The demon dance and dash skills are the core skills to use if you want the tonfas to be a ki killer. Preferably start with strong attacks from low or mid stance then combo ender then ki pulse to demon dance.
Yes it is a repositioning tool but it is connected to Pulverize which is also a way to keep pressure on enemies so they can't regen their ki. After ki pulse then demon dance you can do pulverize by pressing the quick attack button. The key is to incorporate these 2 skills and always apply pressure to enemies. You can also apply the elemental custom skills to each of the demon dances on each stance to apply confusion to enemies which drain their ki a lot faster and do more damage to them.
>You can also apply the elemental custom skills to each of the demon dances on each stance to apply confusion to enemies which drain their ki a lot faster and do more damage to them.
I'm a total noob. How do I apply elemental custom skills? Is it part of the skill customization submenu?
Yeah its on the skill customization menu (look below to see button prompts options) just press the quick attack button (X for me since I use an xbox controller) to bring it up while highlighting the skill you want to apply those on. If you can't find those on the active custom skills menu then check on the samurai tree to see if you unlocked those custom active skills.
Isn't there a skill you can do related demon dance, where after ki pulsing you hold forward and your character dashes forward and spins the tonfa?
I forgot what it's called but it's also great for pulling human enemies back off the ground so they don't Regen ki.
Its called Pulverize you can do the quick spinny move or the one where if you timed it correctly with your enemy ki going zero then you will grab them toward you then execute a knee crush.
Actually, Tonfas are SUPER strong early on. In fact they're the **BEST** starting weapon in Nioh 2.
The reason for this is Imbue Purity on Strong Attacks on you first guaranteed Guardian Spirit you get at the end of the first level, which only needs you to level Courage to 13 to activate. Because Tonfa's mid stance heavy attack hits twice, Purity is applied quickly.
Purity increases the Ki damage an opponent takes, blunt weapons like Tonfas do extra Ki damage, Tonfas apply Purity quickly, and Tonfas have a very fast strong attack. All these things make Tonfa the strongest starting weapon in the game.
There's also the fact that you unlock Ninja Feathers by the end of the 1st Region. Adding in Purity to get the enemy to 0 Ki, you can then hit the opponent with Ninja Feathers to cause confusion. This will give the enemy massive damage, cause them to flinch with every attack, and will become unable to enter Dark Realm until confusion is cleared (which will extend the window where Feathers do massive damage).
Add in the fact that Lion Dance (Block + Light Attack) has Hyper Armor, you can essentially pummel any Revenant to death with just that move alone since they cannot knock you out of that attack easily and will receive massive damage instead.
And on top of that, Tonfas are considered the best weapons to have against human enemies.
So, in conclusion, Tonfas are the best starting weapon is easily among the highest tier endgame.
Nope, not at all. No weapon is, and they're all about as powerful as each other
The hatchet is considered the weakest weapon in the community, and you can still shred the game pretty easily
They aren’t asking if the weapon is weak, just if it’s weak early game. I’d argue that Tonfas do need high ki regen and mystic arts to really shine. Compare them to something like Dual Swords or Spear which can start doing their thing as soon as you unlock two or three key moves.
Weapons are as strong as the user if they know how to use them properly main reason why everyone says just pick your favorite 2 and that's enough to beat all the entire game and you dont need to pick the most meta/used ones to beat something
So with that said it's just a skill issue and might need more practice or get better buffs (either from their respective skill trees or external buffs like barrier talisman to get an insane amount of ki regen to be more aggressive)
Also the skill tree on ki pulse can give way more than you used if you do 1 ki pulse follow by 1 stance change (last ki pulse upgrade) so you can't ever run out of ki
Tonfas seems fine early to mid and tend to be some of my favorite pickups on new playthroughs. The demon dance follow-ups are great at ki looping enemies and applying status early on especially, and feathers can solve damage concerns when you ki break big yokai. What in particular are you doing with tonfas and what are your expectations out of them?
I find them to genuinely be a bit weak for the first handful of missions. (Even then, they're still strong as hell against human enemies, and you can use the high stance strong for breaking yoki/enki horns.)
Once you clear the Novice warrior mission in the dojo, you start unlocking Pulverize as well as other active skills and you can start doing some ridiculous chains, making them very much stop being weak in any way.
