Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition General Tips and Boss Info

• Missions have a recommended skill level (player level) and a difficulty ranking (represented by the ‘bonfires’ on the mission tab). Leveling above what’s recommended and equipping the best gear you have available will often lower the difficulty ranking of missions.
  You can see how many locks of hair, hotsprings, etc. a mission has by selecting the mission (select, don’t start!) and hitting R1/ to view the next page.
• The dojo offers unique “boss fights” for some of its missions (mainly weapon and onmyo magic/ninjutsu mastery missions). Completing these missions unlocks new skills for that weapon, etc.
• Exhaust NPC dialogue (speak to them until they begin to repeat). Sometimes, you will get an item in return. For example, Tokichiro will often hand over spirit stones if you speak to him enough times.
• At a certain point in the game, an NPC will state how performing certain gestures at people will get different reactions. So, try gesturing at any NPC you find!
• Scampuss (the lil’ round cat yokai) can be found hiding in multiple spots during missions. When pet, they will follow you around for a short time, giving you a buff to anima regeneration and attacking enemies on your behalf. You can have multiple of the little scamps following you at once.
• Obtain prestige from titles when available! Titles are objectives you can work towards throughout the game (kill this enemy x times, deal x amount of dmg, etc.) With each title you complete, you get reputation points. Earn enough reputation to unlock a point of prestige which can be spent on buffs like increased anima charge, gold earned, etc. There are 2 pages (Agyo and Ungyo) so make sure to check both!
• Don’t know what a boss/enemy is weak against? Use either corruption or purity!
  Corruption is useful against almost all human enemies
  Purity is useful against almost all yokai
• When you gain access to your house you can:
  – store/remove items directly from the storehouse
  -Create equipment sets
  -Create character builds
  -Place a guardian spirit/friendly yokai as a visitor (cosmetic) – under remodel hut
  -Change your appearance (character creator and transforming into NPCs you’ve bought from the hidden teahouse)
  -View illustrations of enemies and NPCs you met, along with lore information (yokai illustrations have an extra tab that gives info on times fought, their weaknesses, etc.)
• When you gain access to the hidden tea house you can:
  -Join a clan: gives a buff depending on what clan you pick.
  -Trade in glory points for items, gear, gestures, etc.
  Glory can be earned by defeating summoned bloody grave phantoms, by helping other players via co-op, or by donating items to your clan.
  -Have your tea utensils appraised. The tea utensils can then be placed in your house for buffs to things like luck, gold drop rate/amount, or tea utensil discovery. You can also sell any unwanted utensils for a good bit of gold, or donate them to your clan for a good amount of glory.

There are two ways to get help during missions, but each method requires you to have ochoko cups.

• First, you can find and activate a benevolent grave (blue). There are two types of these graves, one where an NPC is summoned (their name is a aqua blue color when looking at the grave) and the other summons a NPC version of another player.
  Some missions will have unique changes/events that occur when you summon an actual NPC over a player, so I recommend summoning the special NPCs when you can!

  **Very rarely some side missions will be locked behind whether or not you summoned a specific NPC or not. The only one I know of that’s like this is summoning Yamanaka Shikanosuke in the mission “Scattered Fragments” in order for “A Prayer in the Moonlight” to unlock.

  The amount of ochoko cups required to summon a NPC depends on their level, which is stated on the grave along with the same markers used for the “difficulty” ranking of missions.
  So at the lowest it would cost you a single ochoko cup, and at max you would need to spend 5 to summon a spirit.
  You can only use one benevolent grave at a time. The summoned NPC player will have a bar above their name, and when it completely fills, that summon will disappear when you are not in combat. After they depart, you can use another benevolent grave to summon again.
  Also, when they depart, you will receive anywhere from 1 to 3 righteous jasper.

• The second way you can summon is via the shrine. Offering an ochoko cup there will allow you to get aid from another player. You can offer 2 cups total, which means co-op with 2 other players.

