50+ DEATHS I CANNOT BEAT GENICHIRO ASHINA!

[jontheoverlord]

I'm on the verge of giving up with this guy and this game in general since I can't get much further without beating him!

I've only got him to his transformation stage 2 times, it's so hard it's just not worth all this pain!

It's taking so damn long I won't actually be happy when I beat him, I'll be too exhausted and I'll need to take something for the headache I'll definitely have.

[Alexoferith]

I can feel your frustration as I have experienced it myself during the first 6 months playing Sekiro. As you may know by now but still has not mastered it, perfect parry or deflection is the key to this game. All the boss class enemies in Sekiro have a high recovering rate to their posture bar. And Sekiro, unlike other hack & slash games, only has one weapon (and other "tools"), the katana which deals pretty low damage. The combination of one weak weapon and high recovering rate to posture damage will cause the player becoming more and more panicking. This in return will affect the player's reaction in terms of timing and decision making. And because of these designs, I cannot rate Miyazaki's genius high enough.
You see, Miyazaki, during his making of the infamous Dark Soul series, came up with an idea, "What if I can defeat the opponent without depleting his health...". So, after finishing DS3, he spent the next 3 years perfecting this idea!!! 3 years in the computing world is equivalent to 12 years!!! No business would spend 12 years to develop a product for the obvious reason, money. So, do not underestimate the importance of this parry mechanism. Miyazaki is very cunning. He uses quite a few tricks to affect the players' mental state. As a result, there was and still has a lot of complaints that this game is too hard, especially to average gamers like myself. He also uses the limitation in saving the game as a tool to create "urgency" in the mind of the players which will in turn affect their timing and decision making. So, I cheated. I found out how to manually save the saved game files. So, if I died, I just restore them and tried again.
You said that you have already died 50 times or so, Hell, I honestly cannot remember how many times I died fighting Genichiro the first time encountering him.
Yes, I had watched hundreds of Youtube videos how to fight him. But, alas, each person has different reaction time. But the key point is that it is still "YOU" that have to learn how you will react at that very moment, to press the button, then the next button, etc.. So, be patience. Let your body and mind soak up the moment. If you found yourself dying a lot, STOP. Leave the game. Go and do something else that does not make you think of the game. This is very effective. If you choose to watch some TV or videos, DO NOT watch any Sekiro videos.
So far, I have not mention any technique how to fight Genichiro as I have presumed that you have learnt all his moves by now. If you have not watched any tuitorial videos, I will suggest that keeping pressure on him is one of the key. By keeping close to him, at least at medium distance, sort of one and a half length of his sword from him. Attack him if he is not attacking. If he attacks, try your best to execute perfect parry. Just to remind you that get all the relevant passive combat arts that will decrease damage to you and increase damage you deal to enemy's posture. Don't know if you know this by now, for high ranking enemies, once their health is down by 30%, their posture's recovering rate will start to slow down. Down to 50%, even slower. When their health is down to 30%, their recover rate will be ZERO.
The best combat art to use against Genichiro is double ichimonji. Whenever he starts his combination attacks, if I remember correctly, he deals 5 hits in a chain, and you have deflected all 5 hits, your posture bar will go up a lot. Use double ichimonji on him. This should recover most if not all your posture damage. And if you have to heal, either do it extremely far away so that you have more time to dodge or jump sideway to avoid his powerful bow attack. And if you are in close quarter. use a firecracker to stun him then heal.
Final advice, BE PATIENCE!
Good luck and have fun :)

[PingedMoon]

I will recommend you that you learn his pattern first. Be close to him and dont attack him, let him attack and deflect only.
Turning the music off helped me on most of the boss fights, i feel its too distracting. try it, it might help you too.

[LordOfWarcraft]

I hope these guides and tips help you. https://sekiroshadowsdietwice.wiki.fextralife.com/Sekiro+Shadows+Die+Twice+Wiki

[jontheoverlord]

Beat him.

[Apekatt]

Okay...50+ tries? How though? Geninue question. If you pay attention to what he does and also what you have done earlier, he shouldn't be that much of a trouble. If he has taken more than 50 tries, I feel like you should have an understanding of what he does and when. Also, have you tried watching a tutorial on how you can beat him? Like, there is no shame in watching a tutorial if you're struggling. I know I have done that for some mini bosses that my brain couldn't register lol.

[Balorok]

Hmm, I'm far from being a good Sekiro player, self-having forsaken at Owl's fight. But I'd suggest turning on FPS (Frames per second) over-lay on Steam and checking if you have any drops/inconsistencies ! There were a couple of previous fights (headless monkey) that seemed impossible to me, though after checking my computer I noticed input-lag and frame-drops (this is a port console version after all), did a clean-up of PC and updated drivers and changed settings (don't recall what been years!) Was smooth-af! And are you using a reliable controler/mouse/keyboard with good input-delay ? What about your monitor response time (GtG not just refresh rate). Don't try to cut a log with a dull axe, so to speak! And you said you're going to have a head-ache so to speak, that's a good tell-tale that something-something hardware going-on haha!
Good luck and never give up (just breaks)!

