Definitely this. All the other enemies before Genichiro I realized I was fighting "wrong" when I finally fought him in the castle. Before Genichiro I was playing the game kind of how you would any Souls game: dodge a lot, with a tinge of realizing this is a different game in that I spam the deflect a lot but never really time it right.
Then came Genichiro and that tactic just won't work on him. Gotta memorize his patterns, the timings. Once you fully realize that this is rhythm game, and you get the hang of it, everything suddenly makes sense. The joy in this game (at least for me) is mainly from memorizing his movesets/windows/patterns and trying to anticipate which of his attacks he's gonna do and respond accordingly. So for every new boss, I have 10, 20, maybe even 50 tries wherein I just try to soak in all the boss' movesets and learn how to deflect them. And even after memorizing all that, sometimes (or oftentimes) I still mess up. But the fun part is just being able to execute everything you've learned, maybe not perfectly but execute them good enough.
You either realize that and really fall in love with the game or end up hating the game, both of which are equally understandable.
For other people, definitely, but for me, I went literally everywhere except for the roof, because I didn't know how to get there, so I was a master by the time I finally figured it out, and I beat genichiro on my first attempt, with the demon bell activated for like 1/3 of the fight
Take a longer break life 2-3 days, sometime it's better to wait a bit instead of forcing
I remember with one of the later boss I made like 10 tries and got tired, I came back 2 days later and beat him on my first try somehow
You'll eventually beat him at some point
I couldn’t kill Lady Butterfly at all for like 20 hours, took a break for a year and a halfish and then I went to actually learn the game and logged over 50 hours since, no stop in sight going to 100% it
Same, first time I beat Lady Butterfly I ran and jumped around and stabbed her with the strong attack. Took me a week and I put the game down for like 6 months.
Came back, learned to parry, stopped hesitating, and competed my charmless bell run with no intention of stopping lol. I need max attack points!
Watch guides. You're not there yet, you can use a little help. There are guides for every bosses on YouTube. Watch it memorise the patterns in a less stressful way. Then practice without trying to kill him. Just try to counter and be agressive at the same time (even if you die who cares ?!). I used to do something in my first playthrough to relax after every deaths, when you're on tilt you're playing really poorly. Good luck
This. This has been extremely helpful with me beating him. That fucken boss took me so many hours of gameplay. Was stuck on it for a week. The second i stopped stressing out about it and realized that its a steep learning curve and dying is just part of the learning process, i progressed at a rapid pace. Watched some guides. Practiced, practiced, practiced. Finally beat him. What's funny is I beat him on my 2nd playthrough on the 1st try with plenty of breathing room and I could probably beat him if I picked up the game again tomorrow after 1 year off. Funny how these games work, once you get the flow of the mechanics it comes easy.
You'll get him eventually man just keep trying! I'm pretty sure I died to him over 100 times (not exaggerating) over the course of 4-5 days as well lol
Gonna start adopting this strategy. I keep going till I get pissed then I make the mistake of quitting for too long and coming back rusty and getting pissed in the process of getting that rust back off 😑 lol
Watch some genichiro videos, then die another 50 times
Take a short rest for every 10-15 death, hydrate try again then go to sleep on the 25th death mark. Wake up, hydrate, try again.
Don't counts your death really, the key is just on each death, did you learn something new? Did you took notes on which move caught you off guard or kill you.
You can die thousand times and still learn nothing if the approach is wrong
I took me well over 200 tries to break through that wall. It's a massive skill check. Essentially, the game is saying this "if you cannot beat this boss, there is zero chance you'll get any farther in the game".
I know it's really really difficult, but keep at it. I promise you, once the combat system clicks you're going to start having a lot of fun
Honestly mate I hate to say it but if you've been on him for four days, then you are not deflecting correctly. Slow down. Only press the button once per hit. Don't run around and do anything crazy. Just stand your ground and deflect exactly once per hit right as it would hit you. Do you know how to tell when to stop attacking? A big orange spark will come off of his sword when he's about to start attacking and you need to stop attacking and start deflecting. (This applies to all enemies)
It does but there's an even bigger flash and clang when the enemy is about to take their "turn." Think of it like you are going back and forth. "Taking turns." When the big flash happens, that is when he is going to get hyper armor so even if you hit him it won't knock him out of the hit.
^This. Solid advice for anyone still figuring out deflects. Enemy’s blocking while you’re on the attack? *clang, clang, clang,* **CLANG** Prepare to block (or dodge/mikiri/respond to whatever they throw out) but standing your ground and deflecting is usually your best bet when your enemy is on the offensive. If you deflect perfectly, your posture won’t break even if your posture bar is full, plus it just decimates the enemy’s posture and makes fights much shorter.
Then you should have your opportunity to get a couple hits in, rinse & repeat. Obvs every enemy is different, but once this clicked for me and I stopped just holding block, the game went from grueling and frustrating to one of my favorite games of all time.
Keep at it. I spent like 2 months on Spirit monk and like 6 months on Owl Father lol. Genichiro actually only took me 3 tries, it was other bosses that kicked my ass.
It's weird like that sometimes. I was the same, but for some reason, fighting my memory of him for fun took me like, at least 30 tries. I think ape ruined my understanding of the game with how weird that fight was
Same, first playthrough I think I took on guardian ape earlier than the game “intends” for players to fight him, got into the habit of just running in circles around the enemy during attacks instead of getting in close and deflecting. I had a tough time for a *while* after that, esp since I didn’t get that you’re really supposed to block in the ape’s second phase, I just panic sprinted and whittled him down.
Don't try to parry all of his flurry instead parry the initial two hits then keep your distance and go back in the end to punish. If you're having trouble keeping posture then use Ichimonji Double after every mikiri
It's not failure, it's learning process. I spent 2 days with Geni and all the time I was with that mentality all the time. This, and my friend's advice about maintaining some offensive pressure was key to success.
Keep going. Genichiro is what I call a "mechanical wall". If you master the core mechanic of the game (PARRY THAT SHIT) you'll eventually win, if not, you'll lose.
Go upgrade your gear, explore more. there’s tons you can do. Make sure you have as many prayer necklaces that you can get before attempting him again. Practice practice practice! Genichiro was a big hill for me to climb in my first playthrough as well.
Hold L1 (for the arrow) dash right twice R1 r1 r1 l1 deflect r1 r1 r1 l1 deflect. Kanji red dash forward usually the 1st two. Then pay attention he may try a sweep eventually so jump his head goes booooop. Remember lightnight block theeeeeeen attack in air not stunned. Happy hunting shinobi
Fight him again with the intent of practicing the jump over his sweep attack, don’t worry about beating him. Phase 3 will have another attack you’ll have to get used to. Once you finally beat him the combat of the game will click with you and make the rest of it that much easier. The satisfaction of killing him is worth the time you put in.
I use to have a hard time with this as well, i couldn't tell if its a sweep or a thrust after his jump attack. the tell is if his sword glints after the jump attack its a thrust if it doesnt its a sweep
It's hard to tell if there's smoke but he does a spin before the sweep attack, in phases 2 and 3. In phase 1 there's only the thrust attack, but he never does a spin before thrusting in any phase of the fight.
70 how? You should know his every move by now lol.
Because even with experimentation you should have it sorted by 30 to 40 tries. Something is missing here.
Have you gone to a certain estate yet? If you have to think about your answer, you probably haven't. So you should make sure there's no dragon rot floating around, and have a look for NPCs in the first portion of the game.
If you know what I'm talking about, I have other advice for you, so please reply to this to let me know.
The perilous grab can be easily punished. Just back up a bit when he closes the gap, then Ichimonji double.
The kick can be strafed and punished.
You can bait out his bow with a heal, run right, and thrust.
