For Honor's newest Hero, the Sohei, is a towering Samurai who brings not one but seven weapons to the battlefield starting tomorrow, July 25. Inspired by depictions of the historical warrior-monk Benkei, the Sohei wields a Kama Yari polearm as his primary weapon, as well as a sickle, mallet, saw, club, pole fork, and sword. The Sohei is available July 25 for purchase and will be unlockable with 15,000 Steel two weeks after launch, and players can also compete to win the Sohei in the Photo Mode Sweepstakes by using the new Photo Mode feature - also available in For Honor starting July 25 - to capture in-game images of their customized Heroes.
In For Honor's narrative, the Sohei is exemplified by a man named Oniwaka (roughly translatable as "Demon Child"), whose monstrous appearance made him an outcast - which gave him a vicious grudge and something to prove. Learning to wield as many weapons as possible, he collected the blades of his fallen opponents and built a fearsome reputation in battle. The first one to fight him to a standstill was Master Katashi, the Orochi who wields the last Muramasa Blade, and the two became friends. Oniwaka now seeks to pass down his formidable skills to students to grow the ranks of the Sohei.
To participate in the Photo Mode Sweepstakes, players need to submit Photo Mode images of their custom Heroes by August 8 - more details can be found in this blogpost. Winners will be chosen through a curated vote, which will be conducted live via Twitch starting at 2PM PT/10PM CET on August 13.
The Sohei and Photo Mode will arrive as part of Title Update 2 for Year 8 Season 2 of For Honor - and to celebrate, the game is free to download and play from July 25 until August 1 on Xbox and PlayStation, and