Sekiro Great Shinobi Owl boss guide: How to defeat the old bird man

Sekiro Great Shinobi Owl boss guide
Image credit: Shikkaro/YouTube (Image credit: Shirrako/YouTube)

The Sekiro Great Shinobi Owl boss fight is incredibly tough because of how he blends close and ranged attacks, leaving you short of safe spaces to catch a moment. He also hits hard, packing a lot of damage into a single blow and meaning you can't afford to let your guard down even once for fear of unbalancing this Sekiro battle. For help with the Sekiro Great Shinobi Owl boss fight read on to get an overview, tips, advice and more.

How to kill the Sekiro Great Shinobi Owl boss

Sekiro Great Shinobi Owl boss guide

If he kneels down he is about to throw a Shinobi Charm in the air which will stop you healing. This is bad and needs to be avoided, so your best bet is to run behind him and get a couple of strikes in while he is down on one knee. 

The first phase has him using shurikens as his long-range attacks. You can deflect these or dodge them but they are often followed up by a jumping attack that can be punished if you sidestep it. These are the easiest times to strike him in the first phase. 

His second phase uses poison instead of shurikens and also grants him access to a smoke bomb attack. If he launches a smoke bomb then simply run away from where he was and out of the cloud of smoke. If you don’t you risk getting hit for huge damage. 

The poison attack is not deflectable and needs to be dodged, but other than that the second phase is the same as the first. A word of warning; if you try and use the spear or a charged thrust attack Owl will Mikir Counter you and probably kill you in one hit. 

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Jason Coles is a freelance writer and editor, covering gaming, tech, and fitness. Jason has written guides for GamesRadar+ and PC Gamer, reviews for Play magazine, and a host of other content for the likes of Eurogamer, Dicebreaker, and PCGamesN. Jason also served as the editor of The Indie Game Website and is passionate about helping new writers break into the industry with his Word Count Mentoring initiative.