Difference between defense multiplier and damage reduction? And other questions

[By-Tor And The Snow Cat]

I've been playing this game for about twelve hours now, and I still have so many questions (I haven't even tried the blacksmith yet, so, I'm sure once I get to that ball of yarn, I'll need plenty of help untangling it). I've read guides on several topics, but I've found asking this community to be far more helpful in explaining aspects of the game with which I'm having difficulty; the guides are often written in an esoteric fashion. Thanks in advance to anyone who replies, and thank you to everyone who replied in my last thread. I'm really impressed with this community.

Well, now that I've told everyone how great they are, let's get to my question: what's the difference between a "defense multiplier" and damage reduction? Many pieces of armor I've obtained have a defense multiplier far higher than another piece, but the other piece has significantly more damage reduction. Which one of these is more important? I understand that the damage reduction is a percent reduction of the total damage done by an attacking enemy, but I don't understand how the defense multiplier affects this, or anything else.It sure would be nice if they applied the defense multiplier to the stats directly, so I could see the difference it makes, but that's Nioh for you :P

While we're here, I have another question: in my last thread, multiple people suggested I pick up a skill that allows me to Ki pulse during a dash (I think), but I can't find that skill anywhere on my skill tree. Does anyone know what they meant, or did I perhaps misunderstand the suggestion?

Ooh! I have another: how often do people change their stances? How important is it? I notice there are skills that give you bonuses for changing stances IN THE MIDDLE of an attack, but why would I ever do this? I only change stances based on enemies (for example, I usually use the mid stance, but when I fought Hino-emma, I used the low stance because I needed to be faster).

Finally, I'd love some general suggestions. What techniques, changes (e.g. armor, skills, ninjutsus, etc.), and styles have you found most important to your success in the game? Any and all advice is welcome.

Thanks again to all of you. Feel free to answer one or all questions, or just ignore me and my (amazing, sculpted) noob ass. Everyone has been awesome so far. I haven't even received one "git gud" comment!

[Recjawjind]

Im not exactly sure what the meaning behind the defense multiplier is, so i cannot answer that question, but i should have somthing for the others.

The skill to dash ki pulse is on the far left side of every weapon skilltree, and once unlocked in one, its unlocked in all. It reads somthing like "allows you to ki pulse even while dashing".

I personally usually egnore these types of skills, since i choose stances based on what i need right now and switch only if it makes tactical sense.

What skills i can recommand are legswipes for spear and kusarigama (which are my 2 favourite weaponclasses), and the spearfall skill in the spear skilltree, since it allows you to literally stunlock every human opponent in the game. Legswipe, go in high stance with a spear, walk behind the enemy, do the execute and while he gets up, do a light attack and combo into a heavy which executes spearfall. The second, vertical hit of spreafall is another knockdown which allows you to execute again. If you time it right, the enemy shouldnt have a chance to block since he will be constantly stunned during the skill. For bosses, i recommand the "Reaper" skill from the kusarigama weapon class. Its the highest dps attack i have found sofar, and it tears bosses which you cant cheese with spearfall apart. As for ninjutsus, i can recommand medusa powder, paralysis is an incredebly powerfull status effect since it allows you to grapple, and it can be used to guarantee a sucessfull legswipe into spearfall combo.
If you really want to turn the game into a joke, pick up the sloth talisman from the magic skilltree. It turns every boss into a joke.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Recjawjind the Sunbro \T/:

Im not exactly sure what the meaning behind the defense multiplier is, so i cannot answer that question, but i should have somthing for the others.

The skill to dash ki pulse is on the far left side of every weapon skilltree, and once unlocked in one, its unlocked in all. It reads somthing like "allows you to ki pulse even while dashing".

I personally usually egnore these types of skills, since i choose stances based on what i need right now and switch only if it makes tactical sense.

What skills i can recommand are legswipes for spear and kusarigama (which are my 2 favourite weaponclasses), and the spearfall skill in the spear skilltree, since it allows you to literally stunlock every human opponent in the game. Legswipe, go in high stance with a spear, walk behind the enemy, do the execute and while he gets up, do a light attack and combo into a heavy which executes spearfall. The second, vertical hit of spreafall is another knockdown which allows you to execute again. If you time it right, the enemy shouldnt have a chance to block since he will be constantly stunned during the skill. For bosses, i recommand the "Reaper" skill from the kusarigama weapon class. Its the highest dps attack i have found sofar, and it tears bosses which you cant cheese with spearfall apart. As for ninjutsus, i can recommand medusa powder, paralysis is an incredebly powerfull status effect since it allows you to grapple, and it can be used to guarantee a sucessfull legswipe into spearfall combo.
If you really want to turn the game into a joke, pick up the sloth talisman from the magic skilltree. It turns every boss into a joke.

Oh, and have a "Git Gud" since you havent gotten any of these sofar. Hope my advise helps.

