Blazing Bull |
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| Location | Ashina Castle |
| Deathblow Markers | 1 |
| Helpful Prosthetic Tools | Shinobi Firecracker Suzaku's Lotus Umbrella |
| Reward | Prayer Bead Shinobi Medicine Rank 2 |
| XP | NG: 215 NG+: 2150 NG++: 3225 |
Blazing Bull (火牛, Fire Ox) is a Mini-Boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This Complete Blazing Bull Mini-Boss Guide gives you strategies on how to beat the Blazing Bull easily, as well as tips, tricks and lore notes. Mini-Bosses are special Enemies that are unique, and have 1 or more health bars. This means they require at least 1 Deathblows in order to kill, they are generally much more difficult than normal enemies, and they drop some of the best loot in the game.
Blazing Bull Location
Where to find Blazing Bull in Sekiro?
- Ashina Castle: Found at the very beginning of Ashina Castle
- This boss is not optional.
Blazing Bull Rewards
What do you get from defeating Blazing Bull in Sekiro?
- Prayer Bead
- Shinobi Medicine Rank 2
- Heavy Coin Purse (NG+2)
- 215 / 258 (without Kuro's Charm) Exp (NG)
- 2,150 / 2,580 Exp (NG+)
- 3,225 / 3,870 Exp (NG+2)
- 9,675 / 11,610 Exp (NG+7 and beyond)
Blazing Bull Mini-Boss Guide Strategies
Sekiro Blazing Bull Video Strategies
Sekiro Blazing Bull Strategy Writeup
The strategy for this fight is to try to stay behind him and bait him into swiping at his side, dodging to stay behind him and then attacking. Every 10-15 seconds he will sort of go berserk and this is a good time to use the Shinobi Firecracker to stun him and get in some attacks. Now attack him from behind once again, repeating this process as necessary.
An alternate strategy is to bait the charge and deflect. This will briefly stun the bull, allowing the player to get in three attacks on its head then quickly reposition and back up in order to bait another charge. It may take some practice to get the timing of the deflect down, a beat or two after the bull lowers its head. As the head is the bull's weak spot, this strategy can be used to defeat the beast quite quickly. The player will still take a small amount of damage from the charge and will build up the burning status effect when deflecting. But, this will be minimal on a successful deflect. However, the player should monitor these and heal as needed. It is advisable to lure the bull into destroying all the structures in the area so that the player has a clear view of the arena and does not get caught unexpectedly on any obstruction.
Jump attacks tend to be quite safe against this boss's charge attacks and allow safe repositioning but do limited damage.
Proper positioning (player should be on left side with the enemies between them and the upper right corner where the bull spawns) at the beginning of the fight will cause the bull to kill the two normal enemies as it enters the area, slightly simplifying the fight.
Sekiro Blazing Bull Attacks & Counters
| Attack | Counter |
| Phase 1 | |
| Example Attack | Example Counter |
| Example Attack | Example Counter |
| Phase 2 | |
| Example Attack | Example Counter |
| Example Attack | Example Counter |
Blazing Bull Lore
Eavesdropping on nearby warriors indicates that the Blazing Bull attacks friend and foe alike.
Blazing Bull Notes & Trivia
On NG, the bull has 3190 total vitality.
The bull takes reduced damage when struck anywhere but the head, the hardest place to strike the Bull safely.
If you die to the two enemies that come to check on the Bull after the fight ends, you will spawn at the Ashina Castle Idol regardless of whether or not you have unlocked it, and you will be unable to return to the boss arena.
If the bull crashes into the wall of the arena during its charge attack, it will be stunned for several seconds. During that time, it's vulnerable to a deathblow.
The Blazing Bull was probably to some degree inspired by the Minamoto army's use of charging bulls with torches affixed to their horns as a shock tactic against the Taira army during the Battle of Kurikara Pass in 1183. Before that, the Chinese warlord Tian Dan used nearly the same technique during the Warring States era, however in his case the torches were tied to the bulls' tails.
