Down in Sekiro’s Sunken Valley you’ll encounter the mother (father?) of all tantrum-throwers: the Guardian Ape boss. This massive simian juxtaposes the disciplined nature of some other bosses with pure, unfiltered fury. It may seem tough to break through such a fierce wall of anger, but the Guardian Ape is beatable. By following our guide, you can finally force the massive monkey to take a permanent chill pill.
Sekiro: Defeating the Guardian Ape
While the Guardian Ape’s attacks can be deflected, it can be quite hard to properly time your deflects. The ape’s swings come in at varying angles and speeds, and he’s surprisingly good at faking you out. A safer (if more time-consuming) strategy is to simply stay back and bait-dodge his attacks. After he uses certain attacks, you can then sprint in and land a hit or two before retreating.
The Guardian Ape has two main combo strings, one of which ends in a jumping slam. He also has an attack where a danger icon flashes and he jumps and tries to belly flop onto you. Both of those attacks provide a safe window for you to land a few hits of your own. Reduce his vitality far enough and you can move in for the death blow.
Of course, your battle isn’t quite over after the first deathblow lands.
Guardian Ape Phase 2
Yep, there’s a surprise second phase to this fight. Now headless, the Guardian Ape will attack you with the sword that was previously embedded in its neck. He can also unleash a close-range scream that builds up your Terror if you’re standing too close. Again, you can try to deflect his sword swings if you want, but there is a safer route to take.
Similar to phase one, there are two attacks where the headless Guardian Ape leaves himself open. The first is the attack where he swings his sword horizontally four times in a right, left, left, right pattern. After the fourth swing you can move in and land 2-3 shots of your own.
When the headless ape leaps high into the air, he’ll come down into a sweeping attack. After the sweep, he’ll prep a downward chop which is very easy to deflect. Even better, deflecting the chop also stuns the ape, leaving him open to several counter-hits. Again, just wear him down and he’ll be dead before you know it.
For more Sekiro guide content, we’ve also got boss guides for Lady Butterfly and Genichiro Ashina.