Isshin, the Sword Saint | Sekiro Shadows Die Twice Wiki

After going through the game and fighting various foes, many of which were incredibly skilled with swords I was very excited to fight Isshin the sword saint.

You can Imagine my surprise when he whipped out the UwUzi and cut me down in a hailstorm of 9mm.
This is unironically the best souls game I have ever played.

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Beware and behold the charged attack with horizontal force wave in the FIRST phase which he occasionally does instead of vertical force wave. You can barely see it coming due to the vegetation. It deals a ton of damage and can even one-shot you if your HP isn't at 100%. Be careful.

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Literally just beat this guy 10 minutes ago. There are so many guides on the internet involving shinobi arts and prosthetic tools.

You don't need any of that. I unequipped everything except my healing gourd. What you need to do goes against every instinct you've built up until this point.

BLOCK.

That's right. For all three of Isshin's phases, you are going to hold block and slowly walk toward him. Because the real killer in this fight is getting your posture broken, as long as you are holding blocking and moving toward Isshin, your posture will recover.

In phase 1 of Isshin, he's so defensive that attacking is almost pointless. You're basically waiting for a thrust attack (mikiri counter) or his attack/sweep combo (jump on his head for posture damage). Also, if he winds up for an AOE attack, do NOT run away. Jump on his head for posture damage.

In phase 2, you're blocking again, but you also have more opportunities to attack. Every single time he jumps into the air, you should be dodging to the side and punishing him with free hits. I've found dashing through his retreating sweep to be too much risk for too little reward. Just block it. It goes without saying that if you can't mikiri counter on command, this phase is going to be difficult. Posture will be your main way of damaging him. It may seem like his posture recovers too fast, but keep at it and his posture will eventually build and stay put.

Phase 3 is the same as the previous one. but your goal here is lightning deflects — three is the magic number. If you can land three delfects, his posture will be so low that all you'll need to do is block and wait for an attack you can counter with a jump or mikiri.

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A bloody nightmare of a fight, but much more fair than that stupid thing at the end of elden ring.

I do find the last phase easier than the rest though, Just wait for him to lightning, fling it back in his face and enjoy the free hits.

rather strange that the final boss of the hardest game I've ever played has a final phase that is more of a victory lap than anything.

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I think I gave dragon rot to the entire island of Japan after dying so many times.

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You can cheese sword saint by luring him to the edge and dodge when he thrusts and he will fall off.

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If you tired AF trying him as did i, you could download the cheat engine and turn the god mode on to train. I had problems with 2nd and 3rd stage attack patterns and goind through Genitiro each time is so annoying. But 30 mins of practice and it's a piece of cake, you can turn the cheat off and beat him fair and square with just parry.

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i do randomizer and get him instead of father owl, ngl since everything was balanced it was a cakewalk, but still cant be ****ed to kill demon of hatred

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Beat him first try very disappointment the boss was so easy i guess from soft fans are just trash at games because there was nothing hard about the boss and if you played the rest of the game you should be able to beat him first try

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Replayed Sekiro for the first time since about April 2019. I remember struggling hard on Isshin that each time I beat him, I had used up just about all my healing items and spirit emblems. I was prepared to spent hours and countless tries on him this time around like before. Instead, I was able to quite easily beat him after 4 attempts and in my final, only healed twice and didn't use any prosthetics (same situation with DoH whom I previously struggled with too). Amazing boss, although I lowkey wish he didn't spam lightning slash twice in a row which gave my free massive hp dmg on him.

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Isshin, the Sword Saint? More like Isshin, the Gun Saint.

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Wtf is even the point of a health bar if he one shots you in NG?

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It took me over 5 hours when this came out to beat this and I dreaded ever coming back to him on a replay of Sekiro. Fast forward to this year and I beat him first try. I don't know if my muscle memory from that battle at launch still stayed with me but I like to think so. Fantastic final boss.

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One of the greatest but probably the hardest boss I've ever faced (hi malenia) , took me 30+ tries but that feeling when you finally beat it... I found the key of beating him is being agressive while also being cautious, don't let thim lower his posture as much as possible. Save your shurikens to close the gap between you and him so he won't be able to recover his posture. You may not want to waste your heals for the first two phases as their attack pattern can easily be learned by simply trying over and over again. I don't think running around like a headless chicken works really well for the last 2 phases, instead try to find an opening while deflecting and dodging his attacks, just don't be greedy cause you'll be punished.

