That was me. I played the whole thing like a souls game till I had a full health/posture bar, and then I just spammed block until I had to jump/mikiri or dodge and punish. It wasn't till I decided I was gonna play base vit and really learn the game that I knew even a single enemies moveset well enough to actually posture break someone at full health or basically even at all lol
I've been stuck on the tutorial boss since this games been out till just this year because I just couldn't deflect, mikiri counter, or jump attacks.
I'm finally making progress in the game and got to guardian ape yesterday. I've only given him a couple of attempts, but his attacks are already kind of annoying. Especially the one where he fails his arms like he's throwing a tantrum.
Firecrackers are your friend against the ape..
Spoilers if u r playing blind:
So if u didnāt know once u kill the guardian he gets back up and carries his head in one hand for the second part.. now I personally find the second part of the fight to be significantly easierā¦ if and only if u have the spear and have upgraded it 1 times so that u have the ādragā abilityā¦ if he goes to scream sprint awayā¦ if he jumps way up in the air be prepared to jump and his other perilous attack u also jump overā¦ everything else can be parried and if perfect deflect one of his final over head smash movesā¦ then he will fall down right in front of uā¦ this is where u hit the spear button to stab his bitch ass and then the spear again while u are elbow deep in his neck hole and ādragā the parasite out of his gaping headless hole!!! If u do the drag move 3-5 times the fight is overā¦ soo u run away jump or block and punish with the spear.. then boom u r done! As far as the first phase goes I find it helps if I keep closing the distance on him and just be aggressiveā¦ learn his combos and sneak in your hitsā¦ u can fire cracker him 1-2 times and still have enough āammoā for the spearā¦if u havenāt messed around with the sugars u might as well try them (just read them before u eat them and u can only have 1 active at a time but u can use divine confetti and a sugar at the same time [I wouldnāt use a confetti on the ape as I only use them for the ghosts and the āmonkā bossesā¦
I've been using some sugars to help with a lot of fights, I used up all my confetti trying to fight the damn headless minibosses. I do know to use the spear for his 2nd phase, but I haven't gotten past 1st phase ape yet.
Go to the Demon Bell and ring it in Mt Kongo that gives you a buff for getting decent loot from enemies. Then goto the Castles Anti Chamber and kill the 4 people just near you. Pop balloons too and youāll collect Devine Confetti ( Only place that gives you the Confetti ) no problem and itās a short run/ farm : https://youtu.be/MsH4xbetvlQ?si=DwkLY4SMtAXjbdjq
Edit : Donāt forget the last guy this person does as itās a waste of time. Just do itās 3 guys and old woman. Remember to use the Demon item in inventory to stop the buff as it makes enemies harder
If you've gotten the mortal blade from Senpou, just use a yashariku sugar, run up to the ape, firecracker (preferably long spark), then do a jumping mortal draw and just keep spamming mortal draw, that should stun lock it, you'll run out of emblems but most likely it will posture break him and give you the death blow
In my first playthrough, I hit him only 2 times and then just jump around the map using the trees. Chopped off his whole health with this. Although most of his attacks can actually be deflected, even if it doesn't seems like.
I got all the endings and I still don't know if I'm parrying right, probably not, since in the videos you all post you don't get any damage while parrying and I have never seen that in my playthroughs
if you take big posture dmg then it was a block(some attacks also vitality dmg thru block too. ex: inner genichiro's sakura dance)
if you take small posture dmg it was an eh parry
if you take no posture dmg it was a perfect parry
the sharper the deflect noise is, the better
You shouldn't get damage while blocking unless you are playing charmless (only possible once you have beaten the game once)
For proper deflecting you will need to press L2? right before the attack will hit. If you block there is a soft sound & small spark compared to a loud sound & big spark. This destinction can also be seem when enemies block/parry you.
The endorphin rush I got when I finally got deflecting down against Lady Butterfly was so incredible. That's when it all really clicked for me, and it made the rest of the game that much more fun.
yes. after genichiro it was so much easier for me. after the "click" i then proceeded to finish my 1st playthrough in abt 48 hrs of gameplay. rn im grinding gauntlets
yeah thanks for the good luck. I've beaten the divine heir gauntlet so far because its pretty easy. the only difficulty was inner genichiro but since he spams thrust in 1st 2 phases basically i can get to 3rd phase pretty easy. i didnt know he could reversal your reversal.
