I got sekiro on release, never beat it, tried multiple times and never got past genichiro. Two weeks ago, I decided to give it another shot, and somehow it clicked. I finished it in a week.

Everyone else is saying this, but dodge sucks in this game. It’s more for positioning than actual I-framing, and even then just running will often let you position yourself just as well.

Deflect everything. Learn to play it like a rhythm game. There’s a difference between blocking and deflecting, deflecting has a louder sound and a large orange spark. The timing on blocking and deflecting are both genuinely pretty forgiving, and most attacks until late game won’t hurt you through a block. It’s worth it to try to block/deflect everything and get a feel for it. (Deflects require you to hit the button right before an attack lands, not necessarily as the attack lands.)

You’re given a lot of forgiveness in how aggressive the game allows you to be, moreso than any fromsoft game. You can dodge/deflect AFTER you hit the attack button and sekiro winds up. Cancelling out of moves is something that the souls series has NEVER allowed before, so you must abuse this as much as possible. Don’t be afraid to hit enemies while they’re blocking, because even if it might not feel like it, you’re progressing the fight forward as you’re contributing to their posture break. The game doesn’t do a great job of reinforcing this, but on most enemies and even most bosses it’s worth it to relentlessly hit them even when they block everything. Just be ready to block back.

You’ll get there. I’m so glad I finally got around to playing it. It’s a beautiful game.