Nioh 2 Boss Guide (All Bosses)

Nioh 2 contains lots of boss fights. This Nioh 2 Boss Guide will walk you through the best tactics to defeat all bosses in the game. They are listed in chronological order below. Some bosses appear more than once in different variants and environments, all of their encounters are listed here.

General Tips:

• Get the Kodama in every mission! Every 5 Kodama in a region gives you +1 Elixir on respawn (if you find all 25 in a region you respawn with 8 instead of 3 Elixirs, making bosses a lot easier).
• Summon Benevolent Graves (blue graves). This gives you an AI companion to aid in battle. To summon them you must first defeat Revenants from red graves to get the required cups.
• You can also summon visitors (other human players) at Shrines in exchange for cups. They will help you out until they die or leave your game.
• When reaching a new boss, do a test round where you just block and dodge without even attacking. Memorize their attack pattern and after which attacks they are slow to recover, giving you an opportunity to counter-attack.
• The same basic strategy works in 95% of fights: Run sideways in a big circle around the boss, let them miss a combo. After they miss you land a single high-stance heavy hit and repeat. Also try to get behind the boss while they miss their combo, as attacks from behind do double the damage.
• Nioh 2 Wiki & Strategy Guide
• Nioh 2 All Boss Fight Videos – YouTube Playlist
• Nioh 2 Walkthrough (All Missions)

Recommended Build:

First of all, every weapon can defeat any boss. Pick what weapon feels the most natural to you, whatever you like best. However, there is a very beginner-friendly setup and if you have trouble early on just give this a try:

• Recommended Weapon: Spear — it has the longest reach and you can attack with it while sprinting. It allows you to reach some weakpoints of enemies that’d be hard to hit with a short sword. It’s also faster than other long weapons and can easily sweep human bosses off their feet. In addition, its damage is mostly affected by Constitution which is the most useful attribute as it gives you more health.
• Attributes: Start by bringing all attributes to level 10 for a solid all-rounder (Dexterity can be ignored). Then put everything in Constitution. When you get to the point that armor requires higher level of Skill to activate its effects, put more points in Skill. Also put some points into Magic.
• Armor: Stick with low weight armor, below 30% total equipment weight. It vastly increases your Ki recovery speed so you can run, dodge and attack more. Your dodges are also faster.
• Onmyo Magic: Equip “Rejuvenation Talisman” & “Steel Talisman” in equal amounts. Rejuvenation allows you to continuously heal yourself over time and Steel increases your armor.
• Guardian Spirits: Go for the ones with high defense value. Because you’re wearing low weight armor it helps to get a defense boost elsewhere.
• Skills: “Spear Flourish” can stunlock most human bosses by simply attacking and doing Ki Bursts. The Spear Flourish knocks them back and most bosses aren’t able to attack you at all. Use “Spearfall” for a quick high-damage combo, which also allows you to sweep human enemies off their feet to do an instant deathblow. This move offers one of the best damage per second ratios in the game.

Boss #1 – Mezuki

• Main Mission: The Village of Cursed Blossoms
• Mission Level: 1
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 6/10

Mezuki is a monster that looks like a horse and attacks with a long sword, which allows it to hit very far. Sometimes it will use grapples from up close or shoot skulls that home in on you from afar. The key to winning this fight is to break Mezuki’s Ki bar (the purple “stamina” bar at bottom of screen), this will stagger him. Then you can attack freely for a few seconds to deal massive damage without any risk. First, just spend some time studying his move set, keep your distance and don’t even worry about attacking. Watch it 2 or 3 minutes until you have all its combos memorized so you know which is the last attack in a combo. In particular, after it finishes a 3 strike combo is a good time to attack its head. Land 2 High-Stance attacks with the Spear, then run far enough back that it can’t hit you. You will need to get a feeling for how far it can hit with its attacks. Try to bait it into attacking by being within its attack radius but quickly run back to avoid the damage. When it finishes a combo, land 1-2 High-Stance hits and retreat. Another hugely important thing to watch out for is the charged-up attacks with a red glow. Whenever it’s about to land a red glowing attack counter it with + (“Burst Counter”). The timing is important, hit this combo just as the boss is about to hit you. It consumes some of your purple bar (“Anima”) but deals massive Ki drain to the boss. Always exploit those red charged attacks against him until his Ki is depleted! This is the major difference to the first Nioh, it’s much more about countering in Nioh 2 than it was in the first game. You should also use a Soul Core attack + / + when his Ki is nearly deplete. One of these should be enough to finish off his Ki bar. Then be ready to attack in high-stance. If he goes on his knees, attack from behind for double the damage! Use KI Pulse with between attacks to recover Ki, which helps to maximize your damage output.

After his Ki is depleted the first time, he will summon a Yokai Realm that slows your Ki regeneration and he will get stronger. Just exploit his red charged attack with Burst Counters + and land a hit when it’s safe. When his Ki is depleted the second time he will usually go on his knees so you can attack from behind for double the damage (note: attacks from behind give +200% damage multiplier on all bosses). After this he shouldn’t have much left. Just use Burst Counter on his red charged attacks and land single High-Stance hits when he missed a combo.

Also remember you get 3 Elixirs with every respawn for free, by default they are mapped to to restore your health (these are infinite and you always get 3 when you respawn, so use them, they are for free). To increase the number of starting Elixirs you must find the Kodama in this level. The way it works is that every region has 25 Kodama. Every 5 Kodama found gives you +1 Elixirs when you respawn (so if you found 5 Kodama you will always respawn with 4 instead of 3 Elixirs). This makes bosses a lot easier as you have more health recoveries! There are 7 Kodama Locations in this mission so be sure to grab them all right away to get another free Elixir Slot and keep doing so for future levels.

Boss #2 – Enenra

• Main Mission: The Beast Born of Smoke and Flames
• Mission Level: 8
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 6/10

Before heading into the fight, be sure to sit in the hot spring nearby. You find it behind the enemy-wall on the ground floor of the burning building. It will continually heal you and give you a stat boost for a while.

For this boss you just need one move: Heavy attacks in High-Stance with Spear (same should work with most other weapons but spear is perfect here). Always run sideways to the left. Keep running in a circle around Enenra, he will miss all strikes and kicks while you run to the left. By the time he finishes a combo (usually 2-4 attacks) you will already be behind him and can do one High-Stance Spear attack. Attacking from behind deals +200% bonus damage. High stance heavy attacks also do the most damage / Ki drain in one hit and its multiplied by attacking from behind. Repeat this tactic throughout the entire fight.

When you see explosives on the floor, dodge away and let them explode. Just focus on exploiting his melee attacks (run left so he misses, do 1 heavy hit from behind, repeat). For anything else just dodge backward. As you get more comfortable with his move pattern you can also try to land a high-stance strike after he detonates the explosives on the floor or does a body slam. This is more risky as he has less downtime between these moves.

Be on the lookout for his red charged attacks! Especially his tornado move, ALWAYS counter this one with + (Burst Counter). Evading the tornado or blocking it rarely succeeds, so you’ll have to Burst Counter it instead. This also deals massive Ki damage to Enenra, after which you can follow up with of the spear – this triggers the Piercing Rain skill for massive damage. When his Ki is depleted he will get staggered while you attack, but beware he will always transform a few seconds after his Ki has become depleted. 10 seconds after his Ki has become depleted you’ll want to dodge away, because he will shroud himself inside a tornado while going to Yokai Realm form. While in Yokai Realm form your Ki recovers slower, but the same tactic of running to the left and landing single heavy hits still works. The most dangerous moves are his charged grapple and his charged tornado (both indicated by red glow and can be countered with Burst Counter).

Again, remember to get all Kodama in this level before the boss, so that you start out with more Elixirs on respawn!

