Owl (Father) |
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| Location | Hirata Estate Revisited |
| Deathblow Markers | 2 |
| Weakness | |
| Reward | Memory: Foster Father Aromatic Flower |
| XP | NG: 10000 NG+: 12500 NG++: 18750 |
Owl (Father) ( 義父, Foster Father, Gifu) is a Boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This Complete Owl (Father) Boss Guide gives you strategies on how to beat Owl easily, as well as tips, tricks and lore notes. Bosses like Owl 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. Plus focusing on his posture instead of health, deflecting every attack (except firecrackers and poison sprays) can you lead you to succession.
Owl (Father) Location
Where to find Owl (Father) in Sekiro?
- In the Hidden Temple, where you fought Lady Butterfly, in Hirata Estate. This is only accessible after doing the steps for the Purification Ending.
- See Endings for more information
- See The Owl for NPC version.
- See Great Shinobi Owl for the version fought at the top of Ashina Castle during the main game.
- This boss is optional but it must be defeated to achieve a certain ending.
Owl (Father) Rewards
What do you get from defeating Owl (Father) in Sekiro?
- Memory: Foster Father
- Aromatic Flower (unlocks Purification Ending if used after beating the final boss)
- 10,000 / 12,000 (without Kuro's Charm) Exp (NG)
- 12,500 / 15,000 Exp (NG+)
- 18,750 / 22,500 Exp (NG+2)
- 56,250 / 67,500 Exp (NG+7 and beyond)
Dialogue
- Talk (must be a certain distance behind Owl to initiate dialogue).
- "That day... I pulled you from the battlefield, a starving cub... I had no idea what you'd become."
- If attacked prior to initiating dialogue.
- "Very well!"
- "Very well!"
- First time player uses a prosthetic tool.
- "Hmm... The shinobi prosthetic... this was once... Curious device you have there..."
- "Hmm... The shinobi prosthetic... this was once... Curious device you have there..."
- Upon killing the player.
- "Good riddance... starving wolf."
- After first deathblow.
- "What a fine specimen you've become, Wolf. Allow me to honor your efforts-- and show you this old Owl's true power!"
- When killed.
- "Defeated by my own son? The feeling is not entirely unpleasant..."
Owl (Father) Boss Guide Strategies
Sekiro Owl (Father) Video Strategies
Sekiro Owl (Father) Strategy Writeup
WARNING: Just as in the Great Shinobi Owl Bossfight atop Ashina Castle, this boss has access to an extremely powerful Mikiri Counter that can be used against thrust attacks or combat arts that utilise thrusts such as Shadowfall by the player. This counter deals extremely high damage and will likely kill the player if they are already slightly hurt.
He uses many of the same attacks and styles as his earlier battle, but now he's faster and more aggressive. Fortunately for you, he doesn't use poison or the healing block. As always, you should make arrangements--spend money, get a new skill point--and then dedicate some attempts to learning to defend against his attacks. He will usually take one hit then deflect the second. Sometimes he'll merely guard the first hit before he deflects, but it's all posture damage.
He has a short recovery after many of his attacks--use them to punish him once you're comfortable deflecting. When he does his long attack sequence that ends with his gunpowder slash, dodge towards him as he tosses the gunpowder and get behind him to injure him. Sometimes he'll wind up a heavy overhead chop and it's possible to dodge it and punish--but if you get too far away from him while he raises his sword, he'll feint and leap into the air. If you get him with his back to a wall or a corner, you can attack relentlessly and you'll damage him outright or interrupt many of his attacks and movements for a short spell, enough to wear down his health and damage his posture.
Once his health is about half-way down, you can stop actively trying to bait attacks and switch into defense--deflecting all of his attack sequences and the occasional hit will wear his Posture away quickly. When he's on his second phase, run when he turns invisible until he drops out of it, and use Mikiri Counter to defend against his Shadowrush attacks--he most often does one after he throws a larger sweep of gunpowder and after he launches his blazing owl.
In the second phase, use firecrackers to interrupt his attacks and hurt him while he shields his eyes. Otherwise maintain the same principles as the first phase, just be ready for his owl-based attacks and don't be afraid to run from him to make some space for yourself to heal and douse your flames.
If you defeat the boss you will see the writing "SHINOBI EXECUTION" upon the screen.
Alternate strategy:
If you're having difficulty mastering deflections against this boss, a fairly reliable way to make the fight more manageable is to equip the Mortal Draw (or its enhancement) combat art, & during the fight, keep dash/sprinting away to keep most the length of the arena between you and Owl so he has to run after you. When he starts running from far away, he usually limits his attacks upon reaching you to 1. a simple running slash, 2. a shuriken throw quickly followed by a strong slash from his left side, or 3. two side dashes followed by his Shadowstep piercing charge. These three abilities can be avoided fairly reliably. The simple slash can be dodged forward & left (passing Owls right shoulder) & quickly followed up by the Mortal Draw two uses as long as you stay within range after your dodge (if you moved too far, simply use a single dash attack to close & deal damage) then quickly run back to the other length of the arena & repeat. The shuriken slice must be dodged forward & left TWICE QUICKLY (past Owl's right shoulder again - if you dash directly at him, or to your right instead, you run the risk of dashing into his outstretched blade & trigger a massively damaging slash that can instantly kill you from full vitality in NG) & again attack with the Mortal Draw 2X. The Mortal Draw combat art will always connect on the first attack (provided you stayed close enough) & the second will usually either land directly, or force him to block & prevent his quickest counter attacks. Finally, for his Shadowstep rush, Mikiri counter & follow up with a quick single slash (he recovers more quickly & can usually escape the Mortal Draw following a Mikiri Counter).
