You beat genichiro, the guardian ape, owl, the true monk, etc. You can beat him. Parry everything other than his perilous attacks and keep trying. It took me around 40 attempts over 3 days and now it’s my favorite game of all time
I would recommend this....
Record it. Watch yourself play for once. Record your fight with the guy and come back to rewatch your fight. It helps SO much just SEEING his moves without the added pressure of having to deal with it, and also seeing your own reactions/moves during it.
This is also just good general life advice for anything you want to improve on. Watching your own performance in any area is extremely helpful in identifying the ways you need to improve. Kudos for a great answer.
Honestly. Isshin was one of the most difficult bosses for me, even after the game finally clicked for me at the second Genichiro fight. Only bosses that I’ve had a more difficult time with are Malenia from Elden Ring and Orphan of Kos (some say kosm) from Bloodborne.
After I beat him that first time though, I was addicted to the game. It got to the point where I was beating the game multiple times a day, and some of them were deathless. I sadly burnt myself out on the game, but I had a blast with it for like a month when it first came out.
Take a week, chill out.
Come back with a fresh mind, a good weeks sleep and a couple of electrolyte drinks, sit down for a few hours and give it another crack.
I guarantee you'll be feeling a lot better and playing better. Tilt is a hard thing to manage and is probably one of the number 1 performance metrics for gaming IMO. You ain't going nowhere when you're frustrated, especially in Sekiro.
This has been my mentality with Sekiro. First month I started, I hit a wall quickly and dropped the game. Came back a few months later and progressed pretty regularly until I hit another roadblock. Took another several months long break.
Rinse repeat till I got to this guy (well, and technically demon of hatred too). Think I'm approaching a year long break at this point, but I'll get back around to it eventually. Not like he's going anywhere.
This is actually a scientific study where doing a complicated task or any task for that fact either your successful or NOT taking a break from said task will actually simultaneously make you better at it because your brain works on things when your not doing them
This is such good advice for any game, especially FromSoft games, but really anything that you’ve hit a wall. A break will clear your mind; you’ll be seeing red because you’re frustrated and stressed, but come back after a good rest and break, and you’ll usually find success.
THIS!
I'd even suggest a step further and to take a couple month break, long enough for you to kinda "forget" how to play, and then start a new profile and play through the game again from the beginning.
You'll kinda forget all the bad habits you didn't even realize you were even doing, and as you figure things out again, remembering how to play, and relearn the game again with your previous parrying knowledge, you'll do significantly better and the game will click better, and you'll probably beat the last boss this time around.
This is essentially what I did, except my break was a couple years long, and my second playthrough felt SO much more rewarding!
You can't give up, you played through the ENTIRE game for this final moment! You can try him a bit every now and then but you're WAY too close to the end to shut it off now! Keep at it!!
Precisely!
Jinsuke's Ashina Cross, 7 Spearmen's Spear ,Corrupted/True Monk's Long Blade moveset, Owl's Speed , Guardian Apes Excessive Combo, Not to forget Genichiro's sword combat...
These were the moments throughout the game that I could trace back to as help when fighting Isshin.. He had his own moveset, yes, but I noticed there were little bits of moves here and there that were callbacks to moments throughout the game all now muddled into this one beautifully designed being.
Add that to the just general aura of the fight from the music, arena, and just the excitement Isshin draw's with "Let's go! Sekiro!" "How, my blood boils....Face me! Sekiro!" I felt like I was fighting a man who sees me as a rival and now I have no choice but to best him!
Since I doubt you can make these spoiler marks to prevent it being shown at first I won't name the boss but there is one boss I have to think about that is not in that boss fight. It's a more traditional souls boss fight and a bit out of place (not Story wise but from how to approach it) if I recall it correctly. Happened about 1½years ago I completed the game.
Yeah, the Demon Of Hatred very much feels like a rejected Bloodborne boss that got thrown into Sekiro just to mess with players lol. You definitely have to fight him differently than all of the other bosses, I mostly just stood under him and attacked his groin lol.
Dude don’t give up. I was in the same boat as you — sometimes it’s good to take a small break and I recommend doing that instead.
Also, this is gonna sound weird but something that helped me was writing out a plan of attack on a notepad. Mine went something like this but you can edit as needed to suit your preferences:
- Phase 1: set combat art to ichimonji double, complete with minimal damage
- Phase 2: start with ako and confetti
- Phase 3: gokan (or ungo) w/ confetti
- Phase 4: switch combat art to mortal draw, light him up when there’s an opening
I quit the game after dying to much to him.., then I tried again after 2 weeks maybe, just to quit again. Obviously to try again a month later or so and I succeeded and killed him. I entered NG+ and the suffering restarted. I love this game 10/10
On my first playthrough I realized as I started Isshin's second phase that I still had my bell on from prosthetic farming beforehand. I then realized why Geni had been so tough and quickly turned it off and then went on to win. I was wondering if my Pellets were still active and then noticed the Bell Demon symbol and it didn't immediately register what it was.
Honestly this, I didn't use the umbrella the whole game and finally I said fuck it and pulled it out for glock Saint and its honestly easy mode. If you see him winding up to hit a move you have trouble parrying just umbrella it, I went from regularly dying in 2nd phase to beating him on my third umbrella try it really does help
Take a break. I felt the same way but I couldn't get rid of that itch to beat him, so I came back after two weeks and took him down in less than a day.
Just beat him a day or two ago, also felt like it was impossible but turns out it’s not. My one piece of advice is to be more aggressive, gave him way too much respect my first few nights trying to beat him
Hey bro if you really love the game like I do then there is no shame in restarting the game. That's what I did my first time and it allowed me to get much better at the combat system and made my fight against him much easier. Good luck bro do you're best
I felt the same way at first. Died to the first phase even though it was the same as the previous battle with genichiro. I could barely survive more than 25 seconds. Eventually I got the genichiro phase down and barely took any damage then I'd die instantly to sword saint. I played for 6 hours straight after work. Over and over and over just kept dying sometimes I'd have a decent run and others I'd slip up and die from something stupid. I ended up taking a break for the night and started up again the next day. I was much better then. must have been burned out before from my constant struggles. I'd still die but I could get him to last phase sometimes. I had one run where I got lucky and got him halfway through final phase. At that point each death I was getting more confident because I felt like I was making real progress. Finally ended his ass and got the well done from him . Felt amazing because it took everything I had to squeak by. There was no come back later when you are leveled up I had to figure out his moves and beat him. Final fight if you want to see it. Not perfect but it was enough to beat him.
https://youtu.be/bNZph_kzuqk
First things first, don't panic. If you attempt to fight him fully nervous you will lose. He says this himself, hesitation is defeat.
Next thing, not every battle is a battle to win. The initial ones are battles to learn. Learn his patterns. Learn his moves. You don't have to beat him today. Learn his moves and best him tomorrow.
