7 Essential Tips for Winning in Nioh 3

Nioh 3 is a challenging game that blends the difficult combat of Soulslike titles with the fast-paced action of Ninja Gaiden, creating a deeply satisfying experience. If you’re new to the Nioh series, it might feel unusual at first, but once you grasp what sets it apart from other Soulslike games, everything will start to make sense. Here are some helpful tips and tricks to understand the game better and improve your overall experience.

Before You Start, Change These Settings First

Auto Pick-Up & Auto Dispose Loot

In Nioh 3, you’ll collect a lot of items, and managing them all by hand can be frustrating. Luckily, there are a few settings you can adjust to make it easier.

Go to Systems→Basic Game Settings→Page 5, then turn Item Auto Pick-up on
The final page of the Basic Game Settings menu has an Auto Dispose option. We only recommend turning this on once you become more familiar with how equipment works, though you can always auto-dispose of low-rarity items right from the start.
When using Auto Dispose, you can either Offer items for Amrita, Sell them for Gold, or Disassemble them for crafting materials.

Separate Style Shift & Burst Break

Normally, using the Burst Break button automatically changes your fighting style between Ninja and Samurai. If you don’t want it to do that, you can disable this feature in the game’s settings. Go to System→Controls and enable the “Style Shift & Burst Break Separation” option.

Use Everything At Your Disposal

Attack First, Defend Later

The main difference between Nioh and games like Dark Souls is how quickly the combat flows. While enemies can take many hits, simply attacking and dodging with standard moves will feel slow and make the game less engaging. You need to play more aggressively to really enjoy it.

To get the most out of Nioh 3, think of it like games such as Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry. Be aggressive in every fight and use your items and skills to beat enemies quickly and with flair.

As a fan, I’ve found that a lot of the damage I deal in Nioh 3 comes from my character’s special abilities and the bonuses from my chosen Fighting Style – especially the Samurai’s Martial Arts and the Ninja’s Backstab. Honestly, the game is most fun when you’re just letting loose and experimenting with crazy combo chains!

Focus on Mastering One Playstyle First

One Step at a Time, Takechiyo

Nioh 3 offers a huge variety of ways to play, going far beyond just choosing between Samurai and Ninja. Every weapon feels unique, with its own moves and abilities. The differences are so subtle that it takes real dedication to master even one weapon type.

Choose a weapon and fighting style at the beginning of Nioh 3 and focus on mastering it. You’ll discover a surprisingly complex and rewarding combat system.

Try out different weapons and ways to play! Don’t worry if you don’t like your setup – you can always change it for free at any Shrine.

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)

Your Order

Results

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New to Nioh 3? Play Ninja First

Strike Hard, Strike Fast

Ninja Style is simpler and more flexible than Samurai Style. It uses much less stamina and gives you access to a diverse range of Ninjutsu skills, offering both helpful abilities and powerful attacks.

While Samurai and Ninja styles are equally effective, the Samurai style is more challenging to learn. A key part of playing as a Samurai, called Stance Swapping, is significantly more complex than the Ninja’s simpler, direct approach to combat.

You can definitely finish Nioh 3 by focusing on a single combat style. Still, it’s beneficial to switch between the Samurai and Ninja forms, since each one offers unique abilities the other doesn’t.

Auto-Equip Your Loot

For the Early Parts of the Game, At Least

While viewing your equipment, pressing the R3 button on your controller (or the ‘4’ key on your keyboard) will automatically equip your strongest weapons and armor. You can also choose your desired agility level – how heavy your gear is – during this process.

We suggest letting the game automatically equip your gear until you find much better items later on. This simplifies managing your equipment and prevents you from having to constantly swap things out.

You can quickly find the best weapon by pressing R3 to automatically sort your inventory. Sorting by item level ensures you don’t overlook better upgrades.

The Cat Spirit Guardian is Lowkey OP

Nekomata My Beloved

Okay, so early in the game, during the tutorial, you get Nekomata as one of your Spirit Guardians. He’s a Ninja-style only guardian, meaning you can only use him when you’re playing as a Ninja. Besides boosting your Ninja stats, the really cool thing about Nekomata is that he unlocks the Thunderclaw Kick skill. And trust me, this skill is awesome for a few reasons:

It deals respectable damage
It builds up the Lightning status on your enemy
It lets you interrupt enemies and disengage at the same time

Thunderclaw Kick is effective because using Spirit Guardian skills doesn’t cost Ki. This allows you to use Thunderclaw Kick to recover and regain your footing if you’re interrupted or run out of stamina.

As a Samurai player, I think Guhin is awesome if you’re looking for a Spirit Guardian that really packs a punch. But honestly, the attack takes a while to come out, so you’ve gotta time it right – it’s best used when your opponent is totally vulnerable, like when they’re out of Ki!

Random Assortment of Gameplay Tips

7 Bonus Tips for General Gameplay

You can execute aerial assassinations just by double-jumping behind an enemy. This works even if you’re outside the usual assassination range.
Break yellow crystals on enemies if they have any. Doing so deals a big burst of damage to both their health and Ki. Use ranged weapons, Ninjutsu, or vertical strikes to reach them.
Inflict elemental debuffs by hitting enemies with elemental damage. The Uncanny Ninjutsu skills are good for helping you build up status effects.
Ninja Shurikens are great for interrupting enemy attacks. Use them regularly.
Do not neglect Scampusses. Chasing them around might feel tedious, but they’ll often lead you to hidden valuables (they’ll give you some Hair Locks too, which you can use to unlock new skills).
Summon Scampusses against human enemies. Once you get a Scampuss Soul Core, you can call two of these little furballs to help you fight. They can stunlock human enemies.
Check your map constantly. Collectibles, chests, and points of interest will show up regularly, even if you missed them the first time.

2026-02-06 13:36