SEKIRO: SHADOWS DIE TWICE
The Demon of Hatred fell last night to Wolf’s blade Kusabimaru. The Sculptor also known as the Shinobi Orangutan now knows peace for the first time in many many years. Releasing Orangutan from his torment showed Wolf what would have happened if he had sided with the Great Shinobi Owl in the castles dojo. The result of walking the path of the Shura demon that lusted for violence.
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Took seven evenings to prevail, but being a Shinobi that could not die – the result was inevitable.
The first couple of evenings were tense, the controller held in a white knuckle grip. Attempts where you just run away to survive a few seconds longer. Attempts focused on being aggressive resulting in your getting your ass beat.
The next few nights became a time of research, learning to relax and to dance. Runs at the Demon with no intent to prevail but to learn the Demons dance. The clues, ques and tell-tale signs as to the Demon’s patterns. As these were learned, Wolf began to understand and develop his own responses – Wolf learned the dance.
In researching many younger and faster YouTubers seem to all suggest a hyper aggressive strategy (or strat) which involved staying under the Demon attacking and then relying on reflexes to deflect melee attacks and foot stomps. For this incarnation of the Wolf that just didn’t work. Instead this Wolf learned the dance and used the Shinobi Dash and Slash method. Learn the tell’s, learn the triggers, and control the follow of the fight by kiting the Demon into an area of Wolf’s choosing. Wait and watch for a desired action – then dash in, gets some slashes in to punish the Demon when exposed and then dance back out of range. Instead of beating the Demon through brute force, end his existence through the death of a thousand cuts.
Ideally for this Wolf had to get through the first phase with minimal use of healing items as undoubtedly they would be needed later. Eventually Phase I became fairly easy using the Dash & Slash strat. Moving into Phase II became more of a challenge as the Demon began employing long range river of fire and the release of homing fireballs attacks. The river of fire was countered using the Suzaku’s Lotus upgrade to the loaded umbrella which prevented fire damage. The fireballs were evaded by strafing to the right and corkscrewing in toward the Demon so that when he was finished casting he could be punished while recovering.
The final Phase III portion seemed to add two more conditions to the conflict, the Demon appeared to become even more aggressive and now he used his flame arm on occasion to create a circular flame barrier trapping the Wolf in a much smaller area with little room to maneuver. A true detriment to the Dash & Slash method Wolf was attempting to use. Because it was Phase III of the fight, well let’s just say Wolf didn’t get a lot of practice time here. To counter this Wolf learned to dash away when the Demon started to spin, placing himself outside the barrier and free to move in a wider are during the half a minute while the barrier burned itself out.
With the use of a powerful healing buff kept in reserve and the timely use of a resurrection the Demon was felled.
Tonight I’ll take a night off before beginning the final boss Isshin, The Sword Saint. There are a couple of final skills to learn for which I’ll need experience points. So I’ll be traveling the map from start to finish killing everything in my path. Hmmmmm – maybe the Shura lust isn’t quite dead in the Wolf after all.
WW
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