Gauntlet of Strength: Divine Heir | Sekiro Shadows Die Twice Wiki

Video Strategies

Posture Breaking

Lady Butterfly is vulnerable after most of her attacks. Her ground combos, her dash attacks, and her ground stomp attacks all leave her open if they miss. Use a charge attack on her when she's vulnerable. If she begins to defend, she will imperfectly guard your first two swings and perfectly guard your third--so attack twice then go on deflecting yourself to help drive her posture up. Use the shuriken to drop her out of her aerial attacks and punish her undefended moments. In her second phase, things will be harder because of her extra projectiles and her illusions but the same principle applies. Both of her ground-based Perilous attacks can be jumped over, and the sweep can be punished. You'll be able to damage her with your sword when you land, too. Dedicate a few attempts to learning responses to her moves and getting comfortable with her attacks, and then practice pressuring her. 

For a much easier time, beat Gyoubu first so you can acquire both the Ashina Arts manual just past him and the attack boost from consuming his memory. The Ascending Carp and Descending Carp skills will make breaking her posture much easier and faster.

Strategy Write-Up

This boss features an extremely agile and elegant moveset, as she uses threads and kunai to set a perimeter that makes it seem as if she is walking on air. Attacking quickly and with deadly precision, players should be mindful of the different combinations of attacks that Lady Butterfly can unleash.

Deflect more than you attack during this fight. Attack only when you can actually hit her, which is usually after a Perilous Attack. During Phase 2, use a Snap Seed to dispel the spirits she summons after snapping her fingers, or otherwise run around the perimeter of the stage in order to avoid both Lady Butterfly and her spirits. (Killing the spirits, which take one hit each, can refund you Spirit Emblems.)

If you defeat the boss, you will see the writing "SHINOBI EXECUTION" upon the screen.

Dodge Attack Strategy

Lady Butterfly can be beaten extremely easily by utilizing the dodge attack, which is performed by attacking immediately after dodging. Spamming dodge/attack rapidly whilst changing the direction of the dodge effectively stun-locks the boss and renders her unable to perform any of her dangerous attacks, with an exception of a few quick attacks that deal small damage. If the boss manages to escape the stun-lock and jump onto the illusory strands, throwing a Shuriken at her knocks her off immediately and deals considerable poise damage. The reason for using the dodge attack is that the damage passes the boss' guard and deals damage directly to her health, therefore slowing her poise regeneration drastically.

Her first phase should be fairly easy using this strategy, the second phase becomes a bit more tricky because of the homing butterflies combined with the daggers and illusions. The second phase can be made significantly easier by using Snap Seed to banish the illusions (keep in mind that she turns the illusions into homing butterflies after some time, so managing their number is crucial). Focus on the illusions first and boss second to avoid being overwhelmed by the butterflies. After dealing with the illusions, return to the dodge attack spam whilst watching out for the occasional butterflies the boss spawns during some of her moves.

Attacks & Counters

Spin to Win Strategy

As of patch 1.03, this no longer works.

Lady Butterfly can be easily cheesed by using the Nightjar Slash Combat Art. Combat Arts are used by holding the block/deflect button and tapping the attack button. If equipped, one can simply spam the combat art. It is also possible to fit a normal attack inbetween the Combat Art spam, meaning Combat Art - Normal Attack - Combat Art - Normal Attack and so on. This will lead her into an almost neverendenig stun-lock. She will mostly just try to block the attacks therefor increasing her posture-gauge. Most can be made out of this strategy if Lady Butterfly is with her back against the wall. It is possible for Lady Butterfly to break out of the stun-lock to get into the air. If that happens just wait for her to jump off and hit her with a shuriken resulting in her falling to the ground and creating an opening for closing the gap.

Illusion Avoidance Strategy

The entirety of the illusion summoning mechanic can be easily avoided. After Lady Butterfly summons the illusions, you can simply sprint around the outside of the arena. The illusions are not typically fast enough to land attacks. The circular motion quickly groups the illusions in the center of the room. The butterflies generated upon the dispelling of the illusions don't track quickly enough to keep up with a full sprint. If executing this strategy, be aware that turning corners when the butterflies are tracking can cause them to hit you. It's best to time your sprint so that you're running the length of the room when they start tracking.

Lady Butterfly Lore

"Lose yourself in my illusion"

Lady Butterfly and, Sekiro/Wolf have encountered each other in the past; she remarks on this by saying, "It has been quite some time son of Owl," before the fight. When consuming her memory, you realize that your foster father employed her to teach you some of the techniques that made you into the shinobi you are today.

