Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice All Prayer Bead Locations Guide PS4 PlayStation 4

There are plenty of collectibles to be found in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, but one of the most important is Prayer Beads. Prayer Beads are used to upgrade your health and posture bars. When you collect four of them, you'll be able to boost your meters at a Sculptor's Idol.

The trick is finding the darned things, as they're not always easy to come by. Most are dropped by mini bosses, but there are a few hidden away. In this guide, we'll give you a rough outline of where to find each and every Prayer Bead in Sekiro.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - where to find all Prayer Beads

Below are lists detailing all 40 Prayer Beads in Sekiro.

Ashina Outskirts

Prayer Bead Location Directions
1 Dropped by General Naomori Kawarada mini boss Find Sculptor's Idol for Outskirts Wall - Gate Path. Mini boss is stood next to archway (use this to stealth attack him to make fight easier)
2 Dropped by Chained Ogre mini boss Find Sculptor's Idol for Outskirts Wall - Stairway. Mini boss is up the steps and unavoidable. Remember to take out enemy hidden around the corner up the stairs first
3 Dropped by General Tenzen Yamauchi mini boss You'll find him just after Chained Ogre. Take out the gunmen first, then retreat until mini boss has lost you. Stealth attack from above to cut the fight in half
4 Ashina Castle Gate After you've defeated Gyoubu Oniwa (the main boss on the horse), go up the stairs at the back of the battleground and enter the building on the right. Go upstairs and grapple up the rafters. Double jump at the top beams to enter attic. Prayer Bead is in the chest
5 Dropped by Blazing Bull mini boss On the main path to Ashina Castle, you'll encounter this unmissable mini boss. It should take out the other enemies for you. Try to stay around the back of it and keep attacking as much as you can

Hirata Estate

Prayer Bead Location Directions
6 Dropped by the Shinobi Hunter Enshin of Misen mini boss
 Find Sculptor's Idol for Estate Path. Follow the path and cross the bridge to find an area with lots of long grass. Take down the other enemies first to make the fight more manageable
7 Dropped by Juzou the Drunkard mini boss Find Sculptor's Idol for Main Hall. There are lots of enemies before the mini boss so be careful. He's across the water and surrounded by grunts -- take these enemies down first, escape, then return to stealth attack
8 Hirata Audience Chamber In the building behind Juzou the Drunkard, on the left are two enemies patrolling a hallway. Past them is a wall with a banner on it -- lean against the wall to reveal a hidden area. Find the chest tucked away at the back

Ashina Castle

Prayer Bead Location Directions
9 Dropped by General Kuranosuke Matsumoto mini boss Find Sculptor's Idol for Ashina Castle, head straight up the stairs and deal with lesser enemies. Retreat and wait for mini boss to lose interest, then use the rooftops to stealth attack
10 Dropped by Seven Achina Spears – Shikibu Toshikatsu Yamauchi mini boss Find Sculptor's Idol for Ashina Reservoir. Go down the steps and to the left to grapple across two branches. Climb up the wall and stealth kill the enemy with the gong. Sneak under the house and down along the cliff edge. You'll wind up in the same building from the start of the game. From here you can stealth attack the mini boss
11 Dropped by Lone Shadow Longswordman mini boss Follow the above but instead of going right and under the house, go left and shimmy along the cliff. You'll come across the well you were in at the start of the game. Go higher up to find a hole through which you can drop down to perform a stealth attack to make the fight easier
12 Abandoned Dungeon Entrance Next to the Sculptor's Idol is a merchant by a tent. He sells this Prayer Bead for 1,400 sen
13 Upper Tower - Antechamber From Sculptor's Idol, go through to the main room and to the right-hand room. In here is another wall with a banner on it -- lean against it to reveal a hidden area, where you'll find this Prayer Bead
14 Dropped by Ashina Elite – Jinsuke Saze mini boss Find the Sculptor's Idol for Upper Tower - Ashina Dojo. Mini boss is in the next room, no other enemies to worry about. Mini boss is extremely fast but deflecting his attacks cripples his posture. Watch out for glint on his sword and immediately deflect twice

Senpou Temple, Mt. Kongo

Prayer Bead Location Directions
15 Dropped by Armored Warrior mini boss An unmissable mini boss. His heavy armour means you'll defeat him in a unique way; a death blow will push him back, and the aim is to push him off the bridge
16 Dropped by Long-arm Centipede Sen’un mini boss After Sculptor's Idol for Senpou Temple – Temple Grounds. Follow the path past the monks with bombs and up the roofs. Drop down to a lower temple. You'll find the mini boss in a darkened chamber
17 Senpou Temple – Temple Grounds Note: This Prayer Bead cannot be reached until you've completed the Corrupted Monk boss fight. From the Sculptor's Idol, jump into the pond with the Treasure Carp. With the diving ability, use R2 to swim down to the bottom and collect the Prayer Bead

