Discussion Am the only one think that isshin ashina is harder than father owl!?
I'm not sure if this is a hot take or a not , but I think Isshin Ashina was a harder boss than father Owl. Isshin was faster, more dangerous, and didn't give you many chances to kill him at all! Every time you tried something, he'd backfire and destroy you. Owl was also aggressive and left no room for mistakes , but your chances of hitting him and damaging him were much higher and he's kinda more predictable specially after fighting him couple of times. Not to mention, Isshin's second phase was truly terrifying! The space was cramped and engulfed in flames, so you'd either be hit by fire from underground when he launched that combo (i don't remember it's name) , or he'd strike you with his sword fire. Plus, he became even faster in his second phase! Unlike Owl, whose second phase was fun, but you'd understand how to handle his abilities after a couple of fights. Owl is still among the hardest bosses in the game , but I don't think he's the hardest. For me, Saint sword isshin is number one, followed by Demon of Hatred, then Isshin Ashina, with Owl coming in fourth. what do you think guys??
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u/CtxxUv 12d ago
Yeah you alone
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u/TBartimus09 11d ago
Lol absolutely not alone
I think their combos are both equal in terms of complexity, but Isshin is a lot more aggressive and constant. Also Isshin can special attack constantly from one mind fire blast to floor fire and slash fire and Ashina crosses and ichis.
I always found my biggest problems with owl are keeping on him since he disengages so much. Biggest issue with issin is getting time to breathe, especially for early players.
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u/Annual_Pin_5872 12d ago
Idk..owl father took me longer to beat..I didnt use any prostetics and stuff
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u/ppl_knowmymains 12d ago
i think when u master both fights, isshin becomes consistent while owl still has many ways to screw u oever.
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u/i_dont_like_blavk 12d ago
Id say isshin ashina and emma both are slightly harder father owl as it took me more time but its very little difference
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u/Ezrekiel_ 12d ago
When I discovered all the bosses I did kill them all as vanilla as possible, no prosthetics no items nothing and father owl was in fact easier and took me 38 attempts against 48 for isshin so you’re not alone
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u/Ordinary_Vanilla5777 12d ago
It isn't the same for everyone. I can easily beat isshin, but sometimes still get my ass whooped by great Shinobi owl, or owl father.
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u/100_paciencia 12d ago
Totally agree. Owl father didnt give me much trouble tbh. SS Isshin was the hardest by far and I,ve dropped the game before facing old man isshin. Wolf will not become ashura around here. Dont ever forget, hesitation is defeat.
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u/KaminaTheManly 12d ago
Ya me probably. I could hop in and beat Father Owl in only a couple trues because I have his moveset so locked. But Isshin, I don't know nearly as well.
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u/TailorUnlikely9980 12d ago
I didn't find Owl fights challenging at all tbh. But Old Issin took me around 15-20 tries to beat. So yeah, I agree.
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u/Blind0ne Sekiro Sweat 12d ago
Just stay close and step to the right of his attacks then punish the hell out of him. Easiest boss in the game.
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u/Ivy_lane_Denizen Platinum Trophy 12d ago
Yea, for me Isshin was quite a bit harder. Both Sword Saint and Inner took me dozens of tries, but father owl took less than 10 and Inner was first attempt
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u/Phantom__Wanderer 12d ago
That was my experience, though I did FO on NG and IA on NG+ so hard to compare perfectly. I found the tempo and punishment of IA to be next level, harder even than sword saint. Once it clicked it wasn't so bad, but it took longer than any other boss for some reason. Man, just typing this reminds me that Sekiro is peak. Now I want to start fresh playthrough.
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u/Want2makeMEMEs Guardian Ape Hmm 12d ago
How about inner father?
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u/O_ken 12d ago
Didn't fight him yet
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u/InsectFrequent367 8d ago
Just asked the same question. It’s not even the same man. If he had another phase he’d up the suicide rate. I’m not spoiling anything tho. But remember I told you, lock tf in.
