Rockin' Nioh! (A Guide on Throwing Stone Build in Nioh)

This is a detail-ish build guide for using the Sukunahikona's Grace Set and using Stones to deal damage in Nioh. Guide Created by Happy Fun Cat

Planned Updates

I am trying to keep myself simi up-to-date on the combat of the game while we wait for Nioh 2, which means I am playing the game again. If there is a set you want me to try out and make a guide for, let me know! It gives me something to do :3

~Happy Fun Cat

Hello and Welcome!

Hello and welcome. I am the Happiest of the Cats, Happy Fun Cat here to FINALLY do another guide, and hopefully not my last ;P I am also rusty on doing guides so if something looks off or hard to understand, let me know so I can fix it!

In this guide we will be looking into the world of rocks in Nioh! More specifically, using the Sukunahikona's Grace set to deal damage using Stones. This guide will cover all the basic information you need to understand rocks! What are they? What impacts them? How do they deal damage? How to be successful? How do they taste? And many more questions that need answers! Maybe? Possibly? WHO KNOWS!? This is the first section of the guide and I don't even know how I am do this yet!

I wanted to do this build simply because I seen the set for it and instantly became "I am so building that once I hit the Abyss!" So... I did. Nuff said.

As with all my guides, don't forget to leave a comment and rate as you see fit. I really missed doing these type of things and I never really done a full build guide before and this is also my first guide in Nioh.

Lastly, there may be some things I missed in the game that would improve this build. I am in no means an expert of the game, I just play one on TV. And also I am a cat, results may vary. There could be other variations on this same set up that would make it more successful, but this is purely a Throwing Stone build mix with standard jutsus that most people use anyways.

With that all said and done, enjoy! (I am not going to plug a video for views, not my style, you will READ!)

If you have a question you would like to ask about the build, guide, or anything really, ask it in the comments section. I will post the question in the question section and answer it there, as well as allowing you to know in the comments that I have indeed, answer your question :3

Rocks, how do they work?

I know what you are thinking, voices in my head, "How do rocks work?! How STUPID are you, Cat?!" Well, very stupid. But that is not the point here. Rocks, or Stones in the game, are... weird. Stuff you think you know about them are not really true here, so I am going to break down my field experiments into rock throwing.

First thing, what do rocks work with? Well, not a lot. Which is super weird considering stuff you would think would work with stones don't work. Let's cover the stuff that doesn't work that you would think that should.

Firstly, affixes that influcence Thrown Weapon Damage, either damage increase or damage doubled, DO NOT WORK! Considering you would think that these are Thrown weapons you would think that this would work. INCORRECT!

All Attack increase affixes and jutsus do not increase Stone's damage either. This includes Close Combat Damage and Skill Damage.

Range Weapon Damage Skill Deadly Eye also does not increase the damage. This applies to Fatal Fist as well.

There are other things I tested, but let's not bore you with my literal afternoon of throwing rocks at things to test this. Those list the main things you may think might work but don't.

So we covered that they are not thrown weapons, they are not close combat weapons, they are not range weapons, or bare handed weapons. So, that is it? It's over, there is no way to increase the damage?! Again, incorrect. There are a few things that do indeed increase the damage for Stones and we will look at them meow!

Stone's damage is increased by any affix that states Damage from Stones x% . There are 2 things in this game that has this affix that I have found so far, the Sukunahikona's Grace 's 7 piece and a Divine Affix on gloves, that you can here below.

Also, these are not the only stone affixes in the game. Gloves can also roll the affix Unlimited Stones 49.9% , Throwing Up Speed (Stones), and one that is not on the gloves but possible Increase Ki Damage (Stones) 499.9%.


-------------

Other things that increase Stones capabilties is Ninjutsu Power, Weakness Talisman on enemy, Attack from Behind, Thrust Damage, and Shadowround Talisman, and x Damage Bonus affix.

But the thing that you MUST have above all else after the 5000% increase is the Ninja Mystic Art Concealment. This will DOUBLE the damage of stones, turning something that is okay into something that is deadly.

Now that we have a handle on what we need in this build, let's get into the build I have been messing around with for the past few days!

The Build! (Part 1, Gear)

Mkay, we know have an understanding on what we need to get this build running, so let's get a grocery list of stuff to look for on gear.

