Total War: SHOGUN 2 Christian Arts Tree: Otomo & Ikko Ikki

The Shogun 2 Christian arts tree is the most lopsided research path in the base campaign, and most players who click it on day one never finish it. Otomo and Ikko Ikki both convert, but the two faith-driven routes unlock wildly different units, and the research point economy punishes anyone who treats the Christian line like a normal Bushido or Chi run. This guide breaks the unique Mastery of the Arts branch apart, ranks the priority arts, and lays out a Shogun 2 fastest research strategy that does not bankrupt your provinces.

How the Christian Arts Tree Differs from Bushido and Chi

Most players who arrive at the Christian arts tree have already cleared at least one standard Shogun 2 campaign, so the first shock is the structure. The Mastery of the Arts tree still splits into Bushido and Chi, but the Christian arts that branch off the top of the military column behave like a sub-tree with its own prerequisites and a much longer effective span than a normal two-or-three-art research project. You cannot dip in, take one art, and pivot back. The Christian arts expect you to commit a long run of turns, and that commitment reshapes your economy, your diplomacy screen, and your army roster simultaneously.

According to the Way Of The Chi Arts- A Tierlist - Shogun 2, the Mastery of the Arts system handles every research project in the base game, and the Christian line uses that same system rather than a special religion menu. The convert trigger is purely campaign-level, but the research itself is paid for in the same research points generated by your towns, monasteries, and daimyo retainer, which is why a Shogun 2 research points guide that does not address the economy is incomplete.

Before we compare the two columns, a few mechanical details are worth pinning down: the Christian arts sub-tree fires only after a religion-conversion event unique to clans like the Otomo, the research-point cost per art scales with your current mastery level in the parent Bushido column, and the chain grants no refund if you switch daimyo focus mid-run — all of which explain why a Shogun 2 tech rush strategy built around Matchlock Ashigaru has to start queuing missionary actions by turn 5 rather than turn 20.

The unique payoff row is the one that changes how you play. The Christian arts do not merely give a small bonus; they unlock rosters that are otherwise unreachable, and they do it in a tight window. That window is what a Shogun 2 tech rush strategy has to hit.

The Otomo Research Path and the Matchlock Payoff

Otomo sit in northern Kyushu, and they are the only base-game clan that begins the campaign already Christian. Their starting position hugs the coast, their daimyo retainer Chosokabe already has naval-leaning traits on the campaign map, and their matchlock-leaning army composition means a research plan that points at firearms first is the obvious play. The mistake is to assume the Otomo path is purely a matchlock rush. A clean Otomo Christian arts tree plan folds in a Chi line for income first, because research point generation in the early game is the actual choke point.

The Otomo starting economy produces roughly the same research points as a similarly sized Chosokabe or Shimazu province, but the clan trait trades tax income for a small research bonus, so the research points that other clans get from high-tax towns Otomo have to find in their daimyo retainer bonus and their early mission chains. This is the part of a Shogun 2 research points guide that gets skipped most often: the answer is not to research faster, it is to make sure your provinces are not bleeding points into a military unit you will not field for twenty turns.

The Shogun 2 fastest research strategy on this path is to keep the early Chi line tight, never research the second Bushido military art in the opening thirty turns, and let the Christian matchlock art fire as the first real military investment. This runs against the instinct most players have from a Takeda or Oda campaign, where two early military arts are normal, but the Christian tree rewards a longer setup because the matchlock payoff is so much larger than a yari or bow upgrade.

The trade ships Otomo can access are also part of the arts plan. European trade, which the Christian path indirectly enables, routes through Nanban ports and stacks with a Christian arts tree research path that emphasises naval arts in the mid-game. If you are Otomo, do not research the second Christian military art before the Nanban trade chain lights up; the points are better spent on the Chi economy line until your Nanban port is functional.

The Ikko Ikki Research Path and the Monk-Warrior Stack

The Ikko Ikki path is the other side of the Christian arts tree, and it is more surprising because Ikko Ikki is the Buddhist rebellion faction. In practice, the Ikko Ikki tech tree plays the same convert-to-Christian flow that Otomo does, because the research path forks off the same Bushido-top Christian line. The differences come from starting position, building access, and army composition. Ikko Ikki begin in Kii, surrounded by hostile Buddhist clans, with a weak land economy and a strong monastery chain, so their research plan looks very different from Otomo.