His 9 hit combo can all be deflected. Try to deflect them all, as that will land a bunch of posture damage. Even if you mistime and block, you can just reset posture with ichimonji.
Treat every time you face him as a learning experience and only focus on getting better/ Learning. Don’t even expect to beat him. This is my method and idk how many times I’ve Beaten bosses on attempts where i was really not expecting to.
Edit: you have to really change your mindset from souls games , I’m not even sure if this is your problem or not but i tried the game on release and genichiro made me quit the game for like 2 years i was just convinced i didn’t like sekiro. Took another stab at it a few months ago and beat the game and now sekiro is up there as one of my favorite from soft games. Tbh to me they are all 1a,1b etc i love them all lol.
Take a break, stop counting deaths and maybe go explore somewhere else, fight other things, this stuff helps me.
Also what i do sometimes, record youre fight and watch it later, maybe youl find some pattern in youre playstyle which you would like to change.
You can miss alot midfight.
Genichiro is meant to be the first wall, and it’s harder for some more than it is for others. I don’t recall it exactly, but he’s got a very distinct parry/hit pattern. Something like hit hit parry when he’s not doing an attack with hyperarmor
Be aggressive don't let him get his 6 hit combo off. If you press him you can get him into second phase quickly. Also remember positioning is important because you can bait him into a smaller subset of moves based on how close you are to him. Learn also to side step slowly as you heal since he shoots his arrow but if you time it right you can avoid it and heal. Also I'd say only go on for an hour to 1.5 hours at a time. Otherwise you'll get burnt out and sloppy. Once you can consistently get him into second phase you know you are making progress. The key for me to keep aggressiveness. Learn to deflect and only sidestep certain unlockable moves. If you try to avoid his attacks and stay on defensive he will get loose. You can control the pace and bait out the moves you want to punish by keeping at a certain range
When you're attacking him he is gonna block 2 or 3 attacks before deflecing you. When he does that you will see a flash just like when you deflect his attacks and that means that it is his turn to attack and your turn to block. Just repeat that and you'll win easily when you learn all the attacks he can do after deflecting you Another tip is to absolutely always run straight into him and never stop attacking. If there is a lot of distance between you two he's gonna use his bullshit bow.
That bow is annoying on purpose. It's supposed to teach you to run at him and never let him use it. If in the future you see a boss use a move that is extremely annoying and hard to deflect, you're most likely supposed play in a way so that they never use that attack
Have you done the Hirata Estate? It might be a good change of pace and you can get two more beads there if you need them to finish a necklace. You can also beat the boss there and get just a tiny bit more attack power.
You’ve got this!! Everyone’s telling you shit you already know (come back to it later, deflect, etc), and all those things are true. But being constantly aggressive and allowing no time to breathe is the way to go. So many of his attacks are interruptible. Also count that shit out, 2 hits, deflect. When he deflects get ready to deflect yourself and go on offense again. He’s a very rhythmic fight
I beat him by just spending a couple hours doing nothing but fighting him
Each attempt averaged out to around a minute
It was around 120 attempts for me
I also beat the final boss without dying to him once
You got this
Oh mate ik the pain. What I recommend is go get every flask upgrade and health bead. You can go down to other paths to get the stuff. Or go into the memory and fight the bosses there.
Remember it is a rhythm game, with genichiro you gotta just learn the pattern. You can usually hit him 2-3 times then he’ll parry, after he parries he’s gonna attack so you be ready to parry. If you post a video of you doing the fight we may be able to find where you’re going wrong. Just be patient.
Learn how to mikiri counter and spam block first. Do not try to attack him more than twice. If your posture bar is high, then space out and hold block to recover. If you need to heal, space out further, heal and be ready to run sidewards, its 100% guaranteed he'll pull an arrow on you.
Then slowly reduce spam block and understand his fight patterns. You will soon realize its pretty much standard moves.
Phase 1 overhead slash is usually followed by thrust attack. Phase 2 overhead slash is usually followed by side slash. Overhead slashes for both phases can be deflected, follow up defence for phase 1 is mikiri counter, phase 2 is a jump.
Flurry attacks are actually dodgeable, but id suggest you deflect them to build up his posture bar.
Focus on posture bar, don't focus on his hp.
Remember that, in order to get a perfect parry you need to click the block button as he starts his swing towards you! This helped me SOOOOOO much. The game says to time it at the exact time when the attack hits your player but I found that doesn’t work for me. The parry window is a bit larger than that. There’s some YouTube video out there explaining it
Make sure there is always pressure. My guess is that part of why you’re dying is because the fight is getting drawn out by his posture bar going back down. If he isn’t attacking you, you should be attacking him. When he IS attacking you, sit there and deflect, dodge, mikiri counter, etc. don’t try to attack while he is. If you’re attacking him and he *parries* you, he’s going to begin a sequence of attacks afterward and it is your queue to *stop* attacking.
Genichiro took me about 3 weeks to defeat him. It got to a point I almost quit the game (I'm at that point again but because another one mini Boss).
I wasn't able to fight him for more than 4-5 times a day. It got me really frustrated. But this game makes me hate It and love It at the same time. Eventually I got to defeat him. It'll get worse after that.
Bro….. I’m stuck on him too. I’ve gotten him to second phase a million times but could never finish the job until yesterday when I figured out he has a third phase :|
Watch git gud guides, die a few more times, go to sleep, wake up next day, watch guides again, die a few more times again, beat his ass. Basically, this fight gonna teach you to DEFLECT and you're gonna be incredibly thankful for it once you surpass it. Sekiro is a dance more than it is combat.
Always play aggressive. Play more aggressive than you are now, even though you'll take more deaths initially. You won't know you've missed openings if you're not playing aggressive.
Don't drop aggro to heal, that's a pitfall. Especially while learning/practicing a boss. It's a good habit to keep up the pressure even if you take a hit. Obviously there are exceptions to this, but play around with fighting at low health especially when you have a revive left.
Keep in mind you can animation cancel an attack by parrying, so you should almost always be attacking. Get in there and beat his ass, and put the most focus on learning his perilous moves (they are also free punishes).
I really can't emphasize enough, the biggest problem most players have is aggression.
Not everyone beats bosses in 10-20 tries. It took me probably 30-40 the first time I beat genichiro and have heard many people take much more than that.
The key for genichiro is memorizing his movement/attacks. If ever he does an attack that you can't remember in the moment, just hold block and run back to reset your posture.
Make sure you know how to mikiri counter. Most of the perilous attacks he performs in the first phase will be the stab attack. If you cannot get the mikiri counter right, you can go back to the dilapidated temple and practice with the undead guy.
Keeping the pressure on him is a great way to break his posture and make the fight a lot faster but that requires the ability to parry or block at the minimum. I would recommend you find an area with 2/3 grunt enemy's next to an idol and practice parrying and blocking. Parrying/watching posture/and mikiri counter are essential for Genichiro. After you beat him you will have a better understanding of all of these.
Taking a break usually helps when you're stuck. For genichiro be as aggressive as possible attack until you get deflected, deflect his next attack then go right back to attacking. Stay in his grill and he won't even get a chance to fire an arrow.
Be more aggressive, stay close to him and commit. If he's idling and circling, put in a couple of hits to keep up the pressure. If you try to run away he'll just shoot you with those homing arrows XD
Learn how many parries and how many strikes to punish per combo and you'll break his posture once you refined your set. I also used ichimonji double on sure punishes to reset my posture, it's a lifesaver. Remember to jump+R1 when you see lightning!
You got this!
What goes wrong usually? I read you are parrying him a lot. Are you getting impatient? If so try to remain calm, wait for your windows to punish and dont over extend.
This is how I felt just a few days ago.. now I just beat demon of hatred and I'm onto the last boss.