Her fighting style is extremely unique when compared to other characters and bosses. She seems to fight like the ministry's lone shadows, with her even deflecting with her leg identical to how the lone shadows deflect with their leg. This style could also be confused with the Temple style that the high monks of Senpou Temple use, since they also incorporate their legs into fighting, unlike the Ashina style or the Shinobi style. This isn't to say that she doesn't use the Shinobi style, as she also uses shuriken similar to the Owl. We can assume that her being Wolf's mentor is the reason why he is able to learn 4 different styles of fighting seamlessly.

Lore theories should be clearly marked as such.

"Butterfly" is a common female name in Japan until the early 20th century. For example, the personal name of Lady No (the wife of Nobunaga Oda) was possibly Kocho ("butterfly") in some accounts. Another famous instance (in a fiction) is the opera Madam Butterfly composed by Puccini, where a Japanense girl Chocho ("butterfly") is the protagonist. In East Asia, butterflies are often associated with illusions and dreams that are indistinguishable from the reality, as in the story of "The Butterfly Dream" in Zhuangzi, 3rd century BC, China.

Lady Butterfly Notes & Trivia

•  Voiced by: Cindy Robinson (English), Tomoko Miyadera (Japanese).

Video Strategies

Strategy Writeup

For Phase 1, 2 Health Bar: Close the distance between you two and be ready to block as he may start the fight with a bow attack into a slash. For most of Genichiro normal attacks players can alternate from deflect and attacking. When Genichiro uses his flurry of slashes it be best to just deflect to build up his posture gauge. At times Genichiro may leap in the air, stab the ground and follow up a perilous attack: thrust(1 or 2 health bars left) or sweep (only when 1 health bar left). Dodge away when he leaps to gain some distance from him to better guess which perilous attack he will follow up with.

If he comes running towards you and fires an arrow, sidestep and immediately attack. This will interrupt his sword attack and deal health damage. This is one of most reliable ways to chip his health early on.

For Phase 1, 1 Health Bar: Uses similar moves as Phase 1 but chains them differently. Jump attack will now be followed by either slash or thrust (only thrusts during 2 health bar). After the first deathblow players inflict on Genichiro they will gain a moment to quickly attack him. Dash attacks works to chip away some health while Loaded Axe and Ichimonji/Ichimonji Double can inflict posture damage setting up a slight advantage. He will more aggressive with his bow usage so stay close to him at all times. It is recommended to use shinobi firecrackers into regular attack/ichimonji double during this phase to quickly whittle his health and build posture damage.

If you use healing items, he will use a charged bow attack, sidestep immediately after healing.

Phase 2: Genichiro will start the fight with a leaping thrust attack that can be countered. When Genichiro runs into a spinning slash he has I-frames during this animation so you won't be able to stagger him out of this attack. He will follow up with his flurry of slashes so be ready to deflect. If you are hit with his thrust attack be careful as he may shoot you if you roll away or he will attempt to grab you if you roll towards him. When he holds his katana with 2 hands and crouches he will jump and slash with lightning. Jump after you see the warning, and press attack before you land if you get hit by lightning (this will send it back to him dealing tremendous damage and stunning him).. Once you have taken 20% of his health away you can alternate slashes and Shinobi Firecracker. Start with Firecracker, dash R1, R1, firecracker. Using this you can reduce his health 50% or lower and quickly deflect his attacks to posture break him and defeat him.

In this phase, if you use healing items, he will perform a perilous leaping thrust, which will hit you. Be sure to use healing items only when he's already locked into an attacking animation and you are at a safe distance.

If you defeat the boss you will see the writing "SHINOBI EXECUTION" upon the screen.

Strategy 2:

In phase 1 health bar 1 & 2:

The Nightjar Slash Reversal can be used to slowly chip away at his health by using the combat art to close distance slash & slice a second time while moving back to safety. In phase 1 he frequently when cornered against a wall, he will jump up and move into his pierce attach & allow a Mikiri Counter. In phase 2 he often uses a sweep instead so jumping back & using another Nightjar Slash is a safer option.

In phase 2, use an Ako's Sugar at the start & immediately use a Mikiri Counter on his pierce attack. At this point, stepping back & using a health item will trigger his long distance pierce which can also be reliably countered with a Mikiri Counter to quickly fill the posture bar & end the fight. Also, keep an eye & use another Ako's Sugar if needed.

Attacks & Counters

Genichiro Ashina Lore 

• According to the item Remnant: Genichiro: though born to a peasant family (presumably) during the rebellion led by Isshin of Ashina, Genichiro would end up being adopted into the Ashina clan after the death of his peasant mother. As a member of the clan, he would grow to become one of its greatest swordsmen and most respected leaders, but also seemingly became obsessed with pursuing "heretical arts" in order to save both his country and his mother as time went on.
  
