After having beaten every single boss from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice I have decided to do something completely lacking in originality and rank every boss from easiest to hardest. I love the bosses and mini-bosses in this game and this is the first game that genuinely made me want to cry at the difficulty at some of them. I am also aware that you can cheese several of these bosses, however my play-throughs I decided to avoid the dairy so that I can get a more satisfying victory. In addition, this is based solely on “bosses” which I defined as anything that dropped memories, so no great serpent and giant koi. However, I will be sure to do a mini boss rank later on. Several of the bosses do get much easier once you know the strategy to win, however this ranking is based on my first experience facing each of the bosses and how much I struggled. Without further ado let’s get started!
16. Folding Screen Monkeys
Was there ever any doubt? I don’t think anyone would disagree with the spot of the folding screen monkeys. Ironically, in my opinion, the path to get to this boss is the toughest. The monks can really mess you up and with so many different types of enemies that are hard to read I guess it kind of evens out with how easy the boss is. The boss is huge for lore development, but this is a ranking of difficulty and was one of the few bosses I beat on my first try. One of the first things to mention about this boss is that it is a puzzle boss, but the puzzle is so easy and makes repeat runs a very big chore. The premise of the boss is to defeat the four monkeys; however, you have to chase them down. When I first beat the boss, I didn’t even realize the puzzle I had solved and spent 20 minutes just wandering around looking. Easily the easiest boss in the game and personally my least favorite.
15. The Divine Dragon
This is clearly not a ranking of the quality of the bosses as this would not be this low. The boss starts incredibly lame where you are just hacking these small wooden dragons and they may be able to swarm you, but with breath of light/breath of shadow every time you kill one you just regain health. Once I finished, I knew I was not done, by this late in the game Sekiro has trolled me enough where I knew it wasn’t over, this thing pops up that looks like Blue Eyes White Dragon holding a lightning sword, truly an epic looking boss. The boss feels like a tutorial boss as I was surprised to beat it on my first attempt, but considering what other bosses made this list it was a breath of fresh air. Shooting lightning at the dragon and then running up its sword to kill it was so satisfying. It may have been a super easy boss, but it was one of the most memorable.
14. Genichiro, Way of Tomoe
The final time you fight Genichiro is by far the easiest. Aside from the mortal blade attack, he is essentially the same fight, however by this point in the game you have mastered the combat and with your attack power, gourd stocks, and vitality it should be a cake walk. It serves well that this is the easiest rendition of Genichiro as it leads to one of the toughest bosses in the game. Lore wise it makes so much sense as he realizes he cannot beat you himself so he calls on someone who can. The final boss is so tough that I had to be able to beat Genichiro without dying or using gourd seeds and it is very much possible with his low posture and one health bar.
13. Headless Ape and Mate
I don’t know if this it is the apes’ mate, brother, sister or whatever and in theory you may be wondering how I put it this low, but allow me to explain. First off, god damn was that freaky when the ape turned around with no head. My instant reaction was near tears after having to face the Guardian Ape, then when I finally took away the first health bar a second ape shows up, like what in the god damn hell. However, after the instant panic you realize it is not that bad. The partner ape has very low vitality and posture so after two fire cracker combos it should be out and the headless ape is far more predictable than the first ape we faced. As long as you can manage crowd control you should be fine.
12. Emma, The Gentle Blade
Okay let me start this off with saying this boss is not easy! The reason why this boss is so low is that this boss, like what I assume many others was on my NG+ run. What this entails is that on a second run I was pretty good at the combat, in addition to the maxed-out vitality and gourd seeds it does give you a lot of room for mistakes. In addition to the fact that this boss is only one phase and also leads to the final boss in the Shura ending. If this boss was 3 phases and was on my first play through, 100% this boss would be top 5. The stress of having to play perfect to save your healing for the final boss can really get to you. The Emma fight is much like a dance, she may have low vitality and posture, but you need to memorize her movements and know when to deflect, but GOD DAMN THAT GRAB. Her grab has so much traction that it feels like you always get hit and then it’s all over. Emma, the waifu is super quick so you’ll need to know when to heal.
