Few bosses in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice feel as personal as Genichiro Ashina. He is fast, aggressive, smug in the way only a man with a bow and a superiority complex can be, and he arrives right when the game decides to stop being polite.
Up to this point, Sekiro has been quietly teaching you how to play. Genichiro is the exam. If you have been dodging too much, panicking whenever a sword comes near your face, or treating your block button like it owes you money, Genichiro is here to fix that.
The good news is that he is absolutely beatable. In fact, once you understand how his rhythm works, he becomes one of the most satisfying bosses in the game.
Why Genichiro Feels So Difficult
Genichiro punishes hesitation. Most players struggle because they back away too often and give him space to recover his posture.
That is exactly what he wants.
Unlike many action game bosses, Genichiro is easier when you stay close and keep pressure on him. If you attack, deflect, attack again, and force him into a rhythm, his posture bar fills surprisingly quickly.
The fight has three phases:
- Genichiro Ashina
- Genichiro Ashina, second health bar
- Way of Tomoe
The first two phases are broadly similar. The final phase adds lightning attacks, which sound terrifying until you realise they are basically free damage in a very dramatic package.
Best Preparation Before the Fight
Before facing Genichiro, make sure you have:
- At least 3 Healing Gourds
- A few Prayer Necklace upgrades
- The Mikiri Counter skill
- The Ascending and Descending Carp skills if possible
- At least one useful Prosthetic Tool
The best prosthetics for this fight are:
- Firecrackers, useful for creating a quick opening
- Loaded Shuriken, handy if he jumps backwards and starts firing arrows
- Mist Raven, excellent in the final phase if you struggle with lightning timing
You do not need to farm endlessly before this fight. You just need the right habits. Genichiro is less interested in your stats and much more interested in whether you have learned to stop rolling around like you are still playing Dark Souls.
The Core Strategy
The safest and most reliable strategy is simple:
- Stay close
- Attack until he deflects
- Deflect his counterattack
- Repeat
When Genichiro blocks your attacks normally, keep swinging. When you hear the sharper clang and see the brighter spark that means he has deflected you, stop attacking and prepare to deflect his next strike.
The fight starts to feel almost musical. Slash, slash, clang, defend, slash, slash.
Once you get into that rhythm, his posture fills rapidly.
Genichiro’s Main Attacks and How to Counter Them
Sword Combo
Genichiro often opens with a flurry of sword swings.
Do not try to dodge this. Stand your ground and deflect each hit. The timing is surprisingly forgiving once you stop panicking and flailing at the controller like you have just dropped a spider on your lap.
After his combo ends, you can usually land one or two hits.
Jump Attack Into Thrust or Sweep
This is one of Genichiro’s most common patterns.
He jumps into the air and slams down with his sword. After that, he usually follows with either:
- A thrust attack
- A sweep attack
Watch the danger symbol carefully.
If he uses a thrust, use Mikiri Counter immediately.
If he uses a sweep, jump over it and kick him in the head.
That follow-up is one of the best opportunities in the fight to build posture damage.
Bow Attacks
Genichiro loves his bow far more than any reasonable swordsman should.
If you heal from a distance, there is a good chance he immediately fires an arrow into your face. He can also fire multiple arrows while jumping backwards.
The solution is simple. Heal only after creating space with a deflect, a stun from Firecrackers, or after one of his slower attacks.
If he jumps away and starts shooting, close the distance quickly. You never want to let him sit comfortably at range.
Grab Attack
Occasionally, Genichiro lowers his body and lunges forward for a grab.
This is one of the few attacks you should dodge sideways to avoid. Fortunately, the animation is fairly obvious. He leans in with all the confidence of someone about to send a very long and very annoying LinkedIn message.
Dodge, then punish him with a couple of hits.
How to Beat the First Two Phases
The first and second health bars are mostly identical. The difference is that Genichiro becomes slightly more aggressive in phase two.
Keep doing the same thing:
- Stay close
- Deflect consistently
- Punish thrusts with Mikiri Counter
- Jump over sweeps
- Keep pressure on his posture
Do not focus too much on reducing his health. You can win through posture damage much faster.
If his posture keeps recovering too quickly, chip away at his health first until he is around half health. After that, his posture regeneration slows down noticeably.
How to Beat Genichiro, Way of Tomoe
When the third phase begins, it feels like the game is trying to terrify you. There is new music, new attacks, lightning everywhere, and Genichiro has somehow become even more dramatic.
Relax. This phase is actually easier.
He still uses most of the same sword attacks, but now he adds lightning attacks. This is good news because lightning reversal does huge damage to him.
When he jumps into the air with lightning around his weapon:
- Jump into the air after him
- Let the lightning hit you while airborne
- Press attack before you land
You throw the lightning back at him and deal massive posture and health damage.
The timing looks terrifying, but it is surprisingly generous.
y=sin(x)y=\sin(x)y=sin(x)
Think of lightning reversal like a rhythm check rather than a reflex test. Jump, get hit in the air, attack before you land. Once you do it once, you suddenly realise Genichiro has been handing you his own defeat wrapped in thunder and poor decision-making.
If you are struggling with the timing, the Mist Raven prosthetic can make this phase much easier. Activate it as the lightning is about to hit, then attack to redirect it safely.
Best Skills and Prosthetics for Genichiro
Recommended Skills
- Mikiri Counter
- Ascending Carp
- Descending Carp
- Flowing Water
- Ichimonji: Double
Ichimonji: Double is particularly useful because it deals solid posture damage and recovers some of your own posture. Use it after a successful Mikiri Counter or after dodging a grab.
Recommended Prosthetics
- Shinobi Firecracker
- Mist Raven
- Loaded Shuriken
The Firecracker is probably the best overall option. Use it when you need a moment to heal or want to interrupt his pressure.
Common Mistakes That Get You Killed
A lot of players lose this fight for the same reasons:
- Dodging too much instead of deflecting
- Backing away constantly
- Healing at the wrong time
- Missing Mikiri Counter opportunities
- Panicking during the lightning phase
Sekiro quietly rewards confidence. Genichiro looks terrifying because he is meant to. Underneath all the shouting, arrows and weather effects, he is really just a boss designed to force you into learning the game’s actual combat system.
And honestly, once it clicks, he goes from impossible wall to the sort of boss you end up bullying in New Game Plus out of pure spite.
Final Tips
If you are stuck, take a break and come back later. Genichiro is one of those fights that weirdly gets easier after you stop staring at it for an hour.
Focus on learning one attack at a time. First learn the deflect rhythm. Then learn the jump attack follow-up. Then practise lightning reversal.
Eventually, the fight stops feeling chaotic. You stop reacting wildly and start controlling the pace.
Then Genichiro falls, dramatically, of course. He would not have it any other way.