Blazing Bull Image Gallery
AnonymousI love the death animation for this boss. The way Wolf places his hand on the bull’s face as though trying to be as gentle as possible. After all the bull was just an animal treated very poorly by the soldiers.
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People who tell you to beat it by dodging and getting behind it are either really bad at deflecting or couldn't figure out that you can deflect the bull's attacks. It dies in 1 minute if you just deflect and periodically attack (preferably after releasing firecrackers) with no sweat whatsoever. It's also a wise decision to learn both Ascending Carp and Descending Carp before the fight, as both make breaking it's stance a lot easier.
- Anonymous
More dangerous than Gyoubu. Trampled me a few times until I discovered that I'd missed the firecrackers and the ashina arts guy. The bull went down cleanly afterwards.
- Anonymous
Seems very bullshit (haha see what I did there) until you land a few hits on the head... then it just panics, runs straight into the nearest wall, and stuns itself for a deathblow.
- Anonymous
For some reason this boss was not a problem for me until Ng+++ , charmless, bell demon. The fountainhead one killed me more often than any other boss on that run. I found sprinting around (not dodging, not deflecting) the only viable strategy for me.
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A lot of people say keeping behind the bull and hitting its rear end is the best method. However, I find it much easier and quicker to focus on the head. The head takes far more damage from each hit. Letting it run straight at you and deflecting it's hit will stun it and allow 3 hits on it's face before okami runs/jumps away out of danger. You might die a few times while you learn the timing of the deflect but just run straight back to the boss and try again.
Use the firecrackers. Red gourd from the Hirata Estate is good too for fire protection.
I accidently used ichimonji on the bull's face this morning after I'd stunned it with a deflection. That seems very effective.
I really struggled with this boss first time trying to keep behind it and not get hit. It was a complete slog.
- Anonymous
I finally defeated the Bull yesterday with just running around and slapping it on the butt... 2 years of suffering ended on a lucky run.
- Anonymous
deflecting is the hard way to beat this boss. it's much easier to do vitality damage, since it obviously can't deflect you. the key is to stay unlocked, and do thrust attacks, since if lock on or spam R1 you get pulled towards it's head. also, if you find yourself in front of it, you need to press dodge when it lowers it's horns to the ground. a lot of people complain about bosses like this, but i like these more traditional "dark souls style" bosses mixed in with the type you're supposed to deflect, because it adds more variety to the combat imo. anyway, to anyone still playing in 2023 hope this helps.
- Anonymous
I went through a large range of emotions with this boss.
On my first playthrough I hated it, spent a long time running around him, trying to keep him somewhere where he can't turn to me fast enough and chipping away, using Firecrackers to buy more uptime.
On my second playthrough (NG+, Charmless + Demon's Bell) I struggled against him, then I found out that deflecting the charge trivializes the boss (at the cost of some chip damage and burn buildup). Deflecting the charge exposes his head (which is his weakspot), and allows you to get a few hits in. If you do this twice, that's enough damage to cause him to stagger and you get even more time for attacking. Around 6 charge deflects his posture will be so high that he'll go on his jumping rampage, which basically kills him if you can lure him to impact on a wall. While the chip damage and the burn hurts, you have more than enough healing to recover and if you bought the Red Gourd from Hirata then the burn buildup isn't a problem either, the boss will die before you run out of healing.
Cue two more playthroughs (NG+2, NG+3, Charmless + Demon's Bell), and it's an enjoyable fight, although with the hard modes his initial arrival doesn't deal enough damage to kill the two guards in front of him, so each fight starts out with some running around until he clears the arena and it's a 1 vs 1. (The eavesdrop before the boss is lying, the Bull is always targeting you and only damages enemies if you can lure them in his way.)
On my latest playthrough (NG, base vitality, Charmless + Demon's Bell, and at the time of the Bull no prosthetics, no skills, only 1 Healing Gourd charge), this fight ascended. This time I didn't have enough health and healing, one deflect cost me about 40% of my health just from chip damage. I wanted to stay close to his face to maximize my damage output, but to do that I had to learn to recognize and dodge his attacks. The few deflects I could afford were precious, and I had to make the most of them. It was a super fun fight, and the Blazing Bull is strong contestant for my most enjoyable miniboss in the game.