If Owl starts running towards you when at medium range, he is more apt to use one of his other move sets, including an off time (slightly delayed relative to his other animations), multi hit slash that can pivot & follow your dash to hit you in the back & flow into a multi hit combo including a sweep attack.
Following this strategy, you can quickly remove Owl's vitality in chunks & end the fight more quickly. In phase 2, continue to use the same strategy as his base move set remains the same; the only change necessary is to keep running when he enters the invisible owl teleport to avoid his drop attack & dash behind a pillar for easy protection from his fire owl projectile + Shadowstep as neither attack will move past the pillar (this also provides a safe window for using healing items or combat buffs before he resumes his offensive). The most frustrating problem I encountered during this strategy was fighting the camera as it can be easy to run into a pillar or wall while running to long range & occasionally the target lock may be lost after a dash, & if that happens, your initial attack may miss & leave you open for Owls close range offensive.
Another strategy to brute force this fight is to use a combination of Ako's Sugar, Divine Confetti, Rice, & Red Lumps to stay on the offensive, & force Owl back toward a wall to keep interrupting Owl's heavier combos & end the first phase very quickly. The second phase is a little harder due to the invisibility/teleport but the saving spirit emblems & Mortal Draw for phase 2 can keep Owl off balance long enough to quickly end this phase as well.
A useful counter to his firecrackers is to back away, and then use either the Shadowrush or Shadowfall combat art to counter, doing decent vitality and posture damage.
Sekiro Owl (Father) Attacks & Counters
| Attack | Description | Counter |
| Phase 1 | ||
| Zig-Zag | Many of Owl's attacks initiate after a zig-zag motion designed to confuse you. After this, he can do any of the following 5 moves: | |
| Shuriken Throw | Owl throws a single shuriken | Block, deflect or dodge to the side |
| Double Shuriken + flip | Owl will throw 2 shuriken then flip towards you in the air and then perform a single downward strike with his sword. | Deflect/block the shuriken and dodge sideways to avoid the flip and counter. |
| Shadowfall | Just like your Mushin Shadowfall Combat Art. Owl will charge up for an unblockable thrust, and if it hits, he will jump off and come down with 2 huge slashes. | Mikiri the thrust. |
| Shuriken Slash | Owl throws a shuriken at the player immediately followed by a running slash. Similar to the Chasing Slice Shinobi Martial Art | Block/Deflect both. If well timed you can also dodge his slash to the right for a counter opportunity, but it's difficult. |
| Perilous Sweep | Owl will move from the side and perform an unblockable sweep. Jump over it. He can perform the following after this: | Jump over it and stay close to him to bait out his overhead slash. Alternatively, jump back so you can jump kick his head and inflict posture damage |
| Large Overhead Slash | Owl will load up for a very powerful overhead slash. If you dodge to the side he will switch to a turning slash. If you dodge backwards he will perform a flip towards you and slash. | Dodge the overhead slash at the last moment and counter. Circling him may be safer than performing a dodge, as dodging too early prompts him to switch to a quick horizontal attack instead. You have time to get one or two hits in while he is charging up. |
| Backflip | Owl leaps off of you. It deals no vitality damage but much posture damage. | Deflect to minimize posture damage |
| Firecrackers | Owl throws blinding firecrackers in your face, then makes them explode. He can follow up with either Shuriken Throw, Shadowfall or Shuriken Slash | Dodge backwards to avoid |
| Running Slash | Owl runs towards you and performs a single strong slash. He can perform the following 2 moves after this: | Block/Deflect. You can also dodge to the left but you might get hit by the followups. |
| 5-slash Firecracker Combo | Owl performs 3 consecutive slashes with his sword, followed by an elbow, followed by firecrackers, which he will slash through. | Deflect/block his slashes, then dodge to the right when he throws his firecrackers for a counter opportunity. Dodging too quickly after the firecrackers are thrown will cause you to get hit by the follow-up slash, so a momentary pause is needed. A useful strategy is to back away, and then use either the Shadowrush or Shadowfall combat art to counter. |
| Double Slash into Perilous Sweep | Owl performs 2 consecutive slashes with his sword and ends with a Perilous Sweep. He can perform his Large Overhead Slash after this | Jump over it and stay close to him to bait out his overhead slash. Alternatively, jump back so you can jump kick his head and inflict posture damage |
| Shuriken Slash | Owl throws a shuriken at the player immediately followed by a running slash. Similar to the Chasing Slice Shinobi Martial Art | Block/Deflect both. If well timed you can also dodge his slash to the right for a counter opportunity, but it's difficult. |
| Stomp (deathblow) | Owl will raise his foot into the air then stomp down pinning the player to the ground and stabbing them through the chest. This attack does massive damage and cannot be blocked and does not have a Perilous indicator. Owl will likely use this after breaking the player's posture if he is close enough. |
Dodge backwards/safety roll in order to avoid it. |
| Phase 2 | ||
| Backflip + Shuriken | Same as in phase one but he throws shuriken after. | Block/Deflect both. |
| Owl Teleport | Owl will use his summoned owl to teleport above you and drop down with a slash | You can deflect his slash, or just run away/stay away from the owl to avoid |
| Fire Owl + Shadowfall | Owl will summon his owl to his hand and throw an unblockable fire owl projectile towards you, then follow up with Shadowfall. | Jump over the fire owl and mikiri his thrust |
Owl (Father) Lore
Lore theory: Owl is implied to be the one who originally killed Wolf during the events of the Hirata attack three years prior to the events of the game.
