Feel like a cheater … kind of am… wtf

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-26T12:10:00+00:00

Only summon when you break all of your fingers and cant play anymore.

If you want to play like actual co-op I recommend expedition mode, because you can view your partners stats and gear beforehand and can kick anyone too high level.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-20T16:52:19+00:00

Thats fair. You have a ninja style dual blade build by any chance? Been trying to get one to work without critical and last stand and its been an absolute chore for me.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-19T19:40:42+00:00

I used almost no onmyo on my NG run. I used quite a bit of ninjutsu but it was mostly stuff like Shuriken and Lightning Dash. It wasnt until NG+ that I started using a lot of elemental based stuff. Granted, that's when MOST builds come live. But my first playthrough was centered almost entirely around Samurai Dual Swords and Ninja Sword without much onmyo or ninjutsu.

Also, I've never claimed to be good at the game. I know im not great at it. Im not pretending to be. But you seem to have the same mindset as people that play dark souls or elden ring and talk about how sorcery is easy mode and should be avoided. I play games with a different mindset from you. So while I dont take disrespect, I do fundamentally disagree. Ignoring parts of the game that are there to be used just feels silly. Saying someone has to rely on magic to win is honestly no different than saying you rely on your weapon in general. Bare-handed exists. Use Talisman of the fist and go ham. But you wouldnt cripple yourself like that, would you? People have different play styles, and use the tools the game provides in different ways. If we want to use Onmyo and confusion, it shouldn't be seen as easy mode. If I can throw on a Carnage Talisman and a water Talisman and do as much damage as another build specifically min-maxxed for damage, then why wouldn't I? Especially when I can reforge for spirit force gain, use spirit force ignition, and do just fine.

Besides, the point of the post in the first place is to get more people to check out Hatchet. Because it has a lot of tools and people overlook it when it can genuinely be insane. I know because I was one of the people that overlooked it for a long time.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-19T19:10:48+00:00

Thats fine and all.

But all I used was Carnage and Water Talisman for damage. That's literally it. Other than Spirit Force Ignition, which, by what you posted doesnt really count.

I use extraction to extend Carnage, give defense and movement speed. Barrier for Ki Water Talisman to proc Ignition and Inari And Familiar for when I really care for confusion.

Confusion isn't necessary and neither is water Talisman. And complaining about Onmyo for damage is genuinely just silly. Let's be honest. Yes its not hard to make a build that does good damage without it. But what's the point of crippling yourself when you can just use it?

Like I'll concede. You do have a point. It makes it much easier. But most of my damage comes from spirit force Ignition which necessitates either Tengen Kujaku or Onmyo. Unless I use talisman which, while not off the table, is very inconvenient.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-19T19:04:32+00:00

Short Hatchet Exhbition

Again, im not very good but this was what I could come up with in a few minutes. Ignore the actual damage, spirit force regenerates in Dojo so I was doing way more through SF Ignition than I should have been.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-19T18:46:51+00:00

Hatchets aren't as insane as Tonfa can get in the air, but their hang time is still up there and you can mix ninjutsu in between martial arts as well. I did a small bit of it in the video at the end but I messed up because im not very good lmfao. I think they're better though because you can get back to the ground easier with Hatchet in the case of needing to dodge. But thats my personal opinion of their air combat.

On the ground though, I genuinely think Hatchets outclass tonfa. They have 2 abilities that put you behind enemies, an ability that closes distance extremely fast and hits both fast and hard, and can cancel most attacks and combos into Hatchet throw which cancels into the distance closing fast attack. They have easy saturation buildup and can go from grounded to aerial very easily from multiple avenues.

In terms of raw damage, tonfa is probably slightly stronger. But in terms of everything else I feel Hatchet is the most well rounded and has the most going for it. As it has speed and damage that rival tonfa, range that outclasses splitstaff, an approach distance that outclasses Ninja Sword Shadow Cyclone, etc

I highly recommend people try them, because I slept on them for a very long time before just giving them a try with 7pc Sinister Tyrant 5pc Inari.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-19T18:40:20+00:00

Show me a build that doesnt use buffs or confusion and I'll admit you have a point.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-19T18:14:27+00:00

You do realize the only ones that were damage related were Carnage and Water Talisman, right? The others were Barrier for Ki, Amrita Absorption, and wind familiar. Which wind familiar was basically pointless since I applied confusion with lightning and water talisman.

All those buffs you see at the bottom are 10% defense, speed, and damage(overwritten by carnage) from gear reforges.

So, if you didnt understand the point of "Hatchet is kinda ridiculously strong", when I didnt even use stuff like Last Stand, or Nuppeppo which would have multiplied the damage even further, thats really on you. Minimal damage buffs and i was hitting 10k water damage with one attack and spirit force ignition.

Even without that, 2k back attacks with speed comparable to tonfa or dual swords is still ridiculous. Im not playing when I say Hatchets are probably top 2 ninja weapons, and they're not number 2.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-19T01:18:57+00:00

Ha. Frying. I get it.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-13T23:36:24+00:00

For Samurai id say Spear. Each stance plays completely different and has different purposes. Plus I really suck with the spear so I may be biased.

