There are two types of bosses in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. There are major bosses, and mini-bosses. Mini-bosses are often completely optional. Both boss types are special, named enemies that are much harder challenges than standard enemies. Defeating them will drop useful items like Prayer Beads or Memories which will increase your health or attack damage respectively.
Bosses are the main enemies you’ll have to defeat to progress in the game. Some bosses will lock you into an arena, while others allow you to retreat at any given time. All bosses have two ‘Deathblow’ health bars. You’ll need to hit them with two Deathblows to defeat them. This is standard, but some bosses can be defeated with a single deathblow — or can’t be defeated with a deathblow at all.
- NOTE ON DEATHBLOWS: Many bosses can be attacked from stealth, allowing you to initiate a stealth Deathblow and cut down their health by 50%. You can only do this once. If you retreat and attempt to hide, the boss will fully recover. Initiate the battle after your stealth deathblow and finish the boss in combat.
Table Of Contents
- Ashina Outskirts Bosses
- Hirata Estate Bosses
- Ashina Castle Bosses
- Senpou Temple, Mt. Kongo Bosses
- Sunken Valley Bosses
- Ashina Depths Bosses
- Fountainhead Palace Bosses
- The Final Bosses
Mini-Boss: Armored Warrior
- Optional?: No
- Stealthblow?: No
- Location: Senpou Temple, Mt. Kongo
- Loot: Prayer Bead, Breath of Nature: Shadow
This heavily-armored warrior in western armor seems unstoppable at first. You can’t damage him. You can deplete his Posture, but initiating a deathblow in combat doesn’t seem to hurt him at all.
There’s a trick to this fight. You literally can’t hurt him, so you’ll have to find an alternate way to defeat him. Attack the walls of the bridge, then break his Posture near the ledge. Initiate a deathblow execution attack to knock him off the side, dropping him to his defeat. It’s just that simple.
Boss: Folding Screen Monkeys
- Optional?: No
- Stealthblow?: Yes
- Location: Illusory Halls
- Loot: Prayer Bead, Memory: Folding Screen Monkeys
Interact with the bell in the Senpou Temple Main Hall, after defeating Genichiro, to enter the Illusory Halls area. Here, you’ll encounter a puzzle boss. You must hunt and defeat four monkeys. Each monkey has a unique skill, so you’ll need to do something special to defeat them all.
Orange: The monkey in the orange robe will make noise if it spots you. Defeat this monkey first so the other monkeys aren’t constantly alerted and running. This monkey has bad eyesight and hearing, so you just need to sneak up behind him.
Green: The green monkey has perfect hearing. He’ll run, even if you sneak up behind him. Lure him into the room with the waterfall — here, the monkey won’t be able to hear you coming.
Purple: The monkey in the purple robe has great eyesight. Sneak up behind him, or lure him into the dark chamber in the top of the large structure, on the far end of the arena.
White: This invisible monkey will appear with his ghostly friends when you’re making noise on the rooftops. If you’re sprinting around, you’ll be able to spot the yellow prints the ghost monkey leaves behind.
While there are sneaky ways to defeat all the monkeys, you can kill them any way you see fit. Use the Shuriken to kill them from far away, or simply sprint after them and attack them a few times. You don’t need to land a deathblow to win. Clear the area, and you’ll complete the encounter. It’s very easy, and a great way to get an early attack buff.
