'Sekiro' Bosses Walkthrough: How To (Safely) Beat Juzou the Drunkard
Juzou the Drunkard is a great introduction to the bosses in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. He's MASSIVE, with a giant, sweeping sword attack and spews a poisonous boozy mist that can kill you almost as fast. Plus, he's got about a dozen guards patrolling around him, which makes a head-on attack virtual suicide. Especially so early in the game, odds are you're still adjusting to Sekiro's difficult combat style with a character who doesn't have many health or power upgrades. So here's a Sekiro boss walkthrough for Juzou the Drunkard that focuses on stealth and safety so you have every advantage on your side when you go toe-to-engorged-drunken-toe with him.
'Sekiro' Boss Walkthrough: Top 3 Things To Remember Against Juzou the Drunkard
1. The stealth deathblow! You can sneak up on him with a deathblow that cuts his life in half. Opening with this made the rest of the fight much easier, and setting it up is a nice combat warm-up. If you execute the set up (below) at or near flawlessly the fight against him is 100000% easier.
2. The assist. There's an old general who will help you fight. Find him in the top right section of the pond near a boulder you can grapple onto. Talking to him instigates an all-out charge against Juzou. Only talk to him AFTER you've got the stealth deathblow.
3. The set up: Killing everyone is a must. It's tedious, especially if you're dying over and over. If the pacing bothers you I recommend rushing to fight Juzou the first few times just to get a sense of how he moves and get the button mashing out of your system. But trying to fight Juzou while there's still guards around to take shots at you is incredibly difficult. If you're good enough to do it, you don't need this guide.
'Sekiro' Boss Juzou Walkthrough: Set The Scene For Your Fight By Killing Everyone Else
There are 13 guards in the area around Juzou. After much trial and error I found I couldn't come close to winning if I left anyone alive. There always seemed to be someone rushing in at the worst time. Here's the order and methods I used to take them out.
First guy: archer right around the bend. Rush him quick. Then grapple up above
Guys 2 - 5: There are five guards on patrol total. Two pairs, and one in the middle. From the roof, focus on the pair that breaks left. Stealth kill one of the two (I prefer to take out archers but if heavies give you trouble go for it). Make quick work of the other while he's startled. Then rush the third guard who is waving his torch. I've found torch guys are susceptible to a thrust (hold X) so lead with that to get him off balance.
Guys 6 and 7: The other pair noticed you kill three of their friends. It's an archer and a heavy. Again, I go for archers first because they pester me. Remember to RELAX on the final heavy. Take a step back. Breathe. This is good practice for dodging Juzou if you need a warm-up after a few failed runs.
Guys 7 and 8: Sneak to the left side of the pond (you should see the general but DONT TALK TO HIM YET). Inside a small house you'll see a lone guard, but be careful. There's another guard waiting in the blindspot. Sneak in and take out the first guard, a swordsman, with a stealth/quick kill. Then move fast on guard two, a torch swinger. If you're quick you can catch him while he's signaling. If you botch here don't worry, the other guards can't see the fight.
Guy 8 - 10: After dispatching the torch swinger, sneak out front. You'll see three guards standing in a line in front of Juzou, and a row behind him. The front row you need to dispatch quietly. Lock on to the guard closest you, a swordsman, and stay as far back as you can. Hit him with a shuriken to get his attention, then scramble into the house. Leave stealth and stand where he can see you. He'll chase you into the house, kill him. You can get an advantage striking as soon as he gets up the steps.
Then sneak out, and do the exact same thing to the next guard, a torch swinger. Shuriken, chase, kill.
For the third guard in the group, sneak into the pond again. You'll see two big rocks in a row that line up with where the third guy, an archer, is standing. Sneak to the first rock, inch right and stand up. He'll see you.
Sneak again and scurry back to the second rock and get behind it. Ready a ceramic shard in your inventory. The archer will come to inspect the first rock. Smash a shard. Wait. He'll start to head towards the second, and you can sneak around the second rock and get behind him for a stealth kill when he gets uncomfortably close.
Guys 11 - 13: To get to the row behind Juzou, you need to lure him away. Head back towards the house, stand up, and inch your way closer to him until he sees you. Once you have his attention sneak back into the house, and follow the bridge until it leads you behind the last row of guards.
It's two shield guards and a torch swinger. I stealth kill one of them, then take out the other two as fast as you can. Juzou will be coming. I recommend starting with the torch swinger, because using the axe on shield guys and following with a deathblow is probably the easiest combo in the game to execute. But you do you, just do it fast.
'Sekiro' Boss Walkthrough: How To Fight (And Win) Against Juzuo
RUN AWAY! Go back up onto the bridge or way on the other side of the map. Whatever it takes, just successfully hide from Juzou. Once you do, wait for him to go back to his position in front of the gate. B R E A T H E. Then sneak around, through the house and bridge, just like you did for the back row of guards. Slowly, very carefully, sneak behind Juzou and target him. Once you're in range you can execute a stealth kill and get a crucial first deathblow. I have had him spot me if I went too fast. This is the reward for all your patience.
Once you get the first deathblow, run and talk to the general. Mash X to make the dialogue go faster. Then get out of the way. Take a conservative approach to Juzou, keeping your distance, until he focuses on the general. Then you move in for a few hits when his back is turned, but get out quick. Try to keep Juzou's focus split between you and the general. A fistful of ash can be useful, and I found the axe did the most posture damage when his back was turned. His poison spew has a big wind up as he chugs the liquid, so rush in and get some hits then step dodge 2-3x to get out of the way of the spray. Juzuo's big sword swings can be deflected, but keep an eye on your posture meter. You can't absorb everything.
Like other bosses you've faced, the key is patience, distance, and picking your shots well. At this point I can no longer help you, but this set up got me to face him with no enemies around, three health gourds to use and one resurrection in reserve. After hours of trying to rush Juzou and failing I managed to beat him on my second attempt with this method. Yes, it's time-consuming but if you're struggling with the combat early on (and seriously who isn't?) this will give you ample space to fight and run and heal.
Want more Sekiro tips? Check out our other awesome guides for new players!
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