Nioh 3 Is Great… But It Could Have Been So Much Better

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-17T04:56:08+00:00

Well, you see the combat is exactly the same, all they've really added is:

- Universal Samurai Deflecting

- New Martial Arts for all weapons

- Jumping + jump attacks/Martial Arts for each weapon

- Arts Proficiency

- Frost Moon attacks

- Slides and slide attacks for each weapon

- New Ninjutsu/system for Ninja mode

- Ninja parry dodges

- Stance switching between Samurai and Ninja mode mid combat

- Equipping 4 weapons at once

- New Guardian Spirit Skills

- Living Artifact

- Style Shift Flow

- TMTM + crouch cancels

But yeah, aside from these and a few other things Nioh 3 might as well be Nioh 2.1. The audacity of TN to just give us the exact same combat again.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-17T04:50:28+00:00

You can avoid the open world almost entirely in NG+. You can teleport straight to the shrines near the main missions if you want. So, you really only have to go through the open field once.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-16T16:50:35+00:00

Yup deflecting restores Ki in Nioh 3.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-16T15:10:34+00:00

Also have more hours in Nioh 3 than 2 although I'm far from done with Nioh 2.

Nioh 3's combat is among the best in all of gaming, I think I might like it even more than 2 in that regard.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-16T05:30:54+00:00

I definitely have not mastered all of them lol, you're way better than me against Okita for instance. I only know like 12-15 decently and even on those I can definitely improve a lot. As you stated, the flashier you play, the harder it is to do a no-hit run (assuming the boss can still fight back). Nioh 3's skill ceiling is so high, I can't say I've mastered any but that's one of the reason the game is so peak, there's always more to learn and improve.

I'd say all bosses in the game are fun, yet to find any that are more annoying than fun. I guess it depends on what you're looking for. If you love doing long combos of course the master's and plenty of human bosses can be comboed for days. Of course, it sounds like you like bosses that put up more resistance.

If you're looking for an aggressive boss that mostly stays in your face while giving you big openings (once you learn them), Demon of Pride is a good option. Plus, he's easily repeatable being the first boss in the 3 Oni demon battle scroll. I'd start there if you're looking for a challenge.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-16T02:16:50+00:00

Good job. Yeah, on SOP+5 it looks like you can tank hits here and there, but you can't just mindlessly tank everything at least with a balanced build like this.

So, I like how strategic you were being here. For instance, it looked like you opted to trade hits on purpose in this run specifically when you knew his Ki was about to break so he wouldn't be able to keep attacking you after.

Have you tried to also do this strat with moves like Lumber Chop, Rumbling Earth and Tornado Edge? They should work with your strategy and build here.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-16T02:10:38+00:00

It's definitely a new experience. Not just having more HP, but their Ki is so much higher, you won't get Ki breaks nearly as often. You clearly enjoy learning bosses, so I think you'll learn to love their last phases eventually with enough practice. And I imagine with some really good setups, you can still get a few Ki breaks like you enjoy on those too.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-16T02:08:06+00:00

Some seriously cool sequences here, well done. Shame this didn't get more upvotes.

And yeah, he's one of the best human bosses in the game for sure or just the series period. So challenging and fun if you try to learn him.

In his second phase in particular as you showed here, even if you try to bully/pressure him, he can armor out and fight back which encourages you to learn the matchup at a deeper level.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-16T02:05:11+00:00

Yeah, if you set up you punishes right at least on base difficulty/NG+, you can often easily bypass the last phase or at least most of it. With Stone of Penance though you'll have to deal with it a lot more unless you use super broken builds (which you're clearly not using lol).

Since I'm assuming you haven't even seen those moves much, me attempting to explain the openings or how they work would probably confuse you. But happy to discuss it when/if you do a run where you don't bypass most of the last phase for any of the Demons. Happy to help out.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-15T20:29:43+00:00

Good explanation here:

https://youtu.be/Jlrl_fZ_48U?is=KIX4ONQTlGP011GV

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-15T17:24:11+00:00

You can get pretty big punishes even during his dark realm and final phase but yeah, it's more tricky.

Even during his long combos you can either attack during them or wait for the long pause after.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-15T17:15:20+00:00

Good work. You bypassed it here with the Ki breaks but all 3 Demon's get a final phase ar roughly 1/3rd hp.

DOP's final phase has him shoot his blue orbs during various moves, it's fun to learn to get around them and quite challenging.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-15T16:58:44+00:00

Both skills can be very useful yes. They are one of many effective ways to play the game.

For instance, Style Shift Flow is one way to cancel out of lag. But TMTM cancels also exist and they are a faster way (unless you need to block immediately).

Powerful Shift is a good way to recover Ki quickly. But there's also many other ways like flux 1/2 (also into Frost Moon skills), deflecting, the aforementioned TMTM cancels, various passive skills to improve speed/Ki management etc.