The first time Sekiro uses a shinobi prosthetic tool during the fight, Owl will comment on it, recognising it and implying he knew the previous owner, possibly from his time with the Sculptor and Dogen.
The Owl’s real name is Ukonzaemon Usui.
Owl (Father) Notes & Trivia
Resistant to poison, burn is effective though.
Unlike when fought in the present at the top of Ashina Castle, this version of Owl does not use the Shinobi Charm to prevent the player from healing.
There is an archer close to the idol who can be backstabbed (jump through the window-like gap in the wall to get behind him), allowing the player to start the boss fight with the Bestowal Ninjutsu. Because Owl will frequently try jumping away from you to escape damage, the extra reach from bestowal lets you keep striking him while he's attempting to evade you. Can be combined with buffs such as Ako's Sugar for additional damage.
Owl (Father) Image Gallery
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AnonymousGg ez, too easy. Only took 20 tries and drenching my clothes in sweat. The length is kind of bullshit as it's virtually impossible to posture break him before half health. Got most of my damage in from sweep jump counter + ichimodo weapon art, and sometimes fire umbrella reversal. A lot of bullshit deaths from camera and pillars, I was cleaved through the pillars several times.
- Anonymous
Omg. Getting Mikiri’d.. THAT is what I’ve been doing to people? I have so many enemies to apologize to.
- Anonymous
I decided to try this guy straight after beating Great Shinobi version and even though the older version of him took me some time to git gud, it was a damn cakewalk compared to this one. Well, everything I met before in the game was a cakewalk compared to this beast of a man.
The dude is big, strong, relentless, basically can fly all across the arena and punishes every single mistake you make. Of course he has massive health pool and insane posture to top this of and to make it more fun, he can one shots you with some moves. And even if everything is clicking once you find the rhytm, let's not forget about wonky camera and the PILLARS.
At the end of the day, took me like 2 hours of mastering his moveset in order to beat him (maybe would be easier, had I go to fountainhead palace earlier to have more memories), but I think once you realize how to confidently beat his first phase, the fight is then fair and managable, second phase is a bit annoying due to the constant teleporting, but otherwise felt easier than the first phase.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I've decided to change my tactics after i've died around 10 times. I chose standing in the middle like a true boss instead of constantly applying pressure to him just to seal his moves off. For some reason got him first try after that. My best advice is try to dodge firecrackers towards him especially for the combo one try to sprint to his behind from the right which will net you 2 hits in.
- Anonymous
This is how it feels to fight Sekiro. At any given moment, any of the many tools in Sekiro's(Owl's) arsenal will hop out to kill you. One wrong move, and you get punished. Unpredictable, mobile, deadly.
- Anonymous
Took me probably two dozen attempts, but I got him the second time I made it to phase 2 (got to phase 2 with 8 estus each time, just choked hard the first time). All my deaths were a result of overextending or too much aggression. Dodging straight back from the firecrackers worked best for me, seems most safe even if it's not the best way to do it. Regular attacks can interrupt his attacks, like the descending slash and even the perilous swipe. I tried all manner of prosthetics including suzaku's umbrella, but mortal draw's chip damage seems to be the best way to spend emblems (ichimonji is great but does no chip when he deflects it, and whirlwind slash just didn't cut it for this one).
I did a mikiri on his shadowrush to break his posture in phase 2, which has to be the most elegant way to finish him off. Great fight, if terribly overwhelming at first. I did a thrust and got executed like a moron at least 5 times.
- Anonymous
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Now I know how it felt to guard Shaq when he was on the Lakers. Not only that but also I'm pretty sure that Lakers team wouldn't have been anywhere near as dominant if the Blazers had just set Shaq on fire during the '00 WCF, worked wonders here.
- Anonymous
To this entire comment section,I would like to thank u tremendously.I was tired of being a starving wolf
- Anonymous
Seriously, this is a dance. Run to attack->2 swings, block the incoming attacks, firecrackers, dodge to the RIGHT side, swipe, block until firecrackers, dodge/damage, repeat (if needed/damage is taken, make distance and prepare for a mikiri to the shadowfall/dodge to the R/L if he throws a shuriken and does the overhead flip, then get some damage in). 2nd stage, epic movement, and pretty much everything is the same minus when he turns into an owl and trys to gank you or shoots his flame owl at you (which is free posture damage once you figure out the jump over/mikiri hard counter). His posture doesn't go down fast until about half health, so you NEED to get good at reading his movements and countering, but once you get that its basically a dance, and a really fun one.
