Nioh 3 is a complex, mechanically-dense game. Let these tips help you navigate through its many systems. Or at least, refresh your memory.
0 comments
Nioh 3 is here, and it can be an intimidating game to get into without a few helpful tips. Part of that is because it’s the third game in a now decade-old franchise which is known for being unforgiving to begin with.
Even if you were to ignore all that — which you should — there’s plenty the game either doesn’t tell you about, or it does but you may not realise how it actually works in practice.
We’ve been playing the Nioh games since the alpha of the first instalment on PS4, so we’re here to deliver several clear, straight-to-the-point gameplay tips to make your experience with this unrivaled action RPG smoother.
Now, so you can master the arts of both the Ninja and Samurai, let’s dig in for our actually useful Nioh 3 tips and tricks.
There’s a map now
One of Nioh 3’s biggest claims to fame is its open field level design, so it’s pretty easy to see why this is the first game in the series to include a proper map. The map is accessible just after you’re done with the introductory mission, and it has more features than you might initially realise.
For one, it shows the borders of each region, and their general layout. As you continue exploring, however, it becomes even more useful. This is because of a new mechanic that rewards exploration by constantly offering you gameplay bonuses, which also extends to the map itself.
The map starts covered in the fog of war, but gradually gets filled in, making it easy to see roads and major topography. It’s also smart enough to tag things you come across in the 3D world automatically as you get close, though not everything you see will be represented on the map.
This is why it’s great that you can manually add custom markers for things you find interesting as you explore, which is handy when you come across minibosses and other random things the map simply doesn’t show.
To bring up the custom marker option, hit Y/Triangle when in the map screen. You can pick from different icons and different colour groups. Choose something that best represents what you want to tag.
Lastly, the compass is also helpful in its own way because it shows the general area of investigation when you’re tackling Myths, and displays a trail of where you’ve been in the last few seconds, which greatly helps orienting you in an open world.
You can jump and double jump
Another revolutionary new mechanic in Nioh 3 is the ability to jump. We’re being a little facetious here, of course, but you wouldn’t believe the utility that having a dedicated jump button can give you, both in and out of combat.
More recent Team Ninja Souls-likes have included the ability to jump, but this is the first Nioh game to implement the feature. The studio uses it to great lengths, too. The world of Nioh 3 is far more vertical, and you’re going to be relying on the jump button regularly.
In combat, several new moves can either be initiated by jumping, or offer some sort of damage bonus when incorporating a jump into them. This is no longer just limited to dropping onto unaware enemies from above, you can jump in regular combat, and while exploring.
The Ninja style demonstrates this the best, but Samurai can do it just as well. In fact, some of the later skills you unlock for both styles practically demand you make jumping part of your normal repertoire.
Hidden style-switching mechanics
Switching between the Samurai and Ninja styles is one thing you’re going to be doing a lot of in Nioh 3. But did you know that the icon group on the bottom right hand corner, where each style’s Martial Arts/Ninjutsu is shown, also displays a few more bits of information?
Before you switch styles, you can see whether the other style’s proficiency is ready and available to use. If the other style’s gauge is charged, you’ll see an icon right below the main stack. Annoyingly, the icon is different for each style, but once you know what to look for, you’ll be able to maximise your damage by flipping between them to use your most powerful attacks.
While this may just be yet another thing you’d rather not keep an eye on in combat, it’s worth knowing it’s there because it helps you understand how often each gauge gets charged, and ideally get into a natural flow of flipping between the two styles once you learn what keeps them topped up.
You can re-spec at any time
Nioh 3 has an even better way of re-specing than Nioh 2, because it’s simply a one-click job that you can do an unlimited number of times. In fact, it’s probably made that way to encourage you to experiment with builds, especially now that you’re effectively playing as two characters (Samurai, Ninja).
To re-spec at any time, hold L3 when in the level up screen. This is the same screen you go to when you want to allocate your stats and level up, accessible at any Shrine. There’s no cost associated with this process, nor do you need any special item for it.
The UI will show how many points you invested in each stat before the reset, making it even easier to go with a different build.
Spirit Stones can be used from the Shrines now
Another incredibly welcome, time-saving feature available at Shrines, is the ability to use up your Spirit Stones straight from the level up screen. In fact, there are two options, one consumes just enough to get you to the next level, while the other lets you use up all the stones in your position.
The game automatically does the calculation for you, meaning the first option will be greyed out if you simply do not have enough to gain a level. To do any of this, simply hit R3 when on the level up screen found at any Shrine.
