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Headless Ape
Location Ashina Depths Useful Tools Loaded Spear (Headless)
Loaded Umbrella (Headless)
Shinobi Firecracker (Brown Fur)
Flame Vent (Brown Fur)
Loaded Shuriken (Brown Fur)Reward Memory: Headless Ape
Bestowal Ninjutsu
2 x Prayer Beads
5000 EXP (NG)
Headless Ape is a Boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This Complete Headless Ape Boss Guide gives you strategies on how to beat the Headless Ape easily, as well as tips, tricks and lore notes. Bosses like the Headless Ape are special, dangerous Enemies that feature their own arena, a large and prominent health bar, and a variety of unique moves and abilities. You will need to perform multiple Deathblows on them in order to defeat them, and filling their Posture Gauge is the only way to accomplish this. However, decreasing their health will make it so their Posture Gauge depletes more slowly, assisting you in accomplishing this feat.
The Headless Ape is a continuation of the Guardian Ape boss fight first encountered in the Sunken Valley. The Headless Ape is located in the Guardian Ape's Burrow of the Ashina Depths, past the Poison Pool. This Boss WILL NOT spawn unless the Guardian Ape has been defeated in the Sunken Valley Passage. This boss has two (2) health bars that must be removed in order to defeat it. The 1st Phase of this fight will be the same as the 2nd Phase of the Guardian Ape fight in the Sunken Valley Passage; upon dealing the 1st Deathblow, however, the Headless Ape will summon a second brown-furred Ape, which does not have a sword, in order to assist it in battle. Though killing the brown-furred Ape helps with the overall difficulty of the battle (performing a Deathblow on the brown-furred Ape will allow you to resurrect a second time, provided you have already resurrected once and have a second resurrection charge available) you only need to kill the Headless Ape to win.
Upon killing the Headless Ape you will receive Memory: Headless Ape, and 2 x Prayer Beads. Using the Mortal Blade to sever the Headless Ape's immortality after it has been defeated will unlock the Bestowal Ninjutsu. If you defeat the Headless Ape but don't trigger the final finishing blow to sever its immortality, the boss will not revive, and the immortality centipede will remain docile on the ground of the arena indefinitely until triggering the final finishing blow with the mortal blade.
After defeating this Boss, severing its immortality, and resting at the Hidden Forest idol, a Shichimen Warrior will appear in the Guardian Ape's Burrow provided you have the Finger Whistle equipped.
Headless Ape Location
Where to find the Headless Ape in Sekiro?
- Ashina Depths Guardian Ape's Burrow: Located behind the Poison pools fog gate guarded by Snake Eyes Shirahagi. This boss will only spawn after defeating the Guardian Ape in the Sunken Valley Passage.
- You can enter this fight from either the Ashina Depths Poison Pool or Hidden Forest Sculptor's Idol location.
- You can skip this boss provided you have found the Hidden Forest Sculptor's Idol prior to defeating the Guardian Ape
Headless Ape Rewards
What do you get from defeating the Headless Ape in Sekiro?
- Memory: Headless Ape
- Bestowal Ninjutsu (After using Mortal Blade)
- 2 x Prayer Beads
- 5000 XP (NG)
- 24,751 XP without Kuro's Charm (NG+2)
- 74250 XP without Kuro's Charm (NG+7)
Headless Ape Boss Guide Strategies
Sekiro Headless Ape Video Strategies
Sekiro Headless Ape Strategy Write-up
IMPORTANT: You can avoid this fight by traveling to the Ashina Depths and sitting at the Hidden Forest Sculptor's Idol prior to defeating the Guardian Ape in the Sunken Valley Passage. You can then travel to the Hidden Forest Sculptor's Idol at any time, allowing you to skip this encounter. Failing to do so will require you to defeat this boss in order to proceed to the Hidden Forest or back to the Ashina Depths, as a fog gate will block your path in either direction.
You can see the Headless Ape standing/leaning against the far wall of the Ape's Den with its back towards you from outside the arena. The fight will begin once you enter the arena. Though entering the arena from the direction of the Hidden Forest (i.e. from the direction where the Headless Ape will be beneath you once you enter the Ape's Den) seems as though it would allow you to perform an Aerial Deathblow on it, you cannot. The same also holds true for sneaking up on it from the Ashina Depths-side of the arena.
