You can do it!
Theres no hard and fast rules on how to battle him, only that you win by any means necessary
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Finally got another From Software game. Thanks to forum mates for their feedbacks here.
First Bloodbourne, then Sekiro, then Elden Ring.
Now my first Souls game. Honestly the Enemy design of all From Soft games are unique in gamw industry, so I decided to get this (will check my other options - Control and Horizon Zero Dawn next time)
I will start DS3 from next Saturday 11 AM my time. I will post some of my wow moments here.
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Nice, dark souls 3 was my very first fromsoft game and though in retrospect its flawed its one hell of a fun experience
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I love DS3 to bits. Mostly because it had the best PvP of any From game, beating Elden Ring because it’s only slightly less fluid while being much more enjoyable balance-wise. DS3’s world is also great: varied environments in a nicely-sized package. My only gripe with the entire game is how annoying covenant items are to farm (I’m looking at you, Proof of a Concord Kept). The DLCs are amazing, the Ringed City in particular has some amazing and unique level and enemy designs. Its weapons are amazing too, most of them rivalling ER’s in terms of spectacular weapon arts.
Have fun Zubin! It’ll feel a little sluggish at the start compared to Elden Ring, but you’ll slip into it soon enough 
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I just beat the shura ending, and wow. Emma and Isshin were two great final bosses and fire isshin gave me more problems than his sword saint counterpart. So for now, that’s it for regular playthroughs. I might return later to do dragon’s return or the regular immortal severance (while still doing father owl cause i love that fight). But for now I’m going to grind the remaining two gauntlets, severance gauntlet and shura gauntlet. And then mortal journey.
Beating Emma & Isshin granted me one other thing too. The achievement Man Without Equal. Which means I’ve defeated every main boss. THIS CALLS FOR A RANKING
Just like the Elden Ring Ranking I will rank every boss on a out of 10 rating. For context a 5 out of 10 is a mediocre boss that’s completely middle of the road. anything below that is slowly worse. everything above that is better. I will also only rate main bosses. So as much fun as armoured warrior or chained ogre 2 were they aint getting on here. I will probably be less kind with my ratings as the Elden Ring boss rating, but the elden ring boss rating was mostly based on newness and how impressed i was with them. with sekiro i actually had to learn the bosses which gave me a greater understanding of them, overall sekiro has better bosses. With that being said lets get into it.
Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa
Score: 6.5/10
This boss was a fantastic introduction at first, intimidating as all hell, fast, large attacks and a horse to boot. But after beating him quite a bit in the divine heir gauntlet and beating him twice in a story play-through. He becomes a bit too easy. His attacks though delayed are easy to deflect and alot of his attacks leave him super punishable for vitality damage. Good first time threat and fun afterwards but it’s a shame how much of a punching bag he becomes when you know what to do.
The Phantom Lady butterfly
Score: 7/10
Basically the same story as Gyoubu, intimidating threat as first with a bunch of quick attacks, jumps and combos that feel really difficult as a beginnner. But learn and you’ll find that grandma is here to teach rather than to punish. Figuring her out as a beginner was a thrill and the fight in general is a great introduction to human sized opponents. Though later she becomes rather forgettable.
Genichiro Ashina
Score: 7.7/10
ah yes, the wall that stopped me from progressing on my first playthrough for about 3 and half in game hours. the absolute glory I felt taking him down for the first time is was on par with beating midir or malenia. And that for the third boss in the game! Genichiro is really the point were once you beat him, you get sekiro. so getting him past him is this great accomplishment youll never forget. As a narrative tool and destroying him on replays he’s also excellent. So you might be wondering why the slightly above average score, while thats because of his upgraded counterpart.
Inner Genichiro
Score: 8.7/10
Genichiro but if he were an endgame boss. (genichiro, way of tomoe doesnt count hes a narrative ploy) Take everything great about genichiro, pump it up to 11. Give him some amazing new moves that up his aggression and variability in combat, make him more resistant to just being picked on with r1 spam till deflect than deflect till you can spam again and make his third phase an amazing spectacle with lightning tennis, i repeat LIGHTNING TENNIS. and couple that with your reward being an amazing combat art and the feeling of beating genichiro for the first time again and you’ve got yourself one of the game’s best bosses.
though this is the only inner boss I’ve managed to beat so far, when i beat the other two i’ll put them on here too.
The Folding Screen Monkeys
Score: 7/10
I like the funny monkeys. Incredibly easy, with puzzles that can be completely bypassed by just bumrushing the primates while a gachiin sugar is active and minimal danger should make me give this boss a low score. But i just can’t, the concept of the three (four) wise monkeys being a boss that live betweens the realm of life and death to protect the divine child of the rejuvenating waters is just too awesome to pass up. The initial puzzles are easy but pretty cool and its fun too see how fast you can kill them once you know how to do so.
Guardian Ape
Score: 8.3/10
From one set of primates to one big primate. The guardian ape is one of the few beast fights in sekiro and man does he feel weird to fight at first, in your first playthrough the first phase of the ape will be the real fight, as you struggle to get hits in and have trouble deflecting his claw swipes, smashes and farts. but on later playthroughs and in the gauntlets you can figure out how to get his first phase down super quick. And then he hits you with the unexpected second phase. Which is a lot easier because you can deflect him easily now! and the gaping hole is a giant weakness in your favor. Overall a fantastically balanced fight that only gets more fun on replays.
