Nioh 2 The Hollow Fortress Walkthrough

The Hollow Fortress is the 6th main story mission in Nioh 2. This walkthrough will guide you through all areas of The Hollow Fortress Main Quest.

The Hollow Fortress is unlocked when you complete The Mysterious One Night Castle.

Recommended Level: 33
Region: Soaring
Requirement: Complete The Mysterious One Night Castle
Reward: Genryu’s Helmet. Genryu’s Cuirass, Genryu’s Waistguard, Hand Mirror, 10200 Gold, 4880 Amrita

Shrine 1

Before hitting the first shrine, speak to Tokichiro and he’ll give you a small spirit stone just because. Note that in the areas of this mission all of the yellow crystals are breakable and sometimes drop items, so remember to smash them as you go by. Throughout the mission you’ll also have the Goat Guardian Spirit appear and tell you some things, if you’re following along with this you can largely ignore him. Starting out there is a ladder to the left and a path going right. The ladder leads up to a shortcut door, so no reason to go there yet. Head around to the right past the Dwellers and go up the next ladder. At the top first go over into the far left corner and climb the next ladder up to the second level with the wood bridges, then go over to the corner near where you came up into this area. Behind the sandbags you’ll find Kodama #1.

On this upper area you can head over to the far right corner to find a small chest, then when done drop down and continue forwards towards the stairs. When you get near a new type of Yokai will spawn, called a Koroka. These Yokai float around and primarily attack by casting magic at you, by throwing globs of darkness or summoning fireballs. They can also swipe with their spear, and their Burst Attack is either a very long windup where they will charge towards you, or a flame jet that they spew in an arc in front of them.  Depending on your weapon these Yokai actually stagger very easily, so you can just continually attack them unless they start doing the Burst windup. Once it’s dealt with you can continue up the stairs and climb the ladder at the top.

In this next area you start walking onto a large beam. You should first shoot the Dweller that’s hanging just to the right of the beam in front of you, then the enemy with the torch farther away so that neither bother you or knock you off. Go forward on the beam and grab the item, then drop down towards the Yokai Fog by the doorway. This fog spawns an Enki, which you shouldn’t have trouble dealing with at this point, and when it’s dead you can open the doorway, which is the shortcut at the top of the ladder going back to Shrine 1.

Back in the large room, you can run around the outer edge past another door to pick up an item, then head into the room off to the side. On the left will be two stationary human enemies, and on the right will be a Sudama sitting behind an opened chest.

Back in the large room again, pull the box crank in the middle to lower the elevator to this level, then step onto the square in the middle to make it go upwards. This area is somewhat complex now, and you need to drop down in specific places for items, so be aware of where you’re dropping down too. Starting out head to the door with the torches beside it and deal with the two human enemies in the room.

Follow the path around counterclockwise. When you reach the first opening back outside you’ll see a Dweller in the room. Beware going in there that there is a larger Dweller standing just to the left of the door that will grab you if you run by it. Get the item in this room, then go outside and continue around. The next room going inside its a dead end, with a Scampuss and a human enemy in it. Grab those then continue around in the middle again. You will go down one level and enter a Darkness Realm right in front of a locked chest.

Drop down off the left of this platform and killed the Dweller, then go Clockwise in this interior area. If you go into the room with the locked chest you can head outside, but don’t do that yet. Go back into the middle and kill the Aberrant Soldier, then continue into the area behind it. In the next room will be a Dweller and what appears to be a human enemy near a body. This isn’t actually a human enemy though, it’s a Yokai called a Rokurokubi, which is a snake-like monster possessing the body. If you shoot the human in the head first it will make the snake instantly appear, but if you attack the human first it won’t appear until you drop it’s stamina first. It will typically attack you with the long snake head, biting towards you at considerable range or spitting poison or fireballs at you. While in melee range the body will swing it’s spear at you still, so don’t get too greedy with attacks. Once it’s dead this Darkness Realm will be dispelled.

Once it’s dead you can go back to the prior room on this level and open the locked chest, then continue around clockwise for another and to open a shortcut door. Heading outside from here goes to Shrine 2, but don’t head that way yet as there’s still stuff to get inside. Go back into the interior area, and on the edge looking down you should see Kodama #2 on the rock ledge one level down.

From this Kodama first drop down to the left of the platform (counterclockwise). You can then enter a room with a chest behind a Yokai Fog which spawns another Koroka. Deal with it and open the chest, then drop down onto the beams below to get an item and to an NPC Benevolent Grave. From there you can now drop down to the lower level again with the elevator and head back up.

Head all the way around to where you first entered the Darkness Realm and you can open that chest. Then head into the room where the second one was and head outside, and you will run into a Koroka going up and down the slope. Kill it, then inside there is a chest just before the slope going down clockwise. You can grab an item off a ledge, then head down the narrow rock slope into a room with an NPC Bloody Grave.  Follow along this area counterclockwise through the two human enemies and you can find another chest at the end.

Head back to where the Bloody Grave was and look off the side of the platform and you should see a chest below that you can carefully drop to. You can then drop down one more level and open the door, which goes back onto the platform with the elevator switch. Go into the side room and kill the two Dwellers and pick up the item, then head down the ladder to the area below. This area at the bottom has a Yokai Fog which spawns an Onryoki.  If you played the first game this enemy will be familiar, as it was the second boss in that game. It starts out with two large balls chained to its arms, that it spins around and tries to slam you with. When it does a Burst windup it will then charge towards you and slam its balls at the end. Once you get it’s stamina all the way down or cut its horns off the chains on the balls will break and it will then chase you around swiping at you. It becomes slightly easier to avoid now due to its reduced range, and its Burst attack now is just two swipes followed by a slam so it is easier to read. Once it’s dead you can get the nearby chest which contains Ninja’s Locks, then head back up the ladders into the elevator room and go back up to the top.

