[Content Warning for Centipedes]
Boss Information:
Date Shigezane is brutal. This is one of the toughest fights in all of Nioh, even the later DLC. A complete jerk, he is very fast and agile despite his size. With his centipede limbs he hits incredibly hard and blocking is a last resort, this is a boss you must dodge. Shiezane’s odachi is relatively weak by comparison, it can be blocked. When at a range from him he’ll either rush towards you or throw two odachis. One will be spinning horizontally then soon after he’ll throw one rather quickly at you like a javelin. Running to the side or dodging to the sides are the only way to avoid them, as they’ll break your guard if you block them. He also has a grapple attack that often one-shots. It does have poor tracking and is easy to dodge. If you see him starting up a flurry run like hell, make as much distance as possible and wait it out. He is most vulnerable after he does a sort of pole vault with his sword or centipede arm. Shigezane is resistant to a lot of onmyo magic but they still effect him. Being of earth element, he is weak to wind and resists poison, earth, and paralysis.
#Characters in Dragon of the North
Hark, the Date Clan. Drat them. Double drat them! Confound the Date clan, oh how I hate them! I hate Shigezane, I hate Shigenaga, and I hate Masamune! They drive me to drink! And Shigezane is the capital offender, managing to hold the title of “Killed ArkInBlack The Most” out of all enemies in the entire game. The DLCs feel like they were balanced around the concept of people having at least done a bit of Way of the Strong and paid attention to making a cohesive build. Once you surmount Shigezane you either have every single one of his tells and movements hard wired into your reflexes or a competent WotStrong setup. Or summoned a Vistor to eviscerate him for you, which after twenty five deaths became my first kill on him. Anyway, Spirit Talk time.
Once more ditching the guy he supposedly protects to join us, Nekomata brings Thrown Weapon Damage +10%, Sense Enemies, VS Yokai Realm +300, Close Combat Ki Damage +10%, Recurrent Damage Dealt +12%
If you’re traveling the path of a throwing weapon Ninja, Nekomata brings a nice boost for players after an early patch dropped the scaling of Shuriken/Kunai/Storm Kunai and increasing the spread on Storm Kunai. Sense Enemies is still good for foiling ambushes. VS Yokai Realm’s still a pretty weak passive. Close Combat Ki Damage affects only non-blocked damage, fairly good against Yokai. Recurrent Damage Dealt affects poison and fire, the two Damage over time effects, both of which Ninjutsu can apply, although poison remains fairly weak, at least the fire damage from Ninjutsu comes from explosives that apply damage up front.
Living Weapon stats are similar to Aki-komori, 5% damage and 30 Lightning, the breadwinner here is the 22 second base duration and great Gauge Rate and Recovery. If you don’t get hit it’ll last a good long while and deals Lightning damage. And the Summon is solid, Nekomata floats forward a ways before stopping, dealing contact damage that builds Electrified quickly. He’ll then gesture and blast an area in front of him with lightning which deals multiple hits of good damage, better than Saoirse’s water bomb. (which recent testing has shown gives you a buff that increases Amrita earned.) Since the contact damage will push back hit enemies Nekomata can push back aggressive opponents and drop the thunder on 'em. 13/10
And Bisha’s Centipede, with Pierce Guard (Close Combat) +20%, Poison +30, Money Earned From Enemies +40%, Strong Attack Ki Reduction -8%, and Close Combat Damage (No Rear Damage Bonus) +12%
Shigezane, I’m sorry, but… Your spirit has Garbage Passives Syndrome. It’s incurable. Pierce Guard means a percentage of your damage gets through a blocking opponent’s guard. 20% with something like an Axe or Odachi (and maybe more from weapon/armor passives) can do some neat things but there’s better ways to punish block happy opponents. Poison is like Itokuri’s Paralysis, unnoticeable. Money Earned From Enemies is like Gold earned, but only from actual enemies you fight in missions. Strong Attack Ki Reduction is still solid if you Strong Attack a lot, and CCD (No Rear Damage Bonus) is still taking way more damage potential away than it adds. It at least has some synergy with one of the Odachi’s Mystic Arts.
