Nioh 2 Ruin Draws Near Walkthrough

Ruin Draws Near is the 13th main story mission in Nioh 2. This walkthrough will guide you through all areas of the Ruin Draws Near Main Quest.

Ruin Draws Near is unlocked when you complete The Sun Sets On Mount Tenno.

Recommended Level: 72
Region: Twilight
Requirement: Complete The Sun Sets On Mount Tenno
Reward: Samurai’s Locks x1, Urn Splitter Hatchets, Oni Shibata’s Cuirass, Oni Shibata’s Helmet, 21200 Gold, 22032 Amrita

Shrine 1

From the first Shrine the only direction you can go is across the bridge, so start heading that way. Watch for the two Skeleton Warriors just up behind the first barrier, then the Skeleton Axe walking around behind them. Go forward and trigger the Yokai Fog, and kill the Yoki that spawns from it.

Through gate, immediately turn around and go up the ladder to the left. On the balcony behind the open chest on the right, you can find Kodama #1. Now go back down and head up the stairs, and you will already be at Shrine 2.

Shrine 2

The area around the second shrine has a bunch of shortcut doors, and the only way you can currently progress through is the door behind and to the right of it. Go into the building and there will be one Yoki on the ground floor looking at a body. Behind it you can open the door, but don’t do that yet. Go up the nearby ladder and into the next room, shooting the Skeleton across from you. Turn left and look in the corner behind the boxes to find Kodama #2.

Staying in the same building, there is an Aberrant Soldier by the stairs going up you can kill, then drop down the hole into the floor to the lower platform to kill another Skeleton. Drop down onto the floor and go trigger the Yokai Fog to spawn a Wheelmonk, then open the door behind it to get a shortcut back to near Shrine 2. Head up both sets of stairs now to the top floor to find a Darkness Realm. Inside this area there will be one normal Skeleton you can see directly in front of you, a large Axe Skeleton walking around the middle of the area, and a Yoki over to the right of the area by a body.

Shoot the normal Skeleton first, then move forward and shoot the Axe on in the middle to get some free damage and pull it away from the middle of the area. Once it’s dead the Darkness Realm will be dispelled, but you’ll still need to go over and kill the Yoki after as it doesn’t die with the Darkness Realm. Once it’s dead you can grab the nearby items and chests, then ring the bell in the middle by meleeing it. When hit properly a white aura will appear around the bell for a short period, and after the second time hitting it the bell falls to the ground. This is Bell 1 of 6 you need to ring in this level for the Peal of Ten Thousand Bells trophy.

On the top floor go up the short stairs at the back, then down the two sets after. Kick down the ladder before going into the next building. In that building take the lstairs down to the right and you’ll see a Skeleton. Shoot this from above, then walk into the room and on the right you will see an Onyudo facing away from you. This room is the one you could have taken the door into earlier. Carefully deal with the Onyudo without moving too far towards the back of the room, as there is also a Tesso hiding in the corner behind the wall.

When both those enemies are dead go back near where the Skeleton was by the door. If it wasn’t destroyed earlier, there will be a barrel beside a crumbling section of the wall. This part of the wall is destructible and can be broken by shooting this barrel with a matchlock, shooting the wall itself with a cannon, or having the Onyudo run into it when it’s attacking you. Once it’s destroyed, go inside this room and behind the boxes on the right you’ll find Kodama #3.

Go back up the stairs you came down before, and then go across the room to the other side. Take the left at the intersection and you will come to another Darkness Realm with Bell 2 of 6 inside. In here there is one Skeleton Archer to the left, an Ippon-Datara hopping back and forth on the right, and a Wheelmonk at the back. In this area it’s much more useful to do, but if you hit the bell to ring it before killing the enemy controlling the Darkness Realm it will make it disappear for a short period before coming back, as well as do a large amount of Ki damage to any Yokai close by. You can use this to your advantage to kill the enemies inside while not affected fully by the Darkness Realm and to stun Yokai. Once the Ippon-Datara and the Wheelmonk are dead the area Darkness Realm is dispelled, and you should make sure you hit the bell to knock it down.  Grab the nearby chest and item then head up the ramp going up the outside of the building.

