Throughout the story of Onimusha: Way of the Sword, you'll face a good number of bosses that must be defeated in order to progress. In this section of our guide, we'll give you some tips for taking on Burai, Lightning Keeper. You'll face him as you progress through the story during A Tempest at the Temple.
Burai is an extremely straightforward boss once you understand that, in this fight, you don't need to stay close to him. The reason is that he tends to use the floating orbs to fire lightning at you as one of his basic attacks. If you manage to close the distance at the right moment, which is really the only time you should do so, you'll have enough time to land a fully charged Earth-Shakers attack and deal massive damage. Keep this in mind throughout the fight and punish him with the Earth-Shakers whenever you get the chance.
While he's at long range, he has two main attacks that you need to recognize in order to defend correctly. If you see him point his naginata directly at you, it's the same kind of attack Benkei uses. You need to Parry at the exact moment he begins the attack, as his forward movement is almost instantaneous. If he pulls the weapon to one side, he'll rush toward you and, a second later, unleash the slash you need to block. Once you've learned these two attacks, the first phase becomes very simple.
At close range, he uses very fast slashes that can be difficult to read. He has two main basic attacks: a combo and a strike that sends him backwards to create distance. He also has a stomping kick that can catch you off guard the first few times, because the hit lands slightly later than you'd expect from this kind of attack.
Once he deals enough damage to you or you completely deplete his first health bar, he'll add two new attacks to his moveset. The first, and the one you should be looking for, sees him disappear before crashing down on Musashi a moment later. It's much easier to Parry than it might initially seem, although you can also perform a Reflex Dodge if you want to build the Reflex Gauge. Either way, if you avoid taking damage, you'll have enough time to land a charged Earth-Shakers attack. His other new move begins when he balances on one leg and extends one hand. If you attack him while he's in this stance, he'll appear behind you and stab you. It is technically possible to Parry the counterattack, but it's much safer to simply wait for him to drop the stance.
Finally, the third phase adds an attack that looks like an Unavoidable Attack, but isn't. Burai first sends a bolt of lightning straight ahead, then follows it with a powerful vertical slash that reaches across the entire arena. Although you can block it, dodging seems considerably easier. For whatever reason, the timing of this attack can be quite deceptive. As we said before, keep your distance and focus on Parrying his approach attacks. Once you understand his patterns, Burai is much simpler than many of the bosses you've already defeated.
