Owl (Father) | Sekiro Shadows Die Twice Wiki

Owl (Father)
Location	Hirata Estate Revisited
Deathblow Markers	2
Weakness	Bestowal Ninjutsu Mikiri Counter Fistful of Ash Empowered Mortal Draw
Reward	Memory: Foster FatherAromatic Flower
XP	NG: 10000NG+: 12500NG++: 18750

Owl (Father) ( 義父, Foster Father, Gifu) is a Boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This Complete Owl (Father) Boss Guide gives you strategies on how to beat Owl easily, as well as tips, tricks and lore notes. Bosses like Owl are special, dangerous Enemies that feature their own arena, a large and prominent health bar, and a variety of unique moves and abilities. You will need to perform multiple Deathblows on them in order to defeat them, and filling their Posture Gauge is the only way to accomplish this. However, decreasing their health will make it so their Posture Gauge depletes more slowly, assisting you in accomplishing this feat. Plus focusing on his posture instead of health, deflecting every attack (except firecrackers and poison sprays) can you lead you to succession.

Owl (Father) Location

Where to find Owl (Father) in Sekiro?

• In the Hidden Temple, where you fought Lady Butterfly, in Hirata Estate. This is only accessible after doing the steps for the Purification Ending.
• See Endings for more information
• See The Owl for NPC version.
• See Great Shinobi Owl for the version fought at the top of Ashina Castle during the main game.
• This boss is optional but it must be defeated to achieve a certain ending.

Owl (Father) Rewards

What do you get from defeating Owl (Father) in Sekiro?

• Memory: Foster Father
• Aromatic Flower (unlocks Purification Ending if used after beating the final boss)
• 10,000 / 12,000 (without Kuro's Charm) Exp (NG)
• 12,500 / 15,000 Exp (NG+)
• 18,750 / 22,500 Exp (NG+2)
• 56,250 / 67,500 Exp (NG+7 and beyond)

Dialogue

• Talk (must be a certain distance behind Owl to initiate dialogue).
  • "That day... I pulled you from the battlefield, a starving cub... I had no idea what you'd become."
• If attacked prior to initiating dialogue.
  • "Very well!"
• First time player uses a prosthetic tool.
  • "Hmm... The shinobi prosthetic... this was once... Curious device you have there..."
• Upon killing the player.
  • "Good riddance... starving wolf."
• After first deathblow.
  • "What a fine specimen you've become, Wolf. Allow me to honor your efforts-- and show you this old Owl's true power!"
• When killed.
  • "Defeated by my own son? The feeling is not entirely unpleasant..."

Owl (Father) Boss Guide Strategies

Sekiro Owl (Father) Video Strategies

Sekiro Owl (Father) Strategy Writeup

WARNING: Just as in the Great Shinobi Owl Bossfight atop Ashina Castle, this boss has access to an extremely powerful Mikiri Counter that can be used against thrust attacks or combat arts that utilise thrusts such as Shadowfall by the player. This counter deals extremely high damage and will likely kill the player if they are already slightly hurt.

He uses many of the same attacks and styles as his earlier battle, but now he's faster and more aggressive. Fortunately for you, he doesn't use poison or the healing block. As always, you should make arrangements--spend money, get a new skill point--and then dedicate some attempts to learning to defend against his attacks. He will usually take one hit then deflect the second. Sometimes he'll merely guard the first hit before he deflects, but it's all posture damage.

He has a short recovery after many of his attacks--use them to punish him once you're comfortable deflecting. When he does his long attack sequence that ends with his gunpowder slash, dodge towards him as he tosses the gunpowder and get behind him to injure him. Sometimes he'll wind up a heavy overhead chop and it's possible to dodge it and punish--but if you get too far away from him while he raises his sword, he'll feint and leap into the air. If you get him with his back to a wall or a corner, you can attack relentlessly and you'll damage him outright or interrupt many of his attacks and movements for a short spell, enough to wear down his health and damage his posture.

Once his health is about half-way down, you can stop actively trying to bait attacks and switch into defense--deflecting all of his attack sequences and the occasional hit will wear his Posture away quickly. When he's on his second phase, run when he turns invisible until he drops out of it, and use Mikiri Counter to defend against his Shadowrush attacks--he most often does one after he throws a larger sweep of gunpowder and after he launches his blazing owl.