Phase 1 of the Headless Ape fight is exactly the same as Phase 2 of the Guardian Ape fight, only in much smaller area with no grappling points available to you. After performing your first Deathblow on the Headless Ape, it will make a beastly roar that summons a second, brown-furred Ape to fight alongside it during Phase 2. Though the Headless Ape can take damage while roaring, the force of the roar itself pushes you back too much to exploit. The Brown Ape summoned by the Headless Ape requires 1 Deathblow to kill, and has largely the same move-set as the Guardian Ape during its Phase 1—minus farting or throwing poop at you. The Brown Ape is a beast-type enemy, so use the Shinobi Firecracker to stun the Ape and inflict large amounts of Posture damage on it, or use Oil and the Flame Vent to deal a large amount of health damage, burn the Ape, and momentarily stun it.
You only need to kill the Headless Ape to end the battle. The brown-furred Ape, though much more aggressive than the Headless Ape, does NOT need to be killed in order for you to win—it is recommended, however to focus down the brown-furred Ape for two reasons: 1) Performing a Deathblow on the brown-furred Ape will allow you to resurrect a second time during this battle, provided you have already resurrected once and have a second resurrection charge available; and 2) Lowering the brown-furred Ape's health down enough will cause it to start running away from/avoiding you, making it so that it will mostly only growl and harmlessly beat at the ground rather than engage you directly.
After performing the 2nd Deathblow on the the Headless Ape, you will have to perform two (2) additional QTE (quick-time event) deathblows in order to kill the mini-boss: the 1st to remove its centipede-host, while the 2nd is to kill the centipede. If the player has received the Mortal Blade from the Divine Child of Rejuvenation, they may perform an additional execution after a short delay on the Headless Ape, severing its immortality and finally putting the apparition to rest. The "SHINOBI EXECUTION" screen will be displayed upon defeating this boss normally, while the "IMMORTALITY SEVERED" screen appears after killing its centipede with the Mortal Blade.
Severing the immortality of the Headless Ape will result in an additional reward—the Bestowal Ninjutsu.
LOADED SPEAR: If you wait until the Ape does his large over-head slam attack and parry it, the Ape will be stunned for a few seconds. Get in front if it, then use the Loaded Spear, and use it again when you connect in order to pull the centipede inside of its body out of it to deal a good amount of damage and Posture damage. If you're quick, you can also throw a few slashes in there before he gets back up.
Shuriken + Prosthetic Follow up: this will make the brown ape much easier. simply toss a shuriken then do the dash attack follow up. then get back and repeat. using this technique you can deal with the brown ape without too much trouble, and it goes down pretty fast to this method.
Sekiro Headless Ape Attacks & Counters
| Attack | Counter |
| Phase 1 | |
| 4-Thrust | The Headless Ape readies its sword then performs 2 long-range thrusts in-front of itself twice There is a short delay between 2nd and 3rd thrusts allowing the Ape to change the aim of this attack. You can deflect the attacks or avoid them by staying behind the ape. |
| Double Feet Slash | The Headless Ape will quickly slash left-to-right then right-to-left towards its feet dealing damage to players below and immediately in-front of itself. You can deflect the attacks or avoid them by dashing away from the ape. |
| Overheadless Smash | The Headless Ape raises its sword high into the air before slashing it straight down to inflict massive damage. You can deflect this attack or avoid it by dashing or sprinting perpendicular to the ape. |
| Trip/Dive Slash | The Headless Ape will raise its sword then run towards the player where it will fall forwards and dive towards the player while performing a slow high-to-low, left-to-right slash. This can be avoided by sprinting or dashing left of the Ape's sword-wielding arm. This attack leaves the Ape vulnerable for the player to get off 2-3 attacks if positioned correctly. |
| Sweep Slash (Perilous) |
The Headless Ape readies it sword then sweeps its blade from left-to-right in a large radius in-front of itself. This attack can be jumped over. Jump over the blade the perform a double-jump on the Headless Ape to inflict increased posture damage. |
| High-Jump Sweep Slash (Perilous) | The Headless Ape jumps high into the air and dives back towards the ground where, upon landing, it sweeps its blade from left-to-right in a large radius in-front of itself. This attack can be jumped over. Jump over the blade the perform a double-jump on the Headless Ape to inflict increased posture damage. |