Unfortunately, all the fun I had on the boss doesn't help with the fact that for a first time player the fight is very unintuitive (after sneaking through a large area you're supposed to fight a bull by standing in front of its charge, and the optimal way to play the fight involves taking unavoidable damage). This miniboss could be a lot better if there was some way to prepare you for it, like another Bull fight earlier that isn't on fire and doesn't deal chip damage (maybe as an optional miniboss in Hirata).
- Anonymous
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Man i always wanted to fight a boss that 2 hit kills me and forces me to dodge in a game with no iframes and also punishes blocks and parries in a game about blocks and parries, thx man
- Anonymous
I had to un-bind "crouch" from L3 because I kept squeezing my controller too hard while dodging a near miss. Suddenly Wolf would be duck walking like an @$$hole while this bull the size of a shortbus was barreling straight for him.
- Anonymous
"Sekiro is just about pressing L1"
*meets boss that requires them to dodge and run*
*proceeds to just press L1*
"Wow, this game is bullshit"
Death
"..."
"Sekiro is just about pressing L1."
...
- Anonymous
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I can't believe people are having trouble with this boss i beat it first try first playthrough, y'all need to git gud
- Anonymous
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Why tf would they make a boss that punishes you for blocking it's attacks? It's stupid, counter-intuiative and might cause the player to gain really bad habits since it sets the expectation that enemies larger than you will just deal damage through your block, including perfefct parries, and so you should dodge instead (which would almost certianly make the majority of the game significantly harder for anyone who falls into such a playstyle since the parry and posture systems are such vital mechanics).
****ing awful boss that is tanky, punshes you for parrying and runs away all the damn time making it annoying to get hits on it. 1/10
- Anonymous
Just cheesed him by dashing behind it and attack like mad. Using firecrackers is kinda pointless with aimlock since Sekiro keeps hitting the air whily the bull is doing its two legged dance.
Hey just sprint and when he hits the wall do a thrust in the head and a firecracker then position yourself so another thrust lands on his head when he lamds,rinse and repeat
- Anonymous
a true fromsoft classic; take all you know about combat and throw it out the window till next boss
- Anonymous
actually quite easy if you deflect. you know, the core combat mechanic of the game? use it
alternatively get the lotus umbrella and use it's projected force attack after deflecting with it, and buy the red gourd from hirata
- Anonymous
Tried the deflect technique after really struggling with this thing and beat it in two tries. Hardest part is baiting the attack correctly, try and stay in control and keep your distance most of time, and don’t get greedy, two hits while he’s stunned , then run directly away. It definitely feels more like a Sekiro boss if you fight it like this, I even think I had some fun
- Anonymous
literally the easiest prayer bead in the game. Just sprint behind him. You have unlimited stamina, use it. Don't dodge just sprint.
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this has to be one of the most rancid and horrible bosses theyve ever made. what couldve been a kinda okay idea turns into an anticlimactic spamfest with a boss that a) constantly runs away and b) can one shot you at this point. the fountainhead one is even worse
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best way to deal with NG+ Blazing Bullshit is bestowal ninjutsu
- Anonymous
worst sekiro boss. take everything youve learnt about the combat in sekiro, throw it all away and stick to that ass while blocking like its 2011 again baby
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Run away from it. Don't dodge away, unless it's the initial dodge. It might cover more distance, but it's also slower if you do it continuously. Stun it with Firecrackers and keep your distance, then hit its head a couple of times. Wait between Firecracker uses as it gains immunity to them for a couple of seconds after being stunned.
- Anonymous
I found it relatively easy actually to parry the bull's attacks, though it is much more difficult than any of the bosses thus far. His moves are very erratic and it takes some skill to the deflections, yet I beat him by deflecting and using the firecrackers - which are more powerful against beast enemies (it even says that in the description of the item). I understand why everyone is frustrated, and that is because they want to use the standard moves and simply attack the enemy, but he is not as difficult as they make him out to be.
