A Death Blow is the most common method of dealing a killing blow to upon an enemy, excluding ranked assassins. When dealing the killing blow to an enemy, an arrow is displayed on the screen. The enemy can be finished off by swinging the Wii Remote in the direction of the arrow, otherwise the Death Blow mode will end and the enemy will continue to attack.

Successful Death Blows cause slots at the bottom of the screen to start to spin. Matching three of these slot icons activates one of five different trances, or Dark Side Modes, depending on which three slot icons have been matched. Each executed Death Blow has a unique animation which varies between each beam katana models and the direction of the arrow displayed onscreen.

Animations

Using the Blood Berry

  • Upward – Travis slashes upward into the thug's pelvis.
  • Downward – Travis leaps up and tears the thug downward.
  • Left – Travis swings and retracts left, decapitating the thug.
  • Right – Travis backspins and slashes right, decapitating the thug.

Using the Tsubaki

  • Upward – Travis slashes upward with one hand into the thug's pelvis.
  • Downward – Travis brandishes the beam katana upward with one hand and slices the thug downward.
  • Left – Travis swings and retracts left with one hand, decapitating the thug while stylishly posing.
  • Right – Travis backspins and slashes right with one hand, decapitating the thug.

Using the Tsubaki Mk-II

  • Upward – Travis slashes heavily with one hand, diagonally upward through the thug's torso.
  • Downward – Travis jumps up and tears the thug downward.
  • Left – Travis swings and retracts left, decapitating the thug.
  • Right – Travis batters up, and tears off the right torso and the head of the thug.

Using the Tsubaki Mk-III

  • Upward – Travis backspins, grabs his tossed beam katana and slashes upward into the thug's pelvis.
  • Downward – Travis jumps up and tears downward, the katana projecting its beams through the thug's sides.
  • Left – Travis performs a spinning sword trick, before diagonally tearing left into the thug, splitting him apart.
  • Right – Travis quickly draws his beam katana, cutting the thug in the torso.