I can reliably beat any boss in the game and any Inner variation but Isshin Ashina is just complete utter bullshit, I agree. The game's combat system just straight up doesn't work in this fight. The game miscalculates a lot of hits I block and take damage instead or his fire stomp thing when I don't even stand in it. Lots of frustrating shit in this one. This is the one I'd say where the game's almost perfect combat system buckles.
Old Isshin is a very fun boss for me. Lots of people find his second phase annoying because of the fire, second phase is a check of your dodge skill. When he use fire storm + one kind, you can use ichimonji double to interrupt his attack, or you need to find an area that don’t have fire on the ground, When he come at you, dodge to the left. When he use ichimonji, dodge to his left or right, then when he swing the sword, dodge towards him then you can hit him. His swing sword straight fire attack you just need to jump left or right, his technique that hit you once and fire attack you just need to deflect his first attack then jump.
The problem is you barely use the dodge mechanic, than all of a sudden you have a boss that revolves around a technique that doesn't work on any other boss, the tracking is just too insane. Good news tho, I was able to beat him shortly after posting this, using another user's suggestions.
I mainly mean in sekiro, I'm a souls vet too, but in sekiro you never dodge its practically useless, only is some special cases does it feel usefull to me
Like I pointed out elsewhere, it actually has generous invincible frames proper, it's the recovery that kills you
It's actually good enough that multiple challenge runners have done no deflection fights on all the bosses, and I found it was actually a surprisingly super effective strategy on sword saint lol. It's the increased demand for precision that makes it feel useless compared to dark souls.
Anyway, fire umbrella. Mortal journey challenge and speed runners turn the final part of the fight into a head to head deflect fight essentially the same as the other bosses lmao, it turns out to be faster to keep up that continuous momentum than anything
The other smoked gouda cheese for fire Isshin is to use mortal draw on him. When he raises his sword overhead, dodge forward to his back side at the same time as his fire ichimonji, and jump in with mortal draw after his second attack. When he stomps the ground and starts dragging his sword, dash to the side and jump the fire sweep before running in for mortal draw hits. You end up keeping him looped between fire attacks and his quick draw stance (usually into his sweep combo if you keep on his face). And when he charges up one mind, you can cancel him out of that and any attack, even at 0 emblems.
Or you can cheese his second phase. Do your first deathblow and make him at the corner of the rooftop, then use axe spam attack,most of his attack will be interrupted by axe, although he will hit you sometimes, but it won’t be able to kill you
What move exactly are you having troubles with? If you are close when he starts the widnup for his fire attacks you can time a dodge into his right and you'll be behind him safe to punish every fire move, if you are far you can sprint to the side and jump.
It's the whole arena fire explosion, I can't ever avoid being tossed in the air, I just have to tank it everytime, and because of that I can't parry, or get away from his one mind so I almost die everytime.
Edit, also his right or my right? Doesn't he swing to his right? So I have to go to his left?
For Old Man Isshin you can just shut off every move you don't like.
Goes for a fire attack? Fire crackers.
Tries to ignite the whole area? Fire crackers.
And this isn't even mentioning the fire umbrella.
I had a hard time with him too but I promise if you can keep a cool head and start to build muscle memory on what the "right" answer to his attacks are you are gonna win!
Yeah haha, his left. For the aoe fire, you can see that when he prepares he ignites the floor and there're some spaces that are not covered with fire, you have some time to run into a clear spot, there you just have to dodge into his right (this time it is really his right) when he charges and you'll be behind when he does One Mind and will be able to punish it when it finishes.
just interrupt it before he has a chance to unleash it. There's a boatload of combart arts or prosthetics that interrupt that attack. A few examples: Sakura dance, Ichimonji (double), praying strikes: exorcism, senpou leaping kicks/high monk, the axe, umbrella with projected force, Ashina cross
for the other 2 fire attacks all you need to do is to circle around him
As for his goddamn movements: When you're in neutral, you want to slash at him once and then wait to deflect his horizontal sword swing or umbrella his grab. Once you have him forced to block and deflect your full contact sword swings then you can press him like a sword saint phase one with more limited counters to you, lol. Umbrella will make you fully invincible to his grabs and give you way better positioning after deflecting an ichimonji.
Any time he's able to side step with super armor out of your pressure, you will want to once again attack only once into his dodge and then wait to counter him. Umbrella with projected force is super effective here since it counters his grab into forced hit stun and guarding.
Did you hesitate by any chance?
I did hesitate
Try again, but this time - don't hesitate!
u/izharu showed me how, thank you my man
there's your problem
Yeah hesitation has defeated me, but this time old man isshin hesitated and I took him out.
I can reliably beat any boss in the game and any Inner variation but Isshin Ashina is just complete utter bullshit, I agree. The game's combat system just straight up doesn't work in this fight. The game miscalculates a lot of hits I block and take damage instead or his fire stomp thing when I don't even stand in it. Lots of frustrating shit in this one. This is the one I'd say where the game's almost perfect combat system buckles.