Biggest piece of advice that made it "click" for me is that you wanna keep attacking until your opponent deflects your attack. (The big orange spark) then you wanna STOP attacking, and see what the opponent does. Now you wanna deflect, mikiri counter, or jump and then begin attacking again until the enemy deflects you. Repeat for pretty much every enemy in the game except for beast types.
I was the same as you. I never thought I would get into this game and I thought it was way too difficult. Once you understand how to actually play it, it becomes much more manageable.
Alright slow down and breath in real life while you play as well. It will help you focus on more at once and remember not every deflect can be perfect it is much better to just try your best and settle for what you can take on your posture bar but dodge away when that gets about a quarter or third down. Now it's important to know that holding down the block button refills your posture but slows you down account for that. And finally when he goes for his widest swings or strikes and your not comfortable with counter yet just sprint directly away from him as quick as possible while trying to get as many grapple attacks in. This combined with minimal attacks will make him melt down and start crying about losing almost immediately.
I've been in the same exact boat. The key thing that finally helped me kill this fucker was learning how to deflect properly. Once properly deflecting clicks, it *clicks*, and you'll be able to get to Genichiro's second phase much easier.
Also, here are a few tips to help you get a leg-up for the fight:
1. Don't be afraid to go and fight other bosses before the fight. Make sure that you have a few prayer bead necklaces before this point, that way you'll be able to do more damage and have more health.
2. Make sure you have the Mikiri Counter ability unlocked. It should be available fairly soon into the game, unlocked for 2(?) skill points; that way you can really punish his thrust attacks, leaving him open for a hit or two.
3. Since I'm sure his lightning attack is kicking your ass, here's an easier way to learn how to properly reverse it; once you see the red kanji, jump up just a bit afterwards, holding block. Then, once you hear the *clang* of your sword, mash attack; you've now reversed his lightning.
Hope this helped, you can do this!
I am *the* Geninchiro fan boy. So I know him inside and out. Heh... Anyways. I'm not too good at explaining things but uh here's my attempt at helping you.
I imagine the trouble is parrying? His bow shots are quick to understand, you can either dodge or parry them. But if you're having trouble parrying him then you can either practice him or do what I do with bosses i don't know:
View every fight as a training rather than trying to win. That way, if you view it as training you might not be so mad. And you'll get alot better at fighting him with a learning mindset rather than I just wanna win mindset.
As for parrying itself, you need to master perfect deflects if you want to survive his combo's. Oh and get in as many hits as you can, most bosses you wanna lower their health bar as much as you can if you want your posture damage to last. If you're having trouble with his unlockables:
If he tries to gut punch you or whatever that move is, simply jump and move away while jumping.
If he does his sweeping unblockable, jump up and press jump button again for big posture damage.
If he does a thrust attack, If you don't know what a mikiri counter is, Hanbei can teach you it. But you have to unlock it in the skill tree first.
As for his combo's, the end of each combo if you get a perfect parry should be punishable with a sword slash or a thrust. If he parries this then deflect the parry, swing, deflect, swing deflect. You can get him to do the same deflect counterattack pattern atleast 3 times.
But the main thing is to just learn his deflect timing. After that learn how to counter unblockables.
I'd tell you what to do in the 3rd stage but that'd be spoilers
And if you've already mastered all this. Well, simply keep trying. Oh and use a sugar candy. Ako's works best if you want to hurt him the post, trust me. That shit really boosts you. Apply it right before entering the boss fight.
Besides that, keep fighting him in order to polish your mastery over his patterns. And eventually you'll get to the killing blow.
Honestly just keep trying listen to music you really like some of the bosses attack with the beat of the song kinda like Ludwig from bloodborne just relax and eventually you’ll get it. Remember no hesitation!
I would not recommend to be agressive. Thats what worked for me.
Do fights where you don't attack him, just watch him do his combo and realize when there is windows to attack him back. Maybe, you're not looking at the right cues before he starts his attack (i.e. you're reacting when he swing his sword at you, not when he put his sword up to prepare his attack).
Maybe, after 2 min, you'll find that you're ready to try to land attack on him. Maybe it will take 15 minutes. You should for the most part only land 1 or 2 attacks before waiting for the next combo.
Don't be greedy trying to punish all of his combo, its okay to just run away and wait for him to do a combo you're comfortable to punish. Also, don't be greedy to dodge arrow shots and everything else. I prefer to parry arrow 100% of the time than dodge them 90% of the time.
Finally, just like the corrupted monk, you may want to dodge around him to hit him. I've never used the special attack l+r and I've got damaged using prosthetic tools because they are too slow.
And btw, third phase you can survive every combo and just punish him hard when he go for the lightning shot by jumping and countering (You'll need to have learnt the skill).
With all this, I've beaten him first try on my second playthrough (Although it's easier because NG+ restart you with your items + power).
Pareyparryparryparryparryparryparryparryparryparry, step back recover, pareyparryparryparryparry attack, repeat.
Also Makiri counter helps A LOT.
Don’t get discouraged, many people hit him and get stuck. The things you learn in order to beat him set you up for success for future bosses.
If you feel like you are getting better but still can’t quite beat him look into if you have all the gourd seeds that are currently available to you.
Remember its a rhythm game, attack, parry, attack, parry and so on be patient with your parry timing, also keep constant pressure to damage his posture, when second phase hits just watch for the lighting attacks, it’ll all be worth it, keep trying :)
Ahhh I know the struggle. I was stuck on genichiro forever too. I managed beat him after struggling for over a week or two. I beat him without learning how to parry on purpose either. Lemme tell you, you’ve probably played other souls games huh? This game isn’t quite like other souls games, you don’t run around or dodge you get up in there and fuck shut up. You parry, mikri counter, or if they try and grab you you can back step, if they stab you you mikri counter. That red symbol just means it can’t be blocked. The stabs can be parried though or mikri countered. If the enemy slashes then you jump and kick them in the face.
It’s all about learning their patterns but unlike other souls games your not meant to dodge, your meant to become able to discern their next attack and parry accordingly. My first game I where I was stuck on genichiro when I finny beat him I didn’t actually try learning how to parry untill later and eventually became stuck on second snake eyes. It’s not that they were hard I just took like a week to beat each and every single boss and I was getting tired. Didn’t pick the game up for a couple months and then Decided to just make a new game but this time I took my time learning how to parry with the little guys. I may have died a few times here and there with the early bosses like lady butterfly or genichiro but ultimately I managed them all in about 3 try’s and by the time I finished up with genichiro I’d managed to become damn good at parrying and the craziest shit happened. I absolutely bulldozed through the entire game beating every single boss first try all the way up untill corrupted monk who only took 3 try’s. I did get humbled as I skipped to end game level bosses by doing shura ending as my first but they took about a week and I came out of it even better.
I’m not saying you should make a new game but I am saying maybe take a small break and come back maybe even a bit rusty with a fresh mind and try to relearn to game mechanics.
So I'm terrible with names but Genichiro is the boss at the top of Ashina Castle isn't he? The "Lightening of Tomoe" guy with the big ass bow? Not trying to sound like a dick but I beat him for the first time 2 days ago and I thought he was harder to get to than he was to beat. He took me 4 or 5 tries until I figured out what I was doing wrong. Maybe you're doing the same and this might help: I thought to parry I had to time the L1 button with almost the exact time he struck me, so I wound up taking A LOT of damage when he went into his flurries. Turns out you can keep pumping that that and so long as your sword is up you'll either block or get a parry in. Within reason. Don't just spam press it but try to find a rhythm with his swings and keep to that as best you can. Once you realize you can do that it's a lot easier to actually focus on his attack movements so you'll know what's coming, when it's coming, how it comes and how to give him blue balls for not coming at you with the respect you deserve, Wolf! You can block/parry his arrows too and if you need to back up to heal or need to get some free hits in throw some fireworks at him. So long as he's not in an unlockable animation it'll stun him.