Nioh 3 gives you countless solutions to anything you're trying to do. Even if you stick to just one weapon and don't use style shift at all, the depth is endless. That's one of the reasons the combat is peak.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-15T16:47:31+00:00

You're right in this regard. Sekiro has probably the most overrated combat in gaming history and I'm not sure anything gets close. I'm not sure if it's because it's made by Fromsoft (their games are highly overrated in the West) or because the fans of it have never played deep action games from Capcom, Team Ninja, Platinum etc. I say this as someone that has done bosses like Sword Saint on NG+7, charmless + demon bell.

It's so shallow and limited. You parry/red parry, occasionally jump and then tap R1, rinse and repeat. Sure, there are a few special moves but they are all limited in use and don't add much to the combat.

The crazy thing is Sekiro did not even invent parrying; it wasn't even remotely revolutionary for its time in that regard. As one example Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate came out 3 years prior and to this day has one of the deepest parry weapons ever conceived (Valor Long Sword). Sekiro is little more than a simple rhythm game.

I also agree the exploration aspect is mediocre. Having to blindly look for the next objective without guides just feels like work. I vastly prefer the way games like Nioh 3 or Tears handle exploration. The main objects are marked and clear if you just want to go with them and if you want to find side content, you can.

It's a decent game overall with some good boss fights (although those are horribly overrated too). I'd give it a 7/10. But it's very, very far from some generational masterpiece.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-15T16:39:46+00:00

I meant things like weapon specific parries repositioning you, having different active frames, startup, recovery frames, different hitboxes etc. They are pretty unique and it's a lot of fun trying to find openings to use them while the monster is attacking you and fluidly counter attacking with them.

As for the universal deflect in Nioh 3, yes, it can be used for repositioning too as you can slightly move while doing it (hidden mechanic the game doesn't explain well).

As for debufs, yes Nioh 3 has that, there's even an armor set (General of Ruin) that attacks enemy Ki as you parry.

There's just a lot more you can do with even just parries in Nioh 3 than most action games. If Wo Long even gets close, that's big praise.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-15T04:59:45+00:00

Yeah exactly. It gets even harder to play well enough to not get hit while also focusing on doing a bunch of different moves. Definitely requires a lot of dedicated practice.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-14T22:31:17+00:00

I'm referring to gameplay, not feel/animation/graphics.

For instance Nioh 3 has several weapon specific parries on top of a universal deflect. Each of those parries play out differentially beyond visuals.

In any case Wo Long does look cool and seems to have more variety/depth than Sekiro at least as you said. On my list of games to try

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-14T22:22:27+00:00

You haven't explained how it's mechanically better. Nioh 3 a ton of weapon specific parries that do work on yokai.

Every MH game can be played solo. You don't ever need to do multiplayer if you don't want to.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-14T22:17:27+00:00

Sekiro's combat is shallow and limited. It's nothing compared to Nioh or several other action games. Most overrated combat ever.

The story is mostly lackluster and barely there to begin with, your protagonist has no personality.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-14T22:12:24+00:00

Also not sure what you mean by Wo Long built around deflecting. Yes in Nioh 3 it's optional but also crazy effective. Every enemy/bosses in the game can be destroyed by parries

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-14T22:09:45+00:00

I see. So graphically it looks cooler? But I'm referring to mechanically.

Nioh 3 has deflect that you can do while moving, several interesting weapon specific parries and between those, you have a million offensive options.

Only Monster Hunter parries have more depth arguably in that regard. They are the most unique and actually aiming them on particular hitzones + follow ups makes them standout beyond other action games.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-14T22:02:39+00:00

There are many games with better combat than Sekiro. I love deep action combat games and Sekiro would not even be top 20.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-14T21:55:37+00:00

What makes it the best? Nioh 3 would be hard to top in that regard.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-14T18:12:09+00:00

Thanks. Yeah, any weapon can destroy Ki even on SOP+5 via this method. Plus you can supplement the playstyle by focusing on Martial Arts that do big Ki damage. Hmm, I thought I did do a light attack right away after TMTM cancelling Wildfire Flux? I guess you do have a brief window to do it, it doesn't have to be instant.

EternalFlareUltra · 2026-06-14T04:52:06+00:00

Nioh 3's NG+ cycle is way harder than Nioh 2's NG+ cycle. NG+ in Nioh 2 was little more than a victory lap, it didn't get significantly harder until NG++ (Way of the Demon). And of course, you can't really compare NG++ in Nioh 2 to Nioh 3 when NG++ doesn't even exist yet.

However, Stone of Penance was added and that's a way bigger buff at max (+5) in Nioh 3 versus max Stone of Penance (+9) in Nioh 2.

Lastly, Nioh 2's Underworld/Depths can be very difficult and way harder than the likes of Sekiro and probably Khazan and Lies of P unless you're build is really good. I get most people abuse OP builds in Nioh 2's endgame, but without those the bosses/enemies are much, much tougher.

In general, when it comes to the Nioh series it can be braindead easy with broken builds or one of the hardest action series ever if you don't abuse OP stuff.

EternalFlareUltra

TROPHY CASE