Boss #3 – Gozuki

• Side Mission: A Voice in the Twilight
• Mission Level: 11
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 3/10

This side mission is like an arena where you fight waves of enemies. Gozuki is the boss at the end. You will already have encountered him at the start of the first main mission. He as a very similar move set to the first boss “Mezuki” but is easier to kill.

You just need to run/dodge sideways, try to get behind him. From behind you deal more damage. If you can’t dodge an attack, just block it. While blocking will drain your Ki bar, it is the safest option and the boss usually does single 1-strike attacks that take him a while to recover from. If you conserved your Elixirs during the previous enemies it won’t be too bad. Remember the more Kodama you have found, the more Elixirs you’ll spawn with. So if you have trouble, get all Kodama first, level up some more and return later.

Boss #4 – Yatsu-no-Kami

• Main Mission: The Viper’s Sanctum
• Mission Level: 15
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 4/10

Yatsu-no-Kami is a slow snake boss with a predictable move set. The main attacks you can easily exploit are: 1) when he slows his two snake arms into the ground to make them spawn through the ground, it leaves him completely defenseless for a long combo; 2) his red charged attack when he slithers forward, run sideways so he misses and do a combo as he slithers past you. When he slithers back the other way repeat the same.

You can also try to exploit his throwing moves, by moving in a 45° angle sideways towards him, he will miss you and be defenseless for a short moment, but beware he may follow up with some grapple or melee move right after, so this is more risky.

When his Ki is depleted he’ll drop his two snake arms and they will attack you too. Obviously, fighting only 1 instead of 3 enemies is easier. So your priority should be to destroy his two snake arms before his Ki is depleted, then it’s easy pickings as it’s only the boss on his own. Just attack his snake arms from the side and they will fall off. If one of them is still intact when he goes into Yokai Realm mode, focus on the small snake first before attacking the boss. His moves remain the same throughout all phases of the fight, so just repeat the above.

Only use one attack: Spear High-Stance with Spearfall Skill unlocked (requires spear proficiency) – this move has long reach and a big hitbox to easily hit the snake arms. With other weapons and may be hard to hit the snake arms due to limited reach, but if you are using another weapon stick to high-stance heavy attacks for maximum damage per hit.

Boss #5 – Imagawa Yoshimoto

• Main Mission: The Hidden Monsters of Okehazama
• Mission Level: 21
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 2/10

Imagawa Yoshimoto is the first human boss in the game. You’ll find that human bosses are generally much easier than monsters, due to their limited reach, more predictable move sets, the ability to do death blows on them, and they usually don’t use Dark Realm phases. You can approach him like you would a normal non-boss enemy. You have plenty of space so just run to the left around him, or dodge backwards. When he misses an attack combo, you can attack. To keep things simple, do single high-stance heavy attacks and whittle down his health one hit at a time. He doesn’t have much health nor does he deal much damage. Only when he summons his spirit animal you’ll want to run sideways so you don’t get hit by the lightning elemental.

Boss #6 – Imagawa Yoshimoto (2nd Encounter) “Imagawa Diehard”

• Side Mission: Imagawa Diehard
• Mission Level: 23
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 2/10

Just after beating this boss in the last main mission, you get to fight him again right away in the next sub mission. He’s the same as before, exact same strategy.

Boss #7 – Kamaitachi

• Main Mission: The Mysterious One Night Castle
• Mission Level: 28
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 3.5/10

Kamaitachi is a big cat monster. It is relatively quick, climbs trees and jumps around a lot but it doesn’t do much damage nor does it have much health. Make sure you interact with the 1st Shrine, in case you need to respawn it’s the closest one. On the path from 1st Shrine to the boss is a hot spring which you should also use to get continuous healing for a while. And as always, find all Kodama in the region to get more Elixirs on respawn.

In the fight use mid-stance or high-stance. With the spear the mid-stance combo works best. Always walk in a 45° angle to the left and it will miss most attacks. It has a 3-attack combo where it does a tail spin at the end, the tail spin you’ll want to block as it’s harder to dodge. Also watch out when it does a red charged move at close range, it’s a grab that does high damage. Always burst-counter + when you see it doing the grapple. When it climbs on a tree, hold the block button. It will always shoot a projectile at you when it climbs a tree, but blocking it is safe and doesn’t drain much Ki. Its 2nd move from the tree will be a spinning attack towards you. If it’s a red charged spin, just walk to the left to evade it. If it’s a non-charged spin you can easily block it. After it spins from the tree it’s wide open for attacks. Always try to attack it from the left side. Instead of dodging it’s safer to just walk in 45° angle to the left and block all attacks, since they don’t drain much Ki. Attack from the side each time it finishes an attack / combo.

Boss #8 – Tsukahara Bokuden

• Dojo Mission: Way of the Warrior – Adept
• Mission Level: N/A
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 1/10

Tsukahara is a very basic human boss, not much different from normal Samurai you encounter all the time. The main difference is he uses a Ki burst move. With the spear it’s very easy to break his guard. Just keep poking him with mid-stance spear attacks until his Ki is depleted, do a finisher and repeat. Just run away from him and when he runs towards you, poke him with the spear. He can’t run and attack at the same time and the AI has trouble defending against the spear poke.

Boss #9 – Saito Yoshitatsu

• Main Mission: The Hollow Fortress
• Mission Level: 33
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 3/10

Saito Yoshitatsu is a human boss and he can transform into all 3 types of guardian spirit (Brute, Feral, Phantom). While he’s in human form you only need one move: High-Stance Spear, attack once with , followed by Spear Flourish skill (bought from Spear Skill list, simply press to do a Ki Burst). Repeat these two moves to whittle down his health and Ki. So all you press is and repeat in Spear High-Stance. It will constantly stagger him and push him into a corner. The only thing he’ll be able to do is grapples. When you see his hand casting white fog, dodge away, then repeat the Strike+Spear Flourish combo.

Twice during the fight he will shift to a random guardian spirit form. If he uses the electric one you can still stagger him with Strike+Spear Flourish. If he uses the fire type, just let him miss a combo, then land 1-2 hits on him and repeat. If he uses the purple ranged type it’s too risky so just run away from him until he goes back to human form after a minute. When he’s back in human form you can again exploit the Spear Flourish Skill. This skill is quite overpowered against human bosses as it stunlocks them for the entire fight and they won’t be able to move or attack. This works against most human bosses.

Boss #10 – Hachisuka Koroku

• Side Mission: The Shiftling’s Wise Judgement
• Mission Level: 36
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 1/10

If you recruit Shibata to your team at the start of this side mission, you will get to fight Hachisuka at the end (and vice versa).

The fight is extremely easy because you will have an AI ally with you that cannot die (he can get knocked out but you can revive him unlimited times). Just let you AI ally take the attacks while you stay back and land some hits from behind. On the way to the boss you can also make use of the hot spring. Because the AI has infinite health and does all the work for you, it’s a free win for you.

Boss #11 – Shibata Katsuie (Human Form)

• Side Mission: The Shiftling’s Wise Judgement
• Mission Level: 36
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 1/10

If you recruit Hachisuka to your team at the start of this side mission, you will get to fight Shibata at the end (and vice versa).

The fight is extremely easy because you will have an AI ally with you that cannot die (he can get knocked out but you can revive him unlimited times). Just let you AI ally take the attacks while you stay back and land some hits from behind. On the way to the boss you can also make use of the hot spring. Because the AI has infinite health and does all the work for you, it’s a free win for you.

