Before you can enter Sekiro’s Fountainhead Palace region, you must first best the Corrupted Monk boss in single combat. The Corrupted Monk may look and sound a bit odd, but she can still cut an unprepared player to pieces. In this guide we’ll explain how to deal with all three phases of the Corrupted Monk fight.
Sekiro: Defeating the Corrupted Monk
The Corrupted Monk’s three-phase structure may look intimidating at first, but looks can be deceiving. The main challenge is simply learning her different attack routines and windups. You can try to deflect her attacks but it’s often safer to just dodge them. Once she finishes an attack, sprint in for a few hits and then dodge away again.
There’s little difference between the Corrupted Monk’s first and second phases save for one new attack. At the start of the second phase and periodically throughout it, the Corrupted Monk will summon shadow duplicates. However, if you act quickly you can actually bypass the second phase altogether.
While she’s channeling the shadow duplicates the Corrupted Monk is vulnerable to an aerial deathblow. You can initiate the deathblow from the highest grapple point directly over the bridge. The shadow duplicates also can’t reach you from that high perch so you can properly line up your takedown.
Phase three is where things get a bit tricky. A centipede emerges from the Corrupted Monk’s neck and she gains a newer, faster set of attacks. Fortunately, the Corrupted Monk is also highly vulnerable to the Shinobi Firecracker during this phase. Stun her with the Firecracker, get a few hits in, and then dodge her counter-attack. Rinse and repeat that process and the Corrupted Monk should be dead in no time.
Reports also suggest you can aerial deathblow the Corrupted Monk as soon as the fight begins, skipping the first phase. However, in the several tries it took me to best the boss I could never trigger such a deathblow. It still might be possible, just don’t go in expecting it to work first try. We’re slowly moving through our boss coverage of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Be sure to also consult our Guardian Ape and Genichiro Ashina guides as well.