As Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s first major story boss, the Ninth Sister can be a rough encounter going in blind. This guide breaks down the attacks of this boss and provides strategies to defeat them.
Where is Ninth Sister Located
For those that wish to prepare ahead in some way such as gaining additional skill points, we’re going to tell you where this boss is encountered. If you prefer to not know ahead of time, feel free to skip to the next section of the guide.
The Ninth Sister is found in Coruscant and she’ll be waiting for you in Skylane Regulation Station, which is after the Freight Handling Depot. This leaves very few areas to prepare anything ahead of time for her, which can make this an exceptionally tough fight for a new player.
How to prepare for the encounter
With this boss encounter being so early into the game, it’s tough to be appropriately prepared in most cases. There’s not much in the way of reasonable grinding locations that could net you useful upgrades.
The most beneficial upgrade you can get is the extra Stim that can be found in the Undercity Meats section of Coruscant. Thankfully it’s right near the Meditation Point. It can be accessed by climbing the grate to the left of the Mediation point but is guarded by a K-405.
Beyond this, the only other thing you can do is grind for additional Skill Points to dump into your Survival Tree. Getting extra health and Upgraded Stim early will make the fight much more manageable as Stims will refill a greater portion of your health.
If you push for further upgrades, you’ll only be improving your chances of getting through the fight easier by improving your Survival Tree.
You can find many helpful tips and recommendations in our Jedi Survivor Starter Guide and Jedi Survivor Combat Guide. They will prepare you not just for this fight, but for everything that stands in Cal’s way.
Ninth Sister’s Attacks and Strategies
This fight is broken into three phases, all separated by cutscenes, so we’ll go over each phase independently and cover all of her attacking options.
Phase One
The first phase is the easiest. During it, the boss has only a couple of special abilities such as Saber Throw, a kick and a couple of combo attacks.
Saber Throw
Ninth Sister throws her saber, attempting to hit Cal from a distance. Parry just before the attack reaches Cal to properly parry this attack.
Even if you try to close the distance immediately upon entering the arena, the Ninth Sister will always lead with this as her first attack. On some occasions, she will do this twice, even if you close the distance before the first throw finishes.
Outside of this, Ninth Sister will only use this attack if Cal is outside of melee range as one of her attack options.
Three Hit Melee Combo
This attack is Ninth Sister’s go-to attack while Cal is in range. It consists of an Upper Swing, a Side Swing, then an Overhead Swing. To Parry this combo, time your blocks when she shifts her weight for each swing.
When you first close the distance after her initial Saber Throw, she’s very likely going to follow with this attack.
Afterward, it’ll be most commonly used as her primary melee range attack for this phase if she’s not blocked or parried you recently.
Occasionally, this third and final hit will also be unblockable, which means you’ll need to dodge it instead.
Whirling Slash
For this Attack, Ninth Sister spins her saber before swinging it at Cal. To parry this attack, block right as she begins to swing the saber at Cal.
Ninth Sister will often use this attack immediately after parrying Cal and disrupting a string of attacks. Its long wind-up makes it exceptionally easy to parry this single-hit variation.
This attack also has a combo variant she uses, where she performs the attack three times in quick succession. The second hit of this combo is difficult to parry, as it’s much quicker than the first. However, with the third being a harder-hitting attack, it comes out slower and has a wind-up similar to the first. If the second attack connects, the third will have a tighter window to parry.
Lunging Strike
This is the first of Ninth Sister’s unblockable attacks that cannot be blocked or parried and you’re required to dodge. To time the dodge correctly, dodge to the side as Ninth Sister finishes drawing her arm back for the attack.
This Attack will hurt a ton if you get hit by it, so it’s best to dodge it. If you’re circling her counterclockwise, she will also frequently miss the attack as well. If you dodge backward you will still get hit, but any other direction is typically safe so long as it’s timed well.
This attack leaves her open for a quick combo, so be sure to get that damage in while you can.
Four Hit Melee Combo
This combo leads with an overhead strike, followed by two quick side strikes, and ends with a whirling slash. This combo is fully parryable, and you’ll need to time your block to just before the hits connect.
The overhead strike will knock Cal down if it connects, making it exceptionally difficult to parry the two quick slashes that follow.
With the side strike already being quick attacks, don’t let yourself be put at that disadvantage to parry them.
You can use your Dodge to quickly recover from being knocked down if the overhead strike does hit, which gives you enough time to properly parry the follow-up attacks.
The final whirling slash in the combo has the same wind-up as the basic version of the attack. So long as you were hit by the third attack, this will be fairly easy to parry.
Kick
This is a basic attack that does little damage, but will shove Cal away. You can parry this to prevent both the damage and shove, but it’s an exceptionally quick attack that is difficult to parry.
Ninth Sister will use this as one of her attack option after parrying Cal. It’s very rarely used otherwise, so be prepared for it after she gets a parry off.
Phase Two
Going into Phase two, Ninth Sister will begin to use Force abilities in addition to some new melee attacks.
Mind Reading
Ninth Sister will enter this state until she has her guard broken. This is indicated by the blue aura around her head and her holding two fingers to her temple. With few exceptions, until a break occurs, she will be immune to all attacks and you’ll be forced to parry her in melee range.
You’ll want to get into melee range as soon as you can at the start of phase two to prevent Ninth Sister from using Force Pull to force you closer. This makes her more likely to perform either her Whirling Slash, Overhead Strike, or Saber Lunge attacks.
You can use Force Pull or Force Push to very briefly interrupt this state as well, but it’s very unlikely you’ll be able to land a hit in spite of that. This will however keep Ninth Sister from using Force Pull as quickly.
If you back Ninth Sister into a corner while she’s in this state, you can expect two things to happen. First is that she’ll attempt to hit you with an unblockable version of her usual attacks in this state.
