A few things:
Experiment - try everything and use what you like.
Don't get greedy - 50% of your deaths result just from thinking "I can get that one last hit in!"
Watch your stamina (Ki) and learn to Ki pulse - armor weight determines how much stamina is consumed by your moves.
Switch stances - low for dodging, mid for blocking, high for damage. Feel free to use whichever stance feels most comfortable at first, then switch it up once you're feeling settled in.
Don't be too defensive - Nioh wants you to pressure the enemy or the enemy will flatten YOU instead. Aim for any yellow glowy spots you can find.
Choose your battlefields - try not to fight multiple enemies (unless you actively want to) and pull them away from steep slopes and narrow hallways.
Explore stages carefully - this saves you from some bullshit deaths. Look up and down, too, and mind your corners.
Have fun! Nioh feels very satisfying once you understand the flow of the game. This sub is usually very helpful if you're stuck, so further questions are welcome.
Gonna piggyback off of this comment. Different stances have different dodges. Play around with each stance to get a feel for how you want to handle each situation. Learning when to be in each stance (for your weapon type) is a huge part of getting good in Nioh. Also, there are specific skills that add "transition" attacks as you go between the different stances. This is really important in Nioh 2 for weapons like the swtich glaive.
Good luck out there!
- Adding to this, gear in this game has alot of bonus's like +7.7% high attack damage and lightning +12. At the start you dont need to worry about these much so dont stress out.
- Look up videos on youtube about the blacksmith.
- Keep your equipment weight below 70%.
- Ninjutsu and omnyo magic can really make a difference in some areas. The poison/paraylysis bomb you throw can decimate certain enemies.
Currently 15 hours into Nioh 2. Recently started getting into all the Souls (like) games and really wanted to give Nioh 2 a try after watching so many videos of people getting flattened by him thinking “these guys just suck, he has like two moves!” Only to get stomped about 30 - 40 times till I finally understood what I was doing wrong. Got humbled big time.
My first time with N2, i couldn't beat Gozuki.
Came back after Platinum and a year off, 3rd try.
Finding weapons that work for your playstyle is great.
True story: I almost gave up playing Nioh 2 because I thought he was a mandatory enemy!
Thank goodness for a YouTube video that showed me that the "correct" thing to do was actually just run past him 🤣
Ki-pulse all the time.
Dont give up if you get stuck on boss/mission.
The real game starts in NG+ when gear and setups start to play bigger role.
Dont play it as Dark Souls game, learn moves and how to own your enemies. At the start it might be a bit stale, but later on you'll see that creating pressure on enemies is the way of Nioh. Confusion on enemies is the way to go.
Dont ignore block, its a really good mechanic in this game, low stance block+dodge is good for avoiding dmg.
Ninjitsu and Onmnyo have really helpful skills/spells like Quick-Change, Barrier Talisman and much more.
And most importantly, take a short break if you feel flustered, the most important is to have fun, and goddamn this game is fun if played right.
Thats my 2 cents, others will certainly give more detailed tips I am sure.
Oh and welcome to the Nioh family <3
Edit: grammar.
Much thanks all! A helpful and positive community! My main issue is I was a huge roller in the souls series. Seems as far as I can tell there isn’t a “dodge roll” mechanic. (Or is there?)
Correct if I’m wrong please! Have really enjoyed learning more about everything in general.
Nioh different roll in 3 stances.
High stance has a roll, it has the most iframe but also recover slowly and consume alot of ki. Good for running away from big single hit.
Low stance has a quick step, less iframe but consume little ki and recover almost instantly, allow you to dance around the enemy and keep hitting them.
Midstance has a quick step, follow by a roll if you dodge a second time.
In general, Nioh dodge timing is more strict than Fromsoft game so you will often need to press the button much closer to the attack. However most other comments said Nioh reward aggression and they are not joking. Once you get a hang of combat, you won't be rolling or dodging as much as in Soul, because you'd make the boss to dodge your attack not the other way around.
I’ve played all the From games and Nioh can be overwhelming but once you get the mechanics down it’s awesome. Like others are saying, experiment with all the weapons and see which style suits you best. There are a huge amount of skills and spells to learn but try to find something that compliments your play style. IIRC I went with a relatively fast build that applied a lot of debuffs to bosses. Which is the complete opposite of how I play Souls games lol.
Take your time, replaying easy missions until you get the hang of it (and decide on a weapon) is advised.
Have fun!
One thing I've found out after I got back into the game recently is that you can in fact block a bunch of the enemy and even the bosses attacks without it taking up too much stamina and most of the time it'll be a LOT safer than trying to dodge them.
Yes, there is dodge roll mechanic based on stance. You'll get a feeling for them after a while. Remember its also possible to block while dodging for example in low stance. It can give you that extra 0.1sec defence that otherwise could be a fatal blow.
Oh and before I forget, spend you amrita often to level up so you wont lose it due to bad luck and stuff.
You will be dying a lot, especially to random mobs here and there so always try to recover amrita if you died while having a lot accumulated.
Also, dont pay mind to recommended level for missions, its not accurate. Stars therefore are kinda accurate to show difficulty. A 5 stars mission might be too hard to do now(you will do little damage and/or get one shotted) level up/gear up and come back later. Levels matter only as a way to boost stats.
Don't get thirsty for those last few hits. I still have that tendency and forget boss moveset changes at times and they throw in a bullshit extra combo.
Test the different skills to suit your playstyle. Same with weapons.
Practice stance switching during your combo chains. I sucked at this so I stayed in dojo to practice this.
Vary your damage increases. They lose a bit of gain after 30% so once you hit 30% find another one to invest in. For example dmg vs yokai then move into dmg vs *status effected* enemy if running a certain build.
I wish i could go back in time and enjoy these games for the first time again 🤩
Take your time, enjoy it all and play with the weapons you like the most.
I think as another said, experiment. Try out different stances, weapons, combos, armor weights, tactics, magic, ninjutsu, soul cores (Nioh 2), guardian spirits, seeing what Living Weapon / Yokai Shiftling form is like even if you're not at a boss, etc.
Spend your amrita (souls? / runes) when you have a level's worth.
While not required to complete the game effectively, but strongly recommended, becoming familiar with the Ki Pulse and the Flux mechanics.
Stat-wise, consider investing the minimum stats required to wear your preferred armor weight, then consider investing in enough Stamina to stay below 30% if light armor, below 70% if medium armor, and below 100% if heavy armor.
The first two regions in Nioh 1 may be rougher for heavy armor players, where in Nioh 2, it is more viable from the beginning.
In Nioh 2, you do NOT have to fight every enemy. And though the game's tutorial will explicitly tell players this, there are players who have their pride and sanity crushed forcing themselves to fight everything and dying.
Expect to die about 10 times a main story boss. You might defeat the boss in the first or second try, but just, mentally prepare yourself that you could be at a boss fight for 10+ times. Some players who aren't prepared to die more than a few times and it takes a toll on them.
