Build streamlining: what am I doing wrong?

[Mander]

Hello gentleshiftlings,

I would like some pointers regarding the build I’m aiming to. Be warned: wall of text inbound xD.

[Mander]

First thing first: I’m currently at level 250-ish, so I know I’ve plenty of time to get there. Never the less, I play better with a target in mind.
After extensive testing with all the weapons Nioh 2 has to offer, I’m sold on Odachi and fist weapons: while simplistic at first glance, they are both a great source of sustained DPS, with a good mobility on average (as in Odachi less so, while fist weapons have great mobility). Also, both possess counters to enemy attacks: win-win situation.
Therefore, this will be mainly a strength-based build (plus purity), a STAT I’m planning to augment on both weapons to achieve as higher scaling as possible. STAT-wise, I’m aiming to:

Constitution 200
Heart 85
Courage 50
Stamina 68
Strength 200
Skill 10
Dexterity 30
Magic 150

If I’ve made the calculation right, the above should be my STAT distribution at level 750 (base level for each STAT is 5, right?).

Armour:
Izanagi Grace on 7 and of course 6 grace of Susanoo too, to augment as much as possible my physical damage. Main attributes I will focus while farming weapons and armours will be: Anima charge, Damage Reduction, Health Drain.
And ofc, scroll with ultimate courage on it to round the build further.
The reason why I favour Anima Charge above all is because I’ve already grown accustomed in using the precious few i-frame on Soul Cores abilities both for attacking and for ki recharging. Therefore, damage reduction is a must only when I’m using Swirling Snow with the Odachi (also important ofc).
I've also obtained a magatama earlier with -1 on set bonus requirement, which I’m already abusing XD.

Spirit Guardians:
Ho-Oh + Baku

Corruption? On my purity build?
I know I know: it’s strange and apparently, it’s all over the place.
BUT: Baku passive is anima charge, which I already greatly favour. Therefore, even if it is a guardian spirit geared on Corruption, it's included in this build because of its passive.

Soul cores on Ho-Oh (Baku's are irrelevant):

White Tiger
Gozuki
Lightning Gods of Yomi

Rationales for the Soul Cores is:

Lightning Gods of Yomi is imo a superb Soul Core: one of the few with + melee damage on (elemental damage procced). And electrifying enemies with it is guaranteed (ofc, only if the enemy isn’t immune to thunder, but it’s worth the risk imo). It has great damage, i-frames which are a god send for ki recharge, immense horizontal traversing distance if needed, multi-hit and it is lightning based which helps further to restrain the more agile enemies. I consider it the elemental equivalent of Gozuki for Ki damage, which is self-explanatory in its use. Same thing for White Tiger on purity build.

Add Onmyo for buff/debuff and lightning based attack and it should be all: maybe it will not be the most elegant build, but I’ve to say locking horns with Shibata Katsuie and winning never grows old. Same thing with chain stunning Gyuki with pure lightning.

None the less, any help in refining it is appreciated: as I said, I’m not even half way there. XD

[cybercybercybercyber4]

please do not use fists, your built literally becomes irrelevant if you do.
+0 fists allow you to outdamage any other +20 weapon, with less risks and elemental debuff on top of it. Any other weapon is totally fine though, including odachi.
so for your own sake of actually playing the game i wouldnt take fists into any consideration and find your path without them..

[Mander]

Originally posted by cybercybercybercyber4:

please do not use fists, your built literally becomes irrelevant if you do.
+0 fists allow you to outdamage any other +20 weapon, with less risks and elemental debuff on top of it. Any other weapon is totally fine though, including odachi.
so for your own sake of actually playing the game i wouldnt take fists into any consideration and find your path without them..

Unfortunately, Odachi and Fists scale both with strength for primary STAT and heart for tertiary. Which is among one of the best synergies in game, afaik. I tried anything else and the only other weapon I appreciated as much as Odachi was the switch glaive, which is almost as broken imho: even low level as I was, the only enemies who could suffer more than 1 combo with it were the bosses. Anything else melted before I begun switching between middle stance and high stance: as a result, I rarely managed to rely on and use the best mechanic the switch glaive can offer. :S
At least the Odachi is constantly entertaining in its simplicity. XD
Ofc, every other weapon has its merit: Spear and Tonfa were also good, especially because their ki pulse can be chained in an attack, and I also appreciated the splitstaff for its surprising vertical reach… but none of them made me commit as much as the BFS.
A helicopter in high stance, a shield in middle stance, and a pogo stick in low stance: simple, effective and always fun.
I consider fist weapons as the perfect counter vs human bosses or very agile demon: they remain a less used weapon, but something I can count on and which fits my overall build.