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imo this is the worst boss fight in sekiro so far. I’m pretty sure this mini boss throws away the things you learned from this game. The only strat you can use is to circle around the bull and slap it’s ass. The fact that this is not optional just blows my damn mind
- Anonymous
ng+3 and I still don't understand how to fight the damn bull
- Anonymous
This boss literally punishes you for using the combat mechanics wtf
- Anonymous
You can make the first encounter with him pretty easy by locking him on and keep the whole fight the sprint button pressed and just run arround him. Throw every so often firecrackers at him to get a few hits in and then keep running arround him again. Will probably take a bit more time compared to the regular way (whatever that is, still dont know), but pretty save and easy :)
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Very easy, the only miniboss I killed in first try so far and I still suck at the game.
- Anonymous
I just stayed on his ass like a horny teen, if you let him get any distance he's gonna charge at you, so stay on that ass! whack whakedy whack.
- Anonymous
I managed to kill him with first try. Don't know if i was lucky, but simple soullke dodge worked for me. I jus dodged around him looking for opportunities to stab and that's it.
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Whoever made the decision that deflected flame attacks would still do damage deserves to be shot
- Anonymous
Someone at fromsoft definitely thinks that if a boss is fun it's too easy
- Anonymous
Man why does every fromsoft game have one boss fight that's absolutely terrible. Just no fun to fight
- Anonymous
To everyone with a deep burning hatred for the bull, do you ever think you might just suck
- Anonymous
I had so much trouble trying to circle around to hit his butt, because he turned so fast, and the damage was so irrelevant. It was a lot easier using firecrackers to stun him, then stabbing his face, deflect/dodge, and repeat.
- Anonymous
Crappy boss. Got super lucky on him though. Bull had half HP and I hit him in the head once, he stood on his back to legs and then fell over and let me deathblow him. It was in the middle of the arena so I am not exactly sure what happened but I won't complain after 10 minutes of running in circles slapping his butt
- Anonymous
Sekiro is fun. No doubt one of my favorite games with one of the best sword combat mechanics ever. But then, there are bosses in this game that do not use swords and they're one of the most boring pieces of **** bossfights in the game. Holy hell this boss is such a ****ing sleeper. The parrying-rhythm-game mechanics is what got me in this game and then they just give us retarded bosses like this guy and the ape.
- Anonymous
the easy method to beat this guy is to do a bloodborne pig move, get up close with his rear, charge up your attack and stab! when stunned do a visceral attack right up that ass
- Anonymous
Only reason I make the decision to start NG+ every so often is because I forget this guy exists. I've died to this guy more times than I've died to endgame Genichiro, and that's saying something.
- Anonymous
the bosses in this game are really annoying and lack a need of creative problem solving
- Anonymous
I thought they patched it out by now, but the bull skip is still possible.
- Anonymous
In my opinion it was easier to learn the deflect timing than to try to dodge the attacks with strange hitboxes. Worst boss so far for sure.
- Anonymous
Total pain in the butt fight mainly due to the the bull's health pool. If it cooperates it's a dull chip-away-its-health fight and if it's ornery it'll tag you with a wonky hit box for 80% of your life.
- Anonymous
Playing through Sekiro for the first time... why so many absolute trash gimmick bosses?????
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Man, I really had trouble when this thing used Example Move. It's a good thing I was able to unlock the Example Counter, I can't wait to use it on him!
- Anonymous
Consultant: This boss looks cool, but you've done this multiple times in your games. The design for this fight isn't up to par.
FromSoft :
I'll ****in do it again
- Anonymous
Absolutely one of the worst designed bosses in the game.
Now, if you want to get some personal vengeance on this boss, I'll tell you you how. Get yourself the flame umbrella before you go into NG+. When you are forced to face this (and don't want to/can't do the skip for the boss), just equip the umbrella, tanto up. If you need more, Ministry powder and Posture candy, and you'll be okay.