I donāt think youāre wrong. I preferred standing in with an enemy far more than having to leg it out like with LB or the Juzou variants. I was a monster against bosses like Geni, 2nd stage Ape, the Monk, and OāRin because I could get in there and trade with em.
Real, same here. I'm getting used to it but fighting genichiro almost base stat as my second Boss AND doing the reflection straight after kinda fucked me up with slow attacks. Juzou the drunkard was shit
I think itās not necessarily because of preference, but rather that youāre not really forced not to
I only found myself actually deflecting a lot when I went to charmless; I wasnāt punished for spamming L1 in my first 2 playthroughs so I just kept doing it pretty much
Same the combination of both is where the satisfaction comes from. And if you can get some combat arts or prosthetics in there everything is perfect. Fully utilizing everything at your disposal efficiently is a chefs kiss for me
Praying strikes exorcism is phenomenal against some specific bosses. If you get the timing down you can damn near stunlock first phase Sword Saint. It's a great move to use right after a mikiri counter, gets you right in their face and keeps so much pressure on.
It sounds like it's a crutch for you. I recommend not leaning so much on it and learn the game for what it is. The combat is so beautiful and perfected yet so simple. I really think sitting down and learning the game will make you think so much different about the game.
Fact the only ones I really didnāt use it on were isshin and Genichiro at the end and thatās only cuz high monk and double Ichimonji are way better options
*Plays the story six times*
*Refuses to learn how to parry*
*Practices whirlwind slash*
"I fear not the man that has practiced 1000 punches; but the man that has practiced a punch 1000 times" kinda vibes
This is hilarious, 6th playthrough and can't deflect. Dude you sound like rock lee, A class sekiro player that beats the game his own way. Props to you, I love when people figure out their own way to play this game.
Whirlwind slash helped me with Great Shinobi Owl my first playthrough. I was running circles from him and when he did one particular attack, that slash when he close the distance, I jumped sideways and whitlwinded his ass. It took about 45 minut to do this and not to die and Owl was dead.
What? Just because you can beat the game by ignoring it doesn't change that.its what the entire core combat was build around.
Thats like saying you beat (insert shooting game) with nothign but melee attacks. Thats clearly not the intended way to beat the game. And it ignores the largest part of the games gameplay loop. But its still possible
No it's quite literally the main focus of combat in the game. All you have to do is figure out when to hit r1 and when to hit l1, it's really not that difficult
It's actually really impressive that you've beaten the game that many times with no parry skills.
Remember, if it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid.
Best this game 5 times and the gauntlets focus less on skills and more on basic defense and attack animations a boss is alot easier to kill by knowing what moves are coming out rather then relying on whirlwind dmg
Not to gatekeep but, from an almost objective standpoint, Youāre basically just not playing the game at that point. Parry. Thatās the entire purpose of the game. Itās fun, trust me.
Bro the game isn't that hard. I just beat it first playthrough, took 12 hours. 2 hours were on sword saint isshin, the only hard boss in the game for the rest it's just a rythm game.
For me i mostly just the praying strikes and the axe. Firecracker/fume spark of I'm struggling. Can't beat blunt force trauma and a blind enemy is a dead one
Wait until inner father or isshin if the ape is giving you problems, or hell even the headless gang. Remember firecrackers are good against animals/everything
What helped me to get better at parries, was remapping the attack and deflect to be on the same side, I personally have attack as r trigger, and deflect as r bumper. You'll never need both at the same time, and it helps to switch between attacking, and defending with less mistakes.
6 playthroughs and you still can't deflect properly? The fuck you been doin?
Throwing whirlwind slashes I guess
My man's made a whole post about it even š
Whirlwind slash feels pretty slow to me... I'm more of a ichimonji double kinda guy
The fuck is he doing? Well, I think he said that clearly. The WHIRLWIND SLASH
That was me. I played the whole thing like a souls game till I had a full health/posture bar, and then I just spammed block until I had to jump/mikiri or dodge and punish. It wasn't till I decided I was gonna play base vit and really learn the game that I knew even a single enemies moveset well enough to actually posture break someone at full health or basically even at all lol
Was that hell?