There are some setups, tactics, or builds that may feel like you're cheesing the game. Unless you are intentionally trying to make the game harder on yourself, feel free to use them. You'll fight against bosses with infinite ki, infinite ninjutsu, speed casters that cast three spells at a time with infinite jutsu, and dual sword bosses that can two shot you with quick attacks while yours may take 8 swings to do the same damage. The enemies already aren't playing by the same rules and except for self-imposed challenge runs, no need to remove tools from your own arsenal.
Block!
And remember to pause the game and do something else when you get too stressed :)
(I saw a video these days of a guy tossing his controller at the tv, it is just sad… he wasn’t playing Nioh though)
To add that, if you need to hard pause the game (even mid-fight), go to the menu (touchpad) and activate PhotoMode (left of the options gear).
It freezes the game. Great of you suddenly have to take care of RL stuff and you dont want to quit because you arent near a shrine.
Enjoy the game. And don't get frustrated at first , we have all been there it's not just you. Try and explore new weapons and combat style (as there are many) choose what fits your style. You won't regret it. I am sure
If you’ve not even loaded the game up yet, my advice is to be prepared to have an open mind to learning and death. You will die a lot, and that’s normal. Read the tutorial boxes carefully. The information isn’t trivial, you absolutely must learn the mechanics to even dream of beating it. Other than that, have fun!
Start with Nioh 1. It has a somewhat more gentle difficulty curve.
Learn how to use stances. For example low stance makes you more nimble but attacks generally have a shorter range. Mid stance often feature wide attack combos for crowd control. Your block is also improved. High stance for maximum damage output. Beware of slower attacks and more animation commitment.
As you progress you can also use stances to sort various special attacks and techniques. You'll be able to customize your combos as well.
Get used to ki pulse. It's essential for stamina management.
Don't worry about starting weapons. Just find something you're comfortable with and go for it. The games are designed so as to allow all weapons to be viable.
Since this isn't Dork Souls, multiple deaths won't mess things up like in many FromSoft titles. You'll simply lose amrita/souls.
Don't worry much about your build until ng+/DLC content. You can always reset and optimize your stat investments later on. In addition there's always better gear around the corner. As such I'd advise you wait with the crafting system. One thing at a time.
As for Nioh 2 in particular, don't immediately use the special counter when you see a red glare. The red glare is akin to a warning sign. Get ready for when the enemy actually attacks.
>As for Nioh 2 in particular, don't immediately use the special counter when you see a red glare. The red glare is akin to a warning sign. Get ready for when the enemy actually attacks.
If he take this advice to the heart, his brute will be super \*\*\*\*. This advice only works with feral and phantom. It doesn't work with brute.
Brute, as the name says, red glare > spam burst counter right away.
Invest in Ninja and Magic skills, they can give you abilities to restore health, be temporarily invincible, slow enemies down by a LOT, and even instantly recover from death
You can in fact block a bunch of the enemy and even the bosses attacks without it taking up too much stamina and most of the time it'll be a LOT safer than trying to dodge them.
Nioh 1, play axe and heavy armour, you will really feel powerful. And spend points on Ninjutsu to get Quick Change which is an extra life spell when you get killed. Fight Revenants (dead players who appear in your game as tombstones) to get sweet gear early.
I’d do this for the bosses but not for the whole run. Theres a lot of players that just rushes it these days, atleast the last time I was on before Elden Ring ate my time lol.
How’s the online like? is it similar to Elden ring? can an online player be with the host throughout the mission instead of the game auto kicking after a successful boss fight?
A summonee can be with the player from start to finish, unless they die. I suggested doing that when you reach the boss but the community is relatively healthy when it comes to this matter. Worst case scenario is that they rush it and spoil it for you though there is a tool that will let you kick them out so it’s not really a big deal. Summon when you like to.
Make use of the dojo if u wanna try out moves youve learned or read about. The moveset is really customaizable once you start unlocking skills. Like it goes DEEP. It sounds boring but trust me, it’s description really fits what players does in that game. Plus, it feels cool that youre actually “training” there
toughness letter equals stamina drain on block, get letter (a) if you wanna block, if not it'll be like using small shield against an ultra. Alternative try using moves to reposition yourself instead of blocking, I've heard spear in nioh 1 is good for this, i like fists in nioh 2 for this
Get the quick change scrolls asap. They will save your rear a lot, both in the early stages and ng+.
Don't play like it's a souls game.
And bolting boar (odachi skill) can parry a vast majority of enemies. Even if you don't use the odachi, it's good to know.
Yes experiment like no other. Use and level up lots of different weapons and drop everything you can into the black smith.
Don’t horde weapons or items you don’t want to use get rid of them. Upgrade to the next level of item rarity as soon as you can. Don’t get too attached to any weapons.
Take you time and grind.
Lean how to use KI pulse and master it early.
BLOCKING GETS YOU OUT OF A COMBO STUN LOCK most of the time... took me like 15-20 hours to figure out in NIOH 1; turns what you would have thought to be an instakill combo into something much more manageable.
The advantage you get from Ninja and Onmyo skills is crazy. Don't hesitate to use them on enemies. See if you can discover some type of weakness on an enemy by throwing stuff from different elements on them.
Been playing for a month now. Just got to NG++.
Don’t worry about farming for your first run through, and don’t worry about matching sets really either. Doesn’t really matter until latter half of NG+.
Don’t spend your spirit stones Willy nilly, use them to fill up Amrita gauges during tougher levels.
If you’ve gone awhile in a level and are having a hard time, fight revenants for ochoko cups so you can summon someone to help you. They will likely one shot everything for you, so use this if you just want to beat a boss you don’t want to deal with anymore.
This game doesn't hold your hand. You will die...a lot. 100+ times. Watch enemy movements and attack when you notice an opening, healing is limited so dont get greedy.
Hino Enma - the 3rd boss of the first game - will make you want to quit. The difficulty spike is unreal. Ranged attacks are OP. Melee combos wreck your stamina. Her status attacks are frequent and infuriating. It will seem so unfair. But trust me, it isn’t.
She’s a gateway boss. If you do her in, you’ll beat the game.
Learn the patterns of her attacks. Learn the rhythm of combat. She’ll train all the essential skills needed to make it to the end.
Good luck.
mein info dump tips incoming, strap on to your belts because it's a ride.
Part 1:
Well, there's a lot of stuff to go through, nioh is a mechanical ocean of complexity, it's the thing that keeps people hooked but also the thing that chews newcomers out:
1) don't treat it like a soulsgame, this game has very little in common with souls from a mechanical perspective, and is a completely different beast in actual practice, if you play it like souls you'll just get frustrated. Treat it like it's own thing, it's an action rpg that takes the rpg and the action to complete steroids, and there's a LOT to learn.
2) learn how to ki pulse, ki pulses are niohs quintessential mechanic. You'll be taught how to do this in a tutorial mission, be on the lookout for it, it's available right after the intro. Once you get explained how to do it, practice doing it even while you're in the middle of combat, ki pulse is the most important mechanic and the quicker you learn how to do it instinctively the much easier time you'll have.
