It's really how he punishes you for missing deflects and not attacking him constantly that makes him such a great boss. If you aren't aggressive enough he pelts you with arrows. If you don't deflect him he'll hit you twice in the time it takes for you to dodge once. He forces you to fight on even ground, and when you do oh boy is the clink clanks rewarding.
Genichiro is probably the best boss at teaching how to do defelcts rather than just blocking. That combo he does feels so clean when you deflect all of them for the first time
Fun story about second-phase ape: my mother in law and father in law were over for dinner and my wife had everything ready and I was in the living room standing up playing this Ape battle like an insane person for what might have been two or three hours straight and I was like "JUST LEMME KILL THIS APE and then we can eat!" so there was a sort of high anticipation/complete disappointment in their daughter for choosing such a silly man as a husband, so I finally killed him and I said "OK Let's eat," and he gets back up and starts dragging his head around and, well you can just imagine the reactions that went around.
Oh my god i could picture it. You: (sighs) "finally, okay lets eat. Wife: "Umm, he's getting up" You: "WHAT, NO NO NO NO NO NO NO, (Scurries to controller)
3:16 There is another detail in the japanese version of the game for the invisible monkey. In english the name of the monkeys below the boss-healthbar is "Folding Screen Monkeys" While playing the game in japanese I immediately noticed the different name. The monkey are each written out as 「見る猿、聞く猿、言う猿、 」 (mirusaru, kikusaru, iusaru, ) Which means "Monkey that sees, Monkey that Hears, Monkey that Speaks, " Notice the comma after the third monkey indicating there is still someting left in the list of names... but you cant see it. Really nice detail also I think.
The 4th monkey being invisible is also a nod to it being forgotten. In the Analects of Confus Everyone remembers the "Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" part
Man the phase 2 on Guardian ape is one of my favourite moments in like any game, I was so pissed at the boss and took my rage out hitting his corpse only for him to get up with horror on my face.
Cool detail about Genichiro. All the cutscenes with him actually show how much wolf is progressing as a shinobi. During the first encounter against him, wolf actually misses his sword when he reaches for it due to how rusty he is with the blade. The second time you find him, wolf needs to feel the blade to reach for it first and unsheathes carefully showing he's getting better but not quite there (shown in 20:25 actually) and the last time you encounter him, Wolf unsheathes with perfect accuracy and speed showing he's mastered the way of the blade. Reflecting Wolf's story like this is why he's my favourite. Battle wise Owl is probably the most fun tho
You can actually use the umbrella against most of the annoying attacks you mentioned. You can block Guardian Ape's terror scream with any umbrella, which means you can get some hits in while he's winding up and use the follow-up prosthetic attack once he's done. With Inner Isshin, you can block the black flame with the purple umbrella. But yeah, Inner Father is def Sekiro's best boss. Such a PERFECT flow.
On that note, the colored gourds are really great to have against status bosses. With those and the consumable items, you have more to use per attempt at the fight, and the fire resistance one also protects against fire damage.
If black blade attacks all have the same properties, I'm pretty sure you can perfect deflect them without losing hp if you use a confetti. At least the genichiros ones are like that. I'm also not sure if you always take chip dmg with a normal deflect because I only noticed this while playing charmless.
So happy to hear True Corrupted Monk's praise! It's one of my favorite fights, the dance-like rhythm, the voice lines that range from violent, mocking and erratic, and how graceful the moves are! The arena plays a big part too, TCM blocking your way in the middle of a bridge on a cliffside is so cinematic specially whenever the sweeps from the halberd lift the leaves off the ground! And to top it all off, THE MUSIC, TCM's theme remains my favorite track from the OST to this day.
I prefer the illusion version as the first phase is the best portion of the fight and it’s more extended. Phase one of True Monk dies way too fast, the second phase is redundant and I don’t find the third phase as fun. I love the ost and how fluid her combos are
For some reason this fight didnt give me that much trouble, but it was a lot of hit and run tactics which broke the pace a lot. I found it kind of fun to use my speed to speed to use hit and run tactics tho, with more grappling hooks and things to jump on this fight could have been cool
I think the ape duo is thematically a very cool boss, finding the immortal creature you couldn’t kill in its own hideout, and it’s mate joining in on the fight against you. It just doesn’t play well unfortunately
You can treat them as a single enemy up to a point, they try to coordinate their attacks. It’s just sometimes inconsistent. If they play kind of nicely it’s fine.
It's not that difficult imo. Headless ape alone is one of the easiest bosses in the game, the other ape can be killed with firecrackers and mortal draw.
Seemed to work ok for me, granted I don’t do the fight that often, I tend to skip it. But I seemed to notice that they coordinate their attacks to a point. I’ll have to re fight them a few times and get back to you on that
I've recently fallen in love with this game. Honestly the first two times i played it it was rly frustrating since i didn't get the parry mechanic and tried playing it like souls, only when i played it again a few months ago i realized that i can parry almost everything and the feeling i get know from playing it over and over is so damn satisfying. For me the game is now tied in 1st place with DS1 in terms of its replay value. I just love how quick u can get to each boss and how rewarding it feels to get through the game faster and faster.
@@matthiasrauert8397 Messing around with prosthetics is so underrated. After my 2nd run or so, I outright stopped using firecrackers and experimented with other tools. The umbrellas, shurikens, axes, spears all offered a lot of cool combos. Sabimaru was really fun as well. The mist raven had a steep learning curve, but once I learned to use it it was a ton of fun, especially the one that leaves a fire trail.
This is my exact same experience. I absolutely loathed everything about this game on my first playthrough, so much so that I ended up cheesing isshin with empowered mortal draw just to call it quits... but oh boy was I wrong. I realized how masterfully engineered the combat system was while working my way towards the platinum trophy and before I knew it, I could never look back at more "traditional" souls games (including bloodborne and elden ring) the same way. Fast forward to a couple of years later, I had platinumed sekiro on two different platforms, beaten every gauntlet and completed charmless + demon bell playthroughs, and at that point it had become not just my favorite fromsoftware game, but one of the very best videoludic experiences of my entire life, probably second only to the likes of ocarina of time, outer wilds and persona 5, albeit for entirely different reasons
Owl answers the question of "what is it like to fight you the player." All the tricks and feints. I think even the first Owl fight is great because it's just such a good shake up. All these other bosses and their rules, then Owl is just like "nope, can't heal. Why? Because I found this item, that's why."
Great video! I feel like 90% of ranking videos focus almost entirely on the negatives of all bosses because it's a lot easier to detail your grievances rather than what makes the bosses amazing. This video gives a really great analysis into the highlights and downfalls of all the bosses. Great watch!
Inner Father is perfection. Easy pick for #1 imo and if it didn’t exist, I probably would’ve gone back and forth between Owl Father and Isshin for #1 anyways. But the teleporting attacks are so satisfying, his longer attack combos are super fun to deflect, and I love the visuals and music. The music is so hype and fast paced, but also has a somber tone to it because you’re fighting your father. I agree the pillars are slightly annoying, but Inner Father is probably a top 3 boss in the series for me.
@@adonaielohim4147 So when you get a certain ending and face a certain number of bosses, you’ll unlock a Gauntlet of Strength. For Inner Father specifically, you’ll want the Shura gauntlet. Then, you need to get to the final boss of the gauntlet, which will be either Inner Father, Inner Genichiro, or Inner Isshin. Even if you die to the boss, you’ll unlock them in Reflections of Strength to fight any time. It’s a little annoying to do, but not that hard. For Shura gauntlet, you basically need to beat Emma, Isshin Ashina, and Demon of Hatred back to back, then you’ll get to Inner Father. If you use the DoH cheese, you should be able to get it fairly easily.
@@adonaielohim4147It's the final boss of one of the gauntlets. To unlock it, get the Shura ending. Defeat Demon of Hatred, which only appears if you go for any other playthrough, and defeat Owl (Father), a secret boss you have to fight in order to get one of the better endings. You can do all of this on multiple Ng+ cycles.