  You can use a benevolent grave while having a summoned player. So technically, you could have 3 additional helpers in a mission (2 summoned players and one NPC from a grave).
  ** if in a mission where you can get help from a NPC, it may be possible to have upwards of 4 or 5 helpers during a mission. (needs confirmation)

• Lastly, if you want to place your own benevolent grave for other players to use, then you will need a righteous jasper. which are found as a mission reward or treasure drop.
  Simply use this item, and a menu will pop up, allowing you to change the gestures the NPC version of you uses upon arrival/departure, and let you place the grave.
  You can have up to three benevolent graves placed at a time (not just in one mission either, you can have 3 different graves in 3 different missions).
  **benevolent spirits are not healed by shrines, so if you want NPC you to live longer, equip some onmyo healing magic before placing your grave.

  If your grave was used, then the next time you visit your hut you will get rewards (glory and righteous jasper) based on how many people NPC you helped.

Kodama are friendly lil’ dudes you will find scattered throughout most missions (the mission select screen shows if there are kodama, and how many are in that mission).
Finding them can be tricky, but is worthwhile because they offer blessings at the shrines. These blessings are as follows:
Oracle: increased amrita acquired (25%)
Samurai: equipment drop rate increased (5%)
Yamabushi: soul core drop rate increased (5%)
Healer: elixir drop rate increased (25%)
Hunter: materials drop rate increased (25%)
**the number in () is the max % increase you can get from a blessing

What blessing you go for is up to you, and you can change whichever you have selected at any time when visiting a shrine.
That being said, I recommend that new players use the healer blessing, so you can have a spare stock of elixirs on hand for when you face tough enemies and bosses (you don’t want to die and then revive with no healing items left at your disposal, right?).
Once you feel you have enough elixirs stocked up, feel free to switch to another blessing.

If you’re having trouble finding kodama in the mission, try equipping a set of gear or guardian spirit that has the kodama sensor skill. This will show the kodama as green dots on your mini-map.
If you’re still struggling even with the kodama sensor skill, then I recommend using a guide, such as this one: http://www.gamersheroes.com/game-guides/nioh-2-kodama-location-guide/

Sudama are similar in appearance to Kodama, but have a different role.
You will find Sudama in varying places in missions, and can approach and talk to them. If your astral wisdom is low, then what the sudama (and any other yokai) says may appear as red gibberish. However if it is high enough, you’ll be able to understand them and notice that they are asking for trade.

• If they ask you to “give them something, anything will do” then feel free to trade whatever item you wish to them. Giving a weapon or piece of armor will get you a random weapon/armor piece in return of the same rarity, along with a lantern plant fruit.
• If they ask for a “round, smelly thing” hand over either a normal or royal dung ball.
• If they ask for “something warm” hand over a summoner’s candle.
• Handing over a soul core gives you a chance of receiving a Sudama or Kodama soul core in return.
• Handing over items that can be used to hurt spirits (check their description) will anger the sudama and cause them to attack you.
• Handing over the wrong item when they ask for a specific thing will also make them angry and cause them to attack you.

Nurikabe are yokai ‘illusionary walls’ so to speak. They can be spotted based on the fact that a wall in game looks like it has eyes that are closed (they also make a ‘hm?’ noise when approached). Approaching a Nurikabe will make it open its eyes and leave you with 2 options:
1) fight it so it disappears, or
2) perform a gesture towards it and have it disappear peacefully.

The type of gesture you need to do is different per wall, but you have 3 options: either a good (blue), neutral (yellow), or negative (red) gesture.
You get two tries to get it right, so if the second option you pick turns out to be wrong, prepare for a fight.
Any bloody graves near the wall can give you a hint of what gesture not to do. For example, if the grave says “Leroy was killed by Nurikabe for his neutral behavior”, then you know that a yellow gesture is the wrong choice. So picking either red or blue will guarantee success.

Sometimes, you may also find a path that leads behind the Nurikabe. You will know you are behind it because you will see a single talisman on a wall. Removing it will make the Nurikabe disappear.
—————–
Mujina are the mimic chests of Nioh, but unlike their Dark Souls counterparts, they are generally much more friendly when you open them.
The Mujina mimic chests can be identified by the 3 metal bands they have (normal chests only have 2). Opening a Mujina chest will have the yokai spring out, draining all your stamina. It will then laugh and take your form, before performing a gesture towards you.
Using the same gesture the Mujina did will have it bounce happily, before waving and disappearing (leaving the contents of the chest behind).
If you don’t want to be jump scared, whistling (gesture) at a Mujina chest will have it come out on its own.
If you perform the wrong gesture, or take too long in acting, the Mujina will get upset and fight you.
**the gesture it performs will always be one of the top 9 in your list, so don’t worry about having to scroll through all the gestures.