- Anonymous
OMFG! He has limitless posture, spams firecrackers, those stupid pillars always getting in the way. Then, the bird. OMG, the bird! Teleports him all over the place, breaking the lock on, and generally just flies in your vision obscuring every thing! Unfair fight, worst boss in any game!
Oh wait, no, it's alright, I beat him on my 50th attempt! Best boss in any game. As I always say, FromSoft games are always hard, but never unfair. I really enjoyed this fight. Even when... no! especially when... he was kicking my ass.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
This damn Owl was the toughest boss in the game for me. I did finish Sekiro a couple of days ago and what a fantastic and fresh game it was. From Software really needed (and needs to do more often) to break out of their Demon's Souls/Dark Souls shell. Examples like Bloodborne and this game and how much love and respect they get speak for themselves.
To return to Father though. This god damn ****er :D - took me about 5 hours of attempts to take down. Considering the "1st" time you can potentially fight him as the Great Shinobi Owl at top of the Ashina Castle (if you took that path), and how relatively chill and easier he was there (you can just bait his slam safe and consistently, while running around him, yep) - I really didn't expect how much more challenging he will turn out just when he is a few years younger and - supposedly in his prime.
Man was just showering me with attacks and fast moves and a lot of baits and tricks, it was so very chaotic at first. Trying to attack often lead to him running away, and even when I damaged him he was taking very little damage. It almost felt like a sponge type of enemy :(. Making a mistake was costing significant amount of hp - often half or more, if lucky you can take up to 3 hits. There was a nasty shuriken with a big swing combo that was doing like 99% if your health as well. All of that while you can't reach him or barely graze him.
Had to accept it will take some time and learning the moves and most of all react on a few - because there is certain situations where you have to. I believe people that have a strong memory and are able to decipher the patterns fast will have easier time. It also helps when you realize that sticking to him is better - if not obvious right away, due to still learning his moves. Then you start noticing that after he jumps and kicks you to get away from you - you actually have opening and can run towards him and have some free hits. If it wasn't for that opening - where Owl is somewhat surprisingly passive - I probably would've suffered for a few hours more, because it's one his rare moments where he is chilling/waiting.
The sweep (red) attack and it's variations was the biggest problem I had. Because he can; a) start with it; b) 1 hit sweep; c) 2 hit sweep (not sure about the 2 hit 100%); c) 3 hit sweep. Now this really messed up my head and what to expect. When you are looking or know it might come and keep focus you will be good, but otherwise he will consistently just land some hits. Other dirty tricks are when he is holding the sword for a big overhead slam and - yes sometimes he does that, but sometimes if you dodge to side too early, he changes the overhead to a 180 spin around him. Or if you back off - he jumps and spins in the air - move that have a surprisingly long range. Not to mention him running fast left-right - "x" (it differs) number of times and doing a follow up. Mixing up stuff like that can make the fight very confusing and tough, but also fitting for the character. The combo where he throws powder that explodes after that also have 2 variations - one happens after 2 hits and the other takes a few more before the powder comes. So expect to get demolished a few times till you get use to that or unless you are fast with the reflexes. That powder combo also leaves him to open btw. After he throws the powder you can dodge to the right and land some hits.
The arena itself - the same location you fight Lady Butterfly - doesn't help with the fight either. Those damn pillars are and can often be the bane of you. Running away - boom stuck in a pillar, dodging, attacking chasing, oh another pillar. I probably would've enjoyed the fight much more if they weren't present. In time you get use to them or pay more attention to them, but with how camera is always been a **** in tight areas you can expect some amount of stupid deaths (I swear, so many years, so many games, just make the camera go through solid objects man... it's just no excuse to let it be such a big hindrance for so long, we ain't early 2000's).
Owl Father was also the first boss where I felt I was doing ok, even winning, but due to his enormous hp and the fact that he runs away - meaning increasing his posture and keeping close to him is hard - he was still kicking my butt. A few mistakes and you get deleted. Trying to bait the 2 shuriken into air slam like with Great Shinobi Owl fight was just not happening this time :D. So patience was among the main factors to success. It's a boss with 2 phases, but so many variations and moves. A few unknowns with how he changes - or adapts if you will - to your actions makes it easily the most tough for me. I am not sure if there is a boss with 2 phases that have so many different moves. The good thing is 2nd phase actually doesn't add up too many new things - luckily - jumping the Owl are of effect instead of dodging and running away from the flying Owl was good enough! Which makes me wonder if this is actually the boss with the most different amount/number of moves in one phase - like maybe in any from software game hm (I haven't played Demon's Soul and Elder ring though). He might be and I didn't mention all of em for sure.
- Anonymous
best ****ing ost in the game, that phase 2 transition is crazy
- Anonymous
Hands down the most fun fight in the game only surpassed by inner isshin and inner father
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Wow this guy is giving me more problems than any other boss. About a dozen tries already and I haven't even taken out his first HP bar. Brutal.