I personally didn't think it was the best, I would probably put it in top 3 I just love Genichiro and Isshin too much. I would have Genichiro at 1 if he wasn't so easy. But the final fight with Isshin is just the cherry on top of the game and the perfect fight to end off the game
I don't know how you did it... But you somehow managed to make the perfect sekiro boss tier list since forever. Every single point was just a chefs kiss. You just earned yourself a loyal subscriber.
Nah, double apes is far less caotic than it looks, both apes coordinate their attacks and fight like one or sometimes one will wait while the other attacks. Although tbf I discovered this in like my 7th playthrough so i guess i can blame anyone for not noticing
@@RupcorisIt isn’t consistent though and even when it is the punish windows are slim unless you want to actively cheese, which to be fair most players do because the fight is such a boring slug otherwise. And even if it was actually good, would you really put it over like anything above the folding screen monkeys?
@@scarsch1286if it was a good fight I would put it really high simply because multi boss encounters are so hard to make work. I actually think a humanoid multi boss could have worked well, imagine dueling first phase Isshin and Emma at the same time.
what i love about sekiro bosses is how different people can have absolutely different experiences. For example, on first playthrough, I beat Genichiro in one try which after watching videos and comments, I realize that this seems crazy. Yet, I struggled HARD on other bosses like Guardian ape, owl, demon of hatred and even mini bosses like the 2 Snake eyes (i fking hate them!). I feel like some bosses click better for some people and that's part of the beauty of sekiro.
I beat Sword Saint Isshin much quicker than I expected compared to the stories I've heard of people who got stuck on it for days. That being said, it didn't affect the quality of the boss for me. He's still my favorite boss of all time, with Gael from DS3 coming close.
First time I fought Shinobi Owl, I swear I didn’t even know how to get a hit in. Like the first 4-5 tries I didn’t even get one hit on him. I’d just heal and run and deflect. But once I learned him, he was so satisfying. Probably the most euphoria I’ve ever felt beating a boss.
@@iHaveTheDocuments for me, I feel like sometimes im more in 'the zone' or more alert and then i pop off vs bosses. I feel like it's hard to be lucky vs sekiro bosses lol; like, u could be lucky on 1-2 hits sure, but i'd say it's hard to completely win a boss fight just through sheer luck.
Not a critique, so I hope you don't take it that way, but you didn't perfectly deflect the One Mind attack against Isshin. For the longest time I thought I was also until I noticed I always took a little bit of chip damage during it despite deflecting everything. The 4th hit of the circle portion needs to be perfect parried to take no chip damage, but to do so you need to break your normal rhythm which makes it quite difficult. I still can't get it every time to this day. Just thought you'd want to know in case you didn't already and wanted to try it.
This video is super well done! Agree with most of your points, and I had the exact same placement and take on True Monk being very underrated in my ranking.
I think a very important note (I cant remember if you touched on it) is that each boss has a reaction to spacing, deflects and guarding, headless Ape for example if dodged or blocked during his 3 string combo that leaves his neck exposed, will actually become a much longer 5+ combo, making it way harder and more stressful. I've noticed the less you deflect the more moves an enemy will throw at you and for some, vice versa, they get harder as you deflect, i.e isshin. As I said its amazing how each enemy reacts to your spacing and deflects. Truely legendary combat
FINALLY, someone else who agrees that TCM is top tier!!! Always thought she was underrated as hell and lacking top of the list representation in rankings until today
The satisfaction of figuring out the FSM and especially how to find the invisible monkey was so satisfying on my first playthrough. I had an awesome moment where I was crouched still looking over my shoulder and saw a small splash in the foreground and did a panic swipe and got the money, really fun design.
I agree with literally everything here. True Monk is so slept on, I so agree! While I haven’t fought Inner Father yet, after fighting Owl (Father), I immediately said “yep this is better than Isshin”. Which wasn’t easy, as I love Isshin’s fight also. 10/10 ranking!
I kept running into something that wasn't there during the folding screen monkeys. So I attacked it. Didn't even know there was an invisible monkey until then.
In hindsight, while not necessarily my favorite boss in the game or anything, Gyoubu is a very underrated boss. A very nice introduction boss with a badass design and unique nature of being just a armored up samurai on a horse in a game filled with paranormal beings and dudes with lightning powers. The kind of unique style of his gameplay makes it fun to go back to even as a experienced player. But the thing that gets me the most is the vibes of the fight. The massive battlefield covered in bodies, banners, towers and palisades everywhere which fall apart in the commotion of the boss fight. All within the shadow of Ashina Castle. With two final warriors duking it out on the battlefield to be the last one standing amidst the carnage. And then you have Gyoubu, riding from the gate and proudly proclaiming himself throughout the fight with a stellar voice actor in both Japanese and English. And a boss track that in both phases perfectly fits this loud and proud samurai charging at you with hooves clacking and his spear tearing up the fractured remains of the battlefield. It is a shear epic battle that I think is a perfect introduction as the first proper boss and the game’s Sengoku setting. And Gyoubu’s boss arena in general is one of the biggest reasons I think it’s such a good boss. It’s no wonder they used it for the Demon of Hatred’s fight, and I would go as far to say that’s it my favorite boss arena in the whole game. What is cool though is that arguably his biggest weakness of being conceptually simple to fight being a beginner boss, is remedied by some cool mods on PC. Resurrection Gyoubu especially is a really nice adaptation of the fight and being able to use mikiri on him is very cool. If there was a way to give him a 3rd phase where he’s simply dismounted and resorts to using his sword in a more conventional Sekiro duel that contrasted with his prior phases, that would be a cool idea to his gameplay aspect I think.
Honestly, resurrection is the type of mod that unless told otherwise, I would believe that it was a genuine update to the game in a way that Scholar Of The First Sin was for DS2
Great video! Couple of points... there is a grapple upgrade that you can use to pull yourself towards enimies and attacking them before you land... and makes the Gobyu fight wayyyy easier.
23:10 so true with the inner isshin vs vanilla. He also had this thing where he could interrupt you in p1 with no telegraphing when in vanilla it was safe to attack with his sweep move and i almost lost the gauntlet to it. I hope sincerely that the sequel to sekiro has many bosses equal or above isshin's level
Friend...Sorry to break it down to ya but there won't ever be a sequel to Sekiro. FromSoftware just said no. No Sekiro sequel. No Dark Souls sequel. No Bloodborn sequel. Just done
Glad to see another Corrupted Monk enjoyer, and I agree with the ranking. Inner Father is the greatest fight From ever made imo. Also I loved Lady Butterfly's ghosts because they gave me spirit emblems so I can grief her with more shurikens. However, I am biased because she was my first boss. I avoided Gyoubu because I tried to avoid the huge snake God.
Best thing about father owl is that he uses all the fighting styles he thought you. Even his basic sword attacks mirror your own moves but with a larger odachi instead of a katana. Great stuff.
Honestly what keeps isshin from the #1 spot for me is similar to what you said. Inner father has enough switch ups from his base game counterpart that just make the fight flow better. I feel the same about inner genichiro, my favorite boss in the game (mostly because he truly gets a complete overhaul for the inner version). Inner isshin was such a disappointment from the standpoint of the fact that he really only gets two new combos (technically it’s three, but aside from the first phase I never once encountered the circular mortal blade draw, I didn’t realize until I watched your video that he did it at other points in the fight). Both are great additions to his fight, but when you compare the additions to his fight to the ones in both inner genichiro and inner father, it just isn’t comparable. I really wish that he got the same attention the other two did, because based solely on the base game I think he’s the best fight. Also, loved your TCM take. I never really see her any higher than the midway point in both difficulty rankings and quality rankings and I never understood why. Fantastic moveset and very few boss rooms are as utterly gorgeous as the vermillion bridge. Like you said, the second phase is really all that sucks, but it can be cheesed so who cares (why are the branches there anyway?). Loved the video, easily the most agreeable ranking I’ve watched yet. Subbed🙌🙌
I absolutely agree on Corrupted Monk being underrated. I don't know what it is about her, but I always find myself entering a flow state effortlessly with that fight. The set piece is also really cool. I might put her as my favorite.