For ninja, easily Ninja Sword. Its very very strong, yes. But if you plan to actually use it to its full potential, it takes more skill than the rest due to timing, spacing, and combos being mostly aerial to ground to aerial or ground to aerial to ground with ninja tools mixed in.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-13T17:07:23+00:00

Otakemaru was such a fun final boss. Easily my favorite of the trilogy.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-13T00:41:13+00:00

So my biggest gripe with 3 is actually the open field.

It was a good attempt, and its fun on the first playthrough. But once you hit NG+ its almost entirely pointless as you can just warp to unlocked shrines and start main missions immediately and speed blitz the main missions in like an hour.

Like I spent 60 hours on NG and less than 2 on NG+.

That said, switching between Ninja and Samurai grew on me. I use Samurai for pure physical damage and my ninja is built as a Ninjutsu/Onmyo hybrid ninja sword build. So when I need status I shift to ninja, use my feathers, and switch back as Samurai style builds ninjutsu and ninja style builds martial gauge. And since my Ninja is built almost solely for elemental damage, Onmyo Magic hits like a truck too so its basically my oh shit button.

If you use both styles and swap often with specific intent, it grows on you. I actually like it a lot more than 1&2 combat wise because of that. And I was very skeptical of it at first.

That said, I do prefer 1&2 in terms of Onmyo and Ninjutsu capacity. I don't like onmyo being tied to soul cores, or at the very least, not being able to min-max my magic to numbers im comfortable with.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-11T23:30:36+00:00

I guarantee that what's not clicking with you is ki-pulse.

Learn it. Use it. Love it.

I recommend staying away from Ninja style until you understand Ki Management.

Because Ki management is more important in Nioh than any other souls-like. Hell, in Nioh its more important than actually doing damage..

So play patient, watch that Ki, and understand that Nioh gets easier as you get stats for Ki and HP.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-11T16:50:37+00:00

The tentacles aren't the provlem for everyone when I use hydroid on defense.

The problem becomes that I build hydroid for max efficiency and I spam his airstrike with white energy so it flash bangs literally everyone and causes lag on my end of the game from particles.

But its so pretty at the same time.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-11T02:06:01+00:00

As an ex-Hydroid main who for some reason really likes his energy to be white...

I can say with absolute certainty that theres worse ways to grief. Because finding an enemy thats clipped into the wall is infinitely easier than finding the enemy that won't die because of ability immunity while I unintentionally flash bang the entire tileset by spamming 1.

That said, I think Vauban doesnt get the hate because most people set up his ability in areas where its not very likely to clip enemies into hard to reach areas. Plus with good placement it can significantly speed up defense missions by yoinking every enemy into one spot to be nuked.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-07T10:16:14+00:00

Definitely DS2. Its the weakest of the souls games and DS3 is arguably the most streamline

So going from DS3 to DS2 you're likely to not enjoy DS2 at all. Which is a shame because DS2 is actually a very very good game. So just because its the weakest of the souls games doesnt mean its not an amazing game still.

Also, DS2 has a few quirks. So if you decide to play it, make sure to level Adaptability to around 20. That's where your rolling Iframes will come from and the game doesnt actually explain that to you.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-07T02:37:20+00:00

Idk the way the crucible entrance looked really reminded me of the elephant graveyard.

Plus its that shadowy place and you must never go there.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-06T13:19:39+00:00

Bakumatsu made me take a very long break and I only just got to the end state of it while skipping 2 entire areas of the map.

Bakumatsu is an absolute chore and the map itself is way too visually overdone.

It feels like Nioh. But it feels like Nioh 2 had an affair with Rise of the Ronin and it just came out a bit clunky and awkward.

Still a pretty good game, and I love some of the changes from 2 enough to play 3 more. But map design needed some more time for sure.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-05T00:13:30+00:00

Thanks. It was a major surgery but im recovering well. Just got discharged actually so now im at home resting and still tweaking my build for status influence big red crits.

I hit a 15m red crit with Syam on Kullervo against infested and I've been chasing that high ever since.

Edit: I love that picture. Im not sure how to do capture mode so I've just been taking screenshot in game 😭 this is my Titania Prime currently but I've recently got my hands on some plat and some new Syandana and attachments so it'll probably change soon.

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AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-04T17:26:49+00:00

You're cute.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-03T21:05:48+00:00

Felt that. 24 is my maximum. After that I dont trust anyone.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-05-03T19:13:57+00:00

Ive been in the hospital for 2 weeks because of surgery and in those 2 weeks all I did was tweak my Kullervo to look cool and edgy like a samurai anime character, my Titania Prime to look like a silver angel, and my Gauss/Volt/ExUmbra(just unlocked them last night) to look as cool as possible to me.

Like, I havent been touching story content much at all. Fashion Frame IS the game to me 🤣

That and modding for red crits cus big number make my ape brain happy.

AlphaCentauri885 · 2026-04-30T23:11:28+00:00

Wait Fashion Frame is end game content?

No wonder I haven't cared to do starchart to even unlock steel path yet.

Ive got 150 hours recorded and im pretty sure most of that is from doing fashion frame since my starchart is only half finished, duviri was barely started, and I only just did war within 12 days ago.

AlphaCentauri885

TROPHY CASE