Okami 3/Yama-no-Kami

==Summary==
The second boss of Okami 3. Yama-no-Kami is an elephant sized kappa responsible for commanding the kappas attacking the nearby village. According to him, the kappa population has been growing excessively, convincing him he needs to expand the waters to provide a suitable habitat for his mischievous servants, which will mean the nearby village will be flooded. Kuni and Sanmomme traverse the mountain he holes himself up in, set to stop him. After a long fight, they manage to kill the kappa, reducing kappa raids and preventing the flooding of the nearby village.
==Tofu-kozo's advice==
*Y-yeah, this guy is sending all of those kappas. You didn't hear it from me, buuuuut... you don't want to get too greedy. Yama here piles on the damage, even more so when enhanced. What you want to do is to watch his movements carefully so you can plan on ending your combo early enough to evade whatever he throws at you. Also, try to learn how to avoid him when he's enhanced. There'll be points where you either can't undo his enhancement or you'd rather conserve some energy.
==Boss fight==
===Attacks===
*Attacks Phase 1
Name 	Description 	Damage/effects
Sweep combo 	Sweeps a claw in front of him left to right, then sweeps right to left. Can perform one sweep. 	Each sweep does half a unit of damage.
Overhead smash 	Grips his hands together and smashes them directly in front of him. 	Does one unit of damage.
Water blast 	Blasts a stream of water at high pressure at Kuni. Slowly tracks stream towards Kuni. 	Does one unit of damage.
Belly flop (land) 	Dives into the water, and then launches himself onto the arena in front of him, attempting to slam himself stomach first on Kuni. 	Does a unit and a half of damage.
Inhale 	Has a chance of doing this when he's in the water far from the arena. He sucks in air trying to pull you into the water. The attack can be stopped with a galestorm, or you can wait for it to stop inhaling. 	It itself isn't responsible for causing damage.
Belly flop (water)	Does this if Kuni is in the water. It dives into the water and swims towards Kuni's position. If he can't get out of the water before Yama-no-Kami reaches him, he'll leap on top of Kuni, dragging him down into the water.	Results in drowning.
(Damage count assumes Yami-no-Kami isn't enhanced)
*Attacks Phase 2
Name 	Description 	Damage/effects
Sweep combo 	Same as before. 	Same as before.
Overhead smash	Same as before. 	Same as before.
Water blast 	Same as before, though Kuni'll have less room to avoid the stream as he sweeps the blast across the pillar he's on.	Same as before.
Inhale 	Same as before, only he tries to pull you down into the poisonous fog. 	Same as before.
Stomp 	Does this if Kuni's by his feet. Tries to slams foot Kuni is closest to on top of him. 	Does one unit of damage.
Kick 	Does this if Kuni is in front of him. Tries to kick Kuni. 	Does half a unit of damage.
Butt slam 	Does this if Kuni's directly underneath him. Tries to crush Kuni under his backside. 	Does 2 units of damage.
(Damage featured here follows the belief that Yama-no-Kami isn't enhanced a thus doesn't deal double damage) 
*Attacks Phase 3
Name 	Description 	Damage/effects
Stomp 	Same as before. 	Same as before.
Kick 	Same as before. 	Same as before.
Butt slam 	Same as before. 	Same as before.
All fours 	Gets on all fours to get up close and personal with Kuni. 	Doesn't cause damage itself.
Bite 	Doable only when he's on all fours. Rears back his head and bites in front of him. 	Does a unit of damage.
Head butt uppercut	Charges forward a little with his head facing the floor. After a quick charge, he swings his head upwards as if he were uppercutting with his head. If the initial uppercut lands, he'll chain into a bite 	Does half a unit of damage.
Inhale 	Doable when only on all fours. Tries to pull Kuni towards him to chain into another attack. 	Doesn't cause damage itself
Sweep 	Same as before except only doable in all fours mode. 	Same as before.
Charge 	Rushes straight ahead in an attempt to trample Kuni underneath him. 	Does a unit and a half of damage.
Fart blast 	Doable only when on all fours. Quickly turns his backside towards Kuni in an attempt to blast him with a poisonous fart. Attack has short range. 	Initial blast does half a unit of damage. Results in poisoning and larger knockback than most of his attacks.
