Nioh can be one tough game. Influenced by the likes of Dark Souls and Ninja Gaiden Nioh it can be very challenging for those unfamiliar with the brutal difficulty of those games. Here at PSU we have devised some Nioh tips and tricks that will hopefully help you on your journey.
Nioh boss guide and strategies
Stick to your weapon of choice: Nioh allows you to use up to five different hand-to-hand weapons and quite honestly all of the weapons are good, but because of Nioh’s leveling system it’s important to distribute your ability points to the type of character you want to be. Putting points into dexterity, for example, is pointless when you plan to be a heavy armor-wearing tank who fights with an axe. Find something you like and stick to it. If you find out later you don’t like character you built, there is an item that will allow you to redistribute your ability points.
Collect Kodama’s: Throughout Nioh you are able to find little green creatures wearing hats. There are a total of one hundred and fifty in the game but only up to eight appear in the story missions to find. Finding these can go a long way to making your life easier as they give you bonuses. When accessing any of the shrines in Nioh you can see how many you have collected and receive a blessing from them. The more of the same Kodama you have the better the blessing will be. These blessing’s can be anywhere from increase in weapon drops from enemies to receiving twenty percent more Amrita (used for leveling up) from defeated foes.
Master the three stances: Nioh utilizes a unique three stance combat system. Each stance comes with its own positives and negatives but each one can mean life and death in combat. Enemies uses a three stance combat system but it’s not always easy to determine what one they are using. Depending on the type of character you are using can determine what stance you should focus on using more. If you are going for a more agile build you should probably focus on using the low stance more often as it’s the least draining on your KI (stamina) and will allow you to dodge a lot more. Figuring out how to utilize these three stances on the fly is part of the thrill of combat in Nioh. Learning which stance is best utilized against which enemy is what will keep you alive in Nioh.
Use KI Burst as often as you can: KI Burst is a unique function in Nioh that allows you to regain large chunks of KI after every attack. As you attack you’ll see small blue orbs surround William if you time it just right and hit the R1 button you will achieve KI Burst and regain most of the KI you used for you attack. The KI Burst is also important to purify the ground the the Yokai seemingly corrupt. While fighting Yokai and most bosses you’ll notice after some attacks the ground will have a black and white smoke emitting from it. These areas will when stepped on will slow down your KI recovery and increase your enemies KI recovery so it’s important to purify these whenever they appear especially in boss battles.
Don’t forget your Prestige Points: Nioh has its own reward system built into it that acts similar to trophies. Completing specific feats such as killing a specific Yokai fifty times will award you with a Prestige Point. These points can be used to increase stats that are unaffected by leveling up. These range from increasing your damage to Yokai enemies or increasing the amount of Armita dropped from defeated foes. It’s easy to forget about these as you don’t get much of an indication you have completed a feat outside of some text that pops up in the bottom right corner most of which you will miss because it will pop up during combat.
Try new Guardian Spirits: As you defeat bosses and complete side quests you will be awarded with new Guardian Spirits. These spirits will allow you to go into a berserk like state and make you invulnerable to damage and increase your attack considerably. Each Guardian Spirit has its own different benefits and I encourage everyone to try out different ones as often as possible.
Soul Matching is your friend: Nioh utilizes a loot system similar to that of Diablo and other dungeon crawlers. Soul Matching allows you to take a weapon or armor to increase its properties by sacrificing another weapon or armor. You may find weapons that are low level but have great special attributes attached to them. Instead of throwing it out for something with a higher damage stat and almost no special attributes you can Soul Match it to your older weaker weapon and increase its level and damage output to that of the stronger weapon you picked up but still be able to keep your special attributes. Soul Matching is a great feature but it does get pricey so make sure you have enough gold on hand.
We hope these early Nioh tips and tricks will help you out as you start your journey through the wonderful world of Nioh. For a more indepth look, check out the Nioh review.