At the top of the ramp will be a room with an Aberrant Soldier and a Tesso. You can shoot the barrel near the Tesso to light it on fire, then shoot the Aberrant Soldier to lure it over, before going in and killing the Tesso. When they’re, dead go around the corner inside and drop down the hole in the floor. Behind some boxes you can find Kodama #4.

Open the nearby door and you will be out on the walkway past where you turned left to get to the second bell earlier. Go to the right where there will be one human enemy by a body, then another walking back and forth. Kill both, then kick down the nearby ladder for another shortcut back to shrine 2. Go to the right and there will be a Sudama you can interact with.

Go down the nearby stairs, but don’t open the door there yet. Go to the right around the corner and there will be a bell in the center of the room, Bell 3 of 6, with a human enemy to the right and an Aberrant Soldier on the other side of it. Go around the corner from this Soldier and you will find the Hot Spring for this mission.

Now open the doors leading out of this room into the Darkness Realm. Immediately inside there will be a Skeleton that spots you, so shoot it from just inside the doors. To there left there will be another Skeleton, a Koroka which controls this Darkness Realm, and an Oni-bi. Deal with all them and make sure to ring Bell 4 of 6, then grab the chest. Go back into the prior room and go into the one beside where the soldier was. Look across the fire and you’ll see an item. Quickly dash to it and grab it to find Onmyo Mage’s Locks.

Head back up to the top floor where you dropped down before, then go out the door the Tesso was looking at. Behind a barrel just ahead will be a Skeleton, so you can blow up the barrel before alerting it to damage it. In the next room first go to the left and kick the ladder down for a shortcut back up here if needed. Then go down to the second floor of this building, where you will find two human enemies and a benevolent grave. Go back up and across the path to the right of the ladder you kicked down.  Kill the Aberrant Soldier and grab the item at the end, then go into the doors in the middle building to get to a midboss.

Maeda Toshiie Boss Fight

Maeda Toshiie is a mid-level boss. He’s a human enemy equipped with a spear, strikes quickly, and is agile. But he doesn’t have much health. Keep moving in a circle around him to the left (not right). Moving to the left makes him miss more often than walking to the right. Let him miss a combo, then attack. What really comes in handy here is the Paralytic Groundfire skill (Ninja Skill Tree). It’s absolutely not mandatory, but if you have unlocked it bring as many as you can carry, place them on the floor and stand in them while blocking. When the boss enters the trap radius it will paralyze him for a few seconds. Get behind him to perform a death blow for massive damage and keep attacking while he’s on the floor. Doing that a few times will take away most of his health already. If you don’t have that skill don’t worry, just whittle down his health a few hits at a time and keep up the circle running to the left. If you play the Spear weapon you can also easily sweep him off his feet with the “Spearfall” skill, allowing you to perform an instant death blow while he’s on the floor.

 

When the boss is defeated, head out the door opposite where you enter to get to Shrine 3.

Shrine 3

From Shrine 3, grab the couple items in the room, then go up the stairs and open the door to enter a Darkness Realm. In this area you will see an Oni-bo, a Koroka, and an Aberrant Soldier across on the other side of the area. You can’t get over there yet, you need to drop down to the lower area towards the right first where there a Wheelmonk rolling around. To the left of this area there is another NPC Benevolent Grave you can summon with if you want. Once the Wheelmonk is dead you can go around the left to find an item to grab, then go towards the stairs to find an Onyuda at the bottom.

Down on the lower floor there will be an Aberrant Soldier to the right, then to the right of it a Nurikabe wall. If you note the nearby Bloody Grave it’ll say what behavior type made the wall angry, so first use the other type and if that doesn’t work use the third. Go through this wall and into the corner to find Kodama #5.  Open the nearby chest to also find a Ninja’s Locks.

