This game is hard..

Man this game, I think out of all of the souls games Ive played this is the most difficult, anybody got any tips? I am making progress but its very slow and die often. I could cheese it by summoning people but idk kinds seems like a lesser experience.

Yes get good, but how does one get good.

And also I've beaten all the souls games.

I've only played the first game but that was very gear dependant.

I absolutely love these games and played so much of both of them, up to the Plat trophy and more for Nioh 1 and 2.

I think the best way to get over the difficulty curve the game presents is to...ignore most the advice it gives? Even with all the new options in Nioh 2, I stuck to one weapon, and one stance (usually high stance) and I never had any issue whatsoever. While it's cool to get flashy with stance changing and Spriti Guardian summons and the newfound Demonform thing in 2, I never used them. The few times I tried I always died, so I just went back to the weapon I know and the attacks I know. Doing that (and of course learning tells of the enemies you'll fight tons of) is pretty much all you need to get through the base game, though I did it all the way up and through Path of the Nioh.

Oh also use your range weapons. Sometimes a canon to the head solves all your problems.

@takayamasama: @takayamasama: Yeah that helped me just now actually, all the skills are like go to this stance attack then this one then back to this one. So I started using the stances I prefer and I did much better.

I've gone sword and spear, may be basic but there good. Oh and yeah the bow is amazing at clearing rooms

@hizang: Yeah it makes the game so much easier. While I appreciate a lot of the systems in the Nioh games, I feel they bog people down and make the game appear a lot harder than it actually is. I don't even use my second weapon ever, just equipped for the stats.

Bow is really good for it's speed, rifle is great for bigger enemies or Yokai, and canon is fantastic against bosses. Been more than a few bosses I kill by just backing off and launching a canon at their weak spot.

While I really enjoyed the first one the sequel looked like way too much for me. I didn’t really need all these additional gauges and monster meters and status effects. I liked the approach of being a semi normal samurai making their way through supernatural elements. Also my biggest complaint from the first game were the boring environments and it doesn’t seem like they did much in that regard for the sequel.

Overall, I'd say Nioh 1 is actually a much harder game. 2 gives you many options and different ways to cheese enemies, and overall you feel a lot more powerful, it just takes awhile to get to that point. It's definitely tough for the first 2 zones, your options are limited before you start getting more and better tools. Something I'll say is this: take any preconceived notions that this is like a Souls game and throw them out the window. The Nioh games don't play anything like them, they are more akin to Ninja Gaiden, both killing and dying can come lightning fast in a way they simply do not in souls games. As far as early advice, I'd say stick to the brute type guardians, because their burst counter is very easy to utilize, just hit R2+O as soon as you see the enemy flash red.

One of the most important things to understand in Nioh 2 is that Ki damage is more important than just straight up damage. Every enemy in the game adheres to the rules of the Ki system; if they are out of Ki, every attack interrupts them. Meaning you are completely safe to go ham when an enemy is out of Ki, without fear of retaliation (until they do their burst recover, or you've used a finishing blow on them). The human enemies and bosses for example can be completely trivialized if you know how to abuse Ki mechanics.

Weapons like the Tonfa or Fists are amazing at doing Ki damage, so those are good weapons to use if you are trying to better understand and learn to abuse the Ki system. Another thing I'll say is don't ignore Ninjutsu/Onmyo Magic. Both of them have extremely useful tools, and Ninjutsu in particular has items and abilities that can pretty much destroy bosses on the first playthrough. Bombs are great in the early game, and later on the lightning/water/fire feathers can absolutely annihilate tougher enemies and bosses, especially ones weak to that particular element.

Another thing that will save your ass is learning to use burst counter when an enemy manages to break your Ki and stagger you. You essentially become stunned when this happens, and the next hit will deal massive damage and likely outright kill you. The only way to get around this is to use burst counter (R2+O), which does not require any Ki to use, and can be used regardless of any animation you are locked in. This can also be abused with the Feral type guardians, because their burst is a dodge move, so you can use it as a get out of jail free card, a way to cancel long attack animations that you would otherwise get hit in the middle of, or in the case of Ninjutsu, as a means of using feathers faster and doing more damage quicker.

@takayamasama: All of these things added to 2 make the game easier this is the most wild advice I’ve ever seen.