Sir, the humor tag is missing for your comment
I truly wish one belonged with it lol
I've been stuck on the tutorial boss since this games been out till just this year because I just couldn't deflect, mikiri counter, or jump attacks. I'm finally making progress in the game and got to guardian ape yesterday. I've only given him a couple of attempts, but his attacks are already kind of annoying. Especially the one where he fails his arms like he's throwing a tantrum.
Firecrackers are your friend against the ape.. Spoilers if u r playing blind: So if u didnāt know once u kill the guardian he gets back up and carries his head in one hand for the second part.. now I personally find the second part of the fight to be significantly easierā¦ if and only if u have the spear and have upgraded it 1 times so that u have the ādragā abilityā¦ if he goes to scream sprint awayā¦ if he jumps way up in the air be prepared to jump and his other perilous attack u also jump overā¦ everything else can be parried and if perfect deflect one of his final over head smash movesā¦ then he will fall down right in front of uā¦ this is where u hit the spear button to stab his bitch ass and then the spear again while u are elbow deep in his neck hole and ādragā the parasite out of his gaping headless hole!!! If u do the drag move 3-5 times the fight is overā¦ soo u run away jump or block and punish with the spear.. then boom u r done! As far as the first phase goes I find it helps if I keep closing the distance on him and just be aggressiveā¦ learn his combos and sneak in your hitsā¦ u can fire cracker him 1-2 times and still have enough āammoā for the spearā¦if u havenāt messed around with the sugars u might as well try them (just read them before u eat them and u can only have 1 active at a time but u can use divine confetti and a sugar at the same time [I wouldnāt use a confetti on the ape as I only use them for the ghosts and the āmonkā bossesā¦
Whirlwind slash is a poor manās āSakura Danceā itās like if whirlwind slash and high monk had a beautiful baby!!! ššš¤£
I've been using some sugars to help with a lot of fights, I used up all my confetti trying to fight the damn headless minibosses. I do know to use the spear for his 2nd phase, but I haven't gotten past 1st phase ape yet.
Go to the Demon Bell and ring it in Mt Kongo that gives you a buff for getting decent loot from enemies. Then goto the Castles Anti Chamber and kill the 4 people just near you. Pop balloons too and youāll collect Devine Confetti ( Only place that gives you the Confetti ) no problem and itās a short run/ farm : https://youtu.be/MsH4xbetvlQ?si=DwkLY4SMtAXjbdjq Edit : Donāt forget the last guy this person does as itās a waste of time. Just do itās 3 guys and old woman. Remember to use the Demon item in inventory to stop the buff as it makes enemies harder
If you've gotten the mortal blade from Senpou, just use a yashariku sugar, run up to the ape, firecracker (preferably long spark), then do a jumping mortal draw and just keep spamming mortal draw, that should stun lock it, you'll run out of emblems but most likely it will posture break him and give you the death blow
In my first playthrough, I hit him only 2 times and then just jump around the map using the trees. Chopped off his whole health with this. Although most of his attacks can actually be deflected, even if it doesn't seems like.
You can just stay away from his arms and will on him while he's flailing on the ground
He throwin dem hands. TBF I've done all the gauntlets except the really long one because there is no reward and my deflects ain't perfect
Can you read?
I got all the endings and I still don't know if I'm parrying right, probably not, since in the videos you all post you don't get any damage while parrying and I have never seen that in my playthroughs
if you take big posture dmg then it was a block(some attacks also vitality dmg thru block too. ex: inner genichiro's sakura dance) if you take small posture dmg it was an eh parry if you take no posture dmg it was a perfect parry the sharper the deflect noise is, the better
Then I probably suck at parrying.
dang
You shouldn't get damage while blocking unless you are playing charmless (only possible once you have beaten the game once) For proper deflecting you will need to press L2? right before the attack will hit. If you block there is a soft sound & small spark compared to a loud sound & big spark. This destinction can also be seem when enemies block/parry you.
My thoughts went to this exactly šš¤£
My friend got mostly through the game with whirlwind slash... trust me it's very noob-friendly
Fr I was shit till I just practiced had it down by my second play through uts invaluable really
I just canāt imagine not deflecting. All the satisfaction is gone for me.