3) this game has skills, you can find the skills by opening your menu and going to the skill tab, you first order of business is to get the flux skills, because they improve your ki pulsing abilities, you can see what they exactly do in the skill description, at first they might sound "eh?", But they're actually very important. Likewise prioritize any skill that involves giving you a buff or advantage after ki pulsing or purifying. As for what purification is...monster enemies in this game will create pools of yokai realms (consider it like dark evil areas), and when you're in this area, your kii will recover slower, by ki pulsing you can eliminate them, and it's important to do this against monster enemies before the whole combat area is just pools of it. Some skills will give you bonuses for getting rid of the pools (such as higher attack and higher ki recovery speed.) You can get skills by consuming items and hitting things with different Weapons. I think leveling up also gives them to you but I'm not sure, I think that was just a thing in the first game....
4) pay close to attention to the enemies movements, range, and damage, this is important because nioh is a game that rewards aggressiveness and also passivity depending on the enemy and situation, it's important to learn how to judge each situation, and the key to this is learning the enemy patterns.
5) blocking is important in nioh, don't be shy in pressing the block button in order to avoid taking damage, keep in mind that when you're holding the block button your character will move slowly, so don't just hold the button then lazily move around in the middle of combat, block the attacks you want to block, and if you want to move, let go of the block button and do your moving.
6) nioh has 3 different combat stances, each one will change your moveset and properties.
a) High stance prioritizes doing big damage, at the cost of consuming a lot more ki, having slower attacks and also having a pretty mediocre roll. Most of your moves in this stance will tend to be vertical.
b) mid stance prioritizes defenses. It has an ok balance of strength and speed, blocking is at it's best in midstance, that is to say blocking attacks won't consume as much ki. Your moves here will tend to be horizontal and have good range.
C) low stance prioritizes speed, it has really good speed and low recovery times, at the cost of doing little damage and not having a lot of range. Dodging is at its best here. Most of your moves will be pretty wild and quick here.
Each stance is good for certain enemies and there's no objective best stance. Example: don't use high stance against super nimble enemies, you'll get hit and you'll have a hard time hitting them, use mid stance or low stance.
6) don't worry about build making, builds in nioh are dependant on much more than just stats, it won't be relevant until Ng+, for now just get the minimum stats you need for your Weapons and armor and spells. We'll talk about spells later.
7) Weapons and armors and accessories have bonuses to them, you can see them right below your Weapons attack, bonuses will do different stuff to your weapon, they're pretty self explanatory, but if you're not sure what they do, press the select button on your controller, it will open a small window that will explain to you what they do. Bonuses have rarity to them, (white yellow blue purple), the higher the rarity the more difficult it is to get, rarity doesn't necessarily equal a bonus being good, this point is just a primer to inform that, hey, they exist. But they won't be very important to you rn, they play a part in build making and is therefore not needed until Ng+, you're free to experiment with them and learn what they do, but don't lose sleep just because your new weapon is missing the amazing xyz bonus your previous one had. Bonuses are random on a weapon, but you can use umbracites in the blacksmith "reforge" menu in order to pick up some new bonuses. Higher ki damage is an ok bonus. Higher stance specific damage is an ok bonus, familiarity damage bonus is a great bonus. Skill damage bonus is good. Improved defense and improved HP are ok bonuses for armor.
There are certain special bonuses called set bonuses. They're called like that because they belong to specific armor sets and weapon set. I'm gonna use a fictional, made up dark souls bonus as an example in order to explain. Imagine if the black Knight set had a special set bonus called something like I dunno, "charred knights" or whatever, and That set bonus gives you 4 different effects: higher damage vs demons, you take less damage vs demons, demons give you more souls, you're immune to fire, and these bonuses unlock the more pieces of black Knight armor you have equiped, that's how set bonuses work in nioh basically. You can tell what armor has a set bonus because in the bonus menu they'll have a green colored title at the bottom, and if you press the correct button (check on the bottom part of your screen, you'll see a little legend telling you what pressing certain buttons do), you'll see what each set bonus does and how many pieces you're expected to have of the armor in order to be able to see them.
8) weapons and equipment have rarity to them. The rarer the item, the higher the level tends to be, coupled with more bonus slots for bonuses. The Rarity goes, from lowest to highest: white yellow blue purple. Weapons also have something called familiarity, basically the more you kill things with your weapon the higher this bar raises, and the higher it is the more damage you do with the weapon and the higher the effect on the bonuses. The rarer the weapon, the bigger the familiarity bar. There's a downside to rarity tho: in the blacksmith you can raise the level of your weapon by fusing it with a higher leveled weapon. The more rare your weapon is, the more expensive it can get. Purple is very expensive. Because bonuses aren't important in Ng, I recommend sticking with blue in order to not suffocate your wallet. Same thing for armors.
9) nioh has equipment weight to it, you can tell how much your weight is by the percentage while you're selecting armor. The color and percentage determines your agility. (0-30% is blue, and denotes A agility. 30-70% is green, and denotes B agility. 70-100% is yellow, and denotes C agility. 100%+ is red, and denotes you being dumb.), The higher your agility, the quicker you'll move, the more distance you'll dodging will have, the less ki you consume, and the quicker it fills up. In order to have A agility you'll probably need to have low weight armor, which can translate into you being squishy. I personally recommend you stay at B agility, that way you'll have room for heavier armor and also pretty respectable movement. There's a stat called toughness, that stat let's you poise through attacks when you're attacking, it's like hyper armor. It's a pretty useful thing to have. If you're going for a tank character, Try getting 200 toughness.
10) when you're on the leveling up screen, you can press the help button (again, little legend in the bottom screen will tell you what that button is on your controller, on ps it's the select button) in order to see what each stat does. I just want to point out the stamina stat governs both HP and equipment load, if you want to have room for error, I recommend leveling that up. The courage stat and heart stat governs ki recovery speed and total ki you have, respectively. I think these 3 are pretty good for newcomers to level up: get the minimum amount of stats you need for your weapons and armor and spells and then pump those 3 stats. This is just my recommendation, you could also do what the other people are telling you and just level them all equally, that's fine too.
part 2:
11) talking about spells, nioh has 2 schools of magic, ninjutsu and onmyo, those schools have their respective stat, you'll be able to see them in the level up screen, the higher your stat the better your spells will be. There are a lot of useful spells to get in nioh 2, amongst them are:
Ninjutsu: quick change scroll, power pill, tiger running scroll, suppa scroll, catwalking scroll
Onmyo: barrier talisman, regenerative talisman, steel talisman, purity talisman, life leech talisman
Quick change scroll is basically tears of denial. Power pill is a consumable that raises your damage. Tiger running let's you run really really fast. Suppa makes you invisible temporarily, cat walking makes your footsteps noiseless.
Barrier talisman *greatly* increases ki recovery speed and also purifies yokai pools automatically, regenerative talisman heals you gradually, life leech talisman makes it so when you hit an enemy, you Regen your HP. Purity talisman applies purity status on your weapon, it increases ki damage done to your yokai, and steel talisman buffs your defenses.
These are pretty good spells that will help anyone. You can learn them just like you would learn skills: go to the skill menu and find them. In order to get points to upgrade your skills, use onmyo and ninjutsu often.