I don't know why you separated Emma and Isshin Ashina, I get that they're different fights, but they're one boss. that would be like separating the King of the Storms and the Nameless King, like they're just different phases. if you got a checkpoint in between, I would understand it, but you don't. I don't mean to make it a bigger deal than it is, I just wanted to mention it. Good video and mostly based opinions anyway, also thanks for giving Owl (Father) the praise he deserves, he's one of the most fun bosses I've ever fought.
Idk, most people tend to separate them, and I felt like I’d be able to discuss them better separately. Also I think old Isshin would’ve had the same placement with or without Emma anyway
I was able to beat Ape Gank in one try. Surefire strategy when the second ape shows up: get a single melee hit on the headless one, it will do it's roar, run away to avoid it and the brown ape will always chase you. Firecracker, dps/posture break it down a.s.a.p. Rinse in repeat if needed until brown ape is dead
Absolutely agree with number 1. I always thought Father was a slightly better boss than Isshin. Isshin has more moves, more phases, and is faster, but he has weaknesses, like low posture. But Father ? He is built a tank, high HP, high posture, hits like a truck, is faster than most bosses, doesn't have underhanded tricks like the anti-heal from Great Shinobi or Isshin's Glock, and is, imo, a much better boss all around. He doesn't have any blatant weaknesses. Very satisfying boss, because he was for me the only real wall in difficulty that I had to overcome (SSI was hard, but I didn't struggle against him as much as I did against Owl Father). Before Father I was going through the game at a steady pace, with some difficulties here and there. Then I found him, and spent nearly 4 to 5 hours fighting him. Then I did it, and once I finished the game and went NG+, I fought him again, and first timed him. It felt so good beating him first try after struggling so much against him. God I love that boss.
Great video. Sekiro's boss roster is amazing. My one regret about it is we never got the Inner Isshin we needed. I think a rework of his AI and attack patterns to make him more aggressive like they did with Geni would take him to the next level, but at least we have mods.
I used to agree with the two ape fight, but now replaying Sekiro for the 3rd time (demon bell run) and I realized they aren't inconsistent in their attacks and that killing the second ape first is the worse strategy. It's not a great fight but they don't just gang up on you randomly; they do coordinate. When the headless ape is attacking the other ape will hold back and only jump in at points the headless ape isn't swinging. And the vice versa. You can actually take each one on at a time, just be mindful when the agro switches and off screen attacks. It just anxiety inducing before realizing that and makes people panic but it actually really isn't that hard once you get the rhythm. The headless ape is actually easier than solo bc of this. And I know for sure you're not supposed to take the other ape out first bc if you defeat the headless ape, the fight ends, regardless of if the second ape is alive. While in reverse you still have to take the headless ape out. Clearly the second ape is meant to make the fight harder but is not the actual boss.
I think the 'cheese' for phase 2 of true corrupted monk is actually just how you're 'supposed' to deal with it. I'd consider real cheeses to be getting Gyoubo to run off the cliff or pushing false monk out into the middle of the arena without drawing aggro so you can just deathblow it.
I beat Gyubu for the first time yesterday. When you go in for the first time his entrance and mechanics are just perfect. He's the first boss that does combos and has an epic entrance and arena. If he's number 11 i'm stoked to fight the ones aboe him.
This game never wastes time. Nor do any other souls games. There's a reason souls games help people overcome depression. The games don't just teach you to fight. They also teach patience. Waiting is part of the struggle. While some fights could be refined there will always be bosses that make it a point to make you wait. it's not "wasting time". Time is never ever wasted. What's actually happening is that you learn something. How long can you last? Are you worked up? Is it throwing you off and causing you to die because you rush? How does it affect the next fight? Do you rush and be impatient out of the game? It's a domino effect. The fact that the apes are skipped means they got to you. That you can't handle it. Life is unfair. The devs that make games like this want to make that very point at times. Deal with it or don't.
Sekiro is that kind of game you randomly think about on a tuesday morning and then play through back2back eventhough you have already beaten it 10 times
Fun fact Sword Saint Isshin was inspired by Sword Saint Musashi Miyamoto a real historic figure that invented war tactics, combat, and other stuff. Also he invented the famous Dual wielding of fighting with 2 swords and you see Isshin dual wielding a katana and a spear
As someone who just started playing Sekiro, I think Lady Butterfly is one of the best bosses I've ever fought. I liked it so much that I started questioning myself on being a masochist when I discovered that there is a phase to in this fight on my 70th try. I wasn't happy to discover that but I felt really satisfied when the fight kept going.
Lady Butterfly is an amazing boss when you are just starting out the game. She and Genichiro are the perfect welcoming into the game of parrying. I get where he is coming from because she only ever is hard the first time you fight her and the fight does drag on a lot, but when you are just starting out the game the fight is epic.
The resurrection mod of sekiro is fantastic, giving Lady butterfly a shadow clone/stand to use in certain combos in Phase 2 is awesome. So many cool changes that are fun remixes of boss fights, not to mention the new enemy placements.
Honestly, Resurrection makes such good updates on the bosses that I would like to see this dude just do a ranking for the mod itself. Seriously there's no going back to vanilla Gyoubu or Butterfly after experiencing the mod
I think of the illusions with Lady Butterfly did something to her (like they damage her poise when they die or defeating all of them stuns her) then I think they wouldn't be bad, but all they do is take away from her or do a lot of damage to you if your knew/in the early game.
Idk I think I'd have to rank Inner Father second and OG SS Isshin as best. Nothing will ever beat my first playthrough of clawing my way to victory in such a high octane, "show me what you've learned" type of fight. Great ranking regardless.
Regarding headless ape scream attack, you can actually stay close to him during it if you use umbrella and it can be any umbrella. For whatever reason, it is the only terror attack in the game that can be fully blocked with any umbrella and not just the phenoix version.
Probably because you can’t have the purple umbrella in this fight on first playthrough. The upgrade is locked behind getting the finger whistle, which is the reward for this fight.
@@maxxon99 yes but it is not needed which is my point. This is an exception to the usual terror attacks where it can be fully blocked by ANY umbrella. Purple is not needed for it. Just find it weird that so many people just didn't even try and test it
@@bruhder5854 My point is that it's an exception because you _can't_ have the purple umbrella in the fight on first playthrough. Logically it should be required, but I guess someone made an oopsie and they hacked a quick fix.
Good video but I disagree with the double ape fight take. The two apes are _very_ consistent in how they aggro and attack you. The 2nd ape acts as a combo extension to the main ape. There is absolutely a dedicated strategy to the fight. ▪︎Run away from both apes. ▪︎Deflect the main ape's combo. ▪︎While the main ape is knocked down, the 2nd ape will try to combo you. Parry the combo and punish the 2nd ape. ▪︎Repeat this process until the 2nd ape is dead. ▪︎Defeat main ape like in phase one. I will say however, the game does a _terrible_ job at teaching you to fight them. It's also the only boss fight that requires juggling aggro like this, so it's very unlikely that you'll understand how to win when you first show up. I'll be honest. I didn't fully understand the fight even after _platinuming_ the game. The only reason I do now is because I replayed the fight for hours on my already 100% completed save file until I mastered it. I can beat it every time now without even using items.
I find it frustrating how other channels include dungeon and field bosses when talking about how bad Elden ring bosses are, yet they also conveniently don't mention mini bosses when talking about sekiro. (BTW Both games have god tier bosses)
Good list. For me personally, Ishin still clutches the number one spot actually because of his move in 22:50. You can just jump over it and bounce off his head like for every other sweep attack which is always satisfying.
