Explore late 1500s Sengoku Japan, a brutal period of constant life and death conflict, as you come face to face with larger than life foes in a dark and twisted world. Unleash an arsenal of deadly prosthetic tools and powerful ninja abilities while you blend stealth, vertical traversal, and visceral head to head combat in a bloody confrontation.
How to Beat Genichiro Achina
Location: Ashina Castle – Upper Tower Ashina Dojo
This boss comes immediately after Ashina Elite – Jinsuke Saze. In the room where you fought that boss, climb through the window and up to the rooftop.
Strategy: Genichiro Achina has two phases. In the first phase he has 2 lives, his moveset stays the same. After both his lives are gone he changes into his 2nd form “Way of Tomoe” which has 1 life only. The Prosthetic Tool “Loaded Axe” is great for this fight as it does heavy posture damage. Depleting his health takes too long, try to deplete his posture instead. You need to control the fight, don’t let him toy with you. Stick close to him and just hammer him with normal hits so he can’t even use his bow. The basic tactic is to hit him 1-2 times, then he attacks but you must counter (hold L1 to block and before his strike lands you tap L2 to counter). Then attack him with 1-2 basic sword strikes R1 and repeat. Sometimes he does a series of quick hits, keep blocking and counter them quickly (press L1 as each hit lands).
Just countering isn’t enough though, you also need to cause him damage so his posture doesn’t recharge so quickly anymore. If you just keep hammering with normal sword strikes you will hit him from time to this. This is because the AI still tries to launch attacks and will mess up often enough that you can land a lucky hit. It takes a while but you are blocking everything safely and landing a few small hits is better than none. Any time he tries to launch an attack (or finishes an attack chain) he is open for 1 hit. It sums up quickly. You just need to get him to about 60% health and his posture will drain super quick. At this point you can use the Loaded Axe tool to deplete his remaining posture quickly. Of course it works without tools all the same, just keep bashing him with the sword and use counters. It does less posture damage but is actually a bit safer.
Pay attention on his thrust attacks. While he also has sweep attacks, he should never even get a chance to use them when you stay close and hammer him with strikes. If you feel comfortable use Mikri Counter. It’s risky but if you do it right it does massive posture damage. Block with L1 and press Circle just before a thrust lands (practice it at Dilapidated Temple with training buddy a few times). If you don’t want to take that risk just dodge away and take your time, do clean counters and take it one hit at a time. When both lives are depleted he will transform to a stronger version of himself and start to use thunder attacks. When he jumps up in the air for an attack, always dodge to the left. Do the same for all other thunder attacks, just dodge those. The rest of his moveset is identical in his 2nd form, repeat the counter & R1 spam tactic until his posture breaks.
Reward: Memory: Genichiro (Strenght Upgrade), Bloodsmoke Ninjutsu