How do you counter Owl's firecrackers?

[Chucklehead]

Every other move of his I at least understand how to counter, but when he does the firecrackers after an in-close combo I just get wrecked by it every single time. It's like there's not enough time to get out of range, and if I dodge into him he just wrecks me with a sword slash.

This boss is pushing up against the limits of mechanical difficulty and margin of error I am capable of. A dozen tries and I have not even reached his 2nd phase.

[E.P.D. Gaffney]

You'll just learn the tell eventually and get out of the way. He has two firecracker moves, though. The one that he does followed by a combo with an elbow and a twist is actually a great opportunity to run behind him and get in some hits.

[Chucklehead]

I can kinda tell when he's gonna do it but which direction do you dodge? Sideways doesn't work and directly into him doesn't work either.

[E.P.D. Gaffney]

Eh, I have it in my muscle memory but haven't played in a bit. I think it's something like directly into him but slightly to the side (may be important whether you left or right as well), so that if you're locked on you end up behind him. You may want to watch a video if that's not clicking. Some people will use Mist Raven for this as well, as sometimes it happens when you're in a corner and can't escape in time.

[Rialm]

You jump to another direction the moment you see the dust appearing, and you won't be hit it. That's how I manage to dodge it.

[Týr'el]

I just did him today. He was the only boss that took me ~30 tries.
Phase 1 is harder, because of the firecrackers. He has less moves in phase 2.
Even DoH was easier than him.

If we are talking about the regular firecrakcer, jump backward while blocking. These don't deal lot of damage.
If he launches the firecrackers after a very long combo : time to use the fire umbrella to protect against the heavy damage, and then chain with an prothesis attack to punish [projected force skill].

Use only Suzaku's Lotus Umbrella. And the same tool will be useful against DoH.

[Shizofrend]

i usually jump back or dodge forwards

[inlimuniter]

Just wait for his big combo that ends with a charge attack to get the big posture damage on him, and side step his lunging leap downwards attack and get a few free hits on his side to chip away at his vitality so that his posture doesn't recover so quickly. That way you can just jump or run backwards from his firecrackers and not worry too much about him chilling behind them and getting his posture back. The same principle applies to this poison attack too. You can run into him or quickly sidestep twice to get close to him and hit him once or twice whilst he's doing that stuff, but that is a bit risky and it's not necessary to beat him.

[squat_instructor]

You can sprint through the powder before it explodes, preferably on the right side to not get hit by the swing. It's one of the best moves in terms of punishing him since you can land 3 hits to his HP if your timing is tight

[Tequila Sunset]

for me, he usually used it when i was right infront of him swinging or blocking, if you're able to detect him throwing it out try running past him or dodging towards him

[Chucklehead]

Originally posted by squat_instructor:

You can sprint through the powder before it explodes, preferable on the right side to not get him by the swing. It's one of the best moves in terms of punishing him since you can land 3 hits to his HP if your timing is tight

Thanks, I think this is what I was looking for, I'll give it a try now. Dodge into him but also to the right side to avoid the slash.

[Chucklehead]

Well using that advice I got to his 2nd phase on my 1st attempt and almost beat him. The 2nd phase feels a little cheap because he disappears which breaks the camera lock and makes me run around like a headless chicken until I get my bearings. I wish the camera would just switch to tracking the owl.

[𝕊𝕠𝕡𝕙𝕚𝕒]

Originally posted by Chucklehead:

Originally posted by squat_instructor:

You can sprint through the powder before it explodes, preferable on the right side to not get him by the swing. It's one of the best moves in terms of punishing him since you can land 3 hits to his HP if your timing is tight

Thanks, I think this is what I was looking for, I'll give it a try now. Dodge into him but also to the right side to avoid the slash.

you can use flame umbreella

[inlimuniter]

Originally posted by Chucklehead:

Well using that advice I got to his 2nd phase on my 1st attempt and almost beat him. The 2nd phase feels a little cheap because he disappears which breaks the camera lock and makes me run around like a headless chicken until I get my bearings. I wish the camera would just switch to tracking the owl.

Think, iirc, you can just wait, like press nothing, don't run at all, then you should see the out line of his silhouette and then just press the lock on button. I'm pretty certain you don't need to be locked onto him anyway at that very moment to parry him if he swings at you or jump away if he does the charm thing.

[Sokurah]

Just dodge diagonally to the right. Its actually a move you can exploit very well to get direct hits. You can see it here very early in my Owl Father fight.

Its also possible to dodge to the left but since thats the side from which the attack is coming its a bit tighter and harder to iframe. So only do that when there is not enough room on your right side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkuOz6bxZ9M

[Chucklehead]

The dodging diagonally into him and to the right was the key point. Once I knew that I got past his first phase every time and beat his 2nd phase on my 2nd try. The way he breaks lock with the owl is annoying but surmountable.

Corrupt Monk Part Deux was easy peasy after this one.