- Anonymous
I was so dirty my first attempt at him and I got so close to beating him then I realised after I died I had the bell demon on...
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Just beat him after many tries, damn what an incredible boss. When he does the firecracker, just dodge back, then jump forward/mikiri counter to get a few hits. If your posture is full, just get some distance as Owl doesn't constantly attack.
When he did his flame owl in 2nd phase I just run away as I was unable to dodge it and mikiri counter his thrust after each other.
- Anonymous
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This dude must've aged a ****ing ton because his prime is actually an insane difference. I beat his old grandpa walking ass in three tries while here, I saw "StArViNG wOlF" at least fifteen times. Best way to beat him is to just be patient. Always wear his health down to around half before attempting to be aggressive and deflecting his attacks for the deathblow. Otherwise his posture will recover way too fast and you might make a mistake. Phase 2 is so much easier than phase 1 though. You get a lot more free attacks and Mikiri counters + he doesn't spam his firecrackers as often.
- Anonymous
Mist raven is the best thing to use when he uses that fire cracker slash
- Anonymous
Owl father is so much ****ing better than great shinobi variant it's unreal
- Anonymous
Really awesome fight. Arena kinda sucks though, I took a ton of hits from the camera unlocking from him
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Beat at AP 10, 1st NG. If you're having problem with his posture recovery, always mikiri his shadowrush
Uh...guys, remember there's a bug when he does a shadowrush but there's a pillar between you and him,you can mikiri through the pillar. No animation but posture increase. Latest patch,I don't know if it was only for me,I'll try it again when I can
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
lazy copy pasted bullshit ass boss who infinitely spam his shitty firecrackers at you. When he does his heavy overhead attack with infinite poise you never know if he'll do the simple ichimonji or if he'll do a 360 spin. He's unnecessarily ultra tanky. This arena is very bad for such a mobile boss that keeps jumping and running everywhere i always get stuck on pillars and the camera has a stroke everytime we approach a wall.
The only good thing I like about this boss is how at the start of phase 1 he'll run and jump around everywhere at super sonic speed like a ****ing coked up gremlins and as you start beating his ass he becomes slower and slower. I don't understand why not all bosses are like that it really makes you feel like you are having a real fight and seeing your opponent loose his strenght as you also get tired
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
I know it may be controversial but i think that Owl Father îs way harder the Sword Saint Isshin.
- Anonymous
WHAAAAAA WAAHHHHH HIS AREEENNAAA IS TOO SMAAAAAAALLLLLLL WAAAAHHHHHH
- Anonymous
In phase 1 the perilous sweep can be easily interuptted with an R1.
- Anonymous
for the firecrackers just walking back normally will dodge it. If you are impatient you can jump backwards instead. Then you can run back to him to get a free hit.
- Anonymous
Shuriken with chasing slice makes the firecracker slice free damage as long as you can afford the emblems
- Anonymous
How many tries do people take to beat him? Still cant even after 30 odd tries lol. Though probably should not have made the first time be ng+ demon bell charmless run, right? Or is he always this hard to fight?
- Anonymous
ONE! The suzaku lotus umbrella is absolute,firecracker must be turtled.
TWO! Mikiri is absolute,you counter the thrust at all costs.
THREE! Deflection is absolute,there's no shame at missing a deflect,but you must deflect the next as soon as you can
- Anonymous
Use fire umbrella when firecracker but don't project force,use against firecrackers until it smokes and then boom
- Anonymous
The hardest part about this encounter isn't the boss... it is the god damn mother ****ing pillars.
- Anonymous
So… Anyone wanna fix the picture? It’s of Great Shinobi and not Father. Not really the end of the world, just looks kinda dumb
- Anonymous
For latest patch, don't need to be aggressive, it has become more of a game of patience. Just get close enough for him to make his move on you. Previous patches require players to be aggressive. Don't worry about getting only one or two hits on him, cos' as soon as half his life bar is depleted, his posture bar damage will increase drastically if you deflect/counter his attacks. Always make sure you have enough space, don't get stuck in the corner.
For those who are having trouble with his gunpowder:
As soon as he throws the gunpowder, you can jump away, run into him or run away from him before the explosion, I'd recommend running away as he can perform side slash if you're not careful.
- Anonymous
Like... the boss is really really fun to fight, but is there a reason why he can combo you from 100-0 in like a second sometimes? It doesn't help that if the camera just so happens to get stuck on a pillar, you can lose sight of him and die in a second.
I feel like for a fight this long, this sort of 100-0 combo shouldn't exist honestly.
- Anonymous
Ima be honest bruh I died about 40 times on great shinobi and only once on this one, if he still kept his shinobi charm this would be much harder. Though it was much more fun to fight this one than great shinobi because it's faster paced.
- Anonymous
This was hard and tough but it was IMO one of the best boss fights from any Fromsoftware game.
Perfect balance between challenging and fun. Fighting this guy (father version) felt like a Samurai / Ninja dance.
It was great.
- Anonymous
Fun fight, significantly harder than his "Great Shinobi" version.