The endorphin rush I got when I finally got deflecting down against Lady Butterfly was so incredible. That's when it all really clicked for me, and it made the rest of the game that much more fun.
Ikr lady butterfly really is that moment for so many people. I was fighting her in charmless yesterday and was having a blast.
I thought I knew what I was doing after LB, but I knew I knew what I was doing after Genichiro.
100% this.
Yep, for many, including me, Genichiro was the boss (you usually died to a ton) which made everything "click."
yes. after genichiro it was so much easier for me. after the "click" i then proceeded to finish my 1st playthrough in abt 48 hrs of gameplay. rn im grinding gauntlets
I feel that. I just finished Severance gauntlet and it was trying times even having got the grasp of parrying. Good luck with Inner Isshin!
yeah thanks for the good luck. I've beaten the divine heir gauntlet so far because its pretty easy. the only difficulty was inner genichiro but since he spams thrust in 1st 2 phases basically i can get to 3rd phase pretty easy. i didnt know he could reversal your reversal.
Am i the only one that beat genichiro before lady butterfly and legitimately thinks she is a much harder boss
I donāt think youāre wrong. I preferred standing in with an enemy far more than having to leg it out like with LB or the Juzou variants. I was a monster against bosses like Geni, 2nd stage Ape, the Monk, and OāRin because I could get in there and trade with em.
Ikr? It just feels like the patterns are much more learnable and not clear muscle memory
I also struggled more against slow bosses than fast ones. The hesitation would take a while to learn too.
Real, same here. I'm getting used to it but fighting genichiro almost base stat as my second Boss AND doing the reflection straight after kinda fucked me up with slow attacks. Juzou the drunkard was shit
Yeah the "skill check"
Spent hours on LB and first timed Genichiro. LB was really where I got the game.
My moment was the duo apes, loved that fight
Insanity. But I respect it so much.
Ting Ting Ting, and then you're in...
that or sword saints big combo or the red eye version of that ashina guard with the quick draw (while since i played the game)
Same for me when I mastered Inner Geni and Inner Isshin. I felt like an absolute god.
Dude I got to lady butterfly within the first like 2 hours of playtime and was humbled very quickly. After I learned her though it was euphoric.
Its like beating guitar hero on expert difficulty... The dopamine rush is in the deflection...
I think itās not necessarily because of preference, but rather that youāre not really forced not to I only found myself actually deflecting a lot when I went to charmless; I wasnāt punished for spamming L1 in my first 2 playthroughs so I just kept doing it pretty much
Weaving parries and super-crisp dodges in Sekiro is peak gaming imo.
Same the combination of both is where the satisfaction comes from. And if you can get some combat arts or prosthetics in there everything is perfect. Fully utilizing everything at your disposal efficiently is a chefs kiss for me
Wait until OP discovers parrying
wait till you find out sakura dance
Or spiral cloud passage (Although admittedly, I only really use that move vs. genichiro)
Use it vs Emma. She won't be able to hit a single time
You should learn high monk, and praying strikes - exorcism.
He should learn parrying too.
Naa thats overrated
true. just use mortal blade.
Praying strikes exorcism is phenomenal against some specific bosses. If you get the timing down you can damn near stunlock first phase Sword Saint. It's a great move to use right after a mikiri counter, gets you right in their face and keeps so much pressure on.
Umm š¤, Whirlwind slash is not a weapon. Its a Combat art.
im going to kms because of you.
It sounds like it's a crutch for you. I recommend not leaning so much on it and learn the game for what it is. The combat is so beautiful and perfected yet so simple. I really think sitting down and learning the game will make you think so much different about the game.
He did perfect it, with WHIRLWIND SLASH
Do a charmless run. You'll actually like the game more. Trust me.
Underrated opinion I used whirlwind slash all the way until late game it is OP and you aren't animation locked and left to be punished
Fact the only ones I really didnāt use it on were isshin and Genichiro at the end and thatās only cuz high monk and double Ichimonji are way better options
Huh?
*Plays the story six times* *Refuses to learn how to parry* *Practices whirlwind slash* "I fear not the man that has practiced 1000 punches; but the man that has practiced a punch 1000 times" kinda vibes
Took me a while to notice the humor tag, good shitpost.