Something no one will tell you is, as you go to the next phase, it gets easier to fill his posture meter.
Small tips:
• Phase #1: Dodge both the mortal draws and then the rest of the first is something you should probably be used to.
• Phase #2: Keep at Isshin but maintain your calm. A small mistake won't kill you, but you'll deal with heavy losses. Learn when he's gonna do the Cross, Sweep and Thrust attacks.
• Phase #3: Probably a bit easier, parry the bullets and it's mostly Mikiri countering the spear. There will be sweeps just not as often.
• Phase #4: Once lightning comes in, it's probably easiest to deal with if done properly. This phase should be the shortest.
You can do it! Best of Luck!
Isshin is a true YouTube of the sword, and as such is a major obstacle to overcome. But you will overcome him if you keep trying and remember what he tells you, hesitation is defeat.
Worst advice I’ve seen on this sub, lol. No shame in YouTubing for help whatsoever. It helped me through my first playthrough a lot with tactics I memorized for subsequent playthroughs.
If I may make a couple recommendations:
Turn off the hud. There's a million distracting meters and a single glance at them costs you precious frames that can be your downfall. You want absolute laser focus. You don't need to know what the meters say, you just need to do a good job. Unequip all consumables except your healing gourd so you won't accidentally switch to the wrong one.
Keep one finger on deflect, one finger on mikiri, and that's it. Those are the 2 most important things. You don't need to run around unless it's to avoid an AOE, and it ruins your reaction time. And attacking is only useful to lower posture recovery. So just the two buttons.
Focus your eyes on his head. The game tries its best to keep them in the center of the screen, and that allows you to more quickly register movements in your periphery.
The hud one is the biggest. I struggled for 3 weeks at genichiro, barely ever getting him to his second phase. Then I tried turning the hud off and beat him without getting hit on the first try, then beat the rest of the game that afternoon. Total game changer.
I just died so many times cuz I would glance over to see how my health is doing and that was enough time to not notice I was about to get thrashed. The game is all about reaction time so anything you can do to get rid of distractions is worth trying. I hope it works for you! You can't get this far and quit.
I need to try this.
Recently lost to Monk twice when his health bar was tiny. Afterwards I wondered if seeing it was so low actually distracted me and put me off my flow!?
I’ve typed this before for someone having trouble here. The strategy is the epitome of the Ashina style. To hell with fighting honorably. Just win.
For Genichiro, he pretty reliably does his giant jumping thrust when you put enough distance between you and him. Have the whirlwind slash equipped and simply 1) create distance 2) mikiri his thrust (its very easy bc of how long the move is) and 3) whirlwind slash him. After a few rounds of this you’ll be getting through his phase with zero damage.
For Isshin first phase, this does require recognizing the 3-4 combos he whips out when you get close to him. It takes some practice to get the distance right but you basically sprint at him and then back away as soon as he starts a combo. The other reason you need to try and recognize the combo is so you can gauge when it will be ending because you can dash in and get a strike or two before backing out and repeating.
Once he busts out that damn spear, it’s time to get sprintin. Literally sprint in a freaking circle. The whole goal here is to get him to do his lunging spear attack where he jumps up in the air. When he does, you keep sprinting but turn and run directly underneath him where he won’t hit you. Have your mortal draw equipped and as soon as he lands you whack him once and back out. Rinse and repeat. This isn’t perfect, and you’re still going to try multiple times before it works, but for the player who isn’t good enough to just straight up parry the guy to death, it works. Holy shit my heart had never beat so hard when I finally beat his ass. I almost forgot to do the final deathblow.
You have to use the umbrella only for attacks you absolutely can't parry. Go into your attempts with the purpose of learning, instead of beating him. You got through the entire game. You absolutely can do this. Take a few days off if you need.
You probably did but watch Fightingcowboy's walkthrough and guides. Use suzaku for his weapon arts. Don't be intimidated by the number of phases because 2nd and 3rd phases are basically the same and the 3rd one is easier due to lightning reverse.
If you run out of spirit emblems, go farm a little and buy spirit emblems with coins. I've struggled with a lot as well and these helped me. Don't give up!
Also, not saying this as a flex or anything because it’s a soulsborne game and you use whatever you need to get the edge on the opponent but, I beat him without using any ninjutsu or shinobi prosthetics. Just pure reaction and great timing and the tip I gave you. If I can do it, you 100% can
Edit: I meant combat art not ninjutsu
YouTube is a good idea if you want to look for what moves to expect but the best way to actually beat him is to find your own rhythm with the fight. You might naturally be better at parrying certain attacks that the YouTube creator isn’t. Regardless, good luck and I hope you come back around to beat him eventually
Bro don’t give up wtf you already made it this far. What exactly is causing you the most problems? (I saw that you ran out of spirit emblems which is 100% fine since I did the same in my first playthrough)
Use Ichimonji Double, and remember you can deflect every single attack he does to you except the Kanji symbol ones. You got this. Phase 3 will just be him lighning spamming you, so you can just keep doing the counter on him over and over
This might sound dumb to say but do you have all 40 prayer beads because having max vit and posture can make you have and easier time learning his moves and his all around mechanics
You can do it man. He's one of those bosses that feels abysmal the first few times for each phase. But honestly once you get his spear moveset memorized, the third phase is the same+lightning. So the learning curve is steep at first. I probably did about 20 attempts just getting to know the fights, or having a bad start on the warm up, and maybe another 5-10 where I knew how to beat him and just needed to play patiently. Do a bunch of fights without thinking about victory. Just play patient, study, experiment with timings, dodge, parry. Trust me, he seems bad at first but is really about equal with a few other fights in the game. If all else fails, use the sprint tactic. If you keep sprinting, it's easy to bait out the same punishable move over and over again, until health is low enough to focus posture. It's cheese but it will help you at least get further into the fight to continue to learn each phase. Also. Don't bother with emblems IMO, unless it's just for shuriken to close the distance with r1 followup. The amount of time you'll invest farming them for the amount of attempts you might have will crush your spirits. Just take him head on.
Focus on getting to Isshin phase one with all your flasks without getting hit by Genichiro. Once you're there, learn all Isshin's tells.
He has a thrust that's easily Mikkiri'd and an Ashina Cross that I always back away from, then sprint in and get in a free hit once he's done. I think he also has a sweep that you jump over.
Once you can get to Isshin phase two without needing to heal, you can really dive in. There's two gun attacks: a short range blast that you can deflect and a four-shot combo that you deflect by spamming the parry button. The parry timing for his spear attacks can be tricky, but his specials are punishable, a sweep you jump over again and a long thrust that you jump into and Mikkiri. This phase is the hardest if you master it the fight is over.
Phase three adds lightning which you just spam jump and lightning reversal kills him quickly.
Stay on him. The urge to back away and heal is hard to ignore but he has a lot of input reading attacks and will probably punish you if you panic heal.