[VisciousFishes]

Originally posted by jontheoverlord:

Beat him.

Well done! Good luck with your next boss.

[MULTIPASS]

50 deaths on Genichiro is about how many it took for me, too. I didn't really feel like I had a grasp of the core game mechanics until after that. Once I did, the rest of the game was a lot easier.

[Raze]

It took me about that many times, until I learned his move set and parried more and more. The last stage when he transforms was easy, just run around and wait on his lightning so you can redirect. Felt so good when I finally beat him. He's the skill check for sure to make sure you are playing the game the right way.

[Sgt.JESUS]

First time against this dude i used the Sekiro Guru tactics, like i ♥♥♥♥♥ i ran from him waiting for a opening. The second time was way more fun, died a lot, tried to recognize his patterns and learn from my deaths, one of the best bosses in souls games for sure.

[ouro]

make out with him instead

[SuperSonicStudent]

Originally posted by jontheoverlord:

I'm on the verge of giving up with this guy and this game in general since I can't get much further without beating him!

I've only got him to his transformation stage 2 times, it's so hard it's just not worth all this pain!

It's taking so damn long I won't actually be happy when I beat him, I'll be too exhausted and I'll need to take something for the headache I'll definitely have.

fromS games are designed for people who have too much on their hand. mainly kids,teens, or people who can allow themeselves to practice endlessly on their games.

then those guys will make youtube videos about how those games "saved their lives" (one famous youtube video talks about how dark souls cured his unalive tendencies)

i understand the concept of those games but they are not for adults who want escpism

[VisciousFishes]

Originally posted by BonzoTheMonzo:

Originally posted by jontheoverlord:

I'm on the verge of giving up with this guy and this game in general since I can't get much further without beating him!

I've only got him to his transformation stage 2 times, it's so hard it's just not worth all this pain!

It's taking so damn long I won't actually be happy when I beat him, I'll be too exhausted and I'll need to take something for the headache I'll definitely have.

fromS games are designed for people who have too much on their hand. mainly kids,teens, or people who can allow themeselves to practice endlessly on their games.

then those guys will make youtube videos about how those games "saved their lives" (one famous youtube video talks about how dark souls cured his unalive tendencies)

i understand the concept of those games but they are not for adults who want escpism

Dude clearly you have too much time on your hands right now! I recommend trying to play a game rather than the fool. You're not particularly funny or remotely witty.

[a4lawyers]

Originally posted by BonzoTheMonzo:

Originally posted by jontheoverlord:

I'm on the verge of giving up with this guy and this game in general since I can't get much further without beating him!

I've only got him to his transformation stage 2 times, it's so hard it's just not worth all this pain!

It's taking so damn long I won't actually be happy when I beat him, I'll be too exhausted and I'll need to take something for the headache I'll definitely have.

fromS games are designed for people who have too much on their hand. mainly kids,teens, or people who can allow themeselves to practice endlessly on their games.

then those guys will make youtube videos about how those games "saved their lives" (one famous youtube video talks about how dark souls cured his unalive tendencies)

i understand the concept of those games but they are not for adults who want escpism

I'm a 43 lawyer with a highly stressful job and Elden Ring was my first Souls game. I've now played Dark Souls 1 and 3 and have started this one. Am also almost done with Lies of P. The challenge of these games IS escapism for me.

[lawjax]

I fondly recall my first encounter with Lady Butterfly. I had just begun playing and had no information on the game prior except that it was very well-received, and so I loaded it up and quickly felt a kinship towards the game design philosophy used here. Combat felt rewarding, responsive, and fun. But I digress: after many, many deaths incurred while trying to infiltrate the estate and get a grip on how to easily dispatch all of the enemies roaming around the estate, drunkard included, I found myself facing Lady Butterfly with no upgrades so to speak of. I likely spent upwards of 2 hours fighting her and I distinctly remember breaking down in laughter after dying for the umpteenth time against her, as I'd never before played a game that was so mechanically fun but also had some menacing bosses that were mechanically fun to fight against. I remember beating her eventually and feeling somewhat bad for it as now that I had finally achieved mastery over her it was time to move on and progress further through the game.

By the time I faced down Genichiro I had more confidence in how to play and the timing of everything and reasonably dispatched him after 3 failed attempts, all the while thinking to myself how fun it was to have a boss fight that didn't rely on swindling mechanics or some kind of horrific bloated health bar, but instead could be bested with attrition, cunning, and timing.

Anyway, I'm sure everyone has their own inclinations for how they play and what they find to be a trivial obstacle to overcome, but I thought that the challenge provided by Sekiro was refreshing and extremely fun, deaths or no deaths.