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I don’t know why but after activating the demon bell due to mindless frustration I was actually able to get to his 2nd phase a lot easier than I could without it.

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i love how i watch video show dodge toward his slam will leave him open, and it does when it works more time then not the dodge towards him does not work

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Malenia hit Defeat so hard, that he got isekai'd to the end of the Sengoku era of Japan. And now everyone keeps mistaking him for a guy named Hesitation! I don't know for sure but I've heard tell of an old man by the name of "Isshin" who's spreading rumors about Defeat. I think I heard him say "Hesitation is Defeat" so many times to that stoic shinobi-lookin fella.

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It may be just me but this was not that hard but SOOOO over the top and epic that i laughted almost every second, when he started to jump in the air chatching thunders and shoting with a 50 Cal Desert Eagle, i died.

10/10 true 2019 game of the year and 2019 level of gaming

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How to beat Sword Saint via spacing (Dark Souls style):

Are you a Dark Souls player who dislikes the Sekiro combat system, with its focus on blocking/deflect/posture break instead of just avoiding the blow entirely? Here's how you can beat the Sword Saint Isshin fight without ever touching the block button:

Skills you will need:

Jumping Combat Arts
Ichimonji Double
Mortal Draw
Nightjar Reversal (optional but recommended)

Genichiro phase: Lock on the moment the fight starts, take a single step towards him and perform a jumping Ichimonji double. Dodge back as soon as you're able, move back and sideways, dodge it he shoots his bow, wait three actions by Genichiro, jump back in and crack his skull again. You have to wait three strikes because one of his combos has a quick third strike with the bow that has perfect tracking, if you're mid-air you will be hit. If you see him charging Mortal Blade after your Ichimonji, back up quickly, wait till he's done, and jump in for a bonk.

This phase is IMO the most difficult of the three using these strategies, but only because you really want to get through it without being hit more than once and his Mortal Blade strike can catch you out if he recovers from Ichimonji too fast. He's got low posture recovery though, so once you learn the pace he's easy.

Isshin phase one:

Switch to Nightjar Reversal if you have it, otherwise switch to Mortal Draw. His moveset during this phase is unique from the other two; he's more defensive, and faster on recovery. Nightjar Reversal is excellent because it gets you in and out of his range fast. Otherwise unpowered Mortal Draw will work, but you need to space it right at the edge of the attack range or he'll punish before you can get distance.

This phase is all about running circles around him, trying to bait out two attacks: Ashina Cross and a variant of Distance Slash where he runs sideways for a time, then sprints towards you, slashes, pauses briefly, then two more quick cuts. You want to be sprinting in circles around him constantly, ranging close enough that he's moving slowly but not close enough that he'll begin his 'normal' attack sequence. Wait for him to either start running sideways or sheathe his sword, and start moving backwards until he's done, then jump in with the in/out Nightjar combo. With Ashina he's open longer so you can get two hits in w/ Nightjar, one on the jump in, one on the reversal. He recovers faster from the running sideways attack: If you start your Nightjar attack as the third strike is in the air, it's possible to land both hits, but timing has to be absolutely perfect and it's not worth it because if you jump too early you're getting hit.

Keep circling, bait those two attacks, in/out at the end, don't be greedy. Be patient and he may never hit you during this phase. If you get hit and need to heal, go hide behind a rock.

Isshin phase two and three (strategy is exactly the same, and renders all his unique phase three attacks moot):

Switch to Mortal Draw. For the remaining two phases of this fight, we are still circling him at a sprint, which is more important now because he's got a 9mm suddenly, but can't lead his target. Always be moving at an angle to his approach, unless you're in the act of attacking. Do not stop moving if he does, he can shoot at you standing still. From now until the fight is over, you're focused on one thing: baiting out his Leaping Slam attack.

Since he's more aggressive now you will sprint-circle at a moderately increased distance. He will always run directly towards you, so circling creates a sort of equilibrium with the distance given the arena. Prioritize the distance, not the circle. Better to get hit with a round or two from his gat than clubbed in the head by his spear.

When he begins the slam attack, keep running in a circle. When he lands, start drifting more directly away from him to avoid the second part of this attack, a fast dash straight at you. The instant that dash is over, run in and perform a Mortal Draw. He will usually block it, but Mortal Draw don't give a damn. Try your best to be at the outside edge of Mortal Draw's range when you do this: If you're too close, he'll do the dash again and hit you. It isn't necessary to have Spirit Emblems to execute this strategy, unpowered Mortal Draw works fine.