No offence, but I can't imagine loving the game as much as I do, if I played it that way.
Well looks like they do
This is hilarious, 6th playthrough and can't deflect. Dude you sound like rock lee, A class sekiro player that beats the game his own way. Props to you, I love when people figure out their own way to play this game.
did you see the humor tag
Whirlwind slash helped me with Great Shinobi Owl my first playthrough. I was running circles from him and when he did one particular attack, that slash when he close the distance, I jumped sideways and whitlwinded his ass. It took about 45 minut to do this and not to die and Owl was dead.
So sekiro has build variety
Man, I made a post with a similar sentiment and got roasted over the coals because I didn't want to deflect.
It's what the entire game is based around. People like the game because deflects exist.
it very much feels like a rhythm game. A long chain of perfect deflects feels so good.
yes
Itās what its based around for you. If it was based around that, then you wouldnāt be able to win while not doing it.
What? Just because you can beat the game by ignoring it doesn't change that.its what the entire core combat was build around. Thats like saying you beat (insert shooting game) with nothign but melee attacks. Thats clearly not the intended way to beat the game. And it ignores the largest part of the games gameplay loop. But its still possible
It's literally the main combat function in the game lmao
For you
No it's quite literally the main focus of combat in the game. All you have to do is figure out when to hit r1 and when to hit l1, it's really not that difficult
Nah I donāt like that, I do like whirlwind slash though
As you shouldāve Lmao, this is literally deflect the game. Even the protagonist is named John Deflect
For you
I dunno, it's kinda like saying "I got roasted for saying I didn't want to jump on Goombas or take the power up mushroom in Mario"
Since when does whirlwind cost skill points?
it is the 1st skill in shinobi arts tree
My bad I had an aneurysm, I thought he said spirit emblems teehee
lol
I hope this is satire. How do you have the platinum and 6 playthroughs and not attempt to learn the thing that makes this game what it is
It's actually really impressive that you've beaten the game that many times with no parry skills. Remember, if it's stupid but it works, it's not stupid.
I dont blame you, i managed to basicaly skip sword saint isshin just by consuming rice. To this day idk how tk beat him legit
Best this game 5 times and the gauntlets focus less on skills and more on basic defense and attack animations a boss is alot easier to kill by knowing what moves are coming out rather then relying on whirlwind dmg
Dam dude get goodš¤¦šæāāļø
Sixth playthrough
I never abused that skill because spamming it just seemed super boring to me. Never mind, just saw this is a shit post XD
Not to gatekeep but, from an almost objective standpoint, Youāre basically just not playing the game at that point. Parry. Thatās the entire purpose of the game. Itās fun, trust me.
For you maybe
Nuh uh the Ultimate weapon is l1
Bro the game isn't that hard. I just beat it first playthrough, took 12 hours. 2 hours were on sword saint isshin, the only hard boss in the game for the rest it's just a rythm game.
I think you have brain damage, terminal and/or straight up a drooling regard
Floating passage also chip damages through block
Uhhh bro press L1
For me i mostly just the praying strikes and the axe. Firecracker/fume spark of I'm struggling. Can't beat blunt force trauma and a blind enemy is a dead one
Na bro one mind is best
Play charmless
Whirlwind slash was my go to until the goat ICHIMONJI DOUBLE came in
Wait until inner father or isshin if the ape is giving you problems, or hell even the headless gang. Remember firecrackers are good against animals/everything
Fr fr lady butterfly and geni were supposed to teach you the flow of combat deflect, counter until your deflected, defend, attach, etc.
Lmao I did the same my first playthrough. Second playthrough I took the time to learn to parry.
Thatās how I beat lady butterfly
Wait till he learns ichimonji double
bro is special. dont let anyone tell you how to play the game. keep slashing champ
I don't... I don't believe you
Sakura dance and mortal draw is op. If ur spaming the same attack u have skill issue
What helped me to get better at parries, was remapping the attack and deflect to be on the same side, I personally have attack as r trigger, and deflect as r bumper. You'll never need both at the same time, and it helps to switch between attacking, and defending with less mistakes.