How do builds work?

[Gargamel]

I never figured this out is Nioh 1 either.

Example, I go strength build. So I assume stacking points in strength is the way to go. However, strength may only give me 10 life and 1 attack damage for my weapon, but the stat for bows may give me 3 more attack for my Odachi.

So I guess i'm confused by this...

Do you power through the good and the bad in a strength build, magic build, etc... by constant plotting points there?

Or do you plot them where it makes the most sense at the time?

I feel like when you simply plot them where the game gives you the most benefit at the time, that you end making the same well-rounded build every game.

I guess why we are on the subject. Should you be plotting like at least 10 points in everything, then really focusing, or really stick to what you are going for?

[Connatic]

I could use some basic tips as well, as this is my first time playing Nioh.

[Hexagon]

Builds don't hover around Stats but set bonuses and good affixes. You can have build that deals really high element damage, you can have a build that will rarely deplete your ki, you can have build around certain skill like katana Iai draw making it one hit kill.
Really many possibilities here.
You can also adjust the armour/weapon affixes at the blacksmith and even change the stat they scaling with.

I think the best way for you to understand builds is watching some common nioh 2 builds videos

[Maffeketel]

I've played Nioh 1 and I'm honestly still a bit confused. In general I just tend to pick 3 core skills that provide the most benefits for my current playstyle and I tend to level my stats from there.

For the skill trees I tend to plan ahead and I also tend to focus on one particular part of any given skill tree. For example in the Onmyo tree I'm currently focusing on thunder damage so I've heavily invested into that part of the tree. There are so many options in Nioh 2 that it gets a bit overwhelming at times.

If someone could explain how you create a build in greater detail then that would help me out as well. So far I'm not running into any issues and I didn't struggle with this approach in Nioh 1 either but it would be great to hear someone else's opinion!

[Connatic]

Originally posted by Danon:

Builds don't hover around Stats but set bonuses and good affixes.

So are stats just for getting the prerequesets for the gear you want?

[FireShark]

Originally posted by Connatic:

Originally posted by Danon:

Builds don't hover around Stats but set bonuses and good affixes.

So are stats just for getting the prerequesets for the gear you want?

And for buffing what your weapons scale with. Kinda like in DS. But unlike DS you can use forging to change what stat your weapon scales with.

[SubTonic]

Stat scaling becomes much more important deeper into the game when weapons can be improved to have insane scaling. And yes, gear sets are primarily how you build; it's similar to Diablo 3 in that respect.

[Hexagon]

Originally posted by Connatic:

Originally posted by Danon:

Builds don't hover around Stats but set bonuses and good affixes.

So are stats just for getting the prerequesets for the gear you want?

Stats are meaningfull as well especially on weapons but you can easily farm xp and max the stats out if you wish.
https://www.vg247.com/2020/03/20/nioh-2-best-builds-stats-armor/
This will give you guys a good idea about builds.

[Fat Valentine]

Builds are mostly gear and skill reliant, stats are kinda just supplements.

[Donoghu]

Here's my 2 cents on the matter:

For the first 100 levels/stats, it's highly recommended to focus as much on your weapon of choices' stat as on requirement stats like Heart for Max Ki (which like like the Stamina in Souls), Stamina (for Max Weight), Strength and/or Skill (for armor requirement).

A few points in Magic, Dexterity will allow you to learn and/or use abilities that makes things a lot easier to survive. (Magic and Dexterity related abilities and spells recharges when you pray at a shrine after all. If you want rechargeable healing, throwing weapons, etc. those 2 are required and their value raise the efficiency of their respective skills.)

There's not much of any rules in stats/weapons, but there are some suggestions:

Avoid using Spear and 1-hand katana together.
Both has a stat that raise HP and, one is focusing on resisting poison and paralysis (which can be avoided) while the other is on Ki + Fire. The issue is focusing on both makes you HP pool high, but it has barely any usefulness as you'll be lacking in armor.

If you focus on Skill (Dual Sword/Hatchet + Rifle), you should avoid Strength and focus on either Heart or Courage so that you can do long combos with light armors.

If you want to be a Ninja or a Caster, there's nothing wrong with it, but I would suggest having at least a sub-weapon stat raised like Heart (Katana) as it gives you HP and Ki for better survivability when your spells or tools aren't enough.