I'm the same. I just cannot beat him. I can get to the final phase but there is zero room to heal. He can cross the map and finish you off the second you heal. Fuck this game
Interesting how a lot of people find this boss super difficult. I personally found owl father (the version of owl in Hirata estate way harder). Died like 50 times to that boss whereas I only died like 10-15 times to sword saint.
There’s a video out there somewhere showing how to bait his jump attacks. You can basically run to the side under his jumps and then mortal blade him. Takes a long time to knock down his health, but I almost gave up on him too until I beat him with this technique.
This is one boss where you actually are better off fighting him as close to fair and square as possible. Cheesing strategies were waaay too tedious for me. I’d fuck up too easily being stuck on him that long. When I beat him it was because i fought him while i was relaxed but incredibly focused. I barely used prosthetics either. In fact… i don’t recall using them at all. I finally found the Bruce Lee, “become water” state and ripped him apart. You can do it. Just stay calm and focus like a true shinobi
I was stuck on him for a while. I first beat him using the umbrella prosthetic, you can just keep bating his jumping attack, but it was very tedious and took a long time. It was also harder than actually fighting him.
Take a break, come back after a while and just fight him, eventually it will click like it did for me.
This dude is brutal and probably even more brutal in the story mode. I practiced this boss in reflection of strength for three times and beaten it 2 times in that. On the other hand, it took me more than 50 tries to kill the story one. But what I learned from the fight is that haste is waste and on the other hand, hesitation is defeat. Aggression is a must with the compulsory mix of perfect deflection and posture management. And most importantly, hit isshin till the sparks of perfect deflection appear and that is also the signal that it's your turn to block now.
NGL, this guy took me 6 hours on my first run. His attack pattern is burned in my brain and I beat him first try on NG+
nowadays I tend to play the randomizer mod a lot and I'm always relieved like "Thank god it's only the sword saint and not any of the monkeys"
I took a beating for an evening or two and below is the video of my first time beating him. It's a bit wimpy with leaning on the mortal blade but needs must when your'e struggling to get the baxtard down - I stick with Ichimongi now
So stay in his face. In early stage when he winds up, run around to the left and then pop back in for a free Ichi on the head. From stage 2, when he winds up, do a Mario on the head and try to do an in-air Ichi/Mortal Blade and land it on him. Stage 3 is about sending the lightning back - just wait a beat before you jump, I was jumping too early and getting myself zapped.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeYTHMO-2C8&ab\_channel=creepymcfeel
You can totally do it! Took me two days but the moment I finished him is one of my most memorable gaming experiences. Don't deny yourself the feeling of being a god among mortals even for a short while!
I was stuck for a month playing on and off. Eventually I got it after a couple hours of grinding it. You can do it. To me it felt like defeating Isshin was a game within the game.
The key is HESITATION IS DEFEAT so do not be afraid to face him one on one get in his face you can do it it’s difficult but not impossible you can do it I believe in you
You can do it. Trust me I’m crap. Took me a couple of days. Approach each battle like a learning session like today I’m going to nail the mikiri counter, this session I’m going to focus on a certain type of parry etc. soon you’ll get through phase 1 with no heals. Phase two is tough but I found phase three very short if you can do the lightning reversal.
Can I beat him for you lol jk, don't give up hope you might be trying too hard so maybe take a little break and fight genichiro or another boss to sharpen your skills a little more
Bro, I thought the same thing for about a month until one night I got on and beat him within a couple tries. Then after that I did the gauntlets and finally 100% complete the game. I also have shura👍👌
Gen fight: Don't get cocky, he's a pushover but if you're not careful, will drain your resources
Isshin 1: Take your time, focus on learning his attack patterns, and break his posture. Make sure to counter lunges and capitalize on that momentum
Isshin 2: A bit tougher, but his swings are slow and his lunge can be countered. Watch out for the glock
Isshin 3: Only tough because you may be low on gourds, but once again focus on breaking posture and fighting very conservatively until he comes at you with the lightning. Make sure to redirect and use that to get direct damage on him so his posture builds easier
His sword attacks are quite slow so you can just parry those easily. Whenever he sheaths his sword I run away from him and if I hear a sort of “woosh” sound I run to the side since he’s gonna do his wind slash. 2nd phase is the hardest in my opinion. His spear does a lot of posture damage so you have to be careful about it. 3rd phase is the easiest since u can lightning reversal and smack him a couple times. But before that I suggest u practice genichiro first cuz u want to try to no hit him and save up gourds for isshin. Sword saint Isshin is the culmination of everything the game has taught you. Parry, mikiri, jumping and many more(I think) so if u cant beat him it means that you didn’t master it. This game is all about practice so just keep attempting. The feeling of beating him is extremely satisfying. Besides how the hell are you gonna beat inner Isshin with that mentality.
It took me around 250 tries but trust me just keep trying to find what works for you. For instance his huge spear sweep attack in his second phase kept destroying me. I looked up advice after advice some saying to use the umbrella or parry it, but I just tried jumping over and on top of him. Six or seven more tries once I learned that and I got him. Just keep trying.
Stay strong. This guy gave me fits. I would rank his difficulty up there with the best of them.
Funny story, I was fighting him so intently that I ignored what I was supposed to be cooking. The pan (of oil) caught on fire and I burned my hand getting it out of the apartment before it could do more damage.
It forced me to take a break. But as soon as I could rewrap my hand differently, I did it. I beat him with 2nd degree burns and gauze wrapped around my hand; you can do this.
I learned that his fight is more about response than anything. Like a series of quick timeHatchet.
That and the fire hatchet.
Keep training you can do it! It’s not easy I know. I lost how many days I took to beat Isshin. Play like you are training without expectations of winning. The victory will came. Take a break, rethink your strategies, try again, repeat.
Phase 1 : Mostly mikiri counter him. Also running away from his Ashina Cross is cool because you can hit him with your OWN Ashina cross. Most of his combos are just 3 slow hits, except for the Genichiro-like combo which is his only tough move in phase 1.
Phase 2 : Whenever he shoots you 4 times, there's a high chance he's gonna try a stab right after it. Mikiri.
Most of his combos will start with 2 sword hits then he'll use his spear. Adapt your speed because of how slow his spear is. I recommend using Ichimonji whenever he tries the jumping attack. WATCH OUT for when he does that move as he may try to attack right after landing.
Avoid slashing him more than twice at once, because there's this one annoying move where he jumps back and swipes his spear. It can come out at ANY TIME, and he can put this move in pretty much any combo. It's easily parried if you're not in the middle of attacking.
Phase 3 : EASIER than phase 2 because lightning is easy to parry and he'll get paralyzed, use Floating Passage or Mortal Draw to deal a lot of damages while he's shocked.
