Have I done things correctly?

[Hawky]

Hello Nioh Community

I recently started this game a few days ago. But have been having the game for a long time and never played it, or rather was not ready to play it, like with all other games like this one, DS/Sekiro etc. I needed the mood, and a clear mind XD anyhows. Here is what I am wondering.

I have now reached the Tokai Region, and been allocating my stats as needed (keep in mind I pre-planned along the way and checked guides but need clarification if I did right) on my levels. But I want to make sure here now in this forum if I did it right or messed up. No biggie if I did, I can wait for NG+ as this is my first playthrough. I will post stats below.

Body - 12
Heart - 17
Stamina - 10
Strenght - 10
Skill - 13
Dexterity - 20
Magic - 20
Spirit - 16

Main Weapon - Sword (It is what I use all the time)
Sub Weapon - Kusarigama (Took it for testing, but use spear now to complete set bonus on red demon armor, so basically any wep here.)
Armor - Full set of Red Demon
Spirit Guardian - Kato

That is what I have so far. Now I also did learn everything I wanted to use and have on Sword (Katana) and all its passives. I have not learned everything in the Sword tree, just the stuff I want to use. Now I am looking through other weapon trees for its PASSIVES and I should do that right? For I am thinking it should work in general and tandem with any weapon I hope. The passives.

Now for Magic and Ninjutsu I took it to 20 early on for I heard it was all I needed for the dojo. So it was 20 halfway thru in region 2. Armor requirement got done in region 3 and so on. The reason for 16 spirit is I don't know really. But added points there for other guardians I suppose if I wanted to try them out. But I feel like its a waste at this point now.

But if any veteran Nioh player can help or guide would be a great help. As I am still new and learning the ropes around Nioh.

Now if the stats are good, what would I do next just focus Heart for my sword until it is like 99 or just until a point of 50 maybe. Anyhow stat allocation is somewhat needed in help.

Clan I took Li because of Red Demon Armor. Feel free to tell me if any other is okay to use, not because who is best but of its bonuses.

Not sure what else to say, but I hope this was as informative as possible for any Nioh player veteran to answer for me. Thanks!

[Leon]

no need to stress about stats being allocated wrong or not, you can easily reset them with a book ( price increases from shop, but as you advance in NG difficulties, money will be easy to obtain with different methods )

focus on stats that will increase or make your current weapons and equipment benefit more from them, dex for kusa, and i heart was for sword. There is a good sword skill i used to always use, it has high dmg, but also makes you vulnerable if timed wrong called Flowing shadow, 3 slashes in a row around the target.

If you focus on sword gameplay only, i recommend maxing heart first. you can go with 20 in all stats first if you want.

[Hawky]

Originally posted by Leon:

no need to stress about stats being allocated wrong or not, you can easily reset them with a book ( price increases from shop, but as you advance in NG difficulties, money will be easy to obtain with different methods )

focus on stats that will increase or make your current weapons and equipment benefit more from them, dex for kusa, and i heart was for sword. There is a good sword skill i used to always use, it has high dmg, but also makes you vulnerable if timed wrong called Flowing shadow, 3 slashes in a row around the target.

If you focus on sword gameplay only, i recommend maxing heart first. you can go with 20 in all stats first if you want.

Ah aright cool. Yeah I focus sword, and use Iai alot. Building around that. Okay will put stats onto Heart mostly then. Hmm 20, well thats a good advice thank you, think I might try 25 if possible.

[Urfarah]

As @Leon have said, you can reset your core status with a Book of Reincarnation (you can buy that at the Blacksmith for 10.000G). With that out of the way I would recommend:

*change your armor from Red Demon to either full Kingo or 5 piece Warrior of the West (if you get a good Raiken). You can get the Kingo smithing text in the mission 'The Conspirators' in the 2nd Region (Chugoku);

*the Katana damage scales with Heart, Skill and Strength so, if you want to play around with another weapon, ditch the Kusarigama and get Dual Swords, which scale with Skill, Strength and Heart. That way your attributes will overlap and your damage won't fall behind too much;

*in the beginning it's recommended that you invest 20 points in Dexterity and 20 points in Magic, so that you can complete all the dojo missions and unlock all Ninjutsu and Onmyo skills. You already have that, which is great, so, don't put any more points into them, it would be a waste for now. Also, your Spirit is more than fine for the time being (you don't need more than 10 with Kato), so don't raise that anymore either;