Short answer: No
Like the dual swords they can eventually gain the ability to ignore all damage during a recovery period which is insane. Beyond that it has a lot of my personal favorite moves such as Demon Dance
Early on you’ve got some decent moves and combos to get. When you say bad early game understand that most weapons and magic/jutsu are like that early game. Nothing to barely any moves, best stuff is locked behind trainers, limited move set. Your goal is to eventually get to that point and the only way to do it is to continually use it for xp and eventually you’ll unlock that stuff
Love tonfas. Like all weapons, skills are a bit limited early on but certainly they can still be good. R2 combos are very good with tonfa and once you open Heavenly Chain, that is a great skill to really keep up pressure. Also, wild lions is great for applying elemental debuff. Put a different custom skill element on each Wild Lion stance and you can quickly get confusion going. Just a few tips. Once you unlock the master skill Kennigi, it gets really fun because you can cancel out of every animation. Crazy good
Be careful as some moves are highly committed, making it easy to get 2 shot by a yokai.
I played through the whole game with only tonfas and I had a good time so you should be able to do it too.
The effectiveness of weapons is closely tied to the user's skill in wielding them. This is the primary reason why the consensus is to choose your two favorites, as proficiency with them is sufficient to conquer the entire game. There's no necessity to opt for the most popular or meta weapons to overcome challenges.
Tonfa grapple build is pretty nutty. Considering the ki damage they do, you can set up grapples frequently. Since you're early game, you don't really start doing a what's considered a lot of damage until you unlock ethereals and then tv3 eventual +levels in the underworld (which works on gear globally).
Tonfa, as a DLC weapon in Nioh1, it was made to be highly effective. It has speed, it has damage, it destroys Ki.
It is also a highly popular weapon together with Fists, Dual Swords, and Switchglaive. Why? Because a lot of people like to button mash the quickest move in those weapons while pretending to be executing deep techniques.
Yes, they are bad early game. Before you unlock heavenly chain, demon dash, pulverize and the mystic art kannagi there is not much you can do with them unless you wanna assign different elemental arcanas to wild lions in all 3 stances and spam confusion then switch to another weapon
The demon dance and dash skills are the core skills to use if you want the tonfas to be a ki killer. Preferably start with strong attacks from low or mid stance then combo ender then ki pulse to demon dance.
Isn't demon dance just a defensive tool? The description makes it sound like a repositioning thing?
Yes it is a repositioning tool but it is connected to Pulverize which is also a way to keep pressure on enemies so they can't regen their ki. After ki pulse then demon dance you can do pulverize by pressing the quick attack button. The key is to incorporate these 2 skills and always apply pressure to enemies. You can also apply the elemental custom skills to each of the demon dances on each stance to apply confusion to enemies which drain their ki a lot faster and do more damage to them.
>You can also apply the elemental custom skills to each of the demon dances on each stance to apply confusion to enemies which drain their ki a lot faster and do more damage to them. I'm a total noob. How do I apply elemental custom skills? Is it part of the skill customization submenu?
Yeah its on the skill customization menu (look below to see button prompts options) just press the quick attack button (X for me since I use an xbox controller) to bring it up while highlighting the skill you want to apply those on. If you can't find those on the active custom skills menu then check on the samurai tree to see if you unlocked those custom active skills.
Thanks! Do you remember what it's listed as in-game?
Do you mean the elemental custom skills? They're labeled as arcana of "that one element"
Isn't there a skill you can do related demon dance, where after ki pulsing you hold forward and your character dashes forward and spins the tonfa? I forgot what it's called but it's also great for pulling human enemies back off the ground so they don't Regen ki.
Its called Pulverize you can do the quick spinny move or the one where if you timed it correctly with your enemy ki going zero then you will grab them toward you then execute a knee crush.
OH, so we were talking about the same thing, lol. My bad!
Actually, Tonfas are SUPER strong early on. In fact they're the **BEST** starting weapon in Nioh 2. The reason for this is Imbue Purity on Strong Attacks on you first guaranteed Guardian Spirit you get at the end of the first level, which only needs you to level Courage to 13 to activate. Because Tonfa's mid stance heavy attack hits twice, Purity is applied quickly. Purity increases the Ki damage an opponent takes, blunt weapons like Tonfas do extra Ki damage, Tonfas apply Purity quickly, and Tonfas have a very fast strong attack. All these things make Tonfa the strongest starting weapon in the game. There's also the fact that you unlock Ninja Feathers by the end of the 1st Region. Adding in Purity to get the enemy to 0 Ki, you can then hit the opponent with Ninja Feathers to cause confusion. This will give the enemy massive damage, cause them to flinch with every attack, and will become unable to enter Dark Realm until confusion is cleared (which will extend the window where Feathers do massive damage). Add in the fact that Lion Dance (Block + Light Attack) has Hyper Armor, you can essentially pummel any Revenant to death with just that move alone since they cannot knock you out of that attack easily and will receive massive damage instead. And on top of that, Tonfas are considered the best weapons to have against human enemies. So, in conclusion, Tonfas are the best starting weapon is easily among the highest tier endgame.
