Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is known for having some difficult trophies on the way to Platinum. The Swordmaster trophy is one of those. This is a silver trophy that requires you to perfectly parry Rafe Adler in the sword fight from Chapter 22 (the final fight).
To make it clear, you cannot get hit by the sword, not even once, if you want this trophy. Doing this trophy on Hard or Crushing difficulty is out of the question. On those difficulties, Rafe has additional attacks (spin attacks) which are very hard to distinguish.
Rafe also changes his position a lot in the Hard / Crushing difficulty making the achievement even harder. My recommendation is to do this trophy on Explorer or Light difficulty.
How to perfectly parry Rafe in the sword fight
In Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, there are two strategies you can adopt for this trophy, depending on whether you want to use the built-in game tweaks or not.
Strategy #1: Doing this the legit way (No tweaks)
If you do not want to use tweaks, my best recommendation is to do this on Explorer difficulty. The trophy can be done from Encounter Select, so you don’t need to play the whole chapter to get to the fight.
On Explorer difficulty, Rafe will attack from two directions: Right and Left. Most of his attacks are pre-programmed on Explorer so there is very little variation. You can learn his attack patterns after a while.
If he tries to attack from the right side, spam quickly the Triangle button. If he tries to attack you from the left, spam Circle. When he gets stunned press Square to start punching and kicking him. Rinse and repeat.
IMPORTANT: There are several checkpoints during the fight and if you get slashed/stabbed, you can just go to Options and restart from the checkpoint. This will not cancel your trophy.
The trophy should pop once the Encounter is complete.
Strategy #2: Doing this the easy way (with tweaks)
If you don’t mind using the built-in tweaks, this strategy guarantees you the trophy in less than 5 minutes. Follow the steps below:
- Go to Encounter Select and open the fight from Chapter 22.
- Let Rafe ramble about Nathan Drake being a legend, etc. (The tutorial where it shows you how to parry Rafe). One attack is from the left, one is from the right and the last one is from both.
- When Nathan gets the sword and says “En garde, dickhead!” press Options and go to Bonus / Tweaks and then to Gameplay Modifiers.
- Activate Slow Motion.
- Now all of Rafe’s attacks will be slowed significantly and it gives you enough time to see the direction where he will attack you from.
- Parry his attacks and press. Square when he misses to punch him.
This method makes the dialogue in slow motion too, so it takes a bit longer, but it guarantees you won’t miss an attack.
Just like before, you can restart the checkpoint if he manages to hit you and this will not cancel your trophy. There are several checkpoints in the fight.
That’s basically it. What is normally a hard trophy to earn, can be pretty easy with the proper strategy.
Other Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Guides
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – How Many Chapters Are In the Game
- Uncharted 4 – One Last Time Trophy Guide – How To Get The Platinum
- Uncharted 4 – The Cross Puzzle Solution – Chapter 9: For Those Who Prove Worthy
- Uncharted 4 – Hangman’s Bullet Trophy Guide – Perform 20 headshots from the rope
- Uncharted 4 – Butterfingers Trophy Guide – Make 10 enemies drop their grenades