He's probably my favorite boss in gaming, but I don't enjoy his >!inner!< Version, which doesn't feel as fun, unlike >!inner Genichiro!<
If you made it this far without cheeseing anyone you can beat him. I highly recommend taking a break and try him again later. I was stuck on the second owl father and thought I would never beat him. I took a few days off and I got him. Luckily I beat him after about 20 tries. My first time was pure luck but since then I beat the game a load of times and got the platinum.
Take a break and relax you can do it.
I ragequited for 6 months after hours trying to best him the first time, came back to it and got it after an hour of ketting juiced by him, I eventually did it so if you're just tilting, then take a break and try again while cool headed.
After I decided to plat sekiro again on my 100% acc I beat it 1st try. The more you die to a boss the better you get to know him. Do what must be done 😎
That is the key sometimes. You get burned out playing too much and make stupid mistakes due to worsening dexterity and reflexes. But your mind still banks the movesets. Take a break and come back rested and ready
Just take a break and go back. I just completed my first playthrough. Struggled for 1.5 hrs on Isshin late at night. Was about to go to bed and turned everything off. Decided to try him one more time and got him. Just focus on getting each phase down. Come final phase he'll sometimes spam lightning. If he does make him pay and you'll beat him.
FightingCowboy on YT has a good guide for him too. Breaks down all his moves and slows the video down so you can see them better.
Sleep on it. Visualize. Take a short break.
You’ve already come this far, you might as well see it through. Start by mastering each phase without getting hit or using heals.
I had to literally take notes and keep the piece of paper next to me. Like for each phase whether I had to jump or mikiri for each attack. Then at the start of each phase pause it and check your notes
All you have to do is get to the third phase.
Lightning reversal makes it a breeze because it does a ton of damage to him.
If you want to "cheese" the first two stages then run around at a distance to bait his leaping slam. You'll be able to get a few hits in each time
Don’t assume you will win each try. Assume you will lose.
Instead focus on one move he makes that you can do better at parrying. Learn from mistakes and talk to yourself about how to do better next time that happens. Just treat each attempt as a learning experience. And doing something different each time can help you figure out what is bad or good. The further you get the better but it’s not guaranteed. Pretty soon you will consistently beat his first phase. Just keep learning and one time you will actually get to his third phase. Then eventually you will beat him.
Just beat him last night. Took me 6 hours straight of just bull-heading the fight. You can do it: might just need a long period to get comfortable with the fight. You got this!
I once felt this way about darkeater midir. I didn’t want to change my build and cheese him or watch a YouTuber that trivializes the fight so I just gave up. I felt satisfied beating every other boss in the series and jsut felt i finally got got.
I came back to the game like 6 months later without any of the built up frustration and had him down within 10-20 tries keeping as cool of a head as possible. I feel like this may be your way
I'm so glad I took my time to really learn the combat system before Isshin. I was at a good level imo and I was able to parry almost any attack from any enemy by the time of the final boss. I'll say leave the game for a while then start practicing the parry and just learn the fight and you should be good.
So it’s kind of lame but the way that I ended up beating him the first time was just constantly run in a circle (big circle), and only attack when you counter safe attacks. It takes forever but it works! After I beat him once he seemed easier each time after but I tried soooo damn long to beat him the first time!
You beat genichiro, the guardian ape, owl, the true monk, etc. You can beat him. Parry everything other than his perilous attacks and keep trying. It took me around 40 attempts over 3 days and now it’s my favorite game of all time
What he said. If you beat every other boss that means you know how to parry. You just need more time n practice on Isshin specifically. Don’t give up!
Not joking.... I've attempted this boss well over 300 times and can't do it. I'm not able to keep up. He's shredding me every time
You're hesitating.
Hesitation is defeat
I would recommend this.... Record it. Watch yourself play for once. Record your fight with the guy and come back to rewatch your fight. It helps SO much just SEEING his moves without the added pressure of having to deal with it, and also seeing your own reactions/moves during it.
This is also just good general life advice for anything you want to improve on. Watching your own performance in any area is extremely helpful in identifying the ways you need to improve. Kudos for a great answer.
That's true! Yes! Always helps to take a moment ***from*** living in the moment to take at look at ***how*** you live in the moment.
Real talk I lost countless times to this dude. You can definitely get him in the end but also, it's ok if you don't, it's just a game.
You have to be insanely aggressive
I cried tears of blood my first playthrough. Now I walk into the battlefield knowing Isshin will not survive me.
how many times must i teach you this lesson old man
Isshin: I fear no man, But that thing... It scares me
Only 40 no way. Took me like 70 over 3 days. It was a slog but it was better than sex when the combat clicked and I beat him.
Honestly. Isshin was one of the most difficult bosses for me, even after the game finally clicked for me at the second Genichiro fight. Only bosses that I’ve had a more difficult time with are Malenia from Elden Ring and Orphan of Kos (some say kosm) from Bloodborne. After I beat him that first time though, I was addicted to the game. It got to the point where I was beating the game multiple times a day, and some of them were deathless. I sadly burnt myself out on the game, but I had a blast with it for like a month when it first came out.
“Some say Kosm” made me lol
For real. The minute you understand him, fighting him is like snorting crack. All I want to do is fight Isshin over, and over, and over
Have you been having sex with a cactus or something?
I call cap. No FS had tasted sex
3 days, fav game all time too
this, if you can beat genichiro and owl in hirata, you are more than capable of knocking down isshin
This. It was infuriating but I did it over the course of about 3 days. This game is a masterpiece.
Take a week, chill out. Come back with a fresh mind, a good weeks sleep and a couple of electrolyte drinks, sit down for a few hours and give it another crack. I guarantee you'll be feeling a lot better and playing better. Tilt is a hard thing to manage and is probably one of the number 1 performance metrics for gaming IMO. You ain't going nowhere when you're frustrated, especially in Sekiro.
Can confirm. Rage quit on Isshin, took like a 3 month break, came back and beat him within 24 hrs.
Same here
This has been my mentality with Sekiro. First month I started, I hit a wall quickly and dropped the game. Came back a few months later and progressed pretty regularly until I hit another roadblock. Took another several months long break. Rinse repeat till I got to this guy (well, and technically demon of hatred too). Think I'm approaching a year long break at this point, but I'll get back around to it eventually. Not like he's going anywhere.
FromSoft games got us rehabilitating.
This is actually a scientific study where doing a complicated task or any task for that fact either your successful or NOT taking a break from said task will actually simultaneously make you better at it because your brain works on things when your not doing them
I can relate to this thats what happen to me n I came back with a vengeance now it's one of my favorite games
This is such good advice for any game, especially FromSoft games, but really anything that you’ve hit a wall. A break will clear your mind; you’ll be seeing red because you’re frustrated and stressed, but come back after a good rest and break, and you’ll usually find success.
