Nioh Guide For Beginners: How to Not Die and Make Progress

Nioh is a tough game. You’ll have likely heard the Dark Souls comparisons, but not only is Team Ninja’s new (and very good) action RPG similar in look and feel to From Software’s hugely popular series, but it also shares its high level of difficulty, too. As such, you’re going to need all the help you can get from the moment you lock swords with an enemy.

The following guide will help you find your feet in the game, and make good use of some of Nioh‘s more obtuse systems that, if not utilized properly, can halt your progress significantly. Here’s our Nioh guide for beginners:

Go low

Nioh immediately gives you three fighting stances to make use of, with high stance granting you more power at the expense of your Ki (the game’s variation on stamina), mid stance granting you a more balanced fighting style and low stance helping you focus upon blocking, dodging and quick attacks. While you may figure that it’s best to start with mid stance, in reality you’ll be able to grow accustomed to the basics of Nioh faster if you opt for low stance.

Also: Nioh vs Dark Souls: Which Game is More Difficult?

While your attacks won’t do a lot of damage, focusing upon one specific stance will allow you to get to grips with Ki Pulse (we’ll get to that in a second), and by doing so you’ll be able to ensure that you get to pull off a lot of combo moves to make up the difference. Low stance will also enable you to perform more dramatic dodges, which is essential given that blocking in the game wastes an awful lot of Ki and, in most circumstances, is best off avoided unless you’re attempting to parry. Start out with low stance, and then when you feel comfortable with the basics you can move up to mid or high.

Keep note of your enemies’ Ki

While you’re obviously going to want to pay attention to your own Ki to ensure that you have enough energy to dodge/attack, being mindful of your enemies’ Ki meters can also be incredibly useful.

When enemies run out of Ki (indicated by the flashing red bar beneath their health), it leaves them open to a killing blow. You can pull this off by getting close to them and hitting them with a heavy attack (triangle), which will cause devastating amounts of damage. Your enemies’ Ki is reduced by attacking, blocking and dodging, so you can reduce it by goading them into lunging for you, or mounting an offense that they’ll be forced to avoid. When they’re exhausted, a red reticule will appear over their body letting you know that you can hit them with a massive attack.

Understanding the elements

Nioh is quite vague when it comes to outlining exactly what its elemental abilities do, though as you progress through the game they’ll be crucial to your success. Similar to Diablo, players in Nioh can imbue their weapons with an elemental effect by way of equipping them with a special amulet, with them having a detrimental impact upon your enemies in a variety of ways. Here are the status effects caused by each element:

Fire Element: Deals damage to an enemy over time.

Water Element: Increases the amount of damage you can cause to an enemy over time.

Lightning Element: Slows down both the attack and movement speed of an enemy.

Wind Element: Reduces an enemy’s ability to break, block and parry.

Earth Element: Doubles the amount of Ki an enemy uses.

Poison Element: Deals damage over time, but is more powerful than fire.

Paralysis Element: Makes the enemy freeze in place.

Master the Ki Pulse

If you skipped past the training dojo, then you could have easily missed the prompt informing you how to pull off a Ki Pulse. This technique is one of the most important things to master in the entire game, as it can help you swiftly regain your Ki in the middle of a battle.

Ki Pulse is a lot like Gears of War‘s active reload, with players required to press the stance button (R1) when the blue orbs close in around protagonist William’s body. The timing takes a little getting used to, and if you’re a little out of sync you can still regain a small amount of Ki, though not enough to help you continue pummeling away at enemies for an inordinate amount of time. If you get it just right you can regain almost as much Ki as you used up in your attack, essentially transforming you into a one-man death machine. Spend some time getting in right in Nioh‘s early stages, and you’ll be a certifiable beast when you reach its tougher opponents.

Don’t be afraid to change equipment and use items

Nioh features an extortionate amount of loot drops, with it providing players with a myriad of different equipment, weapons and items to equip themselves with throughout the game. While the game rewards players for sticking with a particular weapon with “familiarity,” which hands out extra amounts of Amrita — Nioh‘s in-game currency — you’ll pick up that much stuff during the game that you’re going to want to experiment in order to find the right tools for the job.

Items are also dished out in abundance, so much so that you can often overlook a Spirit Stone or Elixir making its way into your inventory. Be mindful of what you’re grabbing when you wander around Nioh‘s labyrinthine levels, and don’t be afraid to make use of what the game gives you.

Soul matching

Soul matching is a little confusing, but it can prove to be hugely beneficial if you invest some time into it. Soul matching effectively allows you to combine a high-end piece of equipment with a low-end piece of equipment, with them helping to increase the stats of that equipment without leveling it out of your reach.

This means that if you’re carrying a sword with abilities you like, you can combine it with a sword that has a higher level in order to improve its stats, without upgrading its level to the point where you can no longer use it properly. While you’ll want to keep some of your high-level gear in your inventory for when you reach that point, a lot of the time it’s worth just combining it with soul matching and improving the tools you already have at your disposal.