Epigonos

Epigonos
Race	Fiend Clone
Gender	Male
Relatives	Ryu Hayabusa (Cloned From)
Affiliations	Lords of Alchemy
First Appearance
Debut	Ninja Gaiden 3

The Epigonos are fiendish clones of Ryu Hayabusa fought as a boss in Ninja Gaiden 3 and Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge.

Appearance

The Epigonos' first form looks exactly like Ryu, save for the overall colors being darker and possessing a red tint. His second form, however, takes on a far more fiendish appearance, similar to the Fiend Hayabusa Costume.

History

Ninja Gaiden 3

Originally Ashtear Higgins planned to have Ryu die in London, but his grandson Cliff needed a sample of his blood that would be placed into The Goddess. Before doing so, Ashtear used the Dragon Ninja's own blood to make a clone, with Epigonos later being left to await a fight with the Ryu in Antarctica.

The clone was seemingly killed after his first encounter with Ryu but, upon revealing his ultimate plan to the Dragon Ninja, Ashtear utilized alchemy to resurrect and enhance the Epigonos, transforming it into it's second form.

The revived and stronger Epigonos then fought Ryu a second time, only to be killed yet again by the Dragon Ninja, seemingly for good.

Abilities and Powers

Ryu's Abilities: The Epigonos is able to perfectly mimic the powers and abilities of Ryu.

It fights with a katana in both the perfect copy of Ryu and a warped monster version of Ryu. However, he can also fight Ryu with claws and a scythe.

He also utilizes a crimson-colored Art of the Piercing Void.

Grip of Murder: The Epigonos also has the power of the Grip of Murder, minus the effect of overwhelming pain it's places on the user.

Strategy

Fighting the Epigonos is very similar fighting the Doppelganger Fiends in previous games.

However, you can actually make him very easy to defeat with the following trick: Step back, Izuna Drop, repeat. This trick will make him a little problem even in Ultimate Ninja Difficulty.

An alternative is spamming the 360 Strong Attack with the Scythe.

Trivia

• The Epigonos is possibly made to replace the Doppelganger Fiends; both using Ryu's moves and abilities in battle. The only practical difference is that the Epigonos can switch melee weapons on the fly instead of projectiles.
• The Epigonos is first seen when Ryu dreams of being consumed by the curse.
• The Epigonos made a cameo appearance in his 2nd form as one of Ryu's extra costumes in Dead or Alive 5.
  • It's also an exclusive costume for Ryu in the Xbox 360/PS3 version of Razor's Edge, obtainable only if you have save data for the original Ninja Gaiden 3.
• When the Epigonos performs the Reverse Wind technique, he dashes in a manner similar to how Ryu did in Ninja Gaiden II instead of sliding like Ryu does in Ninja Gaiden 3

Gallery

NG3 Artwork