Sekiro: Sword Saint Isshin AP1 feat. Parries (NG, Attack Power 1, No Hit, No Charm, Demon Bell)

I don't know what the hell happened at 7:04, it seems his attack just didn't hit, Mist Raven didn't trigger lol
This is my second complete AP1 no-hit Sword Saint Isshin fight, featuring parries! I still made use of strats from my first AP1 vid to get his vit down low enough (I'll put links to my other fights below.) Flame Vent is used to make the fight less monotonous, and a little faster. Poison does more damage with less emblems, but trying to apply it has gotten me killed a couple times prior so I decided to try something different. I can't say this method of burning Isshin is consistent, this isn't something I practiced on him, just something I decided to do today. Oil helps, but I don't have many in stock so I decided to do without it.
For phase 1, I stuck to my old strategy of forcing him to parry using thrusts. I prefer this over regular slashes, as this gives me enough time to respond to that hyper-armor side dash attack of his.
Unfortunately, I didn't come up with the 2nd phase parry strategy. u/pedalgep from Reddit posted a video of his(?) fight, and I immediately thought it was much simpler and just as consistent as what I was doing. So I tried to practice it and got this on my third try. My old strat mainly was attack once and keep parrying. This strat is attack once, parry, then counter attack immediately. Works like a charm, shaves off 3-4 mins from my estimate. One major difference in this one was it prevents him from running away. I initially thought this wouldn't work well with me because I thought I wouldn't have time to close the gap once he does his jump-back spear sweep. I was fortunately wrong, since I had no issues chasing him around.
At this point I have completed my API Charmless DB No-Hit challenge, but I might revisit Owl's 2 fights for fun.
Here are links to my other fights:
My first complete SSI AP1 fight (VIT kill) - • Sekiro: Sword Saint Is...
Old Phase 2 Parry Strategy (AP1, almost had him) - • The thing that never h...

[@mohammedusman812]

You have mastered sekiro no doubt 💯

[@Eiroth]

Interesting technique!

[@nex3]

absolutely balletic

[@davidd.6448]

That's fantastic, and with base stats to boot! Meanwhile I'm still struggling with phase 2 and 3 (first playthrough). Oh well, one of these days I'll get him.

[@lstr8331]

Thanks! You can do it!

[@davidd.6448]

@@lstr8331 Thanks I came really close today, but I panicked and started gobbling down sugars during phase 3 and completely lost my rhythm. Argh! Do you have any tips on how to best avoid the whirlwind slash move that he does during phase 2? You know the one where he sucks up all the air and then does a spinning sweep? If I'm far enough I can easily just run away but if I'm standing right next to him there's not enough time. I've been able to able to jump on his head a couple of times to avoid getting hit but other times it plain doesn't work and he one shots me.

[@lstr8331]

@@davidd.6448 It's not a red-icon move, you can just dodge through it, like I did at 7:33. You can time it, or you can react to it by looking at the tip of the spear that's raised. It moves slow from 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock, then moves again quickly before the slash happens. If you're close enough, you can watch his extended hand, he uses it to pull his sword. Jumping on him is a popular solution, but I just can't rely on it after being hit mid-air once. Edit: Forgot to mention, don't dodge it to his side, try to go straight to him. This is because the end of the sweep might end up hitting you as it goes full circle.

[@pedalgep]

Good stuff, though I wonder how long it'll take to do without skills and anything

[@lstr8331]

2nd phase took me 7 mins here, but Flame Vent only shaves off maybe 30 seconds. Assuming I dodge through lightning in Phase 3, I'd probably take an additional 6 mins mins, more or less.

[@pedalgep]

@@lstr8331 that gives me hope. Anything below 20 minutes is more or less manageable for me..