| Terror Roar (Perilous) | The Headless Ape will raise its decapitated head high into the air and let loose a thunderous roar dealing massive damage and inducing Terror build-up in a large area-of-effect around the Ape for a few seconds. You can avoid this attack by sprinting away from the Ape when it begins to raise its head and the perilous attack symbol appears. This attack can be blocked but will still deal moderate damage and induce Terror; the damage and terror build-up can be negated with any Loaded Umbrella variant Prosthetic Tool. |
| Example | Example |
| Phase 2 | |
| Headless Ape | Same as Headless Ape Phase 1 and Guardian Ape Phase 2. |
| Brown Ape | Same as Guardian Ape Phase 1, minus its Fart and Throwing Poop attacks. |
Headless Ape Lore
- Lore Theory: Though it is certain the Headless Ape is the Guardian Ape (as explained by the item: Memory: Guardian Ape, which reads: "The Guardian Ape was defeated, though its roar can still be heard. It is said that an infested body marks the undying...), less certainty can be applied to whether or not the brown-furred Ape summoned during the 2nd Phase of the fight is its current mate or not. This is due to the fact that the item Remnant: Headless Ape explains how: "At one time the Guardian Ape shared its den with a mate. But he alone became infested, while the other passed away," while the description of the Lotus of the Palace reads: "The flower’s aroma attracts female apes. Thus, the Guardian Ape carefully tended to it, so as to offer it to his bride,".
- The brown-furred Ape may be a new potential mate, however, as the description for the item: Remnant: Guardian Ape explains: "Perhaps the echoing roar of the Guardian Ape," (when you first killed it) "was in fact a solicitation of sorts...". Because the brown-furred Ape is also a beast-type enemy, and not an apparition, we can also assume that the one we encounter is not the original mate mentioned by the description of Memory: Guardian Ape.
Headless Ape Notes & Trivia
- The skeletal/decomposing remains of an Ape that shares extreme similarities to the Brown-Furred Ape can be found in a slightly hidden alcove located directly above/overlooking where the Headless Ape boss fight occurs. You can also find a normal Monkey enemy there, as well.
- The Finger Whistle Shinobi Tool does not work on the brown-furred Ape summoned for Phase 2 of this fight.
- Like the Guardian Ape, Folding Screen Monkeys, and the Monkeys found throughout the Sunken Valley Passage, the Headless Ape and brown-furred Ape are most likely based off Japanese Macaques.
- If you parry the Headless Ape's over-head slam attack and stun it, then use the Loaded Spear's "pull" attack by activating the spear twice, you can actually pull the centipede out from the ape, dealing high damage to its health and posture.
- Killing the "Headless Ape" before the Brown Ape will result in the Brown Ape watching and then sitting in defeat before disappearing.
- Returning to the Guardian Ape's Burrow idol after getting the mortal blade allows wolf to deal a mortal blow to the still living centipede in the corpse of the ape
Headless Ape Image Gallery
AnonymousYou can(and should after your first NG) avoid this fight by simply going through it's arena and to the area beyond before fighting the first ape fight.
This fight is trash, once you have the Jutsu and chievo there's really no good reason to fight the stupid thing once you have them.
I'm on NG+2 at this point and I only fought the bastard once.
- Anonymous
one mortal draw use will pretty much fill the brown ape's posture bar, plus you can wait to parry the overhead slam from headless ape and while it's stunned try to find a opening to use firecracker then use mortal draw which will probably instantly fill up the brown ape's posture
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
On NG+, when the headless is aggressive, deflecting its overhead slash to stun it will always bring the brown ape forward, usually doing a jumping attack you can dodge and safely follow up a charged attack of some kind with. I just assumed that was the intended method of fighting it. This fight's still stupid.
- Anonymous
run away until you get a good opening to use charged mortal blade slash, and let it rip. it should decimate the brown ape with just one use, use firecrackers if its not ready for a deathblow yet.
- Anonymous
This fight is very easy. First phase is the same as second phase of guardian ape. In second phase, hit the headless one, this will force him to do the scream. Back away and the scream always prompts the second ape to charge forward. Use firecrackers and hit it seven times. This should kill the second one in three tries and then you can focus on the headless one again.
- Anonymous
A lazy, and pathetic artificial difficulty increase. Dreadful bossfight.
