The Blazing Bull is one of the more intimidating mini-bosses in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This fiery beast charges at players with immense speed and strength, making it a challenge for many. However, with the right strategies and tools, you can bring down this beast effectively. This comprehensive guide will cover everything you need to know, including strategies, helpful tools, and tips to defeat the Blazing Bull.
Overview of the Blazing Bull Encounter
The Blazing Bull is a large, armored creature found near the Ashina Castle in Sekiro. This fight is not optional and serves as a significant hurdle early in the game. The bull’s primary attack involves charging at you with flaming horns, making it crucial to stay on the move and avoid direct confrontations from the front.
The Blazing Bull is known for its rapid movements and the difficulty in managing its posture. Unlike other bosses in Sekiro, this fight is more about managing distance and seizing opportunities rather than building posture through parries.
Preparation Before the Fight
Before engaging with the Blazing Bull, there are a few preparatory steps you should take to make the fight more manageable:
Equip the Shinobi Firecracker: This prosthetic tool is essential for this fight. It momentarily stuns the Blazing Bull, allowing you to land a few hits before it recovers. Firecrackers can be purchased from merchants or found in specific locations in the game.
Use Dousing Powder: Since the bull’s attacks can inflict the Burning status effect, having Dousing Powder or a similar item in your quick access inventory can help manage this and prevent additional damage over time.
Positioning at the Start: When you first enter the arena, stealthily take out the guards in the area to avoid distractions during the fight. If you move strategically, the bull might even take care of some enemies for you.
Combat Strategy
Keep Moving
The Blazing Bull is fast and powerful, and staying still can lead to quick death. Always stay on the move, preferably in a circular motion around the arena. This keeps you out of the bull’s direct path and gives you time to plan your next move.
Stay Behind the Bull
The safest place during this fight is behind the Blazing Bull. Its charge attacks are deadly, but it has trouble turning quickly, which you can exploit by staying close to its rear. Position yourself so that you’re behind the bull most of the time, and strike when it slows down.
Use the Shinobi Firecracker
The firecracker is a crucial tool in this fight. When the bull is charging or about to attack, use the firecracker to momentarily stun it. This gives you a window to attack its head, which is its weak spot. However, use this sparingly as it consumes Spirit Emblems, and you should save them for crucial moments in the fight.
Deflect and Dodge
If the bull charges at you and you can’t dodge, try to deflect the attack. A successful deflection will stagger the bull momentarily, allowing you to land a few hits. However, be aware that deflecting its charge can still cause minor damage and build up the burn status, so dodge if possible.
Watch for Desperation Moves
As the bull’s health drops below 20%, it becomes more frantic, making it harder to predict its moves. This is where patience is key. Wait for it to charge into walls or perform its horn-in-the-ground turn maneuver, then rush in for a final series of strikes.
Post-Fight Rewards
Defeating the Blazing Bull yields several rewards that are crucial for your progression in Sekiro:
Prayer Bead: Increases your vitality and posture.
Shinobi Medicine Rank 2: Enhances the potency of your healing items.
Experience Points: Contributing to skill point acquisition for new abilities and upgrades.
FAQs
What is the Blazing Bull, and why is it challenging?
The Blazing Bull, a mini-boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, is known for its aggressive and unyielding behavior. Unlike many of the game’s enemies, the Blazing Bull is a massive, ferocious bull with fire horns. The confrontation with the Blazing Bull is well-known for its chaotic nature, as the bull sprints about the battlefield with little regard for its surroundings. The bull’s sheer aggressiveness, along with its large size and devastating charge hits, make it a tough opponent for many players. Furthermore, the bull’s fiery horns provide fire damage, adding another layer of intricacy to the combat.
Where can I find the Blazing Bull in the game?
The Blazing Bull may be found in the Ashina Castle sector of Sekiro. After defeating the monster Gyoubu Oniwa, you will enter Ashina Castle and fight the Blazing Bull in a rather large courtyard area. This is an important location in the game’s early stages since it marks a turning point in the storyline and gameplay progression. The environment is designed to give the Blazing Bull plenty of room to go about, which can make the battle feel overwhelming due to the bull’s erratic movements.
There are several pretty obvious aspects one would want to know when it comes to fighting the Blazing Bull: Our interest is in how it behaves when its rage rises; what kind of attacks it can use, and what sort of conduct it displays?
The Blazing Bull is mainly centered on the player by virtue of the power, the speed, and the agility it has. Main sentor is its charge in which it lowers its head with the fire-like horns pointed directly at the target. Similarly for damage, this attack is quite strong as you do normal damage and burning damage if you fall under the effect of the attack. The bull will also turn its head in circles, mostly during the close attack, making it almost impossible to hit it from the closest range without being attacked first. Because the bull is conceivably huge and also extremely fleet-footed, and on top of all this is sheathed in flames, it turns into a formidable opponent. The Blazing Bull is not an anthropomorphic foe and as such it does not have or adhere to the health and posture system of the other enemies and so the player has to look for ways on how to defeat it.
How can we lower the probability of losing particularly to the Blazing Bull?
Now the final result proves that to defeat the Blazing Bull patience is a virtue and if not time
and position. The best defense is to get as close to the bull as possible to dance him in a circular fashion around and when possible keep to the left of the horn pointing away from you. Positions like such make you help to avoid its line of charge, as well as afford you opportunities to charge its flanks. That’s why, if you want to dodge getting gored, move horizontally when the bull is at you at the last possible moment. When the charge is full as in the case when the bull has made most part of the charge, the bull becomes for a while stupid that is the best time to stick it several times. When fighting, also pay close attention to your surroundings because the Blazing Bull can attack in any direction and it is dangerous when cornered or trapped against a wall.
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