Some missions have slightly different outcomes based on what you do (mainly just the mission completion text changes and you may receive a slightly different reward). Here are the missions I noticed had different ways to do them:

• “The Shiftling’s Wise Judgement” – there are 3 different outcomes for this mission:
  -side with (talk to) Hachisuka Koroku and fight Shibata Katsuie
  -side with (talk to) Shibata and fight Hachisuka
  -side with neither of them (don’t talk to either of them) and fight them both
• “Immovable” – two options here: either kill the NPC at the end (the one when spoken to that only says “…”) or perform the ‘relax’ gesture near the NPC.
• “A Prayer in the Moonlight” – the mission summary text may differ depending on whether or not you summon the NPC and they are alive at the end of the mission. The NPC will give you dialogue at the end of the mission at the very least (if summoned and still alive).
  **It is required that you summon Yamanaka Shikanosuke in the mission “Scattered Fragments” in order for “A Prayer in the Moonlight” to unlock.

Here I will be listing all the bosses that appear in Nioh 2 (including the DLCs), along with their resistances/weaknesses and all the missions they appear in.

To make things easier to follow, here is how things will be categorized:
Boss name || “Mission”sub category (chapter) || W: weaknesses || R: resistances
Missions for each boss will be listed in order from first encounter to last. Twilight missions are always listed last.
The sub categories are as follows:
SM = side mission || TM = Twilight mission || m = boss appears as a normal enemy/mini-boss in that mission || DLC = was a dlc mission
**Even when not stated in the list below, it’s safe to assume that a yokai boss will be weak to purity, and any human boss will be weak to corruption.
***For the “human” enemies, the weaknesses/resistances listed are just guesses based on my own observations, so that information may be changed in the future. Basically, if there is a ? don’t assume that it’s entirely accurate information.

