Boss fights: learn the pattern before the punish

01Make a boss note after each attempt

Record the attack that caused the loss, the visual cue before it and the response you tried. A difficult fight becomes a short list of solvable decisions.

02Three-pass learning method

First survive and identify the clearest pattern. Then practise one defense. Finally add a modest punish. This creates a repeatable route instead of a lucky win.

• Name moves by visible tells.
• Stand where the camera shows the wind-up.
• Take one safe punish.
• Change only one strategy variable at a time.

03Demo duel

The official demo includes a Sasaki Ganryu challenge. Use it to learn a sword-rival rhythm, not as a universal solution for every later fight.

04Before the next attempt

Use a preparation loop instead of changing everything after a loss. At a Spirit Mirror, check available upgrades and difficulty options. In the fight, give one attempt entirely to survival; mark which attacks are blade attacks, grabs or fists. Blade attacks are candidates for block, parry or deflect; use movement for fists and unclear grabs. The next attempt should test one answer to one move, not an entire new build.

• Keep a single note: attack / visible cue / response / result.
• Use deflect pressure to reduce stamina only when the timing is readable.
• After a Break Issen opening, take the safe payoff rather than overextending.
• If practice or rematch access is available in your current build, rehearse the one move that ends your run.

05Playable now

If you only have one evening, Ganryu then Daidara is the whole course. The complete-demo checklist is the box version of that sentence.

• Sasaki Ganryu — rival on the Kiyomizu-dera stage. Original demo closer. Blade Barrage, red-glow finisher, phase-two grab.
• Daidara — August demo expansion closer in the Oni Refuge. Club strings, wall slams, a second phase. Beat twice (or land ten Issen) for Byakue.
• Byakue, The Hundred Defilements — optional Special Challenge, not a required demo boss. Previewers had the name from studio sessions before the patch.

06Named in trailers, not in the demo

Dokyo is a character who manufactures monsters; he is not confirmed as a duel on this list. The Oni Lady and Okuni are allies with costumes, not bosses. Do not add them because a thumbnail looked angry.

• Dohatsu-ten — winged, fast, original Capcom Genma. Game Overview / Capcom Spotlight June 2026.
• Shuten Doji — folklore oni of Mount Oe. State of Play date-reveal trailer.
• Ifuu and Burai — sibling Genma. Trailer 6 at Gamescom, with a joint arena.

07How to read a boss page on this wiki

Demo bosses have inputs, phases, and a video of someone actually clearing them. Trailer bosses have a sourced clip, what the director said, and an honest “we have not fought this on a public build” line. After launch this hub will grow a campaign order. Until then it is a filter against fake leaks. Difficulty will change how rude they are. It will not add secret bosses. See Action versus Story. Oni Awakening is a Musashi tool Trailer 6 associates with the sibling fight, not a sixth name on this list.