I am now stuck between a blazing bull and lady butterfly. I got another rot in my unseen aid is dropping. I left the bull and started on lady butterfly and I can almost perfect her half the time on the first phase. But the second phase is tough and the snap things don't seem to do anything and I think I have zero now.
Blazing bull is hilariously easy.
Just watch this video. I swear to god it'll become one of the game's easiest bosses.
Once you beat the bull, explore some more. Maybe fill out another prayer bead to increase your health before tackling Lady Butterfly.
When you fight Lady Butterfly, equip shurikens. You don't need snap seeds.
A lot of the concepts I explained about fighting Genichiro apply to Lady Butterfly. Strike her 2 or 3 times, and she'll deflect your attack. Once you hear her deflect your attack, that is your cue to deflect her attack. She alternates between 2 hits deflect and 3 hits deflect. Remember not to spam the attack button, pay attention to the animation and sound and you'll be fine. If the animation is hard to judge, the loud deflect sound will clue you in that you got deflected.
During this back and forth, note that sometimes she'll strike with a perilous sweep. Jump that. The perilous sweep will always come after you deflected her counterattack. There is just enough time for a single direct hit on her HP, and then you'll have to jump.
When Lady Butterfly jumps up the wires, I would recommend backing away. This is to help the camera from losing track of her as she jumps behind you. Remember not to spam your attack button. You can counter her with shurikens. But only throw it at her when she does a backflip or jumps forward. Otherwise, she'll block it. She also has a perilous grab attack when she jumps from the wires. That can be countered with the shurikens. She has a triangle jump attack. That can be countered with the shurikens. If you don't spam your attack, you'll have time to react. Watch her movement.
Just master the 2 or 3 strikes then deflect and know when to jump her perilous sweep and you'll be fine.
The second phase is similar. You'll still be doing the 2 or 3 hit strike back and forth. What's different is the new illusions and the long combo.
You can avoid the illusion by stalling her. I just run around the arena until she turns them into butterflies. Continue to run, or find a pillar to hide behind. The butterflies can't pass the pillar. When you're running around, remember to lock on so you can see what she's doing. You don't want to run around blind.
The next dangerous move is her long combo. She'll do a spin jump attack towards you while 2 butterflies appear behind her. The butterflies will reach you first, I heard they can be deflected, but I never mastered the timing. They can go through your defense, but they do really minor damage. As soon as the butterflies land, she'll charge at you with 6 quick strikes. After the 6 strikes, she'll pause and do another perilous sweep. Jump that.
Here's a break down of my run.
Lady Butterfly can start the fight in various ways, including launching flying daggers right from the start. She charged at me instead. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, so I hesitated and went on the defensive.
We then immediately went on a sword clash. She deflected me after 2 strikes. I deflected her back and landed one strike. After that strike, I saw the warning for the perilous sweep and I jumped on her head to counter. The timing of this attack is always the same, meaning it'll always happen after you deflected her and you'll always be able to land a single strike before needing to jump. Again, I was able to react because I wasn't spamming attack. If I was, I wouldn't be able to jump in time. That's why you gotta learn to control your button presses.
After countering that, we do another 2 rounds of weapon clashes. This time after the second round, she does the triangle jump. I countered with shurikens. Again, I wasn't spamming the attack button so I could react. You'll also notice I was backing away to give myself and the camera a little room.
Another weapon clash exchange, then she jumps again. This time I was slow and the shuriken didn't hit, but that's fine. I was also busy backing away to try and keep the camera locked on her. When she jumps behind, you can lose the lock on, that's why I prioritized the camera first.
I tried to hit her as she lands, but she was too far and jumped over me. This time she used the perilous grab. I was ready for her. Again, I was able to react in time cause I wasn't spamming the attack. I will keep saying this until people understand this concept in Sekiro.
I knock her off her grab move and we exchange a few more rounds of weapon clash. I even managed a few direct hits to her HP. You'll notice a lot of our attacks don't directly damage each other's health. That's fine. Don't fret about not getting too many direct hits in. I also counter another perilous sweep after our first round at the 28-second mark.
At around the 34-second mark, she jumped back and shot daggers at me. I didn't know that was going to happen. I was able to defend following the exact same logic as when we were clashing weapons. When she deflected me, I knew she would strike back one way or another.
After the dagger throw, I watched her. I saw she was jumping on the wires, but I didn't do anything. I waited until she moved again before throwing my shurikens. People say to be aggressive, or hesitation is defeat. It doesn't really sum up the combat. Our constantly clashing weapons are the aggressive part. Hesitation is defeat for the enemy. I hesitated to watch her moves, and she was defeated.
After knocking her down, we exchange another 2 rounds and I broke her posture.
Phase 2 starts with me waiting for her at her landing spot.
More weapon clashes, you should be familiar with it by now.
The 1:15-second mark is when she summons the illusions. I was hoping to stop her from summoning illusions, but I failed. That's why I ran away. I kept moving just to avoid the illusions and the possibility of her throwing daggers at me, which she did. The pillar will block the daggers too.
Notice that after I avoided all her butterflies, I actually kept swinging my sword and ignoring the 2/3 hit rule. That's because this rule only counts if she blocks your hits. If she doesn't block, it doesn't count. Once she blocked my attacks 3x then she jumped onto the wires.
Again, I back away first hoping not to lose track of her. After I counter her, I strike 5x because the string was broken when she took a sword to the face at the second hit.
The rest is stuff you've seen before.
I mess up at 2:10 taking my only direct hit, not counting the butterflies going through my defense. After that, this is the long combo. I ignore the butterflies and focused on her direct hits. The 7th hit comes a second later, I counter by jumping her again. Then I was able to end the fight with another short weapon clash.
My video and my guide only cover one possibility and she does have more moves not seen in the video. The thing is if you're constantly putting pressure on her by clashing weapons, she won't be able to use some of her other moves, because she is busy blocking and countering you. That's what it means to be aggressive. Force these weapon clashes so they can't use some of their other moves. It's even possible to stop her from summoning the illusions if you can force her into weapon clashes in the second round without giving her any breathing room. I've done it.
www.resetera.com