Boss #12 – Tatarimokke

• Main Mission: A Way Out
• Mission Level: 38
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 4/10

Tatarimokke is a big owl boss. Throughout the entire fight, always run to the left, especially while it’s on the ground. Don’t bother attacking it much while it’s on the ground. The one move you’ll want to exploit is when it flies up in the air. Then it will always shoot mist skulls at you (run in 45* angle forward so they miss), followed by knives (block them), again mist skulls and knives, finishing with a red charged dive attack. The red charged dive you can either burst dodge if you feel good about your timing, or you can simply run to the left and it will miss 100% of the time. The owl always does this exact sequence of moves while in the air. After it has missed its dive attack you can attack from behind. Wait until it flies again and repeat. Only attack after this fly/dive sequence and you’ll be safe.

Twice during the fight it will summon a Dark Realm with a red orb. You can either run away and wait for the Dark Realm to go away on its own (after about a minute), or you can destroy the red orb. Be careful though, the owl will attack you while you focus on the orb. Only attack the orb after the owl has done its aforementioned combo (fly-skulls-knives-skulls-knives-dive). Make sure it dives away from the red orb, not towards it (stand in opposite direction to lure it). Also ensure your Ki bar is sufficiently full so you can unload a strong combo on the red orb to destroy it in one go. If this gives you trouble just wait it out and let the Dark Realm go away on its own. So remember, just run to the left at all times around the owl and exploit that one flying dive move against it.

Boss #13 – Obsidian Samurai

• Side Mission: A Formal Match
• Mission Level: 45
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 2.5/10

Obsidian Samurai is a human boss, which means back to basic mid-stance spear poke tactics. Throughout the entire fight, run towards the right side. Let him miss a combo, then in spear mid-stance poke him with one time. Repeat until he’s dead. When you see him use his spirit animal, get as far away as possible and run quickly to the right – he may be about to charge at you, and running sideways is the best option to not get hit by this. His other moves are basic axe / sword combos.

Boss #14 – Magara Naotaka

• Main Mission: Corpses and Ice
• Mission Level: 44
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 6/10

Magara Naotaka is an ice giant boss. He has the most health of any boss so far. Single hits of him don’t do too much damage but he does lots of combos, any one of which can kill you if you’re not careful. Luckily, all attacks are easy to evade – simply keep running to the left at all times! Having light armor (below 30% equipment weight) helps to boost Ki (stamina) recovery speed so you can keep running. Find the sweet spot where you are close enough for him to attack, but far enough away that he can’t hit you. Run in a circle around him to the left, and by the time he’s done with his combo you will be behind him or to his side and can land 1-2 mid-stance hits (if you can manage to attack from behind you do double the damage!). Again the spear comes in handy here due to its extended reach – just use one or two spear pokes in mid-stance. In this fight you must dodge a lot so it’s best to stick to mid-stance which has good defense and doesn’t use much Ki on dodges. Don’t use high-stance, it consumes too much Ki and the dodges are too slow for this boss.

Don’t try landing long combos on him, he’ll just hit you. Play it safe and whittle down his health one hit at a time. The fight takes a while but as long as you stick to the 1-hit rule (2 at most) you will be relatively safe. If you are wearing heavy armor you may get in trouble with Ki recovery speed, so switch it for light armor to get below 30% equipment weight.

Also, there’s a hot spring before the boss. It’s behind the hidden wall left side before the boss, where 3 samurai enemies are standing. If health is an issue for you, hop in the hot spring before the fight to get health recovery for some time. Also find all Kodama in the region (7 in first main mission and 8 here). Every 5 Kodama in the region gives +1 free Elixir slot on respawn (8+7 Kodama in region so far = 15. Means you’ll start out with 6 instead of 3 Elixirs!). This gives you more starting Elixirs when you respawn = more heals during the boss. Also use Rejuvenation Talisman (Onmyo Magic skill), it heals you continuously over time. With this you should have plenty of extra health.

Beware that this boss learns new moves from the first time he enters Dark Realm mode. Especially his red charged combo has many strikes and the last hit has super long range. Outrunning the last hit of the combo often fails, that’s why you should block the last hit instead (but not the hits before it), or even better try to Burst Counter it if you feel your timing is on point. He also starts casting ice spikes from the ground later in the fight, but these can easily be outrun when you stick to the rule of always running left at all times.

Boss #15 – Honda Tadakatsu

• Side Mission: Horns on Head, Dragonfly in Hand
• Mission Level: 52
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 2/10

Honda was already in the first Nioh game. He uses a spear and electric spirit animal. Just like with most human bosses the same tactic applies. Run sideways near him so he misses all of his attacks (he usually does spear stabs which are really easy to outrun), when he finishes he’ll be vulnerable and you can land a few hits. Repeat. Stick to mid-stance or high-stance for optimum damage output. You also get his spirit animal “Shin-Roku” as a reward.

Boss #16 – Azai Nagamasa

• Main Mission: Bird In A Cage
• Mission Level: 49
• Recommended Weapon: Spear / Any
• Difficulty: 2/10

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.

Boss #17 – Onryoki

• Side Mission: The Golden Nation
• Mission Level: 50
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 4/10

Onryoki was the second boss in the original Nioh game. If you played it, you will already be very familiar with this boss. Luckily, this time you encounter him much later in the game when you are already stronger and have more skills to choose from, so he’s easier than in the original. In the first phase he will whirl around two big steel balls. These do huge damage. Take it slow here – only landing single high-stance hits every time he finishes a whirl or when he’s done slamming the steel balls in front of him. Always try to attack him from behind for a x200% damage multiplier. Only do single hits and no combos, he spins around much too quickly and will just hit you. So remember: single high-stance hits only, thus you whittle down his health one hit at a time between his attacks. At about 66% health he will let go off the steel balls. Then he attacks with his hands only – which means he has much less reach than before. Now you can get some 2-3 hit combos in. Always keep moving sideways to get behind him. By the time he finished a combo you will be standing behind him and can unleash some quick hits. Retreat and repeat.

Boss #18 – Saito Yoshitatsu (2nd Encounter)

• Side Mission: The Point of No Return
• Mission Level: 52
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 1/10

See Boss #9 “Saito Yoshitatsu”. It’s the exact same boss with the exact same move set. The same strategy as before works. This time it’s even easier! Use the ramp by the yellow crystals, drop down the top part of the ramp and let him drop down after you. While he drops down he’s completely defenseless and you can hit him in mid-air. Just run up the ramp again and repeat, you can land free hits on him until he’s dead (particularly useful while he’s transformed). Due to this exploit he will never be able to hit you, making it one of the easiest fights in the game.

Boss #19 – Oda Nobunaga

• Side Mission: The Demon King’s Blade
• Mission Level: 53
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 1/10 (with Spear Flourish skill)

One of the easiest bosses in the game with Spear High-Stance skill “Spear Flourish”. It’s one of the starting skills with Spear that only requires 1 proficiency point to unlock, allowing you to stunlock the boss the entire fight without ever taking a hit from him. All you do is press and repeat (High-Stance, Spear only). The triggers the Spear Flourish skill, which knocks back this boss (and pretty much all other human bosses) during your Ki burst. Then you land one hit and repeat this cycle until the boss is dead. Once he’s pushed into a corner he can’t do anything. Make sure you time your Ki bursts correctly to recharge as much Ki as possible (watch the red Ki bar below your health, when the white bar after your attack is filled you press to recover the Ki that attack used). This way you can keep going like this forever. Also wear light armor so your Ki recovers faster (below 30% equipment weight) or go at it without any armor at all. This tactic turns an otherwise strong boss into a complete joke.