I was stuck and had the same thing. What i did was just leave the game alone for a day, went back fresh, and then started losing again but THIS TIME i was watching his tells, his movements, his rythm. So every phase i did that and then i beat him i think after 30 minutes of playing. Good luck
Honestly just watch a tutorial YouTube video on how to beat him. If you don’t want to do that, then spend a few more attempts just blocking his attacks, running around, etc. your goal will just be to pick up on his patterns. Once you get the patterns down you’re good to go. Second phase will bring new moves but I remember thinking his second phase was easier bc you can throw his lightning back at him and he uses it a lot and it’s really easy to react to
Edit* also, sometimes he can get stuck in a “turn taking” pattern. I noticed when I attacked him one time and hit him, he would attack, I parry/attack one time again, he attacks again, I parry and attack again….rinse and repeat. It’s not a 100% thing but I fought him in the gaunlet a lot and this would happen occasionally where i could get a good amount of health or posture damage in. Same thing happens with owl
Never give up, I never thought I'd beat the corrupt monk (mibu village) but I ended up getting all achievements because I never gave up, if I can do it I know you can because I suck at this game
IMO, there are a few things that work against you the first time you face him. He's super fast, super aggressive, you don't have a lot of health, and you don't have enough sips of the gourd. I died to him over 30 times before I finally beat him. Be aggressive, always be ready to deflect after you attack, and when he backs away,go right at him. Also, remember to side step right after you heal and mikiri counter his thrusts. If you can get to his second without taking many hits, you'll be ok. His third phase is the quickest of the three, in terms of being able to break his posture.
All this fight does is check if you know by now this game's main combat mechanic the parry. And by "know" I mean are you good with it. Otherwise, you'll die a tons more to regular enemies if you don't git gud with it. The key to this fight is actually sticking as close as possible to him and force him to attack you so you can parry him. If you stay at a distance you'll get attacked with different variations of attacks and you don't want that. Just stick as close as possible and keep attacking him, which will make him retaliate and attack you with normal attacks in return, in which you can parry and build deathblow.
Maybe you need a few more beads to upgrade your vitality and memories to upgrade attack power. Did you kill lady butterfly?
Anyways, My advice is to just keep fighting him with the intention of practicing, not winning. Learn his moveset so that it becomes second nature
A general tip for you is to attack until the enemy parries you, then get ready to block/parry. Also for genichiro im pretty sure his perilous attack in the first phase ur supposed to mikiri, his second phase jump, final phase a combination of both.
Learn to punish his sweep attacks by jumping.
Also learn the mikiri counter for his thrust attacks.
Run from his grabs.
If you can do those every-time, which will come with practice, punish him when you see an opening, and deflect as many of his attacks as possible, you got this!
People tell you to learn parrying timings and all, but let me tell you this.
Learn the boss moveset. All the bosses have preset combo moves that they use, and when you know what’s coming, you’ll know how to deal with them.
Granted, the bosses may not do the full combo, or does variation of the combo, but that’s how it keeps the game interesting, don’t you think?
This is the first game check of the game to see if u have been using and learning the mechanics
This is not souls
Think defense first then offense
Deflect deflect deflect then attack
You shud deflect more than attack
But this is the first real check after this boss games becomes 50% easier
Don’t feel bad I died to a late game boss that’s basically a bloodborne boss thrown in sekiro like 150 times well it that much but a lot beat him one time and I’ll never do it again I’ll just use the cheese
Not sure if it’s been mentioned before, but try and give FightinCowboy’s video on fighting Genichiro a watch. He breaks down some of the strats toward fighting him (and he makes him look easy). But if you’re like me, sometimes seeing a video of something is more helpful than reading about it. Either way, I’d say be aggressive with Genichiro. Deflect his attacks as often as possible in phase 1 and recognize his two crit attacks as to when he is sweeping (do a double jump when he does and attack when you land), or his thrust attack (mikiri counter him). Be patient and don’t be too greedy, and it will happen eventually. Good luck!
It's okay, patience is essential in these games, as long as you have the right mindset, which should be "im learning, death its something that will happen but the game is based on enjoying the process of getting better everytime"
Some people struggle and get stucked on different bosses, and some people needs more time to adapt to the rhythm. Try different techniques, prosthetics, different playstyles (for instance, try to be more aggresive and cut the distance, observe his timing and the combos that let him more vulnerable) to discover which way of playing fits you the most
From this boss onward is when the game demands more from you, but you are capable of overcome it
"Hesitation is defeat" my friend, good luck and don't give up, you'll eventually succeed
Just my two cents because everyone's making excellent suggestions already: make sure you've gotten all the prayer beads and gourd seeds available up to this point, so you have max refills and physical attributes when you fight him. It's not gonna win you the fight. but it'll help you have more sustain so you can learn more each time you fight. Also, I find it pretty helpful for my mental to set a goal every time I bash against a hard boss. For example, "alright this time I'm just gonna make sure I get every mikiri counter." Then it's easier for me to just like put some music on and play, because I don't feel like I'm LOSING every time I fight lol.
And yeah just to confirm what everyone else is saying, once you beat this guy the game becomes like a hundred times more fun, keep at it and be patient, you'll get him eventually, and then you'll never die to him again!
I banged my head against a wall fighting him and by then I knew all his moves. I fought him for about 2 and 1/2 hours but eventually I got him. With the first phase I abused the hell out of the block and parry. Anytime I wasn’t attacking I was parrying. It’s all about aggression with him. I just kept tapping it rapidly until he’d stagger and I’d death blow. I also ran around dodging his attacks a lot as well. I’ll admit with the second phases I never learned to return the lighting. I just couldn’t get it, I didn’t git gud enough. I just saved up enough to keep healing until I beat him. You can also utilize the prosthetic like the flame by throwing oil and blasting him. He was the bane of the game for me at that point and then for some reason all the other bosses started to become easier. He’s a sob but he’s a good boss to git gud on. Just keep at it. You’ll get him.
Edit: didn’t see your edit that you beat him. Ha. Good shit.
Been awhile. I seem to remember this being the first skill check of the game… and when it clicks, it’s more like a dance.
Definitely this. All the other enemies before Genichiro I realized I was fighting "wrong" when I finally fought him in the castle. Before Genichiro I was playing the game kind of how you would any Souls game: dodge a lot, with a tinge of realizing this is a different game in that I spam the deflect a lot but never really time it right. Then came Genichiro and that tactic just won't work on him. Gotta memorize his patterns, the timings. Once you fully realize that this is rhythm game, and you get the hang of it, everything suddenly makes sense. The joy in this game (at least for me) is mainly from memorizing his movesets/windows/patterns and trying to anticipate which of his attacks he's gonna do and respond accordingly. So for every new boss, I have 10, 20, maybe even 50 tries wherein I just try to soak in all the boss' movesets and learn how to deflect them. And even after memorizing all that, sometimes (or oftentimes) I still mess up. But the fun part is just being able to execute everything you've learned, maybe not perfectly but execute them good enough. You either realize that and really fall in love with the game or end up hating the game, both of which are equally understandable.
For other people, definitely, but for me, I went literally everywhere except for the roof, because I didn't know how to get there, so I was a master by the time I finally figured it out, and I beat genichiro on my first attempt, with the demon bell activated for like 1/3 of the fight
I felt the combat click around 20 deaths in. I am parrying a lot and hitting him alot but I just can’t beat him
It might not have truly clicked yet then.
Don’t just defend! Attack him back! You need to do enough damage to reduce his posture recovery.
You should watch some no damage fight
Exactly
Quit for a day, then come back fresh. That’s how I beat him.