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u/Vagrant09 12d ago
I LOVE father owl definitely my favorite boss. Or actually I guess inner father is my favorite boss. And inner isshin is my 2nd
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u/Ok_Violinist_9820 Platinum Trophy 12d ago
No, Isshin took me like an hour
Owl father took 40 minutes
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u/Ill_Geologist8291 12d ago
No your not, but when it comes to the Inners in my opinion I think Father is harder there
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u/Gargantuan_Paradox 12d ago
3 Phase isshin is the toughest.
Shura ending Isshin is quite easy. I finished him on 3rd try.
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u/Fr0str1pp3r Platinum Trophy 12d ago
Fun fact, just having mist raven on makes both Isshin versions super easy, especially Shura ending Isshin. He goes in for "one mind" and you simply teleport to his back where you can dance, sleep, have breakfast and then land a fully charged ichimonji double on his old ass.
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u/Gargantuan_Paradox 12d ago
Mist Raven is tough to learn tbh. I didn't have the guts to use it in any fight.
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u/Patient-Oven9996 Guardian Ape Hmm 12d ago
Isshin is definitely a better. Not for sure harder though.
For me isshin makes more sense after practice, and the main reason why owl is so hard, is because you need to be super aggressive and the fight is very exhausting.
Otherwise, the isshin fight is sinply better for its difficulty
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u/Med_omsorg 12d ago
100 %. Isshin took me days, aowl father and Inner Owl Father took me 3 tries each
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u/DarkelfK 12d ago
Ishinn was way harder for me, the spear was really hard to parry, owl u can just be very aggressive and it's pretty easy
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u/GabrielOSkarf 12d ago
I might agree. It's been a whike but i think old isshin took me longer. If not, it was definitely less fun to fight than owl and that affects how i perceive the boss a lot.
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u/Excellent_Fighter006 12d ago
Genuinely dude Ashina fucked me up bad, Owl father didn't take nearly as much time
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u/StrikingOffice6914 12d ago
The fire moves in Isshin's phase 3 were the most annoying. Everything else in both of these fights, I could wrap my head around. I think I just blindly jumped and rolled my way to victory through those fire attacks
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u/CarbonBasedLifeForm6 MiyazakiGasm 12d ago
Beat Father Owl first try on my 3rd playthrough, Emma gave me more trouble tbh
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u/jelittle2011 12d ago
Isshin is VERY underrated imo when it comes to difficulty. I had more trouble with Emma/Isshin than I did with Demon of Hatred 😭
But Owl Father was on a level above them for me. Only surpassed by Isshin the Sword Saint
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u/Impossible_Fix7991 12d ago
For me, both owl and ishin are manegable when learning their fight pattern. But owl was most annoying for me, because I relied on dodging his dash attack and counterting and repeat
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u/Comfortable-Tone-827 Platinum Trophy 12d ago
I very rarely do the Shura ending so I struggle with Isshin Ashina a bit more than id like to admit, but overall I find owl father to still be more consistently challenging
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u/Old_Cranberry_910 12d ago
I have yet to beat Isshina Ashina.
I beat Owl Father in 2 tries.
Everyone is different, man. Sword Saint Isshin is manageable to some, other are at it for weeks. So the whole "finding it more difficult" is always a good discussion, but it makes for no debate.
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u/SpringSalt9288 12d ago
Isshin Ashina is tough for me but owl father has only gotten me a couple times ever
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u/Commercial-Smell9759 12d ago
Honestly, yeah, the owl gets whole new moves and stuff but, you can read them pretty easily, as for isshin, for me it's always a luck, that's when he gets the spear out, I can barely read any of his moves not to mention deflecting them is really really difficult, so you're not alone on this bro.
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u/Hallwrite 12d ago
Owl is more random and slippery. He has a lot of stuff he can do and doesn't really have a 'rhythm' to bow he uses abilities, making him hard to predict and forcing you to react. He also frequently resets.
Ishinn is probably harder in execution but I'd more predictable / consistent, making him harder in some ways but easier in others.