• Mezuki || “The Village of Cursed Blossoms” (Awakening), “The Refined Man of the Underworld”SM (Dawn), “The High-Spirited Demon”(Twilight), “The Golden Castle” (Dream), “In the Eye of the Beholder”m (Afterglow), “Eternal Rivals” (Tengu’s Disciple)DLC, “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC, “The Violet Cherry Blossoms”TM || W: Fire || R: Water, Lightning, Corruption, Poison, Paralysis
• Gozuki || “The Village of Cursed Blossoms”m (Awakening), “A Voice in the Twilight”SM (Awakening), “The Refined Man of the Underworld”SM (Dawn), “The Golden Castle” (Dream), “Cherry Blossom Viewing in Diago”m (Dream), “In the Eye of the Beholder”m (Afterglow), “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC || W: Water || R: Fire, Lightning, Corruption, Poison, Paralysis
• Enenra || “The Beast Born of Smoke & Flames” (Awakening), “Okuni’s Search”SM (Twilight), “The Golden Castle” (Dream), “Battle at the Temple”SM (First Samurai)DLC, “Traces of the Raging Flame”TM || W: Water || R: Fire, Corruption, Poison
• Yatsu-no-Kami || “The Vipers Sanctum” (Awakening), “The Golden Castle” (Dream), “In Search of the Elixir”SM (First Samurai)DLC, “The Bewitching Tower”TM || W: Lightning || R: Water, Corruption, Poison
• Imagawa Yoshimoto || “The Hidden Monsters of Okehazama” (Soaring), “Imagawa Diehard”SM (Soaring) || W: Corruption, Poison?, Paralysis? || R: Purity, Lightning?
• Kamaitachi || “The Mysterious One Night Castle” (Soaring), “Blood on the Wind”TM || W: ? ||
  R: Lightning, Corruption , Poison
• Onryoki || “The Hollow Fortress”m (Soaring), “The Golden Nation”SM (Shadow), “Stray Cats”SM (Twilight), “Dawn of Hope”SM (Afterglow) || W: Water, Confusion || R: Fire, Corruption, Poison
• Saito Yoshitatsu || “The Hollow Fortress” (Soaring), “The Point of No Return”SM (Shadow), “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC || W: Corruption, Poison?, Paralysis || R: ?
• Shibata Katsuie || “The Shiftling’s Wise Judgement”SM (Soaring), “Ruin Draws Near” (Twilight), “Restless Spirits”SM (Dream) || W: Poison (human & yokai forms), Paralysis (human) || R: Fire (yokai form)
• Hachisuka Koroku || “The Shiftling’s Wise Judgement”SM (Soaring), “The High-Spirited Demon” (Twilight), “Japanese Heart, Yokai Smarts”SM (Dream) || W: Lightning? || R: ?
• Tatarimokke || “A Way Out” (Shadow), “The Island of Monsters”TM || W: Fire, Purity ||
  R: Corruption, Poison, Paralysis
• Magara Naotaka || “Corpses & Ice” (Shadow), “The Brothers’ Blades”SM (Shadow), “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC || W: Fire || R: ?
• Azai Nagamasa || “Bird in a Cage” (Shadow), “Yaksha Returns”SM (Dream), “The Cursed Castle Ruins”TM || W: Lightning?, Poison || R: ?
• Honda Tadakatsu || “Horns on Head, Dragonfly in Hand”SM (Shadow) || W: Corruption, Poison, Paralysis || R: ?
• Oda Nobunaga || “The Demon King’s Blade”SM (Shadow), “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC || W: Corruption, Poison, Paralysis || R: ?
• Saika Magoichi || “Pervading Waters” (Dawn) || W: Corruption, Poison, Paralysis? || R: ?
• Gyuki || “Pervading Waters” (Dawn) || W: ? || R: Water, Corruption, Poison, Paralysis
• Kasha || “The Frenzied Blaze” (Dawn), “The Golden Castle” (Dream), “The Dream’s End”SM (Dream), “The Defiled Sanctuary”TM || W: Water || R: Fire, Corruption, Paralysis
• Ryomen Sukuna || “The Sun Sets on Mount Tenno” (Dawn), “Restoring Harmony”SM (Dream), “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC, “Mountain of the Dark Lord”TM || W: Red side – Water, Blue side – Fire; Both sides – Lightning, Purity, Poison || R: Red side – Fire, Blue side – Water; Both sodes – Corruption, Paralysis
• Matsunaga Hisahide || “Master of the Three Evils”SM (Dawn) || W: ? || R: ?
• Maeda Toshiie || “Ruin Draws Near” (Twilight), “Mataza of the Spear”SM (Dream) ||
  W: Corruption, Poison || R: Paralysis?
• Tokichiro || “The Two Faces of Hospitality” (Twilight), “Cherry Blossom Viewing in Diago” (Dream) || W: Disrupt him from using amrita (can’t buff himself), Corruption || R: Fire, Lightning
• Daidara Bocchi || “The High-Spirited Demon” (Twilight) || W: Fire || R: Water, Lightning, Corruption, Confusion, Poison, Paralysis
• Shuten Doji || “The Mausoleum of Evil” (Dream), “The Revelry Ends”SM (Darkness in the Capital)DLC, “Wings of the Phoenix”TM, “The Mystery of Rashomon”TM || W: Poison || R: Fire, Corruption
• Lady Osakabe || “The Golden Castle” (Dream) || W: Purity || R: Fire, Water, Lightning, Corruption, Poison, Paralysis
• Maeda Keiji || “The Bravest of the Brave”SM (Dream) || W: Corruption || R: ?
• Kashin Koji || “Cherry Blossom Viewing in Diago” (Dream) || W: ? || R: ?
• William || “The Blue-eyed Samurai” (Afterglow), “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC ||
  W: Corruption || R: Purity
• Otakemaru ||”In the Eye of the Beholder” (Afterglow), “Dawn of the Demon” (First Samurai)DLC, “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC, “Rivals Return”SM (First Samurai)DLC || W: Purity || R: Fire, Water, Lightning, Corruption, Confusion, Poison, Paralysis