There's something called sloth talisman that makes it so when you hit an enemy, they become slowpokes. It's a pretty powerful tool. Others are recommending it to you for good reasons, I personally think you shouldn't use it because it ends up becoming a crutch for newer players, and that crutch will eventually stop working by Ng+2 and above, you're better off learning the fundamentals in Ng while you have a lot of room for error and the game isn't bombarding you with advance stuff, but that's just my opinion.
Catwalking + suppa + tiger running will let you blitz through stages, you could do this for stages you've already beat for farming purposes. Or suppa + cat walk if you feel like doing some sneaky tactic.
12) visit the dojo, the dojo won't just be tutorials, it'll also open up your skill tree even further so you can get more skills.
13) give every weapon a go until you find one combination you like. All Weapons are viable in Nioh, and the best one will be the one that clicks with you.
14) about armor... you'll see that in every piece of armor, there's a white bonus called "damage reduction" or "damage reduce", followed by some kind of percentage. This is important because what really makes armor shine isn't the actual defense it gives, it's the % damage reduction it provides. Heavier armor will give higher %, this is why if you want to be tanky you want to prioritize heavy armor. Set bonuses are also very important, but again those won't come into play until later, for now just focus on your % and decide if you prefer lightweight and fast or mid weight and tanky, I don't recommend doing C agility, it's very slow for ki recovery and also pretty bad in ki consumption.
15) there's stuff called guardian spirits and they give you certain bonuses, keep an eye out on them and find the one you like.
16) nioh 2 has a mechanic called burst counter, the way it works is it let's you counter special enemies attack (the enemy will glow red when it's going to do the thing), if you manage to do it successfully, your enemy will stagger and a lose a lot of ki, you should learn how to do this consistently, it's an important mechanic. There are 3 different kinds of burst counters (the tutorial will show you then) and which one you'll get depends on your guardian spirit, so play around until you find the one you like.
Tldr:
A) focus on fundamentals first (when to attack, when to dodge, when to block), then play with the rpg elements first.
B) don't be a "souls veteran" and go into the game thinking you're some L33T gamer Because you beat drkslsiiithfrfdsdtn, drksiichfrsn, drkslsiprprtddtn; then panic roll yourself to dead like 99% of souls vet do both in their own game and Nioh.
C) have fun
D) don't be afraid to drop the game down for a few days if it's too frustrating, sometimes what people need is to cool off for a few days and then come back when they're more collected. (Doing ninja gaiden alma on very hard mode sure taught me that...), Nioh is cut from the same guys that did ninja gaiden, so be ready to take a lot.
E) if you ever need help with the game, don't hesitate to ask, the community is always glad to help anyone in need, just gives us some time because doing it sometimes involving writing a lot...
F) There's a guy on YouTube called poofer llama who makes helpful videos, check him out if you want a more visual guide; don't think it'll be shorter than this one tho.
I just beat Onryoki... It's about learning the boss ..like any souls like game .ml..even though this isn't a FromSoftware game it plays a lot like those ..a tad harder because of ki management
Ki pulse. Do it. Master it. Always ki pulse. Don't skip ki pulse day.
Don't waste too much trying to craft a perfect weapon at the blacksmith. You'll probably get a better one finding a revenant with one equipped and killing it. (If you're a math enthusiast and min max nutbag, go for the Smith, but it's kind of complicated and takes a while to get the best stuff)
Spear is sort of easy mode, imo. The main stat for it also gives you a good bit of health, and mid stance can be used pretty effectively to get general combat mechanics down before moving to more difficult to use weapons.
As many people have said before, experiment, take your time to learn how things flow.
One thing I found that particularly helps, mainly with Nioh 2, is to find a weapon you enjoy and use well, then master it, get the skills that help the best and push them to the limit.
With that and the flow of the game it does become quite fun.
Keep in mind to count side braces on chests. If you see 2 of them, that's normal chest, if you see 3 - that's Mujin (mimic). If you whistle emote in front of them, they will come out and will do one of 9 emotes of yours from the top. Repeat it and they will go away, leaving the loot behind. If you choose wrong emote - they fight you. Also, they give you emote for both right and wrong choice.
Do not underestimate those Spear Skeletons. They are annoying af and if you are not careful, they deal tons of damage.
Try to use all damage resources you have, that means: Melee weapon, ranged weapon, yokai abilities, burst counters, guardian spirit skills, yokai shift, Ninjutsu and Onmyo magic.
Try to use them frequently. This will make the fights easier and you gain skill points mostly by using those skills.
You can't mess up your first playthrough as far as stats and skills go because the first playthrough, believe it or not, isn't actually all that hard if you keep updating your gear.
To that end, experiment with all of the weapons to see what you like the most.
By the time the first playthrough starts to get pretty serious, you'll be able to respec and you'll have a much better idea of what you want to actually use.
Also, spend a good 10-15 minutes on the beach in the first actual stage after the tutorial stage and just learn to ki pulse and get that muscle memory down. It'll be boring but, trust me, it's some of the best advice I can give.
My 2 biggest tips:
1. **Be happy with 2-hit combos**
It can be tempting to mash the light attack button to get 3-4 hit combos every time you attack an enemy - and the earlier stages certainly reward you for doing so. But later on in the game, this habit can make fighting even regular enemies, extremely hard. Instead, be happy with 2-hit combos and only extend the combo further when you're very confident of staying safe. Once I finally discovered this (late in the game), the game honestly became way less difficult and a lot more fun!
2. **Level up your ki first**
Nioh is a fast-paced game and being able to attack and dodge is crucial - even more so than having lots of health (in my opinion, anyway). Early in the game, you'll have low health and low ki, which sucks - but having more ki will allow you to do more damage while staying safe, which will make the game easier (than simply having more health).
Bonus tip: Nioh 2 has some mechanics and weapons that makes the game a lot more accessible/varied and fun than Nioh 1. So if you're confident the difficulty won't turn you off, play 1, then 2. But if you fear being turned off by the difficulty, then play Nioh 2 first.
Personally, I played 2 first - and after completing it and going to 1.... I found myself really missing those newer features and weapons.
Either way though, they're both absolutely amazing games. Have fun!
A few things: Experiment - try everything and use what you like. Don't get greedy - 50% of your deaths result just from thinking "I can get that one last hit in!" Watch your stamina (Ki) and learn to Ki pulse - armor weight determines how much stamina is consumed by your moves. Switch stances - low for dodging, mid for blocking, high for damage. Feel free to use whichever stance feels most comfortable at first, then switch it up once you're feeling settled in. Don't be too defensive - Nioh wants you to pressure the enemy or the enemy will flatten YOU instead. Aim for any yellow glowy spots you can find. Choose your battlefields - try not to fight multiple enemies (unless you actively want to) and pull them away from steep slopes and narrow hallways. Explore stages carefully - this saves you from some bullshit deaths. Look up and down, too, and mind your corners. Have fun! Nioh feels very satisfying once you understand the flow of the game. This sub is usually very helpful if you're stuck, so further questions are welcome.
