Prayer Beads in Ghostwire: Tokyo are functional and stylish. Not only are they vital tools with passive buffs, but they’ll appear on Akito’s wrists in-game, serving to accessorize your character in photo mode and various story cutscenes.
Beads as a mechanic are introduced when you find your first set near the top of the Shibuya Kagerie Retail Complex in Chapter 2. You can initially wear one set, but eventually, you can equip up to 3 sets by investing points and 3 Magatama in the Fukurokuju skill tree under Equipment.
Prayer Beads, for the most part, aren’t particularly hard to find. Most are rewards from cleansing the various Torii gates at shrines throughout Shibuya, and most of the rest are given out by Relic-Hunting Nekomata in exchange for their respective objects of obsession.
When you cleanse a shrine, Prayer Beads are typically on an altar behind the central Torii gate, either standing by itself or in a shut building that’s visible on the other side of the gate. Prayer Beads are not automatically rewarded, so don’t run away before you pick them up.
Some Prayer Beads are useful or nearly necessary for completing other trophies/achievements in Ghostwire: Tokyo, while others are just nice to have as Shibuya steadily gets more dangerous through Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. You also receive the Power Overwhelming trophy/achievement for finding all 33 sets in the game.
It’s worth noting that many can be found multiple times, which will automatically upgrade their effects, the highest of which is Rank 3.
Where to Find All Prayer Beads in Ghostwire: Tokyo
Flame Beads
- Cleanse Kirigaoka Shrine (Chapter 3).
- Cleanse Mikubo Shrine (Chapter 4).
- Cleanse Akitsu Shrine (Chapter 4).
The Flame Beads raise the offensive power of your Fire Weaving by 20% for every strand you find, maxing out at 60% at Rank 3. You already rely pretty heavily on Fire Weaving to deal with bosses and particularly tough Visitors, so there’s no reason not to power up this Weaving ability a little further.
Gust Beads
- Obtained automatically atop Shibuya Kagerie Retail Complex (Chapter 2).
- Cleanse Katsuike Shrine (Chapter 4).
- Cleanse Kamio Shrine (Chapter 4).
Gust Beads raise the offensive power of your Wind Weaving by 20% for every strand you find, maxing out at 60% at Rank 3. This makes your default weapon that much more efficient, so it’s a good “set and forget” option for most of Ghostwire: Tokyo.
Aqua Beads
- Cleanse Toyoi Shrine (Chapter 3).
- Cleanse Kappagaike Torii Gate (Chapter 4).
- Cleanse Yamaki Shrine (Chapter 4).
Aqua Beads raise the offensive power of your Water Weaving by 20% for every strand you find, maxing out at 60% at Rank 3. A full set ar Rank 3 can go a long way towards improving your Water attack for crowd control. Even with them maxed-out, Water Weaving still doesn’t qualify as any sort of nuke, but it can clear out a bunch of small-fry Visitors in a relative hurry.
Archery Beads
- Cleanse Matsumi Shrine (Chapter 3).
- Cleanse Morite Shrine (Chapter 3).
- Cleanse Namihara Shrine (Chapter 4).
Every strand of Archery Beads you find raises your bow’s attack power by 20%. Without these, you need a clean headshot to put down most rank-and-file Visitors; with a full set, you can take out anything shy of a Rugged Walker with a chest hit.
Early in the game before your Weaving arsenal really comes into its own, assassinating Visitors with a bow boosted by these is one of your strongest offensive moves.
Talisman Beads
- Cleanse Monokane Building Rooftop Torii Gate (Chapter 4).
- Cleanse Shimokusa Shrine Torii Gate (Chapter 4).
The first set of Talisman Beads extends the effect duration of Stun/Thicket Talismans to 150%, and the radius of Exposure/Decoy Talismans by 150%. The second set doubles both to 200%. This can come in handy when you’re hunting the Talisman-related trophies/achievements, or during the first couple of phases of a Hyakki Yako fight when you’re drowning in weak targets.
Prosperity Beads
- Cleanse Chishima Shrine (Chapter 4).
With Prosperity Beads equipped, yellow ether crystals, Meika pots, and maneki-neko statues found throughout Shibuya give out double the Meika when shattered. This does not include Meika you find in garbage bins or earn by defeating Relentless Walkers, but it does seem to include the Meika reward for feeding random dogs, which might be a bug.
