You may want to dodge and get some distance if your poise meter is almost full and you need to reset. That's not usually recommended though. Some enemies/moves are also particularly vulnerable to dodge attacks, such as Lady Butterfly notably.

I think that attack is better off dodged than deflected, and there are multiple other attacks that usually are as well. Anything that will make Sekiro plant his sword down to deflect, that will then make him slide back slightly from the knockback, is usually better off dodged than deflected for example. This is especially true if you want to keep up the offensive, since a dodge, especially of a heavy attack, will usually mean a window to do something big like a combat art or a prosthetic. Also, the window after dodging is a good time to recover posture by holding block, to heal or buff. Of course, you can choose to deflect it and it'll add to the posture bar just the same, but they'll usually have some sort of follow up that you can oftentimes skip or punish by dodging the heavy attack instead.

The best advice I can give you is to go into a reflection of strength and try both a bit for different attacks. Keeping up the offensive in this game is how you do quick kills, but to do that you oftentimes have to risk the dodge and move into a vitality hit, especially early on so you can get that posture damage to stick.

Just use the umbrella if you are not sure about an attack, except a grab.

Some attacks, when dodged give you a much better opening to do vitality damage, whereas deflecting it does more posture damage
it varies from attack to attack but there are times you might prefer to dodge an attack and get 2 or 3 free hits off as opposed to deflecting it
generally status buildup attacks or attacks that do non-physical damage are generally better dodged than deflected

it's all about learning how enemies work and attack, for a fair few bosses you'll be able to be much more aggressive if you dodge instead of deflect but you need to figure out these openings to actually exploit them
deflecting is usually the best thing to do but keep an eye out for attacks you could easily punish if you dodged instead

an example would be on the Seven Ashina Spears minibosses, they have a long windup attack that when deflected, will send you backwards
but if you simply walk behind them during it, you can get easy hits off, and avoid the knockback

Usually slow charged attack are best to be dodged and then you can do vitality dmg and also deflect the counter attack or use it to heal and deflect.

Deflecting slow charged attacks also usually knock you back and lower your DPS.

In case of Geni if you do not dodge he will always do a thurst or Sweep so can be useful if you want to do more posture dmg.


Bosses usually lowers their posture recovery once Below 80,60,40% health.

Most bosses under 40% health have their posture regen nerfed by 90%.

So it also depends in you want posture dmg or vitality dmg.

You always jump on Genichiro's head and stun him when he does that unbreakable attack. (This does massive Posture damage) You can also jump and land near him, but if you do, you attack him as soon as he finishes his attack combo, as his Posture bar will drain rapidly.

This isn't Elden Ring or Cringe Souls.
You never dodge or run away from bosses, when they do unbreakable attacks. This is complete foolishness, as you miss a golden opportunity to do significant posture damage to him.

Perilous Attacks are a like a double-edged sword- They may kill you in one hit, but if you play your cards right, they also present a rare opportunity for the player to do unique Posture Damage to the enemy via a either Mikiri Counter, jumping and stunning him, or hitting him after he finishes his attack combo.

There are entire Mini-Bosses in the game, where the best, most efficient way you can realistically defeat them, is to hit them (Not run away) when they do their Perilous Attacks.

Whether its O'Rin of the Water, the four Lone Shadow ninjas, Shikibu Toshikatsu (7 Spears) etc ... trying to defeat them using the conventional Block and Attack strategy will take you FOREVER to defeat them. Instead, 'play defense' the whole time and WAIT for them to do their Perilous Attack and then unleash either the Mikiri Counter or jump on their head and then immediate go on the counter.

The difference in approach yields two completely different results. Bosses that you considered hard, become relatively easy to beat, if your focus your approach on hitting them during their Perilous phase.

ya you usually want to dodge in a way that gets you closer to the boss, like sidestepping their attacks, not dodging away from them

Yes, dodge is very situational, but it hard counters certain moves. Not even talking about mikiri, which obviously obliterates all thrusts in the game. For example, one of the bosses will throw a shuriken at you, following it up with a powerful slash which will push you back considerably. The timing of the string is such that immediately after you deflect the shuriken you can just dodge through the slash and punish it.

That said, I can't remember any other examples, so your primary defensive option is still deflecting. Not even sure if there are i-frames on the dodge, if so then the window is very small.