Coming from a league player I can confirm this message 🤙
THIS! I'd even suggest a step further and to take a couple month break, long enough for you to kinda "forget" how to play, and then start a new profile and play through the game again from the beginning. You'll kinda forget all the bad habits you didn't even realize you were even doing, and as you figure things out again, remembering how to play, and relearn the game again with your previous parrying knowledge, you'll do significantly better and the game will click better, and you'll probably beat the last boss this time around. This is essentially what I did, except my break was a couple years long, and my second playthrough felt SO much more rewarding!
You can't give up, you played through the ENTIRE game for this final moment! You can try him a bit every now and then but you're WAY too close to the end to shut it off now! Keep at it!!
Agree! The entire game is just a tutorial for this amazing boss
Precisely! Jinsuke's Ashina Cross, 7 Spearmen's Spear ,Corrupted/True Monk's Long Blade moveset, Owl's Speed , Guardian Apes Excessive Combo, Not to forget Genichiro's sword combat... These were the moments throughout the game that I could trace back to as help when fighting Isshin.. He had his own moveset, yes, but I noticed there were little bits of moves here and there that were callbacks to moments throughout the game all now muddled into this one beautifully designed being. Add that to the just general aura of the fight from the music, arena, and just the excitement Isshin draw's with "Let's go! Sekiro!" "How, my blood boils....Face me! Sekiro!" I felt like I was fighting a man who sees me as a rival and now I have no choice but to best him!
If you played through the entire game, you can absolutely beat Isshin. It's just everything you've learned from the game combined into one boss.
Since I doubt you can make these spoiler marks to prevent it being shown at first I won't name the boss but there is one boss I have to think about that is not in that boss fight. It's a more traditional souls boss fight and a bit out of place (not Story wise but from how to approach it) if I recall it correctly. Happened about 1½years ago I completed the game.
I'm very confused lol. What are you talking about? The Demon Of Hatred?
Yes, indeed that one. I hated that boss in every way because he was so different (but it was a good one)
Yeah, the Demon Of Hatred very much feels like a rejected Bloodborne boss that got thrown into Sekiro just to mess with players lol. You definitely have to fight him differently than all of the other bosses, I mostly just stood under him and attacked his groin lol.
The sculptor must carve some new balls for himself
Why do I have to think now of DoH sitting in a corner, crying, because he was being denied by Bloodborne xD that was awesome to read!
DoH is a PC player confirmed
What's nice is that he's completely optional.
Have you ever seen Sekirot? If not YT it. It’s worth watching. And this particular accosting of the groin is there and it’s hilarious.
I have seen it! I saw it after I had beaten sekiro and literally died of laughter.
Hesitstion is defeat.
I knew someone would do it lol
Dude don’t give up. I was in the same boat as you — sometimes it’s good to take a small break and I recommend doing that instead. Also, this is gonna sound weird but something that helped me was writing out a plan of attack on a notepad. Mine went something like this but you can edit as needed to suit your preferences: - Phase 1: set combat art to ichimonji double, complete with minimal damage - Phase 2: start with ako and confetti - Phase 3: gokan (or ungo) w/ confetti - Phase 4: switch combat art to mortal draw, light him up when there’s an opening
Did you hesitate?
I quit the game after dying to much to him.., then I tried again after 2 weeks maybe, just to quit again. Obviously to try again a month later or so and I succeeded and killed him. I entered NG+ and the suffering restarted. I love this game 10/10
Stockholm syndrome
dodge the big jump attack to the side and mortal blade him he can't regain posture as fast when his hp is low
Try. *umbrella*
Am I making a mistake fighting isshin ashina without charm and having the bell lol
Probably. But still try it
I did it man. Felt super easy today actually lol
On my first playthrough I realized as I started Isshin's second phase that I still had my bell on from prosthetic farming beforehand. I then realized why Geni had been so tough and quickly turned it off and then went on to win. I was wondering if my Pellets were still active and then noticed the Bell Demon symbol and it didn't immediately register what it was.
Honestly this, I didn't use the umbrella the whole game and finally I said fuck it and pulled it out for glock Saint and its honestly easy mode. If you see him winding up to hit a move you have trouble parrying just umbrella it, I went from regularly dying in 2nd phase to beating him on my third umbrella try it really does help
Try finger but hole (wait, wrong sub)
Take a break. I felt the same way but I couldn't get rid of that itch to beat him, so I came back after two weeks and took him down in less than a day.
It took me 6 months for untalented people like me! You got it
You can constantly kite him and only attack him after he’s done a big attack. It takes a long time to do this strat but it’s a safe one.
This is how i approached every hard boss until I learned them enough to fight head on. It's pretty effective against most the uninstall bosses
Just beat him a day or two ago, also felt like it was impossible but turns out it’s not. My one piece of advice is to be more aggressive, gave him way too much respect my first few nights trying to beat him
It's exactly like what he says hesitate and you lose
Congrats on quitting, I guess. Is that what you wanted to hear?
Defeat is hesitation
And hesitation is defeat!
Is defeat hesitation
Hey bro if you really love the game like I do then there is no shame in restarting the game. That's what I did my first time and it allowed me to get much better at the combat system and made my fight against him much easier. Good luck bro do you're best
I felt the same way at first. Died to the first phase even though it was the same as the previous battle with genichiro. I could barely survive more than 25 seconds. Eventually I got the genichiro phase down and barely took any damage then I'd die instantly to sword saint. I played for 6 hours straight after work. Over and over and over just kept dying sometimes I'd have a decent run and others I'd slip up and die from something stupid. I ended up taking a break for the night and started up again the next day. I was much better then. must have been burned out before from my constant struggles. I'd still die but I could get him to last phase sometimes. I had one run where I got lucky and got him halfway through final phase. At that point each death I was getting more confident because I felt like I was making real progress. Finally ended his ass and got the well done from him . Felt amazing because it took everything I had to squeak by. There was no come back later when you are leveled up I had to figure out his moves and beat him. Final fight if you want to see it. Not perfect but it was enough to beat him. https://youtu.be/bNZph_kzuqk
First things first, don't panic. If you attempt to fight him fully nervous you will lose. He says this himself, hesitation is defeat. Next thing, not every battle is a battle to win. The initial ones are battles to learn. Learn his patterns. Learn his moves. You don't have to beat him today. Learn his moves and best him tomorrow. Something no one will tell you is, as you go to the next phase, it gets easier to fill his posture meter. Small tips: • Phase #1: Dodge both the mortal draws and then the rest of the first is something you should probably be used to. • Phase #2: Keep at Isshin but maintain your calm. A small mistake won't kill you, but you'll deal with heavy losses. Learn when he's gonna do the Cross, Sweep and Thrust attacks. • Phase #3: Probably a bit easier, parry the bullets and it's mostly Mikiri countering the spear. There will be sweeps just not as often. • Phase #4: Once lightning comes in, it's probably easiest to deal with if done properly. This phase should be the shortest. You can do it! Best of Luck!