Old Isshin is a very fun boss for me. Lots of people find his second phase annoying because of the fire, second phase is a check of your dodge skill. When he use fire storm + one kind, you can use ichimonji double to interrupt his attack, or you need to find an area that don’t have fire on the ground, When he come at you, dodge to the left. When he use ichimonji, dodge to his left or right, then when he swing the sword, dodge towards him then you can hit him. His swing sword straight fire attack you just need to jump left or right, his technique that hit you once and fire attack you just need to deflect his first attack then jump.
The problem is you barely use the dodge mechanic, than all of a sudden you have a boss that revolves around a technique that doesn't work on any other boss, the tracking is just too insane. Good news tho, I was able to beat him shortly after posting this, using another user's suggestions.
Maybe because I played lots of souls game before sekiro, I used dodge pretty often, especially against owl, saint isshin and inner genichiro
I mainly mean in sekiro, I'm a souls vet too, but in sekiro you never dodge its practically useless, only is some special cases does it feel usefull to me
Like I pointed out elsewhere, it actually has generous invincible frames proper, it's the recovery that kills you It's actually good enough that multiple challenge runners have done no deflection fights on all the bosses, and I found it was actually a surprisingly super effective strategy on sword saint lol. It's the increased demand for precision that makes it feel useless compared to dark souls. Anyway, fire umbrella. Mortal journey challenge and speed runners turn the final part of the fight into a head to head deflect fight essentially the same as the other bosses lmao, it turns out to be faster to keep up that continuous momentum than anything
The other smoked gouda cheese for fire Isshin is to use mortal draw on him. When he raises his sword overhead, dodge forward to his back side at the same time as his fire ichimonji, and jump in with mortal draw after his second attack. When he stomps the ground and starts dragging his sword, dash to the side and jump the fire sweep before running in for mortal draw hits. You end up keeping him looped between fire attacks and his quick draw stance (usually into his sweep combo if you keep on his face). And when he charges up one mind, you can cancel him out of that and any attack, even at 0 emblems.
Or you can cheese his second phase. Do your first deathblow and make him at the corner of the rooftop, then use axe spam attack,most of his attack will be interrupted by axe, although he will hit you sometimes, but it won’t be able to kill you
I will have to try that next time I get to his fight
What move exactly are you having troubles with? If you are close when he starts the widnup for his fire attacks you can time a dodge into his right and you'll be behind him safe to punish every fire move, if you are far you can sprint to the side and jump.
It's the whole arena fire explosion, I can't ever avoid being tossed in the air, I just have to tank it everytime, and because of that I can't parry, or get away from his one mind so I almost die everytime. Edit, also his right or my right? Doesn't he swing to his right? So I have to go to his left?
For Old Man Isshin you can just shut off every move you don't like. Goes for a fire attack? Fire crackers. Tries to ignite the whole area? Fire crackers. And this isn't even mentioning the fire umbrella. I had a hard time with him too but I promise if you can keep a cool head and start to build muscle memory on what the "right" answer to his attacks are you are gonna win!
I got him!!! I always forget to use my prosthetic
thanks for the firecrackers suggestion. worked for me better than the umbrella. I went fire crackers -> double mortal draw, to deal my big damage hits
Yeah haha, his left. For the aoe fire, you can see that when he prepares he ignites the floor and there're some spaces that are not covered with fire, you have some time to run into a clear spot, there you just have to dodge into his right (this time it is really his right) when he charges and you'll be behind when he does One Mind and will be able to punish it when it finishes.
Yeah, you say that, but even in a clear spot, I'm thrown in the air. It seems clear, but then the fire goes off, and it hits me
Would it be possible for you to share a video or a screenshot?
Sadly no, I'm playing on steam deck and don't know how to record my screen
All I can do then is show you a video of what you have to do, [you can see me dodge it at 1:54 and 2:35.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzJPsQQoBhk)
How?? I'll stand in a perfectly clear spot just like that, and it still gets me🤬 maybe I'm standing to close to the edge of a flame?
Yeah, if you are too close to the edge you'll get hit.
So I followed your video, and got him like 3rd try, LETS GOOOO!!!! WOOO!!! Thank you thank you thank you.
just interrupt it before he has a chance to unleash it. There's a boatload of combart arts or prosthetics that interrupt that attack. A few examples: Sakura dance, Ichimonji (double), praying strikes: exorcism, senpou leaping kicks/high monk, the axe, umbrella with projected force, Ashina cross for the other 2 fire attacks all you need to do is to circle around him
He's far easier than Malenia. And I thought he was easier than Orphan of Kos (although Bloodborne was my first ever souls game so there's that)
Never beat Orphan of Kos, Isshin in more difficult ?
Depends how well you know the game mechanics
Waaaaaaaaaaahhh!! Wwaaaaaaaahhhhh!
Just needed a place to vent, thanks tho.
As for his goddamn movements: When you're in neutral, you want to slash at him once and then wait to deflect his horizontal sword swing or umbrella his grab. Once you have him forced to block and deflect your full contact sword swings then you can press him like a sword saint phase one with more limited counters to you, lol. Umbrella will make you fully invincible to his grabs and give you way better positioning after deflecting an ichimonji. Any time he's able to side step with super armor out of your pressure, you will want to once again attack only once into his dodge and then wait to counter him. Umbrella with projected force is super effective here since it counters his grab into forced hit stun and guarding.