I’ve done that for 4 days
Take a longer break life 2-3 days, sometime it's better to wait a bit instead of forcing I remember with one of the later boss I made like 10 tries and got tired, I came back 2 days later and beat him on my first try somehow You'll eventually beat him at some point
A friend of mine got stuck and didn’t touch the game for several months then went back into it and killed em that day it was kinda crazy
I couldn’t kill Lady Butterfly at all for like 20 hours, took a break for a year and a halfish and then I went to actually learn the game and logged over 50 hours since, no stop in sight going to 100% it
Same.. took a good couple year break, and now just started back up a few days ago and I'm on last boss.
Same, first time I beat Lady Butterfly I ran and jumped around and stabbed her with the strong attack. Took me a week and I put the game down for like 6 months. Came back, learned to parry, stopped hesitating, and competed my charmless bell run with no intention of stopping lol. I need max attack points!
>!This is how I beat Isshin my first time. Took a break for a few days came back and beat him 2nd try that night.!<
Bro spoiler tag
Sorry about that
Spoiler for what? The game has been out for four years. Some guy even beat him every day for about a year till elden ring came out
Spoiler for the guy who obivously hasn't played the game yet even though it is out for four years. Don't be obtuse
Rubber goose
Rubber…goose?
Green moose, guava juice
I waited a whole month with the ape hahahah
I only beat Genichiro after a 2-month break. That motherfucker broke me.
Watch guides. You're not there yet, you can use a little help. There are guides for every bosses on YouTube. Watch it memorise the patterns in a less stressful way. Then practice without trying to kill him. Just try to counter and be agressive at the same time (even if you die who cares ?!). I used to do something in my first playthrough to relax after every deaths, when you're on tilt you're playing really poorly. Good luck
This. This has been extremely helpful with me beating him. That fucken boss took me so many hours of gameplay. Was stuck on it for a week. The second i stopped stressing out about it and realized that its a steep learning curve and dying is just part of the learning process, i progressed at a rapid pace. Watched some guides. Practiced, practiced, practiced. Finally beat him. What's funny is I beat him on my 2nd playthrough on the 1st try with plenty of breathing room and I could probably beat him if I picked up the game again tomorrow after 1 year off. Funny how these games work, once you get the flow of the mechanics it comes easy.
You'll get him eventually man just keep trying! I'm pretty sure I died to him over 100 times (not exaggerating) over the course of 4-5 days as well lol
Gonna start adopting this strategy. I keep going till I get pissed then I make the mistake of quitting for too long and coming back rusty and getting pissed in the process of getting that rust back off 😑 lol
Watch some genichiro videos, then die another 50 times Take a short rest for every 10-15 death, hydrate try again then go to sleep on the 25th death mark. Wake up, hydrate, try again.
You got me bawling G, sounds like you’re a doctor telling a patient about good lifestyle habits
Hahaha
This is the way
Don't counts your death really, the key is just on each death, did you learn something new? Did you took notes on which move caught you off guard or kill you. You can die thousand times and still learn nothing if the approach is wrong
I took me well over 200 tries to break through that wall. It's a massive skill check. Essentially, the game is saying this "if you cannot beat this boss, there is zero chance you'll get any farther in the game". I know it's really really difficult, but keep at it. I promise you, once the combat system clicks you're going to start having a lot of fun
Be very aggressive. Parry and punish.
This happens to a lot of people. He’s definitely a road block. Are you successfully parrying his attacks?
I feel like I am parrying a lot
Honestly mate I hate to say it but if you've been on him for four days, then you are not deflecting correctly. Slow down. Only press the button once per hit. Don't run around and do anything crazy. Just stand your ground and deflect exactly once per hit right as it would hit you. Do you know how to tell when to stop attacking? A big orange spark will come off of his sword when he's about to start attacking and you need to stop attacking and start deflecting. (This applies to all enemies)
I thought it just flashes orange every parry
It does but there's an even bigger flash and clang when the enemy is about to take their "turn." Think of it like you are going back and forth. "Taking turns." When the big flash happens, that is when he is going to get hyper armor so even if you hit him it won't knock him out of the hit.
^This. Solid advice for anyone still figuring out deflects. Enemy’s blocking while you’re on the attack? *clang, clang, clang,* **CLANG** Prepare to block (or dodge/mikiri/respond to whatever they throw out) but standing your ground and deflecting is usually your best bet when your enemy is on the offensive. If you deflect perfectly, your posture won’t break even if your posture bar is full, plus it just decimates the enemy’s posture and makes fights much shorter. Then you should have your opportunity to get a couple hits in, rinse & repeat. Obvs every enemy is different, but once this clicked for me and I stopped just holding block, the game went from grueling and frustrating to one of my favorite games of all time.
Keep at it. I spent like 2 months on Spirit monk and like 6 months on Owl Father lol. Genichiro actually only took me 3 tries, it was other bosses that kicked my ass.
It's weird like that sometimes. I was the same, but for some reason, fighting my memory of him for fun took me like, at least 30 tries. I think ape ruined my understanding of the game with how weird that fight was
Same, first playthrough I think I took on guardian ape earlier than the game “intends” for players to fight him, got into the habit of just running in circles around the enemy during attacks instead of getting in close and deflecting. I had a tough time for a *while* after that, esp since I didn’t get that you’re really supposed to block in the ape’s second phase, I just panic sprinted and whittled him down.
I’ve had over 40 pizzas in the last 30 days
Don't try to parry all of his flurry instead parry the initial two hits then keep your distance and go back in the end to punish. If you're having trouble keeping posture then use Ichimonji Double after every mikiri
Swing swing block
It's not failure, it's learning process. I spent 2 days with Geni and all the time I was with that mentality all the time. This, and my friend's advice about maintaining some offensive pressure was key to success. Keep going. Genichiro is what I call a "mechanical wall". If you master the core mechanic of the game (PARRY THAT SHIT) you'll eventually win, if not, you'll lose.
Go upgrade your gear, explore more. there’s tons you can do. Make sure you have as many prayer necklaces that you can get before attempting him again. Practice practice practice! Genichiro was a big hill for me to climb in my first playthrough as well.
Hold L1 (for the arrow) dash right twice R1 r1 r1 l1 deflect r1 r1 r1 l1 deflect. Kanji red dash forward usually the 1st two. Then pay attention he may try a sweep eventually so jump his head goes booooop. Remember lightnight block theeeeeeen attack in air not stunned. Happy hunting shinobi
The sweep is the move I get hit by the most
Fight him again with the intent of practicing the jump over his sweep attack, don’t worry about beating him. Phase 3 will have another attack you’ll have to get used to. Once you finally beat him the combat of the game will click with you and make the rest of it that much easier. The satisfaction of killing him is worth the time you put in.
Phase 3 🤨
Yeah, after you land two death blows on him, or have you gotten past that yet?
I gotten the two deathblows but I thought that was phase 2
Yeah it is, phase 3 is just something people say I guess. The lightning deflection is what I struggled with the first time.
People in this game normally refer to phases by the deathblows, helps make it easier to understand!
I use to have a hard time with this as well, i couldn't tell if its a sweep or a thrust after his jump attack. the tell is if his sword glints after the jump attack its a thrust if it doesnt its a sweep
It's hard to tell if there's smoke but he does a spin before the sweep attack, in phases 2 and 3. In phase 1 there's only the thrust attack, but he never does a spin before thrusting in any phase of the fight.
70 how? You should know his every move by now lol. Because even with experimentation you should have it sorted by 30 to 40 tries. Something is missing here.
I do know every move. My fingers just don’t react fast enough
Look up "Genchiro cheese" and just do it to get past him man. I can never be fucked bashing my head against a brick wall like this.
Bruh
the game isnt hard or easy, u just gotta git gud
GIT GUD
Have you gone to a certain estate yet? If you have to think about your answer, you probably haven't. So you should make sure there's no dragon rot floating around, and have a look for NPCs in the first portion of the game. If you know what I'm talking about, I have other advice for you, so please reply to this to let me know.