- Anonymous
On NG+ the AI seems the complete opposite of what's described. Brown Ape will not attack and literally hides behind headless. Only starts attacking if I engage w/ headless who is hyperaggressive and pursues without stopping. I am literally running around in circles for five minutes and the brown ape has not attacked once. Always on the other side of the cave while headless is running after me constantly. I first timed on new game but I can barely get a hit in on NG+. I think the strat on NG+ is try to build headless' posture bar and just ignore the brown ape since it's basically impossible to get a hit in without trading for half your HP. Firecrackers or flame won't help bc headless will come in before you can get any damage.
- Anonymous
Cheese method: Get the shelter stone first so you don't need to fight it at all.
- Anonymous
Bit of a cheese method: The brown ape will always spawn at the same spot, so time a purple fume spark to go off right right where it lands. An empowered double mortal draw with buffs can instantly fill it's posture bar. Worked in NG+3 but I have like 40 attack power so your mileage might vary
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
In Vanilla base game, no extra difficulties enabled, it's easy to rush down the headless ape and take care of it that. If you're playing Charmless or with Demon Bell on though, I definitely recommend killing the brown ape first, since it's such a pain and will kill you with its aggression and high damage.
- Anonymous
I was facing them on ng+ and I noticed that the two monkeys never attack together, one always gives space when the other is going to attack. If the brown monkey is attacking, just throw bonbinhas at it and the headless monkey will attack you normally again. This shortens the fight a lot since you don't have to keep running away from the brown monkey's combo and waiting for it to finish completely so you can hit the headless monkey again
- Anonymous
completely ignore the brown monkey and just parry the headless's attacks, just attack while he's on the ground remembering that the brown monkey will jump on you when he's down so double R1 and block. If the brown monkey starts to become hyperaggressive, throw the firecrackers and he will become more passive for a while.
- Anonymous
I found it pretty disappointing that the finger does nothing to the brown ape. The description says "enrages beasts, unable to distinguish friend from foe" and here you have a perfect example of a beast with a friend. I thought I was being smart on my first attempt only to find myself wasting emblems
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
After beating Guardian Ape, I found this really easy as I was able to do this right after in my game. I followed the advice of burning the brown ape. The hardest part was separating the 2 long enough to use flame barrel(which takes like 10 minutes to fire)
- Anonymous
i don't know if it's just a coincidence but at ng+ the headless ape is ultra-aggressive that you have like 0 chance to hit brown one. i died 2 times in a row when trying to do death blow to 0hp brown ape but headless one do like nonstop swinging combo that i was running first for 2 mins in circle then try to go for deathblow and still died.
- Anonymous
he was significantly easier then the original ape fight, i think he had a lower health pool and less damage and that monkey phase was a pain to deal withm still fun fight tho
- Anonymous
Brown Ape: Oil + Flames...
Headless Ape: Overhead Slam Deflect + Spear hook and pull...
Run away from Headless and focus on killing Brown fur. If you see the Overhead Slam though try to get that massive hit off with the spear. Brown Fur is extremely weak to fire. Keep trying and good luck!
- Anonymous
This is actually the most annoying fight I've ever had to do in any game I've played
- Anonymous
You don't have to get rid of the second ape in phase 2. If you cut down the headless, it simply sits down dissappointed and dissolves.
Just slash the Empowered Mortal Draw at the headless one, when the brown one is out of reach.
Combined with divine confetti and the purple gourd to gain resistance to terror, I was able to complete this fight after the 3rd try.
- Anonymous
Really struggled with this boss when I was trying to focus down the Headless Ape in Phase 2. Taking out the Brown Ape first makes the fight much easier.
In Phase 2, play defensively as long as both apes are alive. When Headless does the Terror Scream, the Brown Ape will leap at you. Use Firecrackers to stun the ape and then slash away. Headless will be locked into his scream animation so he won't bother you. Did that 3 times to kill Brown Ape. As long as Headless is alone, the fight is fairly simple.
- Anonymous
if you don't use mortal blade or firecrackers this fight is absolutely brutal on charmless + bell. you do so little damage and the brown ape will absolutely one shot you with half it's attacks. i tried to do it but lacked the willpower because the fight itself is not fun. 35 deaths before i said screw it and used the mortal blade.
the only fight aside from those garbage memory juzou fights that feels unfair on charmless + bell.
