Nioh 2

[Tse Tse Fly]

Turns out I can do pretty damn well without ninjutsu... First 3 bosses defeated on first try. Next challenge: stop relying on target lock-on so much.

 

[Multidirectional]

Damn that projectile deflecting move on Switchglaive is satisfying to use. Especially on these cannon fucks.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

What do you think I should develop next? My initial idea was magic user with Switchglaive and heavy armour, but it seems like raising Stamina or Magic won't give any significant benefit anymore.

Also in the description to Strength it says "The Core Stat required to active the special effects of heavy armour". Does it mean simply allowing to wear heavy armour at all, or something else?

 

[Multidirectional]

It literally means special effects on heavy armor. You will see those greyed out if you don't meet stat requirements for armor piece. Also raise whatever stat you want, damage scaling is shit anyway and it won't change much. Objectively best stats to level first in my opinion are Stamina to equip heavier armor for more Toughness and both Dexterity and Magic to at least 30 to hit the softcaps on Jutsu capacities. No matter what weapon you are going for. I like to have about 400 Toughness and at least 500 Ninjutsu and Omnyo power by the time I hit final difficulty.

 

[Multidirectional]

Ok one thing I don't like about Switchglaive is lack of fun skills on LB+Y for middle and low stances in skill tree. So I decided fuck it, I will try to farm one of those hidden skills. Went to the side mission where a guy is supposed to drop "Windswept" skill and ended up killing him about 20 times. Finally I see a drop of art of combat and feel relieved.. only then I see it's actually some shitty dual swords skill. This actually makes me want to switch to different weapon now, I am not the farming type. Already feel like utter moron for killing him that many times.

 

[Silverfish]

It's why I respect the axebros so much. Don't need to farm when the skills suck dick.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Yeah do not try farming for the skills. I did that for a while, and the guy I had to farm for the skill I wanted was a total cunt. Never got it, and I only really did it because I needed to farm some random drops anyways.

Besides; you can never tell how good a skill will be just by looking at it. They have all sorts of hidden properties, like the delay before you can block, the delay before your ki starts recharging, how well they apply elemental attacks vs non elemental vs dealing ki damage... shit is insanely complicated. The best approach is really just try everything and stick to something that clicks. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Multidirectional]

I would never have even tried farming it if LB+Y skills for middle and low stance weren't so fucking boring. Especially the only one available for middle stance. I do not like parry based weapon skills. It's why I still haven't tried the katana, looked at the skill tree and it just seemed like almost everything there is about parrying. I do not want to play this shit like Sekiro when destroying enemy Ki with combos is so satisfying.

 

[Silverfish]

I do not like parry based weapon skills.

You're missing out, man. It's good stuff. Odachi and bare-handed stand out in particular. Odachi parries end in a knockdown, so you can get some pretty nasty wakeup combos. Bare-handed doesn't have much utility, but impaling enemies with their own weapons is immensely satisfying.

 

[Multidirectional]

I am not waiting for enemies to attack me, I play hyper aggressively in this game.

 

[Silverfish]

Fair enough. I love the mid range and enjoy some back and forth in the fights.

 

[Multidirectional]

Well I'll have to eventually try practicing the sword anyway, running out of weapons to learn. I think it's only sword, dual swords and tonfa left. Though I had such a bad time with dual swords in Nioh 1 before switching to Odachi that I'm still not tempted to play them.

 

[Damned Registrations]

If breaking enemy ki is your jam, Tonfa should be right up your alley. Lots of flowing combos and moves that offer gap closers, constant damage or big individual hits to open with. I can't recall the names, but my favourite was a move you could chain after a ki pulse, I recall it being very efficient and relatively safe.

 

[Multidirectional]

Yeah I've read that about Tonfa, it's going to be my next weapon. Will probably get destroyed while trying to learn new weapon on Dream of the Nioh. I'm already getting knocked about quite a bit with Switchglaive in Dream of the Wise.

 

[Silverfish]

Will probably get destroyed while trying to learn new weapon on Dream of the Nioh.

Can't get wrecked if the enemies have no ki.

 

[Multidirectional]

Are Tonfas even better about destroying Ki than Fists? Because those things seemed hilariously overpowered when I used them for Dream of the Strong. I'm planning to revisit them once in Underworld, to see if they're still op there.