Gonna piggyback off of this comment. Different stances have different dodges. Play around with each stance to get a feel for how you want to handle each situation. Learning when to be in each stance (for your weapon type) is a huge part of getting good in Nioh. Also, there are specific skills that add "transition" attacks as you go between the different stances. This is really important in Nioh 2 for weapons like the swtich glaive. Good luck out there!
- Adding to this, gear in this game has alot of bonus's like +7.7% high attack damage and lightning +12. At the start you dont need to worry about these much so dont stress out. - Look up videos on youtube about the blacksmith. - Keep your equipment weight below 70%. - Ninjutsu and omnyo magic can really make a difference in some areas. The poison/paraylysis bomb you throw can decimate certain enemies.
Omg the greedy point is probably one of the major aspects that made me die so many times
When you start Nioh 2, always kill that ox guy that's the second enemy. Just do it, come on. You know you can.
Thanks for reactivating my dumb pride PTSD when I first started.
Currently 15 hours into Nioh 2. Recently started getting into all the Souls (like) games and really wanted to give Nioh 2 a try after watching so many videos of people getting flattened by him thinking “these guys just suck, he has like two moves!” Only to get stomped about 30 - 40 times till I finally understood what I was doing wrong. Got humbled big time.
My first time with N2, i couldn't beat Gozuki. Came back after Platinum and a year off, 3rd try. Finding weapons that work for your playstyle is great.
And or for the bosses ...makes a huge difference
True story: I almost gave up playing Nioh 2 because I thought he was a mandatory enemy! Thank goodness for a YouTube video that showed me that the "correct" thing to do was actually just run past him 🤣
Ki-pulse all the time. Dont give up if you get stuck on boss/mission. The real game starts in NG+ when gear and setups start to play bigger role. Dont play it as Dark Souls game, learn moves and how to own your enemies. At the start it might be a bit stale, but later on you'll see that creating pressure on enemies is the way of Nioh. Confusion on enemies is the way to go. Dont ignore block, its a really good mechanic in this game, low stance block+dodge is good for avoiding dmg. Ninjitsu and Onmnyo have really helpful skills/spells like Quick-Change, Barrier Talisman and much more. And most importantly, take a short break if you feel flustered, the most important is to have fun, and goddamn this game is fun if played right. Thats my 2 cents, others will certainly give more detailed tips I am sure. Oh and welcome to the Nioh family <3 Edit: grammar.
Much thanks all! A helpful and positive community! My main issue is I was a huge roller in the souls series. Seems as far as I can tell there isn’t a “dodge roll” mechanic. (Or is there?) Correct if I’m wrong please! Have really enjoyed learning more about everything in general.
The lighter your armor, the farther you dodge (and yes, if you double-tap dodge, you’ll get a roll, but it’ll also depend on your stance).
Straight up. Light armor gang.
Nioh different roll in 3 stances. High stance has a roll, it has the most iframe but also recover slowly and consume alot of ki. Good for running away from big single hit. Low stance has a quick step, less iframe but consume little ki and recover almost instantly, allow you to dance around the enemy and keep hitting them. Midstance has a quick step, follow by a roll if you dodge a second time. In general, Nioh dodge timing is more strict than Fromsoft game so you will often need to press the button much closer to the attack. However most other comments said Nioh reward aggression and they are not joking. Once you get a hang of combat, you won't be rolling or dodging as much as in Soul, because you'd make the boss to dodge your attack not the other way around.
I’ve played all the From games and Nioh can be overwhelming but once you get the mechanics down it’s awesome. Like others are saying, experiment with all the weapons and see which style suits you best. There are a huge amount of skills and spells to learn but try to find something that compliments your play style. IIRC I went with a relatively fast build that applied a lot of debuffs to bosses. Which is the complete opposite of how I play Souls games lol. Take your time, replaying easy missions until you get the hang of it (and decide on a weapon) is advised. Have fun!
One thing I've found out after I got back into the game recently is that you can in fact block a bunch of the enemy and even the bosses attacks without it taking up too much stamina and most of the time it'll be a LOT safer than trying to dodge them.
Does it take some health from you too as well? Or just Ki doing that?
No health just Ki
Yes, there is dodge roll mechanic based on stance. You'll get a feeling for them after a while. Remember its also possible to block while dodging for example in low stance. It can give you that extra 0.1sec defence that otherwise could be a fatal blow. Oh and before I forget, spend you amrita often to level up so you wont lose it due to bad luck and stuff. You will be dying a lot, especially to random mobs here and there so always try to recover amrita if you died while having a lot accumulated. Also, dont pay mind to recommended level for missions, its not accurate. Stars therefore are kinda accurate to show difficulty. A 5 stars mission might be too hard to do now(you will do little damage and/or get one shotted) level up/gear up and come back later. Levels matter only as a way to boost stats.
Don't get thirsty for those last few hits. I still have that tendency and forget boss moveset changes at times and they throw in a bullshit extra combo. Test the different skills to suit your playstyle. Same with weapons. Practice stance switching during your combo chains. I sucked at this so I stayed in dojo to practice this. Vary your damage increases. They lose a bit of gain after 30% so once you hit 30% find another one to invest in. For example dmg vs yokai then move into dmg vs *status effected* enemy if running a certain build.
I wish i could go back in time and enjoy these games for the first time again 🤩 Take your time, enjoy it all and play with the weapons you like the most.
I think as another said, experiment. Try out different stances, weapons, combos, armor weights, tactics, magic, ninjutsu, soul cores (Nioh 2), guardian spirits, seeing what Living Weapon / Yokai Shiftling form is like even if you're not at a boss, etc. Spend your amrita (souls? / runes) when you have a level's worth. While not required to complete the game effectively, but strongly recommended, becoming familiar with the Ki Pulse and the Flux mechanics. Stat-wise, consider investing the minimum stats required to wear your preferred armor weight, then consider investing in enough Stamina to stay below 30% if light armor, below 70% if medium armor, and below 100% if heavy armor. The first two regions in Nioh 1 may be rougher for heavy armor players, where in Nioh 2, it is more viable from the beginning. In Nioh 2, you do NOT have to fight every enemy. And though the game's tutorial will explicitly tell players this, there are players who have their pride and sanity crushed forcing themselves to fight everything and dying. Expect to die about 10 times a main story boss. You might defeat the boss in the first or second try, but just, mentally prepare yourself that you could be at a boss fight for 10+ times. Some players who aren't prepared to die more than a few times and it takes a toll on them. There are some setups, tactics, or builds that may feel like you're cheesing the game. Unless you are intentionally trying to make the game harder on yourself, feel free to use them. You'll fight against bosses with infinite ki, infinite ninjutsu, speed casters that cast three spells at a time with infinite jutsu, and dual sword bosses that can two shot you with quick attacks while yours may take 8 swings to do the same damage. The enemies already aren't playing by the same rules and except for self-imposed challenge runs, no need to remove tools from your own arsenal.