11. Gyobu Oniwa
Oh, you never forget your first. In follow up play-throughs you realize this is actually an easy boss, however my first run I got destroyed. Multiple attempts in and I could not even get him down to half of his first health bar and with all the people I heard that dropped the game I thought this was going to be my demise. I genuinely thought I would end up dropping the game. My biggest flaw to this fight was playing like Bloodborne and attempting to dodge roll. Gyobu was the first boss that made me switch to deflecting and thanks to him I adapted to the game. Once I figured this out, I ended up getting the victory. In repeat runs Gyobu would be lower, but for a first boss with low vitality and gourd counts this is a good spot for him.
10. Lady Butterfly
Cracking the top 10 is Lady Butterfly and boy did she give me some trouble. The game actually explains how to beat her, but I was so used to deflecting by this point that it was a struggle to adjust for a bit. You need to use side stepping instead of purely deflecting to break down her vitality. Once you get through her first phase, she summons all these illusions that can really crowd you. An NPC outside the boss arena does give you snap seeds to use on the illusions, but I never knew when I was going to win so I ended up saving them. The illusions can be a big problem because once she uses the butterfly attack, if you don’t avoid them that’s an instant 1-hit K.O. Lady butterfly was a tough early game challenge that really helped me evolve in Sekiro.
9. Corrupted Monk
For one health bar this guy really gave me the business. I am aware you can just spam firecrackers to beat him, but unfortunately, I didn’t think of that so I just went straight up. The thing I find so difficult about him is that even if you see the attack coming, the attacks are so long and drawn out which makes it very hard to properly deflect. For me personally, it took me several times to properly figure out his patterns and when to actually hit that deflect button. I also had a lot of trouble distinguishing between the sweep and the thrust so it often caused me to get hit and this girl does crazy damage. For an early game challenge, the corrupted monk was very difficult, but the only thing keeping her this low is thankfully she only has one health bar with no second phase.
8. Genichiro Ashina
Genichiro on top of Ashina castle is usually the turning point for a lot of players. I think because my only other Souls game was Bloodborne I was able to adapt to the deflecting system a bit quicker than most, but that did not matter. This guy is super aggressive and he shoots arrows, with multiple perilous attacks this guy will test your skills so far. You need to be able to match his aggression or else you will meet your end. So, when you finally beat him you get so excited, until you find out he has an undisclosed third phase… This phase he is super aggressive and the bastard shoots lightning. If you did beat the Ashina elite and read the scroll you will be able to deflect lightning, but your adrenaline may be too high to read the lightning properly to deflect it. With three health bars and the first true boss to make you adjust Sekiros aggressive play style Genichiro earns the number 8 spot.
7. Great Shinobi Owl
If you choose to stay loyal to Kuro you will face your father in a showdown on top of Ashina castle and my God this guy is a shinobi in every sense of the word. From brutal sword strikes that do crazy damage, traps that can stop you from using items including your gourd and even poison mist. This guy is super tough and if you get hit more than once chances are you are dead. You need to be able know when to get your hits in as he has certain moves that leave him vulnerable. I played this fight super passive because it was just too risky to fight him head on, a huge challenge for me personally.
6. True Monk
If the first monk you thought was tough with one health bar, this one is even worse with 3. So, lets get the elephant out of the room, when the game first came out it was possible to stealth blow the first 2 deathblow markers, but when I played it you could only take out one. However, prior to finding this out I was going straight up and it was a struggle. The true monk does a shit load of damage and I guess the purpose of the first monk was to figure out its patterns, the first 2 phases are generally the same, but deflecting her attacks this time do a ton of posture damage. This is easier said than done because her attacks are so hard to read at times and if you don’t play the first phase perfectly you can die pretty easily. The second phase starts with a bunch of shadows swiping at you and you need to swing by all the trees like you’re Spider man. It is possible to get a stealth blow on this phase if you can time it properly, but otherwise its mostly the same. Now the final phase she brings out a centipede and starts using terror attacks, I hate instant death status effects and this can make it a nightmare. With how hard she hits and the amount of health bars she has I think this is a good spot especially coming straight after the Great Shinobi Owl.
