Kowa the Coward
Info
Kowa the Coward is the fifth boss of the game who appears in Hot Springs.
The level in which you fight him in is 7 cells long. Kowa is on the fifth cell, and the hero is on the third.
Note: Pink texts are exclusive to the corrupted boss.
Voice Lines
- You look brave. How foolish.
- In the new era, even cowards have a place.
- Fear is the only wise counsel.
- At the Battle of the Eclipse, I fearlessly secured the best hiding spot.
- Imagine being struck by a falling star...
- Lord Hideyoshi, I will not disappoint you!
- Oh no! The Jujitsuka! (Exclusive to The Jujitsuka)
Go away...
Ahhh! Falling stars!
Boss Details
| HP (Day 5+) | Tile(s) | Traits | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
30 (40) |
 / ( |
Known for his sly tricks, he serves the Shogun not from loyalty, but from fear. | |
| Summons | |||
    ( | |||
Behavior
Kowa, like his title suggests, runs away from the hero and tries to put enemies in between him and the hero. A turn after the battle starts, enemies spawn in the arena randomly. Afterwards, enemies will randomly spawn in the arena as long as there isn't 2 enemies in the arena. After Kowa has ran as far away from the hero as he can, he will shield himself to stop attacks from hitting him. Afterwards, he will queue smoke bomb as an escape option in case there is nothing obstructing the hero between them. After he uses the smoke bomb, as long as he has his shield on, he will continue to queue smoke bomb until his shield is broken. Otherwise, he will alternate between generating a shield and using smoke bomb.
New players might find it difficult to deal damage to Kowa while also not getting hit by him. Chip damage is preferable against Kowa as he is rarely exposed (either behind another unit or shielded.) Ashigaru Archers should be prioritized over Kowa as they deal more damage to the player than he does. One viable strategy is to relentlessly try to be as close as possible to Kowa. This strategy allows for the usage of melee weapons as well as keeping Kowa close enough so that the special move (or your escape tile in the case of Ronin) can be used to avoid the smoke bomb. Bypass weapons such as 
Shadow Kama and 
Lightning are super effective against Kowa, as they ignore the enemy in front of you.
Corrupted Kowa
Kowa's smoke bomb has been upgraded with 
double strike. He also summons grapplers occasionally now as well with the rest of his enemy list. Occasionally, instead of queuing smoke bomb, he will queue Corrupted Wave. After he sends the corrupted wave, he will continue with his normal cycle, queuing shield if he isn't shielded, and smoke bomb if he is.
Kowa acts identically to his non-corrupted form, so most of the strategies that work with his non-corrupted form will also work for Corrupted Kowa. The player will have to play more attention to the enemies that spawn however, as they are more dangerous and couple that with Corrupted Kowa's smoke bomb could put the player in serious danger. It is always advised to kill dangerous enemies before attacking Kowa as they could be replaced with less dangerous enemies, making the fight easier.