Also, it would be worth it to look up what kind of armor you're looking for to use ahead as armors requirements are varied with:
Strength for Heavy and Medium armor.
Skill for Light and Medium armor and some Heavy Armor with specific bonus
Dexterity for Light/Medium Armor that gives bonus to Ninjustsu or ranged weapons
Magic for Light/Medium armor that gives bonus to Spells and Spirit-related stats.

So, it's not rare, in mid-late game, to find the Set armor (with really good bonus) to require Dexterity or Magic and if you mostly only focused on Skills or, even worse, Strength, you'll feel like you took a wrong turn far too early.

[z4nid]

I always go STR / HEART hybrid. It blends in together nicely for my play-style, offering a good variety of moves and skills to choose from.

[Tetsuya_Kurogane]

The very first levels of every stats gives out the most grow. Thats why you will realize that improving, let's say Strenght, will end up paying less in long term.
Also, late game, you will be able to modify a weapon so that it scales higly from a single stat

[Nyra]

Build just refers to how stats are distributed and what kind of armour set and weapons you use.

also If you ever want any help at any point in the game hit me up.

[Connatic]

Is the fact you can swap between two weapons important for builds? Is it just for fun and diversity, or do they count for stat and set bonuses as well?

[awanderingswordsman]

IMO get every stat to 20, get stamina to 40, get dex and magic to 30 if you want to max capacity, then pump courage and constitution.

Also worth noting that stat scaling is not linear, it has a stair step pattern. IIRC its a 3 point cycle so like you might get 5 attack from strength, then 1, then 3, then 5, then 1, then 3, then 5. This can make it weird where you can only get 1 level and getting strength only gives you 1 attack whereas the worse scaling heart gives you 2 or 3. It's just because they are at different points in the scaling cycle. There is no fall off with damage scaling.

Late game your stat choices will be more thoughtful because of ultimate stats. Ultimate stats are skills you can have on a scroll that give you a powerful bonus if you have 150 or higher in that stat. For instance ultimate courage (the best one) reduces ki costs of everything by I think 20% and nullifies the dark realm and yokai realm ki regen penalty. Ultimate constitution gives you super fast life regen whenever you have more than 70% of your max hp. You can at most get 5 ultimate stats but realistically you will probably focus on 3 or 4 and then max your main damage stat and get the other stats to comfortable levels.

All stats have extremely high diminishing returns after 99 for their non damage benefit (like how much ki you get from heart) except constitution, which does go down a lot but still is quite nice all the way to 200.

[⭕TheSodaman]

Originally posted by Gargamel:

I never figured this out is Nioh 1 either.

Example, I go strength build. So I assume stacking points in strength is the way to go. However, strength may only give me 10 life and 1 attack damage for my weapon, but the stat for bows may give me 3 more attack for my Odachi.

So I guess i'm confused by this...

Do you power through the good and the bad in a strength build, magic build, etc... by constant plotting points there?

Or do you plot them where it makes the most sense at the time?

I feel like when you simply plot them where the game gives you the most benefit at the time, that you end making the same well-rounded build every game.

I guess why we are on the subject. Should you be plotting like at least 10 points in everything, then really focusing, or really stick to what you are going for?

I did end up powering through a misaligned build in Nioh 1 at first.

I deleted a bunch of stuff I was typing since it was it became a blog response.

If I'm playing with a theme build in mind, then I try to focus on just enough to make that theme work, then power through it to an extent.

If I'm trying to play a defender of some type, I may opt for heavy armor, dual sword, look for +Block stats, Guard consumption reduction in my preferred stance, Ki, Ki recovery, elemental damage reduction with blocking, and maybe saving an Easy Target passive gear for co-op. If something on your ranged weapon helps, consider keeping that weapon equipped even if you don't used ranged attacks (e.g. if your current ranged weapon has a Break passive, that should still affect your melee weapon's attacks).

Stat-wise, I may lean toward stats to meet the prerequisites of armor pieces (in this example, heavy armor). I do have a preference for being a lower Agility, so I may end up investing enough Stamina and compromising a piece of gear (or two) with a lower weight to get below 70% weight. My offensive stats may not be very good by comparison as my stats may be better suited toward a Stamina-based weapon.

Although on that first playthrough, it's almost, whatever I pick up, I just kind of use, sifting through the things that help toward that run's play style, but not trying to farm gear, craft, temper the passives, etc. just yet.

And unless I wanted to start trying to just take advantage of every tool in the game, I probably wouldn't explore Ninjutsu or Onmyo Magic on that run. But if I end up with Onmyo Locks / Ninja Locks, might gradually go toward something that can help the run go a little smoother.