The blue Nue and red Nue boss fight shows up partway through the “What Lurks in the Shadows” mission, right when you think you’ve already handled the Nue problem in Onimusha: Way of the Sword. You fought a single Nue earlier in this same mission, so it feels like old ground, but Dokyo has other plans.

He reveals that the room you’re standing in is actually a theater, and he sends two Nue after you at once, one blue and one red. Their attacks are identical to the Nue you already beat. The only thing that changed is that now there are two of them, and that alone turns a fight you already know into one of the tougher mid-game spikes in the whole game. Plenty of players who breezed through the earlier solo Nue get caught off guard here, so it’s worth slowing down and reading through the fight before you walk in.

Where You’ll Find the Blue Nue and Red Nue Boss Fight

This encounter sits inside the Underground Laboratory beneath Nijo-jo Castle, deep into “What Lurks in the Shadows.” By this point you’ve already solved the mask puzzle a few rooms back (I’ve written up the exact bow order in our mask puzzle solution guide if you’re still stuck there), and you’ve taken an elevator down to Dokyo’s workroom near the Grand Theater Spirit Mirror.

That’s where the trap gets sprung. Dokyo taunts you, the lights come up on a stage, and the blue Nue and red Nue boss fight begins with both creatures charging in from opposite sides. There’s no warning phase and no easing into it, so save at the Spirit Mirror before you walk in.

Attacks Both Nue Use Against You

Since the blue Nue and the red Nue share the exact same moveset, you only need to learn one set of attacks to handle both. Expect claw swipes, quick bites, forward lunges, heavy head smashes, and constant tail swipes woven into their combos. None of it is slow. The tail attacks in particular come out fast and are easy to misjudge if you’re watching the wrong opponent, which is really the whole challenge here. You already know how to read a single Nue. The hard part is reading two of them without getting your attention pulled in the wrong direction at the wrong moment.

The two Nue also tend to alternate rather than both committing to an attack at the same instant, so there’s almost always a small opening where one of them is recovering while the other winds up. Use that window to reposition or land a hit, but don’t count on it lasting long. If you drift too close to the edge of the arena, one Nue will happily circle wide and box you in with the other, and that’s when a single mistimed dodge turns into two or three hits in a row.

How to Dodge and Position in the Blue Nue and Red Nue Boss Fight

Turn off lock-on before you start this one. I know that sounds backwards, but locking onto one Nue means the camera stops showing you what the other one is doing, and that’s exactly how you eat a charge you never saw coming. With the camera free, you can keep both bodies in frame and react to whichever one commits to an attack first. Stay near the center of the arena rather than backing into a corner, and if you feel one of them circling around behind you, reposition immediately instead of finishing your current combo. Parrying doesn’t do much here since neither Nue staggers off a parry or a deflect, so lean on Reflex Dodge for almost everything.

Land a couple of hits, then dodge out or step back just far enough to keep both opponents in your line of sight before you go back in. Don’t get greedy chasing damage. Surviving the pace of this fight matters far more than any one combo, the same lesson that applies to the axe-wielding Genma in our Byakue boss guide, where reading the attack instead of forcing damage is what actually wins the fight.

The Electric Tail Phase at Half Health

Once either Nue’s health drops to roughly the halfway mark, its serpent tail wakes up and starts firing electrified orbs at you every so often. This is new compared to the single Nue fight you already cleared, so don’t panic when you see the first one coming. You can dodge these orbs, but deflecting them is the better option, since a clean deflect sends the charge straight back into the Nue for free damage and doesn’t cost you any ground.

Everything else about that Nue stays the same once the tail activates, so you’re not learning a whole new moveset, just adding one more thing to watch for. Grab any yellow soul essences that drop nearby when you get the chance, since they top up your health, and don’t ignore the blue ones either, since those feed your Ultimate Ability gauge for later.

Best Weapon and Ultimate for Two Nue at Once

Because you’re managing two targets, a weapon with reach and multi-hit potential pays off more here than pure single-target damage. Earth-Shakers is a strong pick if you time a charged strike right, since it can clip both Nue at once and chips a real chunk off their stamina bars together.

I personally lean on Wind-Whipper for fights like this, the same way I used it against the wind-based mechanics in our Ifuu boss fight guide, because its spread lets me punish whichever Nue is closest without fully committing my positioning. Whatever you choose, keep collecting those soul essences as you fight. Filling your Ultimate Ability gauge here matters, because the payoff comes the moment you break one Nue’s stamina bar completely.

Finishing the Fight One Nue at a Time

Once you grind one Nue’s stamina bar down to zero, you’ll get a prompt for a finishing strike that can hit everything caught in the arena, so use your Ultimate Ability right before you trigger it if the gauge is full. From there, the blue Nue and red Nue boss fight gets noticeably easier, because you’re back to fighting a single opponent using a moveset you already understand. Keep the same habits though.

The surviving Nue still activates its own electric tail once it drops below half health, and it hits just as hard alone as it did paired up. The difference is that you no longer have to split your attention, so stay patient, keep dodging instead of forcing trades, and counterattack in the short window right after each dodge. That’s the safest rhythm for the rest of the fight, and it’s the same approach worth carrying into every mission covered in our full missions and side quest list for Onimusha: Way of the Sword.

What Comes After the Blue Nue and Red Nue Boss Fight

Beating both Nue doesn’t end “What Lurks in the Shadows.” Once the theater goes quiet, the mission pushes you toward the Greater Nue, a much bigger single opponent that leans far harder on lightning attacks in its second phase than either of the two you just fought. Think of the blue Nue and red Nue boss fight as the game’s way of drilling the fundamentals, reading tells, dodging on reaction, and deflecting the tail’s electric orbs, before it throws a bigger, meaner version of the same creature at you.

Everything you practiced managing two smaller Nue carries straight over, so don’t rush through this fight just to get it over with. The habits you build here, especially staying calm with two threats on screen instead of one, are exactly what carry you through the tougher fights waiting later in Kyoto, including the full mission list we cover for the rest of the game.

Blue Nue and Red Nue Boss Fight FAQ

Do the blue Nue and red Nue have different attacks? No, both use the exact same moveset. The only difference is color, and fighting two of them at the same time is the actual challenge.

Should I lock on during this fight? Turn lock-on off. A free camera lets you track both Nue at once, while locking on hides whichever one you’re not facing.

Can I parry the Nue’s attacks? Parrying and deflecting don’t stagger either Nue, so Reflex Dodge is the far more reliable option for their melee attacks.

What happens when a Nue reaches half health? Its tail starts firing electrified orbs at you periodically. Deflect them back at the Nue for free damage instead of just dodging away.

Which Nue should I focus first? Neither has an advantage over the other since their movesets match, so just commit to whichever Nue is closest and stay aggressive until its stamina bar breaks.

That covers everything you need for the blue Nue and red Nue boss fight in Onimusha: Way of the Sword. Check out our other Onimusha guides on ingametor.com if you’re hunting for more boss strategies or side content while you make your way through Kyoto.