It’s safe to say Nioh 3 is an absolute treat for Soulslike action-RPG fans. The combat brings some great new additions while its open-world is designed to tempt you into ignoring the main story in favor of discovering new loot, enemies, and skills for your character. However, this is a game that follows the franchise’s traditions, and doesn’t hold your hand as a result.
It can get pretty daunting to try and survive the brutal landscape you’re trying to navigate, with enemy soldiers and yokai waiting to take you on nearly every step of the way. However, take heart! We’ve put in the hours and have come up with a few things that the game doesn’t really tell you to prioritize, but you should thanks to how easy they can make your time with it.
Let’s dive in!
1. Master Your Burst Counters
Every enemy in Nioh 3 has one or more Burst Attacks in their arsenal. These are telegraphed with a red glow and an audible cue to show an impending attack. You can’t block these attacks, and while you can dodge them, countering them with a well timed Burst Counter can negate the attack and do a sizable amount of Ki damage in the process.
Try to learn the timings of these attacks when you encounter an unfamiliar enemy or boss to gain the upper hand every time they try to hit you with one of these. It’s tricky, yes, but all it takes is patience and practice.
2. Learn Enemy Attack Animations
Combat in Nioh 3 is all about finesse, and patiently wearing down your opponent’s defences with caution and deadly precision. To that end, it pays to hang back and observe an enemy’s attack patterns. That’s doubly so for the game’s bosses as they hit hard and rarely offer you any respite with their onslaughts of attacks.
Knowing your foe’s attack patterns goes a long way towards giving you the scope to formulate a strategy to take them down. Early bosses in the game have a fixed set of patterns that you can learn to make them far easier to take down, exploiting every tiny opening to your advantage. They’re a stepping stone to harder encounters so take your time with them.
3. Master Ki Management
While it’s important to manage your own Ki (or stamina) in this game, it’s equally important to keep up a constant flow of attacks against your enemies to drain them of their Ki. As long as you’re patient and unrelenting in your offence, you’ll find that they get exhausted a lot faster, allowing you to deliver a blow for some massive damage.
The Ninja style is a great way to keep up the assault even if you’re forced to withdraw from enemy attacks. The Samurai style’s Parry is another great way to achieve this, as each one does a significant amount of Ki damage.
4. Don’t Sleep On The Samurai’s Stances
It can be easy to overlook that the Samurai style brings back the stances from Nioh 2, and they’re every bit as effective as they were in that one. While you begin the game with Mid stance unlocked, It’s a good idea to invest a few skill points into the Low and High stances as quickly as you can.
The High stance gives you a good way to deal a bit of extra damage with your combos while the Low stance is a great way to attempt draining enemy Ki bars. Constantly switching between them and using Ninja style when you create some distance can have you draining enemy Ki bars a lot faster than the effort would otherwise take.
5. Explore, Explore
The main missions, or Crucibles as they’re called, are gauntlets that can send you packing to the nearest respawn point faster than you’d care to admit. But explore the area in which they’re located, and you’re going to come across a lot of ways to level up your character and have an easier time of things once you’re in them.
You could happen upon an Enemy Base with a few grunts to take out for some valuable XP and guaranteed loot. Or you might happen upon a Lesser Crucible that’s going to be challenging but definitely worth it.
6. Check the Recommended Level Of An Area Before You Explore It
Nioh 3’s map is massive, there’s no denying it. But the developers have divided it up into smaller chunks, each of which comes with a recommended level which you can view on the map screen. It’s a good idea to keep track of your character’s level and try to explore areas that are either close to it or slightly above it to gain XP efficiently as you explore.
Of course, you could always level up above the recommended limit via farming and then go on an absolute power trip through the region. We tried it and it’s a lot of fun!
7. Abuse Your Ninja Style
As you explore, you’re going to come across grunt enemies hanging out on rooftops or in the air, staying just out of your reach while annoying you with projectiles. The Ninja Style is your answer to all of them as it lets you stay at range and take them down without too much hassle.
But it’s more than that. You soon gain access to elemental bombs with AoE damage that can be quite handy in taking down groups of fodder enemies like the Gaki. They’re also quite effective at building elemental status effects and exploiting any enemy weaknesses you may find. It’s also a great way to create distance in battle, its evasive capabilities getting a massive boost with a few early upgrades.
