History Characters / SekiroEnemiesAndBosses

* AssShove: Similar to Kappas in folklore, their grab attack has them shoving their hand up Wolf's backside and rip out his mythical organ called the "shirikodama".

* DamageSpongeBoss: Both fights against her try try different variations of this. The Illusory version has a long Posture bar that regenerates very quickly, meaning you're more likely to kill her by whittling down her health. Meanwhile, the true Monk's posture bar fills up very fast and hardly diminishes at all, but has *three* health bars for you to go through.

-> Longswordsman voiced by: Mick Lauer (English) Masanaga the Spear-Bearer voiced by: Brian T. Delaney (English)

-> Longswordsman voiced by: Mick Lauer (English)

* OutsideContextProblem: The Lone Shadow perched atop the three-story pagoda during the first visit to Hirata Estate. The path leading up to him is hidden, he moves and looks unlike any of the bandits or shinobi hunters attacking the Estate, and wordlessly engages you upon approaching the pagoda. The Red Guard invasion and second visit to Hirata finally explains why he was there.

* OutsideContextProblem: The Lone Shadow perched atop the three-story pagoda during the first visit to Hirata Estate. At this point in the story, his affiliation with the Ministry and involvement in the Estate attack is still a complete mystery, and he immediately attacks you when approaching the pagoda without so much as a word of explanation. His outfit and fighting style also indicates that he is not from Ashina. The Red Guard invasion and second visit to Hirata finally explains why he was there.

* WakeUpCallBoss: The “regular” Lone Shadow at the first visit to Hirata Estate, who isn’t even considered a boss by the game. If you enter this area directly after Ashina Outskirts, he will most definitely be the hardest enemy you have encountered thus far, even more so than actual miniboss General Naomori.

* OutsideContextProblem: The Lone Shadow perched atop the three-story pagoda during the first Hirata Estate memory. At this point in the story, his affiliation with the Ministry and involvement in the Estate attack is still a complete mystery, and he immediately attacks you when approaching the pagoda without so much as a word of explanation. His outfit and fighting style also indicates that he is not from Ashina. The Red Guard invasion and second Estate memory finally explains why he was there.

* WakeUpCallBoss: The “regular” Lone Shadow at the first Hirata Estate memory, who isn’t even considered a boss by the game. If you enter this area directly after Ashina Outskirts, he will most definitely be the hardest enemy you have encountered thus far, even more so than actual miniboss General Naomori.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Literally a "divine dragon" of the Eastern variety, yet cannot fly, but compensates it for sheer size and the fact that it has a sword.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Divine Dragon is [[{{Planimal}} half plant]], its lower body being made of giant roots.

** This also somewhat applies to the end of his second fight. When initially defeated, the "Shinobi Execution" overlay will once again appear, and you'll recieve a Memory and two(!) Prayer Beads for your efforts. However, you'll then need to use the Mortal Blade on the centipede sticking out of his neck to kill him for good, which will net you the Bestowal Ninjutsu and the "Immortality Severed" overlay.

* BareFistedMonk: Those unarmed are no less dangerous and fast than the ones wielding staffs, and have no trouble blocking Wolf's sword strikes ''with their bare hands'' ([[RealityEnsues though they can only do it a few times before their Posture breaks]]).

* RealityEnsues: While the unarmed monks hit hard, they have low posture and take quite a bit of damage even when blocking, due to not having a weapon to properly deflect blows.

* RealityEnsues: Japanese armor is mostly meant to protect against arrows. Japanese swords are light, but they're sharp, narrow, durable, and their curve guarantees that you can put a lot of pressure into a very small surface area. However, against plate armor this is useless against anywhere that isn't a joint, which Wolf wouldn't be aware of [[OutsideContextProblem since he has never encountered a European knight before]]. The only way to beat plate mail besides going for the joints is to either cave it in or rend it in two[[note]]wooden lances can pierce it under the right circumstances, but are prone to glancing off an aware target and even then you're more likely to dent the armor than actually pierce it. Hell, even crossbow bolts and bullets have trouble with plate mail. Blacksmiths would shoot their completed armor with a modern (at the time) firearm and mark the ensuing dent with their sigil called a "proof" to signify it can protect against bullets, thus where we got the term bulletproof.[[/note]], and both of these methods require incredibly heavy weapons that Wolf has no access to. Ordinarily, Wolf's SuperStrength via CharlesAtlasSuperpower would make him able to get through said armor regardless (or at least able to kill him with blunt force trauma), much in the way he can stab through iron lamellar, except A. this is late 16th century blast-forged plate meant to withstand early firearms, and thus both tougher and two to three times thicker than the plate armor of the medieval era or contemporary munitions plate, and B. the Armored Warrior is ''stronger'' and tougher than Sekiro, so there goes trying to bludgeon or grapple with him. Even though Wolf does go for the joints in other armor types, plate mail tends to protect those areas better than Japanese armor. Furthermore, the armor is so heavy that the knight's arms are almost always locked in close to his body and Wolf can't just manhandle the knight to get at the joints like he can with people wearing lighter armor. However, since heavy armor makes it hard to, say, climb or hang from ledges and the fight takes place on a very narrow bridge...