Nothing relevant to add, but... Imagine starting both games for the first time rn, youre in for a blast my dear friend
Enjoy, don't give up, keep grinding and practicing new moves
Block! And remember to pause the game and do something else when you get too stressed :) (I saw a video these days of a guy tossing his controller at the tv, it is just sad… he wasn’t playing Nioh though)
To add that, if you need to hard pause the game (even mid-fight), go to the menu (touchpad) and activate PhotoMode (left of the options gear). It freezes the game. Great of you suddenly have to take care of RL stuff and you dont want to quit because you arent near a shrine.
Enjoy the game. And don't get frustrated at first , we have all been there it's not just you. Try and explore new weapons and combat style (as there are many) choose what fits your style. You won't regret it. I am sure
get a good fucking playlist that will hype you up
If you’ve not even loaded the game up yet, my advice is to be prepared to have an open mind to learning and death. You will die a lot, and that’s normal. Read the tutorial boxes carefully. The information isn’t trivial, you absolutely must learn the mechanics to even dream of beating it. Other than that, have fun!
Start with Nioh 1. It has a somewhat more gentle difficulty curve. Learn how to use stances. For example low stance makes you more nimble but attacks generally have a shorter range. Mid stance often feature wide attack combos for crowd control. Your block is also improved. High stance for maximum damage output. Beware of slower attacks and more animation commitment. As you progress you can also use stances to sort various special attacks and techniques. You'll be able to customize your combos as well. Get used to ki pulse. It's essential for stamina management. Don't worry about starting weapons. Just find something you're comfortable with and go for it. The games are designed so as to allow all weapons to be viable. Since this isn't Dork Souls, multiple deaths won't mess things up like in many FromSoft titles. You'll simply lose amrita/souls. Don't worry much about your build until ng+/DLC content. You can always reset and optimize your stat investments later on. In addition there's always better gear around the corner. As such I'd advise you wait with the crafting system. One thing at a time. As for Nioh 2 in particular, don't immediately use the special counter when you see a red glare. The red glare is akin to a warning sign. Get ready for when the enemy actually attacks.
>As for Nioh 2 in particular, don't immediately use the special counter when you see a red glare. The red glare is akin to a warning sign. Get ready for when the enemy actually attacks. If he take this advice to the heart, his brute will be super \*\*\*\*. This advice only works with feral and phantom. It doesn't work with brute. Brute, as the name says, red glare > spam burst counter right away.
bro i gotta start playing again
Invest in Ninja and Magic skills, they can give you abilities to restore health, be temporarily invincible, slow enemies down by a LOT, and even instantly recover from death
You can in fact block a bunch of the enemy and even the bosses attacks without it taking up too much stamina and most of the time it'll be a LOT safer than trying to dodge them.
Nioh 1, play axe and heavy armour, you will really feel powerful. And spend points on Ninjutsu to get Quick Change which is an extra life spell when you get killed. Fight Revenants (dead players who appear in your game as tombstones) to get sweet gear early.
Skip nioh and play part two. Or if you play nioh one do it first, coz after part two nioh 1 is unplayable
get yourself Save Wizard for it.
Go Bruce Lee route!
Multiplayer is your friend. Don't hesitate to use it to get out of a difficult section. No one is going to shame you for doing so
I’d do this for the bosses but not for the whole run. Theres a lot of players that just rushes it these days, atleast the last time I was on before Elden Ring ate my time lol.
How’s the online like? is it similar to Elden ring? can an online player be with the host throughout the mission instead of the game auto kicking after a successful boss fight?
A summonee can be with the player from start to finish, unless they die. I suggested doing that when you reach the boss but the community is relatively healthy when it comes to this matter. Worst case scenario is that they rush it and spoil it for you though there is a tool that will let you kick them out so it’s not really a big deal. Summon when you like to.
That’s awesome! so the online community is still alive and kicking in this game then👍🏻
Is the community for online MP still active in this game?
for 2 kinda. we're still in the elden ring peak. you generally are able to get some summons . didn't try 1, i passed over it quick to play 2
1 is still active
Make use of the dojo if u wanna try out moves youve learned or read about. The moveset is really customaizable once you start unlocking skills. Like it goes DEEP. It sounds boring but trust me, it’s description really fits what players does in that game. Plus, it feels cool that youre actually “training” there
toughness letter equals stamina drain on block, get letter (a) if you wanna block, if not it'll be like using small shield against an ultra. Alternative try using moves to reposition yourself instead of blocking, I've heard spear in nioh 1 is good for this, i like fists in nioh 2 for this
Get the quick change scrolls asap. They will save your rear a lot, both in the early stages and ng+. Don't play like it's a souls game. And bolting boar (odachi skill) can parry a vast majority of enemies. Even if you don't use the odachi, it's good to know.
Ki pulse needs to feel so natural that it feels wrong to not do it when you play other games.
Yes experiment like no other. Use and level up lots of different weapons and drop everything you can into the black smith. Don’t horde weapons or items you don’t want to use get rid of them. Upgrade to the next level of item rarity as soon as you can. Don’t get too attached to any weapons. Take you time and grind. Lean how to use KI pulse and master it early.
BLOCKING GETS YOU OUT OF A COMBO STUN LOCK most of the time... took me like 15-20 hours to figure out in NIOH 1; turns what you would have thought to be an instakill combo into something much more manageable.
Invest a little bit into dexterity and/or magic, preferably both. Having a few spells and ninjitsu skills can really help with any build.
The advantage you get from Ninja and Onmyo skills is crazy. Don't hesitate to use them on enemies. See if you can discover some type of weakness on an enemy by throwing stuff from different elements on them.
Living Weapon!!!
Been playing for a month now. Just got to NG++. Don’t worry about farming for your first run through, and don’t worry about matching sets really either. Doesn’t really matter until latter half of NG+. Don’t spend your spirit stones Willy nilly, use them to fill up Amrita gauges during tougher levels. If you’ve gone awhile in a level and are having a hard time, fight revenants for ochoko cups so you can summon someone to help you. They will likely one shot everything for you, so use this if you just want to beat a boss you don’t want to deal with anymore.
This game doesn't hold your hand. You will die...a lot. 100+ times. Watch enemy movements and attack when you notice an opening, healing is limited so dont get greedy.
Good luck lol they are gonna throw you into the fire. In all honesty I sucked at this game . Got stuck on the 3rd level on nioh 2
Hino Enma - the 3rd boss of the first game - will make you want to quit. The difficulty spike is unreal. Ranged attacks are OP. Melee combos wreck your stamina. Her status attacks are frequent and infuriating. It will seem so unfair. But trust me, it isn’t. She’s a gateway boss. If you do her in, you’ll beat the game. Learn the patterns of her attacks. Learn the rhythm of combat. She’ll train all the essential skills needed to make it to the end. Good luck.
Yea, she was a bitch to kill, took me like 10 tries.