Sunken Valley

Prayer Bead Location Directions
18 Under-Shrine Valley From the Sculptor's Idol, turn back and go up the hill. You can grapple across to another ledge where there are two enemies with guns. Jump up the wall, then shimmy across the ledge and drop down to find the Prayer Bead
19 Dropped by Snake Eyes Shirafuji mini boss
 Find the Sculptor's Idol for Sunken Valley, drop down and grapple onto the trees as you fall to find the mini boss
20 Dropped by Long-arm Centipede Giraffe mini boss Right after the Gun Fort Sculptor's Idol. This mini boss has a very long combo of swipe attacks. Parry as much as you can to wear down its posture
21 Gun Fort After you beat the above mini boss, drop down the hole and go through and to the left of the tunnel. You should find a series of grapple points -- make your way across them. Go to the right to find a bunch of enemies and the Prayer Bead

Ashina Depths

Prayer Bead Location Directions
22 Dropped by Snake Eyes Shirahagi mini boss Find the Sculptor's Idol for Ashina Depths. Mini boss is in the poisonous lake area below
23 Poison Pool After defeating the above mini boss, go into the tunnel and grapple up to the left. From here you can reach the head of one of the statues to find the Prayer Bead
24 Dropped by Tokujiro the Glutton mini boss Follow the main path until you come across an area with ghost enemies. You can grapple on the left to find this mini boss
25 Dropped by O’rin of the Water mini boss Find the Sculptor's Idol for Water Mill. You will see a woman playing music. This is the mini boss
26 Water Mill After the above mini boss, you should find a large group of enemies and a building on which you can eavesdrop. Go under the building and open a trap door to get inside. The Prayer Bead is in the attic
27 Mibu Village On the right hand side of Mibu Village, you'll find a lake. You can dive to the bottom (once you have the skill unlocked) and find a chest with the Prayer Bead

Fountainhead Palace

You may not find this area of the game depending on choices you make during the course of Sekiro. If you want to visit this location, you need to:

  • Defeat the Corrupted Monk and Guardian Ape bosses
  • Return to Kuro in Ashina Castle
  • Speak to Owl on the roof and choose the second dialogue option: "Break the Iron Code, Stay Loyal to Kuro"

From here, you can carry on playing the game and find Fountainhead Palace.

Prayer Bead Location Directions
28 Dropped by Sakura Bull mini boss Go through the courtyard with the squid-like enemies. Exit the building and then grapple onto the roof to find the mini boss
29 Dropped by Okami Leader Shizu mini boss After the Sculptor's Idol for Greak Sakura, this mini boss can be found atop a tree throwing lightning
30 Great Sakura After defeating the above mini boss, swim in the lake and dive down on the right-hand side. You'll find a chest at the bottom containing this Prayer Bead

Late Game and Post-Story

Towards the end of Sekiro, there will be a bunch more mini bosses to find. Once you've finished the game, you'll be given the option to start a New Game + run. If you choose "No" you'll be able to continue exploring in your current save and track down the remaining Prayer Beads, all of which are attached to mini bosses.

Prayer Bead Location Directions
31, 32 Ashina Depths - Poison Pool Between Poison Pool and Hidden Forest Sculptor's Idols, you'll find the headless Guardian Ape again. This fight will award you with two Prayer Beads at once
33 Ashina Castle - Upper Tower Dojo The mini boss Lone Shadow Vilehand is in the same room as the mini boss from earlier in the game (The room right next to the Upper Tower - Dojo Sculptor's Idol)
34 Ashina Castle - Upper Tower Antechamber Jump down the hole in the main room next to the Sculptor's Idol to find another Chained Ogre mini boss
35 Ashina Castle - Great Serpent Shrine From the Old Grave Sculptor's Idol, go back to the Great Serpent Shrine to find Lone Shadow Masanaga the Spear-Bearer mini boss
36 Ashina Castle - Ashina Reservoir Seven Spears Ashina – Shume Masaji Oniwa is a new mini boss that appears at the Ashina Reservoir Sculptor's Idol at the end of the game
37 Ashina Castle - Old Grave Right near the end of the game, Shigekichi of the Red Guard will appear near the Old Grave Sculptor's Idol. Go down the stairs and cross the bridge to find the mini boss in a courtyard
38 Ashina Castle - Upper Tower Dojo From the Sculptor's Idol, go downstairs. Behind the stairs is a paper wall you can destroy. There's a secret passage here that leads to the mini boss Ujinari Mizou
39 Hirata Estate - Bamboo Thicket Slope Only accessible via the ending detailed under the Fountainhead Palace heading (see above). Lone Shadow Masanaga the Spear-Bearer is a mini boss that appears in the same burning area Owl was in when you visited the first time
40 Hirata Estate - Main Hall Only accessible via the ending detailed under the Fountainhead Palace heading (see above). Juzou the Drunkard is back for another fight in the same area as before