* PistolWhipping: Matchlock ashigaru do not have any melee weapons, but will attempt to hit Wolf with the stock of their gun if he gets too close.
* PunchClockVillain: Eavesdropping in on their conversations show that these soldiers are just ordinary men who are suffering from the ongoing war in Ashina like anyone else, clearly aware of their lack of manpower and need for drastic measures to close the gap.

* LongRangeFighter: Matchlock soldiers like to take potshots at Wolf from afar, often perched on watchtowers and other vantage points. However, they have the worst health and posture out of all the ashigaru, and don't last very long once you manage to close in for the kill.

* NoShirtLongJacket: Sword Saint Isshin only wears a tattered untied kimono on him, revealing his chest.
* MadeOfIron: His Sword Saint form has three health bars and Posture for days, meaning he's gonna take a ''long'' time going down. Even after he's defeated, he still has enough energy left to pick himself back up, kneel down, and demand Wolf to honorably behead him.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The remnants of both fights state the Ape had a mate once upon a time, but his infestation from drinking the Fountainhead waters caused him to outlive her, and he has grown painfully lonely over the years of seeking another. The bones of the Ape's mate can be found in a cave above his den. The Ape finds another mate by the time of your rematch in the Ashina Depths but dies a FinalDeath before anything can come of it.

* {{Expy}}: Of the zombified ape from Creator/FromSoftware's obscure ''VideoGame/{{Kuon}}''.

* RealityEnsues: Japanese armor is mostly meant to protect against arrows. Japanese swords are light, but they're sharp, narrow, durable, and their curve guarantees that you can put a lot of pressure into a very small surface area. However, against plate armor this is useless against anywhere that isn't a joint, which Wolf wouldn't be aware of [[OutsideContextProblem since he has never encountered a European knight before]]. The only way to beat plate mail besides going for the joints is to either cave it in or rend it in two[[note]]wooden lances can pierce it under the right circumstances, but are prone to glancing off an aware target and even then you're more likely to dent the armor than actually pierce it. Hell, even crossbow bolts and bullets have trouble with plate mail. Blacksmiths would shoot their completed armored with, at that time, a modern firearm and mark the ensuing dent with their sigil called a "proof" to signify it can protect against bullets, thus where we got the term bulletproof.[[/note]], and both of these methods require incredibly heavy weapons that Wolf has no access to. Ordinarily, Wolf's SuperStrength via CharlesAtlasSuperpower would make him able to get through said armor regardless (or at least able to kill him with blunt force trauma), much in the way he can stab through iron lamellar, except A. this is late 16th century blast-forged plate meant to withstand early firearms, and thus both tougher and two to three times thicker than the plate armor of the medieval era or contemporary munitions plate, and B. the Armored Warrior is ''stronger'' and tougher than Sekiro, so there goes trying to bludgeon or grapple with him. Even though Wolf does go for the joints in other armor types, plate mail tends to protect those areas better than Japanese armor. Furthermore, the armor is so heavy that the knight's arms are almost always locked in close to his body and Wolf can't just manhandle the knight to get at the joints like he can with people wearing lighter armor. However, since heavy armor makes it hard to, say, climb or hang from ledges and the fight takes place on a very narrow bridge...

* WallMaster: Played mostly straight, apart from their tendency to attack you from behind; Rock Divers stay hidden beneath the rock walls at certain spots, and only emerge to pierce you with their sharp sticks when you get too close.

* SquishyWizard: The Mist Noble is a real pushover in close quarters. Not only can Wolf easily get the drop on it, [[ZeroEffortBoss but it also is just slow and weak in general]], being easily defeated by any player good enough to reach it to begin with. Nonetheless, its illusions represent a significant danger.