  
• Genichiro is the only known pupil of the mysterious Tomoe, a master swordswoman belonging to a clan of the same name. Though whom and what they/she are/is largely remains a mystery, the following information is available:
  
  • If you give Isshin the item Unrefined Sake, he divulges that Tomoe was the one who taught Genichiro both the way of the sword and how to harness lightning--a technique she named, and is widely known as: "The Lightning of Tomoe."
    
    
  • The item Fragrant Flower Note mentions that: "relatives of the Tomoe once gathered the Fountainhead Fragrance, and arrived at the palace," implying that Tomoe is the name of a clan, and not necessarily the name of one single person.
    
    
  • The item Page's Diary explains that a Lady Tomoe--who could either be Genichiro's mentor, or someone else from the clan--was both a part of Lord Takeru's court, and that she knew of the Mortal Blade and its supernatural properties. (The diary explains how, after seeing Lord Takeru attempt to cut himself only for the wound to heal, Tomoe says: "Without it, your blood cannot be spilled.")
    
    
  • The skill Spiral Cloud Passage mentions how Tomoe (most likely the same Tomoe who is Genichiro's mentor) developed the technique by studying the "large eddy of distant cloud forming near the headwaters [of] the Fountainhead Spiral," located in the Fountainhead Palace. (The young master referenced in the rest of the text for the skill could possibly also be Genichiro, as dialogue from Emma suggest that Genichiro spent quite some time training near the Fountainhead Spiral.)
    
    
    • Similarly, the young master referenced here could also possibly be Takeru, the previous Divine Heir, as Tomoe was said to be Takeru's servant and received the power of Resurrection much like Sekiro did from Kuro. From the Purification Ending, we also know that Tomoe cared deeply about Takeru, which is more fitting to the term: "meant everything for her,".
  • The fighting style used by many of the "Mist-" enemies in the Fountainhead Palace, particularly that of the Archers and Swordsmen, directly parallels the attacks and combos used by Genichiro in both of his forms. This suggests (until official names for enemies are known) two things about Genichiro's mentor that might be true: 1) That Tomoe, and by extension the enemies of the Fountainhead Palace, are all members of the same clan (either the Okami or the Tomoe); or, 2) That Tomoe, and the Tomoe "Clan" referenced above, are a clan distinct from the Okami clan.
    • At the moment, either view is possible based on our lack of information—while the enemies in the "Mist-" enemies of the Palace all use movesets and wear armor similar to Genichiro, their leader is also named Okami Leader Shizu. At the same time, items that mention either the Tomoe or Okami clan also seem to present both clans are distinct from one another, leading to confusion if Tomoe is just one person, multiple people sharing the same  name, a clan in and of itself, or some other kind of Fromsoft lore shenanigans.

Genichiro Ashina Notes & Trivia

• Voiced by Ray Chase (English), Kenjiro Tsuda (Japanese)
  • Ray Chase is also known for voicing Artorius Collbrande from the videogame Tales of Berseria; Eve from the videogame Nier: Automata; Puri-Puri Prisoner from the anime One Punch Man; and the Male Freelancer from the videogame Anthem.
    
    
  • Kenjiro Tsuda is also know for voicing Seto Kaiba from the anime Yu-Gi-Oh!; Atomic Samurai from the anime One Punch Man,; Mikoto Suoh from the anime K; Nagasaki from the anime Devilman Crybaby; Bacchus and Silver Fullbuster from the anime Fairy Tail; Maxi from the videogame Soulcalibur IV; and Zeke from the videogame Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
    
    
• The first character in his given name, 弦, gen, means bowstring, while 一郎, ichirou, means first son: a name typically given to first-born sons in a family. (Ironically enough, Genichiro may not be the first born son of the Ashina, as he refers to Isshin as grandfather when speaking about him, which implies that Isshin already had a son when he first adopted Genichiro.)
  
  
• If it isn't exactly obvious due to how quickly it happens: the kunai thrown at you when you first beat Genichiro in Ashina Resevoir, which is what allows him to cut off your arm even if you beat him, belongs to one of the Tengu employed by Isshin and/or the Ashina clan.
  
  
• An Eavesdropping Opportunity found shortly after the Ashina Castle Sculptor's Idol sees two Senpou Sect Assassins ("Rats") reveal that Genichiro is working with the Sect in order to combat the Interior Ministry.
  
  
• When you confront Genichiro at the top of Ashina Castle, particularly eagle-eyed players may be able to spot that during the cinematic where Genichiro is speaking with Kuro, he is looking directly at where one might later find Isshin of Ashina when asked to track the old man down. (This is also where he first refers to Isshin as grandfather.)
• The long combo attack he uses against you is the Floating Passage combat art, the same one used by certain enemies found in Fountainhead Palace.