Beware Chests - and Be Ready to Emote
You’ll discover lots of chests as you’re adventuring. Real, treasure bearing chests will have two horizontal gold bars on the side. Mimic “Tanuki” chests will have three. If you open them, you’ll be attacked. Instead, use the whistle emote as you stand near it. A spirit disguised as a man will appear and use another emote at you. If you successfully mimic him you’ll earn a reward. If you fail or aren’t fast enough, he’ll attack.
Watch Your Stamina!
Okay, I know this is actually called “Ki” in the game, but let’s call a spade a spade, shall we? Anyhow, Stamina - or Ki - is an incredibly important resource. You use it to attack, dodge, and block attacks. If you run out, you’re unable to move and are open to attack. The lesson here: Don’t run out.
Watch THEIR Stamina!
In an interesting twist, enemies in Nioh can also run out of stamina. Keep their stamina bar turned on in your graphics options so you can easily tell when they’re low. If they’re about to run out, go in for a quick attack to exhaust them and make them truly vulnerable.
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Master the Ki Pulse
As you now know, Stamina is incredibly important. Gain some of it back by changing stances in time with the flash of light that appears after you attack. This can be incredibly tricky but is worth mastering, especially in boss fights when your natural refresh is limited.
Each Stance Has a Different Purpose; Know When to Use Them
There are three combat stances to use in the game: High, Medium, and Low. High stance is the slowest but also deals the most damage. Low is the fastest and most fluid but also deals the least damage. Medium is - you guessed it - the sweet spot between the two. Try each and be ready to switch on the fly to adapt to changing situations.
Enemies Take Extra Damage From Behind
There aren’t any extra animations for getting a backstab, but your attacks do score extra damage when you attack from behind. Scoot around back to take enemies down a little bit faster.
Invest in Sneak Attack
That said, toward the bottom of the Ninja Skill tree is a useful skill that will allow you to backstab, as long as you sneak up behind enemies to do it.
Dig Into the Ninjutsu and Onmyo Skill Trees
Apart from weapon skill trees, Ninjutsu and Onmyo allow you to spec into ninja/stealth skills and magic respectively. Both of these trees offer a range of powerful renewable buffs. Onmyo hides a nice rejuvenation talisman midway through that will save precious elixirs.
Up for a Challenge? Try a Twilight Mission
Every day you can try a new set of Twilight Missions. These missions are especially difficult but will allow you to choose from the buffs of any Kodama you’ve collected throughout the game and offer exceptional rewards. You should be a high level before you try these, as there are only 3 available for players under level 50.
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There is No Animation Cancelling - You’ll See Your Choices Through
In video games, animation cancelling is the act of stopping one animation midway through to begin another. In action games, this gives you an immediate response that can make action feel the most reactive. It also lends itself to the button mashing mayhem of games like God of War. Like Dark Souls before it, when you press a button in Nioh, you commit to it. Animations won’t cancel until they’ve played through, so if you make a mistake or misjudge a situation, you’re stuck. Take time to consider the safest path to vanquish your foe.
Try to Shut Down Yokai Realms Quickly
When you’re fighting Yokai, they can open up Yokai Realms which severely impact your stamina regeneration. These can pile up quickly. Take them out while you still have stamina to use.
After Beating the Level, Go Back to Explore
When you beat a level, go back and explore before “completing” it. Most enemies will have disappeared and you’ll be able find hidden treasures you might not have been able to get to. If you die, the level auto-completes with penalizing you.
Bonus: you can also replay missions whenever you like after you’ve beaten them.
That’s all for today! Let us know your tips and tricks in the comments below!