Go for purification ending, you will get +2 prayer beads which will get you to max stats AND you fight Owl Father. Hard as hell to learn, but once you learn him it's such a good time. Sometimes I pause whatever I'm doing, jump into Sekiro and fight him just to feel extra good
I'm glad to see someone who enjoys the corrupted monk as much as I do. I think this boss has one of the best paste in the game and it's a pleasure to fight her everytime.
consistent strategy for headless ape: 1. bait the scream attack from the main ape 2. sprint away 3. this will cause the brown ape to charge at you 4. use firecrackers to stun brown ape 5. smack the shit out of brown ape 6. rinse and repeat until brown ape is dead, white ape is then trivial
The second phase where Isshin pulls out the spear and dual wields is so sick. Deflecting his spear spin attack is the most satisfying thing to deflect in Sekiro IMO.
Also, a cool detail I found recently is that Inner Genichiro reverses lightning using his Sakura Dance, meaning you can reverse his reversal that was reversing your reversing of his attack
@@skoogadoo It is a detail because he could've done a lightning reversal by just jumping up in the air and attacking 💀 Edit: Did you really like your own comment too? Damn
21:34 Audio: inner genichiro can pull this move (Sakura dance) out at any point Video: geni doing Sakura dance after floating passage, which is guaranteed in the first phase Great ranking and video, the voice work was also really good and well written, that was just something I noticed
What's interesting is, if you draw it out and give Emma a sake (I don't remember which) Wolf will ask her who taught her to tight with the blade which builds up the fact she can fight and then you get to fight her, and if you're paying attention, her moves are more suave and gentle version of those from Genichiro and Isshin
Another thing on the owl fights is that it feels like you both are at the same speed. If you both attack at the same time, both attacks land as a trade, I think it's a cool detail as he is your father and he trained you
I really love what they did with geni, the first time you fight he destroys you, then you get a rematch on top of the castle on more or less equal footing, then at end youre the one destroying poor ol geni
There's a really easy way to fix the ape gank. Make the whistle prosthetic that makes beasts go mad work on the second one. Turning the gank in on itself would be so satisfying, and the fact that you get the whistle from the first ape fight would have made it make sense
One thing about the Inner Ishin fight, you don't have to run from the Mortal Blade attack. The purple shield allows you to block, along with a counterattack for decent damage. It made that fight fairly easier, though one could argue the idea of needing a prosthetic tool. I think you can also jump on Ishin during that move but I haven't pulled it off.
The only thing Sekiro needs, to be an even better game, is to have the expanse and scope of Elden ring. Not in Story, as thats deep and nice already. But in Exploration and Creativity. It was a semi open game. It had the best combat ever seen. Heck, it still has. It has great game mechanics. Top, elite bosses with so much thought put into them and variations in them. Genuine, deep story and it's not even in my face. It plays out and leads to certain fights. Very well merged with the action.
I love your corrupted monk take. For me I actually personally love corrupted monk so much it might be my favorite fight in the game. I don't know what about the fight I like so much but it really just is that flow
Imo the most loveable thing about Corrupted Monk is that she constantly fights you melee, she doesn't use any gun, shurikens, bow, or other annoying projectiles. That's why she is one of my two favourite Bosses in this game.
Corrupted Monk is 100% my favorite boss in the game. The only move I really dislike is her retreating backslash as it gives little forewarning. But everything else just flows perfectly. Nothing like say, guardian where you have to keep running away every 10 seconds as to not get instant killed by a status effect.
I'm surprised you didn't mention 2 things in the guardian ape's fight. Its super cool insect like moveset always hunced over on 2 legs but wields the sword almost like a whip. And the badass eargasm sound from deflecting the last big hits from his combos that knock him over. Ear ejaculation!
I love the Guardian Ape fight. It feels very grounded in reality in a way that it would use everything to beat it's enemy, even if the methods are grotesque and feral. I wish more bosses in FromSoftware games were as unfiltered as this!
Great Shinobi owl is my favorite fight because I've only done one playthrough I hate the poison but I actually love the smoke bomb and no heal grenade it was the first boss that actually forced me to get truly good at his moveset and not rely heavily on heals and lock on
Ok so slight comment, I think some of your issues could be fixed with more varied Shinobi tool variety. For example, you said you didn't like inner ishins black spin move because you have to run away, but this is pretty simply solved by using mist raven which also opens him to a free hit before the follow up spin even triggers. Other fights can work this way too, more variety in tools can lead to a lot of fights being more enjoyable.
Genichiro is simultaneously the hardest but also the easiest boss in Sekiro. Such a polished set of game mechanics
It's really how he punishes you for missing deflects and not attacking him constantly that makes him such a great boss.
If you aren't aggressive enough he pelts you with arrows. If you don't deflect him he'll hit you twice in the time it takes for you to dodge once. He forces you to fight on even ground, and when you do oh boy is the clink clanks rewarding.
Yeah sometimes i can perfect him but sometimes i can die in 5 seconds. But hes not the hardest because every boss can do this
Honestly i haven’t heard anybody describe it this way probably cause nobody i know plays it but this makes so much sense to me 😂
Genichiro is probably the best boss at teaching how to do defelcts rather than just blocking. That combo he does feels so clean when you deflect all of them for the first time
@@Croissant87exactly, we don’t talk about how many times I died to him in my playthrough😭, but at least I learned
You forgot the number 16th, the Inner Camera Angle.
My god, the camera truly is the worst enemy you have to face.
SEKIRO: Shadows Die To The Camera
Me fighting Lone Shadow Vilehand: enough is enough, no more of you.
@@aristateles1549 he’s the reason why i wrote this comment
So true
Tho thats a prob for all fromsoft games if you ask me
Fun story about second-phase ape: my mother in law and father in law were over for dinner and my wife had everything ready and I was in the living room standing up playing this Ape battle like an insane person for what might have been two or three hours straight and I was like "JUST LEMME KILL THIS APE and then we can eat!" so there was a sort of high anticipation/complete disappointment in their daughter for choosing such a silly man as a husband, so I finally killed him and I said "OK Let's eat," and he gets back up and starts dragging his head around and, well you can just imagine the reactions that went around.
Is this supposed to be a funny story or just you exposing yourself as a massive douche?
I know this is late but I love this comment so much 😂
Oh my god i could picture it.
You: (sighs) "finally, okay lets eat.
Wife: "Umm, he's getting up"
You: "WHAT, NO NO NO NO NO NO NO, (Scurries to controller)
the horror!
What if dude had just paused the game
3:16 There is another detail in the japanese version of the game for the invisible monkey.
In english the name of the monkeys below the boss-healthbar is "Folding Screen Monkeys"
While playing the game in japanese I immediately noticed the different name.
The monkey are each written out as 「見る猿、聞く猿、言う猿、 」 (mirusaru, kikusaru, iusaru, )
Which means "Monkey that sees, Monkey that Hears, Monkey that Speaks, "
Notice the comma after the third monkey indicating there is still someting left in the list of names... but you cant see it.
Really nice detail also I think.
Cool detail
The 4th monkey being invisible is also a nod to it being forgotten. In the Analects of Confus
Everyone remembers the "Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" part
@@apophisgaming4964 Wtf that’s awesome
But no one talks about the do no evil@@apophisgaming4964
@@apophisgaming4964 what is the fourth part? do no evil?
Whenever I randomly watch a Sekiro video I get a crazy urge to go back and play this absolute masterpiece of a game
Too real
whats stopping you?
@@kororo5333multiple game in the backlogs, real life obligation like jobs, leaving time for some social activities. Idk a lot actually.
already replaying it 5th time and I absolutely love it :)
@@kororo5333it was so good i replayed it another time right after i just finished the game
Man the phase 2 on Guardian ape is one of my favourite moments in like any game, I was so pissed at the boss and took my rage out hitting his corpse only for him to get up with horror on my face.
His animations are awesome, I remember being in awe the first time I faced him and he moved all puppet like.
