Nioh 2 Bird In A Cage Walkthrough

Bird In A Cage is the 9th main story mission in Nioh 2. This walkthrough will guide you through all areas of the Bird In A Cage Main Quest.

Bird In A Cage is unlocked when you complete Corpses and Ice.

Recommended Level: 49
Region: Shadow
Requirement: Complete Corpses and Ice
Reward: Samurai’s Locks x1, Kohoku Master’s Helmet, Kohoku Master’s Cuirass, Azai Ichimonji, 14800 Gold, 9392 Amrita

Shrine 1

Before heading to Shrine 1 turn around and go down the path to the dead end and you can find a body to search. From the Shrine going to the right is a dead-end with a body to search, so go into the cave on the left to progress. You pass a shortcut door on the left, then go through a room with a bunch of buckets and two Dwellers. When you come out on the other side there will be two paths you can take, under the wood arches or into the cave. Go into the cave first.

In this cave you will first run into the Yokai Spiders. These enemies aren’t very tough, but they will normally have a bunch of eggs in their general area, and when those eggs around broken they spawn more mini spiders. Head out of the tunnel, then kill the first enemy on the roof. You can then drop down to the lower rooftop on the left to find Kodama #1.

After grabbing the Kodama you’ll need to head out the path beside the building, going through one enemy. Out front there is a guy wandering the middle of the area, and one inside the house. Bait the guy in the middle first, then go into the house and kill the other enemy. Watch out if you go out front of the house because there is a mortar there that will shoot at you while you’re in the middle of the area. From there go back over to the right of the area towards the wood arches, and head back into the cave and get onto the rooftop again.

Go across the rooftop to the other side and kill the enemy by the cave entrance. Go into the cave, and you’ll shortly run into another new Yokai type, a Tesso. These human-sized enemies do things like fart at you and try to scratch you. Their burst attacks are running towards you while swiping their claws quickly, or turning around and charging towards you by propelling themselves with farts. They also potentially drop Dung Balls, which you will need a few of for later. In this room just behind the buckets on the right you’ll find Kodama #2.

Head out the other side of this cave you didn’t come in from and you’ll reach the shortcut door back to Shrine 1. Just beside that, there is an area you can grab an item that will have a spider on the roof. Once you’re done there go back out the cave the way you came in, and wrap around to the left. Up the slight hill there will be a dog, and a Dweller that is operating the cannon. Kill it so that it stops bothering you when you go into the middle of this area.  If you light the left cannon it will also shoot and destroy the guard tower in the distance, killing the enemy with the horn that was inside.

Go down and head to the left, killing the walking human enemy there. Go through the gate then take an immediate right onto the path to get on the roof and grab an item. Drop down and kill the enemy in this house, then run around behind it to find a Sudama.  Go over and grab the items by where the guard tower was and in the middle of the area, then you can head back over to the large gate.

Just ahead there will be a dog by a body, then a Yoki up the hill standing behind a barrel. If you don’t stealth kill the dog the Yoki will try and roll the barrel down the hill towards you, so watch out for that. Kill them both, then one the left side of this hill by the broken building you can find Kodama #3.

Go forward through to the next area, and you will be guaranteed t0 have the enemy in the tower alert the others to where you are. This area has another mortar in it as well, so you need to move forward while avoiding its shots. Hide behind the wall where the first item is, then when it’s not shooting run around to the next wall. Watch near the red barrels, because if those are hit with fire they explode and damage anything around them. If the enemies in the area spot you let them come to you behind the walls so that you aren’t running out and being shot. Kill the enemy in the house, then go behind it to find another enemy and a dog. Watch up the hill, because there is another Yoki that will roll a barrel towards you.

Head up into the Darkness Realm area and kill the Yoki (or bait him down the path to you). Head inside and kill the Skeleton Warrior on the right, then when you’re ready trigger the Yokai Fog in the middle, which spawns a Wairi. You can bait this out the path too if you want for an easier time killing it. Once it’s dead it dispels the Darkness Realm and you can open the nearby chest.

Head back down beside the house, and then run around the left side up to where the mortar is. Kill the couple enemies that will come after you before actually going near the Dweller, along with potentially the Yoki that might have come down the other hill. When you go up there as there is a Skeleton Warrior just off to the side of the Dweller in the bushes, so it is probably better to attract the Dweller first and pull it down the hill a bit so you don’t get surprised by the Skeleton at the same time.

Once those are both dead you can do a repeat of the first area and light the left cannon to shoot the enemy in the tower. You can then head down towards that area through the middle, watching behind the barrel on the right for a Dweller with a barrel on it’s back, which will blow up others.  Kill the one enemy up by the broken walls and grab the items, then go over into the shack with the ladder in the corner and grab Kodama #4.

Head down this ladder into the area below. On the immediate left, you should see one Tesso sitting in the corner, which you should bait over before doing anything else. You can drop attack it off the ladder after it spots you for an easier time killing it. Be careful if another one runs over from the right and attacks you at the same time. When they’re dealt with head over into the main room, and go around to the left. On the right will be an item in a puddle of stinky water, then if you wrap around right there will be a platform with a third Tesso and a corpse, which gives Onmyo Mage’s Locks. Heading into the spider tunnel there will be another Tesso on the right, then a group of Spiders down the tunnel with the eggs. Head out the tunnel up the ladder and you’ll be back in the second mortar area, and can then go over through the large gate to get to Shrine 2.

