Onimusha: Way of the Sword - All bosses

1. Sasaki Ganryu

Sasaki Ganryu's a nice wake-up call if you were previously thinking that this game was going to be all one-shot attacks against easy Genma fodder. He attacks with erratic movements and a swivelling sword thrust that's a bit hard to read, but as long as you focus on parrying you can best him. Occasionally he'll leap into the air and try to kick you, and that's when you should dodge instead.

Halfway through the battle, you'll get a tutorial on Break Issen, and Sasaki Ganryu's metal hat will fall off. He'll continue his assault with the same moves along with a grab and a jumping sword strike. Keep practising your parries, and if you're struggling with timing on this early boss, you can always turn on action prompts in the menu to see which buttons to press when.

2. Daidara

Daidara's a big guy, but the larger they are, the harder they fall. This slavering glutton attacks with a head-first charge that you can parry; once he recovers from it, he often switches into a grab that requires dodging. If you mess up, he'll put you in his huge paws, suck out all of your Souls, and then toss you into the nearest wall. His other common attacks are club swings that are very clearly telegraphed.

In between strikes, always absorb any nearby Souls with your Gauntlet, because Daidara will do so if you miss the chance, and grow stronger with a temporary boost in power.

3. Rasho-gan

Probably the first real wall for many players, Rasho-gan is a multi-armed bastard who may require several tries. You can parry almost all of his attacks, including the projectiles that he tosses at you, so the wisest strategy here is to stand your ground and focus on deflections. He also starts the fight with a red tendril granting him a buff; to level the playing field, be sure to sever the thing ASAP.

Once you've depleted his first health bar, Rasho-gan will power up into his second phase. Here, he can unfurl three or so tendrils above his head, each attached to trees, rubble, and other pieces of the environment. Shoot at each tendril with your bow to snap it and send the junk falling down on his head, after which you should jump in and get off a few strikes. If you're too slow with your bow shots, then your best bet is to dodge around the arena before circling back to continue fighting Rasho-gan.

Rasho-gan will also occasionally spin like a top and launch himself towards you - this is always a two-pronged attack, so parry his first spin and get ready to parry again as he comes back at you from behind.

4. Byakue

Another big guy, Byakue's attacks are at least well telegraphed. He'll pounce and jump towards you like a feral cat, and you'll need to dodge to avoid these moves. He also has a few axe tactics that take some effort to read, as he always spins, flips, or flourishes, and then follows up with a hard-hitting axe swing. The trick in fighting Byakue is to wait until the spins and other fancy moves are finished before you parry. Focus on breaking his posture and open him up for those critical hits, and the damage will be massive.

5. Ifuu

Ifuu's got two phases, but his wind attacks remain a constant throughout both. You can parry the wind gusts that erupt from him when he shakes his head to and fro, but be aware that when he raises his axe with both hands from a distance, he's not actually about to hit you - he's instead shooting a wave of air towards you. His close-up melee swings are more obvious to read, and a bit reminiscent of Daidara's.

Occasionally, Ifuu will scream "You're dead", and the wind tubes on his head and back will turn pink. He then charges at you with two axe swings, and all of his other attacks will become more aggressive. Dodge his grab here to knock him over onto his back, giving you time to unleash a flurry of strikes.

When his first health bar's depleted, Ifuu starts to inflate his wind tubes and will occasionally fly into the air. Shoot him with an arrow to knock him down to the ground and avoid a tornado. Once again, take care to absorb all Souls in the area, especially in this second phase, to keep him from getting stronger.

6. Nue

You'll face the chimera known as Nue several times over the course of Way of the Sword, and this first encounter is the easiest. Nue attacks with a tail strike that's well-telegraphed, and occasionally it'll shove you with its front, utilise a paw swipe, or torpedo in mid-air towards you.

Don't bother with parries here, except for the lightning projectiles that Nue shoots from its tail. Focus on dodges instead, and aim your attacks towards the chimera's tail. Whenever Nue's tail gets stuck in the ground, you'll also have a brief opportunity to use your Oni Strength to knock the beast off balance.

7. Byakue 2

Byakue returns for round two. This time, you're facing him in a room of the Underground Laboratory, and probably contending with a host of other Genma as well. Luckily, Byakue stays still in a small alcove and doesn't move until you challenge him, so dispatch the surrounding jobbers first. There are some exploding barrels near his alcove that you can pick up and toss to start the combat with an explosive surprise. Other than that, Byakue's moves are pretty much the same as before.