If you came here looking for advice, here is what worked for me as a non-sweat, casual player:
Phase 1: Use a "double ichimonji" in his openings. Especially with the perilous move that he spams a lot and needs to be jumped: deflect the large overhead swing at the end of the combo, and then, immediately after, jump towards him (otherwise you'll miss since the aforementioned deflect will push you back significantly) and do ichimonji.
This will wear his posture down significantly whilst regaining your own. When he does the simultaneous firecracker + swing combo this also works.
Phase 2: Swap ichimonji for whatever your most powerful ability is. In my case, it was "mortal draw".
Assuming you used no prosthetics in phase 1, you should have plenty of spirit emblems since ichimonji is free. Use them all up to wear him down as quickly as possible. Swap back to ichimonji when you're out of emblems.
I find his second phase to be inconsistent because of his constant teleportation and the damn bird blocking your view at the worst possible moments, so I prefer to speed it up.
Talking of the bird, as soon as you see him disappear, look for the bird and run away from it, as that is where he will re-appear and try to smack you.
If you see firecrackers thrown randomly without any combo or sense, he's using them as a smoke screen for disappearance so get ready for him to re-appear and try to hit you.
General: Play aggressive, otherwise his monstrous posture will never go down. However, it's a slow fight even when aggressive, so don't overdo it. He does crazy damage, so trading is a death wish.
Take any mikiri counter that you can get to wear him down faster.
If you can, pin him down against a wall. You can clash swords for quick posture damage as he is really helpless if he can't jump around and run away; But this is a double-edged sword: if he pins you down instead, you're dead in a combo.
People below all mention different prosthetics, but in my case I wasn't able to get much out of any in this fight. You just have to deflect and not make too many mistakes. But I'm bad with prosthetics in general so perhaps check out their advice in that regard instead.
- Anonymous
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I feel like Phase 2 is way easier than phase 1 - due to his new owl attacks, he's on you a bit less than in phase 1, and one of those owl attacks - the fire owl followed by the long thrust, is relatively slow and very easy to mikiri counter as long as you avoid the fire owl. It means he's doing less firecrackers and sweeps and more thrusts, and Mikiri basically trivialises phase 2 since he does that fire owl + thrust attack fairly frequently, at least 3 times per fight in my experience.
- Anonymous
Why would he comment on the prosthetic if it's in the past, when Sekiro didn't have the prosthetic? This doesn't make sense.
- Anonymous
Any1 know if you can do Fountainhead and come back to fight him?
- Anonymous
I am sorry to say this and pls don't hate me but i did owl on my 1 try but it was pretty close . I think you just gotta have a good timing/reaction time to do him but its fairly easy just jump over his fire owl and mikiri counter his thrust attack after that (Phase 2).
Pls dont hate me for saying this
- Anonymous
This has gotta be the shittiest website on earth. Ate up two of my comments and won't let me reply to any of the messages.
It's a shame most Soul fans use this steaming pile of death. I guess the Fandom isn't any better either.
- Anonymous
He's so fun to fight against, and if you know when to use the shinobi arts to punish his openings (like stepping back then doing a chasing slice to counter his firecracker counterattack after deflecting your attack or doing a nightjar slash after dodging his nightjar slash), it's so satisfying to watch thematically, like father like son fighting using different shinobi arts. His zigzag steps pattern reminds me of Morgott (I played elden ring first) just to mess up your camera lock-on thus messing up your movement a bit.
- Anonymous
For anyone struggling with him in the year of our Lord twenty-twenty-three, I'll detail exactly what I did as a scrub tier Sekiro player.
Shinobi prosthetics: long spark firecracker. I didn't really use anything else because it's important to make sure you can use it if you need it. Maybe the umbrella that shields you from burns for the owl in stage 2, (although I haven't tried it.)
Weapon art: Double Ichimonji. Ichimonji in conjunction with long spark firecracker is used mostly for regaining posture. It can bring you from nearly full down to almost zero if you land two hits.
Yes, you need to be aggressive with this boss but that's only half the story. You want to try get him up against a wall or in a corner. If you hit him, hit him again until he guards. As soon as he guards once, he will deflect the next blow. Just try keep up this pattern and stay on top of him. If he jumps back, immediately run at him and use a spinning slash. Without space, there's generally only a few attacks he'll whip out:
1. He will attack from his right. This comes out pretty quick.
2. He will attack from his left. This is slightly delayed.
3. He will jump off you. This can come out very quick and does a lot of posture damage, so as soon as you see the animation deflect.
4. He will spin and double slash you. Very obvious animation, so when you see him spin deflect twice.
5. He'll use firecrackers. Generally you want to run through this and do a spinning slash against him, unless he's too close to a wall, in which case you'll need to run backwards. He may do a thrust that you'll need to counter.
If he ever builds up an overhead attack, you need to make sure you wait until he's about to bring it down to attack. If you dodge too early, he'll switch to a slash which can catch you and isn't punishable. His overheads are his most punishable moves as you can usually get in two slashes. You can also attack him while he builds up the attack.
If you keep this up, he won't be able to use his more ridiculous combos. When he's down to about 2/3 he'll probably be ready for a deathblow if you keep on top of him.
The second phase is kinda the same deal. If he goes invisible, just start running away. If he uses the flame owl, either use the umbrella (untested) or try dodge it. Other than that it's basically the same.