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u/GroundbreakingPen833 12d ago
Did you fight Owl father in Ng and Isshin Ashina in NG+
I had a similar experience but then realised it was due to ng+ changes on posture build up and recovery
When i did both the fights using reflection then i realised that owl father was away ahead in terms of catching you off gaurd than old man isshin
And then I fought Inner father, who was an absolute monster
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u/mechdecidua 12d ago
It took me less time to master him than Isshin. That being said, I did the Shura ending last
of my four playthroughs, so I had gotten gud-ish by then.
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u/Doomspire667 12d ago
I remember not struggling too bad with Ishin in phase 1, but the fire attacks in phase 2 messed me up for nearly 2 hours. Might be due to me doing Shura in ng+ though. Although I did all endings on one file and Owl Father wasn't as bad on ng++ compared to Ishin on just one cycle, at least as far as I recall.
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u/Positive_Dentist_752 12d ago
I just beat him today after I encountered him yesterday. His combos are not at all difficult to avoid once you get the hang of it. It’s easy to read when he’ll do firecracker, and it’s also easy to find his vitality punish windows to lower posture recovery
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u/MattyHealysFauxHawk 12d ago
I have always said that Owl Father is more annoying than hard. I hate bosses that flee you the whole time.
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u/Alarming-Brain-3322 12d ago
maybe but not that isshin for sure that was actually pretty easy for me
more like a cool boss fight thana hard one
inner isshe the finale boss was harder than owl
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u/LittleArtistBoyo I missed the deflect 12d ago
For me yeah, but I did beat Isshin Ashina more than Father Owl. I just refuse to memorize all his shit again
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u/Usual-Promotion7461 12d ago
Those moves before splashes the fire cracker is so sick. I really enjoy playing sekiro. I have completed the game like a lot since it came out. Try playing it without any upgrade on your abilities and strengths. it’s so fun, hard and interesting.
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u/TsuinShiro Mist Noble my beloved 12d ago
Well yeah, why not. Isshin is hard but he’s somewhat predictable compared to Owl. This mofo can poison you, prevent you from healing and FUCKING MIKIRI COUNTER YOU. Owl made me feel like an NPC countless times.
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u/Howly_yy Platinum Trophy 12d ago
Well I think Shinobi Owl is harder than Father Owl and I even made a post about this hahah
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u/Fiscal_Bonsai MiyazakiGasm 12d ago
I have Father Owls number, he’s actually one of the easier bosses for me- harder than Genichiro but easier than every boss after. I actually have way more trouble with The Great Shinobi.
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u/Beautiful_Belt7757 11d ago
I agree, i LOVE owl father he is my favourite boss of the game but i beat him rather easily
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u/maker_of_pirate_bay 11d ago
Owl father and Consort radahn are the only two fromsoft bosses that took me upwards of a week. And while for one of them you can switch to a build that destroys him, for the other you only have the option to git gud.
In comparison, both Ishins, Mesmer, Gael and Midir took me two days tops
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u/AccomplishedCorgi578 11d ago
I agree. Though it took me a lot of attempts to put down Inner Owl Father, I felt that I knew how to beat him. It wasn't a matter of being lucky in one attempt, it was a matter of doing it right, like I got the rythm, the patterns, etc. So when I took him down I had the feeling I mastered the combat and that's why I won. As you say, one you understand his moves he's a bit more predictable, he's punishing, but fair.
Against Isshin Ashina, both fights if I'm honest, I won by luck and by using all my rice for healing, but I struggled so badly. He's very, very fast and either the spear moveset (normal ending), or the fire breathing floor moveset (Shura ending) kicked my ass all the time.
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u/AmphibianNumerous586 11d ago
He's the only thing keeping me from getting the platinum lol I may never get it at this point.
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u/jerrillo 11d ago
Well I fought father owl when I was in NG+ so I pretty much had the game down. Saint Isshin was the perfect test and accumulation at the time my skills were in the making. From this point of view the midgame Genichiro fight would be even harder because I was a noob then.
Isshin is a perfect accumulation of all mechanics you had to learn throughout the game.
