Onimusha Way of the Sword bosses run across 17 story encounters with 13 unique names, since Sasaki Ganryu returns three times in altered form. Five more forms exist only in Boss Rematch, giving an 18-entry replay roster. On top of that, Byakue can be fought early and outside the main chain.
On this page
Onimusha Way of the Sword bosses in mission order
| Boss | Main mission | What the fight asks of you |
|---|---|---|
Sasaki Ganryu | The Stage Is Set At Kiyomizu | Fast thrusts mixed with delayed swings. Counter the aerial stomp and the blue grab, deflect or dodge the rest. He is the rival who also wears an Oni Gauntlet |
Daidara | The Stage Is Set At Kiyomizu | Slow, heavily telegraphed mace blows that reward perfect deflects. He steals loose blue souls, so collect them before he reaches them; dodge his opening sprint |
Rasho-gan | Careful What You Wish For | Uses Oni Vision to expose his tether, so shoot the tether down. Destroy his large projectiles, deflect his weapon combos and Malice attacks. Fought at Hachidai Rikison Shrine |
Byakue | The Curse Of Kiyomizu-zaka Slope | Giant-axe brute. Axe swings are deflectable, dodge his charges and sprints, parry the blue hair lash |
Ifuu | Windswept Kennin-ji | Deflect his wind-axe swings, dodge the blue leaping grab, and match the stick direction against his ground thrust to parry correctly |
Nue, then Nue (Blue) and Nue (Red) | What Lurks In The Shadows | Chimera enemy. Avoid the lock-on and watch both bodies, dodge swipes and tail sweeps, break the face shield, and after half health return its electrified orbs |
Greater Nue | What Lurks In The Shadows | Scaled-up Nue. Its opening tail sweep and follow-up claws have to be defended against rather than dodged; dodge or Issen its leap and charge |
Dohatsu-ten | The Roots Of All Evil | Fast katana fighter. Dodge or parry kicks, use guard-break when his defence blocks damage, and return his thrown sword back at him |
Benkei | Bloodbath On The Bridge | Warrior monk of Gojo-ohashi Bridge. Break his armour by depleting his stamina and targeting the red soul spots, deflect his polearm combinations and counter his jump slam |
Burai | A Tempest At The Temple | Revenge duel. Move around his lightning-orb fields and cross patterns and strike his exposed eye to make him drop blue souls |
Sasaki Ganryu (second fight) | To Live Is Suffer | Return match against Ganryu at full strength |
Shuten Doji | The Demon On The Mount | Colossal Mount Oeyama boss. His health regenerates, so stay aggressive. Watch the greatsword, counter his leaps and bottle slam, and interrupt his healing drink. In phase two his body and head act independently |
Ifuu & Burai | Storm Chaser | Duo rematch. Keep both visible, damage them evenly, and note that breaking one brother's stamina damages the other |
Sasaki Ganryu (third fight) | In the Light Of An Icy Moon | The final Ganryu encounter |
Dokyo | In the Light Of An Icy Moon | Chase fight built on teleports, spiky balls, aimed projectiles and electrified barriers. Close the distance, weave through the attacks, and lure out her Genma explosions |
Minamoto no Yoshitsune | The Way Of The Sword | Final boss, three phases, with no checkpoint between them, so a phase-3 death sends you back to phase 1 including the opening cutscene |
The final boss in detail
Minamoto no Yoshitsune is the biggest fight in the game.
Phases 1 and 2 are about banking souls
, not dealing damage. He periodically absorbs every soul in the arena and then does an arena-wide slash. Hold the absorb button during that attack to steal his souls back for free gauge and healing.
Phase 2 arms him
, so normal attacks bounce and only deflects deal stamina damage. Keep attacking until the armour breaks — special attacks and counters work sooner.
Phase 3 takes no damage from ordinary katana strikes.
Save Oni Awakening for this phase. Level 4-5 gear and charms that build or strengthen the Oni gauge are the recommended preparation.
The optional Byakue fight
Byakue is a hulking white ape-like monster clad in talismans that wields a massive axe. His name means Hundred Defilements, and he gets stronger as he bleeds during the fight. There is no locked door hiding him — he appears in the early chapters around Kiyomizu-dera Temple and Kiyomizu Slope, as a tough but brief fight of roughly 2.5 to 3 out of 10.
- It is a shoulder-charge-and-slam fighter, so dodge when it is not swinging the axe.
- Deflect or Issen the axe swings.
- Dodge the charging shoulder rush.
- Tap the grab-reversal input just as the blue talisman-hair lash connects.
Beating it in the full game awards the Serves You Right trophy for defeating the Byakue at Kiyomizu-dera Temple. In the demo, Byakue is a separate secret challenge instead: finish the demo after landing 10 Issen kills, then pick Special Challenge from the main menu.
Rematch-only forms
Five forms exist outside the story and only appear in Boss Rematch: Enhanced Byakue, Enhanced Dohatsu-ten, Altered Sasaki Ganryu, Fully Armed Benkei and the Ifuu & Burai pair at full scaling. The boss rematch guide covers how to open that roster, what each variant changes, and the outfits and trophies a sweep rewards.
One name that is not a boss
Ono no Takamura is not a story boss. He is the mentor NPC at Rokudo-chinnoji Temple who offers training and opens the Boss Rematch menu at the Practice Ground.
The techniques that carry across every one of these fights are hold-to-block, parry, deflect, the Issen counter, and Oni Awakening as your panic button. How hard each one is, and where the difficulty spikes, is on the boss difficulty guide.