General Naomori Kawarada

## Description

**General Naomori Kawarada** (侍大将 河原田直盛, Samurai General Kawarada Naomori) is a 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 - Gate Path: just beyond the Sculptor's Idol.

## Behaviour and Tactics

* **Perilous Grab**: this attack is almost alwaysperformed 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.
* **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.

It's possible to perform a deathblow on this Mini-Boss by either sneaking behind him or plunging down on him, removing his first Vitality bar immediately, but because he will become significantly faster and more aggressive in his second phase, chaining up his attacks with less windows between, it's recommended to train against his first phase in order to ease into learning his moveset when he's slower. Ungo's Sugar can also help during practice runs as it will lower his damage output significantly.

It's also important to be mindful of the dogs near the Sculptor's Idol as they can become alerted, if the fight moves too close to them.

This general can serve as the first introduction to those unblockable Perilous attacks that require a jump-kick to be countered: the game will alert the player with a red kanji and a distinctive audio clue, everytime the Mini-Boss is about to perform one of those moves.

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.

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.

## Notes

* As the final invasion of Ashina Castle and Outskirt 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 2200 and the Gourd Seed for 2400 2400.

Gallery
Concept Art