Boss #20 – Magara Naotaka (2nd Encounter) + Revenant

• Side Mission: The Brother’s Blades
• Mission Level: 46
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 7.5/10

Even though this side mission becomes available sooner, it is highly recommended you wait at least until you’ve reached region 4 and got better gear / higher level. This is the hardest encounter so far. First you must fight some weaker enemies before Magara Naotaka (the giant ice boss) spawns again. For the first half of the fight it’s identical to the previous encounter (see Boss #14). But then he will spawn a powerful Revenant to aid him. Do NOT focus on the revenant, don’t even bother attacking it. If you do, it’s easy to lose track of the main boss who will just bombard you with attacks you won’t see coming. So keep the ice boss locked in with and only focus on him. The same tactic as during the first half of the fight still applies for the most part. You’ll want to stay in mid-stance because you need to dodge a lot (more efficient than high-stance dodges). The one single attack you’ll want to exploit is when he slams the ground to shoot ice/projectile in a straight line at you. When he does it, move towards him in a 45° angle. The projectile will miss you 100% of the time this way and you’ll be close to the boss and can land 1-3 hits (with spear use only mid stance to attack, but other weapons will work too). The spear is great here due to its extended reach. How many hits you’ll be able to land depends on how close the revenant is. Magara can’t do anything for a few seconds after using his projectile/ice projectile attack, so as you attack him from behind (double damage from behind) watch what the Revenant is doing. If you see it starting an attack, dodge away!

Make sure you are wearing light armor below 30% equipment weight. You need to be very agile during this fight. Always run in a big circle around the boss and the revenant. Only run away, never attack until he does the projectile attack. That’s the only time you’ll want to attack to stay safe. After Magara is down you still need to defeat the Revenant. Let it run towards you, then land single hits. It can’t attack or defend itself while it’s running so those are free hits to land. Only do a single hit, keep walking backwards, do another single hit and repeat until it’s dead. Sometimes you will see it do a charged attack, which will be a spear stab. When it does, dodge to the right side to evade it easily.

Also, definitely make sure you have found all 25 Kodama Locations in the 3rd Region “Shadow”, so that you start out with more Elixirs after dying (you will need the healing here). Having the Rejuvenation Onmyo Magic skill also helps as it heals you over time. Use these instead of Elixirs during the early phase of the fight, thus conserving your Elixirs for when you most need them later on. Having a good weapon and good set of armor can make all the difference. If you have too much trouble, skip the boss for now and come back after you’re level 100, at which point he’ll be quite easy to kill.

Boss #21 – Saika Magoichi

• Main Mission: Pervading Waters
• Mission Level: 54
• Recommended Weapon: Spear / Any
• Difficulty: 6/10

Saika is a boss that already appeared in the first Nioh game, but this time you don’t need to fight him in a burning room. Instead, you have a very spacious room with lots of pillars to take advantage of. What makes this human boss special is that he can fly like a bird. You don’t want to deal with him while he’s flying. As soon as he starts flying, stand behind a pillar and wait until he shoots 3 times. The pillars will block all his shots. When he has done that he will drop back down to the ground, giving you a few seconds to attack (high-stance recommended for maximum damage).

Never go out in the open, the boss constantly shoots around the place and he has some powerful combos and a burning melee attack that can one-hit you. Instead, camp behind the pillars. Wait until he gets close to you. If he shoots, let him – the pillar blocks the shots. When he is close to the other side of the pillar you strike while he’s on the move! He usually won’t block while running towards you. Essentially you’ll want to hit him around the pillar. Land as many hits as your Ki bar can afford, then retreat behind another pillar and repeat.

One move you need to be wary of is when he summons some fireballs. These home in on you even if you are behind a pillar. When he uses this, run towards the fireballs at a 45° angle. Make sure you run from where you are to the other side of the arena. Because you run in an angle the fireballs will all miss you. Once the fireballs are gone it’s camping behind a pillar again until Saika gets close.

He also likes to throw bombs sometimes. These do splash damage, but you can block them with while you camp behind the pillars.

Boss #22 – Gyuki

• Main Mission: Pervading Waters
• Mission Level: 54
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 2/10

Gyuki is the biggest monster you have faced so far. However, for one of its size it doesn’t have that much health. It’s very slow. All you must do is walk to the side of its belly, then land High-Stance hits. Whenever you see it jumping in the air, block right away! That’s all you do all fight long. Never stay in front of it! As long as you stick to the side of its belly it cannot attack you other than by jumping (which is really easy to see and block). Even if your Ki is very low it will still block the full damage amount! So essentially you just need to learn how to block this one move and stay on its side, then it’s an easy fight.

Boss #23 – Tsukahara Bokuden (2nd Encounter)

• Dojo Mission: Way of the Warrior – Veteran
• Mission Level: N/A
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 1/10

See boss #8, the exact same tactics apply, it’s the same boss from before.

Boss #24 – Gozuki + Mezuki (Double Boss)

• Side Mission: The Refined Man of the Underworld
• Mission Level: 57
• Recommended Weapon: Spear + Paralytic Groundfire Ninjutsu
• Difficulty: 5/10

This fight starts out with a Gaki and Enki enemy. Then Gozuki spawns in on his own. But when he’s down to 10% health Mezuki spawns in as well and you have to fight both of them at the same time for a moment. Keep focusing on Gozuki until he’s dead. Having the Paralytic Groundfire Ninjutsu comes in handy. Pack at least 2 of them, more if you can. Let Gozuki walk into them and he’ll get stunned. Then very quickly get behind his back and unload your strongest combo on him. One of these should be enough to finish off the remaining 10% on his health bar. Then it’s just you against Mezuki.

For the individual boss tactics see Boss #1 & Boss #3.

Luckily, this fight is actually a lot easier than when you encountered Mezuki the first time. The bosses are still low level while you are now a much higher level. Because of this their attacks barely do any damage on you, so don’t worry too much about getting hit, as long as you have a few healing items left. If health is an issue, collect all 25 Kodama in the region first to always respawn with 8 Elixirs.

Boss #25 – Kasha

• Main Mission: The Frenzied Blaze
• Mission Level: 60
• Recommended Weapon: Spear / Any
• Difficulty: 7.5/10

Kasha is the first boss where you can’t just run left or right the entire time to evade all attacks. She drives on two wheels which leave behind flames on the ground. She will do AOE attacks with them, creating circles of fire across the arena or driving towards you and leaving a trail of fire behind. The main thing is not to start burning from her fire elemental attacks as this will deal burning damage over time.

Ideally, you’ll come prepared with at least 2 Firestop Talisman (Onmyo Magic Skill Tree). These increase your fire resistance. Also buy the “Firebreak II” skill in Onmyo skill tree to get +8 fire resistance. If you ever do start burning, heal yourself with a Daion-Jin’s Sake if you have any (assign to a shortcut via usable item menu). With all of this her fire damage isn’t as punishing as it would be otherwise.

Now for the tactic: There are two moves you can exploit, meaning after those two it’s safe to land your longest combo as she won’t counter-attack or defend herself.

Firstly, when she comes rushing towards you and leaves behind a trail of fire, run or dodge to the right (not left). When she passes by you, immediately run towards her! As soon as she stops, unleash your highest damage combo on her (that’s generally high-stance). She won’t do anything for about 4-5 seconds. If you manage to break the yellow crystals on the side of her wheels she suffers bonus damage, so focus on those when possible.

Secondly, when she does a red aura (charged) move where she comes sliding towards you in a straight line and leaves two trails of fire behind, she will be defenseless for about 3-4 seconds, enough to get ~3 hits in.

Other than for those two moves you don’t want to go near her or attack her, it’s too risky. Walk away from her in a straight line backwards and block any attacks that are within your reach. Don’t bother with dodging too much, odds are you will get hit by her whip attack, which is much easier and safer to block (it doesn’t consume a lot of Ki). Remember even if your Ki is near depleted it will still fully block incoming damage of one attack.

When she goes into Dark Realm mode she will summon a sawblade that homes in on you and chases you for about 30 seconds. Just run in big circles around the arena and don’t bother with attacking her until that sawblade is gone.

During her second Dark Realm phase, be prepared for her to summon two small Gaki on you! They have half the health of the usual Gaki but do double the damage and are extremely aggressive! Kill them quickly but safely, running away until she does another of those fire trail attacks that causes her to not attack for the next 5 seconds. Keep your Yokai Shift transformation for the final stretch when she’s below 10% health.