• Sukunahikona's Grace 7 Piece Set Bonus
  
• Ninjutsu Power
  
• x Damage Bonus
  
• Attack From Behind
  
• Damage From Stones on Gloves
  
• Throwing Speed Up (Stones) on Gloves
  
• Unlimited Stones on Gloves

With the above criteria, I went with a Shinobi Apparel set that increases Ninjutsu Power, and a Head of the Iga Clan set for my gear. Shinobi Apparel gives me increase Ninjutsu Power and the 4 set for Iga Clan gives even more power ontop of that.

So with the standard Yasakani Magatama or Divine Affix Equivalent on as an accessory, we are looking at 6 pieces of Sukunahikona's Grace and 3 pieces of Head of the Iga Clan. The breakdown you will want follows;

Melee Weapon
Onikiba Kusarigama and Oninamida Muramasa (Head of the Iga Clan Set Weapons)

Afflixes - Onikiba Kusarigama

• Equipment Lightness Damage Bonus or Agility Damage Bonus
  
• Attack From Behind
  
• Rest is users Choice

Affixes - Oninamida Muramasa
Doesn't Matter

Range Weapon
Any, but both require the Sukunahikona's Grace Set Affix

Affixes - Both

• Equipment Lightness Damage Bonus or Agility Damage Bonus
  
• Rest is users Choice

Equipment
1 Iga Jonin Apparel (Head of the Iga Clan Set, any Piece)
4 Shinobi Apparel (Sukunahikon'a Grace Set, Rest of the Pieces)

Affixes - All Pieces

• Receieved Firearm Damage 10.x% (13.x%)

*Note, on Gloves, Pants, and Boots this will require you to inherit from Chest and Helm

Affixes - Gloves
These are in Order of Importance

1. Damage From Stones
   
2. Throwing Speed Up (Stones)
   
3. Unlimited Stones
   
4. Increase Ki Damage (Stones)

*Note, the first 2 are NEEDED. Any and all damage makes this build easier to run, and the Throwing Speed Up is a quality of life change since you throw so very slowly without it. Unlimited Stones is also another Quality of Life, just means you need to go back to buy more stones less often and Increase Ki Damage is just bad. You may be able to skip this one if you don't want to look for it.

Affixes - Rest

• Anything really you want. I like Sense Enemies on helm so I am not suprised by enemies when walking around, but that is really all. Rest can be users choice.

Accessories

Affixes - 1 (REQUIRED)

• Set Bonus Requirements Down -1

Affixes - Rest

• Ninjutsu power is the only thing that matters here, but it isn't needed. Roll with whatever you want as long as you got Set Bonus Down.

Affixes - Quality of Life

• Received Firearmed Damage

The Build! (Part 2, Stats)

We got the gear, now we need to do our stats! This is pretty simple so I will quickly go over it.

Firstly, make sure you have the stats first required to be able to use your gear! You have that done, right? You 100% Sure? OKAY! Next it is time to start dumping!

Body - Points until you can use your gear
Heart - None for now
Stamina - None for now
Strength - None for now
Skill - 99 or Until you can use your gear
Dexterity - 99 before WotN, 200 on WotN
Magic - 40
Spirit - 18

Once you hit the aboved numbers on Skill, Dex, Magic and Spirit, the rest of your points can be spent however you want. Personally I would go with Heart until 40 for Ki and rest in whatever you feel like.

The Build! (Part 3, Jutsu and Spirits)

Alright! You got the Gear, you got the stats. Now we need to unlock some skills!

Required Skills

Spear
----
First Rule of Thrusting 1-3

Kusarigama
----
Shadow Strike 1-3

Ninja
----
Mystic Art - Concealment
Quick-change 1-3

Onmyo
----
Mystic Art - Awakening
Weakness Talisman 1-3
Sloth Talisman 1-3
Shadowround Talisman 1-3
Incantation Mastery 1-3

Next thing is spirits. For this build you will want Aya-komori (main) and Gyokuto (sub). The combination of these 2 in this order is the highest damage output for stones I could come up with. Aya due to Attack from Behind and Agility damage bonus outweights Gyokuto's pure Ninjutsu Power.

Now that you have the above, let's see some other possible skills!

Medusa Powder and Paralytic Groundtrap to keep enemies at bay to swing around and hit them from behind. Same with Catwalking and Suppa. These are also nice because you are limited on dealing max damage based on your Weakness Talisman required on red enemy targets and bosses, you may find yourself running out of these pretty fast and would want a way to avoid mobs when needed to save them.