Duo Apes
Score: 5/10
A bit of a boring rethread of guardian ape that only serves to show how disgusting immortality can be. The posture of the guardian ape is so significantly lower that you can kill him after a few deflects and pokes and the posture of his mate is so low that a few firecrackers will completely put the partner to shame. Leaving you with the admittedly good second phase of the guardian ape but with way less posture in a boring looking arena. perfectly mediocre.
Fake Corrupted Monk
Score: 6.7/10
A good teaching tool, thats surpringly different to the real deal. It’s insane hp and posture make this an endurance fight that really wants you to be an expert at the monk before continuing with the game, butttt considering the real fight is way better and that this version lacks moves making the endurance round stale is a bit of a downer.
Great Shinobi Owl
Score: 8.5/10
What a unique fight, one of the few bosses to have 0 perilous attacks, which means you can’t easily punish him. Couple that with his dirty tricks, monstrous hp and posture for the mid-game and the fact you can’t easily get a hit in makes this another endurance fight. With the difference that owls dirty tricks and difficult deflections make this fight a very fun nailbiter from start to finish. though some of his stuff in the second phase makes the fight a bit too passive imo. Though there are ways around that.
Owl (Father)
Score: 11/10
Literal perfect duel, take away every dirty trick owl has and replace it with an oppressive moveset that pressures you to perfection. With perfect openings and ways to sneak hits in. Add in a spirit owl to change up the fight. Plus the lore and backstory of fighting your own adoptive father and you’ve got a battle that’s literally perfect in my eyes.
Inner Father
Score: 12/10
The phrase you can’t improve on perfection is bullshit. Because inner father exists and it’s such an improvement on owl (father). Take everything good about Owl (Father), crank it up to 11, add new moves that are designed to make the fight more engaging and mix it up more, give him the mist raven for dazzling new combos and counters and make his overall design more oppressive AND mix the duel style of father with the trickster style of great shinobi and you have got one of the best fromsoft bosses to ever grace my screen. What a fight, what a spectacle, what a man. Conniving, selfish and utterly evil, yet totally likable due to his charisma and sheer presence. The Shinobi, the Father, the Owl.
True Monk
Score: 9/10
I love this fight, the visuals, the three phases that feel less long than the fake corrupted monks one phase due to your increased power and capabilities. The new moves are incredibly fun to deflect due to their dance like movements and the entire flow of the fight feels like performing theatre with this giant monk. I love it, so much.
Divine Dragon
Score: 8/10
The ultimate gimmick fight, there’s nothing much to say about this say other that it’s a visual spectacle with a really fun gimmick. As sekiro is mostly based around combat the dragon falls in this weird place where it’s good. It’s a nice relief, but there’s not much to talk about.
Demon of Hatred
Score: 8/10
The same score as the divine dragon but for a completely different reason. The demon of hatred is not a sekiro boss. And that’s why he’s so good, his attacks are perfectly made for the step dodge and the few attacks you can deflect are slow and obvious. His 3 phases are long but you have ways to make them go by quickly. Pair that with the supernatural visuals and the demon’s backstory and you have one hell of a boss to power through right before the end.
Emma, The Gentle Blade (Shura Ending)
Score: 7.7/10
Beautifully sorrow and a great prelude to the sadness of the shura. But as a boss shes very simple, attack attack, deflect. With her only switch-up being a grab that can be avoided with a simple jump. Still a very fun fight that’s fitting of the shura ending
Isshin Ashina (Shura Ending)
Score: 8.7/10
old isshin is what you would expect from isshin at the very end of his life. Similar to his supernaturally young counterpart, he’s aggressive but not overly so. He also dodges and deflects way more as to survive rather than taking every hit to the face like a beast. This old age comes with some unique benefits. Like more unique timings and fire moves that feel really hard to dodge and deflect. Overall a fantastic final boss that never quite reaches the heights of sword saint, but its uniqueness makes it so much bettter.
Genichiro, Way of Tomoe
Score: 7/10
Genichiro is the symbol of how far you’ve come, hes a pushover. but thats intended. And man does it feel good to absolutely destroy him after he destroyed once in the opening and was on par with you atop ashina castle. Excellent warm-up for isshin too.
Isshin, The Sword Saint
Score: 10/10
The best final boss fromsoft has ever made, period. An immaculate 3 phase fight where all 3 phases feel extremely different and difficult. The first sword phase is very fun attack attack, parry parry parry. When his pole-arm comes out for phase 2 the combos become so devastating and the amount of moves, sweet jesus the amount of moves this guy can pull out. From incredible gap closers to a fucking gun. Isshins got it all. And then phase 3 is this triumphant victory lap where his posture is lowered significantly and he has lightning to reverse. What a fight to finish on.