All in all, she’s the hardest boss so far, but if you have decent fire resistance and heal the fire right away your elixirs will last much longer into the fight, and knowing when to attack and when not to is the key to success. Don’t rush it and stay safe so you don’t get burnt.

Boss #26 – Ryomen Sukuna

• Main Mission: The Sun Sets on Mount Tenno
• Mission Level: 66
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 2.5/10

Ryomen Sukuna is a big Yokai boss that has a fire half and a water half. He can switch between them but generally attacks with his fire half and uses the water half for ranged support attacks.

The main moves you’ll want to exploit are his red aura charged attacks. Always + Burst Counter them. Luckily, they are relatively easy to get the timing right (as usual just before he hits you) and he does them quite often. After a successful Burst Counter you can follow up with your most powerful combo. In between his red aura attacks just run left or right at a safe distance, let him miss a combo, land a few hits and repeat.

Being good at timing Burst Counters makes this fight a lot easier and shorter. Not only do the Burst Counters drain his Ki, your follow-up combo will further diminish his Ki. One or two Burst Counters followed by a strong combo should be enough to deplete his Ki. Then you can just keep hitting him because he’ll stagger from each attack while out of Ki.

Due to how frequently the boss uses red aura charged attacks and how easy they are to block, you can Ki-drain and stunlock the boss for most of the fight.

Boss #27 – Saika Magoichi (2nd Encounter) ‘The Third Word’

• Side Mission: The Third Word
• Mission Level: 70
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 4.5/10

In this side mission you get to fight Saika again. See boss #21. This time it feels a little easier because now you are higher level and already know his move set. Just like in the previous encounter with him where you had pillars to hide behind, this time you get a big rock on the left side of the battlefield to hide from his shots. It seems the developers want us to make use of the environment for protection when facing this boss. Just camp behind the rock, let him get close, then step out behind the corner to unleash a strong combo, repeat. When he flies in the air and shoots, just hide behind the rock and you’ll be safe.

Boss #28 – Maeda Toshiie

• Main Mission: Ruin Draws Near
• Mission Level: 72
• Recommended Weapon: Spear / Any
• Difficulty: 3.5/10

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.

Boss #29 – Shibata Katsuie (True Form)

• Main Mission: Ruin Draws Near
• Mission Level: 72
• Recommended Weapon: Spear / Any
• Difficulty: 7/10

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.

Boss #30 – Enenra (2nd Encounter) ‘Okuni’s Search’

• Side Mission: Okuni’s Search
• Mission Level: 74
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 1.5/10

See Boss #2 for the strategy. You fought this boss before in the early game. Except this time it’s a 2 versus 1 battle (in your favor). You are aided by an ally who will take all the attacks for you. Just revive her when she goes down, let Enenra focus on her. In the meantime you can land hits from behind (high stance attacks do the most damage, or do some combos). Enenra has an enormous amount of health (more than any boss so far) but because there’s two of you fighting him it’s a low risk fight, just takes a while. There’s another enemy in the room with Enenra, but you can kill him beforehand (e.g. shoot him and lure him out of the room before the fight).

Boss #31 – Tokichiro

• Main Mission: The Two Faces of Hospitality
• Mission Level: 78
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 2/10 easy cheesy method with ‘Spear Flourish’ skill – 7/10 legit

There is a very easy cheesy method for this boss. Equip a spear in high-stance and buy the spear skill “Spear Flourish”. It’s a starting skill for spear. What it does is to knock back enemies when you do a Ki burst, allowing you to stunlock them infinitely.

You need only press two things: , . And that’s it. It will permanently stunlock the boss. The only things he can do is a counter (his blade has a blue glare and you hear a chime sound) and he can summon his guardian spirit that jumps around but is easy to outrun. If you attack him while his blade has the glare he will do a grapple on you that can potentially instant-kill you in 1 hit. Other than that you don’t need to watch out for much.

To make things even nicer: pack at least 2 Gallnut Broths (Ninja Skill Tree). Use it at the start of the fight and then again when his health is at 50% and he switches to electricity type. It will put a poison effect on your weapon, thus poisoning the boss and dealing recurrent damage over a long period. Also pack 1-2 Lightningstop Talisman (Omyno Magic Skill Tree). As soon has his health goes to 50% and he turns into electric type you’ll want to use it. He will sometimes do a swirl of electricity or put electric traps on the floor. With the ‘Spear Flourish’ stunlock you shouldn’t be at much risk but he can still use the electric swirl, and the Lightningstop Talisman will protect you from getting electrified. If you get electrified it’s pretty much game over as it will slow you down a lot. Also bring 1-2 Rejuvenation Talisman (Omyno Magic). Each one is basically like an Elixir, recharging your health over time. In the first half of the fight don’t use Elixirs, only use Rejuvenation Talisman instead. Keep Elixirs for the 2nd half.

And that’s about it… one single move all fight long will break the AI, and you can break it some more by throwing poison into the mix.

Boss #32 – Hattori Hanzo – Dojo Spear Mastery ‘Hanzo the Demon’

• Dojo Mission: Hanzo the Demon (Spear Mastery)
• Mission Level: 80
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 5/10

Unlocking this Dojo Mission requires 180,000 Spear Proficiency. You will fight Hattori Hanzo with a training weapon. He has the full set of spear moves unlocked. If you beat him you gain access to Mystic Arts with the Spear. Just stay in mid-stance and use nothing but thrust attacks when he walks towards you. He won’t defend while he’s walking. Just walk backwards to let your Ki recover. When your Ki is full you poke him 3 times and redo this procedure. Because you only have 3 Elixirs for this fight and he can kill you in 1 single grab you need to pay attention and if he dodges your attack just dodge back to get back into your rhythm.

Boss #33 – Hachisuka Koroku (2nd Encounter) ‘The High-spirited Demon’

• Main Mission: The High-spirited Demon
• Mission Level: 84
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 3.5/10

Hachisuka Koroku is a human mid-mission boss who uses a Kusarigama for weapon and water elemental attacks. If you played Sub Mission ‘The Shiftling’s Wise Judgement’ you will already have fought him once before but he was much weaker then and had a different move set.

This time he’s much more agile and has learned new moves. Luckily, single hits of the Kusarigama don’t do a lot of damage. By dodging backward you can evade all of his combos. Between his combos you can land a few quick hits on him (mid-stance recommended as it’s better for dodging than high-stance).

One move you can exploit against him is when he jumps up in the air, throws his Kusarigama on the ground, and then pulls himself towards you. Just dodge to the side, then attack him for a few seconds from behind. This attack is super easy to dodge and he’ll stand around defenseless for quite a long time afterward. If you want to play it safe you can just outrun everything else and attack after nothing but this move. When he goes into Dark Realm mode he gets a bit more aggressive. If you don’t want to deal with it just outrun him for a minute and he’ll leave Dark Realm. To stretch out your Elixirs for longer, bring a couple of Rejuvenation Talisman (Omnyo Magic) to heal yourself.

Overall a fun boss that looks like Aquaman, does little damage, and has little health.

Boss #34 – Daidara Bocchi

• Main Mission: The High-spirited Demon
• Mission Level: 84
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 3/10

Daidara Bocchi is the biggest boss so far, it’s a giant Yokai as big as a mountain. The way you win the fight is by destroying the yellow amrita shards on its hands. Only attack those and nothing else. Each shard you destroy reduces the Ki bar (purple stamina bar) of the boss. You can also mix it with some shards from his left and right hand (doesn’t have to be all shards on one hand). When his Ki is depleted you can run up his arm to stab him in the head. Repeat until he’s dead. In total there are 3 phases. In the third phase he also grows shards on his arms which you must destroy too, then he drops his head on the ground and you can perform the final death blow to finish the fight.

