Ghost Of Tsushima Iki Island Guide - How To Solve The Shrine Of Ash And Unlock The God Of War Armor

Note: This article contains spoilers for the Shrine of Ash on Iki Island. If you'd rather solve its puzzles yourself, read no further.

Scattered across Iki Island in Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut are three Wind Shrines that contain some of the coolest cosmetic rewards in the game. Each reward is themed on a major PlayStation exclusive game, and each lets you do a little cosplay in Tsushima as you fight the Mongols. However, to unlock the three armor sets, you'll have to find the three shrines--and solve some confusing riddles along the way.

The Shrine of Ash contains an armor set themed on 2018's God of War. Here's what you need to know to find the shrine and get the Spartan armor hidden within. Don't forget to check out our guides to find the Shrine in Shadow and get the Shadow of the Colossus armor, and the Blood-Stained Shrine for the Bloodborne armor.

Note that to complete this shrine, you'll need the Sakai Clan Armor.

How To Find The Shrine Of Ash

You'll find the Shrine of Ash near the eastern coast of Iki Island, just south of the river delta near Tatsu's Ladder. Look for the shrine set into a hill, which you can approach from the west to find stairs leading down. It's marked by white birch trees, which make it stand out from the surrounding forest.

How To Solve The Shrine Of Ash Riddle

Fans of God of War will immediately pick up on why the aforementioned birch trees are important to this shrine. To the left of the statue, you'll see one of the birch trees marked with a handprint. In God of War, that handprint belonged to Freya, Kratos's wife and the mother of Atreus, Kratos's son. Also buried in the birch tree is an axe, recalling both Kratos's actions at the start of the game to chop down those special trees, and the Leviathan axe that is his central weapon in the game. This one's quite a bit simpler, however.

In the center of the shrine is a scroll with a poem that recalls the story of God of War and gives you the clues you need to unlock the shrine:

In fall, a tree fruits
which grows from seed to sapling,
a stranger and son.
Boy, honor your father's fight.
Show him the strength of your blade."

The meaningful parts of the poem for our purposes are the last two lines. They tell you to "honor your father's fight" and "show him the strength of your blade." Those are the clues we need to solve the Shrine of Ash.

Each shrine is solved by wearing a specific set of armor and performing a specific action. For this one, you'll need the Sakai Clan Armor found during Act 2 of Ghost of Tsushima. That armor belonged to Jin's father, Kasumasa Sakai, and he was wearing it when he died fighting raiders on Iki--so to "honor your father's fight," you'll need to wear his armor.

Next, the poem says to "show him the strength of your blade." This one is pretty simple, actually--just swipe to the right on your controller's touchpad to draw your sword while standing in the shrine.

If you've got the Sakai armor on, you'll trigger a cutscene and earn your rewards: the Helm of War, Spartan face mask, and Ghost of Sparta cosmetic for the Sakai Clan Armor.