* {{Seppuku}}: How the final Deathblows of both Isshin fights are carried out - after a brief BladeLock between him and Wolf, the shinobi breaks through and guts Isshin across the stomach with a single slash. Then, in the non-Shura routs, instead of collapsing to the ground, Isshin composes himself into a proper kneeling position as Wolf stands beside him, the Mortal Blade ready. However, since Wolf performs the stomach slash in the Shura ending fight as well, it probably isn't meant to be honorable, since that version of Wolf is anything but.

* DragonsAreDivine: It's an Eastern dragon with "Divine" in its name. What did you expect?

* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: Literally a "divine dragon" of the Eastern variety, yet cannot fly, but compensates it for sheer size and the fact that it has a sword.

* EasyLevelTrick: They take a lot of damage from the upgraded Loaded Spear. Hit them with it, dodge back to avoid their attack, repeat until dead. They're also among the few bosses the Sabimaru works on. For those who just can't seem to get the deflect timings down, the Loaded Umbrella's parry window when unsheathing is large enough to deflect both of their Iaijutsu slashes simultaneously.
* FragileSpeedster: Their attacking speed is very fast, able to kill a player the instant they revive if they are not prepared, but they cannot take a lot of damage either, going around in plain kimonos.

* DeathOrGloryAttack: All variations of Taro Troops will unleash a particularly devastating attack (or attack sequence) when you've angered them enough. If they miss, they will be vulnerable to counterattacks for a significant amount of time, and their posture gauge will be at the very least only a few hits away from a Deathblow; get caught in it, and you'll be ''equally'' fucked.

* FamilyThemeNaming: The seventeen most elite Lone Shadows are the children of '''Masa'''tsuna Oribe. Two of the named Lone Shadows are '''Masa'''naga and '''Masa'''nari.

* SwordAndFist: While Lone Shadows are all master swordsmen, they tend to favor using a series of kicks and sweeps, including an unblockable front kick and an axe kick after a jump, with those wearing an extra hood also ultilizing hand strikes.

* SmokeOut: One of his moves is to burst a smoke bomb on the ground and create a great black cloud from which he can attack Wolf.

* WeakButSkilled: Depending on the route chosen, players will have to battle either Isshin as an old man or Isshin at his prime. Compared to the latter, the old Isshin is less durable with two Deathblow markers instead of three and a relatively low amount of vitality, nor can he move around as swiftly. However, it's the pursuit of enhancing his technique more that allows him to remain deadly as ever. Overall, while the Sword Saint version has powerful attacks, they are mostly wild swings, unlike the elderly Isshin's more precise and developed sword techniques.

* MeaningfulName: Isshin（一心）: Single-minded, focused without hesitation.

* MasterSwordsman: [[UpToEleven Good Lord.]] There are several characters who are highly potent with the blade in ''Sekiro'', but Isshin? He makes them look ''mediocre'' in comparison. His title of "Sword Saint" is NotHyperbole, and he's quite possibly the single most skilled swordsman in [=FromSoftware's=] entire catalog, putting the likes of [[FallenHero Artorias]], [[KnightErrant Sir Alonne]], [[LadyOfWar Lady Maria]], [[OldMaster Gerhman]], [[PhysicalGod Gwyn]], and [[HumanoidAbomination Gael]] to shame with his deadly precision and finesse. Case in point, he wrote the book for both the [[SimpleYetAwesome Ashina Swordstyle]] and [[AbilityMixing Mushin Arts]], and a special move he created in his old age is to slash in a sphere around him so fast even Wolf, who can easily [[ParryingBullets block bullets]] even during a time when he is severely out of practice, can barely discern the sword strokes.

* MasterSwordsman: [[UpToEleven Good Lord.]] There are several characters who are highly potent with the blade in ''Sekiro'', but Isshin? He makes them look ''mediocre'' in comparison. His title of "Sword Saint" is NotHyperbole, and he's quite possibly the single most skilled swordsman in [=FromSoftware's=] entire catalog, putting the likes of [[FallenHero Artorias]], [[KnightErrant Sir Alonne]], [[LadyOfWar Lady Maria]], [[OldMaster Gerhman]], [[PhysicalGod Gwyn]], and [[HumanoidAbomination Gael]] to shame with his deadly precision and finesse. Case in point, he wrote the book for both the [[SimpleYetAwesome Ashina Swordstyle]] and [[AbilityMixing Mushin Arts]], and a special move he created in his old age is to slash in a sphere around him so fast even Wolf can barely discern the sword strokes.