If you need to heal, wait till he's in the middle of the last phase of one of his attack combos. You should know them all by heart now, since you've been running circles around him for 15 minutes.

Just keep running around him, you'll avoid all his nonsense in both second and third phase. Run in, Mortal Draw, run back out and circle. Turns the whole fight very one dimensional.

That's what he gets for bringing a gun to a sword fight.

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Consume Gokan's sugars in the beginning of his phase 1 and 2 , helps you a lot, everytime I died against him was because of posture break, so I beat him the first time I used Gokans

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I'd rather fight demon of hatred

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when isshin sheathes his sword in phase 1 is it better to deflect ashina cross or should i go near him and deflect and jump on him?

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One thing you forgot to add: in phase three he seems to take significantly less posture damage

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Wheres my pistol?

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'HOW MY BLOOD BOILS!'

Bro, we aren't THAT close to your castle.

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Use confetti, learn how to deflect the lightning attack on phase 3. With enough practice and confetti phase 1 is a breeze and after that is a matter of practice. Good luck.

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after a 50 tries and almost wining the third phase but failed i realised i had demon bell activated, I was so much pissed on myself

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Second best boss in the game, right behind Inner Isshin. Not actually that tough if you're good at deflecting, and the first phase is definitely the hardest of the three. It gets easier as you progress through the phases, the with the last phase being the easiest because it's literally identical to the second phase but you get huge free lightning damage. Just focus on landing those mikiri counters and he'll go down in no time at all. He only has like four main combos in phase 2 and 3 and they're all quite straightforward. What catches a lot of people out is his backwards jump swing with the spear - it's simply, just don't overcommit beyond the opening he gives you. Then you'll never be caught out by it

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There is only 1 advice for this boss: "Hesitation is defeat"

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hard boss to beat fair & square, but shinobis aren’t about that..

you beat genichiro and first phase very easy if you are subpar at deflecting, just give them no quarter

2nd/3rd phase is DEF sugar, oil & flame axe

pellet before going in

replenish spirit emblems with dagger between phases

all in all a lot easier than father owl and sculptor (which you’ll probably wont beat EVER w/o fire umbrella and upgraded finger)

and a lot easier than Ludwig and dungeon amygdala from BB (orphan of kos is nothing)

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This is one of the worst FromSoftware games and possibly the worst game I've ever played.

That said, yes, I too am stuck on the third phase of the Isshin Sword Saint fight. It's incredibly frustrating and doesn't work half the time. And even if I do manage to eventually "GIT GUD" and defeat him, I will never like this game. I think it was a mistake from the start. The game is full of a series of rock bottom, piss poor decisions by the game programmers.

As a perfect example, that first fight where you lose your arm. Even if you would win, you still lose the arm. Well, isn't that special? That's about the dumbest game design feature I've ever seen in my entire life. Why not just make it a cutscene if the ending is predetermined? Why am I fighting this guy?

The rewards for beating bosses are garbage, what am I supposed to do with one prayer bead? Nothing! Go get three more! Or maybe I will get lucky and get some weak prosthetic tool that is only useful for one particular enemy. Some of these enemies you fight for hours and hours and your reward? Not much.

Need XP? Farm 70-,000-100,000 points to get 1 skill point. 5 of those and you can increase attack power by one point. WOOHOO! You can spend an entire weekend running the same loop over and over to get maybe 2 or 3 attack points. That's if you don't go hang yourself first. You think that should have maybe been scaled down a little?

If I would have known it was a buttom masher game, I wouldn't have bought it, it's not my thing. A beta version would have been nice, but they thought they'd rip me off instead. They stripped out most of the best customization features of the Souls games series and you call it genius? I don't think so. I think the programmers just got lazy and then realized that when people would find out the best part of the series was cut, they wouldn't buy it.

One of the few good things about this game, the Divine Dragon fight was a good fight. If more of the game were like that, it would have been my favorite in the series. But there's too much failure in making the game playable (and more importantly ENJOYABLE) it's trash and not GUD. If you think this game is a ten, check yourself into a mental hospital now.

I don't mind a challenge, but I don't enjoy beating my head against a wall. This game easily crosses the line. What did I learn from this game? Mikori counters? How to use Divine Confetti? No, I learned that someone from at FromSoftware needs canned, ASAP.