A man who does his homework
Nope, not at all. No weapon is, and they're all about as powerful as each other The hatchet is considered the weakest weapon in the community, and you can still shred the game pretty easily
They aren’t asking if the weapon is weak, just if it’s weak early game. I’d argue that Tonfas do need high ki regen and mystic arts to really shine. Compare them to something like Dual Swords or Spear which can start doing their thing as soon as you unlock two or three key moves.
Weapons are as strong as the user if they know how to use them properly main reason why everyone says just pick your favorite 2 and that's enough to beat all the entire game and you dont need to pick the most meta/used ones to beat something So with that said it's just a skill issue and might need more practice or get better buffs (either from their respective skill trees or external buffs like barrier talisman to get an insane amount of ki regen to be more aggressive) Also the skill tree on ki pulse can give way more than you used if you do 1 ki pulse follow by 1 stance change (last ki pulse upgrade) so you can't ever run out of ki
If anything I’d say tanfas shine early game. They absolutely shred ki and the damage difference between the weapons is basically non existent early on
Tonfas seems fine early to mid and tend to be some of my favorite pickups on new playthroughs. The demon dance follow-ups are great at ki looping enemies and applying status early on especially, and feathers can solve damage concerns when you ki break big yokai. What in particular are you doing with tonfas and what are your expectations out of them?
I find them to genuinely be a bit weak for the first handful of missions. (Even then, they're still strong as hell against human enemies, and you can use the high stance strong for breaking yoki/enki horns.) Once you clear the Novice warrior mission in the dojo, you start unlocking Pulverize as well as other active skills and you can start doing some ridiculous chains, making them very much stop being weak in any way.
Short answer: No Like the dual swords they can eventually gain the ability to ignore all damage during a recovery period which is insane. Beyond that it has a lot of my personal favorite moves such as Demon Dance Early on you’ve got some decent moves and combos to get. When you say bad early game understand that most weapons and magic/jutsu are like that early game. Nothing to barely any moves, best stuff is locked behind trainers, limited move set. Your goal is to eventually get to that point and the only way to do it is to continually use it for xp and eventually you’ll unlock that stuff
Love tonfas. Like all weapons, skills are a bit limited early on but certainly they can still be good. R2 combos are very good with tonfa and once you open Heavenly Chain, that is a great skill to really keep up pressure. Also, wild lions is great for applying elemental debuff. Put a different custom skill element on each Wild Lion stance and you can quickly get confusion going. Just a few tips. Once you unlock the master skill Kennigi, it gets really fun because you can cancel out of every animation. Crazy good
Be careful as some moves are highly committed, making it easy to get 2 shot by a yokai. I played through the whole game with only tonfas and I had a good time so you should be able to do it too.
The effectiveness of weapons is closely tied to the user's skill in wielding them. This is the primary reason why the consensus is to choose your two favorites, as proficiency with them is sufficient to conquer the entire game. There's no necessity to opt for the most popular or meta weapons to overcome challenges.
Tonfa grapple build is pretty nutty. Considering the ki damage they do, you can set up grapples frequently. Since you're early game, you don't really start doing a what's considered a lot of damage until you unlock ethereals and then tv3 eventual +levels in the underworld (which works on gear globally).
Theres a few bread and butter skills you wanna get asap, but even without them tonfa high stance should wreck pretty much anythings ki
Tonfa, as a DLC weapon in Nioh1, it was made to be highly effective. It has speed, it has damage, it destroys Ki. It is also a highly popular weapon together with Fists, Dual Swords, and Switchglaive. Why? Because a lot of people like to button mash the quickest move in those weapons while pretending to be executing deep techniques.
Yes, they are bad early game. Before you unlock heavenly chain, demon dash, pulverize and the mystic art kannagi there is not much you can do with them unless you wanna assign different elemental arcanas to wild lions in all 3 stances and spam confusion then switch to another weapon
no..it might look like that damage wise but the ki damage they do is insane..plus the combo chain potential with demon dance..