How to kill the Headless in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

The Headless mini-bosses in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice are some of the nastiest encounters the game has to offer. They deal a ton of damage, and if you want to deal any out yourself you’ll need plenty of items to help you out. But as long as you’re prepared, you should have no trouble taking them on. They also drop some nice rewards for the trouble. Here’s a quick guide on how to kill the Headless in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice – How to Defeat Headless

Headless are large humanoid enemies that, funnily enough, are missing a head. They’re also very slow, but can pack a hell of a punch with just one of their strikes. Throw in a nasty ranged attack and the fact that it can reappear behind you and you’ve got a vicious enemy. And just like the Shichimen Warrior enemies, their attacks build up a terror meter that will kill you as soon as it’s full.

Headless are one of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice‘s most lethal threats. It also doesn’t help that some Headless are located underwater. This technically makes the fight easier in some ways, but adapting to a different kind of battlefield is tricky.

There are some things that make these fights a little easier, though. For one thing, as mentioned previously, these guys are slow. And if you’re patient, it should be easy to parry each of their attacks. Just be careful, as each hit you land will speed up its next attack. Plus, since these enemies are apparitions, you can use Divine Confetti to massively increase your damage output. You should also pack some Pacifying Agents since they can heal terror build-up.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Ultimately, the Headless fights are all about preparation and patience. As long as you have enough Divine Confetti and can successfully parry each attack, you’ll be fine. Another viable strategy is to land one or two hits and back off and wait for it to be a bit more vulnerable again. But the ideal way to deal with these enemies is to be as aggressive as you can. And while you land attacks, keep an eye on what it’s doing so you’re ready to parry whenever. A clean Headless fight can be over very quickly, like most fights in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, but it does take patience.

As for the underwater Headless, these are way weaker than their counterparts. You can also still use a Divine Confetti to buff your damage and deal with them even faster. So, make sure you’ve got a lot of Confetti ready to go. And remember that they’re still capable of dealing a ton of damage.

How many Headless can you find?

In total there are five Headless fights across Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. And each one is well worth doing since they each reward you with a Spiritfall item. These are basically the same items as the various Sugars you can find throughout the game that buff certain things like damage or defense. But the Spiritfalls aren’t consumable and instead use Spirit Emblems upon use. These can be a big help in some of the game’s tougher encounters.

The Headless fights are indeed very tricky to deal with in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. But they’re well worth doing and you can always leave them until you’re more prepared later in the game.