 

[Silverfish]

No idea. I never liked the idea of the fists and don't use them.

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

Why would anyone want to have both LB + X (X while guardng) and LB + Y (Y while guardng) skill? I mean both do damage and you perform them while guarding/deflecting. Maybe there are some LB + X/Y skills that have some additional utility effect (like pushing the enemy back etc) that you'd want to use depending on the situation.

Btw I finally found a weapon skill that I like - Cyclone (Switchglave High/Mid stance). Too bad it works best on human enemies (Cyclone II does not activate on yokai - "Nooooo you can't just throw yokai into air or drag their ugly mug through mud and rubble with you switchglave, they're too otherworldly for that!!!1"), who are already as puny as they could be.

 

[Seethe]

Am I wrong or Fists are overpowered, and Dual Swords and Hatchets suck ass?

Also what weapon do you recommend if I got bored with Kusarigama?

Also is there a way to level up weapon skills faster? Like, currently I have only lvl 21 in Kusarigama but lvl 46 in Ninja, despite that I started using Ninja skills much later into the game (and I got to Ninja lvl 21 much faster than to Kusarigama lvl 21).

Dual Swords are great for applying status effects and dodging non combo attacks in low stance, it's basically trivializes all of those attacks. Hatchets are according to many, the worst weapons in the game.

Well I'll have to eventually try practicing the sword anyway, running out of weapons to learn. I think it's only sword, dual swords and tonfa left. Though I had such a bad time with dual swords in Nioh 1 before switching to Odachi that I'm still not tempted to play them.

I've never used the sword once for like my first 200 hours. When I tried it I found it clunky and jank...yet after learning all of its moves and combining them it became my favorite weapon in the game. Kurama sword dance is OP

 

[Ezekiel]

I'm sick of these games. Why did I buy this? (Well, rhetorical. The setting.) Thanks a lot, FromSoftware, assholes. Whole action genre reduced to your level. Of course someone's gonna tell me this game does it better, but why care? Same crappy type of lock-on camera looking down at the ground the closer you get, same bloated HP for them and almost no HP for you (making you seek windows for estus flask equivalent), same attacks changing direction mid-swing. Stupid bitch can't even jump, even though the right face button is free most of the time. Also, screw the run button; tired of it being in every analog game now, tired of games needing to balance against this fast run. Action games were just fine when there was no more than the regular run. At least in Devil May Cry, you couldn't just use the fast run at will; had to wait, so couldn't be abused in proximity to hostiles even if there were no fog doors keeping you. Also, same distracting, weird Dark Souls online features that are complicated to opt out of, same lack of pause even when alone.

 

[Ezekiel]

Different stances, but none of them just let you thrust spear repeatedly, staying at a distance. What did I even choose a spear for then? Dumb.

 

[Silverfish]

same bloated HP for them and almost no HP for you

Enemy HP seems bloated at the start, but becomes manageable quickly. Ninjutsu builds have feathers, mages can easily inflict the confusion status that nets bonus damage, most weapons have some kind of skill that whittles down enemy ki, setting up grapples. Failing all that, just equip an odachi and pump strength & stamina, surprisingly few enemies can stand up to it.

same lack of pause even when alone.

Bring up the menu, then hit start.

Different stances, but none of them just let you thrust spear repeatedly, staying at a distance.

Mid-stance heavy attack. Does good ki damage too.

 

[Multidirectional]

Spear was probably the most complicated of all weapons I learned so far, so enjoy your first playthrough with it.

Ninjutsu builds have feathers, mages can easily inflict the confusion status that nets bonus damage

You don't need to have offensive onmyo spells to inflict confusion status often. My favorite use for onmyo is talismans like Barrier, Extraction, Carnage. Between Ninjutsu feathers, elemental effects from Yokai abilities, corrupted weapon and elemental amulets I forge from materials gotten by dismantling equipment and apply when my weapon isn't "awoken", absolute majority of enemies end up getting confused.

 

[Silverfish]

You don't need to have offensive onmyo spells to inflict confusion status often.

I didn't say that you did, only that it's easy for mages.

 

[Multidirectional]

And I'm saying that it's easy for any character. Unless the player is some soulstard who thinks that you must avoid using all these tools or your not "playing properly".