The Ikko Ikki research plan is slower on the matchlock side but faster on the religious-military side. Warrior Monk Samurai, the signature Ikko Ikki stack, can be unlocked without taking the full matchlock branch, so the Christian arts tree for this clan reads more like a sustain tree than a firepower tree. A Shogun 2 what to research first breakdown for Ikko Ikki should start with a Chi building art plus the first Christian support art, not with the matchlock line.

The Shogun 2 Ikko Ikki tech tree is also a diplomatic story. Converting to Christianity as Ikko Ikki alienates your Buddhist neighbours faster than any other convert path, because the clan is the largest Buddhist-aligned faction on the map. A Shogun 2 tech rush strategy for Ikko Ikki should plan for at least one early war, because you will not hold Kii without forcing the issue. The research plan should expect to lose a province or two while you wait for the Christian support arts to fire, then take them back once the warrior monk stack is online.

Research Point Economy and the Faith-Driven Tech Rush

The Shogun 2 Christian arts tree punishes a research plan that pretends points are free. The Mastery of the Arts system is the same system the Shogun 2 technology cheat sheet covers in detail, and the research point cost per art scales with the tier of the art plus your current research building upgrades. The Christian arts sit at the top of the Bushido column, so they cost more than the early arts you may be used to researching in a 0-to-20-turn sprint.

Three variables determine whether the rush lands, and they interact more tightly than the bullet list makes obvious. Research per turn is the only one you can grow before conversion, so spending your pre-convert Chi economy arts (Improved Forgework, Local Council, Sakoku Understanding for an Otomo-style open-port faction) directly raises the ceiling of every Christian art you will later click. Cost of the next art is partially fixed by tier position in the Bushido column, but the prerequisite chain quietly inflates it; a clan that has already burned turns on a cavalry Bushido art still pays full tier cost on the first Christian art, while a clan that took only the matching yari or bow prerequisite inherits a small discount. Conversion timing is the gate that turns the other two numbers from a budget into a deadline, and it is the variable that most Ikko Ikki and Otomo attempts get wrong by treating it as a side quest instead of a turn-zero timer.

• Research per turn: the sum of points generated by every town, castle, and daimyo retainer in your faction. Mission chains and Nanban ports add to this total once they come online.

• Cost of the next art: the displayed cost of the Christian art you are about to click. This rises with tier and falls slightly with each already-finished prerequisite.

• Conversion timing: a clan can only research the Christian arts after the convert trigger fires, which usually means completing a specific mission chain. The earlier the convert, the more turns you have to research before the campaign clock starts pressuring you.

The arithmetic of the rush is straightforward. A typical base-game faction averages around 50-80 research points per turn by turn 20 with a normal province setup. A Christian art at the top of the Bushido column can cost 1,200-1,800 points, which is 15-30 turns of research on its own. If your plan takes five Christian arts in a row, you need to fund 60-150 turns of research on that branch alone, which is the entire late-game research budget for most clans.

A tech rush is the art of stacking the variables above in one direction so the post-conversion window is wide enough to fund the entire Christian line before the campaign clock forces you into matchlock production or domain defense. For an Otomo opening on Normal difficulty, that means hitting the convert mission on roughly turn 12-15 with Improved Forgework and Sakoku Understanding already banked, a Nanban port already constructed in your home province, and 100-150 research points per turn already on the meter before a single Christian art is queued; for an Ikko Ikki attempt the same arithmetic pushes the convert later because the Ikko economy arts discount the Bushido tier less than the Otomo pre-convert chain does. Treat the convert trigger as a research deadline, not a flavor event, and the tech rush stops being a gamble.

• Running two or more Chi economy arts first, so your points per turn is in the 100-150 range by turn 20.

• Building monasteries and Nanban ports early, because each one adds a meaningful chunk of points.

• Avoiding any research detour into Bushido arts that do not feed the Christian line. The first Christian art needs one Bushido prerequisite, not three.

The Total War: Shogun 2 technology tree article covers the full layout if you want to see where each Christian art sits in the broader tree, but the practical summary is that the Christian line is fed by exactly one Bushido military art, which means the opening Bushido choice matters more than the opening Chi choice. Pick the Bushido military art that unlocks the yari or bow unit you will actually use until the Christian matchlock art lands, and avoid the cavalry art entirely on a Christian rush.

