Nioh Slash-All!

Hey Mario? Are you referring to the two burly knights standing guard by the doors leading to the pre-boss area of Tower of London? You're in the rain and taking a left at the base of the wide steps?... y'know, THAT area...

On my new game I still got wrecked by them. They are a surly pair, those knights. I believe on ALL playthroughs I have simply avoided them. You do NOT need to engage!

It's that kind of enemy, yes, and that's the spot, but I have avoided the pair you mentioned by going through another passage on their right. However, after defeating a couple of "regular" guards, there is yet another burly knight with an axe right before a flight of stairs. That's the guy that keeps wrecking me!

Ah cool, cool. Mr. Burly in the dining room is unavoidable IIRC. There's a world of difference between fighting 1 and 2 heavy hitting enemies, much of it due to finding the right time to strike. Hitting one enemy but losing the active frames of your attack while the second enemy is still attacking into you is pretty bad. Or sometimes your attacks just clash or get armored through, which usually results in you taking damage and getting staggered.

Big enemies that take big swings expend a bunch of their own Ki, so take advantage of that!

I will monitor his Ki closely! Also, I will adjust the brightness because I swear I can't see anything in that courtyard! Thanks for the advice!

Mario_Alba wrote:

I will monitor his Ki closely! Also, I will adjust the brightness because I swear I can't see anything in that courtyard! Thanks for the advice!

Good luck and give him hell!

So I think I've shaken off enough rust during my restart save. I'm still going to continue with it casually but wanted to return to my main save and reroll my stats and skills.

Did it the first time to move from Dual Swords to Tonfa. Now after using the longer & pokier Odachi, I'd like to reroll myself into a Spear user! Aaaand I'd like to wear heavy armour. So I'd love to get some pointers from those of you who have run a spear and/or tanky build with some degree of success.

BODY is the main damage scaling attribute for Spear. And STAMINA (up to a certain point) will allow me to wear a full set of heavy gear without being encumbered. Do I need to consider any other stats to allocate points to? Does Spear end up being Ki-intensive or can I skimp on the HEART?

Thanks!

Don’t worry too much about making wrong choices early on. After you gain access to the overworld map (after the second mission) you can purchase an item from the blacksmith that refunds all your experience and skill points so you can respec.

I haven't respected yet but I have a total lack of strategy when speccing. I just pick the stat I fancy boosting at the time and end up with the numbers spread across the board. I feel like I'm doing well against enemies and bosses so far anyway.

Mario_Alba wrote:

It's that kind of enemy, yes, and that's the spot, but I have avoided the pair you mentioned by going through another passage on their right. However, after defeating a couple of "regular" guards, there is yet another burly knight with an axe right before a flight of stairs. That's the guy that keeps wrecking me!

For the dining room knight, I enjoyed coming up behind him while he is patrolling and smacking him in the back of the head with the axe, then running back down the stairs. He follows, and you can use the pillars to your advantage to hide behind, and then hit him after he uses up a lot of stamina with a big swing.

Don't get frustrated though. This is definitely the area to play, experiment, and get really comfortable with the controls. Try a run where you try to go toe-to-toe using blocking. Or a run where you dodge constantly. Try a fast weapon and a slow weapon. One with long reach. One close-in. Happily, the reset is really fast when you die there, as you're back in the fight in literally seconds. Once you've defeated him...reset, and defeat him again. And again. Until you're really comfortable.

Incidentally, he's not a mandatory fight. You can always just sneak left and go up the stairs to the top of the tower and jump off. But if you're struggling with the knight, you'll struggle with what's ahead. Best to face the challenge head-on and work on your skills!

Once you're able to get past the various skill-checks of the Tower, the game starts to open up a lot more with far more varied enemies.

I did my respec to heavy armour and spear last night and I'm reasonably happy with how I set things up. I had to use a Himorogi Fragment to back out of the DLC mission I was in (eh, wasn't enjoying it much anyway). Then I equipped all the best heavy gear I had in my inventory (very glad I am such a hoarder) to get a read on how much weight that added.

Off to the shrine for leveling up... I knew I wanted a bit more than the baseline for my ninjutsu, onmyo and spirit guardian, so immediately threw a handful of points across all 3 relevant stats (putting a bit extra into Spirit). Then I went 1-2 points above the bare minimum for Stamina, a bit more than needed to wear all of my new gear without being encumbered. Did the same point allocation into Strength to unlock all of my gear perks. I also suspected I'd need more Ki being so bulked up, so raised my Heart stat by about 20 points. Then the rest of my points got dumped into Body.