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Did not even manage to learn his 2nd phase... somehow beat him. I was dissociating so hard and now I can't do it in reflection of strength. :/

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To anyone struggling with this fight: I was massively underleveled when i first engaged him and it seemed impossible. I had 10 attack power and 14 or so vitality. I went back and got my AP up to 15 and vit up to 19 and won the battle on my second try.

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i thought either i was too good or he was too easy until he pulled out a Desert Eagle chambered in .50AE and domed me three times in the head before melting my entire upper body with lightning. i (unironically) love this game so much

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I like how he's incredibly skilled, but his fighting style is basically just trying to kill you as fast and as hard as possible. His attacks aren't refined or elegant like Lady Butterfly's or Genichiro's. Instead he use high speed iaijutsu, sends shockwaves with his sword and beats you to death with a spear in his off-hand. His signature attack is literally crashing down his sword like a hammer and doing it again when the first hit doesn't connect. And all of this, of course, culminates in him pulling out a gun to waste you.

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Owl is only harder until you give back Kuro's Charm.

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Great boss, tough but fair. Varied, no strange gimmicks, you can win just through posture damage. Although I actually had more trouble with Owl Father and regular Isshin. Maybe I was overleveled? Ok, now for the plat

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Isshin, the sword saint

vs

Malenia, Blade of Miquella

who wins?

Isshin

Why?

cuz we in sekiro now fool!

shock damage and glock 19 for da win

long live Ashina!

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Tough fight but owl father was way tougher.

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After 30 min approx 3 attemps I came here to complain and saw someone finished the fight in 90 min and I was like bullshit lol. But after finishing it after another 30 min of trying I have some advice. Genichiro is easy. Phase 1 of isshin keep a medium distance and run away when he does the flashy sword dash double slash. If youre quick you can return and get a hit in. The wind slashes just run horizontally, dont bother trying to hit him after. When he closes the gap steadily tap the deflect button, you dont rly need to be a pro deflector. After a bit of these deflections he'll go down. This first phase was the most difficult for me because his perilous attacks were fairly quick so I would try to mikiri counter when it would be a slash : /.

The next phases were the easiest imo and when I got to them i beat them on my first try. When he takes the gun out repeatedly tap the deflect button, you shouldnt take much posture dmg. His perilous attacks are thrust only from what I experienced so just mikiri counter. Tap deflect when he gets close and he should go down.

Last phase same **** just take a sec to see what he does when you see perilous icon, jump when he jumps to thunder reversal otherwise just mikiri counter. Thise were the only perilous attacks I witnessed

Its more rhythm than actually eyeballing his attack animations when get gets close or uses gun, if hes not perilous attacking

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Hardest fromsoftware boss imo. 10 or so hours of death. Soul of cinder is in second place with 4 hours

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this might be the best boss fight I've ever had in a video game

I somehow managed to never get much more tilted than a strong exhalation and even enjoyed fighting Genichiro every time as a little warm up

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Chad isshin: dosent run away, Fights like a man, compliments you when you kill him, taught emma how to fight, looks like a cool samurai, has a ****ing glock 19 and a cool spear, funny dialogue when you die by him.

Virgin elden beast: runs away across the map, spams magic, fights like a coward, looks like a stupid fish, no cool phase 2 dialogue. No guns no cool lightning attacks, simps for marika and radagon.

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4th try against this boss and i made it to the last phase with only 10% posture remaining. Then couldn't get to the last phase for the next 10 tries. What this means? Its a **** boss determined by luck

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Divine confetti + yashiraku sugar/spritfall + purple flume firecracker. Posture goes brrrrrr.

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Tough boss, but not nearly as tough as people seem to think he is. Incredibly easy when you figure out how to parry.

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I fought this guy for 9 hours for a 3 minute cutscene….4/5 would recommend

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Damn this chad was the biggest gaming challenge i ever had, i died to his phase 2 so many times i learned to beat genichiro and the 1st phase without taking damage almost every time. Its crazy how much this boss is forcing u to git gut, other bosses compared to him now feels like common soldiers from beginning of the game.

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When he prepares the glock, throw a shuriken + followup slash to stop him from spamming the shots.

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I like to imagine for lore reasons, instead of a glock, isshin has like 50 already loaded flintlock pistols and just cycles through them very fast.

