Master the Clashing of Steel in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Mastering Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice requires you to play on the game's terms. Unlike traditional RPGs, you cannot overlevel yourself to defeat bosses. You must learn the mechanics. Here are 8 essential tips to master the combat system.
In Sekiro, you should almost never back away from an enemy. Keep attacking. Striking a blocking enemy still builds up their posture gauge and prevents it from recovering. Attack relentlessly until the enemy performs a perfect deflection on your sword.
When you attack an enemy, watch and listen carefully to their blocks:
Your posture gauge increases when you block or deflect attacks. If it fills completely while blocking, your guard breaks, leaving you vulnerable. However, perfect deflections will never break your posture, even if your posture gauge is completely full. As long as your parrying is perfectly timed, you are safe.
If you notice a boss's posture gauge regenerating instantly, look at their health. Posture recovery speed is tied to Vitality. Focus on dealing clean health damage (using combat arts like Whirlwind Slash or tools like Flame Vent) to drop their health to 75% or 50%. Once their health is lowered, their posture gauge will recover much slower, allowing you to break their defense.
If your posture gauge is dangerously high, step back to a safe distance and hold down the block button. Standing in a blocking stance causes your posture gauge to drain twice as fast as standing still or running.
The Ichimonji and Ichimonji: Double combat arts (unlocked in the Ashina Arts tree, see What Skills to Level Up First) are the best active combat moves in the game. Delivering this overhead strike deals massive posture damage to the enemy while instantly clearing a huge amount of your own posture, even if the enemy blocks the hit.
When you are low on health, running away to drink from your Healing Gourd often prompts bosses to chase and strike you down. Instead, throw a Shinobi Firecracker (see Shinobi Prosthetic Tools & Upgrades) in their face to stun them for 3 seconds, then use that safe stun window to heal or apply buffs.
Before initiating combat in any camp or courtyard, use rooftops, ledges, and tall grass to execute stealth-kills on as many enemies as possible. For mini-bosses, you can almost always sneak behind them or perform a drop-assassination from above to wipe out one of their two health bars before the duel even begins. We cover optimal stealth paths for every boss in the Campaign Walkthrough.
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