Common Mistakes on the Christian Arts Tree

The Shogun 2 Christian arts tree is small, but the failure modes are predictable. Most players who abandon a Christian campaign before the unique units unlock do so for one of the reasons below, and most of the reasons are research choices rather than diplomatic ones.

The Shogun 2 fastest research strategy on the Christian line is not about clicking faster, it is about avoiding the detour arts. A clean Ikko Ikki tech tree plan and a clean Otomo tech tree plan both end up with one Bushido prerequisite, four to six Christian arts, and exactly one Chi economy detour. Anything beyond that is padding that the research point economy cannot afford.

The Ikko Ikki guide in the faction archive covers the military side of the warrior monk stack, which is the part of the Ikko Ikki plan that the arts tree only unlocks. If you intend to play the Christian arts tree as Ikko Ikki, that faction guide is the natural pairing. For Otomo players, the same article's Otomo section is the right second read, because the research plan and the army build are linked tightly.

A 50-Turn Research Order for Both Clans

A complete research order is the only honest answer to the question of what to research first, and the order below assumes Normal difficulty and a standard province count. Hard and Very Hard both tighten the timeline because Realm Divide and AI aggression arrive sooner, so on those difficulties compress each phase by 5-10 turns.

The Shogun 2 Otomo tech tree and the Shogun 2 Ikko Ikki tech tree end in roughly the same place by turn 50, with both clans fielding a tier-3 Christian unit and a Nanban-or-mission-supported research economy. The opening twenty turns look very different, because Otomo are coastal and Ikko Ikki are landlocked, but the late game is the same research plan with a different army composition.

A useful sanity check is to count the arts you have researched by the time Realm Divide hits. A well-run Christian campaign should have four Christian arts unlocked by Realm Divide on Normal difficulty, three on Hard, and two on Very Hard. If you are below that curve, the Shogun 2 tech rush strategy has slipped, and the right response is to delay one more Chi detour into a research bonus, not to abandon the tree and pivot to a normal Bushido plan.

Closing Notes on the Faith-Driven Rush

The Shogun 2 Christian arts tree rewards a patient opener and punishes an aggressive one. The Otomo and Ikko Ikki paths both end at the same research destination, but they take very different roads to get there, and the difference is mostly about the opening Chi and Bushido choices. Once the convert trigger fires and the first Christian art starts ticking down, the campaign shifts from a normal Total War economy game to a research race, and the clans that win that race are the ones who built their research points per turn up before they ever clicked the first Christian art.

A clean Shogun 2 Christian arts tree plan is a 50-turn commitment, not a 20-turn detour, and the rest of the campaign should be built around that commitment. Pick your clan, pick your opening economy, then start the research plan rather than the army plan. The army falls out of the research, and the diplomacy falls out of the conversion, and the campaign map clears itself once the research plan is solid.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Shogun 2 Christian arts tree worth it compared to a normal Bushido run?

It is worth it if you intend to convert and play through Realm Divide, because the matchlock and warrior monk rosters are not otherwise reachable. It is not worth it for a short Shogun campaign, because the research point investment is too high for a 30-turn run.

Which clan has the easiest Shogun 2 Christian arts tree run?

Otomo, by a small margin. They begin already converted, sit on the coast, and have a research bonus in their clan trait. Ikko Ikki can run the same tree but pay a heavier diplomatic cost and a slower opening economy.

What is the Shogun 2 fastest research strategy on the Christian line?

Run two Chi economy arts in the first 10 turns, take exactly one Bushido military prerequisite, then commit to the Christian arts without detouring. Build Nanban ports (Otomo) or monastery chains (Ikko Ikki) as soon as possible to lift research points per turn above 100 by turn 20.

Can the Christian arts be partially researched and then abandoned?

Yes, but the points you spent on the partial Christian line do not transfer if you pivot back to standard Bushido or Chi. A pivot costs you 15-25 turns of wasted research, which is the practical reason to commit to the Christian plan before clicking the first art.

How does Realm Divide change the Shogun 2 Christian arts tree timing?

Realm Divide hits at clan fame level 7-8 in the base campaign, which is usually around turn 35-45. The Christian arts tree should be at three or four arts by that point, because the next 20 turns of the campaign will be war and your research pace will slow dramatically.