[Virulent0o]

Based on your info, without getting into the nitty-gritty:

- Lower magic to 150 and get your constitution to 150.
- Roll ultimate constitution on your scroll. The auto-regen means you can roll damage/ki-recovery bonus (unscathed) for boost A-like agility while wearing heavier armour with A toughness.
- For your fists: get white lotus fists: purity + dmg bonus to yokai
- For your odachi: get bloodstained odachi: corruption + dmg to humans

[Melusca]

Strength is the worst stat in the game, it doesn't do anything apart from adding scaling to your weapons. I'd suggest adding a transform bonus for constitution, courage or stamina to your weapons and lower strength to 10, that way you can max stamina and constitution which are far more valuable stats.

[Mander]

Originally posted by Virulent0o:

Based on your info, without getting into the nitty-gritty:

- Lower magic to 150 and get your constitution to 150.
- Roll ultimate constitution on your scroll. The auto-regen means you can roll damage/ki-recovery bonus (unscathed) for boost A-like agility while wearing heavier armour with A toughness.
- For your fists: get white lotus fists: purity + dmg bonus to yokai
- For your odachi: get bloodstained odachi: corruption + dmg to humans

Ty for the tips: the extra 50 points in Onmyo don't add that much in damage, while 50 more in constitution increase survivability a lot, correct?
On the other hand, I admit you lost me regarding the weapons: considering I aim to use Fists mainly vs human enemies, shouldn’t be corruption better on them? And the same holds true for the odachi…
Anyway, feel free to dig deep in the nitty-gritty: I would love to hear others’ POV

[Erudax]

I'd recommend against White Tiger, the core gives you anima when you apply purification (and you generally want anima when attacking purified enemies). Also the ability doesn't stagger enemies, lasts for a long duration, overall meh soul core.

[Justice]

>*I would prefer to achieve A on agility, but I don’t know yet if I can reach it, so it’s mainly provisional: If A is impossible to reach while also keeping your toughness at A at least, I will reduce it and redistribute the points in Constitution.>

Agility A is cool but imo really not worth it, achieving both Agility A and toughness A is really hard, better to focus more on toughness and other defensive bonuses as they will make things much easier. I played thru the game with agility A and sword build all the way up to the final endgame dungeon where that kind of glasscannon build at last pretty much hit a wall and where I decided to try Heavy armor + Toughness A/AA gears, it made a huge difference and I noticed how Agility/light armor builds really are like adding an unnecessary layer of difficulty. So my advice really is to get ur defensive stats in order while trying to maintain high damage, you can have at your level like say for example about 80-100% dmg against electrified enemies and also damage taken halved 100% with Honda clan + Boar helmet.

[Mander]

Originally posted by Melusca:

Strength is the worst stat in the game, it doesn't do anything apart from adding scaling to your weapons. I'd suggest adding a transform bonus for constitution, courage or stamina to your weapons and lower strength to 10, that way you can max stamina and constitution which are far more valuable stats.

Seems too harsh to believe: strength, among others, also increase ki damage. And with Gozuki as my ki burner, the final result is quite good. Moreover, ultimate strength synergizes also with purity build, because the amount of Ki you recover when guarding will increase while using purity weapons.
I also doubt strength grants less damage increase for every point spent than other STATS…
I would have maxed constitution with a switchglaive build, but I favour Odachi more: it’s more efficient to max strength in this case, imho.

[Mander]

Originally posted by Erudax:

I'd recommend against White Tiger, the core gives you anima when you apply purification (and you generally want anima when attacking purified enemies). Also the ability doesn't stagger enemies, lasts for a long duration, overall meh soul core.

I agree on the meh factor: I equip it only because it gives a little more oomph in a purity build using Ho-Oh as guardian spirit (and it comes somewhat cheap). I would use anything else with a purity attribute, if there was an alternative. XD
To be completely sincere, between the soul cores in my build, White Tiger is the one I never use: Lightning Gods of Yomi and Gozuki are the best for me.