- Anonymous
would be cool if you took too long killing the centipede and it got back up again lol
- Anonymous
The fact that you get the whistle from the Guardian Ape boss right before this one, a whistle that explicitly says it enrages beasts, and you can't use it to make the other monkey in this fight attack the Guardian Ape is so stupid. Bravo, Miyazaki.
- Anonymous
got this second try. wouldn't have realized there was a second monkey if not for all the hype around it. why is there so much complaining about this particular boss? It's exactly the same as the first time you fight it except with significantly less hp and damage. might as well just be a normal miniboss.
- Anonymous
I don't see this mentioned here but if you used the spear on the headless ape when he's down, the other ape will jump on you while you're doing so. It always happens so many time for me that I think it's intentional. F U From.
Anyway, it will most likely hit you but if you let the spear animation play out then you'll take no damage..
- Anonymous
i dont know if anyone will see this but you can basically skip hist first phase pretty easily if you use the loaded spear while hes laying on the ground (after you deflext his 3 attack combo), it will pretty much do like 1/3 of his posture bar, for the second phase try to bait the scream attack and kill the brown ape in the meantime, sadly there is luck involved in the 2nd phase so just pray you wont get ganked
- Anonymous
tanto, divine confetti, ako sugar, sakura dance and spear. spam sakura dance and spear without stopping, ako sugar and tanto again for phase 2 and they'll die. fight takes like a minute 30
- Anonymous
Worst fight of the game (I am on the thrid playthrough charmless, for any retard ready to spam "git gud"). The fight really highllights sekiro's weaknesses: Bad camera, awkward lock on controls, inconsistent hitboxes they are all there.
- Anonymous
This was an easy boss fight was able to kill in one go, no res.
I liked the withered design of the ape post-mortem. The long, gnarled fingernails , lost patches of fur, what appears to be a somewhat rotted head. FROMSOFT did a little extra to show some details of the passage of time with the undying, as I came to fight the Ape so that I can fight the sochimen warrior to get Malcontent's ring to then upgrade the finger ring to better fight the Demon of hatred
- Anonymous
Worst boss's fight in a sea of amazing boss fights. I wish this wasn't part of Mortal Journey, every time I do Mortal Journey this duo garbage boss fight always gets me.
- Anonymous
Personally I think this was easier than the regular guardian ape. I struggle with his first phase where he's a beast type but on the second phase his sword attacks are much easier to deflect and he doesn't have grab or doo doo attacks.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Not sure if I got lucky or if the fight is designed this way but the apes only really attacked me one at a time. If I was near both of them, they would both attack me but if I was away from them, only one would charge me while the other just chilled in the back. Made the fight easier that I thought it would be
- Anonymous
You can skip the first phase entirely with a couple of items: Pop an Ako Sugar, Divine Confetti, and a Pacifying Powder/Purple Gourd sip. Then run up and simply slash - slash like your life absolutely depends on it (because it does)! Only parry if you feel it is absolutely neccesary. You can tank his scream attack and you do even more damage to him while he's screaming! You should be able to do phase 1 easily with this strat. I recommend popping some more damage items and using the mortal blade on him in phase 2 - it does heaps of damage.
- Anonymous
its funny because i went to mibu village without killing him
- Anonymous
Any tips on this fight for when you cant use the Firecracker cheese anymore (NG+)? For me it's just this boring 20 minute dodge fest until one little opening comes up for 1-2 hits. Definetly the worst boss in all of From Soft, idk what they where thinking.
This boss existing makes the Boss Gauntlets infinitely more unfun for me.
- Anonymous
Killed both the mate and main ape and got 2 prayer beads afterward, presented individually. I'm wondering...do you still get the 2nd one if you don't dispatch the mate?
- Anonymous
dude am i just ****ing high or wasnt there some dipshit spamming paragraps in the replies of comments calling everyone beta fromsoft fanboys like just 3 days ago? was that some ****ing fever dream i had or did fextra take those comments down
- Anonymous
This fight is complete BS.
Secret: DON’T USE ANY SPIRIT EMBLEMS BEFORE THE SECOND PHASE
- Anonymous
let's see... walk to the middle of the room, pause, ako sugar, devine confetti, pacifying agent, bag of rice, red lump... now run in and just start swinging, after about 6 attacks, he'll scream, just tank the terror scream and keep swinging. you'll get a deathblow before he can even start swinging. once the first deathblow is hit, run to the far right corner from entrance of the poison room, re-apply all the buffs and top off a purple gourd sip just to reset terror, now deflect his slashes when he comes back, and again, just start swinging and tanking terror. easy win.