Inner Isshin
Score: 11/10
Wow they improved upon the perfect final boss. By adding 7 or so new moves into the sword saints already massive movepool you get what is a fight so indicative of why sekiro has the best combat. Everything you have learned, everything you have mastered is being tested here. Not against an old frail man trying to stop a demon of pure hatred, but a warrior in his prime. His skilled honed by his enemies blood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zcOUnXd-HQ&ab_channel=FearnleyFitzRoy
well what a journey that was friends, ill report back on this thread with other souls games and my updates in elden ring and sekiro will also continue. May you all have a glorious time aswell
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okay, so maybe i got sidelined by elden ring, but i have every intention of getting the plat for sekiro.
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I learned and honed my skills today against Inner Isshin, a variant that though doesn’t give isshin much new stuff, gives him enough to make him more threatening and man this boss just got upgraded from a 10/10 to a 11/10. A new opener that makes him more interesting in phase 1, a super fun and punishable double perilous move in phase 2 among other cool stuff. And increased hp and posture for phase 3. What a fight. Now to face him in the gauntlet for his sweet skin.
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Agree with your Rankings and feedbacks. I was sad when I completed Sekiro as it was a beautiful game and wished for some DLC or next installment.
Inspired by Sekiro, I took up Ghost of Tsushima - it is not as good as Sekiro but liked the story. Hope From Software is working on something - maybe something in 2 years.
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your list is missing one inner boss. and honestly severance gauntlet is a cakewalk i’m kind of terrified of shura gauntlet though
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I know i havent gotten to or beaten inner father
Severance is fine, just bloody long. Shura really isn’t that bad, just practise Isshin and DoH a few times, then unlock Inner Dad and get a feel for how his fight is. I just went for it, breezed through the first three bosses and scraped Father first try. Considering that you get all of your gourds back, it’s actually pretty forgiving, or a bit of death-based RNG if you like.
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yea uh, so i just did the shura gauntlet for my first attempt of the day ( i alternate between severance gauntlet and shura gauntlet to not get bored by the same visuals) and i fucking beat it first try. I had one of the worst Emma fights i ever had. My Fire Isshin went surpringly well, especially phase 2 when he decided to take a page out of hoarah loux’s book and went for 4 grabs in a row. giving me ample time to destroy him. Then i had one of the best Demon of hatred fights I’ll probably ever get. It was near perfect with me only getting hit once. And then for good measure, I first tried Inner Father. I hadn’t gotten to him yet, I usually got stuck on fire isshin or demon with this gauntlet. So getting to him and first trying him was a massive powertrip. He probably also takes the cake for my favorite fromsoft fight and it’s not even close.
Now i got the Shura skin, meaning one gauntlet remains for one skin, the severance gauntlet and the funny tengu skin. Though i beat inner isshin several times in isolation, him being at the end of a rather long gauntlet with some endurance bosses like big monkey and big man (though ive gotten quite efficient at dispatching them, especially guardian ape phase 1) causes me to fuck up in his fight. But ill get through it. After that, dragon’s return and immortal severance are my goal.
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GJ! The odds of you never taking that skin off are pretty high now 
If you want a cheeky way to get rid of Ape Phase 1, pop a Yashariku’s and spam Purple Fume Spark firecrackers in his phase. It should take 9 to max out his posture for a free deathblow. You won’t have many emblems left for Phase 2 even if you use the Tanto, but it’s pretty free anyway.
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My phase 1 ape consists of firecracker, jumping mortal draw, fire cracker, bunch of hits and then hes nearly maxed out. Also leaves no emblems but the 5 tanto emblems are more than enough for phase 2
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Superb…
meanwhile I just started with Dark Souls 3
and I am dead already 
I still wonder why From soft game doesnot have a pause option.
I mean I need to go for bathroom break 
, if I pause it doesnot work in all of their games.
Maybe they do this on purpose, dont know the reason behind it.
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And that’s the last gauntlet down, Inner Isshin is such a tough fight, especially phase 2. That polearm has some weird fucking timings and it kept fucking me up. Luckily phase 1 and 3 are free for me so thats nice. Doing this unlocked the skin I’ll never take off, The Tengu Skin. and more importantly the Mortal Journey. I tried it once but the guardian ape phase 1 caught me off guard twice and that was the end of the mortal journey. For now, I started playthrough 3 and after each main boss I’ll try mortal journey once again.
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Meanwhile, on my Dark Souls 3 journey, I am stuck with this battle cat of He-Man. But I am really enjoying the game, doesnot feel like it is a six year old game.
I am able to attack the cat when I am under the belly, but when the health reaches 50%, things get bad. 
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HUH HO HO HEH HO HO HO
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Still hilarious how vordt has one of the most iconic themes. Good early fight too.
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Upgraded and beat that cat, and then after dodging from witches from elden ring and artillary attack, reached a peaceful playground which was eerie at start -
But then a nasty creatures with so many ba*** started to attack untill we both fell down and I died as usual.
Later I dodged here and there and reached Road of Sacrifice ignoring this boss.
Ha ha From Soft does really nasty stuffs like p***/fa** on Guardian Ape and this tree creatures with double meaning
This is more nastier than Ulcerated Tree Spirit in Elden Ring. Yuck !!
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