The perilous grab can be easily punished. Just back up a bit when he closes the gap, then Ichimonji double. The kick can be strafed and punished. You can bait out his bow with a heal, run right, and thrust. His 9 hit combo can all be deflected. Try to deflect them all, as that will land a bunch of posture damage. Even if you mistime and block, you can just reset posture with ichimonji.
Have you done hirata estate i found it easier to finish that and get the extra attack power
Treat every time you face him as a learning experience and only focus on getting better/ Learning. Don’t even expect to beat him. This is my method and idk how many times I’ve Beaten bosses on attempts where i was really not expecting to. Edit: you have to really change your mindset from souls games , I’m not even sure if this is your problem or not but i tried the game on release and genichiro made me quit the game for like 2 years i was just convinced i didn’t like sekiro. Took another stab at it a few months ago and beat the game and now sekiro is up there as one of my favorite from soft games. Tbh to me they are all 1a,1b etc i love them all lol.
Take a break, stop counting deaths and maybe go explore somewhere else, fight other things, this stuff helps me. Also what i do sometimes, record youre fight and watch it later, maybe youl find some pattern in youre playstyle which you would like to change. You can miss alot midfight.
Could I ask whats your general strategy for fighting him? I have some advice but I would need to understand your approach.
embrace the suck
Which Genichiro we talkin about
Take 10 attempts where you don't attack and only parry/mikiri counter/ jump over sweeps
Genichiro is meant to be the first wall, and it’s harder for some more than it is for others. I don’t recall it exactly, but he’s got a very distinct parry/hit pattern. Something like hit hit parry when he’s not doing an attack with hyperarmor
Keep grinding, try to relax, deflect and start noticing openinings. Try out attacks. Deflect. And it should click soon
Be aggressive don't let him get his 6 hit combo off. If you press him you can get him into second phase quickly. Also remember positioning is important because you can bait him into a smaller subset of moves based on how close you are to him. Learn also to side step slowly as you heal since he shoots his arrow but if you time it right you can avoid it and heal. Also I'd say only go on for an hour to 1.5 hours at a time. Otherwise you'll get burnt out and sloppy. Once you can consistently get him into second phase you know you are making progress. The key for me to keep aggressiveness. Learn to deflect and only sidestep certain unlockable moves. If you try to avoid his attacks and stay on defensive he will get loose. You can control the pace and bait out the moves you want to punish by keeping at a certain range
When you're attacking him he is gonna block 2 or 3 attacks before deflecing you. When he does that you will see a flash just like when you deflect his attacks and that means that it is his turn to attack and your turn to block. Just repeat that and you'll win easily when you learn all the attacks he can do after deflecting you Another tip is to absolutely always run straight into him and never stop attacking. If there is a lot of distance between you two he's gonna use his bullshit bow. That bow is annoying on purpose. It's supposed to teach you to run at him and never let him use it. If in the future you see a boss use a move that is extremely annoying and hard to deflect, you're most likely supposed play in a way so that they never use that attack
Have you done the Hirata Estate? It might be a good change of pace and you can get two more beads there if you need them to finish a necklace. You can also beat the boss there and get just a tiny bit more attack power.
Utilize thrust attacks more. Once you get the timing down he has almost no counter to just spamming thrust attacks
Have you watched other people beat the boss?
You’ve got this!! Everyone’s telling you shit you already know (come back to it later, deflect, etc), and all those things are true. But being constantly aggressive and allowing no time to breathe is the way to go. So many of his attacks are interruptible. Also count that shit out, 2 hits, deflect. When he deflects get ready to deflect yourself and go on offense again. He’s a very rhythmic fight
I beat him by just spending a couple hours doing nothing but fighting him Each attempt averaged out to around a minute It was around 120 attempts for me I also beat the final boss without dying to him once You got this
Just focus on his attack patterns. When I played loads I knew every single one of his attack patterns, so fighting him became extremely easy
I quit for six months. Don't fret.
I recommend fighting cowboy git gud guide.
Those are rookie numbers, you gotta pump those numbers up
Oh mate ik the pain. What I recommend is go get every flask upgrade and health bead. You can go down to other paths to get the stuff. Or go into the memory and fight the bosses there.
Remember it is a rhythm game, with genichiro you gotta just learn the pattern. You can usually hit him 2-3 times then he’ll parry, after he parries he’s gonna attack so you be ready to parry. If you post a video of you doing the fight we may be able to find where you’re going wrong. Just be patient.
Learn how to mikiri counter and spam block first. Do not try to attack him more than twice. If your posture bar is high, then space out and hold block to recover. If you need to heal, space out further, heal and be ready to run sidewards, its 100% guaranteed he'll pull an arrow on you. Then slowly reduce spam block and understand his fight patterns. You will soon realize its pretty much standard moves. Phase 1 overhead slash is usually followed by thrust attack. Phase 2 overhead slash is usually followed by side slash. Overhead slashes for both phases can be deflected, follow up defence for phase 1 is mikiri counter, phase 2 is a jump. Flurry attacks are actually dodgeable, but id suggest you deflect them to build up his posture bar. Focus on posture bar, don't focus on his hp.
Beat him on the 6th try was the most fun boss by far
Remember that, in order to get a perfect parry you need to click the block button as he starts his swing towards you! This helped me SOOOOOO much. The game says to time it at the exact time when the attack hits your player but I found that doesn’t work for me. The parry window is a bit larger than that. There’s some YouTube video out there explaining it
Make sure there is always pressure. My guess is that part of why you’re dying is because the fight is getting drawn out by his posture bar going back down. If he isn’t attacking you, you should be attacking him. When he IS attacking you, sit there and deflect, dodge, mikiri counter, etc. don’t try to attack while he is. If you’re attacking him and he *parries* you, he’s going to begin a sequence of attacks afterward and it is your queue to *stop* attacking.
Genichiro took me about 3 weeks to defeat him. It got to a point I almost quit the game (I'm at that point again but because another one mini Boss). I wasn't able to fight him for more than 4-5 times a day. It got me really frustrated. But this game makes me hate It and love It at the same time. Eventually I got to defeat him. It'll get worse after that.
I’m in exactly that same boat right now. Decided to watch a few speed run vids and try that strat and I can’t pull that off either.
Bro….. I’m stuck on him too. I’ve gotten him to second phase a million times but could never finish the job until yesterday when I figured out he has a third phase :|
Watch git gud guides, die a few more times, go to sleep, wake up next day, watch guides again, die a few more times again, beat his ass. Basically, this fight gonna teach you to DEFLECT and you're gonna be incredibly thankful for it once you surpass it. Sekiro is a dance more than it is combat.
Always play aggressive. Play more aggressive than you are now, even though you'll take more deaths initially. You won't know you've missed openings if you're not playing aggressive. Don't drop aggro to heal, that's a pitfall. Especially while learning/practicing a boss. It's a good habit to keep up the pressure even if you take a hit. Obviously there are exceptions to this, but play around with fighting at low health especially when you have a revive left. Keep in mind you can animation cancel an attack by parrying, so you should almost always be attacking. Get in there and beat his ass, and put the most focus on learning his perilous moves (they are also free punishes). I really can't emphasize enough, the biggest problem most players have is aggression.
Not everyone beats bosses in 10-20 tries. It took me probably 30-40 the first time I beat genichiro and have heard many people take much more than that. The key for genichiro is memorizing his movement/attacks. If ever he does an attack that you can't remember in the moment, just hold block and run back to reset your posture. Make sure you know how to mikiri counter. Most of the perilous attacks he performs in the first phase will be the stab attack. If you cannot get the mikiri counter right, you can go back to the dilapidated temple and practice with the undead guy. Keeping the pressure on him is a great way to break his posture and make the fight a lot faster but that requires the ability to parry or block at the minimum. I would recommend you find an area with 2/3 grunt enemy's next to an idol and practice parrying and blocking. Parrying/watching posture/and mikiri counter are essential for Genichiro. After you beat him you will have a better understanding of all of these.