You can ignore gear management and let the game do it for you
This is a feature that’s been showing up increasingly in Team Ninja’s games, and we’re happy to see it in Nioh 3, too. Whether you like it or not, the Nioh games have a major loot component to them. That means you’ll always be swimming in gear and weapons, making the process of sorting through it all a bit exhausting.
This is especially true now that you have to maintain two sets of gear, one for Samurai and another for Ninja. The solution? Let the game do it for you! Nioh 3 has a very useful auto-equip option that you can turn on and forget all about that side of the game.
In fact, the game suggests you do this the first time you enter the inventory screen. But, even if you don’t enable it right away, you can turn it on down the line. This is going to be useful deeper into Nioh 3, especially if it’s been a while since you’ve looked through your inventory.
Simply click R3 when in the inventory screen. You can even target any Agility rating you want (A/B/C) so you never go over your encumbrance goal.
You can’t block and dodge at the same time
This is one of those tips that will save you hours of frustration. In Nioh 3, dodging while you hold the block button removes the block, which means you’re going to eat whatever hit you were trying to avoid.
This is something that comes down to muscle memory for many players of similar games, where we effectively hedge against mis-timing the dodge by continuously holding block to hopefully block the attack instead. Nioh 3 doesn’t let you do that. If you can’t time your dodge right, block instead, then dodge after you’ve blocked the most damaging attack.
It’s okay to grind when you face a tough challenge
Like many Souls-likes, Nioh 3 has a lot of optional, repeatable content that you can continue replaying to gain levels. There’s more of it here than ever, too. If you’re facing a tough challenge, you should definitely consider mopping up open-world activities you may have put off or simply grinding for an hour or so to level up a few times.
The game doesn’t do level scaling, meaning if you go back to a place you’ve not visited in 20 hours, you’re going to one-shot everything and not get much Amrita. Keep that in mind when you want to finish off bits of side content.
Ideally, you’d want to be five to ten levels above the mission’s recommended level, and grinding in that area when you’re around that level is the way to do things, because that’s when you’re going to get the most use out of it.
You can’t play the entire game as the Ninja
Yes, it’s true that you essentially play Nioh 3 as two characters. You pick two sets of weapons, two sets of gear, two sets of accessories and more. Indeed, the game encourages you to switch between them often, and we have a feeling most players will always switch to Ninja when they want to cast Onmyo spells or Ninjutsu, which previously would’ve required some finagling with controls to cast quickly.
While you can stick to the Samurai for the entirety of your playthrough, you can’t do the same with the Ninja. Okay, you may technically be able to, but you’ll quickly find that you’re far more limited in what you can do in combat.
For starters, Ninjas can’t Ki Flux, which is the skill that lets you quickly regain spent Ki in combat — something you should be doing all the time as a Samurai. Ninjas don’t rely on Ki as much, seeing as they have other tools, but if you only play as Ninja and approach combat the same way you would as Samurai you’ll quickly find yourself out of Ki. Ninjas simply don’t have enough throwables to rely exclusively on them, either, meaning you’re going to have to get in close.
Though your build can influence those values over time, Ninjas typically don’t deal nearly enough damage to stand on their own, nor can they stagger enemies as consistently as Samurai.
Keeping all that in mind, it’s best to think of the Ninja as situational, leaving you as Samurai for most of your time in combat.
Unlock High and Low stances first
In Nioh 3, you only start out with the Mid stance. If you’ve ever played a Nioh game before, you’ll know that switching between the three stances (Low, Mid, High) is essential in mastering combat in the game.
Nioh 3 does, of course, include all three stances — for all weapons — that you’ve come to expect, but they’re simply not available from the off. As you begin unlocking Samurai points, you should prioritise unlocking the Mid and High stance before you start venturing into the more specialised skills.
Indeed, much of the skill tree will be inaccessible until you tick those Mid/High stance nodes, which in turn unlock a path of complementary (and unique) skills that will be available to you down the line. Some of those are contingent on completing certain missions or finding certain texts, but all of that comes later, after you’ve unlocked the two remaining stances.
Fall damage is severe, but inconsistent
Whenever a game goes open world and adds verticality to its level design, one question crosses everyone’s mind: is there fall damage? When it comes to Nioh 3, the answer is yes. The fall damage you experience exploring the world can be punishing.
Some drops will outright kill you, even if it looks like you should be able to make it. When that happens, there’s usually a different — correct — way for you to get there that the developer intended. For instance, early on in your adventure you’ll come across Spirit Veins that require certain Spirits to access, which you won’t have at that point. Those areas can sometimes be seen from nearby ledges, and it’s tempting to drop down and get what you want, but you shouldn’t.