Cool detail about Genichiro. All the cutscenes with him actually show how much wolf is progressing as a shinobi. During the first encounter against him, wolf actually misses his sword when he reaches for it due to how rusty he is with the blade. The second time you find him, wolf needs to feel the blade to reach for it first and unsheathes carefully showing he's getting better but not quite there (shown in 20:25 actually) and the last time you encounter him, Wolf unsheathes with perfect accuracy and speed showing he's mastered the way of the blade. Reflecting Wolf's story like this is why he's my favourite. Battle wise Owl is probably the most fun tho
And then he proves his mastery by putting genichiro into the ground
@@Generalmackato be fair, Genichiro puts himself into the ground
This is my favorite Souls game by a landslide
Edit: For all the people saying this isn't a souls game, I dont give a shit
same
Same
This is definitely not my favorite souls game, it’s my favorite game in existence.
While obviously it's not the best, it's still a masterpiece
@@iHaveTheDocuments well, it's "obviously" the best for me
You can actually use the umbrella against most of the annoying attacks you mentioned. You can block Guardian Ape's terror scream with any umbrella, which means you can get some hits in while he's winding up and use the follow-up prosthetic attack once he's done. With Inner Isshin, you can block the black flame with the purple umbrella.
But yeah, Inner Father is def Sekiro's best boss. Such a PERFECT flow.
Dort recommend the follow up on the scream, the recovery is pretty long and depending on what he follows up with you can’t avoid getting hit
@@nomongosinthaworld I never had any issues using ut tbh. You just gotta time it right to prevent chip damage from the lingering terror aoe
On that note, the colored gourds are really great to have against status bosses. With those and the consumable items, you have more to use per attempt at the fight, and the fire resistance one also protects against fire damage.
If black blade attacks all have the same properties, I'm pretty sure you can perfect deflect them without losing hp if you use a confetti. At least the genichiros ones are like that. I'm also not sure if you always take chip dmg with a normal deflect because I only noticed this while playing charmless.
So happy to hear True Corrupted Monk's praise! It's one of my favorite fights, the dance-like rhythm, the voice lines that range from violent, mocking and erratic, and how graceful the moves are! The arena plays a big part too, TCM blocking your way in the middle of a bridge on a cliffside is so cinematic specially whenever the sweeps from the halberd lift the leaves off the ground!
And to top it all off, THE MUSIC, TCM's theme remains my favorite track from the OST to this day.
but fuck the first version of the corrupted monk yo
I prefer the illusion version as the first phase is the best portion of the fight and it’s more extended. Phase one of True Monk dies way too fast, the second phase is redundant and I don’t find the third phase as fun. I love the ost and how fluid her combos are
Yea it's not as annoying as corrupted monk
@@randy_montananah I actually love the first phase. It’s kinda therapeutic hitting all the deflects.
@@zonk834 but my confetti
The only redeeming quality about headless ape gank is that you can skip it entirely
The masochist in me couldn't let that slide. I had to beat every boss in the game.
@@Crichjo32 yeah i had to beat it atleast once but on the subsequent playthroughs i found it nice that you can skip it
The cons is that you miss out on a memory, the best ninjutsu, and a cool finisher
@@Crichjo32 you can skip and come back later
For some reason this fight didnt give me that much trouble, but it was a lot of hit and run tactics which broke the pace a lot. I found it kind of fun to use my speed to speed to use hit and run tactics tho, with more grappling hooks and things to jump on this fight could have been cool
I think the ape duo is thematically a very cool boss, finding the immortal creature you couldn’t kill in its own hideout, and it’s mate joining in on the fight against you. It just doesn’t play well unfortunately
You can treat them as a single enemy up to a point, they try to coordinate their attacks. It’s just sometimes inconsistent. If they play kind of nicely it’s fine.
It's not that difficult imo. Headless ape alone is one of the easiest bosses in the game, the other ape can be killed with firecrackers and mortal draw.
@@AS-Stardust I at no point claimed it was difficult, it's just not very well designed.
@@austinestep8461 You actually can't treat them as a single enemy, what are you talking about?
Seemed to work ok for me, granted I don’t do the fight that often, I tend to skip it. But I seemed to notice that they coordinate their attacks to a point. I’ll have to re fight them a few times and get back to you on that
I absolutely agree with your number 1. The inner Owl changes made that fight so much more fun
It’s just too good
I've recently fallen in love with this game. Honestly the first two times i played it it was rly frustrating since i didn't get the parry mechanic and tried playing it like souls, only when i played it again a few months ago i realized that i can parry almost everything and the feeling i get know from playing it over and over is so damn satisfying.
For me the game is now tied in 1st place with DS1 in terms of its replay value. I just love how quick u can get to each boss and how rewarding it feels to get through the game faster and faster.
And my friends keep asking me how am i still having fun in NG+11
@@akramzwain3151 Its amazing how this game seems to just get better over time.
@@matthiasrauert8397 Messing around with prosthetics is so underrated. After my 2nd run or so, I outright stopped using firecrackers and experimented with other tools. The umbrellas, shurikens, axes, spears all offered a lot of cool combos. Sabimaru was really fun as well. The mist raven had a steep learning curve, but once I learned to use it it was a ton of fun, especially the one that leaves a fire trail.
This is my exact same experience. I absolutely loathed everything about this game on my first playthrough, so much so that I ended up cheesing isshin with empowered mortal draw just to call it quits... but oh boy was I wrong. I realized how masterfully engineered the combat system was while working my way towards the platinum trophy and before I knew it, I could never look back at more "traditional" souls games (including bloodborne and elden ring) the same way. Fast forward to a couple of years later, I had platinumed sekiro on two different platforms, beaten every gauntlet and completed charmless + demon bell playthroughs, and at that point it had become not just my favorite fromsoftware game, but one of the very best videoludic experiences of my entire life, probably second only to the likes of ocarina of time, outer wilds and persona 5, albeit for entirely different reasons
Owl answers the question of "what is it like to fight you the player." All the tricks and feints. I think even the first Owl fight is great because it's just such a good shake up. All these other bosses and their rules, then Owl is just like "nope, can't heal. Why? Because I found this item, that's why."
"I MADE YOU, BIIIITCH"
Cant forget the first time you use a thrust attacks against him and immediately get fucked XD
Owl father is a trash boss
When you master the combat Genichiro becomes the archer you kill before Lady Butterfly
I may of killed lady butterfly before fighting genichiro
Great video! I feel like 90% of ranking videos focus almost entirely on the negatives of all bosses because it's a lot easier to detail your grievances rather than what makes the bosses amazing.
This video gives a really great analysis into the highlights and downfalls of all the bosses. Great watch!
Inner Father is perfection. Easy pick for #1 imo and if it didn’t exist, I probably would’ve gone back and forth between Owl Father and Isshin for #1 anyways. But the teleporting attacks are so satisfying, his longer attack combos are super fun to deflect, and I love the visuals and music. The music is so hype and fast paced, but also has a somber tone to it because you’re fighting your father. I agree the pillars are slightly annoying, but Inner Father is probably a top 3 boss in the series for me.
Can I ask how can if fight the inner version of bosses ? Is it a mod ??
@@adonaielohim4147 So when you get a certain ending and face a certain number of bosses, you’ll unlock a Gauntlet of Strength. For Inner Father specifically, you’ll want the Shura gauntlet. Then, you need to get to the final boss of the gauntlet, which will be either Inner Father, Inner Genichiro, or Inner Isshin. Even if you die to the boss, you’ll unlock them in Reflections of Strength to fight any time. It’s a little annoying to do, but not that hard.
For Shura gauntlet, you basically need to beat Emma, Isshin Ashina, and Demon of Hatred back to back, then you’ll get to Inner Father. If you use the DoH cheese, you should be able to get it fairly easily.
@@adonaielohim4147It's the final boss of one of the gauntlets. To unlock it, get the Shura ending. Defeat Demon of Hatred, which only appears if you go for any other playthrough, and defeat Owl (Father), a secret boss you have to fight in order to get one of the better endings. You can do all of this on multiple Ng+ cycles.
the gauntlets from the game .@@adonaielohim4147
I personally didn't think it was the best, I would probably put it in top 3 I just love Genichiro and Isshin too much. I would have Genichiro at 1 if he wasn't so easy. But the final fight with Isshin is just the cherry on top of the game and the perfect fight to end off the game
Inner Father was the only boss that I just kept coming back to, its really just that fun
I don't know how you did it... But you somehow managed to make the perfect sekiro boss tier list since forever. Every single point was just a chefs kiss. You just earned yourself a loyal subscriber.