8. Nue (Blue) & Nue (Red)

This time, you're facing two Nue at once, which is a dangerous state to be in. Still, the strategies you used before still work well here - dodge most of the time, parry the lightning projectiles from each Nue's tail, and avoid these shifty chimeras when they torpedo themselves towards you.

At the start of the fight, the Nue are kind enough to attack you one at a time, but as the combat continues you may find that their attacks become more synchronised, requiring extra precision if they blast you with lightning or both torpedo at the same time. Focus your energies on a single Nue if you can, as the fight becomes a lot easier when you've only got one chimera to deal with.

9. Greater Nue

Greater Nue's moves are similar to its smaller counterparts, but as you might expect, hit much harder. Unlike its little cousins, though, you can and should parry the heck out of this thing. The beast usually starts the battle off with a tail swipe, and it'll occasionally leap into the air, let out a hideous shriek, and pounce down onto the ground, which is the perfect time to pull off an Issen, if you can.

Stay close, parry the paw strikes, and watch out for its head slam when it rears up on its hind legs. Other than that, follow the tactics that you've used in the previous Nue fights. After unleashing enough damage, you can potentially chop off the Greater Nue's tail and toss it back at the chimera. This is temporary, but looks terribly cool - just be careful not to take damage as you grab for the tail and throw it.

Alas, this fight has two phases. In the second half, the Greater Nue continues with the same barrage but resorts to lightning attacks, and lightning patches will appear across the area. Keep an eye out for them as you fight, and also be careful when the Greater Nue imbues its front legs with electricity; it'll attack by dragging one leg across the ground before trying to slam it into you. Parry away!

10. Dohatsu-ten

Dohatsu-ten's a Malice-born Genma with a sword that grows more powerful the more it hits you, so parry the hell out of that thing. Try to get a perfect dodge away from Dohatsu-ten's kicks, which are bound to screw up your parry timing, and use your Oni Strength to smash through his defences if you're not doing any damage.

At times, Dohatsu-ten will unleash glowing attacks that must be parried or deflected, but he'll announce "No escape" before he lets loose with one. In general, pay attention to his dialogue - "Shatter", "Prepare", and "Perish" are all announced before ranged sword slashes that can be parried. Also take care to switch up your heavy and light attacks during Blade Barrages, which opened up repeatedly for me during this fight.

11. Benkei

Benkei is armoured beyond belief, and you won't be able to make a dent until some of those protective pieces fall off. Deflect his polearm strikes, which will make his stamina go down and finally enable you to unleash some Break Damage. You'll also be presented with a wide selection of body parts to target whenever this happens, which is quite fun. It's a battle of attrition, but keep peeling off Benkei's layers and you'll get there eventually - though there's still another health bar for you to get through, unfortunately.

In the second phase of the fight, Benkei starts jumping a lot more, often lunging into the air to stomp on you or pulling another polearm out from his back to hit you with a double strike. Other than this, his attacks are pretty much the same, so stay focused on depleting his stamina and taking revenge by breaking his body beyond belief.

12. Burai

You beat up Ifuu some time ago, and now it's Burai's turn. This guy also has two forms, and I found the first a little more straightforward than that of his younger brother. His polearm blows are very clearly telegraphed and easy to deflect, and his only other notable trick is to scatter the purple lightning orbs on his back across the arena. They'll unleash beams, but stand in between them and you'll emerge unscathed. If you're close enough when this happens, you should also be able to get some good slashes in.

Burai's second form is trickier, as he'll start teleporting across the arena and letting loose an AoE burst of electricity every time he lands. He usually telegraphs this by announcing "Thunderbolt" or other flashy words; get outta the way whenever he does this, as it'll destroy your health, especially on higher difficulty levels. Most of his other attacks are similar to his first phase, aside from a spin that'll send his lightning orbs across the ground, followed up by a big slam that shoots a vertical lightning surge with tremendous range across the battlefield.

In this second phase, it's also worth pointing out that Burai will sometimes raise his right leg and assume a kabuki-style pose. He usually does this after you've hammered him with melee attacks for a bit. Back off when he does this, or else he'll kick you right in the face.

13. Sasaki Ganryu 2

Your rival returns for a rematch, but he's let himself go in a bad way thanks to the seductive force of Gioh, the Oni attached to him. Ganryu's moves are similar to before, with that swivelling sword thrust just as annoying as it was eight or so hours ago. His jumping slash is also troublesome, but not impossible to read with practice.