@Mario_Alba: I didn't mean to capture any gameplay video last night but ended up clipping the end of my run through an early side mission in New Game+. This means there's some unnecessary faffing about (standing still, breaking crates) but I wanted to show how the game very quickly opens up after the Tower of London. You'll be able to access stances and Ki Pulse and unlock (with skill points) a host of neat moves for your weapons of choice. I hope my gameplay makes a decent case for you to consider the Spear as your main. I really feels it rewards a methodical (and safe) playstyle. So if you're into that, check it out!

Remember: kiting is king!

Thank you for the tips, the advice, and the video, Coldstream and Maclintock! I will report back soon!

Okay, I'm back. I had a chance to play for about an hour after work, and I made GREAT progress. Long story short, I managed to get to the boss on top of the tower and, amazingly, I beat him on my second attempt. Then it was time to choose my two weapons, so I went with the spear and... the kusarigama! I don't know if that's supposed to be a good weapon in general or for beginners in particular, but it just looked like so much fun I had to go with it. I went through the tutorial, which I half-remembered from the demo, and then I started what I'm guessing is the first mission or the road that will take me to the first mission, where I had a chance to use the spear (I'm very happy with it) and the kusarigama... which is AWESOME! Its awesomeness didn't prevent me from dying a couple of times, but both times I took out a bunch of enemies (okay, maybe just "several") and had a great time, so it looks like I will continue playing. So far, so good!

Excellent news!

I've arrived at a new boss

Spoiler:

Joro-Gumo the spider woman. Almost beat her first time so high hopes on that one.

Love to read these impressions from first time players. They are making it very difficult for me not to re-install. I never did try out the tonfas, and I’ve still got quite a bit of the DLC and NG+ left to do...must....resist....

Glycerine wrote:

Love to read these impressions from first time players. They are making it very difficult for me not to re-install. I never did try out the tonfas, and I’ve still got quite a bit of the DLC and NG+ left to do...must....resist....

Why resist? If you enjoy it, play it!

Glycerine wrote:

Love to read these impressions from first time players. They are making it very difficult for me not to re-install. I never did try out the tonfas, and I’ve still got quite a bit of the DLC and NG+ left to do...must....resist....

Yo I’ve got a stack of newer or unfinished games thicker than my head (hint: that’s saying a lot cuz my head big) but Nioh outshines them all right now. Tackling NG+ and twilight missions with a fresh new build has been great. And I see it as an investment to get myself limber for Nioh 2 next March.

@Mario: Woo that’s awesome news! Sounds like you going through those early stages of ah-ha moments and learning the mechanics of the game. The kusarigama is fun to use even though I abandoned it halfway through my first play through for the vanilla katana.

Joro-Gumo down. Boy that was a stressful end. I was down to a sliver of health and so was she. I was desperately trying to get a last hit in without giving her the chance to hit me with her grabs and lunges. My heart rate still hasn't quite recovered. Very pleased I kept my nerve.

Maclintok wrote:

@Mario: Woo that’s awesome news! Sounds like you going through those early stages of ah-ha moments and learning the mechanics of the game. The kusarigama is fun to use even though I abandoned it halfway through my first play through for the vanilla katana.

Thanks! I am looking forward to using the kusarigama for a while. I'll keep you guys updated!

Everyone's favourite early game boss is back!

It took me 3 attempts this time. First time got one-shot after being rooted to the spot by the paralyzing blast. Second time I prepared the paralysis resistance potion but forgot to equip it (oops). Third time was the charm but nearly screwed it up when I got caught by the kiss of death (just like I did the first time out!).

Maclintok wrote:

Everyone's favourite early game boss is back!

She is quite literally the reason that I hesitated for so long on restarting the game. I knew that I'd have to face her fairly quickly, and I remember needing help to get past her the first time. Now I'm in a remote location that precludes anyone from joining my game, so I have no choice but to face her solo. My blood-pressure is climbing just thinking about it.

Ok I've run into Yuki-onna.

Very tough fight. I get so far and she just hits me with one ranged attack and I'm dead. I've geared up with Water resistant charms armour and spells and have lots of ways to hit her with fire but I can't stay alive long enough to use them.

I think I need to have some runs where I'm just concentrating on surviving and watching her patterns. I also need a break.

That’s a really tough fight! I found there’s no real secret to beating her. I ended up weathering her projectiles until she came forward. That’s when I found my openings. Here’s me doing it two years ago:

Coldstream wrote:
Maclintok wrote:

Everyone's favourite early game boss is back!

