Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice opens the game with some stealth and then a massive, unbeatable boss fight. Or does it? Sure, there’s a stealth section and then a boss battle against Genichiro Ashina. On likely every players first time with the game they will lose this fight rather quickly. He’s an amazingly challenging foe, deals a ton of damage, and you’ve certainly not learned the deeper intricacies of the combat system. But can you do it? Can you beat Genichiro Ashina at the beginning of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice?
The answer is actually yes…in a way. If you’re patient enough and skilled enough, you can defeat Genichiro Ashina. He has two health bars, much like the bosses you will face later in the game. This means you basically have to best him two times in a row, without the ability to heal yourself properly, and without all the cool powerups and abilities you gain later on in Sekiro. This even includes your ability to resurrect yourself, so this is truly a massive undertaking for the player, even if they have already played through the game on a different profile.
But again, it can be done. How do you do it? Very carefully and with a lot of skill. The best way is to focus on deflections and Genichiro Ashina’s posture. Whittling it down piece by piece, dealing damage enough that his posture doesn’t just refill almost immediately when you stop attacking for a few moments. Watch for the perilous attacks that flash a red Kanji character and be sure to dodge away from them. Sweeping attacks are also an opportunity, if you can spot when they are coming. Jump on top of Genichiro Ashina when he performs one and attack after to deal a lot of posture damage.
Follow all these tips and get very lucky and you might be able to beat Genichiro Ashina at the beginning of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Others have done it, and so can you. You’ll just die a whole lot before you do. Of course,now the question is what happens when you beat him. The answer is…not much. A shuriken flies out of nowhere and Genichiro cuts your arm off as normal. Now if you want to know how to beat Genichiro Ashina the next time you see him check this out.
- This article was updated on March 21st, 2019
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