Sekiro Blazing Bull fight - how to beat the and kill Blazing Bull
How to beat the Blazing Bull boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Blazing Bull is the next boss in Sekiro, found in the game's Ashina Castle Gate area, following swiftly on from Gyoubu Oniwa in our walkthrough of the game's bosses and mini-bosses.
More specifically you'll find Blazing Bull after what seems like a moderately long gauntlet of enemies - including two ogre-like hammer-swingers and some riflemen, too. Thankfully, however, there's a shortcut to get past from the nearest Sculptor's Idol.
Below, we'll explain how exactly you can skip past all those enemies and go straight to the battle (handy if you're having more than one shot...) as well as of course how to beat and kill Sekiro's Blazing Bull, including any particularly strong methods or weaknesses they might have and any handy things to bear in mind.
For more guides and pages like this, meanwhile, cycle back to our main Sekiro walkthrough and boss guide hub.
Sekiro Blazing Bull fight - how to beat and kill Blazing Bull
The Blazing Bull is another boss that's an absolute nightmare at first, until the method clicks and you realise it's surprisingly easy to game when you know how.
How to use a shortcut to get to the Blazing Bull
- From the Sculptor's Idol at the gate, head straight up the steps and sprint to the rifleman to kill him.
- Grapple up to the gatehouse behind him. Run along it to the right and jump to a lower tile-roofed wall.
- Run along that tiled roof towards a high wall up ahead - there's a grabbable ledge at the top of it. You need to sprint along the tiled wall, jump to the brick wall, tap jump again to double-jump up it and then press and hold the grab button (Square / X) to cling on. Press it again to climb up.
- Run straight ahead and you'll see another grabbable wall up ahead - you need to jump to it and grab (or hang extreme right and you can actually sprint-jump straight over the gap).
- Follow that hidden path to the back of a tall wide pagoda - grapple up to the top of that.
- Turn right on the top of the Pagoda, and hop down to the top of the lower nearby wall. You can then see the two guards posted out the front of the Blazing Bull arena - deathblow one and kill the other, and you've skipped straight to the boss fight.
How to beat the Blazing Bull boss in Sekiro
Most people will tell you to use the Firecracker Shinobi Prosthetic here, as it'll stun the Bull for a bit and let you land a few hits easily. You can absolutely do that, and it'll certainly help, but that Firecracker won't be helpful in every boss fight, so it helps to know how to beat this one without it so you learn another key principle of boss fights: managing space.
Your true best friend in this fight is the sprint button. Lock on to the Blazing Bull after it bursts out into the open and, as it starts to charge you, spring left, clockwise, in a wide circle.
You'll find the Bull can never quite catch up - its turning circle is too wide, so it'll always be trying to turn as you rotate around it yourself.
You can circle each other forever and never get anywhere, mind. What you need to do is bait the bull into a charge while you're sprinting near but not too near around it. Then quickly turn, sprint at it, and get in just one or two slashes of your blade.
The Blazing Bull has very high Vitality and a tough Posture gauge to fill, but just the one Deathblow mark. All you need to do is be patient. Try to bait it into a wall or corner, where it needs to turn around to get at you with its horns. Hit it on the side or hind legs, then sprint away - try not to dodge or jump as you can get caught in either of those.
Looking for more Sekiro pages like this? First up, the first main Sekiro patch notes for update 1.03 are live. Otherwise, our Sekiro boss guide, boss list and walkthrough hub has everything in one place, including pages on Lady Butterfly, Genichiro Ashina Way of Tomoe, Folding Screen Monkeys, Corrupted Monk, Guardian Ape, Great Shinobi Owl, Emma and Isshin Ashina, True Corrupted Monk, and Divine Dragon. We also have in-depth pages like Sekiro tips and tricks to get you started, Sekiro Skills, skill tree and Esoteric Text locations explained, our deep dive on the Sekiro combat system, Posture, and Perilous Attacks, or details on all Sekiro Prosthetic Tool locations, how to cure Dragonrot and Rot Essence in Sekiro, Gourd Seed locations, a Divine Confetti farm route method, all Treasure Carp Scale locations, all, Prayer Beads locations and all Snap Seed locations, too. And when you're ready - the how to beat Isshin Sword Saint and an Isshin Sword Saint cheese, plus the many Sekiro endings.
The main thing to remember is that positioning, really. Stay to the bull's side at all times and it'll feel like you're chasing the bull, rather than the bull chasing you. You can keep away from it indefinitely if you just keep sprinting round sideways, and that means the bull's totally in your control: bait it into a wall hit it a couple of times, back off and repeat!
That's all you'll hopefully need for tackling this encounter. Next up in our guide is General Kuranosuke Matsumoto, or you can cycle back to our main Sekiro walkthrough and boss guide hub for much more bosses, explainers and advice.