Another thing to consider is the Iga 2 set bonus. When you living weapon, you will get back half of your ninjutsu, allow you to use them more. Even if you don't use the living weapon, just popping it and Iai Stance out of it will refill your ninja stuff!

Also Fire Shuikens and Flame Dragon for the slimes and stuff. This build does not do very well with them and while you could spend time trying to kill them, you can cheat and use 1 Flame Dragon or 2-3 Fire Shuikens will kill them instantly and be back at throwing stones at people!

Lastly, Earthfolding is just a nice standard to gtfo if a boss fight isn't going your way and would like to reset and try again!

Questions!

This section here is to list the questions you peeps ask!

"Why the Received Firearms Damage Affix on your gear? Surely there is something better you can put on there." - Submitted by a Cat

Great Question, ME! This is stanard for all of my gear. I am not the best player and sometimes I get caught by suprised by random ranged attacks. This makes it so where I am not completely 1 shotted due to being in full light gear on WotN. I also always have on hand a piece of The God of War Looks Down to bump this to 100% for certain boss fights. While I do lose out on damage, having a 100% Received Firearms Damage reduction makes a ton of boss fights very easy.

Can I ask how much average stones needs to kill an enemy, from weak skeleton to bosses? - Submitted by jjj0309

Do note for this answer, I already moved away from my Stone build to something else, so this is coming off memory, but should still be somewhat correct.

Oh course! Most stones take from 1-4 to kill most normal enemies, less if you hit them from behind (another reasoning for Suppa and Cat Walking) or if you use Weakness. On bosses, it will take anywhere from 2-10, maybe more. This can be lowered by the above following as well. However, against humans, this becomes tricky, but only on human bosses that tend to block. You will need to either use Para Groundtraps or Para Smoke to keep them at bay and hit them from behind. In terms of numbers, I have seen damage range from 5k a stone to over 100k a stone (this is including weakness, behind, ect). Also note this is all based on Way of the Nioh! Not Demon, not Wise, but NG++++! If played correctly, I see no reason why this couldn't (in more capable hands) go into much higher Abyss floors, if not even completing Abyss 999.

A Rockin' Final Throughts Section!

Thank you all who read! I did enjoy writing this and would love to do more build guides in the future. This is just a fun little thing I wanted to do and when I got it working, I decided to share it! So far, the achievements for this build is being able to clear Marobashi on WotN and Abyss floor 37. I am 100% sure it can do more in more skilled hands, but this build was made to derp around in Torii Gate, helping out players by throwing rocks at things :3

But at the end of the day, this is a very simple build and very fun. I am having a blast using it in the Abyss to farm up my next build, and helping out players when able.

I do really hope you peeps enjoy these because I would like to do more. Since this is the first build guide, the format is very horrible. But as with all my guides, it does start getting polished up as I continue.

Again, thank you all! Even if 1 person finds this fun, helpful, or even just likes it, that is enough of a reason for me to do these things!

As always, don't forget to rate and comment as you see fit, and once again, I am the Happiest of the Cats, Happy Fun Cat, wishing you a wonderful time reading and an enjoyable stay, peace and love peeps <3

Copyright

Guide made: Jan 11th, 2018

This guide is mine. Wanna use it for another site, please ask and give credit where credit is due. Also for other Steam Guides, link this guide if you use any assets from it. Thanks for your understanding and not being a jerk!

[Happy Fun Cat]

Normal damage I see is I believe around 20k each.

[Happy Fun Cat]

@jjj0309, answer has been answered and posted in the Questions! section, but here is the answer here as well!

Oh course! Most stones take from 1-4 to kill most normal enemies, less if you hit them from behind (another reasoning for Suppa and Cat Walking) or if you use Weakness. On bosses, it will take anywhere from 2-10, maybe more. This can be lowered by the above following as well. However, against humans, this becomes tricky, but only on human bosses that tend to block. You will need to either use Para Groundtraps or Para Smoke to keep them at bay and hit them from behind. In terms of numbers, I have seen damage range from 5k a stone to over 100k a stone (this is including weakness, behind, ect). Also note this is all based on Way of the Nioh! Not Demon, not Wise, but NG++++! If played correctly, I see no reason why this couldn't (in more capable hands) go into much higher Abyss floors, if not even completing Abyss 999.

[jjj0309]

Wow, nice guide! Didn't know the stone could do viable damage with propper build! Can I ask how much average stones needs to kill an enemy, from weak skeleton to bosses?

[Mayheim]

Needs more Dweller disguise and Pickaxe.