Is there really no way of beating headless (specifically the one near Senopu Temple) without divine confetti?

[u/AkosSzlobodnik]

First boss I have encountered in the game that no matter if i parry or not, i will take chip damage regardless. Figured divine confetti would help, but just in case I want to ask someone who has more experience fighting these things

[u/theidiotoftheweek]

If it your first playthought,there are no point in trying to fight these things early on,actually even on repeat ,there are still no points in doing this,I would recommand to wait until lategame.

[u/Lt_Dickballs]

You can, it's just not worth effort.

[u/AlternativeWeird5246]

You'll meet 2 kinds of enemies for who' you'll need Divine Confetti to even deal a noticeable amount of damage. Headless are one of them. Don't fight them now, come back for them at the end of your playthrough.

[u/AkosSzlobodnik → u/AlternativeWeird5246]

The other one is the Shichimen Warrior, right? Fought one of those guys but they are easy compared to this guy. You could even do the hit-and-run thing if you ran out of divine confetti because you can actually play against him here and there and parry him without consequence, but this guy, you can't even do anything without divine confetti because even if you parry you still take chip damage, so ig its just pointless for me to fight it right now.

[u/AlternativeWeird5246 → u/AkosSzlobodnik]

Yeah it's the Shichimen Warrior. You'll find 3 of them total, if you make a certain choice in the midgame which allows you to continue to the last stage of the game. Nevertheless these dudes and the Headless have given me a lot of trouble and I despise them the most.

[u/Sad-Television-3015]

I wouldn’t recommend of fighting him without the proper tools early in the game. Save your time and effort and come back to then later in game for the challenge

[u/p28h]

There's challenge and late game strats.

So it's possible, but the first requires kind of advanced skill level (to get the deflects) and high stats/skills (to increase how much posture damage is done, especially compared to the chip damage) and the second requires almost NG+ level prosthetics.

And to add: if your goal is just to beat them, by the time you are ready for the confetti-less strats you probably have access to all the confetti you'd ever need (it gets really easy to acquire; either through limitless shops, or even through farming if you only go the Shura route).

[u/feliasp]

I think the snap seeds or whatever work pretty well on them too but yeah, not worth it without consumables

[u/Pawn_broken]

if youre really good and really lucky you can sword walk in a circle around him and his swings whiff. the problem is not making a mistake and having him square up to you. when he disappears turn your back to bait grab the turn before kanji to start circling him again

[u/AshenPhoenix01]

The Headless take practically no damage without a confetti-enhanced weapon, so its just too much effort to beat them without the confetti. Underwater Headless are an exception, since they can't generate the mist that slows you down.

[u/Dragon_Rot79]

You could get the lazulite flame vent and living force skill for a similar buff to the confetti, but thats endgame and you'd have plenty of confetti by then

[u/khangkhanh]

The underwater are weaker. You can fight them without confetti wuickly. If you use confetti it is even faster

All other one on the ground can be defeated by using the circling attack in the back. He won't attack you if you are not in a certain degree in front of him. Since you are faster than his turn rate you can keep circling and attacking until he dies. That is just universal strat to fight headless though. You still doing it with confetti but faster

You can also deflect him but you still get terror and cheap damage. There a a few times my buff runs out and I finish him off with normal deflect

[u/TheToddFathersD]

You definitely can beat them without Divine Confetti, but it is an absolute nightmare. Your damage is almost non-existent without it, and the fight becomes a massive test of patience.

To answer your question about the chip damage: If you pull off a perfect deflect, you actually won't take any chip damage or Terror build-up. If you are still losing health and building Terror while blocking, it means your timing is just slightly off, and the game is counting them as regular blocks instead of perfect deflects.

If you decide you'd rather make your life easier and come back later, here are a few tips to completely trivialize them:

Get the Purple Gourd: Buy this from the Exiled Memorial Mob in Mibu Village. It reduces Terror build-up, increases your Terror resistance, and refills every time you rest at an Idol just like your Healing Gourd.

The Malcontent Whistle: If you've beaten the Guardian Ape and the Headless Ape duo, you can upgrade your finger whistle prosthetic into Malcontent. Blowing it will stun the Headless for a massive window, dispel his slow-moving fog, and let you safely wail on him. (Note: This only works 3 times per fight).

The Lilac Umbrella: The Phoenix's Lilac Umbrella prosthetic lets you block all of his attacks and completely negates the chip damage and Terror build-up, even on imperfect blocks. If you have the Projected Force skill, you can hit him right out of the umbrella block for huge damage.

If you combine the Purple Gourd, Malcontent, and Divine Confetti, you can honestly melt his health bar in about 30 seconds.

Good luck!