Just let the boss come to you, and umbrella spin parry the bull. Over and over. Spam if you want to. The boss isn't designed around the item existing and it utterly hard counters him. If you're good at the umbrella parry and the bull's move RNG is good, you can deathblow him in under 40 seconds, it's so satisfying after all the trouble he gave me.
- Anonymous
I.. still don't get this boss? It's not hard by any means, just like, hug its rear and slap it next to a wall over and over. It's just.. not a very fun one? Am I missing something, or is it just,, a bit of a lame boss?
- Anonymous
It doesn't matter how many times I finish this game, this questionable encounter always leaves me with a bad taste.
- Anonymous
Why do they keep that thing around, anyway? What are they gonna do with it? How is it gonna help them in battle?
- Anonymous
Weird that a raging bull with a flaming log on its head would still get spooked by firecrackers.
- Anonymous
Damn, imagine trying to use the firecrackers for this boss lmao. Literally just run out to a medium distance, deflect his charge and hit him in the head once he's stunned. He takes way more damage in the head. If you use firecrackers and hit him in the rear, you extend the fight BY A LOT and will make the fight way more aggravating than it is.
- Anonymous
I don’t know if it was a glitch but in NG+5 without Kuro’s charm during a Deathblow on one of the enemies in bullpen the bull was able to damage me.
- Anonymous
Easy boss fight once you realise you don't need to dodge/deflect anything. Just say locked on and run backwards, running in circles around the bull. After he attacks, get a few hits in if it's safe to do so. Use firecrackers when you get the chance. Pretty straightforward.
- Anonymous
It seems they patched out the Bull Skip. There is now an invisible wall in of front the space where you should be able to kick off the tree branch and aim for the adjacent roof. It's not totally walled off, but blocked enough that it effectively hinders any attempt to that area and skip the Bull. Then again, it might just be because I entered the area after killing Owl. The place is supposed to be closed off and there are no enemies. Can anyone else confirm if this affects the game outside my specific world state?
- Anonymous
Gorgc fight this boss without firecrackers, what a mad lad lmao
- Anonymous
I don't remember having an unusual amount of trouble with this boss on my first playthrough, but I'm doing NG+ with Kuro's Charm and just getting my ass beaten.
- Anonymous
I thought From Software had learned from Pontiff Sulyvahn & Lorian+Lothric that maybe they should pull the camera out during fights where an opponent has high mobility. Sekiro is a great game, but I have to agree with the Reddit and the people above/below: this has to be one of the worst-designed bosses in a Souls-like. Apparently if you've moved a pixel forward when you try to deflect his frontal charge, it'll bypass your deflect/parry entirely... and sometimes it does so regardless of your position. The hitbox on the charge really does not help -- it's actually somewhat out in front of the actual, visible animation and so when he charges you, you can dodge *into* him and counter-intuitively """avoid""" the damage. I expected better: a better fight, a better camera, some better hitboxes, almost like they designed him in a rush to fill off an area that needed *some* kind of climax.
- Anonymous
somehow i stunlocked him in a corner and he kept acting dazed. I didn't stop whaling on him pretty much the whole time. thank God this monster only has one deathblow
- Anonymous
Worst boss in the whole game. At least Demon of Hatred is fair and fun to fight. I thought FROMSOFTWARE would have learned how to avoid making*****ty bosses like this by now
I just beat him last night, and it was a pain. I eventually found what worked for me: chase him. When he started charging, I would just sprint after him, and when he would stop to turn, I would run behind him and try to get a running slash on him. When he's not charging, he's like any Souls boss: just stay behind him and time your attacks and dodges. I would suggest you save your firecrackers for when you need to heal, since he doesn't give you much time to do so otherwise.
- Anonymous
I did him first time at launch. Didn't find that hard, but I find it too easy now after patch 1.03. Curious to see after 1.04 if it was to balance it back (a bit at least) or it was just because it wasn't easy as they intended after 1.03. They nerfed it too much.
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Sprinting makes him a lot easier. Run around his charges, get to his side, attack when he pivots. Slow and tedious, but it works.