Shrine 2

From Shrine 2 the only way to progress is immediately into a Darkness Realm. This one also has a guard tower and a mortar in it, so you want to try and get as many enemies back to the door as you can. First, shoot the Yoki directly in front to get it to come out to you. Be careful you don’t move too far back past the Darkness Realm edge or the Yoki will be warped back to its spot inside. After it’s dead there is a Dweller walking on the left you can also shoot to draw over. If you look in front of the one large wood barrier on the way to the mortar spot you can see a Yokai Fog, sprint over to this and then run back so that it spawns a Koroka, and this is what controls this Darkness Realm. You can keep luring it out the door to you, if it warps away it will respawn back in the Yokai Fog inside.

Once it’s dead you can head over to the mortar. Watch up the stairs because there is a Yoki that will push a barrel down towards you. Kill this Yokai near the bottom of the stairs, then head up and kill the other one that is controlling the mortar. You can shoot the left mortar once again to take out the guard tower, then head over to the left part of this upper area and kill the enemy on the rooftop. In the building that that final enemy was standing on you can find a locked chest. Now go over tho the left of this area close to the stairs leading up to the mortar spot and you should see a cave entrance going down.

Down in this cave there will be a Yoki immediately that’s looking at a body. Kill it, then climb the ladder around the corner to the left and kill the Skeleton Warrior up top. From here you can see two Tessos walking around on the left, and a Namahage on the right. What you want to do here is go left first, luring the Tessos one at a time to kill them on their own. Walk around the left side through the water (it’s stinky, not poisonous) while watching for the two poison blobs. Get around and go up the ladder on the left, and you can then go push the barrel onto the Namahage, which will do a significant amount of damage to it. You can then do a drop attack onto it which should stun it, then grapple it when it’s on the ground killing it.

Head back up the ladder and enter the room with the human. This is not an enemy, this is Ryunojo the Dung Lover. He asks you for something to eat, and you can either give him an elixir or Dung Balls. You want to just give him Dung Balls and nothing else. At first he doesn’t want them, but you can just keep giving them to him. They are sometimes found on bodies in this mission and can be dropped by the Tesso when killed.  For the trophy Dungball Roller you need to feed him about 20 – 30 Dung Balls in one playthrough of this mission. You can farm them by resting at the first shrine and killing the Tesso that’s by the shortcut door. If you go down the tunnel just to the left of Ryunojo you get to the ladder you can kick down leading into that room.

When you’re done dealing with him, go down the hallway in the room that the Namahage was standing in front of and you will come to a Yokai Fog that spawns a Waira. If you want to be a bit cheesy here you can climb the ladder just to the right and then do drop attacks onto it. When it’s dead head into the door behind it.

In this area there will be a Skeleton Warrior immediately right, then one Tesso on the left. Around the corner to the left will also be a Yoki by the stairs leading up.  If you head around tot he right where the Sekelton Warrior is there will be a poison Blob on the roof. Continue around the corner and there will be a Dweller up on the right throwing stuff at you, then another Tasso wandering around. After it’s dead look around the small corner to the right to find Kodama #5.

From that Kodama turn around and go up the stairs. At the top of those stairs turn around and go into the next room to find a Scampuss and a small chest in the corner. Go back out of this room and continue forward and you’ll find a room full of spiders. Be careful not to trigger a bunch of the Spiders at once, as their attacks will slow you and it makes it quite hard to fight them when you have three spraying you at once. Note that when you kill the very large spider one time it won’t respawn again during this mission playthrough. When the Spiders are dead head into the next main room. Behind the stairs on the left you can find a Sudama to interact with, and on the right you can find Shrine 3.

Shrine 3

From the shrine go forward into the room with the pillar in the middle, then into the room on the left with the one human enemy. If you then look in the room on the right there will be another enemy sitting by a table, then two more in the second room on the right with the window. In that room there will be a chest, then on the left will be stairs going down with a NPC Benevolent Grave beside them. Head back to the shrine and go through the wall and climb the flight of stairs. At the top in the room, there will be one Dweller behind the wall.

Look to the left across the red bridge and you should see a Yokijust inside the Darkness Realm. Shoot it and bait it towards you outside the Darkness Realm. There will be a Dweller just ahead behind the foldable wall, and then a Namahage walking down the far hallway that you should also bait back out of the Darkness Realm. Once the Namahage is dead the Darkness Realm is dispelled, and you should go forward into the hallway it was in and kill the couple Skeleton Warriors.

After they are dead, go into the corner and open the shortcut door and chest. Now you need to do a bit of puzzle-solving with the bridges and switches. Go across the blue bridge to the other side, and pull the blue switch once.

Go through the nearby double doors that you can open from this side and walk across the red bridge, and pull the switch on the other side. Now you back through the door by the chest you opened earlier, go across the red bridge, then into the small room on the left across the blue bridge with the Bloody Grave in it. In the corner behind the buckets, you can find Kodama #6.

Go back out on to the blue bridge and look down to a hole in the floor. Drop in to there and you can find the Hot Spring for this mission, as well as Kodama #7, which is the final one.

Go out the nearby door and then climb the ladder and you will be in the room where the enemy was sitting by the table earlier. Go back upstairs, then in the circular room drop down the hole onto the table below to grab an item. After that, you can get yourself back upstairs, and go across both bridges and upstairs to enter the boss room.

Azai Nagamasa Boss Fight

Another human boss – this means the standard tactic of running to the side, letting him miss a combo, and then counter-attacking works here too. During the entire fight, always run or walk to the right side. Start running when he attacks, let him miss, then counter-attack with a few hits. Mid-Stance attacks with the spear work really well as they have good reach to poke him from a distance. Repeat the tactic for the entire fight.

Luckily, this boss does the least damage of any boss so far. You can also block his hits, they don’t drain much of your Ki at all, which makes it a good alternative to running sideways and dodging. If you are running but notice you’re within the reach of his next strike, just hold to block it and you’ll be fine.

 

This finishes Bird In A Cage main mission in Nioh 2. Now the mission Pervading Waters becomes available.

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