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Wow. I thought Glock o'clock was just someone being funny on the wiki. this mofo really has a gun.

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Now also coming from Elden Ring and i got twice the respect both for this game and it's boss fights...

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Coming back after Elden Ring to say - still the best boss in the Soulsborne series.

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This guy...
Kicked my ass for many many many attempts...
I'm a pretty chill and calm dude but this guy had me cursing and half shouting at my tv! X'D
After a long time of trying I had to refill my resurrection bars and went to the Fountainhead Palace to kill a bunch of Okami warriors.
Jumped into the bigger groups and fought as many at once as I could for a solid 20 - 30 minutes.
It will warm you up and you'll get into the zone when it comes to focus.
After I started easily dominating the larger groups without too much trouble/healing and my resurrection bars were full I went back to the final boss and somehow I completely dominated him without needing a single resurrection...
I guess my tip for those that are struggling here: Go fight groups of Okami warriors and get your focus going, than go back to the final boss and try him again.
I think you'll find him a lot easier this time around ;)
Good luck and kick ass!

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Petition to change this article into "welp ur ****ed kid, idk memorize some patterns, throw some bombs or some **** but keep trying"

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I was eating rice in this fight like I skipped breakfast

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This guy kicked my butt for a good 90 minutes until I finally got him. Thank goodness he uses lightning in his third phase... I don't think I could've handled another phase like the second.

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Finally beat him after countless tries. I was moaning and complaining the entire time about how it was way too hard, but it's doable if you can just grit your teeth and keep going. Try it out for 20 minutes, come back the next day, try again for 20 minutes, then the next day, etc. You don't need items except healing and the metal shield umbrella.

For people having difficulty:
Phase 1 (Genichiro): Constantly attack, parry only when you need to. Don't let up at all, you'll beat him fairly quickly if you're hyper aggressive.
Phase 2 (Isshin): He seems insanely fast with his attacks, but it's all timing. This phase is the hardest to break through imo and feels impossible, you just have to die a lot and memorize his animations and it'll eventually click when to parry his attacks. Attack sparingly. For the attacks that seem impossible to dodge (the ones with the white trails), use metal umbrella.
Phase 3: Don't attack much. Just parry the whole time and bide your time. You should use parrying to beat this phase imo and only attack/be aggressive in order to keep his posture from depleting. Use metal umbrella again when he does the attacks with the white trails that are hard to dodge.
Phase 4: Same as phase 3 but for lightning reversal - when you see it coming, hold L1 to block, then jump while still holding L1 and spam R1 to deflect. It takes time to feel comfortable doing it but after a while it's not so bad.

In the end even after beating him I still think the boss is too hard, it's exponentially more difficult than anything else in the game imo. It's one thing if they gradually ramped up the difficulty, but this boss is just crazy compared to everything else to me. It wasn't fun to learn to me the way guardian ape was fun to learn, but I guess that's just preference.

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you suck at this game if you can't beat him before even entering the arena first try using a dance dance revolution pad with your eyes stapled shut and being permanently deafened using braille to predict his attacks.

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Isshin, The Glock Saint

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Just beat him and I have some tips for anyone who was stuck like me.

For Edgy teen and Isshin's first phase, you must stay close to them and attack.
Edgy teen will have 3 types of counterattacks when he deflects you :

- jump : parry the jump. If there is no perilous attack, parry the next one as well. If you see a perilous attack, look at his position. If you can see his head turning, that means it is a sweep and you need to jump and kick. Otherwise, he will thrust and you need to mikiri.
- sword combo : deflect them all it is the same combo as before. If you deflect it all, he will automatically thrust afterwards. Free mikiri.
- simple sword : deflect it

Sometime he will also put out his bow. If you can hit him first, that's okay. Otherwise deflect the arrows and he will thrust.

To counter his mortal blade attacks, go behind him and unleash an ishimonji, it will cancel it.

Isshin first phase

Same thing. Attack isshin and watch it when he deflects you.
- seething his sword : prepare to deflect and then immediately jump as he will do a sweep attack. Punish him with a kick
- ishimonji : deflect it then run to the left around isshin and dodge. Punish him with a few hits in the back
- small thrust : isshin will attack you with a deflectable thrust and then unleash a perilous attack which is also a thrust and therefore free mikiri
- simple sword counter : he will attack 3 times. Deflect them all and then attack.