This fight would be predictable if it weren't for Gioh, who throws an extra wrinkle into the works by occasionally attacking you with tentacles, slapping you with her long neck, and attempting a grab with her teeth. (Stopping that grab leads to a cool move where Musashi stretches Gioh's mouth wide open, apparently breaking her jaw. Ouch - but pull this off and you'll be able to absorb a lot of blue Souls.) She'll also buff Ganryu's defences on occasion, but it's nothing that a well-timed shove with your Oni Strength won't be able to handle.

14. Shuten Doji

Shuten Doji's another giant with two forms, and alas, his health slowly regenerates throughout the fight. Stay aggressive to counteract this, and prepare yourself to learn some weird attack timing, since he battles in a drunken martial artist fashion, with unusual kicks, slams of his booze bottle, and sword slashes that almost seem to set him off balance.

When his health is halfway depleted, Shuten Doji downs several gulps of his liquor and lights himself on fire. He'll unleash trails of fire across the ground and sometimes draw in breath, which is when you should absolutely hit him in the face with an Oni Bow arrow, lest you end up getting scorched by a ranged array of flames. If you've got any fire resistance items, now's a good excuse to use them.

In the second stage of the combat, Musashi decapitates Shuten Doji, but the flaming head comes alive. Crazy stuff! The fight's pretty much the same as before, except now Musashi's got a fancy Awakened form at his disposal. In other words, go Super Saiyan on Shuten Doji's ass before you revert to normal, and hopefully deplete a fourth of his health bar in the process. Then, it's just a matter of watching out for that severed flying head as you maintain your assault.

15. Ifuu & Burai

Honestly, this combined Ifuu and Burai battle is a tremendous pain in the butt, since both of them have the same movesets as before and two health bars each...but there are now new combo attacks to contend with. For instance, sometimes they'll yell out "Together" or "Let's end this" and dash at you at the same time with their weapons, so always be wary of this verbal cue and time your dodges or deflects accordingly.

Their most annoying combos come into play when both brothers are on their second health bar. Ifuu will occasionally rise into the sky to fire off wind gusts, and Burai will back him up on the ground with lightning orbs followed by that single vertical lightning strike he used when you fought him previously. You can make this attack a little less painful by blasting Ifuu out of orbit with a well-timed arrow - which is good advice for whenever Ifuu goes skyward, honestly.

At times, the bros will also come together as one to create a mini-storm. Lightning will fall on the battlefield, followed by wind, and then they'll smash down on you from above. You can parry the last attack with practice, but it's tough to pull off after all of the other hectic crap that they threw at you. Overall, this is indeed a tiring fight, but you've got Oni Awakening at your disposal; use it as much as possible to cut these weather bozos down to size.

16. Sasaki Ganryu 3

At first, this fight is similar to the second duel you had with your eternal rival, but this time he's got a second health bar, and Gioh's got blades in all of her tentacles, making each attack all the more deadly. You also need to watch out for Gioh healing Ganryu's stamina. Whenever her long neck stretches to consume the red flowers across the arena, hit her with an arrow or perform a melee attack if you're close.

Once the second health bar kicks in, Ganryu finally switches up his tactics. He'll blend all of Gioh's tentacles into one to create a huge tendril that will slam at Musashi. Dodge to the side at the last moment and take advantage of the slight delay in his attack pattern to go nuts with your melee strikes.

Last but not least, Gioh will eventually lend Ganryu her power, coating his katana in Malice and giving him a lightning-fast glowing attack that can drain almost all of your health on a hit. Ganryu will also send Malice sword waves surging through the ground with his newfound power. It's all a big ol' pain in the behind, and quite rage-inducing. Nevertheless, you've beaten him silly twice already; you can definitely do it a third time.

17. Dokyo

Finally, the time has come to stick it to Dokyo! Take inspiration from all of Shizuka's anger and get in close to whack her with your sword. This isn't easy, as she unleashes a steady array of projectiles at you; if you can, perform an Issen right before the projectiles are about to hit for effective damage and the chance to disrupt her entire attack pattern. Alternately, you can spend the battle running around the arena to try to get strikes in slowly, which is a bit of a hassle, but works.

After inflicting enough damage, Dokyo will rise into the sky and glow with golden energy. Shoot the orbs that spin around her to knock her back to the ground. When her first health bar's depleted, she'll also shift into her stronger form, which utilises faster-moving projectiles and a few big AoE attacks, including a Spirit Bomb-style blast that you'll need to dodge behind a boulder on the arena to avoid. You can grab this same boulder afterwards and launch it into Dokyo for a nice bit of damage.

