In terms of the Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice story, the boss battle against the Divine Dragon is the most important there is. It can also prove to be a big challenge if players can’t figure out how to approach this majestic beast.
The Divine Dragon’s Tears are a crucial ingredient for severing Kuro’s immortality, and is needed to get one of the three good endings available in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. To get them, players need to make their way through the Fountainhead Palace and take out one of the wellsprings of immortality.
To do so, players will need to make their way through one of Sekiro’s more gimmicky bosses. The Divine Dragon is more Dragon God from Demon’s Souls than anything else, but players can save themselves some Dragonrot Pellets by learning how to deal with the boss beforehand.
How to Beat Old Dragons of the Tree
Before fighting the Divine Dragon, Wolf needs to deal with the Old Dragons of the Tree. These are a horde of smaller, weaker dragons that are easy to deal with individually, but can deal huge damage if they chain together attacks.
The best way to deal with them early on is to try and corral them into a bunch and then chip away at them from the side. It’s worth having Antidote Powders or other means of curing poison at the ready, as these dragons happen to vomit when they get overly excited.
After a time, they will start summoning large trees out of the ground that deal AOE damage when emerge. Avoid them and then grapple on top of them. Look to deal a plunging deathblow on one of the Old Dragons. Doing so results in a unique attack that can potentially wipe out the whole crew in one hit.
Even if it doesn’t end the fight there, players can ultimately deal huge damage and then chip away at the Old Dragons from there to close out the fight.
How to Beat the Divine Dragon
After clearing out the Old Dragons of the Tree, the Divine Dragon appears. While it’s intimidating, the Divine Dragon is one of the easier bosses to handle in Sekiro. The Divine Dragon blows Wolf back and sends out shockwaves from its sword.
These can be dodged by simply jumping over them and it’s not too hard to get the timing down. Players can also parry them for style points, but there’s no real need to do so.
The goal here is to reach the trees that surround the Divine Dragon. Some of these trees will be crackling with electricity. Grapple up to them and perform a Lightning Reversal technique, which is done by attacking mid-air after being hit with lightning.
Players need to go through this cycle a few times with the Divine Dragon adding vertical and diagonal slashes with each step. Vertical and diagonal slashes can be dealt with lateral movement, while players can continue dodging horizontal slashes by jumping.
Once the boss is down to its final chunk of health, it will unleash a flurry of attacks. If Wolf survives, the Divine Dragon will be tired out and unable to move for a time. Move in and do one more Lightning Reversal to bring it down to break its posture. Once posture is broken, run forward and up its sword to deal a deathblow to end the fight, gain the boss memory, and unlock the Gracious Gift of Tears trophy.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
