The horse-riding Ashina warrior Gyoubu Oniwa is a tough early-game Sekiro boss who is sadly not optional. If you want to progress you’ll have to take Oniwa down which is no easy feat given his fast-galloping mount. As with other Sekiro bosses, though, Oniwa’s intimidating stature belays some telltale weaknesses which can be exploited.
Sekiro: Defeating Gyoubu Oniwa
Shortly before the Oniwa fight, there’s a soldier mourning his dead horse who you can eavesdrop on. Doing so reveals one of Oniwa’s key weaknesses: his horse doesn’t like loud noises. If you have the Firecrackers tool for your Shinobi Prosthetic, you can scare Oniwa’s horse, exposing him to your attacks. The Firecrackers can be purchased from the tent merchant near the Outskirts Wall Sculptor’s Idol for 500 Sen. The merchant is up on a cliff near the old woman who gives you the Buddhist Charm.
With or without the Firecrackers, you’ll want to keep your distance while Oniwa is riding around. His spear has a deceptively long range and his horse allows him to close the distance surprisingly fast. His spear attacks can be deflected but you have to have great timing since he rarely strikes just once.
Whenever he rides away and turns to charge you’ll receive a prompt to grapple over to Oniwa. Doing so allows you to score a few quick hits and/or unleash your Firecrackers to spook his horse. Once you drain his vitality a bit you can easily break his posture with sustained attacks and deflects.
Even if you don’t launch any attacks of your own you should grapple over to Oniwa whenever possible. The charging attacks he unleashes if you don’t grapple over are much harder to avoid/deflect than his standard attacks. Also, when you move in close to attack, stick to the two sides of Oniwa’s horse. If you’re in front or behind the beast it can lash out with its hooves.
For more on Sekiro be sure to read our Chained Ogre and Juzou the Drunkard boss guides.