*Pump up that Heart, a LOT. It's the main damage attribute of the Sword and it should be higher, by leagues, than anything else. After Heart, prioritize Skill and Strength;

*Always get enough Stamina to use your armor set and stay at Agility B (70% of your weight). I remember that for full Kingo that is Stamina 20 but I don't remember how it goes for the others;

*Onmyo Sigils that are a must: Weakness, Steel and Carnage (this may vary in late game if you're planning for a Living Weapon build but that's another matter). Get used to always using them before bosses. Sloth is optional. I don't use it but people like it a lot and it helps if you're having difficulty with a particular enemy;

Based on what you've said, those are the general tips I can give. Feel free to ask anything else though.

[Hawky]

Originally posted by Urfarah:

As @Leon have said, you can reset your core status with a Book of Reincarnation (you can buy that at the Blacksmith for 10.000G). With that out of the way I would recommend:

*change your armor from Red Demon to either full Kingo or 5 piece Warrior of the West (if you get a good Raiken). You can get the Kingo smithing text in the mission 'The Conspirators' in the 2nd Region (Chugoku);

*the Katana damage scales with Heart, Skill and Strength so, if you want to play around with another weapon, ditch the Kusarigama and get Dual Swords, which scale with Skill, Strength and Heart. That way your attributes will overlap and your damage won't fall behind too much;

*in the beginning it's recommended that you invest 20 points in Dexterity and 20 points in Magic, so that you can complete all the dojo missions and unlock all Ninjutsu and Onmyo skills. You already have that, which is great, so, don't put any more points into them, it would be a waste for now. Also, your Spirit is more than fine for the time being (you don't need more than 10 with Kato), so don't raise that anymore either;

*Pump up that Heart, a LOT. It's the main damage attribute of the Sword and it should be higher, by leagues, than anything else. After Heart, prioritize Skill and Strength;

*Always get enough Stamina to use your armor set and stay at Agility B (70% of your weight). I remember that for full Kingo that is Stamina 20 but I don't remember how it goes for the others;

*Onmyo Sigils that are a must: Weakness, Steel and Carnage (this may vary in late game if you're planning for a Living Weapon build but that's another matter). Get used to always using them before bosses. Sloth is optional. I don't use it but people like it a lot and it helps if you're having difficulty with a particular enemy;

Based on what you've said, those are the general tips I can give. Feel free to ask anything else though.

Absolute tremndous answer. Thank you.

I decided to go with Light Armor, and Red Demon Armor seemed a good pick. So thats why I am using it. But I just want to know the reason on WotW Armor. For I wanted Agility A so I been using Light Armor mostly for dodging. I Block and Parry mostly now. But I can consider using Medium Armor. I am guessing that the WotW armors bonus is better than Red Demons? Anyhow, I will work on getting that set.

The Magic I use are,
Sloth
Weakness
Steel
Carnage

The Ninjutsu are,
Quick-change
Paralytic Groundfire (For bosses mostly to pull off Iai, sometimes not enough time without, as Iai takes time to build up)

Oh okay, well I can skip Kusa then, and maybe use Odachi, I tried dual swords, didn't quite feel good in my hands, but I think I will try it again. Though I was sorta complely new to game so it was overwhelming. But now when I have a feel of the game I might try that again. For Odachi scales on strenght if I remember correctly, and I do know Dual Swords scaled with Skill.

I am actually gonna get a raiken again, I somehow don't remember what happened with it, I either accidentaly sold or offered it >_<

Sweet, will work on gettin both Kingo and Warrior of the West along with Raiken now.

Appreciate the answer Urfarah :)

[Hawky]

Oh right, seems I already had gotten Kingo's smithing text. Now I see I need centipede fang >_> was hoping not to do that again. Hes just annoying

[Hawky]

@Urfarah

Did you mean Raikiri?
For I just noticed Raiken is a spirit.

[Urfarah]

Ahh, yes, sorry for that, I did mean Raikiri. WotW is a great set if you're using a sword with +lightning and a lightning based Guardian Spirit. The bonus for 5 pieces, that +27.5% damage against electrified enemies is simply great. Still, it's a set that requires very specific components to work properly. Kingo is more of a jack of all trades and has some of the best damage oriented bonuses all around.