[By-Tor And The Snow Cat]

Originally posted by Recjawjind the Sunbro \T/:

Originally posted by Recjawjind the Sunbro \T/:

Im not exactly sure what the meaning behind the defense multiplier is, so i cannot answer that question, but i should have somthing for the others.

The skill to dash ki pulse is on the far left side of every weapon skilltree, and once unlocked in one, its unlocked in all. It reads somthing like "allows you to ki pulse even while dashing".

I personally usually egnore these types of skills, since i choose stances based on what i need right now and switch only if it makes tactical sense.

What skills i can recommand are legswipes for spear and kusarigama (which are my 2 favourite weaponclasses), and the spearfall skill in the spear skilltree, since it allows you to literally stunlock every human opponent in the game. Legswipe, go in high stance with a spear, walk behind the enemy, do the execute and while he gets up, do a light attack and combo into a heavy which executes spearfall. The second, vertical hit of spreafall is another knockdown which allows you to execute again. If you time it right, the enemy shouldnt have a chance to block since he will be constantly stunned during the skill. For bosses, i recommand the "Reaper" skill from the kusarigama weapon class. Its the highest dps attack i have found sofar, and it tears bosses which you cant cheese with spearfall apart. As for ninjutsus, i can recommand medusa powder, paralysis is an incredebly powerfull status effect since it allows you to grapple, and it can be used to guarantee a sucessfull legswipe into spearfall combo.
If you really want to turn the game into a joke, pick up the sloth talisman from the magic skilltree. It turns every boss into a joke.

Oh, and have a "Git Gud" since you havent gotten any of these sofar. Hope my advise helps.

That was an awesome post. Thank you.

I think the people who were talking about the dash pulse meant the "do a Ki pulse even while dodging," not dashing. That would make sense, as I have picked up that one.

It seems like the kusarigama is a really bad weapon (very slow, few attacks) until you upgrade it several times in the skill tree, unless I'm missing something and don't understand how to properly use it. I'm going to start upgrading it, since everyone says it's amazing.

Man, there is so much to this games that it's very daunting at the start. I don't know how much patience I would have without people like you around.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by The Great Catsby:

Originally posted by Recjawjind the Sunbro \T/:

Oh, and have a "Git Gud" since you havent gotten any of these sofar. Hope my advise helps.

That was an awesome post. Thank you.

I think the people who were talking about the dash pulse meant the "do a Ki pulse even while dodging," not dashing. That would make sense, as I have picked up that one.

It seems like the kusarigama is a really bad weapon (very slow, few attacks) until you upgrade it several times in the skill tree, unless I'm missing something and don't understand how to properly use it. I'm going to start upgrading it, since everyone says it's amazing.

Man, there is so much to this games that it's very daunting at the start. I don't know how much patience I would have without people like you around.

Try using its high and low stance if you want really speedy attacks. The mid stance is really slow, but gives you insane AOE to hit everything around you. The main downside of them is, that they leave you open for a long time after many attacks, so you have to learn how to manage that, but they really put out incredible damage, especially with reaper. My advise for using that skill is, trying to find a time where a boss has a short while of downtime, and then just putting down the pain.

[Bezz]

Kusarigama is good for quick stacking some elemental debuffs with low stance and there is very cheesy skill, that pulls enemies towards you and you can dish up some damage while they get up.
On the topic of changing stances in mid fight: you can pull an enemy with your low stance kusa skill, than quickly change to high stance and do a quick attack combo (like XXX).
Here is some video with examples, no kusa in this one, but you can apply these techniques to any weapon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EcW7IPb-yo&list=LLM38Ofv5cvg9rjGJwJKx3Pg&index=2

[DooG Is Eternal]

because nioh has no data miner, so we wont know how def multiplier formular is like most jrpg. If you ever played brave frontier or shironeko, theres much more layer of buff and etc, my gut feeling just say the basic idea;

enemy attack value(normal attack or skill multiplier) / your def value = dmg taken

dmg reduction should be
enemy attack / your def value => dmg calculated (dmg reduction %) = dmg taken

usually in most jrpg game, you need both of them, def value is effective vs low dmg,
while dmg reduction% are effective vs huge dmg spike but sux against low dmg.
But nioh everything hits so hard so dmg reduction are the much more useful stats here, def value hardly matters in nioh, its not really something u should worry about, just grab whatever armor you needs for your build. Only time i can feel the difference for def multiplier is using end game lvl 300 +130ish armor set and use them in wotn, 2 shots just become a little bearable like 4/5 shots :/

tldr def multiplier sux in nioh, only gives you that slight advantage in ng.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by Bezz:

Kusarigama is good for quick stacking some elemental debuffs with low stance and there is very cheesy skill, that pulls enemies towards you and you can dish up some damage while they get up.
On the topic of changing stances in mid fight: you can pull an enemy with your low stance kusa skill, than quickly change to high stance and do a quick attack combo (like XXX).
Here is some video with examples, no kusa in this one, but you can apply these techniques to any weapon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EcW7IPb-yo&list=LLM38Ofv5cvg9rjGJwJKx3Pg&index=2

The pulling an enemy close skill is available for high stance too tho, so im not sure why youd want to pull in low and switch to high stance. Also the pulling the enemy comobs amazingly into the legswipe because while the enemy gets up, they cant dodge or block it.

