Graces vs Dragon

[Jon.Topps]

I know there's lots of debate here, but I'm starting to get into the graces, and I just don't see the point. Basically everything in the game sucks, all the set bonuses are negligible, including the graces, all except for the Dragon set. Turning a katana into a quick odachi is amazing. The sheer damage output far exceeds everything else. Couple that with flowing shadow, and you're doing insane amounts of damage.

I see people liking the Susano. This would be nice using an odachi strong attack, since you get like 53% damage bonus in total. However, that's only if you're using strong attacks, and with other weapons it's not really worth it, so it seems like this would be purely the one hitters with odachis.

I also see people liking Izanagi. There's not really "too" much there, except if you make a specific build to keep using Pleiades with a health recover on amrita. That's very specific, requires constantly using a spell, only works for a bit, and takes up magic slots, and would STILL probably only "maybe" compete with Dragon.

I've also seen people talking about heavy armor making a big difference, but when you go WotN and Abyss, you're basically just one shotted constantly anyways, so what's the point? I mean, they're doing like 9k to me on a regular basis, so why bother trying to, at most, double my defense? (Even then it's probably far under double from light to heavy)

Why in the world do people use anything except the Dragon? I did damage tests, and it's just a straight up massive bonus, which is permanent, and with everything. I'm actually a bit disappointed with Nioh in this regard, seeing as basically everything is so negligible that it makes very little difference... except for the Dragon gear.

Am I missing something here? Any recommendations?

[Leon]

You're missing a lot, i cant explain now since I'm about to sleep, but graces are not juat about being 1 set, you combine few to make your own set depending on what your goal of the set to be. Dragon set serves one purpose, sure it is amaxing with flowing shadow, i was at some point one trick with that skill doing the entire wotn missions and other missions with it including abyss, but it has its limits.

One mistake and you're done.

You need to look deeper into graces, remember it is not about using 1 set of grace.

[Crowmanhunter]

Playstyle.

If you want to go Dragon ninja, you're limiting yourself to playing exactly 1 way. Almost exactly the way you described, and strictly only with the Dragon Ninja set. And you can't even get away with swapping for a different secondary weapon, because the damage bonus applies strictly only to the Dragon Ninja weapons. Graces give the benefit of being able to be on ANYTHING. Susano Axe? Go for it. Izanagi tonfas? Heck yeah.

If you're a person that just wants the biggest most easily attainable numbers, then Dragon Ninja is it. And that's not a bad thing. Nioh acknowledges that you shouldn't have to farm for Graces to do decent damage. And this is reflected in the fact that a lot of the base sets, especially when used in combo, are perfectly viable. Farming further is completely optional.

Furthermore, if you're like me, it's not about the numbers. It's about seeing something really weird and deciding you want to mix up some CRRAAZZZY ♥♥♥♥. There are set bonuses that gives you damage bonuses for setting yourself on fire! How freakin hilarious is that? For a weirdo like me obsessed with the non-conventional, I simply could not resist. xD