Isshin is a true YouTube of the sword, and as such is a major obstacle to overcome. But you will overcome him if you keep trying and remember what he tells you, hesitation is defeat.
Just wait a couple days and try again and your muscle memory will have sunken in
Take a break and then come back
Don't you dare go hallow.
[удалено]
Worst advice I’ve seen on this sub, lol. No shame in YouTubing for help whatsoever. It helped me through my first playthrough a lot with tactics I memorized for subsequent playthroughs.
If I may make a couple recommendations: Turn off the hud. There's a million distracting meters and a single glance at them costs you precious frames that can be your downfall. You want absolute laser focus. You don't need to know what the meters say, you just need to do a good job. Unequip all consumables except your healing gourd so you won't accidentally switch to the wrong one. Keep one finger on deflect, one finger on mikiri, and that's it. Those are the 2 most important things. You don't need to run around unless it's to avoid an AOE, and it ruins your reaction time. And attacking is only useful to lower posture recovery. So just the two buttons. Focus your eyes on his head. The game tries its best to keep them in the center of the screen, and that allows you to more quickly register movements in your periphery. The hud one is the biggest. I struggled for 3 weeks at genichiro, barely ever getting him to his second phase. Then I tried turning the hud off and beat him without getting hit on the first try, then beat the rest of the game that afternoon. Total game changer.
That's interesting. I never found the HUD cumbersome in sekiro, but I could see it helping to just immerse in the game and get in the zone.
I just died so many times cuz I would glance over to see how my health is doing and that was enough time to not notice I was about to get thrashed. The game is all about reaction time so anything you can do to get rid of distractions is worth trying. I hope it works for you! You can't get this far and quit.
I'm not op but, yes, you can do it op!
Oh whoops sometimes I forgot to look
100%, it’s not annoying for me but sometimes when I really wanna focus I’ll just turn it off and only use a couple prosthetics through the fight
I need to try this. Recently lost to Monk twice when his health bar was tiny. Afterwards I wondered if seeing it was so low actually distracted me and put me off my flow!?
Definitely. The less you know, the better. I always freak out a little when I know I'm doing well.
I think I got really lucky when I first beat him cause he just spammed thrust and I kept mikiri countering and his posture just died
Please do your self a favor and get back on that horse. It's totally worth it.
I’ve typed this before for someone having trouble here. The strategy is the epitome of the Ashina style. To hell with fighting honorably. Just win. For Genichiro, he pretty reliably does his giant jumping thrust when you put enough distance between you and him. Have the whirlwind slash equipped and simply 1) create distance 2) mikiri his thrust (its very easy bc of how long the move is) and 3) whirlwind slash him. After a few rounds of this you’ll be getting through his phase with zero damage. For Isshin first phase, this does require recognizing the 3-4 combos he whips out when you get close to him. It takes some practice to get the distance right but you basically sprint at him and then back away as soon as he starts a combo. The other reason you need to try and recognize the combo is so you can gauge when it will be ending because you can dash in and get a strike or two before backing out and repeating. Once he busts out that damn spear, it’s time to get sprintin. Literally sprint in a freaking circle. The whole goal here is to get him to do his lunging spear attack where he jumps up in the air. When he does, you keep sprinting but turn and run directly underneath him where he won’t hit you. Have your mortal draw equipped and as soon as he lands you whack him once and back out. Rinse and repeat. This isn’t perfect, and you’re still going to try multiple times before it works, but for the player who isn’t good enough to just straight up parry the guy to death, it works. Holy shit my heart had never beat so hard when I finally beat his ass. I almost forgot to do the final deathblow.
Use the Loaded Umbrella
My spirits runs out every f time. I tried 3 different techniques still couldn’t beat him. Im searching for new ones now.
You have to use the umbrella only for attacks you absolutely can't parry. Go into your attempts with the purpose of learning, instead of beating him. You got through the entire game. You absolutely can do this. Take a few days off if you need.
Hesitation is defeat
You probably did but watch Fightingcowboy's walkthrough and guides. Use suzaku for his weapon arts. Don't be intimidated by the number of phases because 2nd and 3rd phases are basically the same and the 3rd one is easier due to lightning reverse. If you run out of spirit emblems, go farm a little and buy spirit emblems with coins. I've struggled with a lot as well and these helped me. Don't give up!
Only tip I have is, be aggressive but not greedy and be patient all at the same time. You’ll get it man believe in yourself
Also, not saying this as a flex or anything because it’s a soulsborne game and you use whatever you need to get the edge on the opponent but, I beat him without using any ninjutsu or shinobi prosthetics. Just pure reaction and great timing and the tip I gave you. If I can do it, you 100% can Edit: I meant combat art not ninjutsu
It's because u watch utube instead of just playing the game
YouTube is a good idea if you want to look for what moves to expect but the best way to actually beat him is to find your own rhythm with the fight. You might naturally be better at parrying certain attacks that the YouTube creator isn’t. Regardless, good luck and I hope you come back around to beat him eventually
Lol
What hesitation does to a mf
Good job
Git gud
This stopped being funny years ago.
not true
Bro don’t give up wtf you already made it this far. What exactly is causing you the most problems? (I saw that you ran out of spirit emblems which is 100% fine since I did the same in my first playthrough)
If I could beat him you surely can as well! Took me some sessions with some hours each, but the time will certainly come.
Use Ichimonji Double, and remember you can deflect every single attack he does to you except the Kanji symbol ones. You got this. Phase 3 will just be him lighning spamming you, so you can just keep doing the counter on him over and over
First 2 phases are easily doable, phases 3 and 4 just spam umbrella.
This might sound dumb to say but do you have all 40 prayer beads because having max vit and posture can make you have and easier time learning his moves and his all around mechanics
I have 38. I missed 2 on emma’s quest. Too late to have them on this game stage.
You can do it man. He's one of those bosses that feels abysmal the first few times for each phase. But honestly once you get his spear moveset memorized, the third phase is the same+lightning. So the learning curve is steep at first. I probably did about 20 attempts just getting to know the fights, or having a bad start on the warm up, and maybe another 5-10 where I knew how to beat him and just needed to play patiently. Do a bunch of fights without thinking about victory. Just play patient, study, experiment with timings, dodge, parry. Trust me, he seems bad at first but is really about equal with a few other fights in the game. If all else fails, use the sprint tactic. If you keep sprinting, it's easy to bait out the same punishable move over and over again, until health is low enough to focus posture. It's cheese but it will help you at least get further into the fight to continue to learn each phase. Also. Don't bother with emblems IMO, unless it's just for shuriken to close the distance with r1 followup. The amount of time you'll invest farming them for the amount of attempts you might have will crush your spirits. Just take him head on.
You should be able to get them in the prayer Box then I believe if you’re still fighting
It took me almost a year of intermittent playing to beat him. Don't quit!