So to reiterate, just keep on top of him and if he guards your blow, get ready to deflect and then attack again. If he deflects it will usually open him up to start a combo, but if he never deflects he'll usually only be able to get one attack off.
When he makes space, he'll typically use an attack with a long windup. This is why you want to run at him and use a spin slash. You'll always interrupt him if you're quick. Just DONT LET UP. If you get used to this it really trivializes the fight. You don't need to watch out for his absurd combos because he can never use them.
- Anonymous
He is fun, he is immensely fun - you can fight in his style to win, with all jumps and running, but camera is HORRIBLE, IT'S A TORTURE.
- Anonymous
Nightjar slash and the Aged mist raven feather helped me tremendously. Dodging backward on the firecracker slash and punish with nightjar was reliable and safe chip damage as long as I wasn’t backed into a wall. Careful aggressiveness gets you far with this fight imo and extra mobility helps you land that chip damage until half he is half hp or so and posture damage starts to stick and you can parry/Mikiri to victory. Feather to get you out of long combos and shitty camera angles.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
If you dodge the shuriken he throws at you for his Chasing Slice, it suddenly gains a **** ton of hitboxes and whoops your ass even if you deflect it. But in the same manner, if you use an umbrella to deflect all of it, you do humongous posture damage on his ass.
- Anonymous
Push him into a corner and he's done. Jump over the fire bird and dodge into the firecrackers.
- Anonymous
I can't do it. I've tried everything. Gonna skip this one, my sanity is on the line :(
- Anonymous
Why did they extremely buff this guy? This is impossible with his million attacks that all need a very specific counter. I cant predict the future so have no idea which of his million attacks he is gonna do next. And that for the whole LONG fight AND 2 phases.
try not to get pushed into a wall and comboed challenge (impossible)
- Anonymous
Almost made me quit the game. For the first two hours, I got him to his knees and the prompt to finish him didn't appear! It took me another two hours to finally defeat him. The rhythm for me was to close in, attack attack, deflect deflect then a 33/33/33 chance on whether he'll do firecracker combo, long combo with the shoulder block, or a short combo that leaves him open. This guy dropped my 500 spirit emblems to 100 in my inventory.
- Anonymous
Boss should be called Owl (firecracker Lover) instead of father, every second combo is with firecracker :D
- Anonymous
he is a true master shinobi, he conceal his presence not just by using shinobi firecracker, strafing super fast left and right or being invisible itself by becoming the spirit owl... but his real weapon is the spirit owl that blocks your f*****g view when the camera angled just right enough to center the spirit owl and block the whole fight on locked target while you're being punished.
- Anonymous
and for the love of god don't even THINK of trying to heavy attack him.
- Anonymous
I just beat this boss for the first time, I'm on NG+2 and I'm not sure if it matters but I had attack on 26
This boss isn't THAT hard, you just have to get used to his attack patterns and be EXTREMELY agressive and you will beat him in no time. There are some very dangerous attacks that can easily one or two shot you that are great moments to attack him since they're easily avoidable if you know what you're doing, for example. In fact, I even accidentally beat phase 1 barely having used anything but unga bunga attack and parry, maybe some heals and buffs and nothing else, and I managed to beat phase 2 first try.
In short, very tough boss that requires you to git gud and once you do is quite """easy""". The best strategy is to be VERY agressive, as in literally run towards him and unga bunga attack. Don't let him breathe, just strike him until he dies. If you repeat enough times you will get used to him parrying you and how to parry him or what attacks to dodge, like the firecracker attacks. Just don't get frustrated and you'll eventually succeed
- Anonymous
This man's posture is ridiculous. For that reason I usually buff with Divine Confetti in the beginning and use Ashina Cross to reduce his health bar. Ashina Cross is a good pick because you can delay it in the second phase when he sometimes teleports away from you during punish windows. My primariy shinobi tool is Great Feather Mist Raven to dodge his Firecracker cheese consistently while also dealng some fire damage of my own. Damn, Sekiro without Kuro's Charm is so fun. It really forces you to use all your tools.
- Anonymous
huge fan of the part where he combos me at the end of the 8 minute fight for my entire healthbar despite having max prayer beads
- Anonymous
I finished this version of Owl with a mikiri counter and I almost creamed
- Anonymous
awesome fight just for the fact that it takes the already very fun mikiri counter and makes it even cooler with the fire owl -> shadowrush
- Anonymous
I discovered that living force with the fire arm really messes him up, just need to do the combo when he is open after one of his long attacks.
- Anonymous
I struggled a lot woth him. To the point where I came here to check if there was some gimmick. The big problem I was having was that his posture recovers absurdly fast. The trick to figure this out is sword clashing. Basically, close the distance, hit as much as you can until he deflects. He'll usually either do a single sideways or diagonal hit, or two quick spinning swipes. Any of those, you can easily deflect after he deflects you. Then, just go back to hitting him. If he kicks you and jumps back, close the distance and start again. Make the fight feel like it's just you two clashing swords. That'll let you chip away at his posture. All the advice here about how to counter his firecrackers or owl stuff is also great.