[By-Tor And The Snow Cat]

You guys are all amazing. This has been super helpful. Thank you!

[By-Tor And The Snow Cat]

Originally posted by Bezz:

Kusarigama is good for quick stacking some elemental debuffs with low stance and there is very cheesy skill, that pulls enemies towards you and you can dish up some damage while they get up.
On the topic of changing stances in mid fight: you can pull an enemy with your low stance kusa skill, than quickly change to high stance and do a quick attack combo (like XXX).
Here is some video with examples, no kusa in this one, but you can apply these techniques to any weapon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EcW7IPb-yo&list=LLM38Ofv5cvg9rjGJwJKx3Pg&index=2

The only things that give you elemental debuffs are talismans, right? I've only found a few so far (though I've only done the first level and In The Shadows -- which is apparently the third, and I didn't realize that at the time), so I haven't used them yet except for one while fighting Hino-Emma. I'm trying to save them for really tough fights. I guess I'll find more as the game goes on.

I imagine there are some weapons that have elemental debuffs built in, but I haven't found any yet.

[Recjawjind]

Originally posted by The Great Catsby:

Originally posted by Bezz:

Kusarigama is good for quick stacking some elemental debuffs with low stance and there is very cheesy skill, that pulls enemies towards you and you can dish up some damage while they get up.
On the topic of changing stances in mid fight: you can pull an enemy with your low stance kusa skill, than quickly change to high stance and do a quick attack combo (like XXX).
Here is some video with examples, no kusa in this one, but you can apply these techniques to any weapon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EcW7IPb-yo&list=LLM38Ofv5cvg9rjGJwJKx3Pg&index=2

The only things that give you elemental debuffs are talismans, right? I've only found a few so far (though I've only done the first level and In The Shadows -- which is apparently the third, and I didn't realize that at the time), so I haven't used them yet except for one while fighting Hino-Emma. I'm trying to save them for really tough fights. I guess I'll find more as the game goes on.

I imagine there are some weapons that have elemental debuffs built in, but I haven't found any yet.

You should have gotten the raikiri by now. Also, you can, when investing into the magic skilltree get such talismans which refill every time you visit a shrine, so basicly infinite of them. Living weapons also apply elemental debuffs, aswell as guardian spirit talismans, bombs and several other usable items, many of which are within the magic or ninja skilltree.

[Witcher]

Good questions OP. This game does not explain its mechanics very well and thanks James for his attempt to explain the difference bet Def Multiplier and Dmg Reduction.

I stick to Mid stance most of the time and maybe switch to Low when I fight small spiders b/c I'm not good at switching stances.

[By-Tor And The Snow Cat]

Originally posted by Witcher:

Good questions OP. This game does not explain its mechanics very well and thanks James for his attempt to explain the difference bet Def Multiplier and Dmg Reduction.

I stick to Mid stance most of the time and maybe switch to Low when I fight small spiders b/c I'm not good at switching stances.

Haha I just watched the video above, and I'm thinking I'll either have to stick with one stance during a fight or practice for ten hours before I play another level :(

[By-Tor And The Snow Cat]

Originally posted by James D Bad RAger:

because nioh has no data miner, so we wont know how def multiplier formular is like most jrpg. If you ever played brave frontier or shironeko, theres much more layer of buff and etc, my gut feeling just say the basic idea;

enemy attack value(normal attack or skill multiplier) / your def value = dmg taken

dmg reduction should be
enemy attack / your def value => dmg calculated (dmg reduction %) = dmg taken

usually in most jrpg game, you need both of them, def value is effective vs low dmg,
while dmg reduction% are effective vs huge dmg spike but sux against low dmg.
But nioh everything hits so hard so dmg reduction are the much more useful stats here, def value hardly matters in nioh, its not really something u should worry about, just grab whatever armor you needs for your build. Only time i can feel the difference for def multiplier is using end game lvl 300 +130ish armor set and use them in wotn, 2 shots just become a little bearable like 4/5 shots :/

tldr def multiplier sux in nioh, only gives you that slight advantage in ng.

So, would this also be true of weapons? It seems like the most relevant thing in the weapons descriptions is the multiplier. There isn't really something as general as the dmg reduction with armor. So is the multiplier the most relevant thing when in comes to weapons, unlike with armor?

[Witcher]

Originally posted by The Great Catsby:

Haha I just watched the video above, and I'm thinking I'll either have to stick with one stance during a fight or practice for ten hours before I play another level :(

I learned to take a grain of salt watching Nioh vids b/c most are published by veterans who have played the game to death What's the need to follow them if your tactics and play style are working?

[Master]

I saw a guy using armor without the required stats to equip it. It provided 0 defense. And he played like this for 5 regions and complained game was hard.

Make sure you check you are able to equip armor. This is one important subtle thing that game fails to tell you.