In some ways, this fight reminded me of Capcom's old vertical and horizontal shooter games, since so much of it is spent dodging screen-filling patterns. It's one of the less difficult fights during this stretch of Way of the Sword, but it is a long one that may exhaust your resources, so monitor your healing items and be sure to use all of your strongest attacks whenever you close the distance between yourself and Dokyo.

18. Benkei 2

Welcome to the last few bosses of Way of the Sword, which are just recycled goons from before. Aside from starting off with some attacks that were exclusive to his second health bar in the original fight, Benkei is largely the same. Be cautious of his jumps and the instances when he seemingly pulls a second polearm from out of thin air, and break that armour.

Benkei does have a handful of new tricks up his armoured sleeve that he increasingly resorts to on his second health bar. These include tossing daggers and an axe at you, but the most dangerous is a cannon. He jumps into the air with this thing, throws it onto the ground, and creates a huge shockwave about a second later. Keep as far away as you can, and time your dodges to accommodate for both the initial jump and the following shockwave.

19. Daidara 2

This familiar glutton is back, once again barking about how he needs to eat. Whatever! All you really need to worry about is his second phase, which sees him transform his club into a makeshift whip sword with longer range. He also gets a bit more aggressive and is prone to repeatedly pounding the ground with that thing. Try to corner him against one of the arena's walls, and parry his repeated swings and charges to send him back to the dirty corners of the Oni Realm where he belongs. Also, don't forget to absorb Souls during this combat, or risk Daidara becoming stronger!

20. Nue (Blue) & Nue (Red) 2

The Nue Pokémon duo return as well, and honestly, there's not much to say about them that hasn't already been said. Try to focus on a single Nue at first to make the fight easier, avoid their torpedo attacks, and if you're really up for it, parry the lightning projectiles shot from one's tail into the other. Did this game really need to have you fight so many darn Nue? No, it did not.

21. Greater Nue 2

Alas...we have one more Nue combat before we can finally say farewell to the chimeras. Most of this battle will feel familiar - once again, watch out for its jump attack, and use Oni Strength on its tail. The Greater Nue has a second health bar this time, though, and it'll stand upright with lightning claws and become slightly more dangerous with a nasty grab that involves a weird pincer coming out of its mouth, sorta like the secondary jaws popping out of the Xenomorphs in the Alien franchise. At times, it'll also swing its body about and litter lightning balls your way.

22. Minamoto no Yoshitsune

Finally, a break from all those recycled bosses! And even better - we get to challenge the mysterious man in white, who is a really tough old bastard. It's worth equipping major items like Heavy Restoratives, Sun-Dried Hozuki, or Stimulant before you take on Minamoto no Yoshitsune, since he hits very hard, as befits the final boss of the game.

Minamoto no Yoshitsune will first come at you with katana strikes and jump kicks - deflect/parry the former and dodge the latter. If you're able to pull off an Issen when he does a jump kick, he'll fall to the ground and you can get a good few strikes in. At times, he'll also cover his blade in a huge glow before slamming it down in an arc - dodge through the arc to avoid taking damage and retaliate as best you can.

Other attacks you need to watch out for include a grab that'll rip a whole tonne of Souls from you if it connects, and a nasty dash. Luckily, the dash has a fairly obvious tell - look out for Yoshitsune tapping his katana against his shoulder. Whenever he does this, he's going to come at you with extremely fast speed, so time your parry accordingly.

23. Minamoto no Yoshitsune 2

Minamoto no Yoshitsune has powered up, gotten a sick suit of armour, and is now ready to beat you silly. As hard as it might seem, don't use your Oni Awakening too soon in this fight, as you'll need it for his second phase.

Yoshitsune retains some similarities with his old form, including the jump kicks and occasionally wreathing his katana in a huge glow. But he's much more agile and airborne, with ground slams that will cause the earth to crack beneath you. Deflect and dodge, and watch out for the occasional arrows that he fires your way. If you're keeping your distance, you should also be wary of an annoying grab that's a bit hard to read, since if you're standing far away, he'll teleport towards you before initiating it.

Alas, Yoshitsune indeed has a second health bar. And things get really hairy in this last part of the fight, because your normal attacks won't do anything. You'll need your Oni form to actually deal damage, so everything here becomes a matter of inflicting enough hurt on Yoshitsune to break his stamina and garner you a chance to absorb some Souls. Once the Oni Awakening bar is full, pop it as soon as you can and hack away. You'll probably need to activate it anywhere between three to four times to finally put Yoshitsune down for the count, and it's indeed a frustrating affair. But nothing's holding you back at this point, so be sure to use all of your healing items!