Corruped Monk is a boss in the Mibu Village area of the Ashina Depths in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, following straight on from O’Rin of the Water.
She has a lot of health and posture and she hits pretty hard, but thankfully she only takes one Deathblow to kill, so we only have to worry about wearing her down once. She’s also an apparition-type enemy, so having some Divine Confetti in our inventory is a big use here, as using it will drastically increase the amount of damage we do to the boss. If you don’t have any Divine Confetti then you can farm it from the robed enemies inside the Ashina Castle. If you die during the boss fight and have to retry, run straight back to her from the Water Mill Sculptor’s Idol, ignoring the enemy on the bridge. Your health is best saved for the boss fight.
Run through the passage next to the house and into the clearing in front of the Wedding Cave. Run up the steps and the Corrupted Monk will appear in front of you, but it’ll take her a second or two to start attacking, so use this opportunity to use some Divine Confetti and get yourself prepared for the fight
Now that the fight has begun, this is all about slowly picking away at her Vitality when the opportunities arise so that we can break her Posture easier further into the fight. The key to doing that is knowing her attacks and how to react to them, so let me talk you through them.
All of Corrupted Monk’s attacks will come from her weapon, so it’s all about Deflecting and avoidance. She’ll sometimes perform a single swipe of her weapon which can be Deflected; it will knock you back slightly, but it’ll also take her a little while to recover from, so we can use this opportunity to land a hit.
She’ll also perform a single swipe followed by a jumping overhead attack, and once again you can Deflect both of these and then get a couple of your own hits in before she has a chance to recover.
A number of her other attacks involve various combos of swipes, so watch what she’s doing and Deflect them and then go for your own attack when she’s recovering. Bear in mind that some of her longer combos (usually about four or five hits) will do significant Posture damage to you, and Deflecting the final swipe will often knock you back and it’ll take you a second or two to recover yourself. When this happens do not go on the aggressive and try and get your own hits in or you’ll get caught, just back away and let your Posture recover.
The other attack to watch out for is a powerful five-swipe combo. You’ll know she’s going for this move because she’ll lift her weapon above her head in both hands before she starts the attack, so get ready to Deflect when you see her doing this. When she does this attacks, Deflect each of her attacks for some Posture damage but don’t go for any of your own attacks after the fifth swipe. The swipes are powerful and have likely knocked you back a considerable distance into a corner, and they’ve also probably done a lot of damage to your Posture. Both of you will take a second to recover once the combo is finished, so you have no opportunity to get a hit in; instead, run around the Corrupted Monk and position yourself back in the centre of the area so that you aren’t stuck in a corner and get ready for the next attack.
Other than these swipes, Corrupted Monk has two Perilous/Red kanji attacks that you need to watch out for. The first is a thrust attack where the Corrupted Monk tries to stab you, which is indicated by her pointing her weapon at you and the end of it gleaming in the light. You can either Step Dodge to the side to avoid this attack or you can perform a Mikiri Counter to get in some Posture damage, and you can get a hit of your own in after doing either too.
Her other Perilous attack is a sweep attack, which is indicated by her pulling her weapon back behind her just before the red kanji symbol appears. When you see her starting this move, jump in the air to avoid it and then jump again when you’re above her to perform a Jump Kick for a good chunk of Posture damage, and you might be able to get a quick attack of your own in on your way back down too. Get ready to start Deflecting as soon as you land though, because the Corrupted Monk recovers from your Jump Kick pretty quickly and often goes straight back on the offensive.
Stay patient and just keep plucking away at her Vitality and you’ll eventually do enough damage to her that her Posture bar will start filling at a decent rate, so successful Deflects and attacks will eventually break her Posture and allow you to hit that precious Deathblow. Don’t panic, this isn’t one of those annoying boss fights that shows one Deathblow mark but actually takes two – hitting one Deathblow finishes this fight.
Killing her will reward you with Memory: Corrupted Monk, which can be used at a Sculptor’s Idol to permanently increase your Attack Power, the Mibu Breathing Technique latent skill that allows you to dive underwater, and a large chunk of experience points.
You can now grab the Wedding Cave Sculptor’s Idol for a well-earned rest.
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