Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - How To Defeat The Great Serpent & Great Colored Carp

If you’ve made it far in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, you’ve probably encountered the Great Serpent. This massive snake isn’t really a boss — it’s more like a deadly encounter. Instead of fighting, you’ll have to sneak past the giant beast to avoid an instant-death bite. You’ll run into multiple giant snakes in the world, but it is possible to kill the thing. It’s a little tricky, and totally optional, but it is possible.

Same goes for the massive Great Colored Carp encounter. While swimming underwater, you’ll have to dive into sunken structures to avoid the giant carp’s wrath. The monstrosity is enormous, with a human-face, and defeating it (again) is completely optional. Defeating these bosses isn’t really required, and it doesn’t do much for you either — once you’re able to kill them, they really don’t pose a threat anymore. Still, sometimes sweet revenge is worth it. So here’s how to bring these things down for good.

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How To Defeat The Great Serpent & Great Colored Carp | Optional Encounters Guide

There are two massive ‘encounters’ in Sekiro — the multiple times you have to avoid the Great Serpent, and the Great Colored Carp. This guide isn’t about explaining how to avoid them, it’s about how to kill them dead.

How To Defeat The Great Serpent

The Great Serpent first appears in the Ashina Outskirts area, in a massive valley. It’ll attack you, forcing you to hide in the tall grass and carefully sneak past the monster. Wait for it to look away before running to the next hiding spot — and don’t let it see you hide! To escape, you’ll need to climb into the ruined cart and wait until you can land a deathblow on the snake.

This doesn’t kill it. You’ll encounter another snake in the Ashina Depths / Gun Fort area. Follow the same tricks, but escape is much easier this time around. These two encounters aren’t optional, and you’ll need to complete both of them before you can kill the Great Serpent.

Once the first two encounters are complete, you can begin the hunt.

To kill the Great Serpent, travel to Senpou Temple, Mt. Kongo after defeating the Folding Screen Monkeys boss and acquiring the Puppeteer Ninjitsu scroll. Go to the first Senpou Temple Idol, and explore the cliffs to the right — you’ll find a short creature standing beside a crank, with rope attached to a kite in the distance.

Use a Stealth Deathblow on the little man and then use Puppeteer Ninjitsu. He’ll be mind-controlled, and will use the crank to extend the kite. Quickly rush up to the massive tree in the courtyard, past the first Senpou Temple interior, and grapple onto the kite while it is extended.

This leads to a perilous passage on the cliffs. Follow it down to a cave entrance — the cavern leads to a cliff in the Sunken Valley, overlooking the Great Serpent’s lair. Jump down and perform a deathblow on the snake to truly kill it.

Killing the Great Serpent will earn you the Fresh Serpent Viscera. This is required to unlock the ‘Dragon Homecoming’ secret ending. There’s another snake that requires a similar Puppeteer technique in the Poison Pools area, deep in a cavern — you won’t be able to defeat that one.

How To Defeat The Great Colored Carp

You’ll encounter the massive Great Colored Carp in the waters of the Fountainhead Palace. This creature is just like the Great Serpent — you have to use stealth to avoid it, but you can get revenge later.

Once you’ve reached the Palace Grounds Idol, grapple onto the roof and look for a branch you can grapple to on the left side. Grapple and jump across the rooftops to reach an optional area of the palace — the Feeding Grounds Idol.

In this area, you can ring a large bell to summon the Great Colored Carp. If you feed it, you can earn treasure carp scales — feed it Precious Bait three times to get four Treasure Carp Scales.

To kill the Great Colored Carp, you’ll need to ring the bell and feed it Truly Precious Bait. You can acquire this ‘special’ bait from both of the Pot Nobles — one is located in Fountainhead Palace, while the other is located in Hirata Estate. Spend enough Treasure Carp Scales and they’ll each give you one. You only need one, though. Feed it to the Great Colored Carp, and it will die. The ‘Truly’ Precious Bait is poison.

You won’t find the body in Fountainhead Palace. Instead, it is dumped in the Guardian Ape’s Watering Hole. You can collect a Great White Whisker from the body, and give it to the attendant in the Feeding Grounds Idol. You’ll also get unique dialogue from both Pot Nobles — the Hirata Estate Pot Noble will transform into a fish, too. He finally gets to live out his dream.

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