About Agility, well, the best I can say is that there isn't much of a difference between Agility A and B and Kingo is worth it. But, if you are intent on sticking with light armor, just make do with whatever you can until you have access to Yagyu's Shinkage Style and Dragon Ninja (but it will take a while to get to them). I find light armor too risky on later difficulties though as you tend to be very mobile but easily one shotted by yokai. I prefer the comfort of Tatenashi (which is no comfort at all because you go from being one shotted to being killed in two or three hits... still, it does allow you a margin of error, which light armor usually doesn't).

For Guardian Spirit, if you're not going the WotW way, stick with Kato. They're one of the best all around and +skill damage is invaluable for any build that relies heavily on skills, like iai does.

Also, if you really want to have another weapon available, Odachi is not a bad choice. At least two of its three core stats overlap with the Sword. Not optimal, but it can work just fine. Personally, my secondary weapon is the same as my main weapon but with different special effects for different situations.

Regarding Onmyo and Ninjutsu, seems like you already know what you're doing, so, good job!

[Hawky]

Originally posted by Urfarah:

Ahh, yes, sorry for that, I did mean Raikiri. WotW is a great set if you're using a sword with +lightning and a lightning based Guardian Spirit. The bonus for 5 pieces, that +27.5% damage against electrified enemies is simply great. Still, it's a set that requires very specific components to work properly. Kingo is more of a jack of all trades and has some of the best damage oriented bonuses all around.

About Agility, well, the best I can say is that there isn't much of a difference between Agility A and B and Kingo is worth it. But, if you are intent on sticking with light armor, just make do with whatever you can until you have access to Yagyu's Shinkage Style and Dragon Ninja (but it will take a while to get to them). I find light armor too risky on later difficulties though as you tend to be very mobile but easily one shotted by yokai. I prefer the comfort of Tatenashi (which is no comfort at all because you go from being one shotted to being killed in two or three hits... still, it does allow you a margin of error, which light armor usually doesn't).

For Guardian Spirit, if you're not going the WotW way, stick with Kato. They're one of the best all around and +skill damage is invaluable for any build that relies heavily on skills, like iai does.

Also, if you really want to have another weapon available, Odachi is not a bad choice. At least two of its three core stats overlap with the Sword. Not optimal, but it can work just fine. Personally, my secondary weapon is the same as my main weapon but with different special effects for different situations.

Regarding Onmyo and Ninjutsu, seems like you already know what you're doing, so, good job!

Hahahaha. I thought so, that you meant Raikiri, all good :D

Yeah I been checking and looking around, on guardian spirits. Kato is really nice, but to me it looks like Paired Raiken is alot better in some stats. So I think I might try out using the WotW armor with Raikiri and Paired Raiken. Workin on Mune now to get the set. Though I should probably just fight revenants for the pieces, because holy damn I seen so many reves drop it. And quite honestly I agree with you on Light Armor it feels nice for me, but at my stage now I am already gettin 1-2 shotted. So I think I wanna switch it up to Medium Armor now. Just for a little more safety and Toughness I guess. I managed to get full Kings armor set just now in full purple. It sure has some nice bonuses.

Gonna need to work on my stamina now. So I am in Agility B below 70%.

Did just have a look on WotW set bonus that lightning damage is tasty so might as well go with it. Gonna fix a Raikiri after im done with gettin the WotW Armor set.

Never thought about using 2 swords, thats a good idea, I mean. 1 sword with lightning, and say other Fire or Water, I personally would take a water weapon, which I got now Atagi Sadamune, nice wep and got some sweet stats on it. You gave me some ideas. I will play around see how I feel about it, might just play with 2 diff elemental swords. As I prefer stickin to 1 weapon type. I scratched the idea earlier with Odachi. If I wanna use Odachi might as well create a new character for that. Though I plan to try Dual Swords of course. Just need a good find, not sure which is a good one yet.

Thank you for the Magic & Ninjutsu comment. I do tend to understand whats good or not :P

Appreciate the answers and comments @Urfarah

[Hawky]

Ahh nice got smithing text from muneshige finally

[「Lukja」]

If I knew how to properly secure a drop for you I woulda did so for my old Purple Raikiri which was pretty good
Now I have a divine one which is on par with it *shrugs*

[Hawky]

Originally posted by 「Lukja」:

If I knew how to properly secure a drop for you I woulda did so for my old Purple Raikiri which was pretty good
Now I have a divine one which is on par with it *shrugs*

Hehe, no worries I got a Raikiri now. Not great but will do. Appreciate the gesture :D

[Hawky]

@Urfarah

Would you say this is good for Raikiri?
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/688287764570964040/869896957831806986/unknown.png

Oh and should I use full set of WotW Armor set or should I combine 2 pieces of kingo with it?

