Nioh (the series)

As good as Water Sword is, it's risky on an active opponent, as it sort of locks you into the animation and also takes a bit after it's finished to let you defend yourself again.

Best to break its Ki normally (preferably applying an element, ideally Lightning, in the process) then mincing it up when it's prone, ideally with Water Sword having a different element Arcana on it for Confusion.

That's another thing I don't quite 'get' about this game.

When I started, I figured that breaking an enemy's Ki would be akin to breaking an enemy's Posture in Sekiro, leaving them open to a Final Blow (Nioh's equivalent of a Deathblow).

However, unless I'm doing something very wrong (always a possibility!), that doesn't seem to be the case - I break Gyuki's Ki and press my advantage, but he/she/it doesn't give a shit. I don't do any extra damage; I can't do a Final Blow most of the time; and the damn thing can still attack me when even when its Ki bar is blinking red!

In addition, in a change from Nioh 1, you may have noticed two different indicators in a Yokai's Ki bar. The purple bar is a Yokai's current Ki, once that's empty they can be staggered. The red vertical indicator notes their maximum Ki: you reduce it by attacking, the same way as their current Ki, but it goes down more slowly. Once that is down, that's your chance for a deathblow. In most small Yokai, these two bars get lowered almost simultaneously, and that's why you can deathblow them easily... But anything bigger, especially bosses, and while getting to the staggered state is relatively easy, getting them to the deathblow state requires a lot more work.

In particular, remember some Yokai that immediately opened up for a deathblow when you, say, broke their horns? In 2, that only puts them in the staggered state. You have to keep going to get a deathblow, and by then they're probably dead anyway.

In the Yatsu-no-Kami incident that I mentioned, what probably happened is that I managed to get both its current and maximum Ki to zero without noticing. A lot of bosses will get to the staggered state just fine (and most of the time that's enough) but seeing a deathblow on them is usually rare.

JuniorFE

Many thanks for the clarification.

What you've said matches my experiences almost perfectly - so perhaps I haven't missed something obvious after all! - and in combat encounters with both humans and 'regular' Yokai, I think the system works very well indeed for the most part.

Fun aside: by the time I'd settled into my build near the end of the game, my video of the final boss would probably make you chortle if I could figure out how to upload it. I managed to put enough pressure on the guy that he must have shifted to Dark Realm and vice versa something like four or five times with almost no other actions in between

(I did use a summon, but that's because I didn't expect to beat him first go and just wanted to get a feel for the fight. I still did the majority of the work though, the summon's biggest contribution was buying me a bit of time at the start to set my buffs/debuffs with less pressure)

For Soul Cores:

Ippon-Datara is a fast attack with lots of Ki damage, and when performed in the Dark Realm also creates a fire AoE to Scorch enemies (useful both to activate/extend Confusion and for certain passive abilities that activate on Scorched enemies, one of which Ippon-Datara actually has).

Enenra synergizes very well with Ippon-Datara, as it both helps with Scorching enemies and has a Scorched passive itself. One drawback is that I think it locks you into the animation until you either stop moving or run out of Anima, so it can be a bit unwieldy at first.

Yatsu-no-Kami is a strong attack that comes out quickly, with decent tracking and poison, and if performed when Gyuki is close to a wall, it can bounce off the wall and hit/break its hind legs. Unfortunately it doesn't have any specific synergies with Scorched, but it's useful enough on its own to be worth considering.

Ippon-Datara combined with either of the other two should be good if you can get both set at once. Even better if the Soul Cores match your Guardian Spirit's type for some more damage (Brute/red, Feral/blue or Phantom/purple), but that's very optional.

As for equipment, try to make sure you're using the highest level equipment you have whenever possible (aside from a possible chest piece with Life on Amrita if you're using Extraction). If they have other "on Amrita Absorption" effects to supplement the life gain, or effects that synergize with elemental damage/debuffs, even better.

And of course, make sure you've got your buffs and debuffs in order. In theory, you can even skip the Arcana of Water on Water Sword to save Ki, if you can reliably use your Soul Cores for Scorch status instead (+Confusion along with the lightning imbue you're already using), but it's probably better to have it. The more element debuffs on an enemy, the better, after all.

If all else fails and you have the space, having a Shrapnel Bomb of some sort (either through Ninjutsu or consumables) set in your item wheels as a last resort isn't a bad idea. Gyuki is a massive target, so a lot of the shrapnel should hit it, and that's pretty major damage.

That's awesome, JuniorFE. Thanks so much.

Man, there's so much about this game that I overlooked completely in favour of playing it like Nioh 1 - a mistake, I feel!

Well, I did it. Not on my first try, and not within the first 15 minutes of starting up the game - hell, my successful attempt probably took 10 minutes in and of itself! - but I got there, and without too much trouble when all was said and done.

Thanks for all the tips.

Fortunately for me (and everyone who's sick of my whining in this thread!), the next boss was a much more enjoyable affair.

All I can think of when I see that boss is that Faye Wong cover of the Cranberries and 'holy shit... piiiiiisssss' because the video title is the same as her name.

...I mean, yesterday went well, didn't it? 😅

JuniorFE

Sort of - I mean, I did throw a minor hissy fit at Sexy Cat Chariot Lady when she randomly summoned two Yokai adds, and I was so surprised that I let the bloody things stun-lock and kill me

Devil's advocate as usual, but to be fair Sekiro and Nioh are very different games in general. Lumping them both under the Soulslike mantle (not saying it's being done here, just in general), while technically correct, is a mistake IMO.

Sekiro has more or less one way to play it, relying much more on patience and reaction with some variation with the prosthetic tools, and it's more or less git gud with it or git out.

Meanwhile Nioh, even in NG where you don't have to worry nearly as much about optimizing and fine-tuning your equipment, places a lot more importance in practicing your individual playstyle and setup before you even set foot in the boss room at all, and many of its systems incentivize aggressive gameplay and faster fights, with not as much worrying about the opponent's movements. And if you fail with one strategy, well... Have you tried a different stance? Maybe this weapon skill you overlooked helps? How about this different Guardian Spirit, or spell you might have missed? Hell, learn a different weapon on the spot, nine times out of ten you've got plenty of skill points to get some moves with it!

Or, to put it another way, in Sekiro you usually let your opponent set the flow of battle, but learn to control it and beat them at their own game. In Nioh, you're the one setting the flow and the point is to make the enemy drown in it. At that point, it's down to the individual player which style they like and why.

As much as I respect your views, Junior - and I really do! - I'm with Bichii on this one.

So many of the bosses in Nioh rely upon rage-inducing 'masocore' bullshit, creating an element of difficulty I find way more artificial than anything in the Soulsborne games.

On a broader level, I actually find Nioh to be every bit as restrictive as Sekiro, despite the range of builds and playstyles that seem to be available at first glance.

Sure, there are loads of weapons, skills, and tools at your disposal, and you can get through the levels using any combination that pleases you; however, if you reach a given boss and find that your chosen build/playstyle doesn't fit with how the devs intended you to beat it, necessitating a major rethink (or even a full-on respec), is the game truly as flexible as it appears?

I'd argue that Nioh gets closer to offering true freedom of choice than Nioh 2, as Team Ninja were apparently so taken with the new mechanics they added in the sequel, they effectively forced players to engage with them.

None of this fatally harms my appreciation and enjoyment of the games, mind - if any given mission is 90% exploration, looting, and combat before you reach the boss room, and 10% infuriating boss fight, I really enjoy the 90%!