5. Guardian Ape
God damn fuck this damn dirty ape. This ape is one of coolest bosses, in one of the coolest areas that gave me the absolute worst time. This was the first big wall I ever reached in the game. The ape hits like a truck, is super erratic so you can’t predict what’s happening, and those grabs just destroy you. The guy throws his shit and farts on you like its no big deal. The guy gave me so many nightmares because it made me shift my whole play style. Deflecting and being aggressive was no longer an option, instead I spent most of my time just running away. When I finally beat him I breathed a giant sigh of relief, uploaded my game-play and went back into the game to only find out this bitch ass came back to life, drew the sword that was in his neck and oh yeah did I forget to mention he has no freaking head. With super aggressive sword strikes and a terror scream that gives an instant death status effect, this fight was the biggest early game wall that I faced.
4. Sword Saint Isshin
Finally, the big boy, one of the final bosses. If I were to rank the difficulty of the bosses now, I would probably put Sword Saint Isshin at #2, but for whatever reason I didn’t struggle with him as much as most on my first try. With tall that said, damn this dude is tough. Not only does he follow Genichiro, way of Tomoe, but this guy has three health bars. This dude starts with a sword and pistol, then gets a spear and finally this dude can shoot lighting. This battle is going to take a lot of practice and make you use every skill you learned up until this point. His first phase is tough enough, using so many combat arts and when you finally beat his first health bar this guy pulls out a spear and gets super erratic and aggressive. The final phase is actually pretty easy if you know how to use the lighting reversal and I feel like the game gave you this as a way to say good job on getting this far.
3. Isshin Ashina
If you decided to be a bad guy and forsake Kuro for the Shura ending then you will come to face Isshin Ashina after beating Emma. Not only is Emma tough enough in her own right, god damn does this guy fuck. First phase he is super aggressive and if you want to heal you going to have to get some space because this guy is always on your tail. With a bunch of perilous attacks that can destroy, but mostly its that grab. This thing has major traction and if you get hit it will wipe out almost of your health bar. When you finally are able to beat him, not only does this guy get more aggressive, but the dude can summon fire. With a huge move that summons fire everywhere and then rushes you right after, this move can easily one shot you. In retrospect Sword saint Isshin may be the tougher fight, but playing this on NG+ just gave me absolute hell, this took me several days to beat and one of the few bosses I couldn’t beat in one sitting.
2. Owl (Father)
This dude gave me nightmares. I tried cheesing him and couldn’t even do that right. Since I wasn’t going for the purification ending, I kept telling myself just leave it its not essential, but I was too stubborn. This guy took me so many tries and not matter what I did I couldn’t beat him. He throws fire crackers at you, does huge damage and is crazy aggressive. When you finally beat him, he has a second phase where he can vanish and summon a phoenix. I finally did beat him by memorizing his combos and looking where to pick your spots so thank you Owl Father for helping me git good. If I ranked them now, I would drop Owl far lower, but that’s only because he gave me so much trouble and I memorized his move set. As tough as he is, one boss out trumps him by a landslide.
1. Demon of Hatred
The way everyone describes this boss is the same way I’m going too, this is a Bloodborne boss in Sekiro. The reason why I put the demon of hatred at number 1 is because it is the only boss in the game where I don’t think I could beat again. I describe my experience as just barely surviving. I had to use the bundled Jizo statue in order to get an extra resurrection node and I regret nothing. You can use the malcontent finger whistle to stun him 3 times and the Suzaku umbrella to minimize the fire damage. He has a perilous attack that I always find difficult to dodge because its so quick. All you need to do is jump, but the lack of reaction time makes me always resort to dodge rolling and it taking nearly all of my health. It is very difficult to deflect this boss so you throw out everything you learned an end up playing like it was Bloodborne. I’m proud for being able to beat it without cheesing, but good lord was it a pain in the ass. Demon of Hatred, you are by far the hardest boss in the game.
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