[「Lukja」]

Originally posted by Hawky:

@Urfarah

Would you say this is good for Raikiri?
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/688287764570964040/869896957831806986/unknown.png

Oh and should I use full set of WotW Armor set or should I combine 2 pieces of kingo with it?

I believe the general consensus is Close Combat Damage is king, followed by Familiarity bonus, skill attack, damage armor (torso) and then maybe damage weapon. I've noticed additional damage (element)+% doesn't seem to help to much as the damage numbers on elments are so low (my backattack with weapons would be like 3k-4k and elemental damage would be like 300ish extra)

On the topic of Raikiri I had one that was fully slotted xd.
Change to Attack (Spirit) B
Lightning +14
Weaken Melee 21.9%
Close Combat Damage 12.4%
Lightning Damage (weapon) 47% (could have removed tbh)
Familiarity Damage Bonus C
Pierce Guard 9% (could have removed this too tbh)

Too lazy to get a pic..

I used and am still rocking a full set of WotW armor and I just started the DLC, haven't gotten into any NG+ yet and I think it's good.

[Hawky]

Originally posted by 「Lukja」:

Originally posted by Hawky:

@Urfarah

Would you say this is good for Raikiri?
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/688287764570964040/869896957831806986/unknown.png

Oh and should I use full set of WotW Armor set or should I combine 2 pieces of kingo with it?

I believe the general consensus is Close Combat Damage is king, followed by Familiarity bonus, skill attack, damage armor (torso) and then maybe damage weapon. I've noticed additional damage (element)+% doesn't seem to help to much as the damage numbers on elments are so low (my backattack with weapons would be like 3k-4k and elemental damage would be like 300ish extra)

On the topic of Raikiri I had one that was fully slotted xd.
Change to Attack (Spirit) B
Lightning +14
Weaken Melee 21.9%
Close Combat Damage 12.4%
Lightning Damage (weapon) 47% (could have removed tbh)
Familiarity Damage Bonus C
Pierce Guard 9% (could have removed this too tbh)

Too lazy to get a pic..

I used and am still rocking a full set of WotW armor and I just started the DLC, haven't gotten into any NG+ yet and I think it's good.

I mean CCD is kinda frickin hard to roll in. So I took what I felt was okay at the time. I have not felt any difference with Elemental (Weapon) so probably gonna change it soon. Final Blow is still good though. for when you use the attack when they on ground is high damage. Like when I do use Iai, its Iai > Traingle (if laying on ground) = dead, most of the time. For sometimes there is always a little straggler surviving. And I take Skill Damage also because Iai is a skill and it helps. More or less im experimenting the way I wanna use though XD. Fully slotted Raikiri do sound nice :D

[godsblade]

The sets mentioned are good, but I don't know if it's worth crafting them using their smithing texts this early on in the game. It's far easier getting the materials when you have a lot of points put into one of the smith requests, but that might take a while to get to considering other requests are important. If something is too much of a hassle to craft you can probably farm it off revenants like the WotW set, for uncommon stuff might have to farm a boss for drops.

In terms of weapon reforges these are generally the best:
Close Combat Damage
Familiarity Damage Bonus
Change to Attack (Whatever stat you use the most) - it's fixed to spirit on raikiri though
Weaken Armor Torso (because it's the largest part of the body) or Weaken Melee Weapons (increased survivability, more useful on higher difficulties)
Final Blow is also pretty good nice sometimes if you like using it a lot i guess

The confusing part when reforging weapons is that several reforges conflict with each other and you can't roll them while a conflicting reforge is currently on the weapon. Look at the wiki https://nioh.wiki.fextralife.com/Reforge and see which reforges are in the same pool. For each pool, you can only have one of the reforges in it on your weapon.

So far your weapon looks pretty good, I would be hesitant to suggest changes as reforging close combat damage (replace skill damage) can be expensive due to the rarity (not as bad as CTA (stat) though) but you could try getting it.

Despite talking about reforging the weapons, I think getting the WotW set would be the best thing you could do to buff your Raikiri. Get at least 4 pieces for the +10.2% close combat damage and at least 5 pieces for the +27.5% extra damage to electrified enemies. If you have 5 pieces and a decent Raikiri you should be doing a lot of damage.