- Anonymous
Easy boss, easier than the seven ashina spear miniboss, his sword slam opens him up for 5 hits after parrying, after terror roar he most likely do the charge and sweep if you have the distance and run to the right for more hits. When he does the 4 hit combos, if you run to the right beforehand, 2-3hits. Got him down with these tactics, give him 10x health, and these will still apply
- Anonymous
Don't let the appearance of the 2nd ape scare you - this boss is one of the easiest in the game.
Immediately start hitting the Headless Ape while he is in the process of standing up. This already removes like 20% of his health.
Want you want to use is the Mortal Blade Draw. He takes MASSIVE damage from this! Save some spirit emblems especially for the 2nd phase.
The female ape is very passive actually and can be pretty much ignored. You do not have to kill her, rather focus on dealing with the Headless Ape as fast as possible. I just hit him over and over with the Mortal Blade, the battle was over in SECONDS. Even better if you have Yashariku's sugar equipped.
- Anonymous
Easy way to deal with extra monkey, especially NG+: he always lands in the same spot, so drop long spark right where he lands until his posture meter fills up. Can stun lock him and one shot
- Anonymous
Headless ape takes alot of posture and vitality damage from the mortal blade. If you save your emblems during the first part of the fight you can quickly take out the Headless Ape in the 2nd phase by spamming Mortal Blade and just ignore the brown ape.
- Anonymous
Why does every From Software game has to have one shitty gank boss?
Ornstein & Smough was a once in a lifetime struck of luck, From Software, you'll never reach that level again, no matter how much you try.
**** this boss.
- Anonymous
Actually not that hard in hindsight, but definitely a test of patience
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Camera is bullshit on this fight. It's been several games with this issue From, stop ****ing ignoring it and fix it.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
"Muh gank boss, muh bad design"
It's so easy to notice the shitters that got filtered because they panicked over the brown ape entering - despite it having miles less hp, and is incredibly passive.
- Anonymous
Weird that you can skip this fight by going to the Hidden Forest before you kill Guardian Ape, but that at the same time it's impossible to kill Guardian Ape with the Moral Blade when you first encounter him, provided you've already been to Senpou Temple. I think that would've been a cool secret.
- Anonymous
Now I see why this game almost always lets you take enemies on one at a time
- Anonymous
Fighting this pair is a small price to pay because id rather fight them than that cheating snake eyes and his whole entourage. Id rather have the headless ape go through there and tear up their encampment before heading in.
- Anonymous
The funniest thing about this fight is that you can easily skip it on subsequent playthroughs, but I always forget it and get pissed because the brown cocksucker ****s my **** up and I want to kill him to spite Miyazaki. BECAUSE **** 'EM, THAT'S WHY.
- Anonymous
Best recommendation for this fight is practicing/warming up by taking on the Red Guard dude in the Ashina outskirts and defeating him without stealth killing hisbodyguards/entourage
- Anonymous
I did enjoy it, but the concept for this fight is a tad cheap
- Anonymous
Yashikura's sugar and mid-air mortal draw twice. He is now down one deathblow. do a mid-air mortal draw immediatly after the deathblow animation finishes. This will let you instantly deathblow him again. Congratulations you beat a boss in 10 seconds.
- Anonymous
The ape is an apparition type, I just confirmed massive dmg with divine confetti
- Anonymous
Thanks From. Hasn't made a decent duo boss since O&S and doesn't seem to plan on getting them right ever again.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I feel like this fight would be fine if it wasn't for the camera constantly getting stuck on the walls. As ever. It's not nearly aa fun as the first encounter, though.
Although, one detail I do like is how they sometimes work together to perform a single combo, which makes it much easier to keep track of them. Namely, yanking out the centipede seems to invariably trigger the brown ape into leaping on top of you, so you should know to always try and block that after the spear retracts. I think it also does this whenever you jump on the headless ape during its falling sweep attack?
It makes me wish that if they keep making these gank bosses, they'd design them more as a unified AI system as opposed to two separate enemies entirely. One boss, two bodies. Every combo is divied up to alternate blows from each enemy, creating a complex, yet recognizable pattern that the player can still memorize, even if they sometimes switch it up a little to keep you on your toes. I dunno if I'm making any sense...