I find the notion of sticking to one weapon class and one stance to be incredibly boring. The game will more often than not give you all of the weapon types with their levels scaled to which zone you're in. So, like with playing the numbers game for stats, take advantage of the experimentation that the game allows you to do. Take the time to figure out which weapons you want to focus on. Practice stance switching until it becomes second nature (especially since getting certain stance switching abilities will significantly help with stamina management). And like doctordonkey said, don't sleep on Ninjutsu or Onmyo Magic; either of those trees will essentially boost damage output without you always having to get up close and personal or going though all of your arrows and bullets. Also, you can respec your stats; granted that the cost for doing so significantly increases each time, but you have some leeway for figuring out which "build" you're the most comfortable with.

Other than that: When you unlock the blacksmith, keep in mind that you can use your extra loot for money, XP crafting materials, and fashion souls. Fight some revenants. Experiment with yoki abilities, which are treated a loot and thus can be upgraded and sold as well. There's a relationship between mimics, illusionary walls, and your emotes. Pulling an enemy with a stone is often more cost and time effective than using an arrow, bullet, or magic. Ki Pulse. Find all of the Kodamas. Elemental weaknesses are a thing, of which the game's bestiary/codex will tell you which enemies are weak to which element. And, there is no shame in using benevolent graves/summoning NPC versions of player and developer characters. Though they can carry you though areas with basic enemies, they will not auto win bosses or even sub-bosses for you. They allow you to get in a few extra hits and better allow you to heal at best.

Onmyo in particular will destroy the curve of this game much like it did in the original. There's just really nothing in the game that can hard counter you if you start piling debuffs on it's kind of ridiculous.

As someone who jumped into Nioh 2 and almost completely bounced off it before falling in love with the game... I get it.

As others have said, the game does a terrible job of introducing and explaining itself. I'd say the opening hours are harder than the rest of the game, as things get significantly easier to handle as you unlock more of what is considered the "baseline" gameplay experience.

What I learned from powering through:

-If stance and weapon switching is overwhelming, you definitely can just find a weapon/stance you like and stick with it until you feel comfortable with experimenting. I will say my first time through I pretty much only used Mid stance Tonfa and made out okay. The combat really opens up and gets far more interesting once you get comfortable with switching, though.

-Burst Counters are a pain, but the game is going to force you into using them. Once you unlock different Guardian Spirits, try to find a counter style you like and stick with it until you get comfortable with how the system works.

-Use Yokai abilities. Don't hoard Anima waiting for the "perfect" opportunity. You also don't have to agonize over Soul Cores too much at the start. Just find and equip the ones that give the best stat bonuses and keep moving forward.

-You can pretty much ignore most of what the Blacksmith offers for most of the game. Sell/Dismantle excess items, maybe mess around with Tempering to see if you can roll a rare skill, but you'll be finding enough gear that you probably won't need to mess with Forging or Soul Matching until much later in the game.

-Use Onmyo and Ninjutsu when you can, as they level up with use like weapons and there is some legit useful stuff as you progress down those trees.

-Don't be afraid to use ranged weapons to get rid of enemies before they can engage you. You'll find plenty of arrows and bullets.

-There is an Enemy Sensor skill that you can find on equipment sometimes that is incredibly helpful when going through maps the first time. It'll mark enemies on the map for you, and since this game loves ambushes it can make your life a lot easier. I'd definitely recommend equipping something that has it, at least until you get more confident.

-The Hut gives you to option to view previous cutscenes, but more importantly the descriptions it gives on those scenes are where the game actually explains it's story... In case that ever becomes a problem.

In the first game I used stances purely to deal with specific enemies. Low stance for spiders, basically but nothing else.

So, advice.

1. While the game is going to throw a ton of systems at you, there are only a few systems that you need to know absolutely cold on a first playthrough. These are:

Stance Changes. Know how they affect attacks with your given weapons and which stances to use against different enemy types.

Ki Pulsing. This will let you keep combos going longer and pick up some buffs if you're specced for it. Grab the "ki pulse on dodge" skills as soon as you can to make your life easier.

Burst Countering. Personally, I find using a Phantom-type Guardian spirit makes this easier to learn. The Phantom counter comes out fastest and also bursts in place, so you only need to worry about the timing rather than also worrying about the distance when you counter. It also has the huge advantage in that if you miss the timing slightly, it will turn into a block, so you can avoid some damage that way.