Me too
bro who tf ain't already subbed to Chad 🇹🇩
Nah, double apes is far less caotic than it looks, both apes coordinate their attacks and fight like one or sometimes one will wait while the other attacks. Although tbf I discovered this in like my 7th playthrough so i guess i can blame anyone for not noticing
@@RupcorisIt isn’t consistent though and even when it is the punish windows are slim unless you want to actively cheese, which to be fair most players do because the fight is such a boring slug otherwise. And even if it was actually good, would you really put it over like anything above the folding screen monkeys?
@@scarsch1286if it was a good fight I would put it really high simply because multi boss encounters are so hard to make work. I actually think a humanoid multi boss could have worked well, imagine dueling first phase Isshin and Emma at the same time.
what i love about sekiro bosses is how different people can have absolutely different experiences. For example, on first playthrough, I beat Genichiro in one try which after watching videos and comments, I realize that this seems crazy. Yet, I struggled HARD on other bosses like Guardian ape, owl, demon of hatred and even mini bosses like the 2 Snake eyes (i fking hate them!). I feel like some bosses click better for some people and that's part of the beauty of sekiro.
I beat Sword Saint Isshin much quicker than I expected compared to the stories I've heard of people who got stuck on it for days. That being said, it didn't affect the quality of the boss for me. He's still my favorite boss of all time, with Gael from DS3 coming close.
First time I fought Shinobi Owl, I swear I didn’t even know how to get a hit in. Like the first 4-5 tries I didn’t even get one hit on him. I’d just heal and run and deflect. But once I learned him, he was so satisfying. Probably the most euphoria I’ve ever felt beating a boss.
Sometimes we get accidentally lucky. Like it's not skill, just a happy accident
@@iHaveTheDocuments for me, I feel like sometimes im more in 'the zone' or more alert and then i pop off vs bosses. I feel like it's hard to be lucky vs sekiro bosses lol; like, u could be lucky on 1-2 hits sure, but i'd say it's hard to completely win a boss fight just through sheer luck.
Exactly my experience man
How tf this guy only have 7k subs ( which is a great accomplishment fr) but the effort put into this video must've been a lot. Great work homie
cause he is trash
Not a critique, so I hope you don't take it that way, but you didn't perfectly deflect the One Mind attack against Isshin. For the longest time I thought I was also until I noticed I always took a little bit of chip damage during it despite deflecting everything. The 4th hit of the circle portion needs to be perfect parried to take no chip damage, but to do so you need to break your normal rhythm which makes it quite difficult. I still can't get it every time to this day. Just thought you'd want to know in case you didn't already and wanted to try it.
This video is super well done! Agree with most of your points, and I had the exact same placement and take on True Monk being very underrated in my ranking.
I think a very important note (I cant remember if you touched on it) is that each boss has a reaction to spacing, deflects and guarding, headless Ape for example if dodged or blocked during his 3 string combo that leaves his neck exposed, will actually become a much longer 5+ combo, making it way harder and more stressful. I've noticed the less you deflect the more moves an enemy will throw at you and for some, vice versa, they get harder as you deflect, i.e isshin. As I said its amazing how each enemy reacts to your spacing and deflects. Truely legendary combat
I haven't gotten to the true corrupted monk, but the way you described her made me think of the Dancer in DS3. I really enjoyed that fight actually.
I'd love to see a miniboss ranking as well. Those people and animals are no joke.
FINALLY, someone else who agrees that TCM is top tier!!! Always thought she was underrated as hell and lacking top of the list representation in rankings until today
The satisfaction of figuring out the FSM and especially how to find the invisible monkey was so satisfying on my first playthrough. I had an awesome moment where I was crouched still looking over my shoulder and saw a small splash in the foreground and did a panic swipe and got the money, really fun design.
I agree with literally everything here. True Monk is so slept on, I so agree! While I haven’t fought Inner Father yet, after fighting Owl (Father), I immediately said “yep this is better than Isshin”. Which wasn’t easy, as I love Isshin’s fight also. 10/10 ranking!
I think headless ape gank would be a really shocking moment if it was in a secret room
Inner Father being number one made me cry, both figuratively and literally.
I kept running into something that wasn't there during the folding screen monkeys. So I attacked it. Didn't even know there was an invisible monkey until then.
In hindsight, while not necessarily my favorite boss in the game or anything, Gyoubu is a very underrated boss. A very nice introduction boss with a badass design and unique nature of being just a armored up samurai on a horse in a game filled with paranormal beings and dudes with lightning powers. The kind of unique style of his gameplay makes it fun to go back to even as a experienced player. But the thing that gets me the most is the vibes of the fight. The massive battlefield covered in bodies, banners, towers and palisades everywhere which fall apart in the commotion of the boss fight. All within the shadow of Ashina Castle. With two final warriors duking it out on the battlefield to be the last one standing amidst the carnage. And then you have Gyoubu, riding from the gate and proudly proclaiming himself throughout the fight with a stellar voice actor in both Japanese and English. And a boss track that in both phases perfectly fits this loud and proud samurai charging at you with hooves clacking and his spear tearing up the fractured remains of the battlefield. It is a shear epic battle that I think is a perfect introduction as the first proper boss and the game’s Sengoku setting. And Gyoubu’s boss arena in general is one of the biggest reasons I think it’s such a good boss. It’s no wonder they used it for the Demon of Hatred’s fight, and I would go as far to say that’s it my favorite boss arena in the whole game.
What is cool though is that arguably his biggest weakness of being conceptually simple to fight being a beginner boss, is remedied by some cool mods on PC. Resurrection Gyoubu especially is a really nice adaptation of the fight and being able to use mikiri on him is very cool. If there was a way to give him a 3rd phase where he’s simply dismounted and resorts to using his sword in a more conventional Sekiro duel that contrasted with his prior phases, that would be a cool idea to his gameplay aspect I think.
Honestly, resurrection is the type of mod that unless told otherwise, I would believe that it was a genuine update to the game in a way that Scholar Of The First Sin was for DS2
0:09 HE SAID THE TITLE OMG
@@Ehkans Peak subtlety
@@chadofastora it’s like when Django said it’s Django unchained time
Inner Father is probably the closest thing to a PvP fight in Sekiro. Amazing boss
Great video! Couple of points... there is a grapple upgrade that you can use to pull yourself towards enimies and attacking them before you land... and makes the Gobyu fight wayyyy easier.
23:10 so true with the inner isshin vs vanilla. He also had this thing where he could interrupt you in p1 with no telegraphing when in vanilla it was safe to attack with his sweep move and i almost lost the gauntlet to it. I hope sincerely that the sequel to sekiro has many bosses equal or above isshin's level
Friend...Sorry to break it down to ya but there won't ever be a sequel to Sekiro. FromSoftware just said no. No Sekiro sequel. No Dark Souls sequel. No Bloodborn sequel. Just done
Glad to see another Corrupted Monk enjoyer, and I agree with the ranking. Inner Father is the greatest fight From ever made imo.
Also I loved Lady Butterfly's ghosts because they gave me spirit emblems so I can grief her with more shurikens.
However, I am biased because she was my first boss. I avoided Gyoubu because I tried to avoid the huge snake God.
I love how Owl Father's downward slash turns into a side sweep if you try to go around him
Imagine getting struck and killed by lightning at 1hp when you were just barely done with Glock saint isshin?
Best thing about father owl is that he uses all the fighting styles he thought you. Even his basic sword attacks mirror your own moves but with a larger odachi instead of a katana. Great stuff.