She is quite literally the reason that I hesitated for so long on restarting the game. I knew that I'd have to face her fairly quickly, and I remember needing help to get past her the first time. Now I'm in a remote location that precludes anyone from joining my game, so I have no choice but to face her solo. My blood-pressure is climbing just thinking about it.

Aw all she wants to do is dance, so you just have to indulge her. Think of the fight as getting her staggered at about 1/3 of her life and then you fire off the Living Weapon to finish her off. You got this!

Brilliant. That's a good way to look at it. Thanks Maclintok.

Well I couldn’t resist, game is now installed once again. Really getting back into the groove, though I’m still not used to the controls yet. Sometimes I hit the wrong button at the wrong time, and I still can’t remember how to kick off the living weapon. I switched to kusari-gama and tonfas which required a complete re-spec. So far I’m really enjoying how they complement each other. I’ve managed to work my way through the first three bosses with relatively little frustration and cursing.

I just completed Wreathed in Flames, the side mission in Kyushu that first introduces you to the flaming wheelmonks. I think I've decided it's not so much the boss fights in Nioh that stress me out, it's certain missions and scenarios. This mission is a good example of that as you have countless of those yokai thralls throwing bombs at you from the rooftops, the slightest missteps resulting in burned feet or a fall through the ceiling and those infernal fiddler yokai tucked away into little nooks and constantly summoning revenants.

The previous side mission had me returning to the Hino-Enma bat caves to deal with a 5-wave assault yokai, giant skeleton warriors, flaming demons and revenants. These encounters are the real ball-busters for me.

@Glycerine: Welcome back!

p.s. -- I've been trying to unlock and use more of the weapon skills. I'm nearly done opening up all of the Spear skills and I have to say the much lauded Chidori has been a real flop for me. It's tricky because it relies on hit confirm to get yourself the juggle. IF the enemy has blocked or crumples before you go into the juggle animation, you WILL be locked into the ridiculous animation while you either get counter hit or lose the chance to deliver a final blow.

Maclintok wrote:

Interesting to watch your video. I've been trying to dodge those long volleys of missiles she throws out in the second half and you just can't a combo of dodge and block seems the way to go.

Edit: She's down. With no small thanks to buffed fire spells, water defence and a pair of swords that I found that buffed my fire damage considerably. Thanks again for your help Maclintok.

Congrats, Higgledy! There's nothing like besting a difficult boss in this game after a struggle.

When I get around to reuniting with Yuki-Onna I'd like to utilize my Skills more and see if there's something that'll help sap her Ki or hasten the damage a bit.

Nue the Lightning Dog is down again. That critter still gives me a hard time but I finally know the safe openings now.

The shrine right before this fight is pretty decent for revenant farming.

I completed everything in the starter region last night, save for one optional mission that I remember being a real pain to get through the first time around. I even went back and grabbed all the Kodama, which is honestly something I never thought I would do. The tonfa have become my primary weapon now, to the point that I completely forgot to use my kusari in certain situations that it really shines, like taking on multiple opponents at once. I just entered the second region and started “The Ocean Roars Again”, it will be interesting to see if I can keep the momentum going.

Maclintok wrote:

Congrats, Higgledy! There's nothing like besting a difficult boss in this game after a struggle.

When I get around to reuniting with Yuki-Onna I'd like to utilize my Skills more and see if there's something that'll help sap her Ki or hasten the damage a bit.

This is how I did it. Not pretty but it worked.

The Onmyo I had was Water stop 2, Fire shot 2, Fire talisman, Guardian spirit talisman (that lets you fling your guardian spirit at an enemy three times) Sloth, Devigorate. I would have applied some buffs before I went in but I forgot in my haste to get on with the fight.

Ranged attacks knock her Ki down really well. I was out of hand canon ammo or I'd have used it. Once she's out of Ki she's vulnerable but only for a short while. After that, in my experience, she'll just take you down very fast if not instantly.

Coldstream wrote:
Maclintok wrote:

Everyone's favourite early game boss is back!

She is quite literally the reason that I hesitated for so long on restarting the game.

This is my situation with this game but with Nue instead of Hino-Enma. I didn't struggle at all with Hino-Enma (I think I beat her on my second attempt?) but got stuck for hours on Nue. Some six months later, and I've been eager to return to this game, but I'm in a tough spot: I don't feel like I can pick up where I left off because my skills have atrophied, but I also don't feel like restarting and facing that boss again. My solution at this point has honestly been to kill time until March and just plan to buy Nioh 2.