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I got stuck on the Guardian Ape for 3 days, beat him, then came down and one-shot this guy. It shows how much easier the second phase of Guardian Ape is than the first. Provided of course that you don't blow all your spirit emblems on the first.
- Anonymous
Fill the brown ape's posture with firecrackers while the headless ape is roaring, you only need 3-4 charges. Careful because if you stop this halfway through you'll have wasted the emblems and won't be able to try again (unless tanto).
- Anonymous
How was this guy alive though? You kill it in your first encounter with the immortal blade...
- Anonymous
How are they so proud to upload boss strat videos when they are getting rekt in it lol. Git gud.
- Anonymous
The headless ape, alone, is fairly easy once you discover that blocking perfectly its vertical attack leads him to stagger. So:
- If he comes belly on the floor, jump, then strike. He will usually scream after that, you have time to hit him 3 times (4 if you sacrifice a bit of life while fleeing the scream).
- If he jumps, go away to avoid his sweeping attack then come back, block the vertical attack, destroy him while he is on the floor.
You can either ignore the brown ape and hope it won't be to annoying… or kill it first. For the latter, keep your distances from the headless ape, be patient and wait for an opportunity to attack the brown one (while the headless ape is doing useless attacks far away). The spring-load fire vent (charged) can be quite useful: it does not hurt the ape so much, but it creates a great opportunity to hit while it's burning.
- Anonymous
The brown ape is actually quite passive and usually only follows up on the white apes attacks. Just ignore the brown one.
- Anonymous
Sichimen warrior spawned without me having the whistle equipped? is this a mistype?
- Anonymous
This is probably the easiest boss fight in the game. Can be done with the entire fight in about 30 seconds. If you have the Hidden Forest idol activated, get to the ledge above him and use the tanto if you have it, and use yashariku's and divine confetti. Drop down, R1 him about 6x, then start jumping (need mid-air combat arts skill) and doing double mortal draw on him. When you do mortal draw while jumping it does insane damage. When the 2nd phase starts, just continue jump-double mortal draw and ignore the female ape. The fight is over very fast... before the yashariku's wears off.
- Anonymous
Use the spear to pull out the Centipede every chance you get. Instantly makes the fight much easier/faster, and just ignore the female Ape as much as possible.
- Anonymous
From, I say this from the bottom of my heart, **** off with the gank bosses. They aren’t well designed, fun, or original. Out of the mountains of gank bosses you’ve made, only two or so are actually good by any stretch.
- Anonymous
Even more annoying than the first ape fight. The first phase is easy, on the second it tried the oil strategy, and died over and over. The female ape deals a ****ton of damage, and they can get you stuck between the 2 apes and the wall, then it's gg. What finally made me beat this crap boss is using the firecrackers instead of oil + fire. Makes the female ape lose a lot of posture and makes killing her so much easier.
- Anonymous
I took this boss out in my first go and again in NG. It really isn't that hard providing you are patient and use the right tools. The first part is dare I say pretty easy. You should know what all his moves are and his scream is easy to read and dodge. Just get your parries in, use the arena size to your advantage if you gotta regain posture. After a couple of parries you bait it into the overhead slam. DO NOT DODGE LIKE HE SAYS IN THE VIDEO, parry that thing I find it to be one of the easiest attacks in the game to parry. It'll be on the ground stunned if you do so run up, AND SPEAR HIM LIKE YOU'RE LEONIDAS, do not get in your chip shots. Hitting him with the spear pull back does the damage and brings down his posture a ton. It will honestly take like 3 of these to clear phase one. In Phase 2 DO NOT PANIC, keep the apes in front of you and get your hits on the female when you can, her health is very low compared to the original Guardian Ape. Use a firecracker or two to get in some good hits, but try and keep a few emblems for your spear. Or use your best shuriken. Manage your damage and your heals, don't get frustrated and get too aggressive cause you just wanna get one ape down. You have a lot of room to run, use it, bait them to you and get in your hits when you see your opening. Once it's back to one v one just use the same strategy. Patience, do not attack, parry. Bait the overhead and counter. Oh and try to pop a confetti and then Ako's sugar before you go in, and again right before phase 2 kicks off. The double damage boosts will really help you get in some damage when the second ape arrives, and the extra damage does translate to your parries. Hope this helps anyone who considers this boss a nightmare
- Anonymous
2 enemies that were not designed to belong together sounds like Lud and zallen 2.0
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I found that you can actually do a significant amount of damage using the mortal blade when the ape does it's second phase scream. Push through the knock back and use the mortal blade to do about third of its health. I also found that I could mostly ignore the brown ape if I positioned the headless ape between it and myself. Then I just used the loaded spear trick to beat it in about two counters. I might have gotten lucky but I got it right within a few tries. Good Luck!
