Sekiro: Best Tips to Fighting Great Shinobi Owl

At the critical point in the game, players have the opportunity to choose between Sekiro’s mentor, Owl, or Lord Kuro

It’s a tale as old as time itself, where children rise and go beyond their parent’s teachings. In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, players have the opportunity to choose a path different than Sekiro’s parent, Owl, by selecting to side with Lord Kuro and rid him of the Dragon’s Heritage. Doing, so forces Sekiro to break the Iron Code, tossing away the beliefs Owl told him for all those years. When this happens, Sekiro is forced to face off against Owl on the rooftop of Ashina Castle, where he previously faced off against Genichio Ashina, who also wished to abuse Lord Kuro’s Dragon Heritage power.

Great Shinobi Owl

Properly Preparing

Your fight with Owl is going to be an immense challenge, more than the many Sekiro has already faced. Because Owl is a powerful Shinobi and likely taught Sekiro almost everything he knows, the two are going to have similar fighting styles. For this battle, you’ll want to focus on learning Owl’s combos and ensuring your deflections are perfect. To benefit the most from this, before the fight you’ll want to make sure you have as many skills that improve your posture as possible, along with ones that damage the enemy’s posture.

You’ll also want to have the Whirlwind Strike or the Ichimonji combat arts skill activated because these are ideal choices during the fight. You’re going to find out Owl does not have many openings, and the few that he does, you want to inflict as much damage as possible. These two choices are good to have in your backpack after you’ve adequately deflected his attacks, and you can pick the one that best suits your playstyle.

First Round of Attacks

Owl’s combos during the first phase of the battle are nasty. He’s a large man with an equally large sword, granting him the opportunity to reach out much further than you can with his strikes. Many of his attacks are sweeping across, and you have to deflect as many as you can. After he uses these attacks, he’ll briefly jump in the air and attempt to throw some shuriken at you. He’ll follow up with another jump in the air, which is a devastating downward strike to the ground. You can deflect this attack. However, you may benefit the most from getting out of the way and using the time has he to recover to get in a hit or two of your own.

Every so often, Owl will attempt to use your sword as a trampoline, jumping off of it to fire a flurry to shurikens, followed by more sword strikes. You can prevent these attacks by sidestepping the kick, forcing him to kick only air. While he recovers from this, you can land in a few solid strikes before backing away.

One crucial detail throughout the fight is noticing when Owl pulls out a small grenade, tossing it in front of him. You do not want to get caught in this attack as the grenade’s effects prevent you from healing for a short period. The smoke the projectile leaves behind lingers, forcing you to avoid the area until it disappears. This deliberate attack gives you the chance to get in a strike or two before jumping away, or even jumping on Owl’s head during this time. You’ll want to watch your timing here because if you get in the smoke, you’ll get forced on the defensive and have to hope Owl doesn’t get a successful attack against you.

Some of Owl’s sweeping attacks a slow, likely due to his size. You can abuse how much time it takes him to strike by landing a few of your own. However, you’ll only have the chance to get in one or two, as Owl can recover extraordinarily quickly.

Second Round of Attacks

Much of Owl’s move set remains the same during the second part of the fight. There are some crucial, such as he’s now using poison instead of shurikens when he kicks off you. The areas he hits, besides you, are going to have poison on them for a few seconds, meaning you’re going to have to watch the battlefield as much as you’re watching Owl. You’ll want to make sure you have a poison clearing item in your quick access inventory.

One of the new moves Owl uses is a charge attack, and when he gets close to you, he’s going to release several smoke bombs around him. If you get hit by it, you’re going to be stunned, and Owl follows it up with a massive strike. You’ll want to avoid the smoke bombs for this reason. However, if you do jump away from the smoke bomb,s you’re going to find that you’re no longer targetting Owl. Once the smoke fades, retarget your old mentor and make sure you keep him in your sight.

Unfortunately, if you get hit by the grenade, and the poison, you’re in trouble, because the projectile is going to prevent you from using any of your anti-poison items until the effects wear off. It’s critical to avoid the grenade now, more than the first part of the fight.

After you’ve defeated Owl, you’ve entered the last sprint to the end of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.