Corrupted Monk - True Monk - Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Guide - IGN (2024)

Corrupted Monk is a Boss found within Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and is actually found in two seperate places within the game. You can fight a spectre version of this enemy with one posture bar in Mibu Villiage. However, this gal is the real deal, and has 3 posture bars. You'll find her guarding the entrance to the Fountainhead Palace.

This boss can be fairly tough. Thankfully there's a Sculptor's Idol waiting just outside the bridge for you to rest and catch your breath at before facing him once more.

Video Guide: True Monk Boss Fight

You'll be facing the True Monk in three phases as opposed to the previous version you fought in Mibu Village that just had you going up against one posture bar. The most important thing to keep in mind throughout the first two phases is that most of the posture damage you inflict upon the True Monk will be kept whether your aggressive or not. This slow drain of posture means you can land Deathblows WAY before its health has dropped to low levels. This makes the first two phases very much about learning the attacks and parrying as many as you can to quickly build up that meter.

That's not to say there aren't moments to punish True Monk with some health bar attacks. However, it will block most of your attacks within Phase 1 and 2 so be ready to parry.

Phase 3 can be jarring when first going into it as it switches up the general approach to the boss you've taken thus far, forcing you to focus on dropping the Vitality of the True Monk to finish off the last Posture node.

Corrupted Monk - True Monk Phase 1

As you enter the arena, rush close enough to the True Monk that as it drops you won't be pushed back by it (don't worry, you don't take damage if you do get hit). This allows you to get some early swings at the True Monk as it strikes a pose and prepares to attack.

As mentioned earlier, in Phase 1, the True Monk will be blocking the majority of your attacks as you go after it. Instead learn its moveset as best you can and parry its attacks to quickly build up posture and land a Deathblow. The two attacks you really need to look out for are the Perilous lunge attack and sweep attack. Both can come at the end of a combo, while the sweep can also lead off a combo as well. Getting the timing down on these was the toughest part of phase 1, but once you know they're coming, you can punish True Monk once it misses.

Here’s the attacks to look out for:

Attacks:

• Left Swing, Right Swing, Right Swing, Push, Right side Uppercut Round-Slash. With this attack, it's best to parry all five attacks. The push can be a little hard to time the parry, but the first three attacks are simple. The last attack, even if parried, will push you back away from the True Monk. So not a lot of chance to punish here.
• Perilous Left-to-Right Sweep, Right Side Swing. Remember how we said True Monk can start a combo with a Perilous sweep attack? Ya this is it, jump to avoid it. Don't get greedy trying to punish it though, as another swing comes right at you immediately after. It can also follow this up with more attacks as well, including a Perilous lunge you'll need to dodge.
• Whirl slash. True Monk uses this attack to gain space from the Wolf. It will spin clockwise while jumping backwards away from you.
• Jumping downward slash. If either you or the True Monk choose to take some distance from the fight, it will use this attack to rejoin the fray, jumping a long distance and coming down with a vertical slash.
• Left Swing, Right Swing, Right Swing. A part of the first combo listed here, True Monk can also isolate it for a three combo attack. All three can be nicely parried.
• Uppercut Swing, Float Jump Downward Swing (Optional). This is another attack used to regain a gap between the Wolf and True Monk. You'll see her raise her left hand and walk towards you, when close enough she'll swing her spear in an uppercut attack. You can parry this, but it will push you back. It can be followed up by an attack where the True Monk will float into the air and come down with a swing, though she doesn't do this every time.

Perilous Attacks:

• Perilous Sweep - This attack can start off a combo that is followed up with a Right Side Swing, or can be used at the end of a series of swings. Jump to avoid it.
• Perilous Lunge - True Monk will pull its spear far back and lunge it forward in this attack. You can dodge either direction to avoid it, and if its used at the end of a combo, you will always be able to get a big hit in before it starts blocking your attacks again. This attack will usually come at the end of a combo.

Corrupted Monk - True Monk Phase 2

Phase 2 throws a new mechanic into the fight that you'll have to be prepared for. The True Monk will Periodically vanish from the battlefield, only to attack you with singular attacks from shadow form versions of itself.

These shadows will appear behind or near you, do an attack, and then vanish. A new one will also appear before the previous one went away, making it hard to deal with them if you get trapped. Best solution we've found? Wait it out. You'll see trees you can grapple between next to the bridge you're fighting on. Instead of trying to block or parry all the shadow Monks, we instead grappled back and forth between the trees until the madness was over the the physical form re-appeared.

You'll find that the True Monk is still just as tanky as it was in Phase 1, blocking all your attacks. This second phase is still a posture battle, and the posture meter does drain really slowly, so keep parrying those attacks!

All of the attack patterns remain the same from Phase 1, though there's one thing to look out for and that's the: Left Swing, Right Swing, Perilous Sweep. Though she may have used this attack in the first round, she will use it far more often in Phase 2, along with other combos ending in a sweep so be prepared for that.

Corrupted Monk - True Monk Phase 3

After getting a second deathblow on the True Monk, you'll see a large parasite come out of the head of the True Monk, similar to the one you pulled out of the Headless Ape. This insect is the corruption within the Corrupted Monk - True Monk, and it doesn't want to die, and it brings a slew of new ways to come at you.

Unfortunately, the way you've been fighting in Phases 1 & 2 needs to be greatly altered to finally bring down the True Monk. So far, you've probably focused on parry timing to build up a Posture meter that didn't seem to drop very much, even if you disengaged from the fight. You'll need to shift your thinking here.

It will gain almost an entirely new move set becoming vastly more aggressive. Some of the attacks are familiar like the 5-swing spinning top move you may remember from the specter version of Corrupted Monk in Mibu Village. But it will also bring new things to the table like spewing a nasty liquid at you that does Terror buildup, so be on the lookout for that as well.

The biggest change to how you approach the fight is that you'll need to stop trying to ONLY parry moves, and put a heavier focus on looking for openings within the series of attacks, as the Posture meter on this third Phase doesn't hold the way it did in the first two, until you bring down that health bar. Thankfully, with True Monk now being highly aggressive, it's given up all sense of defense, allowing you to get hits in between all of its attacks.

Speaking of attacks, here's what to look out for now:

• 5 Swing Top. True Monk will now adopt the move the Specter version in Mibu Village used before, coming at you in a spinning 5 swing combo. You can parry each move, but make sure your timing is on point, as simply blocking them will quickly drain your posture meter.
• Downward Slam. Just as it sounds, True Monk will slam its spear straight down. Easily parried
• Left Swing, Perilous Sweep. As you can see, it also will switch up where to put its Perilous attacks into the combos it now has. Parry the first attack, then jump in either direction. This attack can also be followed up with Terror Spew or another attack so watch for that.
• Jump Spin attack. This replaces the previous jump attack, instead True Monk will spin in the air as it comes towards you, making in air attacks against her impossible. Wait for the final spin as she comes down and parry it.
• Left Swing, Right Swing, Terror Spew. This attack should allow you to build up some posture damage by parrying the initial attacks. Just make sure to dodge the incoming projectile at the end.

Perilous Attacks:

• Running Sweep. It now has a sweep to close distance as well, running from far away and then making you jump over the incoming blade.
• Terror Spew. This attack is easily avoidable as long as you move left or right out of its way.