The second, if you’re lucky, is that she’ll let you freely spam attacks at her, and occasionally a few will get through
Force Pull
Ninth Sister will pull Cal into melee range and attempt to strike him with her saber. This will also disrupt any attacks or actions being made by Cal when Force Pull is initiated.
Provided you’re fine with taking some chip damage from the Force Pull itself, this is one of the easiest ways to force Ninth Sister into attacking you and breaking her Mind Reading state sooner. Though you also risk her using her Slam attack as well, which is considerably more dangerous.
If you’re already in melee range, Ninth Sister will never use this ability. Instead, she may opt to use the Kick attack from her first phase in its place to push Cal away for follow-up with a different attack.
Saber Lunge
Saber Lunge is much like the same attack as the Lunging Strike from Phase One, but with one key difference, being that it can be parried. Similar to the Lunging Strike’s dodge timing, you’ll want to block this as she finishes winding her arm back to parry this attack.
Of the set of single-hit melee attacks Ninth Sister will use during her Mind Reading state, this is easily one of the faster attacks. It still has enough time to properly parry it, but compared to the other options this has the shortest wind-up.
If necessary, dodge to the side just like the Lunging Strike, or you will get hit by this attack.
Overhead Strike
This is a slow overhead saber attack that Ninth Sister will often use while Cal is in melee range during her Mind Reading state. To parry this, block as she begins the downward swing.
This is the slowest and easiest to parry the attack of Ninth Sister’s basic attack during Mind Reading. This also happens to be the attack she will use most often in this state.
Slam Attack
Ninth Sister will perform an unblockable forward lunge, attempting to grab Cal by the head, if caught Cal will be slammed to the ground. To avoid this, you will need to dodge, with a dodge to the right being the easiest.
This attack will occasionally follow being pulled in by Force Pull, and is rarely used without it. This is by far one of Ninth Sister’s shortest wind-ups for an unlockable attack.
You absolutely need to be ready for this attack, as it does considerable damage as well as knocks you to the ground. Thankfully, Ninth Sister will also typically leap backward away from Cal after the attack, so additional attacks after are very rare.
Whirling Blade
This is yet another unblockable attack. However, this one has a very long wind-up, during which Ninth Sister will track Cal’s movements as she rapidly spins her saber. After the wind-up, she’ll stop tracking briefly before launching her saber forward in a straight line before pulling it back.
To dodge this, you want to dodge towards or to the right of Ninth Sister. If you dodge backward, you’re very likely to be hit despite dodging. Dodging left instead will usually result in you still being clipped by the return.
Dodging to the side and placing yourself behind her or on the side will allow you to get in a few hits while this lengthy attack completes.
Leaping Strike
For this attack, Ninth Sister will leap away from Cal before spinning her saber and leaping at him to attack from above. To parry this attack, parry as she begins her descent.
This is one of Ninth Sister’s most telegraphed attacks, which makes it incredibly easy to parry consistently despite not being a super slow attack like her typical overhead swings.
Force Push Combo
This is a four-hit combo attack initiated by a Force Push that starts and ends with an Unblockable attack. It consists of an unblockable overhead swing, two side swings, then an unblockable lunge.
Ninth Sister will almost always perform this combo after parrying Cal, typically closer to the end of phase 2 but it can happen earlier. You’ll know this combo is coming when you get pushed back right after the parry.
Thankfully, both unblockable attacks have a sizeable wind-up, which eases the timing needed to dodge the attacks. The Overhead attack is best avoided by doing to the side, as despite it being a downward attack. It has decent forward reach which can clip you at the end of your dodge if you dodge backward.
The middle swings however are both exceptionally quick and aggressive. The timing for both attacks is very tight. This often makes the second of these swings an almost unavoidable if the first succeeds.
As with other lunge attacks, doing to the side is the best way to go. Dodging backward will see that you get hit.
If you mess up any of the dodging or parrying for this combo, it can end up taking off a significant portion of your health. If you’re not feeling confident enough to land the parries, dodge the first attack and step back until the final attack comes out.
Phase Three
For her third phase, Ninth Sister gets a new force ability in addition to most of the skills from the previous phases.
Going into this phase of this fight, Cal will also gain access to Dual Stance. This stance allows for quick attacks and a Force Parry, in exchange for less dodge stamina.
For additional information regarding Stances, check out our Jedi Survivor Stances Guide. This details all stances available and where to get them.
Force Shockwave
Ninth Sister channels the force along the ground to create up to two shockwaves that are unblockable. To avoid this attack, you must dodge forward through each shockwave.
Ninth Sister likes to use this skill very early into Phase Three, often as soon as Cal is in range for it to hit. This attack can deal some really heavy damage, but it’s also very short range. She will cancel it early if Cal moves out of range after the first shockwave.
The Easiest way to deal with this skill is to just wait it out, or if you’re looking for a quicker fight, use Force Pull or Force Push to interrupt it. Using a force ability to cancel it also has the slight advantage of chipping down her guard a tiny bit.
Leaping Force Push Combo
This is the only other new combo that the Nith Sister gets in the phase. She’ll use the force to push Cal away, then follow this with her Leaping Strike. Parry this the same way you would the normal Leaping Strike.
Despite using Force Push beforehand, this gives her no advantage or disadvantage to you for parrying this attack due to its long wind-up.
Defeating the Ninth Sister will grant you the Rooftop Duel achievement.
The next major step in your story progression takes you to another planet. If you need help with the first puzzles there, we have the guide you are looking for: Jedi Survivor Koboh Tar Pit Puzzles Guide: How to use Roller Mines. For everything else, you can browse our Star Wars Jedi Survivor Guides Master List.
