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 Shuten Doji, Gourd Drainer. You'll face him during The Demon on the Mount.
Shuten Doji has a deceptively limited moveset. For starters, he tends to rely more on unarmed attacks than sword strikes. If he gets too close, he'll usually try to kick you with his right leg. If this move misses, he'll often fall to the ground, which is also part of the attack. He'll get back up with a spinning leg attack before returning to the fight. His other option is to swing the sake gourd in his left hand at you. This is a two-part combo that can also occasionally end with him falling to the ground.
There are two important things to know about his sake gourd. First, whenever he drinks from it during the fight, he'll recover health and stamina. Second, if you hit him while he's drinking from it while standing, he'll drop it. He'll then jump onto the gourd and trigger an explosion that you need to dodge, much like Byakue's area-of-effect Malice attack.
As for his sword attacks, most are very easy to read. The only one likely to catch you off guard is the move where he appears to stumble to one side before suddenly unleashing a fast slash. Other than that, his sword attacks are fairly obvious. If you see him trying to "suck you in" with the gourd, he's about to use an Unavoidable Attack. He'll rotate the sword once before unleashing the sweeping strike.
After you've dealt enough damage, he'll start using fire-breathing attacks. First, he'll unleash an area attack that sprays flames out in a fan, then charge up and spit fire into the air, effectively combining a flamethrower and mortar attack. In other words, you'll take damage both from the flames Shuten Doji breathes directly at you and from the fire raining down from above. It's extremely difficult to avoid completely. The most reliable methods we've found are using a Reflex Combo after building the Reflex Gauge or protecting yourself with one of your Oni Armaments.
Once you completely deplete his health bar, "things will happen." You can't win the second phase, and in the third phase you'll gain a new power. Despite how dramatic it may look, the fight is essentially the same, just with a lot more fire. Tank the attacks from the head while keeping an eye on the grab attack performed by the head rather than the body, keep avoiding the same body attacks as before, and continue attacking until Shuten Doji finally goes down.