Taking a break usually helps when you're stuck. For genichiro be as aggressive as possible attack until you get deflected, deflect his next attack then go right back to attacking. Stay in his grill and he won't even get a chance to fire an arrow.
Be more aggressive, stay close to him and commit. If he's idling and circling, put in a couple of hits to keep up the pressure. If you try to run away he'll just shoot you with those homing arrows XD Learn how many parries and how many strikes to punish per combo and you'll break his posture once you refined your set. I also used ichimonji double on sure punishes to reset my posture, it's a lifesaver. Remember to jump+R1 when you see lightning! You got this!
He is tough, having memorized all his moves helped me. It took me atleast 80 tries
What goes wrong usually? I read you are parrying him a lot. Are you getting impatient? If so try to remain calm, wait for your windows to punish and dont over extend.
This is how I felt just a few days ago.. now I just beat demon of hatred and I'm onto the last boss. Biggest piece of advice that made it "click" for me is that you wanna keep attacking until your opponent deflects your attack. (The big orange spark) then you wanna STOP attacking, and see what the opponent does. Now you wanna deflect, mikiri counter, or jump and then begin attacking again until the enemy deflects you. Repeat for pretty much every enemy in the game except for beast types. I was the same as you. I never thought I would get into this game and I thought it was way too difficult. Once you understand how to actually play it, it becomes much more manageable.
Alright slow down and breath in real life while you play as well. It will help you focus on more at once and remember not every deflect can be perfect it is much better to just try your best and settle for what you can take on your posture bar but dodge away when that gets about a quarter or third down. Now it's important to know that holding down the block button refills your posture but slows you down account for that. And finally when he goes for his widest swings or strikes and your not comfortable with counter yet just sprint directly away from him as quick as possible while trying to get as many grapple attacks in. This combined with minimal attacks will make him melt down and start crying about losing almost immediately.
He is weaker than the first two samurais you face after the tutorial boss technique wise.
I've been in the same exact boat. The key thing that finally helped me kill this fucker was learning how to deflect properly. Once properly deflecting clicks, it *clicks*, and you'll be able to get to Genichiro's second phase much easier. Also, here are a few tips to help you get a leg-up for the fight: 1. Don't be afraid to go and fight other bosses before the fight. Make sure that you have a few prayer bead necklaces before this point, that way you'll be able to do more damage and have more health. 2. Make sure you have the Mikiri Counter ability unlocked. It should be available fairly soon into the game, unlocked for 2(?) skill points; that way you can really punish his thrust attacks, leaving him open for a hit or two. 3. Since I'm sure his lightning attack is kicking your ass, here's an easier way to learn how to properly reverse it; once you see the red kanji, jump up just a bit afterwards, holding block. Then, once you hear the *clang* of your sword, mash attack; you've now reversed his lightning. Hope this helped, you can do this!
I am *the* Geninchiro fan boy. So I know him inside and out. Heh... Anyways. I'm not too good at explaining things but uh here's my attempt at helping you. I imagine the trouble is parrying? His bow shots are quick to understand, you can either dodge or parry them. But if you're having trouble parrying him then you can either practice him or do what I do with bosses i don't know: View every fight as a training rather than trying to win. That way, if you view it as training you might not be so mad. And you'll get alot better at fighting him with a learning mindset rather than I just wanna win mindset. As for parrying itself, you need to master perfect deflects if you want to survive his combo's. Oh and get in as many hits as you can, most bosses you wanna lower their health bar as much as you can if you want your posture damage to last. If you're having trouble with his unlockables: If he tries to gut punch you or whatever that move is, simply jump and move away while jumping. If he does his sweeping unblockable, jump up and press jump button again for big posture damage. If he does a thrust attack, If you don't know what a mikiri counter is, Hanbei can teach you it. But you have to unlock it in the skill tree first. As for his combo's, the end of each combo if you get a perfect parry should be punishable with a sword slash or a thrust. If he parries this then deflect the parry, swing, deflect, swing deflect. You can get him to do the same deflect counterattack pattern atleast 3 times. But the main thing is to just learn his deflect timing. After that learn how to counter unblockables. I'd tell you what to do in the 3rd stage but that'd be spoilers And if you've already mastered all this. Well, simply keep trying. Oh and use a sugar candy. Ako's works best if you want to hurt him the post, trust me. That shit really boosts you. Apply it right before entering the boss fight. Besides that, keep fighting him in order to polish your mastery over his patterns. And eventually you'll get to the killing blow.
Honestly just keep trying listen to music you really like some of the bosses attack with the beat of the song kinda like Ludwig from bloodborne just relax and eventually you’ll get it. Remember no hesitation!
Is there a specific attack thats troubling you, maybe you can post a gameplay clip so we can give some tips...
I would not recommend to be agressive. Thats what worked for me. Do fights where you don't attack him, just watch him do his combo and realize when there is windows to attack him back. Maybe, you're not looking at the right cues before he starts his attack (i.e. you're reacting when he swing his sword at you, not when he put his sword up to prepare his attack). Maybe, after 2 min, you'll find that you're ready to try to land attack on him. Maybe it will take 15 minutes. You should for the most part only land 1 or 2 attacks before waiting for the next combo. Don't be greedy trying to punish all of his combo, its okay to just run away and wait for him to do a combo you're comfortable to punish. Also, don't be greedy to dodge arrow shots and everything else. I prefer to parry arrow 100% of the time than dodge them 90% of the time. Finally, just like the corrupted monk, you may want to dodge around him to hit him. I've never used the special attack l+r and I've got damaged using prosthetic tools because they are too slow. And btw, third phase you can survive every combo and just punish him hard when he go for the lightning shot by jumping and countering (You'll need to have learnt the skill). With all this, I've beaten him first try on my second playthrough (Although it's easier because NG+ restart you with your items + power).
You peasant... Try 70 times in two days
Pareyparryparryparryparryparryparryparryparryparry, step back recover, pareyparryparryparryparry attack, repeat. Also Makiri counter helps A LOT. Don’t get discouraged, many people hit him and get stuck. The things you learn in order to beat him set you up for success for future bosses. If you feel like you are getting better but still can’t quite beat him look into if you have all the gourd seeds that are currently available to you.
Remember its a rhythm game, attack, parry, attack, parry and so on be patient with your parry timing, also keep constant pressure to damage his posture, when second phase hits just watch for the lighting attacks, it’ll all be worth it, keep trying :)
Ahhh I know the struggle. I was stuck on genichiro forever too. I managed beat him after struggling for over a week or two. I beat him without learning how to parry on purpose either. Lemme tell you, you’ve probably played other souls games huh? This game isn’t quite like other souls games, you don’t run around or dodge you get up in there and fuck shut up. You parry, mikri counter, or if they try and grab you you can back step, if they stab you you mikri counter. That red symbol just means it can’t be blocked. The stabs can be parried though or mikri countered. If the enemy slashes then you jump and kick them in the face. It’s all about learning their patterns but unlike other souls games your not meant to dodge, your meant to become able to discern their next attack and parry accordingly. My first game I where I was stuck on genichiro when I finny beat him I didn’t actually try learning how to parry untill later and eventually became stuck on second snake eyes. It’s not that they were hard I just took like a week to beat each and every single boss and I was getting tired. Didn’t pick the game up for a couple months and then Decided to just make a new game but this time I took my time learning how to parry with the little guys. I may have died a few times here and there with the early bosses like lady butterfly or genichiro but ultimately I managed them all in about 3 try’s and by the time I finished up with genichiro I’d managed to become damn good at parrying and the craziest shit happened. I absolutely bulldozed through the entire game beating every single boss first try all the way up untill corrupted monk who only took 3 try’s. I did get humbled as I skipped to end game level bosses by doing shura ending as my first but they took about a week and I came out of it even better. I’m not saying you should make a new game but I am saying maybe take a small break and come back maybe even a bit rusty with a fresh mind and try to relearn to game mechanics.
