u/EternalFlareUltra

For me it's definitely a 10. Nioh 3 is already one of my favourite action games ever and it's only going to get better with any and all DLC if we look at how much Nioh 1/2 were improved with DLC.

There is just so much to look forward to in the new DLC:

• New Samurai and Ninja mode weapons, Nioh hasn't had a new weapon in the franchise for several years, so I imagine longtime veterans are even more stoked
• New Martial Arts for existing weapons, passive skills and Guardian spirits (confirmed) and potential weapon balancing (unconfirmed but likely).
• New map/levels with new enemies/bosses. The boss quality has been great overall for Nioh 3 so far so there's no reason to think the trend won't continue
• NG++. Nioh actually puts a decent amount of effort into NG+ cycles including new enemy placements, slight AI tweaks, new builds/setups etc. I'm also curious how much further enemies will be buffed via Stone of Penance relative to NG+.
• Picture scrolls are back from Nioh 2 and according to the devs are "highly customizable", whatever that means. New battle scroll gauntlet missions are likely (but unconfirmed?) as well.

I've done this matchup (SOP+5 Takeda vs Switch Glaive) before but decided to try it out without using any deflect or weapon parries.

There's been a lot of discourse about deflecting being very strong in Nioh 3, but as shown here, sticking to dodging, repositioning/strafing and even weapon specific evades can be pretty effective too. In fact, this was about just as efficient as my deflect/parry-based runs. One way to make this style more efficient is to try to get backstab damage (20% boost) as much as possible.

I got great usage out of Fleeting Edge in this run effectively letting me attack and strafe around his multi-hit combos at the same time in some instances. There are all kinds of moves like this in Nioh 3 that can be used in unique and interesting ways, the game really rewards experimentation.

This is one of the most unique and challenging matchups in the game to do a no hit/parry style run on. This is because this boss has a ton of feints and illusions he does during his various combos. They don't deal any damage or pushback but can completely throw off your rhythm and visual sense.

The Soul Devourer parry - TMTM cancel follow-ups felt nice to do. However, you can be a lot fancier in this matchup then what I showcased here especially during his feints when you have time to do other quick moves, reposition behind him, etc.

But even just pulling this off was quite a challenge and took a lot of mental energy and I want to explore a few other things before the DLC comes out. I'll probably revisit this matchup at this point.

Nioh 3 added a bunch of new options for Samurai mode weapons, some obvious, many not so obvious. In this thread, I'll share some stuff I know that I think can be very useful and did not exist in Nioh 1/2.

Many of the things I will be discussing have already been mentioned on this forum at one point or another, but I figured it would be good to consolidate some of this information. In a game with combat as deep as Nioh 3, you can have 1000+ hours in the game, look at countless video/guides and still miss out on a lot of very useful tech.

More Martial Art starter transition options

• In prior games for Martial Arts that required a guard input or a held down button input, you needed to be in neutral state typically to do them. You couldn't do another attack first.
• Now in Nioh 3, you can combo into them the same way you would for Martial Arts that use quick/strong attack inputs. For instance, you can do quick attack -> Retreating Axe with Axe and it will be a smooth transition just like any quick attack starter Martial Art.
• You can also do most Martial Arts starting from a running or dodging attack directly instead of having to Ki pulse first, same as you would with a quick/strong starter attack.

Pre-shifting and Martial Arts

• In prior Nioh titles you had to both start and end in the stance that has your equipped Active Skill/Martial Art if that Martial Art was specific to that stance. So, if you wanted to do say Odachi Twin Moons which is high stance only, you needed to do High Stance quick attack -> Twin Moons for it to work.
• In Nioh 3, the combo starter can be in ANY stance, and you can pre-shift prior to the Martial Art ender, and it will still work.
• So, to use the above example with Odachi, you can start in Low Stance, do a Quick attack -> (Pre-shift to High Stance), press the Strong button and you will still get Twin Moons out as if you were in High Stance the whole time.

Extending Arts Proficiency beyond Strong Attacks/Martial Arts

• People know you can extend Arts Proficiency chaining using Strong attacks and Martial Arts if you continue to do them within 1.5 seconds or so
• What is lesser known is you can also extend the chain using deflects, they also count the same as doing Strong attacks/Martial Arts. So, you can start an Arts Proficiency combo, even deflect through an entire long combo chain, then continue attacking and Arts Proficiency will continue to be active the entire time
• You can also extend Arts Proficiency through Sheath Cancels. Do the sheathe input, then press guard. You can do this over and over and Arts Proficiency will extend indefinitely until you either stop or get hit. This is a nifty thing to try when the enemy moves far away or is in the air and not currently accessible while you wait for them to approach you.