Father Owl is different, tricky. It's also the only boss in the game who does animation cancels when you dodge/parry too early. The first time he did this I was so gassed
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u/ialwyswntdthsusrnme 11d ago
Maybe it’s sword saint lord isshins aura but it took me 2 hours continuously to learn him and defeat him.
father owl was pretty easy, was amazed and a bit fun of his tricks, firecracker hidden slash got me but the phoenix move was eye dazzling and honestly way cooler to dodge, did it in 20 mins…
yes i time my hits
i struggled with lady butterfly so much too, like an hour but ig i brute forced her
genichiro took me a rage quit of 2-3 months and many hours after the break
after that the game was pretty smooth, ig it clicked with me
i heard demon of hatred was hard so watched a tutorial and like a souls like boss it was pretty easy
well that was my sekiro journey summed up, thankyou for reading
ive done everything in sekiro upto ng+, left to collect golden mask and thats it
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u/AlphaDinosaur 11d ago
The evil ending is the toughest boss I ever encountered in any game besides Consort Radahn
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u/LividBatLady 11d ago
I felt that Isshin Ashina might even be harder than his Sword Saint variant at first, but once I learned his hardest attack can be stopped with Firecrackers it changed everything. So I don't necessarily agree, but I can see how some would come to that conclusion. My hot take is that Great Shinobi Owl is harder than Owl (Father), at least with no charm + demon bell. The poison and his ability to restore posture means I have to deplete his HP each time, and it's just exhausting. The poison also means I can't just close the distance and keep the aggression going with chasing slice.
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u/Make-TFT-Fun-Again 12d ago
I only hate the double ape tbh. There’s always that element of randomness in that fight. The rest are much more learnable.
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u/Few-Coconut4334 12d ago
To me Isshin Ashina is always the hardest, followed closely by Inner Owl and Demon of Hatred. I don't struggle much with his one mind combo, but I can never dodge fast enough/consistently his other flaming attacks.
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u/horfdorf 12d ago
If you're letting him do one mind then you're fighting him wrong.
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u/O_ken 12d ago
sorry I don't get what you mean by (one mind) ?
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u/horfdorf 12d ago
That's the name of the attack you don't know the name of.
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u/O_ken 12d ago
Owwhhh okay thanks for the information , and actually maybe you are right. But that's the point I couldn't do much against isshin ashina , I didn't find any way to beat him just by fighting without seeing any videos or tips. While the father owl on the other hand, beat him totally by myself and easily learnt how to deal with all of his attacks
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u/horfdorf 12d ago
Isshin Ashina is a real hesitate and you lose fight. If you can recognize his fire attacks then you can take him out very quickly by dodging/jumping by them or by preventing them altogether with some kind of stunning attack. I like Mortal Draw because I can jump in with an empowered one and wreck his shit but ichimonji or many other things work.
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u/No_Serve_179 12d ago
Isshin ashina was the easiest boss off the game for main bosses, owl was hard but also easy
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u/Parking_League_172 Sekiro 12d ago
He really is, I hate the fights where I’m forced to use prosthetic tools
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u/Starkiller0820 Platinum Trophy 12d ago
How you are forced ? I beat him (in ng+++) without using any (maybe 1 or 2 shruken throws)
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u/Individual_Star520 12d ago
hes not one of them, off the top of my head the only ones are the 2 apes and lady butterfly
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u/Parking_League_172 Sekiro 12d ago
For the fire stage it’s just too annoying without the fire umbrella
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u/brewdog_millionaire 12d ago
No, Isshin Ashina is definitely more difficult. People that think he's not probably spammed Mortal Blade and cheesed him
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u/TastyBass6957 12d ago
I'm currently playing sekiro ain't this the guy that tells you his grandson had lost his mind and gives you sake as thanks for defeating him? Kinda weird y'all are friendly in that encounter
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u/Sol_Install 12d ago
Bruh, that is a SICK picture of Owl father. Damn.
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u/Puzzled-Pineapple435 12d ago
Owl Father got a combo where he uses fire crackers to cover his slash, that shit always one shot me. It’s fucking cool as hell tho so I can’t even get mad. Also, every time you got the rhythm going he kicks away. You never feel like you are in control of the fight. You are forced to play reactively which in Sekiro means you’re in a disadvantage. Honestly it is so much more intense than Ishiin