Katana Users - Night Rain or Iai slash?

[Fraktal]

Title says it all, which is better?

[Kashra Fall]

Depends really. Iai quick draw is nice, but it is only for when the opponent is distant/on the ground or out of ki/stunned. The nightrain is the fastest draw stance attack and is a good follow up to a rousing combo. IT's why it was one of the more popular sword moves in nioh 1, that and you could buff its damage to hell and back.

[Yanxi]

They have different purposes!

Night Rain has a faster start-up animation and doesn't require charging, but it locks you into an animation and has a slightly slower recovery. If you have status accumulation on your armor, you can sometimes apply an elemental status with an arcana on Night Rain if the enemy is not too resistant toward it.

Iai, on the other hand, places you behind the enemy and allows you to evade almost instantly after the slash. Additionally, it is only one slice, so you can chain two or more on a winded enemy. As well, a fully charged Iai slash cannot be blocked.

The two moves have pretty similar damage without factoring in armor stat boosts. Basically, it's a trade-off between faster start-up or faster slice.

[Sir_Knight_Arthorias]

I have Night Rain on High stance
Tiger Sprint on Mid Stance
and Quickdraw on Low Stance

[PuppYofDOOM]

Sword of meditation the whole game.

Theeifs pants refashion. Onmyo slippers.mega critical.build

[Rhyno]

Iai is the better choice.

[Farsha]

Both, you have 3 draw moves and 3 stances :P

[Safarel]

Both are good
Both are useful
I prefer night rain in high stance and iai in middle

[PuppYofDOOM]

Severing spin!

[Tauriz]

Both, Iai Mid, Rain High.

Originally posted by PuppYofDOOM:

Severing spin!

You can use Iai, Rain and Spin together, unless you're single skill spammer.

[JtDarth]

I've been getting a lot more mileage out of night rain, myself. Much more forgiving on startup, and the recovery change at the end isn't too bad, so long as you aren't really late on the draw itself. Then again, I'm also pairing it with 'true and through', so Iai may be the better option if you don't have the gap-closer option.

Then again, there's 3 stances, so there is no reason not to have all of them available.

[Tet]

tiger sprint for the memes

[The High Seraph]

I am Susanoo-no-Mikoto (6) + Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto (7) user , so I’m using all .
- Tiger spirit in High Stance
- Iai in Mid Stance and
- Night Rain in Low Stance

Tiger Spirit’s damage is ok but can close gap really easily and no recovery animations so you can chain with other attacks immediately . Great Utility tool and very good against troll Umbrellas .

Iai is single burst attack . Fully charge strike have Iframe with decent range . Instead of waiting for a chance to deliver fully charge blow , Iai can charge and release when enemie is about to attack you . Acting as Pseudo-Parry . I usually use against Human that’s why I locate this skill in mid stance . Back wave -> Tempest -> Animation cancel Iai slash -> Final blow -> Animation cancel Iai slash is my fav for non boss human enemies .

Night Rain - low charge time with multiple attacks but no range . It’s the best to use when enemy is out of Ki , from behind with “Sword of execution” Mystic Art . I usually use this against Yokais especially after Kurama Sword Dance .

[Justice]

Sword is my main weapon and I don't like using either one, Iai or Night Rain, they leave you too vulnerable in real combat for my taste. Sure you can paralyze ur enemy and hit from behind with 17 different buffs on for 100k crits like a ♥♥♥♥♥ but that's not my way of fighting.

My own recommendation for damaging skill is "True and through"(TaT) - it may not hit as much as Iai but I'm doing constant 20-40k crits in underworld without any skill damage % bonus in items. TaT is a sniper thrust skill that can hit multiple targets if they get in the way just right. Basically just dodge and thrust with TaT, very easy.

[Sir_Knight_Arthorias]

Originally posted by ʝυʂƚιƈҽ:

Sword is my main weapon and I don't like using either one, Iai or Night Rain, they leave you too vulnerable in real combat for my taste. Sure you can paralyze ur enemy and hit from behind with 17 different buffs on for 100k crits like a ♥♥♥♥♥ but that's not my way of fighting.

My own recommendation for damaging skill is "True and through"(TaT) - it may not hit as much as Iai but I'm doing constant 20-40k crits in underworld without any skill damage % bonus in items. TaT is a sniper thrust skill that can hit multiple targets if they get in the way just right. Basically just dodge and thrust with TaT, very easy.

true and through is hold triangle, so it has no impact on slotting either Iai or Night Rain, thus bears no response to OP's question as you can use both Iai/NR and TaT on the same stance

[Justice]

Originally posted by Sir_Knight_Arthorias:

Originally posted by ʝυʂƚιƈҽ:

Sword is my main weapon and I don't like using either one, Iai or Night Rain, they leave you too vulnerable in real combat for my taste. Sure you can paralyze ur enemy and hit from behind with 17 different buffs on for 100k crits like a ♥♥♥♥♥ but that's not my way of fighting.

My own recommendation for damaging skill is "True and through"(TaT) - it may not hit as much as Iai but I'm doing constant 20-40k crits in underworld without any skill damage % bonus in items. TaT is a sniper thrust skill that can hit multiple targets if they get in the way just right. Basically just dodge and thrust with TaT, very easy.

true and through is hold triangle, so it has no impact on slotting either Iai or Night Rain, thus bears no response to OP's question as you can use both Iai/NR and TaT on the same stance

It's not triangle skill but it's still my recommendation as a damaging skill over these two.
All 3 skills it's possible to use same time yes so nothing really has any impact on anything here, and no skill is really "better" than another as you can make your build around any skill.