You need about 2 million Meika total to finish up Ghostwire’s trophy/achievement list, which is a lot easier to do when every stray ether cat you find is worth at least 7,000 Meika.
Astral Beads
With Astral Beads equipped, the amount of ether that appears from objects or defeated Visitors increases, up to a full 200% at Rank 3. This set is a nice quality-of-life bonus if you’re constantly low on Fire ether, but it is generally skippable.
- Complete all requests from the Archeology Nekomata.
- Complete all requests from the Doll Fanatic Nekomata.
- Complete 3 requests from the Musical Nekomata.
Nourishment Beads
Nourishment Beads boost the amount of health restored by food, up to a full 200% at Rank 3. This effect might be useful on harder difficulties, or if you’re getting your entire face kicked in by a particular boss. However, it’s pretty easy to get the same buff from the Tanuki Bounty Charm, and that doesn’t take up a slot.
- Cleanse Hirajuku Building Rooftop Torii Gate (Chapter 4).
- Cleanse Tatsui Shrine (Chapter 4).
- Cleanse Sakano Shrine (Chapter 4).
Incognito Beads
With the Incognito Beads, enemies take longer to notice your presence. This is a decent pick if you can’t be bothered to fight the rank-and-file Visitors on the street or going after the Silent Kill trophy/achievement, but it is obviously useless in ambush situations like a Hyakki Yako.
- Cleanse Noto Shrine (Chapter 4).
Self-Defense Beads
Wearing the Self Defense Beads means you take less damage, up to 30% less at Rank 3. While a lot of enemies inflict such low damage that these Prayer Beads may seem meaningless, there are a few occasions when they become very useful.
- Complete 3 requests from the Playful Nekomata.
- Complete 5 requests from the Antique Nekomata.
- Complete all requests from the Netsuke Collector Nekomata.
Spirit Perception Beads
When you use your spectral vision with the Spirit Perception Beads equipped, it spawns a blue trail of light that will move in the general direction of the closest source of spirits within 100-200 meters. This is essentially mandatory if you intend to pursue the Hero of Shibuya trophy/achievement.
- Cleanse Hitani Shrine (Chapter 3).
- Cleanse Saihama Building Rooftop Torii Gate (Chapter 4).
Sleuth Beads
Similar to the Spirit Perception variety, when you equip the Sleuth Beads, activating your Spectral Vision spawns a green trail of light that will move in the general direction of a set of KK’s Investigation Notes, assuming one is within 100/200/300 meters.
Some of the Notes are hard enough to find that this can be a lifesaver, and you need to grab all of the Notes if you’re pursuing the Mind and Body trophy/achievement. Once you have all 17 of KK’s Investigation Notes, though, these have have no further purpose.
- Cleanse Hirokawa Shrine (Chapter 3).
- Unlike every other set of Prayer Beads at a shrine, these aren’t located directly behind a Torii Gate. Instead, the Sleuth Beads are on an altar in the Hirokawa Shrine’s highest courtyard. If you’re facing the omikuji stand, it’s on your right, with two big lanterns lit up in front of it.
- Cleanse Shiratsuki Shrine (Chapter 4).
- Cleanse Onten Shrine (Chapter 4).
Tireless Beads
- Complete the Hero of Shibuya trophy/achievement.
You’ll receive the Tireless Beads as a reward for beating Ghostwire: Tokyo after transmitting all 240,300 spirits in Shibuya out of the city. While you have these equipped, you have unlimited arrows, talismans, and ether charges, but not unlimited food.
Shadow Beads
- Complete the Hero of Shibuya trophy/achievement.
You get the Shadow Beads alongside the Tireless Beads. While they’re equipped, you more or less have to walk right up to a Visitor before it’ll enter combat with you, and they lose track of you measurably faster if you run from a fight. In a situation like a programmed ambush or boss fight, however, the Shadow Beads have no effect.
The effects are relatively subtle, but this set does make it much easier to move around the city without a fight. If you’ve still got a couple of Jizo Statues or Tanukis left to find, these can expedite the process.
Transmission Beads
With the Transmission Beads equipped, you don’t need to visit payphones to transmit captured spirits back to Ed.
- Complete Chapter 6.
Now that you’ve tracked down the locations and collected your full set of Prayer Beads, you’re set to go after some of the other trophies and challenges in Ghostwire: Tokyo. Check our guide page for more.