If you're having trouble, remember that the burst parry is timed to the hit-frames, not the red-aura before the attack. While some enemies will attack very quickly after the aura, bursting on the aura will usually result in you countering too early.

Ki Management. Ki is vastly more important than health in this game. If you're out of Ki, you can't attack, can't dodge, and attacks will do a ton more damage to you to the point of being likely one-shots. This is particularly important for the Dark Realm areas in levels, since your Ki will regenerate much more slowly. Going along with this, make sure you aren't overburdening yourself with armor. Generally, the damage reduction of heavy armor isn't going to be worth the reduction in Ki regen speed. Try to keep your equip load at a "B" for a good balance between protection and ki recovery.

Everything else is a "nice to have." Worrying about the blacksmith, yokai abilities, fusing yokai soul cores, or even advanced combos with weapons will make your life easier, but you shouldn't really go deep in exploring them until you have mastered the above skills.

2. Initially, pick a couple of weapons types and stick with them. It doesn't really matter which two, and everyone is going to have an opinion about which is best, so just find one that speak to you and dedicate yourself to learning them. Stick with them long enough to have a grasp on how they interact with the stance changes and to earn enough weapon points to start exploring the skill tree a bit.

3. Don't be afraid to replay levels, especially in the early going. This will give you an opportunity to practice things on a level you already know and will let you grind gear and Amrita.

If more people than I realized ignore stances then I suddenly understand why these games have built a reputation for difficulty.

It gets easier. Im playing it right now and the boss of the second chapter gave me a lot of difficulty. The next 5 chapters or so are much, much easier.

Also, getting the Sloth magic that slows down enemies makes the bosses easier.

A very important thing in both Nioh 1 and 2 is the fact that you gain skill points for ninjutsu and onmyo by using them. Doesn't seem like a huge deal but I've seen people fall into the trap of hoarding that stuff instead of using it, leaving their early development in those areas very lacking.

Early on you should definitely take the time to use bombs, shuriken, talismans and other tools even if you don't absolutely need them. That will allow you to unlock more of the freely replenished options for each. Just having some options for elemental talismans and a buff or 2 later on will make things much more manageable.

Thanks guys good tips

A few tips, some of which have already been mentioned:

• You said you were using the spear. If you stay in mid stance and just spam the strong attack combo over and over, it has good range and speed and is very safe and effective. Add the Shin-Roku Guardian Spirit (when it's available to you) and you'll be getting life back with every hit. I play mostly spear and this strategy works on pretty much everything. Just spam this combo while managing your ki properly and dodging the biggest hits and you should be fine.
  
  
• Also, as some have said, the game is just very gear-dependent. Until and unless you reach the true end game (end of the fifth playthrough, God help us!), then you can help yourself through any encounter you're struggling with by simply farming or crafting better stuff at the highest level you're able.
  
  
• Invest in Sloth Talismans to slow tough enemies/bosses, and Barrier Talismans to massively increase your ki recovery speed (both are in the Onmyo magic skill tree).
  
  
• Lastly, you can clear the game a lot faster if you just... run past stuff. You can easily do that by investing in Catwalking and Sneak Thief ninjitsu scrolls. The former makes your movement completely silent, and the latter makes you invisible. Using both at once will allow you to fairly easily run through an entire level straight to the boss. Yokai will sometimes still sense you if you get too close to them, but this can be mitigated by getting the Yokai Stealth skill on your armor somewhere... the purple-and-white Prayer Beads accessory always has this skill. Considering that, as already mentioned, it takes five full playthroughs to reach the true endgame of Nioh 2, I felt no compunction at all about just running through the levels as quickly as I could.

I didn't finish it because I didn't really care for it (got about 75 to 80 percent through I'd say), but compared to other Souls-like games, I found it kind of 'easy'. I played it like the first game. I just use heavy weapons, like an Axe, then heavy stance and heavy attack and that seems to work on everything. Just make sure you keep equipping the better-level gear unless there are stats that clearly don't go with what you want. Make use of the yokai shift, which to me was just a way to make sure I get free hits in without losing actual health and make sure you use the yokai counter (or whatever it's called). It's like all other Souls-like games, just time your attacks right and you'll get through. I wish I liked it more, the first game was one of my favorite games in 2017.

I am new to the series. Can I skip the first game and just play this one?

@pg77: Absolutely, it is across the board a better game than the first and anything you'd miss narratively Does Not Matter.