Nioh (the series)

Thankies. I will download again and have a go this week

Stupid bloody horse.

JuniorFE

Heh. Sorry - that was a bit oblique!

Yes on both fronts. I'm currently on the second main mission, 'The Beast Born of Smoke and Flames'.

So, my fellow Font Geeks, what exactly should I be doing when I enter the Dark Realm?

I'm assuming the answer isn't, "Panic, then get vigorously butt-fucked by every yokai within a 100-yard radius", but if it is, I've already got it covered.

In general, being in the Dark Realm slices your Ki regeneration, but there are ways to mitigate that (Barrier Talisman, a skill in the Shiftling tree that reduces the Ki penalty by up to 30% or an Onmyo skill that increases Yokai and Dark Realm resistance).

However, it's not all bad. While in it, you get Anima faster and your Yokai Shift lasts longer as well, both of which are invaluable for bosses as a good Yokai Shift combined with liberal application of Yokai abilities is one of the better ways to cut bosses' Ki down.

And speaking of Yokai Shift, you may have noticed that when using it and attacking enemies, you literally knock the Amrita out of them and it floats all around you, especially with Yokai abilities. You can absorb that Amrita in two ways: holding down R1+R2 (charges up your Yokai Gauge) or charging a strong attack with Δ/Y (less Yokai Gauge, but lets you use a powerful attack). I do think there is an upper cap to how much you can extend your Yokai Shift by, but chaining together normal attacks (not too many, they're not very gauge-efficient), Yokai abilities, absorbing Amrita and managing enemy attacks can greatly increase your time in it as you learn how to do it.

And for a different tip, in Nioh 1 there were five elements (fire, water, lightning, wind and earth) and inflicting an enemy with any two induced Confusion. In Nioh 2 Confusion still exists, but the elements work a bit differently.

Fire, water and lightning still exist, but Wind and Earth have been replaced with Purity (the afflicted takes increased Ki damage and loses beneficial effects, most effective on yokai) and Corruption (afflicted takes increased Ki damage and you gain that Ki, most effective on humans), which are mutually exclusive (you can build up both, but actually afflicting an enemy with Purified or Corrupted will cancel the other one out). Once you start finding weapons with innate elements, it's not a bad idea to keep both a Purity and a Corruption weapon levelled up, to adapt to the foes you're fighting.

This means that you can apply Confusion with fire/water/lightning and purity or corruption, but not with purity plus corruption alone. However, because they cancel each other out, you can extend Confusion by repeatedly afflicting an enemy with one then the other over and over, since they're different elements (Confusion is extended by applying different elemental debuffs in general, but normally there's only so many elements you can hit enemies with. Not these two though!). Of course, since your opponent will resist one of the two no matter what you're fighting that's easier said than done, but the option is there...

Hopefully that's not too confusing As with everything in these games, it becomes a lot more intuitive with practice... And the Confusion thing is hardly necessary, I barely used it myself. I just know that the trick exists

I will add some of my findings:

Yokai abilities are not neccesary, the best ones early on are the monkey (enkai?) And the weasel boss with blades. In any case, do NOT sleep on fusing souls. Save up some copies and I think you need to use the highest level as base. Always go for the highest level since it adds a really high Number to defence ans attack

Tea tunsils are recieved through a side quest, do this one asap and maximize luck.

Learn how to use a axe, get really high mid/high stance break with kid reduction and melt opponents ki and multiple opponents.

I think ninja skills see a high boost in Nioh 2(destroy kii spells). I never used them but on release they were super broken.

Oh, great - it's basically Hino-Enma, except now she's 50% snake! (Still 100% douchebag.)

Ah, old friend. I see you're still in good, new-player-destroying form. I certainly hope you've destroyed the statues that create additional poison pools in the arena Ulythium

In general, you want to avoid staying too close, lest the thing grab you (which gets pretty close to a one-shot). Look for the attack that has it burrow its arms in the ground. They have decent tracking, but if you're far enough away and start running towards it with the right timing once you spot that attack, the arms will come up behind you and you'll get a couple seconds at its head for some good damage, normal and Ki both (alternatively, high stance attacks from some weapons such as the odachi can hit its head regardless, but it's risky).

It's supposedly weak to lightning, but tbh I'm not 100% sure of that, at least for damage. However, if you manage to build up lightning it causes essentially a Sloth effect, which is great pre-talisman.

When it goes into the Dark Realm, its arms detach and attack you by themselves. Honestly, I don't really have a good way to deal with that besides going into Yokai Shift and trying to force it out. The Ippon-Datara Soul Core, if you have it, is a great soul in general and can also hit its head.

And as usual, don't neglect your items. They can be invaluable for clutching a victory. My successful attempt after coming back only happened because I remembered I had firebombs set up in the second shortcut wheel (good thing I even remembered there was a second shortcut wheel ) and took its final ~20% HP out with a half-dozen to the face!

The good news is that its Soul Core is one of the better boss ones, even after its nerf, so you'll probably have a good helper once you finally get through

As for me and Nioh 1, I was before the Demon of Mount Hiei mission (White Tiger) in my old file.

Was.

Yeah, fists probably have the highest skill ceiling with all the combos you can pull off. Cancelling from skill to skill, Ki management... It's almost like a fighting game (and probably feels amazing when everything clicks )

That said, I don't think they have an overly high skill floor, at least not on the lower difficulties where you don't have to play optimally (obviously by, like, NG++ or the Underworld that doesn't cut it, but you'd need to know any weapon you main very well by that point). I got through NG with them pretty easily and I'd be the first to say I barely even scratched the surface of what they can really do. I just liked the fast elemental application and their animations. And speed-boxing things with Beyond Infinity

All that is to say, don't be afraid to give them (or any weapon) a shot Ulythium and any other new players. You never know what might click

I really like splitstaff. It's so versatile at multiple ranges and just shreds enemy Ki so you're interrupting most enemies loads, which makes up for a limited damage output. They scale off magic so if you're putting together an Onmyoji build then it's loads of fun.

I always favour light builds in RPGs - using the Rogue/Thief/Bandit archetype as a starting point, where available - and Nioh was no different.

I tried to stay in the blue equip load range for maximum maneuverability, while still wearing whatever armour offered the best defensive stats.

I hate this boss.

My best attempt saw its health bar reduced to 20%, then I got caught by its grab attack and died instantly.

I haven't got close to breaking its arms yet, so I always have to contend with the two smaller snakes in the Dark Realm phases; accordingly, those parts of the fight devolve into a bad Benny Hill skit, with me circling around the outside of the arena and waiting for it to end.

I think this approach could work, but it makes the encounter last a really long time (and the longer it lasts, the more chance I have of getting one-shot).