Rasho-gan — Way of the Sword Boss Guide (Fight 9)

This is the boss guide for Rasho-gan in Onimusha: Way of the Sword — fight 9 of 18, the multi-armed projectile wall between you and the back half of the boss list.

Onimusha Curious Cases: Rasho-gan — official Capcom profile — YouTube

Onimusha Curious Cases: Rasho-gan — official Capcom profile

The fight at a glance

The opening move: Oni Vision

Phase one’s very first task is not an attack: activate Oni Vision (the ability is covered in the Oni Vision guide). It highlights the cord Rasho-gan is tethered to — shoot it down with the Oni bow to weaken him (bow location here). The fight reads completely differently with the cord gone.

Phase one: the projectile wall

Rasho-gan takes evident delight in hurling everything imaginable at you:

• The Malice blobs — if too much distance builds up, he swirls rapid-succession blobs of Malice at you. These are genuinely tricky to deflect perfectly; do your best, or at minimum parry them. The Issen explainer covers the deflect/parry split.
• The bubble orb — a larger, bubble-like Malice orb. Shoot it down with the bow instead of trying to dodge it.
• The katana set — mostly regular, easily deflected katana attacks, with two worth watching: a leap-into-the-air strike and a spin-back-around follow-up.
• Grab one, the gut pummel — a grab attack that must be countered with precise timing, or he pummels you in the gut.
• Grab two, the reel-in — he uses his red cord to reel you in, then follows up with a regular katana strike.

Phase two: the trees

At some point in phase two he shifts into his enhanced state and adds the signature flourish: his cord-like arms hurl trees at you. Avoid them with a well-timed perfect dodge — or simply put as much distance between you as possible and let the trunks land short. Everything from phase one stays in rotation alongside the arboreal barrage.

Where this sits on the road

Rasho-gan is fight 9; Benkei follows at 11-12, and the final boss guide caps the roster. On the Platinum push he returns in Boss Rematch at every difficulty — part of the Glutton for Punishment sweep on the trophy roadmap.