Where to find your first Hand Cannon.
Hand Cannons are a powerful ranged weapon type in Nioh 3, but you’ll need to find one in particular before any others start appearing in the loot pool.
Anybody who has played the previous games in the series has good reason to be excited for these. Unlike your typical video game heavy pistol that shares the moniker, the Hand Cannons in Nioh 3 are more true to the name and akin to holding a portable cannon. Even though they’re the slowest ranged weapon, they make up for it with incredible damage.
This piece will explain how to unlock the Hand Cannon in Nioh 3, so you can take on Yokai with some real firepower.
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How to unlock Hand Cannons in Nioh 3
Unlocking the Hand Cannon weapon type is a bit tricky, as it’s locked away in a hidden room inside a side quest area.
After you’ve beaten Jakotsu-Baba inside the Crucible and received free access to the Eternal Rift hub area, where you can also change your appearance, Ii Naotora will mention that she’s heading northwest to the Ryotan Temple. This will make the Fated Land side quest available.
As a quick aside, those who played through the lengthy demo would have already unlocked this quest, although the full game is needed to access the area and properly start it.
Keep traveling north through the Iinoya region until you find Ii Naotora waiting for you outside of the Ryotan Temple. She’ll join you in defeating the Yokai ahead, kicking off The Apparition of Ryotan Temple mission.
Run up the stone stairs and take down the patrolling Jailer Oni and Gaki that’s hiding behind a lantern. Go through the open doors at the end of this path and then continue forward into the temple.
Naotora will mention the floor being creaky, which means you should be crouching to not alert any enemies. After walking through the first leg of this U-shaped hallway and rounding the corner, you might catch a glimpse of a Jailer Oni walking the other side.
Dispatch them and then head into the room they were patrolling in front of. Inside is a searchable corpse lying flat on the ground, and directly in front of it is a wall scroll with a single tear running down.
Destroy this wall scroll to reveal a hidden room with a big red chest in the corner. Open it to get some early 30’s leveled gear, the Unarmored Death Secret Skills Text, and the basic Hand Cannon!
Not only can you switch and start using your new weapon now, but they’ll start appearing through enemy drops too. Their slow speed isn’t great against a group of swarming foes, but they can still stagger big monsters and easily pick off anything human-sized or smaller.
If you’re interested in more helpful Nioh 3 tips, keep an eye on our Yokai Teardrops and updating Scampuss Locations guides. Our guide on How to Emote is also worth a look, as this mission has a couple of Yokai you can befriend with the right gesture.
