Sekiro Lone Shadow Longswordsman boss guide: How to beat the sword-wielding ninja
The Sekiro Lone Shadow Longswordsman may be just a miniboss, but use our guide to make sure you don't underestimate him
Mastering the Sekiro Lone Shadow Longswordsman boss fight is useful as his style is not only already a boss-form of a previously encountered enemy, but later goes on to form the basics of a few other bosses you'll meet later elsewhere in Sekiro.
That said, it's not an easy battle - mainly because it takes pace in a tiny space so you've little space to use, so often the great leveller in a Skerio fight. Hopefully with our help you can take on the Sekiro Long Shadow Longswordsman boss and beat him.
How to beat the Sekiro Lone Shadow Longswordsman boss
He uses a mix of sword attacks and kicks in order to try and keep you off-balance and very rarely lets up. This is another very challenging fight if you have yet to master the parry, so try to get some practice in beforehand as from this point on you’re going to start relying on it.
There are two points of entry for the arena, you want to take the one directly above this guy in order to drop attack him to get him to half health straight away. You can once again use the oil and Flame Vent combo in order to open up his guard and unleash a flurry of strikes if you don’t fancy parrying, just keep in mind that he will close the distance very quickly so it isn’t as simple as in some other fights.
Aside from his absurd combos, you need to keep an eye out for a thrust kick which can be Mikiri Countered. This can come after he has deflected your attacks or at the end of a kick combo. He also uses a sweeping kick attack which can be punished if you jump on his head. As long as you watch out for these attacks you can take him down.
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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.