Sekiro: O'rin of the Water (No Hit, No Charm, Demon Bell, NG, Attack Power 1)

I haven't played Sekiro in a while, been playing a mobile game for months, and FFVII:Remake before that (I've uploaded my best crack at the Top Secrets, check it out!) Luckily, it didn't take long for the rust to come off :) What makes her difficult is the deception in some of her moves, especially her close-out (where she delays her double slash), and her signature combo. Fortunately, she only does that problematic close-out at a distance, so staying in mid-range will eliminate that move from the fight. As for the long combo, I had trouble timing the first slash because she spins and delays a bit. However, it didn't take me long to figure out that dashing to her right makes her whiff the first slash, and the following slow-quick-quick slashes become much easier to parry (0:22). Sometimes, the second quick slash whiffs, same way Inner Father's last Mist Raven combo slash. Dunno why (bad hitboxes?) In the second phase, the long combo gets an additional spin and slash, plus she adds a bit of zig-zag motion, which may get you clipped due to dead-angling. At first I tried to dodge past the beginning, like in the first phase, but I still get clipped. I have a few good attempts where a delayed dodge to her left works, but I figured out a better way: let her whiff the first slash, and approach to parry the next slash. Whiff-slow-slow-fast-fast (3:02). I approach to the right to avoid the dead angle. The downside to my 1st phase method is that it will often cause you to swap positions with her, and many times she backs herself to the wall/perimeter. So whenever I can, I try to position myself in such a way she stays somewhere in the middle. I bring Mist Raven because she would often move behind obstacles, and she may or may not get stuck behind them (1:08), adding some unpredictability into the fight. So I then decide to back off and wait for her in the middle, and MR just makes it easier to reset. I used the Sabimaru to speed up the fight, but the method I showed is consistent enough to be used for a no-tool fight. She's not as fun as Owl or Isshin, so I don't see myself attempting a no-tool O'rin fight. Time to watch how others did it. Edit: Apparently it's not that hard to parry the full combo if you're aware of the delay/spin (the vid took around just 4 mins, and it's not that different from how I did it, so yay for me). Another day of attempts and I should be able to do the same, but, meh, for now, I'm fine with how I did it. I also saw one that just kept running from a distance to bait her delayed close-out, so that can replace the MR safety net. Back to FFVII:R!