2nd and 3rd phase
Stay globally at mid-ranfe from him and equip the fire umbrella if you have it. If he jumps at you, deflect with the umbrella and unleash a follow-up attack. This will make his posture go way up.
If you need to heal, run away and wait for him to unleash a combo on his own to heal safely.
If he swings his halberd around, stay at mid range and wait for the perilous attack to mikiri.
Try to deflect all other combos and don't forget to guard as much as you can to avoid posture break
2nd phase will be definitely longer than the third because the third gives you lightning attacks which will destroy his health and posture. So do the same tricks and just counter the lightning properly and you should get phase 3 easily. Good luck :)

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Isshin, The Sig Saint

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I love it when I try to mikiri counter but instead of countering my guy just dashes straight into his sword. I still can't tell if it's a glitch or not

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So, after dying, Isshin kicks back in the underworld and watches Raiders of the Lost Ark, and realizes there are better ways of fighting swordsmen.

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Sword Saint Isshin with his famed weapons, a halberd and a glock

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I really wanted to like this fight but in the end I am really sorry to say that I didn't. It speaks volumes that most guides to this boss basically consist of "in the 2nd and 3rd phase just bait the leaping slam attack, hit him once, repeat"

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Finally beat this boss, I truly had a blast at being the best at running in circles and hitting like a wet noodle, time to uninstall, good luck all !

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New Inner Isshin Moves:
1st Phase
Mortal Draw Wave: Use Pheonix Lilac Umbrella to completely block, no exceptions, THIS WILL OHKO! The first move he performs, charges attack and has three strikes. First two seems to have the same timing as his Ashina Cross. If hit, will be knocked back and hit by the third strike/second wave. May have replaced vertical force wave/dragon slash.
2nd Phase
Can now cancel 5-hit spear combo to bum-shot you.
New Perilous BS: He raises his sword and you will get a perilous warning. While it's possible to jump this, the timing is far to tight and can leave you vulnerable to his follow-up. Use Mist Raven to dodge left or right. This allows you to dodge the vertical slash or mikiri a spear thrust. After raising his sword, he charges forward with two strikes and an uppercut into the air, followed by the slash or the thrust. This can also OHKO. Will use it in 3rd phase so try to trigger more lightning strikes. If you don't have his rhythms down, you will run out of spirit crests!

For a proper challenge; face Inner Genichiro before Inner Isshin to make up for the clown Genichro fight.

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Ok, seriously, what is the lore reason for Isshin to be packing a Glock??? It bugs me every time I fight him. I keep trying to find a still where you can see the gun fully but haven't had any luck so far. I just wanna see how the devs animated this thing

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parry the overhead spear attack, attack twice and run
bait his thrust and mikuru it, attack once and run

genichiro is a joke and first phase is easy, these are for the 2nd and 3rd phases

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I fully thought they'd pull the good old "easy final boss" trick again with Genichiro. Nice way to end like it started and all.. So I didn't take this fight seriously at all.

I was quickly shown why this was a mistake

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i dont get the majority of things in this comment section, anyone who says they didnt have that hard of a time gets dislike bombed and if u say genichiro bad u get free likes, i had a stupid amount of trouble on isshin mind you (he took me like 3 months of on and off play lmao-) however starting with genichiro each time feels like a good way to get you warmed up for the fight. after too long of trying at isshin i would end up frying my brain and dying to geni, once that happened i knew it was time to stop. he's a good way to judge if you're doing better or worse, atleast he was for me.

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Isshin's spear be like: what is posture?

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Cum... Sekiro

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You should be able to absolutely annihilate Genichiro by now, although if you're having trouble with his Mortal Blade attacks just run behind him. You'll never be hit.

That or turn into a turtle...

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I finished sekiro for the first time now. I was hating the fact that I had to fight Genichiro every time I died to the old man, but I ended up enjoying it, give you a moment to breathe and think as you beat this miserable sexy man.

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It took me 18 tries to beat Isshin and I just want to thank the Mist-Noble for forcing me to git-gud and learn how to play the game.

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He's so powerful he ripped a hole through time and space to buy a Glock 17

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This fight is made way more frustrating than it could have been by Genichiro. Having to skip two cutscenes and kill Genichiro while making no mistakes (otherwise you start the rest of the fight at a disadvantage) gets very old very quickly.