The spear in mid-stance with quick attacks comes in handy here. It’s a sweep that will hit 3 or more crystals at once. Always do 3-strike combos with this (3 hits on 3 crystals each time = 9 hits). This way you can destroy the crystals much faster than for example with a Sword which would only hit a single crystal. So any weapon attack that swoops sideways to cover a wide range works nicely here.

When you see red circles on the floor run away, those indicate that some stones will come falling from above or some other attack comes through the floor. Other than that it’s a pretty straightforward fight. If you see his eyes ever glow yellow run to the side as he’s about to fire laser beams.

Boss #35 – Onryoki (2nd Encounter) ‘Stray Cats’

• Side Mission: Stray Cats
• Mission Level: 86
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 1/10

See boss #17. This time you even have 3 little cat companions to aid you in the fight. So technically, you can just run away and they will defeat Onryoki for you automatically.

Boss #36 – Shuten Doji

• Main Mission: The Mausoleum of Evil
• Mission Level: 91
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 4.5/10

Shuten Dojo is a big Yokai boss that uses a sword and fire element. He does a lot of damage per hit but is slow and gets drunk throughout the fight. When he’s drunk he’ll tumble and you can do a free death blow on him.

You’ll want to Burst-Counter his red charged attacks. One of them being a grapple (dangerous if your timing is off), the other being a flame from his mouth (less dangerous). After a successful Burst Counter land a good combo on him.

Between his combos you have a few seconds to attack. He tends to need quite long to recover before starting a new attack. Try to attack him from behind for double damage.

When he uses sword attacks, either walk backwards out of his reach, or if you want to be more aggressive dodge forward left in a 45° angle just before his blade hits you. Thereby you’ll dodge through his blade without it hitting you, and you can land a counter-hit on him.

When he sprays fire on the floor don’t get burnt. Be sure to have a few Rejuvenation Talismans (Onmyo Magic Skill) to heal yourself throughout the fight. These are like having extra Elixirs. And as usual get all Kodama in this mission to get a bonus Elixir on respawns. Steel Talisman also comes in handy to reduce incoming damage for some time.

Boss #37 – Maeda Tashiie

• Side Mission: Mataza of the Spear
• Mission Level: 95
• Recommended Weapon: Spear / Any
• Difficulty: 3.5/10

You encounter Maeda, the human spear boss from a few main missions ago, again in this level 95 sub mission. See Boss #28. The same tactics apply.

Boss #38 – Enenra (3rd Encounter) ‘The Golden Castle’

• Main Mission: The Golden Castle
• Mission Level: 96
• Recommended Weapon: Spear / Any
• Difficulty: 3/10

You fought Enenra twice before. See boss #2. This time he’ll feel quite a bit easier than the first time, because you already know his move set and you have unlocked more skills by now.

Boss #39 – Mezuki + Gozuki Double Boss

• Main Mission: The Golden Castle
• Mission Level: 96
• Recommended Weapon: Spear / Any + Rejuvenation & Steel Talismans (Omnyo Magic Skills)
• Difficulty: 6.5/10

This is a true double boss fight, but luckily the two bosses are a much lower level than you, have very little health and do very little damage (a single death blow takes 30% of their health in one swoop). You’ll want to focus only on one of them first until defeated, then it’s 1 versus 1 and gets easier. The arena is also very spacious to run around in big circles. I’d recommend focusing on Mezuki first, the reason being that he does Burst Attacks slightly more often.

Just focus on Burst-Countering all red charged attacks. Other than that you don’t need to attack much, just run away to stay safe. After performing a Burst-Counter you can land a combo and repeat the process.

Making your Elixirs last long is a key aspect of this fight. Bring all the Steel Talisman & Rejuvenation Talisman you can carry (in equal amounts). Both are Omnyo Magic Skills.
Steel makes you take reduced damage, Rejuvenation heals you over time. Use these two together and you’ll be unstoppable by these bosses. Just take it slow and don’t rush in. Another reason to focus on Mezuki (the blue one) first is that he uses flying skulls and some axe projectile. If you focus on Gozuki this can be hard to see and you may end up getting hit with these ranged attacks. So lock-in on Mezuki to keep an eye on those ranged attacks. Gozuki is relatively harmless as long as you keep your distance.

Boss #40 – Yatsu-no-Kami (2nd Encounter) ‘The Golden Castle’

• Main Mission: The Golden Castle
• Mission Level: 96
• Recommended Weapon: Spear / Any
• Difficulty: 2/10

See boss #4, same strategy applies. This time it should be a bit easier because you have more skills and a bigger move set unlocked.

Boss #41 – Kasha (2nd Encounter) ‘The Golden Castle’

• Main Mission: The Golden Castle
• Mission Level: 96
• Recommended Weapon: Spear / Any
• Difficulty: 5/10

See boss #25, same strategy applies. This time she’ll be a bit easier as you already know her move set and have more skills unlocked by now.

Boss #42 – Lady Osakabe

• Main Mission: The Golden Castle
• Mission Level: 96
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 3/10

This is a gigantic boss that requires you to take out its arms. Taking out an arm depletes part of the boss’s Ki gauge. When the Ki is depleted (after defeating 4 arms), the boss’s head drops down and you can attack it.

The arms will shoot elemental projectiles at you throughout the fight. While focusing on one arm it will be hard to see what the other arms are shooting at you – but if you listen carefully you can hear their attacks so you can get out of the way in time. As for defeating the arms: the key is to deplete their individual Ki bars so they become defenseless. Be sure to use your weapon’s high stance attacks for maximum Ki drain. For example, 3-4 High-stance attacks with the spear are enough to deplete the Ki of one arm. Then you can finish it off quickly as it won’t be able to move. Go around the arena and take out one arm after another this way. They will use some melee attacks when you’re near them, but they can be blocked easily. Before approaching an arm make sure your Ki is full. Then you can land some quick strikes that deplete a lot of Ki and the arm will go down in a matter of seconds!

Just repeat this until the boss is dead. You can also shoot the eye on the house with a cannon (when the eye is open) to deal it some bonus damage.

Boss #43 – Maeda Keiji

• Side Mission: The Bravest of the Brave
• Mission Level: 93
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 1/10

Use Spear in Mid-Stance and press to poke him when he runs towards you. He won’t be able to defend against this. A very easy boss with this strategy, he won’t even be able to hit you.

Boss #44 – Kasha (3rd Encounter) ‘The Dream’s End’

• Side Mission: The Dream’s End
• Mission Level: 98
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 3/10

See boss #25. This time you have an AI companion to help you out. So essentially you could just run away all of the time and revive your AI friend and she will defeat the boss for you. However, Kasha has more health now than usual, so just try to land some hits from behind when it’s safe and let your AI partner take all of her attacks.

Boss #45 – Tokichiro (2nd Encounter) ‘Cherry Blossom Viewing in Daigo’

• Main Mission: Cherry Blossom Viewing in Daigo
• Mission Level: 103
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 6.5/10

You get to fight Tokichiro a 2nd time but he is more aggressive now and uses even more elemental attacks. The same easy-cheesy spear exploit still works to some extent. See boss #31.

Equip a spear in high-stance and buy the spear skill “Spear Flourish”. It’s a starting skill for spear. What it does is to knock back enemies when you do a Ki burst, allowing you to stunlock them by alternating between high-stance spear attacks and Ki bursts. Tokichiro can be knocked back by the Spear Flourish so this works on him – but the downside is his counter has improved. When he blocks and you hear a chime sound + his swords get a glow, it means he will do an unavoidable grapple if you attack. So you need to watch him carefully to not hit him when he does that. Other than that you can use the Spear Flourish to push him into a corner and stunlock him there.

