Genichiro Ashina Walkthrough
If you managed to fight well against Genichiro in your first encounter – you’ll be happy to know that he uses a few of the same moves. If not, get ready to meticulously study his moveset and prepare to find the best openings to strike back when you can, because Genichiro is not an enemy to take lightly.
In addition to his powerful katana attacks, Genichiro will regularly take out his bow to hassle you from afar. This can range from a one or two quick shots before he rolls forward to slash with his blade, or he may pull back his bowstring for a powerful blast that will send you sliding back even with a deflection. He can also jump into the air and loose a volley of three rapid fire strikes followed by one more shot before falling to the ground, and can deal a lot of damage if not guarded against.
Perhaps his most fearsome attack comes when he readies his blade off to your left, before swinging it up with two strikes, (or he may try to strafe you first) and then performing a slow spin that will unleash a flurry of combo attacks – 7 in all – that ends in an uppercut that forces both of you back. It is obviously and extremely dangerous move, but once you get the pattern down, it can be a great way to chain deflects to rapidly damage his posture – and you can sometimes score a free hit after the combo ends.
Other intense attacks to watch out for include a jumping stab where he plunges his sword into the ground, and immediately follows up with a perilous thrust in your direction. Try not to fear the second stab, and wait for him to charge up before stepping in with a Mikiri Counter to further damage his posture.
He may sometimes simply crouch down in preparation for a thrust but it’s not as obvious, since there’s no warmup you can see coming. However, if you see him dart off to your left as the perilous symbol flashes, be sure to jump and dodge away, as he has a very short-ranged put powerful grab that ends with a massive punch.
This fight is a battle of attrition – you can’t get greedy, so be ready to alternate single attacks and deflections with him, and look for openings after his combo attacks to get hits in where you can. The Loaded Shuriken combined with the chasing slice skill can let you close the distance on him quick, which is useful when he tries charging up his bow, or is about to jump into the air – which you can shut down if you react quickly. Make sure when trading blows with him, especially on his big attacks, that you find some distance when possible to hold guard and regenerate your posture quickly – if he breaks your posture, you may not be able to recover in time to avoid some of his attacks.
When you take off one of his health bars, he’ll change things up only slightly to try and trick you. Following his jumping stab attacks, he’ll now follow up with a low sweep that you’ll have to jump on him to avoid – instead of the thrusts (though he can still do them at random – just not after jumping stabs). He’ll also now run to your right before moving up in a low sweep attack, which can sometimes be difficult to distinguish from his grab (which has him running to your left) – if in doubt, just jump away to play it safe.
Second Phase – Way of Tomoe
After taking out both of his health bars, Genichiro will throw away his battered armor and embrace a more heretical approach, armed with his now lightning-infused blade. If you’ve been wondering about those Eel Livers – this is where they come in.
He may only have one health bar for this version of the fight, but In addition to all of his existing attacks – he now has even more tricks up his sleeve. You’ll probably be tempted to either heal up or use an Eel Liver when the fight begins – but Genichiro will usually start with an impressive jumping thrust attack that can cross the room extremely quickly – and is hard to react to. He may also start running at you while yelling and his free arm outstretched, which is your signal that he’s going for a running grab attack that you’ll need to sprint and jump away from to avoid.
However, the worst attack of all comes from his new lightning infused blade – which comes when he jumps high into the air. A lightning bolt will hit his blade, which he’ll use to either slash downward or slash low across and hit you with it. If it connects while you’re on the ground – you’ll take massive damage, and probably die unless you have that Eel Liver active. If it hits you in the air, you’ll have just a second to quickly retaliate by pressing the attack button to charge the blast into your own blade and hit it right back at him. If you land while still electrically charged, the current will blast you.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he may also leap into the air and electrify his bow instead, which has a much more precise shot and can hit a lot harder – but the same rules still apply. If you manage to retaliate by charging the electricity back at him, you’ll shave off a good amount of his health, AND stun him for several moments letting you apply a lot of damage without fear of his retaliations – and possibly break his posture if he’s already high up. It’s definitely a risk/reward scenario, but above all else make sure your dodging by jumping when you see lightning hit the air.
As long as you can continue to keep up the pressure, and deflect his combo chains while recovering your own posture, you can defeat him long before his health is depleted, as his posture recovers fairly slowly even after only 25% of his health is gone. Utilize shurikens to keep pressure on him when he retreats with his bow, and eventually Lord Genichiro will fall.
Defeating him will earn you the Memory: Genichiro, as well as a brand new Ninjitsu Technique: Bloodsmoke, which allows you to use Spirit Emblems during a Backstab Deathblow (regardless of if you’ve been spotted) to create a large smoke screen to continue assassinating enemies.