- Anonymous
You can easily jump over his straight charge. Also use the walljump if you're pinned
- Anonymous
This boss is very simple to beat and easy I think you can skip this boss if you go to the Demon Bell location and instead of going left go right to go to a different area after the bull. I am not sure about this the door may be locked from the other side.
- Anonymous
The only real issue is to have very little time to heal.... I recommend using fire crackers in order to gain some time to heal.
- Anonymous
I found it quite easy to learn and use the strategy for it to charge at me then I deflect. It definitely is a lot quicker than the firecracker strategy. I recommend letting the bull clear all the obstacles first before attempting to do so.
- Anonymous
This bull sucks. I got him to half of his health, then got shoulder charge, heavy charge (the one with his head on the ground) comboed and killed. The second I clicked resurrect, I got killed straight after standing up. I swear no (mini)boss in any souls game has irritated me as much as this jerk.
- Anonymous
any idea on how to beat the bull with the demon bell active and without using prosthetics, health/power upgrades
- Anonymous
I got the platinum trophy for Bloodborne but I can't kill this panicking cow. Is this boss just that difficult or have I gotten bad?
- Anonymous
This one was pretty hard. What worked for me is to avoid trying to dodge the charge and deflect it instead. If the bull is on a rage, use firecrackers to scare it and get multiple hits in. Once you've scared it, it will start circling and repeating the same side head attack, keep sidestepping and landing hits until he goes on a rampage again. Firecracker again at that point and you're set.
- Anonymous
stay to his side and keep attacking. If you angle it right he will keep doing the same attack but he wont hurt you but will push you instead.
- Anonymous
This boss is skippable, check the YouTube video made by Fighter.PL, the secret to beating this boss is knowing that you can deflect his charge and stun him for a little. The deflect will chip some of your health but the fight will be done before you lose all of your health. Also attack its head when it’s stunned, more posture damage
- Anonymous
I don't know what triggers it, but you can make the bull rage fill his posture bar. In the first fight, I was jumping and attacking over the charges. I would firecracker when he was being feisty, turn autolock off (because its hard to stay behind cleanly with it targeting his head), and proceeded to pummel him with an occasionaly dodge until he took off again. It was meant to be a safe strat given how much of a nuissance he is when you mess up. Anyway, his health bar was around 25-30% and he just ran off bucking like he was in a rodeo and his posture bar instantly maxed out. Deathblow. Then, when I encountered the one later, I lined up behind him on the roof, popped a sugar, threw a longspark, and dove down to wail on his nuts with wild abandon. Sure enough, after about 5 or 6 hits, he bolted away bucking, instafilled his posture bar. Deathblow. The only similarity between the fights was me popping the firecracker to get plenty of time to get him snipped. I can't imagine sufficient damage there in a short amount of time triggers this response, but I am really at a loss as to what does. Regardless, it makes this obnoxious bastard so cheese easy.
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I have more trouble beating this fcking bull than [other bosses]
- Anonymous
Hands down the EASIEST boss in the game. Died once cuz I didn’t know it was weak against firecrackers. Just keep spamming Deflect and hack away. Use a firecracker and keep attacking. You’ll see the bull rearing and at this point he is completely open. Took me 2 firecrackers and maybe 30-45 seconds to deplete his posture.
- Anonymous
blazing bull**** it doesnt even let you resurrect it is literally corpse camping me so it can hit as soon as possible sometimes ı get damaged without touching it(no visual interaction) and just one hits deals 75% of health or so killed oniwa in first try and after him this is taking 100 tries just an unfair fight overall
Such a stupid decision to make an obligatory fight that is so against the core gameplay of sekiro. With charmless you cannot deflect without taking chip damage. You cannot grapple to anything so avoiding the bull is up to dodging and running. The arena has so much glutter you get stuck to and is too small for such an aggressive and fast and big boss with hitboxes from DS2. With charmless + demon bell the bull does not kill the enemies with one hit leading you to run in circles in the beginning of every fight. Wish you could leave this later and come back with proper tools, ap and vitality.
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