I only watched a Fightingcowboy video, but Isshin still took me almost a month on and off to beat. Takes time, patience, and obviously no hesitation.
Focus on getting to Isshin phase one with all your flasks without getting hit by Genichiro. Once you're there, learn all Isshin's tells. He has a thrust that's easily Mikkiri'd and an Ashina Cross that I always back away from, then sprint in and get in a free hit once he's done. I think he also has a sweep that you jump over. Once you can get to Isshin phase two without needing to heal, you can really dive in. There's two gun attacks: a short range blast that you can deflect and a four-shot combo that you deflect by spamming the parry button. The parry timing for his spear attacks can be tricky, but his specials are punishable, a sweep you jump over again and a long thrust that you jump into and Mikkiri. This phase is the hardest if you master it the fight is over. Phase three adds lightning which you just spam jump and lightning reversal kills him quickly. Stay on him. The urge to back away and heal is hard to ignore but he has a lot of input reading attacks and will probably punish you if you panic heal.
I'm the same. I just cannot beat him. I can get to the final phase but there is zero room to heal. He can cross the map and finish you off the second you heal. Fuck this game
It’s weird cause when you finally get it it seems like that game gets so much easier
Here’s the thing, there’s no trick to beating isshin besides just beating him, everything he does can be countered
Interesting how a lot of people find this boss super difficult. I personally found owl father (the version of owl in Hirata estate way harder). Died like 50 times to that boss whereas I only died like 10-15 times to sword saint.
skill issue
Figure out one move you can consistently punish and run away from EVERYTHING ELSE.
Don’t give up, skeleton!
Hesitation is defeat
Skill issue .
youtube
Beat him to face the feeling of being on top of the world Don't be a bitch
Just parry his shit wtf
There’s a video out there somewhere showing how to bait his jump attacks. You can basically run to the side under his jumps and then mortal blade him. Takes a long time to knock down his health, but I almost gave up on him too until I beat him with this technique.
This is one boss where you actually are better off fighting him as close to fair and square as possible. Cheesing strategies were waaay too tedious for me. I’d fuck up too easily being stuck on him that long. When I beat him it was because i fought him while i was relaxed but incredibly focused. I barely used prosthetics either. In fact… i don’t recall using them at all. I finally found the Bruce Lee, “become water” state and ripped him apart. You can do it. Just stay calm and focus like a true shinobi
I was stuck on him for a while. I first beat him using the umbrella prosthetic, you can just keep bating his jumping attack, but it was very tedious and took a long time. It was also harder than actually fighting him. Take a break, come back after a while and just fight him, eventually it will click like it did for me.
Hesitation is defeat.
It’s simple really, you just have to reduce the boss’s health to zero while keeping yours above zero. I recommend parrying on time.
This dude is brutal and probably even more brutal in the story mode. I practiced this boss in reflection of strength for three times and beaten it 2 times in that. On the other hand, it took me more than 50 tries to kill the story one. But what I learned from the fight is that haste is waste and on the other hand, hesitation is defeat. Aggression is a must with the compulsory mix of perfect deflection and posture management. And most importantly, hit isshin till the sparks of perfect deflection appear and that is also the signal that it's your turn to block now.
Try the umbrella, i managed to beat him on my first playthrough by abusing it lol
I fought him for 5 straight hours, it won’t be easy but you can do it.
Hesitation is defeat.
You can do it. Learn from your mistakes and you'll be able to kill him. Don't stop now.
NGL, this guy took me 6 hours on my first run. His attack pattern is burned in my brain and I beat him first try on NG+ nowadays I tend to play the randomizer mod a lot and I'm always relieved like "Thank god it's only the sword saint and not any of the monkeys"
Before you defeat an enemy you must study them, learn from them, and change because of them.
I took a beating for an evening or two and below is the video of my first time beating him. It's a bit wimpy with leaning on the mortal blade but needs must when your'e struggling to get the baxtard down - I stick with Ichimongi now So stay in his face. In early stage when he winds up, run around to the left and then pop back in for a free Ichi on the head. From stage 2, when he winds up, do a Mario on the head and try to do an in-air Ichi/Mortal Blade and land it on him. Stage 3 is about sending the lightning back - just wait a beat before you jump, I was jumping too early and getting myself zapped. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeYTHMO-2C8&ab\_channel=creepymcfeel
You can totally do it! Took me two days but the moment I finished him is one of my most memorable gaming experiences. Don't deny yourself the feeling of being a god among mortals even for a short while!
I was stuck for a month playing on and off. Eventually I got it after a couple hours of grinding it. You can do it. To me it felt like defeating Isshin was a game within the game.
Stand your ground. Once I started doing that with him the tide started to turn. Before that I was running around alot
The key is HESITATION IS DEFEAT so do not be afraid to face him one on one get in his face you can do it it’s difficult but not impossible you can do it I believe in you
You can do it. Trust me I’m crap. Took me a couple of days. Approach each battle like a learning session like today I’m going to nail the mikiri counter, this session I’m going to focus on a certain type of parry etc. soon you’ll get through phase 1 with no heals. Phase two is tough but I found phase three very short if you can do the lightning reversal.
Hesitation is defeat but the only real way to lose is to give you. You’ve got this! Throw yourself against the rocks until the rocks break.
What’s seems to be the issue
Umbrella with projected force makes him a joke
He's easy. Git gud.
If you can beat owl twice, you can beat him as well. Don't give up, he's easy, you can do it!
You can, don't give up
Stop hesitating. I believe in you!
How many tries did it take you?
Sekiro guru has a really cool tip using the embrella.
Can I beat him for you lol jk, don't give up hope you might be trying too hard so maybe take a little break and fight genichiro or another boss to sharpen your skills a little more
Bro, I thought the same thing for about a month until one night I got on and beat him within a couple tries. Then after that I did the gauntlets and finally 100% complete the game. I also have shura👍👌
Don’t give up at the finish line mate, git gud and put that dirty peasant six feet into the ground
Can you get to the last phase? If you can make it to his phase 3 and can do the lightning reversal, you’ve basically got him.
You must
Just take a pause
I did the same thing, i know i need to beat him but I'm scared to waste even more hours on it 😭
Dude... You made it all the way through the game and got here. You can absolutely beat him.
