Advanced Combat Guide
Learn the intricate moves of Sekiro
This is an addition to the combat basics guide so I recommend that you begin with that page and practice those concepts before coming here. The ideas and moves explained on this page require patience and practice and will not be easy. Best of luck my fellow Sekiro fans!
The Mikiri Counter
Multiple Deflections and Deflect Counter Attacks
Jump Counter Attack
Counter all thrust attacks
Understand the difference
The follow up to jumping over a sweep attack
The Mikiri counter is a move you must unlock through the Shinobi skill tree for 1 point. This skill allows the player to counter thrust attacks by simply pressing O or B on Xbox to dash into a thrust attack and instead of taking damage, Sekiro will step of the blade and damage the enemies posture. Note that this is a better option than simply deflecting thrust attacks as it will deal more posture damage.
Some enemies will not stop attacking after one deflected attack. Take the time to learn which combo strings need to be deflected all the way through and which attacks can be immediately followed up with r1 for a counter attack. In addition, enemies can also deflect your attacks so be sure to continually attack them until they deflect you. At that point immediately hold guard in anticipation of a counter attack.
When you see a sweep attack coming in, in addition to jumping over it, you can follow up the jump with another jump that has Sekiro perform a kick downwards that will stomp of the enemies head, inflicting a great deal of posture damage. Another pro tip is after doing this kick counter, make sure to hit r1 twice quickly on the way down to perform a double slash to inflict a little extra damage while they are staggered.
General knowledge to have regarding advanced combat
Posture Bar Color
Your posture bar and your enemies will alternate between red, orange and pale depending on how much health on or the other has left. The darker the color of the bar, the longer it will take for the bar to go down again. However, holding down block will cause the bar to go down much quicker than standing still.