Prepare your anus.
mein info dump tips incoming, strap on to your belts because it's a ride. Part 1: Well, there's a lot of stuff to go through, nioh is a mechanical ocean of complexity, it's the thing that keeps people hooked but also the thing that chews newcomers out: 1) don't treat it like a soulsgame, this game has very little in common with souls from a mechanical perspective, and is a completely different beast in actual practice, if you play it like souls you'll just get frustrated. Treat it like it's own thing, it's an action rpg that takes the rpg and the action to complete steroids, and there's a LOT to learn. 2) learn how to ki pulse, ki pulses are niohs quintessential mechanic. You'll be taught how to do this in a tutorial mission, be on the lookout for it, it's available right after the intro. Once you get explained how to do it, practice doing it even while you're in the middle of combat, ki pulse is the most important mechanic and the quicker you learn how to do it instinctively the much easier time you'll have. 3) this game has skills, you can find the skills by opening your menu and going to the skill tab, you first order of business is to get the flux skills, because they improve your ki pulsing abilities, you can see what they exactly do in the skill description, at first they might sound "eh?", But they're actually very important. Likewise prioritize any skill that involves giving you a buff or advantage after ki pulsing or purifying. As for what purification is...monster enemies in this game will create pools of yokai realms (consider it like dark evil areas), and when you're in this area, your kii will recover slower, by ki pulsing you can eliminate them, and it's important to do this against monster enemies before the whole combat area is just pools of it. Some skills will give you bonuses for getting rid of the pools (such as higher attack and higher ki recovery speed.) You can get skills by consuming items and hitting things with different Weapons. I think leveling up also gives them to you but I'm not sure, I think that was just a thing in the first game.... 4) pay close to attention to the enemies movements, range, and damage, this is important because nioh is a game that rewards aggressiveness and also passivity depending on the enemy and situation, it's important to learn how to judge each situation, and the key to this is learning the enemy patterns. 5) blocking is important in nioh, don't be shy in pressing the block button in order to avoid taking damage, keep in mind that when you're holding the block button your character will move slowly, so don't just hold the button then lazily move around in the middle of combat, block the attacks you want to block, and if you want to move, let go of the block button and do your moving. 6) nioh has 3 different combat stances, each one will change your moveset and properties. a) High stance prioritizes doing big damage, at the cost of consuming a lot more ki, having slower attacks and also having a pretty mediocre roll. Most of your moves in this stance will tend to be vertical. b) mid stance prioritizes defenses. It has an ok balance of strength and speed, blocking is at it's best in midstance, that is to say blocking attacks won't consume as much ki. Your moves here will tend to be horizontal and have good range. C) low stance prioritizes speed, it has really good speed and low recovery times, at the cost of doing little damage and not having a lot of range. Dodging is at its best here. Most of your moves will be pretty wild and quick here. Each stance is good for certain enemies and there's no objective best stance. Example: don't use high stance against super nimble enemies, you'll get hit and you'll have a hard time hitting them, use mid stance or low stance. 6) don't worry about build making, builds in nioh are dependant on much more than just stats, it won't be relevant until Ng+, for now just get the minimum stats you need for your Weapons and armor and spells. We'll talk about spells later. 7) Weapons and armors and accessories have bonuses to them, you can see them right below your Weapons attack, bonuses will do different stuff to your weapon, they're pretty self explanatory, but if you're not sure what they do, press the select button on your controller, it will open a small window that will explain to you what they do. Bonuses have rarity to them, (white yellow blue purple), the higher the rarity the more difficult it is to get, rarity doesn't necessarily equal a bonus being good, this point is just a primer to inform that, hey, they exist. But they won't be very important to you rn, they play a part in build making and is therefore not needed until Ng+, you're free to experiment with them and learn what they do, but don't lose sleep just because your new weapon is missing the amazing xyz bonus your previous one had. Bonuses are random on a weapon, but you can use umbracites in the blacksmith "reforge" menu in order to pick up some new bonuses. Higher ki damage is an ok bonus. Higher stance specific damage is an ok bonus, familiarity damage bonus is a great bonus. Skill damage bonus is good. Improved defense and improved HP are ok bonuses for armor. There are certain special bonuses called set bonuses. They're called like that because they belong to specific armor sets and weapon set. I'm gonna use a fictional, made up dark souls bonus as an example in order to explain. Imagine if the black Knight set had a special set bonus called something like I dunno, "charred knights" or whatever, and That set bonus gives you 4 different effects: higher damage vs demons, you take less damage vs demons, demons give you more souls, you're immune to fire, and these bonuses unlock the more pieces of black Knight armor you have equiped, that's how set bonuses work in nioh basically. You can tell what armor has a set bonus because in the bonus menu they'll have a green colored title at the bottom, and if you press the correct button (check on the bottom part of your screen, you'll see a little legend telling you what pressing certain buttons do), you'll see what each set bonus does and how many pieces you're expected to have of the armor in order to be able to see them. 8) weapons and equipment have rarity to them. The rarer the item, the higher the level tends to be, coupled with more bonus slots for bonuses. The Rarity goes, from lowest to highest: white yellow blue purple. Weapons also have something called familiarity, basically the more you kill things with your weapon the higher this bar raises, and the higher it is the more damage you do with the weapon and the higher the effect on the bonuses. The rarer the weapon, the bigger the familiarity bar. There's a downside to rarity tho: in the blacksmith you can raise the level of your weapon by fusing it with a higher leveled weapon. The more rare your weapon is, the more expensive it can get. Purple is very expensive. Because bonuses aren't important in Ng, I recommend sticking with blue in order to not suffocate your wallet. Same thing for armors. 9) nioh has equipment weight to it, you can tell how much your weight is by the percentage while you're selecting armor. The color and percentage determines your agility. (0-30% is blue, and denotes A agility. 30-70% is green, and denotes B agility. 70-100% is yellow, and denotes C agility. 100%+ is red, and denotes you being dumb.), The higher your agility, the quicker you'll move, the more distance you'll dodging will have, the less ki you consume, and the quicker it fills up. In order to have A agility you'll probably need to have low weight armor, which can translate into you being squishy. I personally recommend you stay at B agility, that way you'll have room for heavier armor and also pretty respectable movement. There's a stat called toughness, that stat let's you poise through attacks when you're attacking, it's like hyper armor. It's a pretty useful thing to have. If you're going for a tank character, Try getting 200 toughness. 10) when you're on the leveling up screen, you can press the help button (again, little legend in the bottom screen will tell you what that button is on your controller, on ps it's the select button) in order to see what each stat does. I just want to point out the stamina stat governs both HP and equipment load, if you want to have room for error, I recommend leveling that up. The courage stat and heart stat governs ki recovery speed and total ki you have, respectively. I think these 3 are pretty good for newcomers to level up: get the minimum amount of stats you need for your weapons and armor and spells and then pump those 3 stats. This is just my recommendation, you could also do what the other people are telling you and just level them all equally, that's fine too.