Tengu’s Desciple DLC

• Mysterious Warrior Monk (Benkei) || “A Song to Calm the Storm” (Tengu’s Disciple), “Soul of the Warrior Monk”SM (Tengu’s Disciple)DLC, “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC ||
  W: ? || R: ?
• Uminyudo || “A Song to Calm the Storm” (Tengu’s Disciple)DLC || W: Fire || R: Water, Lightning, Corruption, Poison
• Nue || “Shadows Dream in Kurama”SM, (Tengu’s Disciple)DLC, “Darkness Brewing”TM ||
  W: Water || R: Lightning, Corruption, Poison
• Taira no Kagekiyo || “The Lost Sword” (Tengu’s Disciple)DLC, “The Tale of the Taira”SM (Tengu’s Disciple)DLC || W: ? || R: ?
• Minamoto no Yoshitsune || “Eternal Rivals” (Tengu’s Disciple)DLC, “Bond of the Blade”SM (Tengu’s Disciple)DLC || W: Corruption || R: ?

  Darkness in the Capital DLC

• Minamoto no Yorimitsu || “Suzune in the Flames” (Darkness in the Capital)DLC, “The Demon Slayers”SM (Darkness in the Capital)DLC || W: Corruption || R: Purity
• Tsuchigumo || “The Blighted Gate” (Darkness in the Capital)DLC || W: Fire || R: Lightning, Corruption, Poison, Paralysis
• Giant Toad || “The Buddha’s Palm”SM (Darkness in the Capital)DLC || W: ? ||
  R: Water, Corruption, Poison, Paralysis
• White Tiger || “Palace of the Damned” (Darkness in the Capital)DLC || W: ? ||
  R: Lightning, Purity, Poison, Paralysis
• Ashiya Doman || “Palace of the Damned” (Darkness in the Capital)DLC, “A Storm in the Underworld”SM (Darkness in the Capital)DLC || W: Corruption? || R: ?
• The Lightning Gods of Yomi || “Palace of the Damned” (Darkness in the Capital)DLC, “A Storm in the Underworld”SM (Darkness in the Capital)DLC, “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC || W: Purity || R: Water, Lightning, Corruption, Poison, Paralysis
• Ren Hayabusa || “The Dragon Clan”SM (Darkness in the Capital)DLC || W: Corruption || R: Purity
• Watanabe no Tsuna || “The Demon Slayers”SM (Darkness in the Capital)DLC ||
  W: Corruption || R: Purity
• Urabe no Suetake || “The Demon Slayers”SM (Darkness in the Capital)DLC ||
  W: Corruption ||R: Purity
• Fujiwara no Yasumasa || “The Demon Slayers”SM (Darkness in the Capital)DLC ||
  W: Corruption || R: Purity
• Usui Sadamitsu || “The Demon Slayers”SM (Darkness in the Capital)DLC ||
  W: Corruption || R: Purity
• Sakata Kintoki || “The Demon Slayers”SM (Darkness in the Capital)DLC ||
  W: Corruption || R: Purity

  The First Samurai DLC

• Tate Eboshi || “Dawn of the Demon” (First Samurai)DLC, “Battle at the Temple”SM (First Samurai)DLC, “Rivals Return”SM (First Samurai)DLC, “The Cradle of the Demon”TM || W: Purity || R: Corruption
• Nightmare Bringer || “A Distant Dream” (First Samurai)DLC, “A Familiar Glow”SM (First Samurai)DLC || W: ? || R: Fire, Water, Lightning, Corruption, Poison, Paralysis
• Ancient Nyotengu || “The Alluring Ancient”SM (First Samurai)DLC || W: ? ||
  R: ?
• Fujiwara no Chikata || “A Spirit’s Return”SM (First Samurai)DLC || W: Corruption ||
  R: Purity
• Obsidian Samurai (Yasuke) || “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC ||
  W: Corruption || R: Purity
• Saito Toshimitsu || “Against all Comers”SM (First Samurai)DLC || W: Corruption ||
  R: Purity
  Kukai || “Undying Light”SM (First Samurai)DLC || W: Corruption || R: Purity