Finally, you will be exiting this elevator shaft. Go back to the room where the 2nd locked chest was, that leads outside to the slope that the Koroka goes up and down. Instead of going down clockwise, go counterclockwise back inside, then follow the path outside again onto the large rock walkway. Below on the left you can see Shrine 2, with a Yokai Fog blocking your path to it. This Yokai Fog spawns an Enki, which you can make quick work of.

When it’s dead, go immediately left and kick down the ladder to Shrine 2, then go back over to the right to pick up Kodama #3. You can now go over to Shrine 2.

Shrine 2

From Shrine 2 you’re going to now go to a few collectibles in a row. From the shrine go up the ladder you just kicked down to the rock walkways. Follow the path up to the split, and first head to the right where you can see the Ice Oni walking. These guys are similar to the normal versions, but with a bit more health and they will sometimes follow up on prior attacks where the other ones didn’t. Be careful of the large Dweller that is just on the left platform, as well as the one on the building in the distance that will throw rocks down at you. You can shoot these first before getting near the Oni so that you can deal with them all separately. When fighting the Oni be very careful as you can fall off the edges of these walkways extremely easily if you aren’t careful, especially if you are locked on to an enemy and walking backward. Once you have dealt with the Oni go past it to the cliff and climb the ladder on the building. Go around the balcony to the other side where the human archer is, and behind him in the corner you’ll find Kodama #4.

Backtrack to the split in the walkway and this time head left up the path where the Dweller is walking. Just behind the Dweller on the left corner, there is a lantern that a Koroka will spawn from. If you get close enough and shoot the middle of the lantern it will stun the Koroka, instead of having it attack you as it appears when you go near it.

Once that is dealt with there is a chest just to the right which contains Onmyo Mage’s Locks, as well as two Aberrant Soldiers nearby. Kill them both then to the right of where the rightward Soldier was you can find a Nurikabe. Behind it you will find Hot Spring #1 for this mission.

Heading down the path where the Aberrant Soldier was you come to a split. Going right leads to a house you can find a Scampuss in, along with another Rokurokubi and a Dweller. If you continue around the corner you will behind another Ice Oni, but you can ignore this one if you want. Back at the split head left down the path and kill the Soldier there, then continue through the gate to the Yokai Fog, which will spawn another Rokurokubi.

Continue up the stairs and you should see an Aberrant Soldier and an Ice Oni in the doorway to the building. It’s better to bait the Oni down the stairs first so that you can take it out while the Soldier is still at the top.  Now in this courtyard don’t go into the main building yet with the Darkness Realm. Instead go to the right where the cliff edge is, in the corner just below you can find Kodama #5.

From that Kodama drop down to the level below. Nearby there is a building with a Yokai Fog in front that spawns an Enki. Behind it is a chest, which contains a Castle Gate Key. Grab this key, then head back through the area through all the human enemies back to the front of the large temple. There is also a Sudama in the building to the left just before you get back into the main area.

In the main area head over to the top right and you will find a gate, interact with it now to open it using the Castle Gate Key. Go up the stairs, then destroy the third armor display on the right to find Kodama #6, the final one for this mission.

You are now in the temple from a side entrance. Just ahead of you there will be one patrolling enemy before the stairs. Deal with him, then there is a Scampuss on the left you can pick up. Head up the stairs and go through the locked door and you will be in the part of the temple outside the Darkness Realm. First head over to the right to kill the one enemy and open the chest, then head down the hallway to the left. In the room to the right around the corner there will be an enemy looking at a body, and another enemy patrolling the hallway to the left, which has two small chests in it and the room with the NPC Bloody Grave. In the room past these two there will be one Aberrant Soldier and a Yokai Fog that spawns a Rokurokubi.

In that same room opposite the stairs will be another Nurikabe. Behind it, you will find Hot Spring #2 for this mission. This one is very close to the boss room, so I would suggest leaving it for now until you are going to the boss room for real after resting at Shrine 3. The boss room is up the stairs from this room you are in now for reference.

To get down to the Darkness Realm, back over to the hallway where the two small chests are and there should be stairs leading down. The Shrine itself is immediately left down these stairs, but you need to clear the area first. Head into the nearby room and kill the Aberrant Soldier, then go out the other side of the room.  If you follow the loop around there will be a Rokurokubi in the room on the right, a Dweller in the room past the main entrance, and then a final Rokurokubi in the other hallway. Since you came in the back way and were already by the shrine you can skip these enemies if you want though.  Head downstairs from the Shrine and you will find an Enki, as well as a Koroka in lamp form in the corner. Deal with the Enki first so that you don’t trigger then Koroka, then finally after the Koroka is dealt with the Darkness Realm is dispelled and you can go to Shrine 3.

Shrine 3

Now are at the final shrine, and have already basically been to the boss room. Head back upstairs through the enemies, bathing in the hot spring just before you go up to the top floor. Upstairs just around the corner, there will be one final chest, as well as one human enemy in the hallway. When you’re ready, head inside the double doors to go into the boss room.

Saito Yoshitatsu Boss Fight

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.

 

This finishes The Hollow Fortress main mission in Nioh 2. Now the mission A Way Out becomes available.

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