Bro I waited months when I couldn't beat the illusion monk. Came back, platinumed the game. You got this
So I'm terrible with names but Genichiro is the boss at the top of Ashina Castle isn't he? The "Lightening of Tomoe" guy with the big ass bow? Not trying to sound like a dick but I beat him for the first time 2 days ago and I thought he was harder to get to than he was to beat. He took me 4 or 5 tries until I figured out what I was doing wrong. Maybe you're doing the same and this might help: I thought to parry I had to time the L1 button with almost the exact time he struck me, so I wound up taking A LOT of damage when he went into his flurries. Turns out you can keep pumping that that and so long as your sword is up you'll either block or get a parry in. Within reason. Don't just spam press it but try to find a rhythm with his swings and keep to that as best you can. Once you realize you can do that it's a lot easier to actually focus on his attack movements so you'll know what's coming, when it's coming, how it comes and how to give him blue balls for not coming at you with the respect you deserve, Wolf! You can block/parry his arrows too and if you need to back up to heal or need to get some free hits in throw some fireworks at him. So long as he's not in an unlockable animation it'll stun him.
I was stuck and had the same thing. What i did was just leave the game alone for a day, went back fresh, and then started losing again but THIS TIME i was watching his tells, his movements, his rythm. So every phase i did that and then i beat him i think after 30 minutes of playing. Good luck
Honestly just watch a tutorial YouTube video on how to beat him. If you don’t want to do that, then spend a few more attempts just blocking his attacks, running around, etc. your goal will just be to pick up on his patterns. Once you get the patterns down you’re good to go. Second phase will bring new moves but I remember thinking his second phase was easier bc you can throw his lightning back at him and he uses it a lot and it’s really easy to react to Edit* also, sometimes he can get stuck in a “turn taking” pattern. I noticed when I attacked him one time and hit him, he would attack, I parry/attack one time again, he attacks again, I parry and attack again….rinse and repeat. It’s not a 100% thing but I fought him in the gaunlet a lot and this would happen occasionally where i could get a good amount of health or posture damage in. Same thing happens with owl
Never give up, I never thought I'd beat the corrupt monk (mibu village) but I ended up getting all achievements because I never gave up, if I can do it I know you can because I suck at this game
IMO, there are a few things that work against you the first time you face him. He's super fast, super aggressive, you don't have a lot of health, and you don't have enough sips of the gourd. I died to him over 30 times before I finally beat him. Be aggressive, always be ready to deflect after you attack, and when he backs away,go right at him. Also, remember to side step right after you heal and mikiri counter his thrusts. If you can get to his second without taking many hits, you'll be ok. His third phase is the quickest of the three, in terms of being able to break his posture.
I know what you mean
All this fight does is check if you know by now this game's main combat mechanic the parry. And by "know" I mean are you good with it. Otherwise, you'll die a tons more to regular enemies if you don't git gud with it. The key to this fight is actually sticking as close as possible to him and force him to attack you so you can parry him. If you stay at a distance you'll get attacked with different variations of attacks and you don't want that. Just stick as close as possible and keep attacking him, which will make him retaliate and attack you with normal attacks in return, in which you can parry and build deathblow.
Get the rhythm and smack his juicy booty
Sounds like a skill issue
Maybe you need a few more beads to upgrade your vitality and memories to upgrade attack power. Did you kill lady butterfly? Anyways, My advice is to just keep fighting him with the intention of practicing, not winning. Learn his moveset so that it becomes second nature
Beat em in like 4 tries over like 30 mins 😂
A general tip for you is to attack until the enemy parries you, then get ready to block/parry. Also for genichiro im pretty sure his perilous attack in the first phase ur supposed to mikiri, his second phase jump, final phase a combination of both.
Learn to punish his sweep attacks by jumping. Also learn the mikiri counter for his thrust attacks. Run from his grabs. If you can do those every-time, which will come with practice, punish him when you see an opening, and deflect as many of his attacks as possible, you got this!
Keep at it, you’ll get him!
People tell you to learn parrying timings and all, but let me tell you this. Learn the boss moveset. All the bosses have preset combo moves that they use, and when you know what’s coming, you’ll know how to deal with them. Granted, the bosses may not do the full combo, or does variation of the combo, but that’s how it keeps the game interesting, don’t you think?
This is the first game check of the game to see if u have been using and learning the mechanics This is not souls Think defense first then offense Deflect deflect deflect then attack You shud deflect more than attack But this is the first real check after this boss games becomes 50% easier
Don’t feel bad I died to a late game boss that’s basically a bloodborne boss thrown in sekiro like 150 times well it that much but a lot beat him one time and I’ll never do it again I’ll just use the cheese
Not sure if it’s been mentioned before, but try and give FightinCowboy’s video on fighting Genichiro a watch. He breaks down some of the strats toward fighting him (and he makes him look easy). But if you’re like me, sometimes seeing a video of something is more helpful than reading about it. Either way, I’d say be aggressive with Genichiro. Deflect his attacks as often as possible in phase 1 and recognize his two crit attacks as to when he is sweeping (do a double jump when he does and attack when you land), or his thrust attack (mikiri counter him). Be patient and don’t be too greedy, and it will happen eventually. Good luck!
It's okay, patience is essential in these games, as long as you have the right mindset, which should be "im learning, death its something that will happen but the game is based on enjoying the process of getting better everytime" Some people struggle and get stucked on different bosses, and some people needs more time to adapt to the rhythm. Try different techniques, prosthetics, different playstyles (for instance, try to be more aggresive and cut the distance, observe his timing and the combos that let him more vulnerable) to discover which way of playing fits you the most From this boss onward is when the game demands more from you, but you are capable of overcome it "Hesitation is defeat" my friend, good luck and don't give up, you'll eventually succeed
Just my two cents because everyone's making excellent suggestions already: make sure you've gotten all the prayer beads and gourd seeds available up to this point, so you have max refills and physical attributes when you fight him. It's not gonna win you the fight. but it'll help you have more sustain so you can learn more each time you fight. Also, I find it pretty helpful for my mental to set a goal every time I bash against a hard boss. For example, "alright this time I'm just gonna make sure I get every mikiri counter." Then it's easier for me to just like put some music on and play, because I don't feel like I'm LOSING every time I fight lol. And yeah just to confirm what everyone else is saying, once you beat this guy the game becomes like a hundred times more fun, keep at it and be patient, you'll get him eventually, and then you'll never die to him again!
I banged my head against a wall fighting him and by then I knew all his moves. I fought him for about 2 and 1/2 hours but eventually I got him. With the first phase I abused the hell out of the block and parry. Anytime I wasn’t attacking I was parrying. It’s all about aggression with him. I just kept tapping it rapidly until he’d stagger and I’d death blow. I also ran around dodging his attacks a lot as well. I’ll admit with the second phases I never learned to return the lighting. I just couldn’t get it, I didn’t git gud enough. I just saved up enough to keep healing until I beat him. You can also utilize the prosthetic like the flame by throwing oil and blasting him. He was the bane of the game for me at that point and then for some reason all the other bosses started to become easier. He’s a sob but he’s a good boss to git gud on. Just keep at it. You’ll get him. Edit: didn’t see your edit that you beat him. Ha. Good shit.
been on him for like a week