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Confront pious one for the sake of trap

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High Monk is recommended against him. On P1, you can do the whole combo after a sweep or the wide 360 slash, even the slow kick. On P2, stop after the 2 sword attacks and isshin's response to your offense shrinks down to only 1 attack, that if deflected can follow up with the one that he charges for a little bit then runs to your left. From there, you have time to pop a sugar or heal. From far away, he can either jump attack, which can be deflected, do a sword-spear-thrust combo, and in P3 he can do the dragonflashes

If the response attack is not deflected, it's followed up with a spear attack

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Things I hate about this fight:

- Genichiro
- Idol too far from the boss arena
- Loading screen too long if you die
- Cutscene EVERY TIME
- Genichiro

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I WAS NOT FAKING HESITATING YOU WERE STUNLOCKING ME MUHFU-

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Didn't think FS would ever top Slave Knight Gael, but somehow they did with this guy. Incredible boss.

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Remember he's your enemy now. "Hesitation is defeat" is how you die by recklessly running into everything.

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Ah, the ultimate sword fighting technique:


GUN

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Lord Shimura died in Ghost of Tsushima and got reincarnated as Isshin Ashina.

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Remember, switching to your sidearm is always faster than hesitating

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This boss is so satisfying to fight

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I finished my first run with the purification ending. Dragon's heritage here I come.

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Healing tips: In phase 1, you can heal any time you want by backing off - Isshin is happy to keep strolling. In phase 2 and 3, he will follow you relentlessly and occasionally shoot at you, but it's still possible to heal safely. 1 - always run at an angle so that his bullets miss, and 2 - block his attacks with terrain. If he's following close, drag him through one of the rocks. He'll usually attack the rock in frustration, letting you add distance and/or heal. If he's far away, you can even hide on the other side of the hill in the middle of the arena. Once you learn how to shake him, you can apply healing/sugars/confetti whenever you want without issue. Just don't run off a cliff.

Hunting for help on the internet, I found two decent tips if you plan to fight him up close. 1 - Hit twice, parry thrice. Aggressively attacking him establishes the rhythm, and you can almost always attack twice safely (with the exception of when he jumps away, swinging his spear in an arc, during phase 2/3). He usually counters in sets of three, often using a delayed third attack that is nasty if you're not waiting for it. After parrying thrice, you can usually resume attacking. 2 - If he charges up his windy bits, pull out the loaded umbrella and follow with projected force. He does this infrequently enough that you can use the umbrella every time without running out of emblems, and it is a very safe response.

Lastly, one tip of my own: if you are fighting him up close, but have to run away to heal, it can be hard to find an opening to get back in there. The best one I've seen is to bait his jump attack and try to dodge under it. You can then hit him in the back and resume pressuring him. If you miss the dodge, though, he follows up the jump attack with a sweep that has decent range... so I usually keep running and try again later. A better ninja could probably parry it or jump attack, but dashing sweeps are tough (for me).

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Strangely enough, this guy isn't even FromSoft's first "old guy final boss who flies all over the place screeching and shooting a bad-ass gun at you" in their library. In fact, he's the third

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Isshin in phase 1, like a lot of guys with swords in this game, can have his attacks severely limited if you stick to a pattern of attacking until he blocks. In his case, after blocking your attack he almost always retaliates with an easily parryable swing. Attack right after parrying, until he blocks again and the cycle can continue until his posture is gone.

If he does retaliate, right away, pause for a brief moment, and then try attacking again, but the key is to stay on him, never letting him gain the distance he needs to launch a more deadly attack.

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I like how even though Isshin warns him against giving in to emotion, the start of this fight where he practically growls at Genichiro is the most emotional we see Sekiro throughout the whole game—fear, sorrow, and anger for Kuro all at once.

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Phase 1: aggressive play
Phase 2: hit once and parry all to keep the posture building
Phase 3: sakura/mist raven for lightning reversal
This is is my no damage strat with bell demon and no Kuro's charm. Also interrupt the mortal draw with fire crackers. Donnot use ichimonji double in phase 2 & 3 as he will jump away.

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hesitate and you lose is how dudes told each other to git gud back in feudal japan

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I have died more times to nioh 2's first boss than to Isshin and that's a fact.

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This man got me so tilted I started dying to genichiro

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Hesitation is not defeat, most of the defeat comes from dying too many times and running out of res

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If it wasn't for having to fight Genichiro every reset, this guy would be a near perfect fight in my eyes. The setting, progressive difficulty spikes, and the music really do the final boss justice.

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