You took the bold step to abandon the Iron Code and sided with Kuro. Now you must face your master, the Great Shinobi Owl ion Sekiro Shadows Die Twice. For a husky guy, he has a ton of agility and uses everything he has taught you against you. It is like facing yourself in a duel!
Don’t worry, with the help of this guide, you will retire this senile owl and honor the true purpose he trained you for.
Fighting Great Shinobi Owl
When you return to Ashina Castle, your sensei Owl will present a difficult choice to side with him and take the power of the Divine Dragon for yourself or stay loyal to Kuro and come face to face with the man who raised and trained you. Any player with a heart won’t butcher a child for power and thus you faceoff with the Owl.
Great Shinobi Owl has mastered all the techniques that you are slowly learning and is the source of all your training. For that reason, you’ll see many of his attacks are the same as yours, also using advanced combat techniques that you have yet to learn. Couple that with a massive katana and you got yourself a hell of a fight ahead. He has two phases.
He is quick on his feet, exceptionally effective with his blade, utilizes tools like Shurikens and Firecrackers, and has a few unique tricks up his sleeve that you can’t even learn. These include a bomb that disables your ability to consume items, a smoke bomb that helps you vanish, and the ability to spread poison on the floor.
Not to mention, his heightened skills allow him to recover posture very quickly. It is very hard to keep his posture bar filled for longer, forcing you to keep the pressure up to make any difference.
Here are some tips and tricks that can aid you in this battle:
- Ako’s Sugar is beneficial in increasing the posture meter of the boss.
- Shinobi Firecrackers can cancel his attacks and even stun him for a few seconds to get some damage in.
- Keep some Antidote Powder on you to cure poisoning in the second phase.
- Ichimonji: Double is perfect for the first phase.
- Mortal Draw is helpful in the second phase.
- Do not use thrust (charged R1) or Loaded Spear attacks against the boss. He can Mikiri Counter these attacks.
Phase 1
The first phase is pretty simple if you somehow manage to corner the boss. Cornering him is pretty straightforward too, just lure him to a corner and position his back towards the border/wall. Now just push the analog stick forward, attack once, and quickly deflect. Keep repeating this until the boss is cornered.
Now keep pushing the stick to him and repeat the same attack once and immediately deflect. Push the stick forward into him so that he keeps backing up after each attack/deflect. The Owl will be forced or locked into using the same counter-attack after your attack that can deflected very comfortably.
If he performs a back jump then go in for a double strike and then start repeating the same attack once and deflect once tactic. Just watch out and react accordingly to the jump otherwise you are good to go with this single trick.
Very quickly, the boss’s posture bar will fill up completely and you can perform a deathblow to transition to the next phase.
Moveset
Listed below are all the moves Great Shinobi Owl will use against you in the first phase and how you should react to them:
- Sword Hilt to Swipe to Firecracker: Nudges you back with his sword hilt followed by a wide sword swipe ending with him throwing gunpowder in a wide arc and then swinging his sword to explode them like your firecrackers. This explosion hurts.
- Reaction: As soon as you are pushed back, back off out of range of the explosion. Or if you can move behind then attack him while he is stuck in animation, extremely dangerous.
- Disabling Bomb: Steps forward slightly and opens his palm to release a smoke bomb. The bomb explodes on impact to the ground releasing a small cloud that will disable the use of all healing items and antidotes etc. Usually thrown at the end of a 4-hit combo.
- Reaction: Bail as soon as you see him opening his palm.
- Backflip: He puts his foot on you and leaps backward followed by a shuriken throw in the air.
- Reaction: Deflect the leaping foot and then the shuriken.
- Posture Break Grab: When you are posture-broken, he will run up to you and attempt to slam you down and then stab you while you are faceplanted. He can use this attack normally too and doesn’t need you to be posture-broken. This attack doesn’t flash the perilous attack kanji.
- Reaction: Spam dodge if you are posture broken to dodge away before he reaches you. For the regular attack, when you see him spin his foot around, dodge to the side or backward quickly.
- Dual Shuriken to Leaping Slam: Throws shurikens twice at you then performs a flip in the air ending with a devastating overhead slam.
- Reaction: Deflect the shurikens then when he flips start tapping the block button when he is about to land to deflect. You can also move to the right side when he flips in the air to position yourself behind him and attack him after he lands.
- Mikiri Counter: Every time you use a thrust attack like charged R1 or Loaded Spear, Owl performs a Mikiri counter on you with a deadly attack at the end. The counter-attack will one-shot.
- Reaction: Never use thrust attacks against him.
- Charging Slash: Runs towards you and performs a sword slash.
- Reaction: Tap block when you see him charging at you.
Phase 2
For the next phase, back off and pop Ako’s Sugar to deal extra damage to posture with each deflect. You should also consume Contact Medicine to ward off the effect of his poison throw. Also, equip the Shinobi Firecracker. Keep him in the same corner and the overall strategy remains relatively the same.
Use the firecrackers as you approach him to stun him and continue to attack him twice then parry immediately after. If he jumps back, then do the same two-attack trick as before. Just trap him in the same attack deflect cycle as previously.
Now and then, he will stomp his foot to unleash a smoke bomb but don’t panic, just keep attacking in his direction and he won’t follow it up with any other attack. Additionally, you can use the firecrackers while standing in the smoke to stun the boss and then go on to attack him.
Keep adjusting your position to push him into the corner. Do not let him escape it or else you have to find another corner to push him into.
As previously, the repeated deflection will fill up his posture bar is mere seconds, giving you the opening to perform the final deathblow and put an end to your father.
Moveset
His attacks remain generally the same as before with a few new ones added to the mix. Listed below are all the new moves Great Shinobi Owl will use against you in the second phase and how you should react to them:
- Vanishing Smoke Bomb: Pulls his foot in the air and slams it into the ground releasing a huge smoke cloud. The smoke will limit your visibility and the boss can use this disorientation to perform a lethal attack. The smoke deactivates the lock-on. The smoke doesn’t hurt.
- Reaction: Either back off out of the smoke or if you are in the smoke get ready to deflect the next attack. Lock on ASAP.
- Poison Backflip: The same backflip as before however this time he throws small poison puddles while in the air.
- Reaction: Do not step on the poison puddles. Carry some Antidotes to cure if poisoned.
Rewards for Defeating Great Shinobi Owl
Here are all the things you get for defeating the Great Shinobi Owl in Sekiro Shadows Die Twice:
- Memory: Great Shinobi
- Aromatic Branch. A key item for story progression.
- 6000 XP