Easy/Good build for noobs who suck at the game?

[Justin_760]

I struggle to get through this, even on the first region Im getting killed constantly. Its frustrating that Yoki have impenetrable poise and even smashing their face with a giant axe power attack does nothing to interrupt their attacks.

Can someone give me some help on a build? I heard back when it launched that Ninjitsu builds were really OP. But I just had a visitor mage guy who destroyed the second boss bat lady in like 15 seconds and slowed her down with some spell, so that also seemed really good.

And what weapons are the best? For people of lesser skill?

[Deostades]

Every weapon type is perfectly viable at all levels of play.

That said, the base Sword is easy to figure out and has a lot of very useful skills. You'll want to unlock Flowing Shadows as soon as it becomes available.

Spears are pretty easy to pick up as well, and the extra distance at which you are able to engage can give you that crucial second of wind up time to dodge or block.

Axes, interestingly enough, are probably not great beginner weapons, as they take a fair amount of tricky timing to get the best effect out of their powerful swings. This is a guy that chose Axes as his starting weapon speaking.

Kusarigama are difficult to master, but once you do, virtually no Yokai in the game will last long against you.

Now, poise, or Ki as it's known in this game, works differently for human and Yokai. Human opponents, like you, use Ki in attacking and dodging, and when you Break their Ki, they go into an exhaust state like you, open for a Grapple move. Yokai, however, treat Ki like a secondary layer of armor that you strip away by attacking. Their movements do not use Ki, and as long as they still have Ki left over, few moves will stagger them.

However, most Yokai have a big glowing horn or other obvious weak spot. Hit that weak spot, and your instantly Break their Ki, often sending them flat on the ground, and anything more substantial than a sneeze will stun-lock them easily.

High Stance on most weapons has an easy to abuse combo or move that easily hits most Yokai weak spots without issue.

Ninjutsu and Onmyo are both very powerful, and can make a huge difference in your playstyle. Shuriken and Kunai can lock opponents into blocking while their Ki is drained, or knock several foes down from vulnerable states. Hino-Enma, the second boss you mentioned, is best knocked out of her flying state with some Kunai.

Onmo magics have a huge variety of Talismans, or spells, that you can use. One, Sloth, is the one you described, and on default difficulty can fairly be called an Instant Win Button. Others become exponentially more useful as time and difficulty increase, but there are few Onmyo that can't be used to great effect.

As far as general builds: experiment! At your stage of the game there's no bad build, just one that you haven't mastered yet. I'd recommend Medium armor for a good compromise between protection and manuverability, but as long as you keep your Equip Load under 70% (Agility B), you should be fine. Add to that each Main mission and many Side missions will unlock new armors and weapons, and you're spoilt for choice all the way through the last DLC.

[DooG Is Eternal]

probably katana for easiest weapon to get you through, dont even need to learn how to switch stance or combo or ki drain, just lol low stance and spam flowing shadow and iai, occassionally backwave and win.