You can deflect inner isshins circle move with phoneix lilac umbrella, super satisfying
Honestly what keeps isshin from the #1 spot for me is similar to what you said. Inner father has enough switch ups from his base game counterpart that just make the fight flow better. I feel the same about inner genichiro, my favorite boss in the game (mostly because he truly gets a complete overhaul for the inner version). Inner isshin was such a disappointment from the standpoint of the fact that he really only gets two new combos (technically it’s three, but aside from the first phase I never once encountered the circular mortal blade draw, I didn’t realize until I watched your video that he did it at other points in the fight). Both are great additions to his fight, but when you compare the additions to his fight to the ones in both inner genichiro and inner father, it just isn’t comparable. I really wish that he got the same attention the other two did, because based solely on the base game I think he’s the best fight.
Also, loved your TCM take. I never really see her any higher than the midway point in both difficulty rankings and quality rankings and I never understood why. Fantastic moveset and very few boss rooms are as utterly gorgeous as the vermillion bridge. Like you said, the second phase is really all that sucks, but it can be cheesed so who cares (why are the branches there anyway?). Loved the video, easily the most agreeable ranking I’ve watched yet. Subbed🙌🙌
I absolutely agree on Corrupted Monk being underrated. I don't know what it is about her, but I always find myself entering a flow state effortlessly with that fight. The set piece is also really cool. I might put her as my favorite.
I don't know why you separated Emma and Isshin Ashina, I get that they're different fights, but they're one boss. that would be like separating the King of the Storms and the Nameless King, like they're just different phases. if you got a checkpoint in between, I would understand it, but you don't. I don't mean to make it a bigger deal than it is, I just wanted to mention it. Good video and mostly based opinions anyway, also thanks for giving Owl (Father) the praise he deserves, he's one of the most fun bosses I've ever fought.
Idk, most people tend to separate them, and I felt like I’d be able to discuss them better separately. Also I think old Isshin would’ve had the same placement with or without Emma anyway
I miss this glad u talked about it again. We need some actual good titles to goss about
I'm surprised you didn't talk about prosthetics more. Inner Isshin's Mortal Draw can be deflected with purple umbrella, or dodged with owl feather.
Or stopped in total with firecrackers
@@remote24 Really? Huh. Despite the memes about it, I don't really use firecrakers.
I was able to beat Ape Gank in one try. Surefire strategy when the second ape shows up: get a single melee hit on the headless one, it will do it's roar, run away to avoid it and the brown ape will always chase you. Firecracker, dps/posture break it down a.s.a.p. Rinse in repeat if needed until brown ape is dead
Someone finally put inner father where it belongs. I can die peacefully now.
Absolutely agree with number 1. I always thought Father was a slightly better boss than Isshin. Isshin has more moves, more phases, and is faster, but he has weaknesses, like low posture. But Father ? He is built a tank, high HP, high posture, hits like a truck, is faster than most bosses, doesn't have underhanded tricks like the anti-heal from Great Shinobi or Isshin's Glock, and is, imo, a much better boss all around. He doesn't have any blatant weaknesses. Very satisfying boss, because he was for me the only real wall in difficulty that I had to overcome (SSI was hard, but I didn't struggle against him as much as I did against Owl Father). Before Father I was going through the game at a steady pace, with some difficulties here and there. Then I found him, and spent nearly 4 to 5 hours fighting him. Then I did it, and once I finished the game and went NG+, I fought him again, and first timed him. It felt so good beating him first try after struggling so much against him. God I love that boss.
Great video. Sekiro's boss roster is amazing. My one regret about it is we never got the Inner Isshin we needed. I think a rework of his AI and attack patterns to make him more aggressive like they did with Geni would take him to the next level, but at least we have mods.
Resurrection looks so badass. Wish I had a decent pc for it. Someday.
Seriously, just give Inner Isshin the same tweaking as the Resurrection or Ultimate variant, then his done justice
I used to agree with the two ape fight, but now replaying Sekiro for the 3rd time (demon bell run) and I realized they aren't inconsistent in their attacks and that killing the second ape first is the worse strategy.
It's not a great fight but they don't just gang up on you randomly; they do coordinate. When the headless ape is attacking the other ape will hold back and only jump in at points the headless ape isn't swinging.
And the vice versa. You can actually take each one on at a time, just be mindful when the agro switches and off screen attacks.
It just anxiety inducing before realizing that and makes people panic but it actually really isn't that hard once you get the rhythm. The headless ape is actually easier than solo bc of this.
And I know for sure you're not supposed to take the other ape out first bc if you defeat the headless ape, the fight ends, regardless of if the second ape is alive.
While in reverse you still have to take the headless ape out. Clearly the second ape is meant to make the fight harder but is not the actual boss.
I think the 'cheese' for phase 2 of true corrupted monk is actually just how you're 'supposed' to deal with it. I'd consider real cheeses to be getting Gyoubo to run off the cliff or pushing false monk out into the middle of the arena without drawing aggro so you can just deathblow it.
I beat Gyubu for the first time yesterday. When you go in for the first time his entrance and mechanics are just perfect. He's the first boss that does combos and has an epic entrance and arena. If he's number 11 i'm stoked to fight the ones aboe him.
This game never wastes time. Nor do any other souls games. There's a reason souls games help people overcome depression.
The games don't just teach you to fight. They also teach patience. Waiting is part of the struggle. While some fights could be refined there will always be bosses that make it a point to make you wait. it's not "wasting time". Time is never ever wasted. What's actually happening is that you learn something. How long can you last? Are you worked up? Is it throwing you off and causing you to die because you rush? How does it affect the next fight? Do you rush and be impatient out of the game? It's a domino effect. The fact that the apes are skipped means they got to you. That you can't handle it. Life is unfair. The devs that make games like this want to make that very point at times. Deal with it or don't.
"B-but every fight isn't a straight, one-on-one duel with no ranged attacks, status ailments, or tricks! T-this isn't fair!"
it’s not that deep buddy relax
It is that personal! He personally pissed on my dog, my wife, my son and my daughter!@@yourehereforthatarentyou
Sekiro is that kind of game you randomly think about on a tuesday morning and then play through back2back eventhough you have already beaten it 10 times
Other than switching butterfly and false monk, this is my perfect list
Fun fact Sword Saint Isshin was inspired by Sword Saint Musashi Miyamoto a real historic figure that invented war tactics, combat, and other stuff. Also he invented the famous Dual wielding of fighting with 2 swords and you see Isshin dual wielding a katana and a spear
As someone who just started playing Sekiro, I think Lady Butterfly is one of the best bosses I've ever fought. I liked it so much that I started questioning myself on being a masochist when I discovered that there is a phase to in this fight on my 70th try. I wasn't happy to discover that but I felt really satisfied when the fight kept going.
Lady Butterfly is an amazing boss when you are just starting out the game. She and Genichiro are the perfect welcoming into the game of parrying. I get where he is coming from because she only ever is hard the first time you fight her and the fight does drag on a lot, but when you are just starting out the game the fight is epic.
Same, made me fall in love with the game. Following her, I put in 35 hours over 4 days and finished the whole game.
chad: he gain one of the coolest moves i ever seen
isshin: getting ready to attack
ad: pops up
The resurrection mod of sekiro is fantastic, giving Lady butterfly a shadow clone/stand to use in certain combos in Phase 2 is awesome. So many cool changes that are fun remixes of boss fights, not to mention the new enemy placements.
Honestly, Resurrection makes such good updates on the bosses that I would like to see this dude just do a ranking for the mod itself. Seriously there's no going back to vanilla Gyoubu or Butterfly after experiencing the mod
I’m glad I’m not the only one that really enjoys the second corrupted monk fight
My first run through I was absolutely confused where to even go. Amazing game
I think of the illusions with Lady Butterfly did something to her (like they damage her poise when they die or defeating all of them stuns her) then I think they wouldn't be bad, but all they do is take away from her or do a lot of damage to you if your knew/in the early game.
