From the intimidating bosses to even the basic enemies, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice remains one of the most difficult experiences in the FromSoftware catalog. This fact especially comes to a head in the fight against Isshin, The Sword Saint where players are tasked with fully mastering the unique combat of this standout title.
The difficulty of both Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and its final boss is something rather unique to FromSoftware, because of the way that this game handles character builds. There are only a handful of ways for the player character to grow stronger or optimize builds for a specific fight, instead requiring players to "git gud" like no other game from the legendary developer.
Isshin's Four Phase Fight in Sekiro
Requiring many of the bosses and mini-bosses in Sekiro to be hit with multiple deathblows in order to put them down for good offers the game a unique setup for multiple phases. This is the case for everything from the first main boss Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa all the way to the final encounter with Isshin, The Sword Saint at the end of the game. However, Isshin is unique in a few ways, first by technically having four full phases, as well as the first phase coming in an unconventional way.
While the first phase is more than a little underwhelming, with the final fight against Genichiro Ashina, the fight against Isshin kicks into high gear during the second phase. This then ramps up in steps after each deathblow, as Isshin starts with his classic sword technique, before drawing a spear out of the ground for a new combat style, then finally adding lightning to many of his attacks at the end. It's an impressive raising of pace and stakes as Isshin fights harder and harder against the player, all while mostly using similar combat styles with a similar rhythm from start to finish.
The main difference from phase to phase in this fight isn't quite the same as encounters like the fake-out double hit of Sekiro's Guardian Ape. Instead of offering a completely different version of the fight when the new weapons are introduced, the new attacks added to Isshin's combat deal more damage while maintaining a consistent rhythm. This means that smaller failures are punished harsher than ever as the phases continue forward, with mastery of the fight being required in order to see the end credits.
Sekiro's Lack of Options Makes Isshin's Fight Harder
In many of FromSoftware's best titles, the ability to completely change the undying protagonist's build from one playthrough to the next adds a layer of customization to most of the developer's catalog. This also allows players to upgrade their builds in order to make certain boss encounters easier by either increasing their own defenses or shortening the fight with more damage. In Sekiro, however, there are no builds, and even the iconic Shinobi Prosthetic's unique tools don't offer enough advantage to completely change the fight against Isshin.
The result of this singular way to play, with only one option for a weapon in the form of Wolf's kusabimaru sword in Sekiro, is that there is no way to simply head out and grind up levels in order to make boss fights easier. This instead forces players to connect with the guards and parries of the base game in order to take on Isshin and come out victorious.
Learning and understanding Isshin's rhythm is the core of conquering this fight, as there are few other tricks that can be used in order to make the encounter any easier. For this reason, Sekiro is one of few games in the FromSoftware catalog that doesn't have a go-to build or set path to min-max in order to make the fight more accessible to all players.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