[Mander]

Originally posted by Justice:

>*I would prefer to achieve A on agility, but I don’t know yet if I can reach it, so it’s mainly provisional: If A is impossible to reach while also keeping your toughness at A at least, I will reduce it and redistribute the points in Constitution.>

Agility A is cool but imo really not worth it, achieving both Agility A and toughness A is really hard, better to focus more on toughness and other defensive bonuses as they will make things much easier. I played thru the game with agility A and sword build all the way up to the final endgame dungeon where that kind of glasscannon build at last pretty much hit a wall and where I decided to try Heavy armor + Toughness A/AA gears, it made a huge difference and I noticed how Agility/light armor builds really are like adding an unnecessary layer of difficulty. So my advice really is to get ur defensive stats in order while trying to maintain high damage, you can have at your level like say for example about 80-100% dmg against electrified enemies and also damage taken halved 100% with Honda clan + Boar helmet.

Ty for the tip: A agility was what I feared. I would surely invest in more toughness and damage reduction from now on.

[Mander]

EDIT: changed STAT distribution and the OP to reflect the proposed suggestions

[Virulent0o]

Originally posted by Mander:

Ty for the tips: the extra 50 points in Onmyo don't add that much in damage, while 50 more in constitution increase survivability a lot, correct?
On the other hand, I admit you lost me regarding the weapons: considering I aim to use Fists mainly vs human enemies, shouldn’t be corruption better on them? And the same holds true for the odachi…
Anyway, feel free to dig deep in the nitty-gritty: I would love to hear others’ POV

Yeah, over 150 magic doesn't add much unless you play with splitstaff.
You can make up the difference with your title rewards.

Odachi for human is preferred due to the additional passive 6% dmg to humans in skill tree.
Nothing wrong with fists weapons for human, gotta be frugal with every little percentage if we are talking about optimisation here.
Corruption + swirling snow melts away human ki while you gain ki while swinging - similar to permanent stun-lock of fists - hits slower, but harder.

Regarding your Baku calculation, don't overlook lightning oni-bi.
It only cost 4 points to attune. It applies electrified to your opponent for next to no anima and also applies the same element to your weapon. Also saves some jutsu slot without the need to carry lightning talisman.

[Mander]

Originally posted by Virulent0o:

Originally posted by Mander:

Ty for the tips: the extra 50 points in Onmyo don't add that much in damage, while 50 more in constitution increase survivability a lot, correct?
On the other hand, I admit you lost me regarding the weapons: considering I aim to use Fists mainly vs human enemies, shouldn’t be corruption better on them? And the same holds true for the odachi…
Anyway, feel free to dig deep in the nitty-gritty: I would love to hear others’ POV

Yeah, over 150 magic doesn't add much unless you play with splitstaff.
You can make up the difference with your title rewards.

Odachi for human is preferred due to the additional passive 6% dmg to humans in skill tree.
Nothing wrong with fists weapons for human, gotta be frugal with every little percentage if we are talking about optimisation here.
Corruption + swirling snow melts away human ki while you gain ki while swinging - similar to permanent stun-lock of fists - hits slower, but harder.

Regarding your Baku calculation, don't overlook lightning oni-bi.
It only cost 4 points to attune. It applies electrified to your opponent for next to no anima and also applies the same element to your weapon. Also saves some jutsu slot without the need to carry lightning talisman.

Ah, I didn't remember that: sadly fisting humans (pun intended), is simply something I can't pass up. I'll do without the 6% in this case (or at least until my damage remains good). XD
Regarding Oni-B, wouldn't that overwrite the element of my weapons on activation? So... reducing or nullifying the bonus on purity/corruption damage?
And farming Oni-B core is a pita, considering I would need to find the correct element...
Lastly, I like my lightning Onmyo: it's a solid source of damage, multiplied by 8 casting. I'll add wheels in case.

I'll have to make some tests, but atm I've grown addicted to Yomi and its i-frames. :S

[Peelsepuuppi]

Originally posted by cybercybercybercyber4:

please do not use fists, your built literally becomes irrelevant if you do.
+0 fists allow you to outdamage any other +20 weapon, with less risks and elemental debuff on top of it. Any other weapon is totally fine though, including odachi.
so for your own sake of actually playing the game i wouldnt take fists into any consideration and find your path without them..

Odachi is incredibly more boring to use than the fists. What a worthless comment.