Inner father made it seem like you were playing in 1.5 speed the dude is insane and some people might not even find out about it in their playthrough
Idk I think I'd have to rank Inner Father second and OG SS Isshin as best. Nothing will ever beat my first playthrough of clawing my way to victory in such a high octane, "show me what you've learned" type of fight. Great ranking regardless.
Regarding headless ape scream attack, you can actually stay close to him during it if you use umbrella and it can be any umbrella. For whatever reason, it is the only terror attack in the game that can be fully blocked with any umbrella and not just the phenoix version.
Probably because you can’t have the purple umbrella in this fight on first playthrough. The upgrade is locked behind getting the finger whistle, which is the reward for this fight.
@@maxxon99 yes but it is not needed which is my point. This is an exception to the usual terror attacks where it can be fully blocked by ANY umbrella. Purple is not needed for it. Just find it weird that so many people just didn't even try and test it
@@bruhder5854 My point is that it's an exception because you _can't_ have the purple umbrella in the fight on first playthrough.
Logically it should be required, but I guess someone made an oopsie and they hacked a quick fix.
Good video but I disagree with the double ape fight take.
The two apes are _very_ consistent in how they aggro and attack you. The 2nd ape acts as a combo extension to the main ape. There is absolutely a dedicated strategy to the fight.
▪︎Run away from both apes.
▪︎Deflect the main ape's combo.
▪︎While the main ape is knocked down, the 2nd ape will try to combo you. Parry the combo and punish the 2nd ape.
▪︎Repeat this process until the 2nd ape is dead.
▪︎Defeat main ape like in phase one.
I will say however, the game does a _terrible_ job at teaching you to fight them. It's also the only boss fight that requires juggling aggro like this, so it's very unlikely that you'll understand how to win when you first show up.
I'll be honest. I didn't fully understand the fight even after _platinuming_ the game. The only reason I do now is because I replayed the fight for hours on my already 100% completed save file until I mastered it. I can beat it every time now without even using items.
I find it frustrating how other channels include dungeon and field bosses when talking about how bad Elden ring bosses are, yet they also conveniently don't mention mini bosses when talking about sekiro.
(BTW Both games have god tier bosses)
If you focus on only killing the headless ape and totally ignore that second ape, the second one will automatically die and you'll get their rewards.
Thank you so much for having inner father at no. 1
Good list. For me personally, Ishin still clutches the number one spot actually because of his move in 22:50. You can just jump over it and bounce off his head like for every other sweep attack which is always satisfying.
Isshin is my absolute favorite video game boss! (I never fought owl dad rip)
Go for purification ending, you will get +2 prayer beads which will get you to max stats AND you fight Owl Father. Hard as hell to learn, but once you learn him it's such a good time. Sometimes I pause whatever I'm doing, jump into Sekiro and fight him just to feel extra good
I'm glad to see someone who enjoys the corrupted monk as much as I do. I think this boss has one of the best paste in the game and it's a pleasure to fight her everytime.
consistent strategy for headless ape:
1. bait the scream attack from the main ape
2. sprint away
3. this will cause the brown ape to charge at you
4. use firecrackers to stun brown ape
5. smack the shit out of brown ape
6. rinse and repeat until brown ape is dead, white ape is then trivial
The only bad thing I can think is when parrying the boss knocks me to a corner where I can’t see
Oh. Finally we got bosses.
The second phase where Isshin pulls out the spear and dual wields is so sick. Deflecting his spear spin attack is the most satisfying thing to deflect in Sekiro IMO.
Also, a cool detail I found recently is that Inner Genichiro reverses lightning using his Sakura Dance, meaning you can reverse his reversal that was reversing your reversing of his attack
that's not a detail, it's just a mechanic of the fight 💀
@@skoogadoo It is a detail because he could've done a lightning reversal by just jumping up in the air and attacking 💀
Edit: Did you really like your own comment too? Damn
@@leoaskham6564 I mean, its not a detail. He quite literally just used sakura dance to reverse it...
21:34
Audio: inner genichiro can pull this move (Sakura dance) out at any point
Video: geni doing Sakura dance after floating passage, which is guaranteed in the first phase
Great ranking and video, the voice work was also really good and well written, that was just something I noticed
you make quality vids, new sub
What's interesting is, if you draw it out and give Emma a sake (I don't remember which) Wolf will ask her who taught her to tight with the blade which builds up the fact she can fight and then you get to fight her, and if you're paying attention, her moves are more suave and gentle version of those from Genichiro and Isshin
I really dont think I could rank them, they all are amazing.
Another thing on the owl fights is that it feels like you both are at the same speed. If you both attack at the same time, both attacks land as a trade, I think it's a cool detail as he is your father and he trained you
I really love what they did with geni, the first time you fight he destroys you, then you get a rematch on top of the castle on more or less equal footing, then at end youre the one destroying poor ol geni
Corrupted monk was the best boss imo. The statisfaction I felt after beating him is still with me today
playing the headless music on this is criminal it makes me want to rip my hair out and afraid to sleep
THANK YOU FOR PUTTING SH- SHOW MONKEY GANK FIGHT IN LAST SPOT OMG I CANNOT BEAT THEM EVEN AFTER A MONTH
There's a really easy way to fix the ape gank. Make the whistle prosthetic that makes beasts go mad work on the second one. Turning the gank in on itself would be so satisfying, and the fact that you get the whistle from the first ape fight would have made it make sense
I tried that not too long ago and it didn't work, then again I don't really use prosthetics so I might've been doing it wrong.
One thing about the Inner Ishin fight, you don't have to run from the Mortal Blade attack. The purple shield allows you to block, along with a counterattack for decent damage. It made that fight fairly easier, though one could argue the idea of needing a prosthetic tool. I think you can also jump on Ishin during that move but I haven't pulled it off.
number 11 sounds like one of the first bosses in another crabs treasure when you get your shell. the mann deserves an emmy
The only thing Sekiro needs, to be an even better game, is to have the expanse and scope of Elden ring. Not in Story, as thats deep and nice already. But in Exploration and Creativity. It was a semi open game.
It had the best combat ever seen. Heck, it still has.
It has great game mechanics.
Top, elite bosses with so much thought put into them and variations in them.
Genuine, deep story and it's not even in my face. It plays out and leads to certain fights. Very well merged with the action.
I love your corrupted monk take. For me I actually personally love corrupted monk so much it might be my favorite fight in the game. I don't know what about the fight I like so much but it really just is that flow
Imo the most loveable thing about Corrupted Monk is that she constantly fights you melee, she doesn't use any gun, shurikens, bow, or other annoying projectiles. That's why she is one of my two favourite Bosses in this game.
Corrupted Monk is 100% my favorite boss in the game. The only move I really dislike is her retreating backslash as it gives little forewarning. But everything else just flows perfectly. Nothing like say, guardian where you have to keep running away every 10 seconds as to not get instant killed by a status effect.
This video got me into playing Sekiro again
Nice
I'm surprised you didn't mention 2 things in the guardian ape's fight. Its super cool insect like moveset always hunced over on 2 legs but wields the sword almost like a whip. And the badass eargasm sound from deflecting the last big hits from his combos that knock him over. Ear ejaculation!
It is a pretty nice sound effect
other than false corrupted monk and lady butterfly needing to be swapped, i think this is pretty accurate
I love the Guardian Ape fight. It feels very grounded in reality in a way that it would use everything to beat it's enemy, even if the methods are grotesque and feral. I wish more bosses in FromSoftware games were as unfiltered as this!
Great Shinobi owl is my favorite fight because I've only done one playthrough I hate the poison but I actually love the smoke bomb and no heal grenade it was the first boss that actually forced me to get truly good at his moveset and not rely heavily on heals and lock on
Ok so slight comment, I think some of your issues could be fixed with more varied Shinobi tool variety. For example, you said you didn't like inner ishins black spin move because you have to run away, but this is pretty simply solved by using mist raven which also opens him to a free hit before the follow up spin even triggers. Other fights can work this way too, more variety in tools can lead to a lot of fights being more enjoyable.