- Anonymous
Is this boss even beatable in 2022? The guides I find are not up to date and it feels that the AI is way different from what it was when the game first release. He 2 shots me constantly even if I have 18 vitality and I can barely do any damage to him with attack power 9. I need to miss 2 parries and he breaks my posture. Holy moly. People were complaining how hard the game was on release and FS decided to buff everything. o.0 I really enjoy the game and the fights but after 100 tries to the same boss, things get a bit stale.
- Anonymous
idk why people whine about the owl fights... has the easiest deflects in the game imo, and very frequent windows to punish. took me like 4 tries on each of his fights and im a huge noob. legit died to chained ogre more than i did to this guy.
- Anonymous
I was scared about this fight coz i heard he's even harder than sword saint so i left him for the very end, u can only imagine how shocked i was when i destroyed him in second try like wtf. Isshin took me 5 hours btw. Mortal blade works very well on him, combine it with ako + confetti and u can get to phase 2 in less than a minute. It almost felt like cheese but tbh this guy is a dirty cheese master himself so i guess he got what he deserved lmao
- Anonymous
This boss might seem as a hard one because he has a lot of health and it's not exactly clear when to punish him. However, after several tries I realized that he has pretty dull moveset if you continue to push him. Continue pushing after bright sparks and boss counter attack. I apologize for also stealing some hints from comments below. USE THE FOCUS on the boss (fixed camera following the boss).
When to punish him:
- Bright sparks (your hit into his deflect), his 2 hits and jump back with fireworks - dodge through fireworks and to the right of him, then get 2 hits (sometimes 3)
- When he tries to zig zag with perlious attack (which can be overhead slash, sweep, lunge forward - based on player's position) - if you were staying close - hit him once and he'll forget about that attack
- Sometimes you can fit a hit right after bright sparks, his counter hit, and then instantly yours
- He throws shuriken and then jumps with a slash - dodge the jump and get 2 hits in. Super easy.
- When he throws fireworks without 2 hit combo and then dashes forward with perlious thrust - use Mikuri. He will use this trick with the owl on the second phase - jump the owl, mikuri the boss and punish.
- If he disappears - run from that place and wait for the landing sound somewhere. Nothing to benefit from here.
Because dodging is not used here as much as Ashina Castle fight - this boss fight gets rather boring when you learn all the moves you need to stay close and push.
- Anonymous
It took me one hour and 15-20 attempts but I finally beat him yesterday. Easily the toughest boss I have faced so far, and much more difficult than the fight with him atop Ashina Castle, which only took me two attempts. The biggest challenge for me was figuring out how to deal with his firecracker tosses, as dodging through them does not work half the time.
- Anonymous
i mean. the image that is shown is the owl from ashina castle, not hirata, so when i saw that, it made me laugh
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Is this boss even beatable in 2022? The guides I find are not up to date and it feels that the AI is way different from what it was when the game first release. He 2 shots me constantly even if I have 18 vitality and I can barely do any damage to him with attack power 9. I need to miss 2 parries and he breaks my posture. Holy moly. People were complaining how hard the game was on release and FS decided to buff everything. o.0 I really enjoy the game and the fights but after 100 tries to the same boss, things get a bit stale.
- Anonymous
When the owl dies he awakes to find himself as an undead, he now goes by andre of astora
- Anonymous
forgive me if i missed some lore or dialogue to explain this, but does this guy have 2 boss fights and an npc encounter where he is dying on the floor? how many times does he die?
- Anonymous
much easier that great shinobi fight, he does much less posture damage to player and gives more oportunities to deal vital damage to him.
overall better design than great shinobi fight, one of most enjoyable fights in the game
- Anonymous
This guide is wrong, thrust attack works wonders in this fight. It demolishes vitality and posture bars and causes a guaranteed "stagger" animation. This poor guide is very much unexpected from a consistently great site like fextralife
- Anonymous
The 1st phase can be easily studied and DL'd like any other fight. Dodge through the close firecrackers to the right. Don't dash too much, especially at close range.
For the 2nd phase, it really helps to know: *Ignore* the bird unless he calls it to his arm or he disappears.
He calls bird: jump over firebird, then mikiri (twd where it came from)
He disappears: run from bird
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Most of his sweep attacks go in the same direction, once you can reliably jump backwards and a little to the left you can just bait those moves and bring his posture down faster
- Anonymous
Owl's Mikiri only covers the distance of normal sword thrusts. If you thrust with the spear outside this range, he will 'miss' his mikiri, leaving him vulnerable long enough for a chasing slice.
- Anonymous
Been fighting Owl since I finished the game. The guantlets & Inner Father only help me indulge in his fight & awesome music even more, and it's practically what I do in my spare time. I do Inner Genichiro & Demon of Hatred from time to time. But I've died to Owl at least a few thousand times now. Fighting him over and over, I kept raising the bar for myself. I eventually ditched the gourd, finished the game, then came back with Demon Bell and Charmless. I just want to say this fight is unforgiving and brutally precise. It will punish you for a single mistake. But when you learn his moves inside out, fighting Owl feels like you're the guy in the DS3 Master's set description.
The second phase gave my bf PTSD of The Twin Princes from DS3
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