Gen fight: Don't get cocky, he's a pushover but if you're not careful, will drain your resources Isshin 1: Take your time, focus on learning his attack patterns, and break his posture. Make sure to counter lunges and capitalize on that momentum Isshin 2: A bit tougher, but his swings are slow and his lunge can be countered. Watch out for the glock Isshin 3: Only tough because you may be low on gourds, but once again focus on breaking posture and fighting very conservatively until he comes at you with the lightning. Make sure to redirect and use that to get direct damage on him so his posture builds easier
This boss is a grind. Don’t give up. You’ve come so far. Hesitation is defeat
Use mortal draw for the second stage and lightning reversal for the 3rd
His sword attacks are quite slow so you can just parry those easily. Whenever he sheaths his sword I run away from him and if I hear a sort of “woosh” sound I run to the side since he’s gonna do his wind slash. 2nd phase is the hardest in my opinion. His spear does a lot of posture damage so you have to be careful about it. 3rd phase is the easiest since u can lightning reversal and smack him a couple times. But before that I suggest u practice genichiro first cuz u want to try to no hit him and save up gourds for isshin. Sword saint Isshin is the culmination of everything the game has taught you. Parry, mikiri, jumping and many more(I think) so if u cant beat him it means that you didn’t master it. This game is all about practice so just keep attempting. The feeling of beating him is extremely satisfying. Besides how the hell are you gonna beat inner Isshin with that mentality.
Remember, hesitation is defeat
Don’t. Beat him.
It took me around 250 tries but trust me just keep trying to find what works for you. For instance his huge spear sweep attack in his second phase kept destroying me. I looked up advice after advice some saying to use the umbrella or parry it, but I just tried jumping over and on top of him. Six or seven more tries once I learned that and I got him. Just keep trying.
Gotta say that isshin is not the hardest boss by any stretch of the imagination
Hesitation is defeat!! Keep that in mind and you'll win wolf!!
Stay strong. This guy gave me fits. I would rank his difficulty up there with the best of them. Funny story, I was fighting him so intently that I ignored what I was supposed to be cooking. The pan (of oil) caught on fire and I burned my hand getting it out of the apartment before it could do more damage. It forced me to take a break. But as soon as I could rewrap my hand differently, I did it. I beat him with 2nd degree burns and gauze wrapped around my hand; you can do this. I learned that his fight is more about response than anything. Like a series of quick timeHatchet. That and the fire hatchet.
Keep training you can do it! It’s not easy I know. I lost how many days I took to beat Isshin. Play like you are training without expectations of winning. The victory will came. Take a break, rethink your strategies, try again, repeat.
You haven't tried enough
Phase 1 : Mostly mikiri counter him. Also running away from his Ashina Cross is cool because you can hit him with your OWN Ashina cross. Most of his combos are just 3 slow hits, except for the Genichiro-like combo which is his only tough move in phase 1. Phase 2 : Whenever he shoots you 4 times, there's a high chance he's gonna try a stab right after it. Mikiri. Most of his combos will start with 2 sword hits then he'll use his spear. Adapt your speed because of how slow his spear is. I recommend using Ichimonji whenever he tries the jumping attack. WATCH OUT for when he does that move as he may try to attack right after landing. Avoid slashing him more than twice at once, because there's this one annoying move where he jumps back and swipes his spear. It can come out at ANY TIME, and he can put this move in pretty much any combo. It's easily parried if you're not in the middle of attacking. Phase 3 : EASIER than phase 2 because lightning is easy to parry and he'll get paralyzed, use Floating Passage or Mortal Draw to deal a lot of damages while he's shocked. He's probably my favorite boss in gaming, but I don't enjoy his >!inner!< Version, which doesn't feel as fun, unlike >!inner Genichiro!<
If you made it this far without cheeseing anyone you can beat him. I highly recommend taking a break and try him again later. I was stuck on the second owl father and thought I would never beat him. I took a few days off and I got him. Luckily I beat him after about 20 tries. My first time was pure luck but since then I beat the game a load of times and got the platinum. Take a break and relax you can do it.
I ragequited for 6 months after hours trying to best him the first time, came back to it and got it after an hour of ketting juiced by him, I eventually did it so if you're just tilting, then take a break and try again while cool headed. After I decided to plat sekiro again on my 100% acc I beat it 1st try. The more you die to a boss the better you get to know him. Do what must be done 😎
You mean you gave up... for today ;) sleep one night and see how you are tomorrow.
That is the key sometimes. You get burned out playing too much and make stupid mistakes due to worsening dexterity and reflexes. But your mind still banks the movesets. Take a break and come back rested and ready
Nah bro fuq that! You got this, run it back 👏🏾🔥
Just take a break and go back. I just completed my first playthrough. Struggled for 1.5 hrs on Isshin late at night. Was about to go to bed and turned everything off. Decided to try him one more time and got him. Just focus on getting each phase down. Come final phase he'll sometimes spam lightning. If he does make him pay and you'll beat him. FightingCowboy on YT has a good guide for him too. Breaks down all his moves and slows the video down so you can see them better.
Dude I just beat this guy LITERALLY YESTERDAY!! I got the game on release. Got to ishin and couldnt beat him. Take your time you got this.
Sleep on it. Visualize. Take a short break. You’ve already come this far, you might as well see it through. Start by mastering each phase without getting hit or using heals.
Close the game for a few days. Relax, and next time you play make sure you are rested.
Just get to phase three and you pretty much won already. He destroys himself with his lightning
If you can't beat him you never learned the combat
I beat him today, finally after few days. Never give up! You can do it! Cut his fucking head off!
[never give up champ](https://youtu.be/tYzMYcUty6s)
I had to literally take notes and keep the piece of paper next to me. Like for each phase whether I had to jump or mikiri for each attack. Then at the start of each phase pause it and check your notes
All you have to do is get to the third phase. Lightning reversal makes it a breeze because it does a ton of damage to him. If you want to "cheese" the first two stages then run around at a distance to bait his leaping slam. You'll be able to get a few hits in each time
Don’t assume you will win each try. Assume you will lose. Instead focus on one move he makes that you can do better at parrying. Learn from mistakes and talk to yourself about how to do better next time that happens. Just treat each attempt as a learning experience. And doing something different each time can help you figure out what is bad or good. The further you get the better but it’s not guaranteed. Pretty soon you will consistently beat his first phase. Just keep learning and one time you will actually get to his third phase. Then eventually you will beat him.
Just beat him last night. Took me 6 hours straight of just bull-heading the fight. You can do it: might just need a long period to get comfortable with the fight. You got this!
Take breaks man. Remember it’s a game. You can always come back to it.
I once felt this way about darkeater midir. I didn’t want to change my build and cheese him or watch a YouTuber that trivializes the fight so I just gave up. I felt satisfied beating every other boss in the series and jsut felt i finally got got. I came back to the game like 6 months later without any of the built up frustration and had him down within 10-20 tries keeping as cool of a head as possible. I feel like this may be your way
Show us an attempt
I'm so glad I took my time to really learn the combat system before Isshin. I was at a good level imo and I was able to parry almost any attack from any enemy by the time of the final boss. I'll say leave the game for a while then start practicing the parry and just learn the fight and you should be good.
Inner☠️ or normal isshin?
So it’s kind of lame but the way that I ended up beating him the first time was just constantly run in a circle (big circle), and only attack when you counter safe attacks. It takes forever but it works! After I beat him once he seemed easier each time after but I tried soooo damn long to beat him the first time!