You can use Gallnut Broths (Ninja Skill Tree) to poison him. However, when he goes into Dark Realm mode he’ll cure all negative status effects including the poison. It certainly helps to shorten the phases of the fight but you need to be really careful that he doesn’t kill you while you apply the poison (or other buffs). You could just apply it before the fight so you can make quick work of him in his first phase. If you haven’t yet, get all Kodama in the region to start out with more Elixirs after death. Bring additional Rejuvenation Talisman (Omyno Magic) to heal yourself continuously. Steel Talisman also helps to receive less damage from him, so you can last longer. Oh, and also use the Hot Spring that’s just behind the 3rd Shrine, it heals you for quite a while.

When he goes into Dark Realm Mode, run as far as possible in a circle around him. While he uses electricity don’t bother attacking, he’s crazy fast. When he uses fire you can outrun his fire attacks and then land ~2 attacks on him from behind. You can also run around for a minute until he leaves Dark Realm mode automatically and then it’s back to his basic form.

Boss #46 – Kashin Koji

• Main Mission: Cherry Blossom Viewing in Daigo
• Mission Level: 103
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 5/10

The Kashin Koji boss triggers immediately after defeating Tokichiro. But if you die, you won’t have to beat Tokichiro again, so don’t worry about that.

Kashin uses mostly elemental attacks (of all element types). He’s a sort of mage, luckily with little armor and he doesn’t have much health. After you deplete his health the first time he’ll actually stand up again and you need to defeat him a 2nd time. If you do die in his 2nd phase you must beat him again in his 1st phase.

When you run in a big circle around him you can outrun his attacks quite easily. Wait for an opening, land a single strike, retreat and repeat. When you carry maximum amount of Elixirs and buff yourself with Rejuvenation / Steel Talisman it’s not too bad. If you die in this fight, hop in the hot spring behind 3rd Shrine before going back in.

When he goes into Dark Realm mode he might spawn clones of himself. Just hit them once and they will go away. He doesn’t always do this though. When he makes elemental swords rain from the sky just block them, those are hard to outrun. Mid-Stance or High-Stance work best in this fight. For Spear players the Mid-stance combo is recommended.

Boss #47 – Ryomen Sukuna (2nd Encounter) ‘Restoring Harmony’

• Side Mission: Restoring Harmony
• Mission Level: 100
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 1.5/10

See boss #26. Even easier this time as you already know him.

Boss #48 – Hachisuka Koroku (3rd Encounter) ‘Japanese Heart, Yokai Smarts’

• Side Mission: Japanese Heart, Yokai Smarts
• Mission Level: 102
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 1.5/10

See boss #33. If you have trouble with him, an easy method is to walk up the hill path on the left, let him run after you and drop down. He will drop down after you, and while he’s in mid-air you can land a strong hit. Run up the hill again and repeat, he won’t even hit you once.

Boss #49 – Shibata Katsuie (2nd Encounter) ‘Restless Spirits’

• Side Mission: Restless Spirits
• Mission Level: 104
• Recommended Weapon: Any / Spear
• Difficulty: 3.5/10

See boss #29. Still an annoying boss but a bit easier the 2nd time around.

Boss #50 – Azai Nagamasa (2nd Encounter) ‘Yaksha Returns’

• Side Mission: Yaksha Returns
• Mission Level: 106
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 2/10

See boss #16, same strategy applies. He’s easier the 2nd time around as you already know what he does.

Boss #51 – William

• Main Mission: The Blue-eyed Samurai
• Mission Level: 109
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 2/10

William was the character you played in the first Nioh game. This fight is quite easy. Let William run towards you. While he’s on the move you do a single heavy attack in high-stance. He can’t defend while he’s running. If he does anything else you run sideways. William doesn’t have a lot of health so this fight won’t take long.

Boss #52 – Akishage Yoshiteru

• Dojo Mission: Master of the Dual Blades (Dual Swords Mastery)
• Mission Level: 80
• Recommended Weapon: Dual Swords (forced)
• Difficulty: 4/10

In this fight use the rocks in the arena to your advantage. Stay behind them and let Akishage attack you. After he does a slow attack that takes him a while to recover from, you strike back with a single high-stance hit and repeat.

Boss #53 – Matsunaga Hisahide

• Side Mission: Master of Three Evils
• Mission Level: 80
• Recommended Weapon: Any
• Difficulty: 3/10

Matsunaga will start the fight with a grapple move – he’ll run towards you can try to grab you (which deals a lot of damage if he connects). Dodge to the left just before he reaches you and you’ll be fine. He likes to buff himself and throw poison or paralysis bombs at you. When you buff yourself with magic and debuff him it makes things a bit easier. His throwing animations are slow and leave him vulnerable. When he throws something run behind him and do either a single high-stance attack that deals a lot of damage or connect with some longer combo.

Boss #54 – Hattori Hanzo ‘Dojo Mission: The One Who Lives in the Shadows’ (Ninjutsu Mastery)

• Dojo Mission: The One Who Lives in the Shadows
• Mission Level: 80
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 3/10

Use Spear in high-stance and have the Spear Flourish skill unlocked. Alternate between attacking with and Ki Burst (this triggers Spear Flourish). It will push Hattori Hanzo into a corner. Once he’s cornered he’ll get stunlocked by the Spear Flourish and is unable to move or attack. When you are out of Ki your attacks get slower and he might break free. If you can manage to push him into the door where you spawn at he’ll have trouble getting away, making the strategy even easier.

Boss #55 – Kato Danzo

• Dojo Mission: The Way of the Ninja: Veteran
• Mission Level: 52
• Recommended Weapon: Dual Swords (forced)
• Difficulty: 3.5/10

Kato uses a wooden sword and some Ninjutsu.  You have preset weapons here. Using the dual swords, let Kato miss a combo, then do a single high-stance attack and repeat. When he uses dust clouds don’t walk in them, as he’ll jump at you with a strong grapple move.

Boss #56 – Sakata Kintoki

• Dojo Mission: The Unmoving Mountain (Axe Mastery)
• Mission Level: 80
• Recommended Weapon: Axe (forced)
• Difficulty: 4/10

The fastest way to kill Sakata Kintoki is to use high-stance combo. Let him miss a combo and then use this on him. It does a lot of damage if you can connect. Dodge backward afterward, let Ki recharge and repeat. His most devastating moves are his grapple and when he smashes the floor. Single axe strikes won’t do much damage (since it’s a wooden axe he uses).

Boss #57 – Mumyo

• Dojo Mission: Sharp Eyes (Switchglaive Mastery)
• Mission Level: 80
• Recommended Weapon: Switchglaive (forced)
• Difficulty: 1/10

Use high-stance and do single heavy attacks when Mumyo runs towards you. Walk back, let her approach again and strike when she’s in range. Just repeat this and it will be an easy fight, she can’t defend against this while she’s running towards you.

Boss #58 – Shisenin Kosen ‘Dojo Mission: The Tengu’s Blade’ (Odachi Mastery)

• Dojo Mission: The Tengu’s Blade (Odachi Mastery)
• Mission Level: 80
• Recommended Weapon: Odachi (forced)
• Difficulty: 4/10

Let Shisenin Kosen miss a combo, then repeat single high-stance strikes + Ki Burst and repeat these two buttons until you run out of Ki. When Shinsen is running at you, either use high-stance or mid-stance moves (but this can be risky as it’s slow and Shinsen is sometimes quick to launch a combo).

Boss #59 – Shisenin Kosen ‘Dojo Mission: The Chain that Splits the Sky’ (Kusarigama Mastery)

• Dojo Mission: The Chain that Splits the Sky (Kusarigama Mastery)
• Mission Level: 80
• Recommended Weapon: Kusarigama
• Difficulty: 3.5/10

Shisenin Kosen uses a Kusarigama in this Dojo Mastery fight and you are restricted to the same weapon. An easy way to win is to throw the Kusarigama with high-stance while Shisenin Kosen is running towards you. It doesn’t do much damage but has long reach. Just be careful not to get hit when she throws her Kusarigama (but it doesn’t do much damage anyway). The grapples are the only dangerous thing.