Arts Proficiency chaining and the hidden versatility stacks

• If you chain different Martial Arts during Arts Proficiency, you continue to get a significant damage bonus. This is true for up to 6 unique skills
• This fantastically informative topic here by u/skuldnoshinpu explains how it works in great detail: Arts Proficiency Power and AP chain damage multipliers : r/Nioh
• Note the exact damage multipliers have been nerfed slightly since then, but the concept still applies

More equip-able Martial Arts than ever

• One really notable example is Fists being able to equip Limitless + Beyond Infinity as well as Takedown + Opportunist all at once
• You typically only had the option to equip one Sheathe move at a time with weapons like Switch Glaive, now you can equip all of them, one per stance

Parries are extremely strong in Nioh 3 beyond just universal deflect

• Most people think deflecting is the main strong parrying tool in Nioh 3
• But many weapons have had their existing parry skills buffed to be useable on,most bosses/yokai attacks unlike before (such as Switch Glaive with Lightning Blade and Just Reprisal)
• They've generally introduced very useful new parry skills too such as Soul Devourer for hammer which both has a ton of i-frames and also heals you or Switch Glaive's Retreating Slash which is ideal against grabs.

There are a ton of other universal and Samurai weapon specific changes and I'm certainly not knowledgeable about all of them. Please feel free to add on to what I've stated in the comments below. Let's spread the knowledge.

I might make a similar topic about Ninja mode at some point if there is interest because I also think that mode also has a ton of hidden depth people have missed.

DLC1 is confirmed to contain new Ethereal graces as well as passive skills (the ones you can equip in the Skill Management tab).

So, what are people hoping for?

For me personally, I want to see graces/skills that buff dodge-based playstyles for the Samurai style.

We don't need deflect to be buffed further as it's terrific on its own and there are already several buffs for it:

• Counteroffensive Deflect - Buffs damage
• Roaring Dragon Deflect - Increases elemental damage
• Deflection Expert - Increases deflect frame leniency
• Blade Breaking Deflect - Decreases enemy damage
• Tempestuous Deflect - Decreases Ki consumption
• Expansive Deflect - Increases distance you can travel while deflecting
• General of Ruin Set - Does Ki damage to the enemy as you deflect

But there's almost nothing similar to any of these for dodging. Dodge based playstyles are very much still viable in Nioh 3 but it's arguably harder to make use of when playing efficiently and aggressively. This is compounded by the fact that there's hardly any skills that reward dodge-based gameplay.

So, I would love to see a grace or passive for instance that buffs your damage/ki output if you go for a prolonged period of time while not getting hit/blocking/deflecting (Death Dancer would be ideal as mentioned below). This is a simple example, but they can get really unique and creative with the buffs.

Nioh 3's DLC1 is just around the corner (releasing August 19th) and it's coming with a bunch of new features:

• New open field map with new story missions, regular enemies and bosses. There will be New Guardian Spirits, skills, Martial Arts, Ninjutsu, Onmyo Magic likely unlocked with the new story missions/areas.
• NG++. For combat we can expect different enemy placements, drastically buffed enemy stats and possibly boss AI changes as well (different burst counterable moves if it's like Nioh 2). For gear, they've confirmed new graces are arriving.
• New Hoko and Shield weapon for both Samurai and Ninja mode.
• Picture Scrolls are returning. This should introduce a new method of farming and repeating bosses without needing to go through entire levels. And just more gauntlets to do for fun.

For me personally, the new weapon interests me greatly so I'll play around with it a bunch and try to get good with it (Samurai mode first, then possibly the Ninja variant as well). Hopefully we don't have to progress too far into the DLC missions to unlock it (I imagine it's a random drop from DLC enemies).

I'm also hoping the new Martial Arts being added for existing weapons will be interesting to experiment with.

For those unaware Nioh 2 also had Picture Scroll missions. These were randomly generated short side missions that consisted of a single arena where you would either do some kind of gauntlet into a boss fight or 2-3 boss fights in a row. Doing so would award you a Picture Scroll item which was equip able and gave various abilities/buffs.

Re-doing the Picture Scroll would give you the chance to re-roll certain effects on the scroll. However, you could only do each individual Picture Scroll mission a set around of times (typically 4-6 times) unless you used a special item to reset the counter.