If, however, you’re exploring the world normally, you will take fall damage (assuming the drop is large enough) — but it won’t kill you. The problem is that it’s inconsistent. When you’re in an enemy camp, for instance, you can jump off building rooftops all you want and you won’t lose any HP, but drop off a random rock that’s a little too high out in the open world and you lose a chunk of HP.
Until you figure out which is which, our advice is to avoid jumping off higher positions unless you absolutely have to. Nioh 3 may be a modern game, but it still has last-gen sensibilities when it comes to certain parts of its level design.
Shrines have been upgraded
Shrines have always offered weary warriors a respite in Nioh games, but in Nioh 3, they take on other qualities. Yes, you can still use them to level up, manage the new Skills menu, filter through Soul Cores, sort out the bonuses you get from the various collectibles (Blessings), and more besides.
But they also now serve as fast travel points, and you’ll see far more of them in the game’s world as a result. In fact, even getting close enough to one will automatically note its position on the map. You still have to activate it by walking in front of it (though without praying). You’ll know it’s activated when you see a golden halo above it, and hear the little Kodama dancing atop it.
So long as it’s active, you can fast travel to any Shrine in the world, though with some exceptions that have to do with story progression. This only goes for open world exploration, as Shrines found within missions cannot be fast travelled to until that mission is over. This is a great way to go back and get anything you might have missed, but you’ll need to finish the mission in question first.
When you die, the game will automatically spawn you at the nearest activated shrine, not the last one you prayed at, which is immensely helpful.
Follow the green fireflies
As you explore the world of Nioh 3, you’ll sometimes see small groups of green fireflies congregating around certain areas. They’re somewhat similar to Monster Hunter World’s Scoutflies, in that they’re meant to show you the way to something interesting.
You should definitely head into areas that have a lot of them hanging around, as they’re typically places you’ve likely not been into.
By the same token, the floating yellow flocks of Amrita (Souls) not only count towards your own Amrita when picked up, they also lead to areas you may not even realise exist, and paths that don’t immediately look like they can be trodden.
Floating Amrita also appear after an area has been cleared of enemies, such as when you’ve cleared out an enemy base, or finished a mission that took place in that area.
You don’t have to do everything to max out an area’s exploration level
One of the best ways of getting more powerful in Nioh 3 is exploring the game’s world. Each region is made up of several areas, and each one of those has its own exploration level that is based on the number of collectibles, objectives, missions and so on that you’ve tackled in that area.
Reaching the maximum level of 4 should be your goal with each. Every time you reach a new exploration level, the quality of the information displayed on your map improves. Things start out with the general layout of roads and towns being visible, and gradually go up to literally showing the location of every collectible.
When reaching level 4 across all a given map’s regions, you unlock even more useful data and become more powerful. You can consult your map to see an overview of each region’s level, the rewards for each stage and more.
Getting to level 4 is not challenging, mainly because it doesn’t require you to do every single thing. Nioh 3 is very forgiving in that regard, and we found that — even without trying — we’d maxed out or nearly maxed out several areas.
You can always come back to mop up any remaining collectibles, especially much later into the game after you’ve acquired all necessary Spirits, which will let you access Spirit Veins you previously couldn’t do anything with.
It’s okay to summon AI partners to help you out
Nioh 3 offers various ways of reaching out for help from others, and offering them your own assistance, too. You can open your game up to other players if you need help, though you’re going to have to wait until someone answers the call. The same can be done with friends, using a password to lock your game to that specific person.
You can also go on Expeditions with other players, which let you tackle missions in their entirety from the beginning, rather than opening your game up when you’re stuck at a boss. The most common way of getting some help, however, is going to be summoning AI companions.
As you explore, you’ll come across blue — so called Benevolent Graves — which contain an image of that player’s character, their gear, and their playstyle. By holding down R1/RB next to a grave, you can summon them to help you out. You’ll see plenty just before a boss fight, for obvious reasons.
You’ll need a certain number of Ochoko Cups (depending on the level) to summon them, but you should have plenty to start. Note that friendly AI isn’t the most aggressive. While they can help with random enemies and bosses, most enemies will still target you, so keep that in mind.
For more on how to play Nioh 3 with other players in co-op, as well as how to summon and farm necessary summoning materials in Nioh 3, we’ve put together two guides to answer all your questions. Click the links for details.