8. Complete Enemy Camps ASAP
We highly recommend completing Enemy Camps as soon as you uncover them, as they’re generally easier than Lesser Crucibles, and often house either Samurai or Ninja Locks, both of which are essential to upgrade their respective skill trees. There’s also a strong chance that you can pick up new skills that you can then equip to your character at the nearest respawn point.
With the game’s new stealth options, it’s going to be quite easy to pick off a few isolated enemies before challenging the others if you’re looking to even the odds a little. Take things slow and you’re golden.
9. Activate Auto Pickup
Like past titles in the franchise, Nioh 3 comes with a ton of loot from enemies and chests that you find out in the world. It can get quite tedious to keep having to pick them up one by one but thankfully, the game’s settings come with a nifty auto-pick up option. Turn it on before you begin your playthrough and let your inventory fill itself with useful items and gear which you can then browse at your leisure.
Just remember to keep checking your equipment and ensuring your Samurai and Ninja Styles are geared up to maximize their damage, defense, and passive utility while you’re slashing and hacking away at any yokai unfortunate enough to meet the pointy end of your blade.
10. Time your Ki Pulses
Speaking of slashing and hacking, the Ki Pulse mechanic doesn’t tell you to wait before triggering the Ki Pulse. Keep an eye on your Stamina gauge and hit the button only when your expended stamina is fully white to generate the entire chunk of it back in one fell swoop.
The timing on each weapon type can vary but it’s going to become second nature once you get the rhythm of your combos committed to muscle memory. Managing your Ki well could mean the difference between life and death in Nioh 3, and your Ki pulses are a huge part of that aspect of its combat.
11. Use The Ninja Right
The Ninja is a masterclass in chipping away at your enemies from a distance, but don’t neglect its ability to dish out some serious damage in close quarters. Its boosted evade abilities are perfect for dodging through enemy swings and exploiting the increased damage that the Ninja deals when attacking them from behind.
We found enemy health bars melting away faster than even the Samurai’s high stance could achieve and getting back into position is as easy as a well timed dodge guided in the right direction. It’s also a good idea to use all of the Ninjutsu in your arsenal before you switch over to the Samurai style for a few hits to refill them before you rinse and repeat.
12. Use Your Ranged Weapons Right
The Longbow and Matchlock Rifle are great options for dealing with foes from a distance as long as you line up your shots well. Take your distance from an enemy into account and try to approach them unseen before letting loose an arrow or bullet to their head. This can one-hit kill fodder enemies who don’t have a helmet on, and might even work on some who do have one depending on your level.
They’re also great options for taking out weak points on yokai, significantly draining their Ki before they even know you’re there. It could also open up an opportunity for a Killing Blow if things play out well.
13. Pick A Couple Of Favorite Weapons
There are a lot of skills for each weapon type in the game. And we mean a lot! You’re going to want to pick a couple of favorites and slot them in for your Samurai and Ninja and stick with them, as this lets you focus all your skill points on two weapons, gaining access to more powerful moves and techniques earlier in comparison to trying to unlock them all.
Your skill points aren’t infinite, especially in the early game, and this lets you focus on a playstyle that suits your preferences before you begin to branch out and experiment. You’re going to want to try maximizing your familiarity with the ones you do use, as this improves their damage output by a long shot. Just stay the course with the weapon you like and you’re going to find that you build familiarity with it fairly quickly.
14. Be Smart About Your Stats
While the open-world does make level farming a tad more convenient in Nioh 3, you’re still going to want to be clever about where you invest your stat points. We recommend picking weapon types that rely on either Strength or Skill, assigning them to your Samurai and Ninja slots and focusing on the stat that gives them a damage boost. Constitution, Heart, and Stamina are the other three stats you should go for while Magic and Intelligence are for those of you who prefer to use spells over blades.
That’s going to be quite the boon in difficult areas where the enemies you face hit harder and take less damage.
15. Pick Your Revenants Wisely
Bloody Graves are a great way to get your hands on some cool loot and some much-needed Ochoko Cups which you will need to summon help during tough encounters at Lesser Crucibles or boss fights. But if you pay attention to the Revenant’s levels, you’re going to be efficient at farming great gear, as fighting ones at your level or a tad higher nets better loot for you to use in the field.
Better loot means more durability and damage, both of which are almost necessary for survival in the harsh world that Nioh 3 puts you in.
And that’s a wrap on our hidden tricks to make your time in ancient Japan a tad easier. The title of Shogun is going to be easier to obtain as you make your way across your kingdom. And rest assured, we’re going to be at your side every step of the way once you begin your journey.