In the second phase, use firecrackers to interrupt his attacks and hurt him while he shields his eyes. Otherwise maintain the same principles as the first phase, just be ready for his owl-based attacks and don't be afraid to run from him to make some space for yourself to heal and douse your flames.

If you defeat the boss you will see the writing "SHINOBI EXECUTION" upon the screen.

Alternate strategy:

If you're having difficulty mastering deflections against this boss, a fairly reliable way to make the fight more manageable is to equip the Mortal Draw (or its enhancement) combat art, & during the fight, keep dash/sprinting away to keep most the length of the arena between you and Owl so he has to run after you. When he starts running from far away, he usually limits his attacks upon reaching you to 1. a simple running slash, 2. a shuriken throw quickly followed by a strong slash from his left side, or 3. two side dashes followed by his Shadowstep piercing charge. These three abilities can be avoided fairly reliably. The simple slash can be dodged forward & left (passing Owls right shoulder) & quickly followed up by the Mortal Draw two uses as long as you stay within range after your dodge (if you moved too far, simply use a single dash attack to close & deal damage) then quickly run back to the other length of the arena & repeat. The shuriken slice must be dodged forward & left TWICE QUICKLY (past Owl's right shoulder again - if you dash directly at him, or to your right instead, you run the risk of dashing into his outstretched blade & trigger a massively damaging slash that can instantly kill you from full vitality in NG) & again attack with the Mortal Draw 2X. The Mortal Draw combat art will always connect on the first attack (provided you stayed close enough) & the second will usually either land directly, or force him to block & prevent his quickest counter attacks. Finally, for his Shadowstep rush, Mikiri counter & follow up with a quick single slash (he recovers more quickly & can usually escape the Mortal Draw following a Mikiri Counter).

If Owl starts running towards you when at medium range, he is more apt to use one of his other move sets, including an off time (slightly delayed relative to his other animations), multi hit slash that can pivot & follow your dash to hit you in the back & flow into a multi hit combo including a sweep attack.

Following this strategy, you can quickly remove Owl's vitality in chunks & end the fight more quickly. In phase 2, continue to use the same strategy as his base move set remains the same; the only change necessary is to keep running when he enters the invisible owl teleport to avoid his drop attack & dash behind a pillar for easy protection from his fire owl projectile + Shadowstep as neither attack will move past the pillar (this also provides a safe window for using healing items or combat buffs before he resumes his offensive). The most frustrating problem I encountered during this strategy was fighting the camera as it can be easy to run into a pillar or wall while running to long range & occasionally the target lock may be lost after a dash, & if that happens, your initial attack may miss & leave you open for Owls close range offensive.

Another strategy to brute force this fight is to use a combination of Ako's Sugar, Divine Confetti, Rice, & Red Lumps to stay on the offensive, & force Owl back toward a wall to keep interrupting Owl's heavier combos & end the first phase very quickly. The second phase is a little harder due to the invisibility/teleport but the saving spirit emblems & Mortal Draw for phase 2 can keep Owl off balance long enough to quickly end this phase as well.

A useful counter to his firecrackers is to back away, and then use either the Shadowrush or Shadowfall combat art to counter, doing decent vitality and posture damage.