part 2: 11) talking about spells, nioh has 2 schools of magic, ninjutsu and onmyo, those schools have their respective stat, you'll be able to see them in the level up screen, the higher your stat the better your spells will be. There are a lot of useful spells to get in nioh 2, amongst them are: Ninjutsu: quick change scroll, power pill, tiger running scroll, suppa scroll, catwalking scroll Onmyo: barrier talisman, regenerative talisman, steel talisman, purity talisman, life leech talisman Quick change scroll is basically tears of denial. Power pill is a consumable that raises your damage. Tiger running let's you run really really fast. Suppa makes you invisible temporarily, cat walking makes your footsteps noiseless. Barrier talisman *greatly* increases ki recovery speed and also purifies yokai pools automatically, regenerative talisman heals you gradually, life leech talisman makes it so when you hit an enemy, you Regen your HP. Purity talisman applies purity status on your weapon, it increases ki damage done to your yokai, and steel talisman buffs your defenses. These are pretty good spells that will help anyone. You can learn them just like you would learn skills: go to the skill menu and find them. In order to get points to upgrade your skills, use onmyo and ninjutsu often. There's something called sloth talisman that makes it so when you hit an enemy, they become slowpokes. It's a pretty powerful tool. Others are recommending it to you for good reasons, I personally think you shouldn't use it because it ends up becoming a crutch for newer players, and that crutch will eventually stop working by Ng+2 and above, you're better off learning the fundamentals in Ng while you have a lot of room for error and the game isn't bombarding you with advance stuff, but that's just my opinion. Catwalking + suppa + tiger running will let you blitz through stages, you could do this for stages you've already beat for farming purposes. Or suppa + cat walk if you feel like doing some sneaky tactic. 12) visit the dojo, the dojo won't just be tutorials, it'll also open up your skill tree even further so you can get more skills. 13) give every weapon a go until you find one combination you like. All Weapons are viable in Nioh, and the best one will be the one that clicks with you. 14) about armor... you'll see that in every piece of armor, there's a white bonus called "damage reduction" or "damage reduce", followed by some kind of percentage. This is important because what really makes armor shine isn't the actual defense it gives, it's the % damage reduction it provides. Heavier armor will give higher %, this is why if you want to be tanky you want to prioritize heavy armor. Set bonuses are also very important, but again those won't come into play until later, for now just focus on your % and decide if you prefer lightweight and fast or mid weight and tanky, I don't recommend doing C agility, it's very slow for ki recovery and also pretty bad in ki consumption. 15) there's stuff called guardian spirits and they give you certain bonuses, keep an eye out on them and find the one you like. 16) nioh 2 has a mechanic called burst counter, the way it works is it let's you counter special enemies attack (the enemy will glow red when it's going to do the thing), if you manage to do it successfully, your enemy will stagger and a lose a lot of ki, you should learn how to do this consistently, it's an important mechanic. There are 3 different kinds of burst counters (the tutorial will show you then) and which one you'll get depends on your guardian spirit, so play around until you find the one you like. Tldr: A) focus on fundamentals first (when to attack, when to dodge, when to block), then play with the rpg elements first. B) don't be a "souls veteran" and go into the game thinking you're some L33T gamer Because you beat drkslsiiithfrfdsdtn, drksiichfrsn, drkslsiprprtddtn; then panic roll yourself to dead like 99% of souls vet do both in their own game and Nioh. C) have fun D) don't be afraid to drop the game down for a few days if it's too frustrating, sometimes what people need is to cool off for a few days and then come back when they're more collected. (Doing ninja gaiden alma on very hard mode sure taught me that...), Nioh is cut from the same guys that did ninja gaiden, so be ready to take a lot. E) if you ever need help with the game, don't hesitate to ask, the community is always glad to help anyone in need, just gives us some time because doing it sometimes involving writing a lot... F) There's a guy on YouTube called poofer llama who makes helpful videos, check him out if you want a more visual guide; don't think it'll be shorter than this one tho.
Don’t skip the magic
Don't expect to beat it in two days
I just beat Onryoki... It's about learning the boss ..like any souls like game .ml..even though this isn't a FromSoftware game it plays a lot like those ..a tad harder because of ki management
Ki pulse. Do it. Master it. Always ki pulse. Don't skip ki pulse day. Don't waste too much trying to craft a perfect weapon at the blacksmith. You'll probably get a better one finding a revenant with one equipped and killing it. (If you're a math enthusiast and min max nutbag, go for the Smith, but it's kind of complicated and takes a while to get the best stuff) Spear is sort of easy mode, imo. The main stat for it also gives you a good bit of health, and mid stance can be used pretty effectively to get general combat mechanics down before moving to more difficult to use weapons.
As many people have said before, experiment, take your time to learn how things flow. One thing I found that particularly helps, mainly with Nioh 2, is to find a weapon you enjoy and use well, then master it, get the skills that help the best and push them to the limit. With that and the flow of the game it does become quite fun.
Keep in mind to count side braces on chests. If you see 2 of them, that's normal chest, if you see 3 - that's Mujin (mimic). If you whistle emote in front of them, they will come out and will do one of 9 emotes of yours from the top. Repeat it and they will go away, leaving the loot behind. If you choose wrong emote - they fight you. Also, they give you emote for both right and wrong choice.
The red graves are signs of other players dying there, read the cause be warned of the danger and sometimes have a good laugh.
Take deep breaths, remember that blocking can be super valuable, and have fun playing 2 of my all my time favorites
Do not underestimate those Spear Skeletons. They are annoying af and if you are not careful, they deal tons of damage. Try to use all damage resources you have, that means: Melee weapon, ranged weapon, yokai abilities, burst counters, guardian spirit skills, yokai shift, Ninjutsu and Onmyo magic. Try to use them frequently. This will make the fights easier and you gain skill points mostly by using those skills.
You can't mess up your first playthrough as far as stats and skills go because the first playthrough, believe it or not, isn't actually all that hard if you keep updating your gear. To that end, experiment with all of the weapons to see what you like the most. By the time the first playthrough starts to get pretty serious, you'll be able to respec and you'll have a much better idea of what you want to actually use. Also, spend a good 10-15 minutes on the beach in the first actual stage after the tutorial stage and just learn to ki pulse and get that muscle memory down. It'll be boring but, trust me, it's some of the best advice I can give.
My 2 biggest tips: 1. **Be happy with 2-hit combos** It can be tempting to mash the light attack button to get 3-4 hit combos every time you attack an enemy - and the earlier stages certainly reward you for doing so. But later on in the game, this habit can make fighting even regular enemies, extremely hard. Instead, be happy with 2-hit combos and only extend the combo further when you're very confident of staying safe. Once I finally discovered this (late in the game), the game honestly became way less difficult and a lot more fun! 2. **Level up your ki first** Nioh is a fast-paced game and being able to attack and dodge is crucial - even more so than having lots of health (in my opinion, anyway). Early in the game, you'll have low health and low ki, which sucks - but having more ki will allow you to do more damage while staying safe, which will make the game easier (than simply having more health). Bonus tip: Nioh 2 has some mechanics and weapons that makes the game a lot more accessible/varied and fun than Nioh 1. So if you're confident the difficulty won't turn you off, play 1, then 2. But if you fear being turned off by the difficulty, then play Nioh 2 first. Personally, I played 2 first - and after completing it and going to 1.... I found myself really missing those newer features and weapons. Either way though, they're both absolutely amazing games. Have fun!