bit and then kill the samurai behind the paper screens with a stealth takedown. Sneak up behind him and kill him by using the opening to your right.
- After that, you'll see another samurai walking in front of you in the large room. Stealth kill him. Then, turn right and look across the bridge.
- Next you'll have to take out the woman across the bridge. She doesn't give much XP, but needs to be slain so that she doesn't sound an alarm.
- Next, turn right and go straight and then look left, where you'll notice another samurai standing next to a window you can sneak up to and Deathblow. Once this is done, turn left and go into the room there.
- Sneak close to one of the samurai in the room and Deathblow him. Then, as the other one aggros to you, sprint away.
- Run back to the Sculptor's Idol and do not engage the remaining enemy. Fighting him takes up time you could be spending farming. Rinse and repeat as much as you want.
- These samurai are tough and give lots of XP, but stealth takedowns make killing them easy. Just make sure you're not too fast or aggressive, as you might break some of the area's paper screens and alert patrolling samurai.
Senpou Temple — Main Hall
This is one of the simplest and quickest farms in all of Sekiro, but it can be rather tricky due to how difficult it can be to get away from the enemy in it you're not trying to kill. Once you reach the Main Hall Sculptor's Idle in Senpou Temple, though, you'll have access to it.
- From the Sculptor's Idol, sneak to the door in front of you and target the hat-wearing enemy on the right. This will make killing him in the next step much easier.
- Sprint out the door and up to the foe you're targeting and Deathblow him, ignoring the other one to the left that spots you. These enemies are rather ridiculous with all of their flips and spins, so don't bother engaging the one that remains.
- Simply run back in the open door to the Sculptor's Idol. The remaining enemy won't follow you into the room.
- Note that depending on what the other enemy is doing when you come out of your Deathblow i-frames, you might have to dodge or deflect to safely get back inside.
- These agile warriors are some of the most annoying enemies in the game, but they give tons of XP. The fact you can repeatedly take one down this easily and quickly makes this an amazing mid-game farm.
Sunken Valley — Gun Fort
Another equally simple, easy, and efficient farm is this one at the Gun Fort that you can access after you've made your way into the Sunken Valley and have rested at the Sculptor's Idol past the fort's exterior.
- Turn around from the Sculptor's Idol and walk along the path until you reach the door that leads outside. You'll see an enemy standing in the doorway that's turned away from you.
- Simply Deathblow this enemy from stealth, then turn around and head back as his comrades witness the kill. They're quick on the draw with their firearms, so be fast.
- Run back to the Sculptor's Idol and quickly rest. This not only respawns the enemy you're farming, but also stops aggroed foes from previous kills from chasing you.
- The Sunken Valley Clan members give plenty of XP, and when you have a farm like this that allows you to kill one over and over again in seconds, there's no reason not to take advantage of it.
Sekiro: Best XP farms in late and endgame
You'll need to switch to these farms after the Interior Ministry's long-foreshadowed invasion of Ashina begins, as it changes the types of enemies that spawn.
Ashina Castle — Upper Tower Antechamber
This farm doesn't involve much action from you; instead, it takes advantage of the fact that multiple elite Ashina and Interior Ministry troops fight and kill each other in the Upper Tower Antechamber area once the latter's invasion begins. While the farm's a bit slow, it gives a ton of XP, and you're able to watch the carnage unfold from a safe spot for much of it.
- Spawn at the Upper Tower Antechamber Sculptor's Idol and make your way forward.
- Run past all of the Ashina samurai and Interior Ministry shinobi in the area, aggroing them into each other. Then look for a safe spot to wait and watch while they all fight.
- Once one side wins the engagement, finish off the survivors. This shouldn't be too tough, as they'll be weakened from the fight.
- Run back to the Sculptor's Idol and rest to respawn everything. You can then repeat the farm as much as you want to.
Ashina Outskirts — Stairway
There are a number of Interior Ministry enemies here you can sneak up on and kill easily for lots of XP, and since it's a bit faster than the previous farm, it's what we'd consider to be the best one in the late game overall.
- From the Sculptor's Idol, turn around and grapple to the top of the tower and kill the rifleman on it. You should have no problem Deathblowing him before he alerts anyone.
- Drop down from the tower and kill the second rifleman at its base. Be quick, or you might get spotted.
- From there, go forward and kill the third rifleman past the burning gate. He'll be facing away from you, so sneaking up on him is easy.
- Quickly go forward and stealth behind the cannon soldier to Deathblow him as well. As long as you're fast, he won't turn around and see you.
- Lastly, stealth kill the final warrior with two swords. These enemies are more attentive than the average soldier, so definitely sneak up on him while crouched.
- This is the best overall farm at the end of the game, with an excellent XP gained/time spent ratio.
Sekiro: Do you lose XP or Skill Points if you die?
During all this farming, there's a chance you'll make a mistake or get unlucky when trying to kill an enemy and end up dying. Unfortunately, deaths (not ones you reverse with Resurrection) in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice do cause you to lose XP, though you don't lose Skill Points, and it's impossible to lose all of the XP you've acquired. That's because half of the XP that you have going towards your next Skill Point (represented by the blue bar on the HUD and menus) is lost when you die, along with half your Sen (money). And unlike Dark Souls or Elden Ring, which allow you to regain your souls by returning to the place you fell, there's no way to get lost XP or money back in Sekiro.
It's important to note, however, that you have up to a 30% chance to keep all of your XP and money when you die due to the Unseen Aid mechanic (it decreases when you spread Dragonrot by dying too much, and increases when you heal it with Dragon's Blood Droplets). You'll get a big notification on the screen when this procs, though I wouldn't rely on it since the odds aren't in your favor.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One systems, Windows PCs, PS5, and PS4. It's a phenomenal action game with one of the best combat systems in all of gaming, as well as a great story and beautiful presentation. It took home Game of the Year from The Game Awards in 2019, and is one of the best Xbox games and best PC games for fans of intense and challenging gameplay.