- Anonymous
yeah fromsoft had to be retarded again, convieniently copying existing bosses and being uncreative af.
- Anonymous
I really like fighting the headless ape alone but the damn gank in the second phase is horrible.
- Anonymous
NG+ and I killed them without using res by continuously hitting the brown ape with dragon flash and just focusing on dodging/deflecting everything. Once the brown ape is dead the fight is just a weaker version of the guardian ape, much easier to win.
- Anonymous
this boss fight reminds me of two bloodborne giant sharks that contained the sword inside the well
- Anonymous
Got this boss on my second try, but assumes you've gotten the idol warp point past this boss earlier in the game (by getting there before killing guardian ape). After the two graplings from the forest warp idol, fall down close against the edge. You can chip away a CHUNK of its health before he becomes aggressive, I'm talking like 20-25% of it. This makes phase 1, which is the same as phase 2 of guardian ape fight, pretty easy. You should remember the moves from guardian ape. For phase 2, it is tricky. Both apes are always coming at you, and you have to patient with windows to attack. I went after just the brown ape first, using crackers to stun it and chip away at chunks of its health. It's basically the same as guardian ape phase 1, minus the butt stuff. After it dies, the headless ape is aggressive, maybe moreso than before, but similar moves as before. So very doable, the moves you used in guardian ape should come back to you, and it's basically the same fight just modified. Just be patient with phase 2, use crackers on brown ape, and don't get greedy.
- Anonymous
Thankfully, the lady ape is less aggressive and less resilient than the OG Headfull Ape.
- Anonymous
Has anyone tried the puppeteer ninjustsu on the brown ape? Doesn't that work?
- Anonymous
Enjoyed this boss - the Guardian Ape took me quite a few attempts but I did this in one (well it is basically the same as Guardian Ape phase 2). Pretty simple strategy for Headless Ape - just run and bait him around the arena - I generally keep baiting until he hits his AOE roar (get out of the way). After he's done that, get up close for either his sword swipes or his Klinsmann dive - the dive is a godsend as you can just hop over it and get 5-6 hits in easily. The sword swipes are fairly easy to deflect, and getting the last one knocks him down for ultra damage. When the brown ape appeared, I just locked onto it and ran - create some distance between brown and white apes, then get in close, block brown ape's first attack and get a few hits in. Repeat until brown ape is dead. This fight made me feel worse than when I slaughtered all those monkeys :'(
- Anonymous
First idea: do not run from his terror-roar! just keep hitting him. Second one: keep your spirit emblems for the second phase and use a mortal draw or empowered mortal draw. Third: stay betwen him and the wall after the first deathblow, he will try to hit you and only than run to call his girlfriend - that's your chanse.
- Anonymous
Second fight was much easier to me. First idea: do not run from his terror-roar! just keep hitting him. Second one: keep your spirit emblems for the second phase and use a mortal draw or empowered mortal draw. Third: stay betwen him and the wall after the first deathblow, he will try to hit you and only than run to call his girlfriend - that's your chanse.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I focused brown ape down quick with oil and flame vent, then just rinse and repeat from the first fight. Didnt even end up using a resurrect. Gottem on the first try. Easiest boss fight ive come across.
- Anonymous
Easiest boss in the game, hands down. (Not including Folding Screen Monkeys or the serpents)
- Anonymous
Found this fight easiest to manage by using loaded spear strategy on Headless Ape. When Brown Ape came into play, focused on it using Gouging Top (charged) attacks to really bring down its life, while using the Ceremonial Tanto to refill emblems as needed.
I honestly do not understand people saying this fight is hard. Headless Ape is nowhere near as dangerous as the first phase of Guardian Ape due to much clearer and less erratic combos, the spear does a TON of posture damage, and the brown ape's posture is filled up so quickly by firecrackers.
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