Looks like the feature is back in Nioh 3. From steam:

"players can also use the effects of the Hundred Demon Realms Picture Scrolls to fight highly customizable battles over and over again"

Not sure what they mean by the battles themselves being highly customizable this time around. It's implying that you might get to select or influence either the enemies encountered or difficulty settings within the scrolls (beyond Stone of Penance?). That would be insane if true and would allow for endless replay-ability. But what do other people think it means? Let's discuss.

Another boss absolutely destroyed me the first few times I did it so it's nice to get revenge after a ton of practice against the SOP+9 Underworld version. I'd love to do the Depths version too but it's RNG when it appears there or not.

Some interesting things about this particular boss:

• Tsuchigumo after doing its aerial slam will almost always move back so you can do a combo that will catch this. With Fists here I opted to the Opportunist Parry into Battering Ram or Defensive Drop - Kick to keep up the pressure and even get behind him before he can do anything
• Tsuchigumo has some of the fastest melee starter attacks in the game for a Yokai. So, one strategy I opted for is instead of trying to dodge/parry on reaction the first hit of its combo starters, I pre-emptively blocked the first hit. Then went into parries/dodges for the rest of the sequences.
• You can constantly break his glowing back. There are a million consistent ways to do so and one method I showed off here was using a close range Gozuki soul core attack after his wall slam.
• While he's on the wall, you can take the chance to apply any passive buffs. In this case I opted for Stomp with Fists as that powers up your next martial art

I made this topic for Nioh 3 a while back so I'm curious about opinions on Nioh 2 as well. Before you answer consider the following:

• Assume you're fighting the bosses straight up without super overpowered builds. We all know you can cheese most bosses with the right build or tech but that's not what this topic is about.
• Ideally you answer based off the end game (Underworld/Depths level bosses). You can include bosses with SOP+9 active if you've used that a ton. But feel free to answer for the base game if you haven't done NG+ cycles yet.
• This topic is about single bosses only, not entire missions. Obviously, the hardest content in the game would be sets of 3 bosses in a row in the Depths but this topic is about a single boss fight you consider the hardest.

This boss absolutely destroyed me the first few times I did it so it's nice to get revenge after a ton of practice against the SOP+9 Underworld version.

Parrying and transitioning into various combos with Fists in Nioh 2 is so much fun. Additionally, Defensive Drop is a very interesting move and can be used to low profile various moves as I showcase at 0:25 and a few times near the end of this run.

One of the big things Nioh 3 added was the universal Samurai deflect. Many players have expressed how much they like it and how they wish it was in Nioh 2.

Well, it actually does exist and can work almost the exact same way with Fist's Opportunist skill. Just like Nioh 3's deflect, it can be used to parry most single and multi-hit moves/strings. I demonstrate this in this run against Magara Naotaka in the Underworld.

A couple of things to note:

• In Nioh 3 deflect regains you Ki every time. In Nioh 2, normally you lose Ki while doing Opportunist as the game considers it a block parry. However, if you temper the Opportunist Bonus (Ki Recovery) skill you regain a ton of Ki every time you do it. Additionally, you can use the Acala ethereal grace which further reduces block Ki consumption. So, with the right build, you can use it to actually regain Ki very quickly just like Nioh 3.
• The Acala Gace in general pairs excellently with the parry Fists playstyle because of Rock Solid. Because Opportunist is considered a block parry, you can use it to quickly gain Rock Solid stacks since you can attack very quickly during it in between the enemy's combos. It's a massive 55% attack bonus at max stacks.
• In Nioh 3, deflect nullifies all physical and elemental damage. But Opportunist only nullifies physical damage. This is why you'll notice in this run, I opted to dodge/reposition against Magara's ice attacks. You can still technically parry these kinds of moves, and you won't suffer any recoil, but you'll still take elemental damage.

After going back to Nioh 2, I'm really enjoying Fists. It's Unbroken mechanic also reminds me a lot of Arts Proficiency in Nioh 3. For those that really want to use something similar to Nioh 3's deflecting and/or Arts Proficiency in Nioh 2, I highly recommend trying out Fists.

I showcased a run like this for Switch Glaive earlier so decided to do something similar with Sword. As always, using a good combination of fast moves, TMTM cancels and Ki recovery/boosting skills means you can mostly lockdown a lot of masters in the game likely with any weapon.

My combos were far from as fluid and smooth as they could have been here but I'm glad I was able to showcase the Ki break into a cool punish (used frost moon low to reposition back to avoid getting the grapple before Sword of Meditation). All while keeping Arts Proficiency going the whole time.