Edge trap 	Preps attack if Kuni falls into the water. He'll rush to the edge of the arena closest to where you fell and points his backside in your direction. If you approach, he'll blast you with a poisonous fart. Use konohana blossoms to get around him and avoid the attack.	Does a half a unit of damage. Results in poisoning and excessive knockback.
Belly flop 	Doable only when on all fours. Tosses himself forward, landing belly first in an attempt to squish Kuni beneath him. 	Does a unit and a half of damage.
(Damage featured assumes Yama-no-Kami isn't enhanced)
===Strategy===
*techniques necessary: vine, waterspout, galestorm
Kuni encounters Yama-no-Kami on an octagonal platform surrounded by water. Jutting from the water are eight pillars with konohana blossoms suspended above each of them. Hanging from the ceiling are large vases. Those pillars and those pots won't be necessary for the first part of the fight. Yama-no-Kami hangs out in the water. As a kappa, he becomes enhanced when his cap gets filled with water. Use waterspout to get rid of the water in his cap.
*Phase 1
Watch Yama-no-Kami's movements carefully and avoid attacks accordingly. Jump over sweeps, sidestep overhead smashes, run to the side if you see him go underwater, and stay far away from the water blast. If you see him swim far away from the arena, get to the far side of the arena to make sure you don't get pulled into the water, unless you feel you can form a lily pad quick enough. Look for openings to strike him, a sufficient combo could result in him being vulnerable for a brush technique like a power slash. After performing a sufficient amount of damage, a cutscene will play where he leaps onto the arena, stands upright, and charges up an attack. Kuni is prompted to use vine to zip over to one of the pillars. Once you do this, or you take too long on the lower arena, Yama-no-Kami farts, coating the lower arena in a poisonous fog. If you fall into it, you'll be poisoned. Another cutscene will play in which it turns over one of the vases hanging from the ceiling, pouring water into the cap on his head. As long as water is in the cap, he becomes faster and does double damage.
*Phase 2
Yama-no-Kami will try to knock Kuni down in an attempt to either set him up to drown, or to smother him in the poisonous fog. The fog is affected by galestorm, but Kuni shouldn't have to worry about that yet. If Kuni gets knocked down, Yama-no-Kami will try to block his view of the Konohana blossom above the pillar he's closest to. Use waterspout to force the water out of his cap whenever you can, or else you'll have to deal with a speedy monster capable of dealing twice as much damage as usual to you. If you see him run to another pillar while you're on top of one, try to use vine to get close to that pillar, his girth should prevent you from falling when he inhales, plus that'll give you ample opportunity to lay into him with the damage while he's still trying to inhale you. After dealings sufficient damage, he'll realize what he should've done before. A cutscene plays out where he destroys every pillar except the one you're standing on. Then you're prompted to use galestorm to clear some of the fog. Note, the winds don't blow away all of the fog, they'll get rid of a row of gas depending on how the winds blow. For example, if you direct the winds right in front of you, you'll clear a straight line of gas, enabling Kuni to walk on that area. He can direct the winds to either side to clear gas in a horizontal line intersecting him. Beware, the gas doesn't stay gone forever. Once you jump down or you take too long, he'll destroy the last pillar.
*Phase 3
This is another case of watching his movements carefully. The difference here is, because you'll mostly be dealing with his lower half and don't have a chance to use waterspout on his cap, he'll be faster and stronger than usual for a good portion of the fight. Try to chop at his legs as much as possible to deal damage. When he goes on all fours, that is your chance to get rid of the water in his cap. Take advantage of that opportunity whenever possible. You can slice at more of Yami-no-kami like this, but he covers more of the area than before. Be especially watchful for if he spins in the air. This means he'll pull off an attack that is almost guaranteed to send you into the water, resulting in him edge guarding, trying to keep you away long enough for you to drown or blast you further away if you get too close. The konohana blossoms may not bring you to any upper platforms, but they offer the ability to maneuver around Yama-no-Kami's trap. As the fight goes on, as a result of his previous attack on the pillar and the wall, rocks will rain down on the arena, designed not to carry healing items but do often drop ink pots for your convenience. 
Following depleting all of his health, we are treated to a cutscene similar to how Amaterasu would aid Susano in dispatching whatever he needs to slice up. Kuni will slash across parts of Yama-no-Kami, prompting players to power slash along the slices Kuni performs, ultimately culminating in Yama-no-Kami literally falling to pieces.
Category:Characters
Category:Bosses
Category:Enemies
Category:Original Characters