Sekiro Owl (Father) Attacks & Counters

Attack	Description	Counter
Phase 1
Zig-Zag	Many of Owl's attacks initiate after a zig-zag motion designed to confuse you. After this, he can do any of the following 5 moves:
Shuriken Throw	Owl throws a single shuriken	Block, deflect or dodge to the side
Double Shuriken + flip	Owl will throw 2 shuriken then flip towards you in the air and then perform a single downward strike with his sword.	Deflect/block the shuriken and dodge sideways to avoid the flip and counter.
Shadowfall	Just like your Mushin Shadowfall Combat Art. Owl will charge up for an unblockable thrust, and if it hits, he will jump off and come down with 2 huge slashes.	Mikiri the thrust.
Shuriken Slash	Owl throws a shuriken at the player immediately followed by a running slash. Similar to the Chasing Slice Shinobi Martial Art	Block/Deflect both. If well timed you can also dodge his slash to the right for a counter opportunity, but it's difficult.
Perilous Sweep	Owl will move from the side and perform an unblockable sweep. Jump over it. He can perform the following after this:	Jump over it and stay close to him to bait out his overhead slash. Alternatively, jump back so you can jump kick his head and inflict posture damage
Large Overhead Slash	Owl will load up for a very powerful overhead slash. If you dodge to the side he will switch to a turning slash. If you dodge backwards he will perform a flip towards you and slash.	Dodge the overhead slash at the last moment and counter. Circling him may be safer than performing a dodge, as dodging too early prompts him to switch to a quick horizontal attack instead. You can also take a few steps back and easily avoid the strike. There's a small safe zone just beyond the reach of his strike that does not trigger his alternate moves. Doing this allows you to safely perform one fully powered mortal draw. You have time to get one or two hits in while he is charging up.
Backflip	Owl leaps off of you. It deals no vitality damage but much posture damage.	Deflect to minimize posture damage
Firecrackers	Owl throws blinding firecrackers in your face, then makes them explode. He can follow up with either Shuriken Throw, Shadowfall or Shuriken Slash	Dodge backwards to avoid
Running Slash	Owl runs towards you and performs a single strong slash. He can perform the following 2 moves after this:	Block/Deflect. You can also dodge to the left but you might get hit by the follow-ups.
5-slash Firecracker Combo	Owl performs 3 consecutive slashes with his sword, followed by an elbow, followed by firecrackers, which he will slash through.	Deflect/block his slashes, then dodge to the right when he throws his firecrackers for a counter opportunity. Dodging too quickly after the firecrackers are thrown will cause you to get hit by the follow-up slash, so a momentary pause is needed. A useful strategy is to back away, and then use either the Shadowrush or Shadowfall combat art to counter. Take care with your positioning, as this combo can easily back you into a corner with no chance of survival besides a perfectly time dodge.
Double Slash into Perilous Sweep	Owl performs 2 consecutive slashes with his sword and ends with a Perilous Sweep. He can perform his Large Overhead Slash after this	Jump over it and stay close to him to bait out his overhead slash. Alternatively, jump back so you can jump kick his head and inflict posture damage
Shuriken Slash	Owl throws a shuriken at the player immediately followed by a running slash. Similar to the Chasing Slice Shinobi Martial Art	Block/Deflect both. If well timed you can also dodge his slash to the right for a counter opportunity, but it's difficult.
Stomp (deathblow)	Owl will raise his foot into the air then stomp down pinning the player to the ground and stabbing them through the chest. This attack does massive damage and cannot be blocked and does not have a Perilous indicator. Owl will likely use this after breaking the player's posture if he is close enough.	Dodge backwards/safety roll in order to avoid it.
Phase 2
Backflip + Shuriken	Same as in phase one but he throws shuriken after.	Block/Deflect both.
Owl Teleport	Owl will use his summoned owl to teleport above you and drop down with a slash	You can deflect his slash, or just run away/stay away from the owl to avoid
Fire Owl + Shadowfall	Owl will summon his owl to his hand and throw an unblockable fire owl projectile towards you, then follow up with Shadowfall.	Jump over the fire owl and mikiri his thrust

Owl (Father) Lore

Lore theory: Owl is implied to be the one who originally killed Wolf during the events of the Hirata attack three years prior to the events of the game.

The first time Sekiro uses a shinobi prosthetic tool during the fight, Owl will comment on it, recognising it and implying he knew the previous owner, possibly from his time with the Sculptor and Dogen.The Owl’s real name is Ukonzaemon Usui.

Owl (Father) Notes & Trivia

Resistant to poison, burn is effective though.Unlike when fought in the present at the top of Ashina Castle, this version of Owl does not use the Shinobi Charm to prevent the player from healing.

There is an archer close to the idol who can be backstabbed (jump through the window-like gap in the wall to get behind him), allowing the player to start the boss fight with the Bestowal Ninjutsu. Because Owl will frequently try jumping away from you to escape damage, the extra reach from bestowal lets you keep striking him while he's attempting to evade you. Can be combined with buffs such as Ako's Sugar for additional damage.

Owl (Father) Image Gallery

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Bosses
Corrupted Monk ♦ Demon of Hatred ♦ Divine Dragon ♦ Emma, the Gentle Blade ♦ Folding Screen Monkeys ♦ Genichiro Ashina ♦ Genichiro, Way of Tomoe ♦ Great Colored Carp ♦ Great Serpent ♦ Great Shinobi Owl ♦ Guardian Ape ♦ Gyoubu Oniwa ♦ Headless Ape ♦ Inner Father ♦ Inner Genichiro ♦ Inner Isshin ♦ Isshin Ashina (Boss) ♦ Isshin, the Sword Saint ♦ Lady Butterfly