Boss #60 – Shisenin Kosen ‘Dojo Mission: Opening of the Mind’s Eye’ (Sword Mastery)

• Dojo Mission: Opening of the Mind’s Eye (Sword Mastery)
• Mission Level: 80
• Recommended Weapon: Sword (forced)
• Difficulty: 3.5/10

In this sword mastery dojo mission both you and Shisenin Kosen are restricted to the sword. When she runs towards you, do single high-stance attacks. Also do this when she misses a long combo. Repeat this. You only need one move, like with most fights.

Boss #61 – Hattori Hanzo ‘Dojo Mission: Like Lightning’ (Tonfa Mastery)

• Dojo Mission: Like Lightning (Tonfa Mastery)
• Mission Level: 80
• Recommended Weapon: Tonfa (forced)
• Difficulty: 3.5/10

In this Hattori Hanzo fight you and him both use the Tonfa. Walk to the left to miss his attacks, then follow up with mid-stance combo. Just stay in mid-stance and do this combo. Low Stance doesn’t do enough damage and High-Stance of the Tonfa is a bit slow against Hattori’s combos. Repeat until he’s down. Keep an eye on your Ki (Stamina green bar), if you run out of Ki Hattori will do a very strong grapple on you.

Boss #62 – Sakata Kintoki ‘The Unstoppable Whirlwind’ (Hatchets Mastery)

• Dojo Mission: The Unstoppable Whirlwind (Hatchets Mastery)
• Mission Level: 80
• Recommended Weapon: Hatchets (forced)
• Difficulty: 2/10

In this match you’re restricted to the hatchets. Use high-stance, let Sakata Kintoki throw his hatchets into the trees (just hide behind the trees). After he does this you have an opening to attack, he’s slow to recover from the throws. Do a high-triangle combo and repeat.

Boss #63 – Otakemaru (Final Boss / Endboss)

• Main Mission: In the Eye of the Beholder
• Mission Level: 114
• Recommended Weapon: Spear
• Difficulty: 8.5/10

Otakemaru uses Brute, Feral, and Phantom forms (the ones you can transform to yourself, using the same move set). He will shift between these forms regularly. At 50% health he changes to his real form with a completely different move set. At 25% health he changes his move set yet again and you’ll see swords flying next to him which he frequently throws around and can one-hit you.

This is the hardest boss in the game because he has so many phases and different moves that can potentially kill you in a single hit. First let’s go over what attacks to use, then we’ll go through each phase and what his attacks in each of them.

Attacks to use: Use the Spear in high-stance. Run towards the enemy and hit to do a quick slice while running, immediately followed by a Ki Burst with Spear Flourish skill equipped (it will do a quick rotation for extra damage). If you can manage to get behind the boss you do double the damage. Just run around him and keep moving at all times. The boss is extremely fast, if you do slow attacks you will take a lot of damage. Attacking while moving is far less risky and makes it easier to evade attacks. In the time it takes him to finish an attack animation you can already slice him and be gone again. With normal attacks that wouldn’t be possible, so only use single attacks while running followed by Spear Flourish for all of the fight.

Magic to Use: Carry 5 Rejuvenation Talisman (healing) and 5 Steel Talisman (defense). Use whenever it’s safe to do so. This fight takes a long time and without Steel Talisman some attacks can one-hit you. The Rejuvenation Talismans are like carrying 5 extra Elixirs so you can last longer.

• Phase 1 (100%-50% Health): During this phase the boss will switch between Feral (Electric with Daggers), Phantom (Purple colored with ranged attacks) and Brute (Red colored with heavy melee attacks).
  • Feral (Daggers): Run to his right and do the spear slice while running followed by Spear Flourish skill. When he does his red aura attacks, either get good at timing the counters or dodge to the right when he starts his dash animation. Sometimes he jumps in the air and slashes the ground with his daggers, this leaves him vulnerable for a short moment if you can outrun / dodge it. Feral is his fastest and wildest move set but it doesn’t do super much damage with Steel Talisman + Rejuvenation active at same time. Just focus on dealing as much damage as possible during this phase.
  • Phantom (Ranged): He will throw his blade around which is hard to evade. Luckily it does little damage. Steel Talisman + Rejuvenation Talisman at the same time are your friend here. You won’t even notice he’s hitting you because Steel blocks most of it and Rejuvenation heals you as fast as you’re losing health. Just keep running to his right and keep doing the above-mentioned attack.
  • Brute (Swinging Club): This is his slowest form. Let him miss a combo. As he finishes, run to his back, do the above-mentioned attack, retreat and repeat. He will swing the club back and forth quite a lot, don’t run into it.
• Phase 2 (50%-25% Health): He will now go into his true form, no longer switching between Feral, Phantom or Brute. For the rest of the fight he stays in the same form.
  • When he rams his sword into the floor and comes rushing towards you with a jump at the end, he will follow up with an explosion (deals heavy damage). Just before he lands from the jump, dodge in a 45° angle to his right. Do not dodge at the moment he jumps off, he’ll adjust and hit you. You have to time it just right and dodge in the last moment. Remember him jumping is bad = dodge right. Always follow up with a heavy high-stance hit from behind after he jumped and missed! He can’t move for a short moment.
  • When he slams his sword on the floor it will either set it on flames or electrify everything within a large radius. If you are too close to him you won’t have enough time to get away and there’s nothing you can do about it in this case. If you are at mid-distance you will have just enough time to run away from the area of effect.
  • When he does a red charged attack, run away! He strikes very fast, making it hard to time it right. And if you fail to time it right he’ll follow up with a couple more strikes. It’s too risky, just run.
  • When he slams an ice sword in the ground he will summon 3 puddles of water where you are walking. Quickly run away. The 3 water puddles will kill you if you get hit by all 3. They do very heavy damage.
  • When he casts ice spears that fly towards you, just walk or run sideways at a distance, they will miss (they can’t home in on you).
  • When he goes into Dark Realm mode just keep doing what you were doing. His attacks don’t change in Dark Realm, it’s the same thing just with slower Ki recovery for you.
  • The best moves to exploit are his jumps, after those you have a short moment to land a hit.
  • You will probably run low on Steel Talisman + Rejuvenation at this point. That’s fine, you should still have 7-8 Elixirs left when entering this phase.
• Phase 3 (25%-0% Health): He now has swords flying around him, which he will throw at you. He can use them for grapples from afar (easily outrun by going to the side) or he can throw the swords in a big circle and they will home in on you, this will one-hit kill you even if you block it!
  • He will keep doing his previous moves and also learns new ones.
  • If you see him throw his swords in a straight line with a gray glow, it’s a powerful grapple! It’s easy to evade by running right.
  • If he throws the swords in a big circle around the arena, he will follow up by throwing them straight at you – don’t get hit by the straight throw! It will one-hit you even when blocked. So don’t stand still when he does that, run to the right to evade it.
  • If he throws both swords towards you in a straight line, you’re probably dead if you can’t outrun it. Even if you block it can one-hit you.
  • When he throws swords in the air, they will rain down on you. Get away fast by running towards his right in a 45° angle. If you get stuck in the rain of swords you’re dead. Do not try to block them, you will die trying.
  • Try to have 1-2 Steel Talisman left for this phase so you don’t get one-hitted by the thrown swords as much. If you get one-hitted here frequently, level up some more, reskill and put 80+ points into Constitution for more health.
  • Don’t bother blocking in this last phase, he will one-hit you even when you block. Better to keep moving and attacking while outrunning the attacks.