Go back out into the main room and you should see an Ippon-Datara at the end, and a Skeleton to it’s right. There is also Bell 5 of 6 in the corner, which you can use to help yourself with the Ippon-Datara. Shoot the Skeleton first, then bait the Ippon over near the bell so you can ring it to affect it. When it’s dead the Darkness Realm will be dispelled in this room. Don’t go out the door behind where it was standing yet, there are more things to grab in this room first. Go over to the right behind where the Skeleton was and there is a Sudama you can interact with.

Go back near the stairs you came down to this level and you’ll see you can walk up the pillars in the room, going through an Aberrant Soldier and a Skeleton. Go up to the top floor and the Oni-bi will have the Koroka and the other Aberrant Soldier left to deal with up here. You can ring the nearby bell, with is Bell 6 of 6, which will award the trophy Peal of Ten Thousand Bells if you rang all 5 prior. You can push down the burning pillar for a path back over to where the shrine was and a shortcut over here to get to the boss room, which is up the stairs behind where the Koroka was.

Go around the room behind where the final bell was and drop down the broken flight of stairs. On that platform you will find Kodama #6. Drop down to the bottom floor and go out the door behind where the Ippon-Datara was and you will find Kodama #7, the final one for this mission.

Now you have grabbed everything in this mission, you can head up the stairs to the top floor and go through the doors to get to the boss room.

Shibata Katsuie Boss Fight

Shibata Katsuie is a Yokai monster boss with tusks like a boar and he uses fire element. He spends most of the fight charging at you, which you can’t outrun and must instead dodge out of the way a moment before he hits you.

As usual, the first mission in a new region tends to be the hardest due to having fewer Kodama, thus fewer Elixirs on respawn. Be sure you find the 7 Kodama in this mission so you start out with 4 instead of 3 Elixirs. Also equip as many Rejuvenation Talisman as you can carry (Onmyo Magic Skill). It heals you over time and each Rejuvenation is like having an extra Elixir on you. Make sure you have light armor on below 30% equipment weight for faster Ki recovery and to be more agile (you need to move a lot in this fight).

Now for the fight itself: Remember that attacking from behind does double the damage, so let’s make use of that knowledge. I would recommend staying in mid-stance for this. Low-stance doesn’t do enough damage and high-stance can be a bit too slow. The spear works great here again. Its mid-stance  attack has big Ki drain on enemies and is very agile. Once his Ki is depleted you can unload a few combos on him.

There are 3 moves after which you can safely attack (don’t attack after anything else):

1. His grapple move (indicated by white fog) – dodge to the side just a moment before he hits you (after he has started jumping towards you). Then you can land 2-3 hits from behind. Do not try to outrun this, he’ll home in on you anyway. Dodging only!
2. His charge – he will charge back and forth a number of times. Sometimes twice, sometimes 4 or more times (the amount is random). Don’t try to outrun this, he’ll home in on you and hit you. Instead, stand still and let him charge at you like a bull and dodge away in the last moment. Then he has no chance to correct course and will charge past you. Wait till he’s done charging back and forth, then land 2-3 hits from behind.
3. His red aura (charged) multi-strike combo. This attack is absolutely devastating. Get good at Burst-countering it. If your timing is off just keep hitting  +  Burst Counter 3 times in a row. Odds are, one of the 3 will Burst-Counter him through sheer luck. Even if the timing is off, it can still block the incoming damage of his strikes. Try to use the first Burst Counter when he’s about to land his first strike on you. If you fail, repeat the Burst Counter a few more times to protect yourself from damage (if you don’t he will kill you). If the burst counter works you can land ~3 hits from the front. If you block or evade his charged attack, he will need a good 5 seconds to recover so get behind him and do a combo from behind.

Just focus on ‘exploiting’ these 3 moves. Really all you need is to learn those 3 & dodge everything else. The trouble is his move set is really random sometimes and he will add a strike to his combos which you can’t predict (e.g. after slashing down, he may or may not follow up with a slash up). It’s not worth the risk. So play it safe, dodge his attacks, attack from behind between the 3 above-mentioned moves.

 

This finishes Ruin Draws Near main mission in Nioh 2. Now the mission The Two Faces of Hospitality becomes available.

For all other Mission Walkthroughs, check out our complete Nioh 2 Walkthrough.