General Tenzen Yamauchi is a Samurai General Mini-Boss in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. He is located in Outskirts Wall - Stairway.
Description[]
General Tenzen Yamauchi (侍大将山内典膳, Samurai General Yamauchi Tenzen) is an optional Mini-Boss with two Deathblow Counters.
As the First Prayer Necklace states, Ashina Generals are skilled samurai trained in the Ashina sword style.
Location[]
- Outskirts Wall - Stairway: past the Chained Ogre, guarding the Underbridge Valley alongside his troop.
Behaviour and Tactics[]
Perilous Grab: this attack is almost always performed when Wolf's posture is broken and he falls to his knees. Performing a safety roll backward is the best way to avoid this attack.- Perilous Low Wide Swing: a wide sweeping attack across the ground. As with all unblockable sweeps, this cannot be parried, but can only be countered by a jump-kick.
- Perilous Thrust: a well telegraphed thrust attack. As with all unblockable thrusts, this attack can be parried, but only with a perfect deflection. Performing a Mikiri Counter is the safest and most effective method of dealing with this attack.
- Perilous Thrust Combo: two vertical slashes and a Perilous Thrust.
- Chasing Slice: the General sheathes his weapon, entering a crouched stance, and will then rush forwards with a vertical slice.
- Jab and Kick: hits his target with the hilt of his sword, following up with a kick. He may follow up with Perilous Low Wide Swing. The kick deals no vitality damage and will simply knock the player over if it connects.
- Jump Slash: jumps with an overhead slash. Can be dodged by dashing to the sides.
- Overhead Swing: a single overhead swing. This attack has a greater amount of recovery frames and fewer follow-ups than most of his attacks, and as such, is a safe attack to retaliate after. Can also be avoided by dashing to the sides.
- Recover: the General jumps backwards and during the charge becomes engulfed in a bright aura, that will restore his Posture significantly. Being interrupted at any point before the end of this move will prevent any Posture regeneration.
- Two-swing Slash: consecutive swings side by side.
His moveset is similar to that of General Naomori Kawarada's, with the addition of a few new attacks, including thrust attacks for which it's recommended to unlock the Mikiri Counter ability.
Since this Mini-Boss is surrounded by Ashina Soldiers, it's recommended (if not necessary) to take them all out, before engaging him. Coming from the left where the Nightjar Monocular is found will offer the player a spot with some tall grass to hide waiting for the first soldier to come. After sneaking behind the riflemen for an easy deathblow, it's possible to hug the nearby wall to lure the other soldier with a Ceramic Shard and perform a deathblow on him when he's in range. Another soldier will be costantly patrolling around the surroundings, but it's best to ignore him and instead go down the stairs to then grapple to the nearby branch to sneak behind the Watcher on the wall. At this point the rifleman overlooking the Mini-Boss and the patrolling soldier can be eliminated safely. Dropping down to perform a deathblow on the last soldier left will trigger the general to start walking to his right, but he won't become alerted of the player's presence.
Keeping constant pressure on him will fill his Posture Bar fast: after 3 or 4 hits, he'll perform a deflection and will follow it up mostly with either an Overhead Swing or a Jump Slash. Note that, while the latter can be interrupted by landing enough attacks in time, the former can't.
When far away from the player, he often starts charging up a Chasing Slice while approaching the player: this can be interrupted with a properly timed katana swing or a Shuriken.
Dodge his swipes backward and his overhead swings to the left.
When his Posture Bar is nearly full, he'll dash backward and attempt to peform his Recover ability to restore his Posture, so it's important to always be ready to interrupt him by either catching up to him or by using Shurikens.
Loot[] | |||
| +155 Skill Experience |  38
| ||
 |
Prayer Bead |  |
Heavy Coin Purse (subsequent playthroughs) |
Notes[]
- As the final invasion of Ashina Castle and Outskirts by the Central Forces is triggered, this Mini-Boss will disappear for the rest of the playthrough. However, the Prayer Bead that he would have dropped will still be available in the offering box next to Hanbei for 2200.
Trivia[]
- The Yamauchi clan (山内) appears to be notorious in Ashina, as all the members met in the game hold important positions in the army, such as that of samurai, general and even one of the seven Ashina spears.
