Nioh 3 is Crew Ninja’s new open-world-ish Soulslike. All issues thought-about, it’s fairly nice. The motion is top-notch. You’ll be able to play a large chunk of the beginning of the sport totally free through the demo, which features a prologue boss battle in opposition to Yamagata Masakage. He would possibly kill you a bunch. You would possibly find yourself considering Nioh 3 isn’t for you. However that will be a dumb motive to lose out on experiencing an excellent online game.
Loads of gamers can have no bother with this prologue battle by any means, however I’ve already come throughout loads of latest Nioh inductees who’ve struggled. Listed here are some ideas for skating previous Yamagata Masakage.
Grind some ranges
Should you’re getting your ass kicked, go battle a bunch of men till you’ve got sufficient Amrita to get to degree six or seven. Put factors into stats like Structure and Energy. You’ll additionally get higher armor drops this manner. There’s a Yokai proper behind you on the final shrine earlier than the Yamagata Masakage battle. Kill that factor a bunch to get some higher gear.
Summon an ally
That is additionally the place the sport teaches you learn how to summon NPC allies on the little blue swimming pools of sunshine. You spend Ochoko cups to “name” AI-controlled Acolytes that can assist you. Doing so goes a good distance towards making the Yamagata Masakage battle a stroll within the park.
Memorize the assault sample and keep out of hurt’s method
Nioh 3 is a Soulslike which implies it is advisable to know when to observe, when to attend, and when to be aggressive. Yamagata Masakage solely has a handful of various assault patterns and animations and you must be capable of block all of them with out getting shocked and nonetheless have time to create area and recuperate your stamina earlier than the subsequent barrage. In Ninja stance, it’s further simple to play maintain away.
Grasp the Burst Counter
Should you’re having bother with this battle, the most effective factor to do is to not fear about chipping away at Yamagata Masakage’s well being all through the complete battle. As an alternative, maintain blocking and sustaining distance till he makes use of his particular assault that flashes a pink glowing aura round him proper earlier than it lands. Hit the fitting set off to stance-shift proper at that second to parry it. That’s referred to as a Burst Counter.
When profitable, you may transition into attacking to rapidly stun him. Get a three-hit combo in after which again off till the subsequent time he glows pink earlier than his assault. You’ll be able to mainly block and Burst Counter the complete battle so long as you handle your stamina meter rigorously.
Let your Acolyte do all of the work
Whereas Yamagata Masakage is targeted on assault you and also you’re absorbing all his assaults by blocking, your AI-controlled Acolyte must be tearing into him from behind. Simple mode! Simply maintain aggro-ing him whereas your pal does the entire work.
Save your Residing Artifact to complete the battle
Filling up your Amrita Gauge all through the battle will allow you to press Y + B/triangle + circle to provoke a robust transformation by which you summon your geared up Guardian Spirit and might unload on the enemy till the brief cooldown expires. You solely should get Yamagata Masakage right down to lower than a 3rd of his life earlier than the battle ends and he’ll flee. Simply be careful for his assault change-up within the second half of the battle, the place his pink glow animation provides some further delays earlier than it hits.
With these strats, hopefully you’ll be capable of make brief work of Yamagata Masakage and expertise the primary a part of Nioh 3 which begins to open up exploration. From there you are able to do a number of stuff earlier than taking up the sport’s first actual main boss: Jakotsu-baba. That battle is the sport’s first actual talent test, however you’ll have extra instruments in your arsenal by the point you get to it.