The Living Weapon is fairly average, in fact is largely similar to Fuse-ushi with a stat or two moved around. Not good enough to make a Living Weapon build’s consideration with the worst Gauge Rate and Recovery. The summon attack is quite good for people doing what the Spirit is trying to encourage however. The spirit crawls forward from your right, looping around in a fairly wide arc until it reaches roughly where it started but on your left. It won’t hit enemies immediately in front of you but will stagger enemies closing. Then after a short delay, it bursts out of the ground from where it burrowed, crossing directly in front of you to the right. It repeats this three more times, alternating which side it pops out of based on where it burrowed, always crossing in front of you when it surfaces. The contact damage is quite low but staggers without pushing enemies back, leaving enemies vulnerable, and since where the centipede pops out from is based on where you standing you can push them back without fear of losing the layup from the centipede. Still not enough to save this spirit from the low end of useable. 11/10
Ah is pierce guard not that good? When looking up Odachi builds I was seeing to use Bisha a lot, though personally I ended up with Kato more often than Bisha. Seriously Shigezane you’re such a pain to beat and you don’t even give amazing rewards? Not a fan of his armor much either.
It’s better with Axe/Odachi since they’re generally more damage in fewer hits but Axes have the highest Break in the game short of cannons, skills like Tri-Spark and Titanic Might shred blocking opponents Ki, while Odachi has Groundquake and Tiger’s Blade which perform the same job if not quite as well. It’s not a bad passive, but that it’s maybe the best Passive on Bisha’s Centipede speaks to why you want to look elsewhere for an offense oriented Spirit while Mizuchi brings Gold and Amrita Earned for farming.
And yeah He Who Never Retreats isn’t a top tier set, though the (When Surrounded) passives are in effect when three or more enemies are ‘focused’ on you, so archers will trigger it, and at least the other sets from Dragon Of The North make up for the lackluster heavy armor set.
That does make sense, I never really found Shigezane’s unrivaled armor too great for its weight. Unlike other sets that are heavy like Tatenashi or Armor of the Exceptional. In general it seems like medium armor has better set bonuses than a lot of the heavy sets. Might just be that there’s more of them too.
Same reason why there’s more ‘good’ katanas than any other weapon has ‘good’ weapons, there’s just more Katanas/Medium Armor than other types, though every weapon and armor has some good options to pick from.
It seems dual swords have some pretty decent options, axes odachi, and tonfas are the ones where I end up not seeing much in the way of set bonuses for them. I really should just make a compilation list of all set bonuses, maybe even people in the thread would find that interesting. This LP thread has sort of become its own wiki already lol. I do need to get back to adding info about the Guardian Spirits though the original info section is so large now it lags meaning I’ll probably want to put it in a different post.
Sorry for this little update, probably no episode today, but I do have it actually recorded, the gameplay that is. But if ya’ll are interested in Nioh after seeing it in this LP, on PSN the game is right now 30 bucks with all the DLC. The DLC alone is normally 30 bucks. https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP9000-CUSA07113_00-NIOHCOMPLETEBUND
Boss Information:
Katakura Shigenaga is a pushover. The real danger comes from the gunners in the towers. If you haven’t taken them out you must constantly kite him around the arena while dodging gunfire. Otherwise he is a typical human opponent with some ninja tools he likes to use. Dodge whenever he throws something and be wary of attacking him when he’s buffed since you won’t stagger him. It should be done with quickly.
But when they look about they realize she is gone. William darts off to the Amrita storehouse to stop her. They too fight, and while Maria lacks a Guardian Spirit she is a devilish opponent. Unfortunately while she is beaten she escapes using magic. We get a glimpse of what is to come in the next DLC, Defiant Honor. With this, the Dragon of the North DLC comes to an end.
Boss Information:
Date Masamune is fast and a heavy hitter. During his first phase he is very simple, he fights like any dual sword opponent. His most dangerous attack is a long range dashing thrust which is a grapple.
If he is charging up a dash get ready to dodge. During his Living Weapon phases he is much deadlier. He cannot be staggered and deals massive amounts of damage. In his wind form he will do many quick slashes but his most dangerous move is a leaping slam that does a huge AOE of elemental damage all around him. Run away if you see him winding this up. In his water form he can fire blasts of energy with his swings and he can cause whirlpools of water damage. Try to hit him after his combos but only get in a few hits. At any time you can shoot him in the head and get an execute off on him. Date Masamune is weak to fire and lightning.
Maria is cruel, she is heartless. The huntress has a lot of combos, and hits very hard in her second phase. Her first form is easy enough, she fights like a lot of humanoid opponents. Maria’s grapple is very quick, if she gets in close get ready for her to use it. When her pseudo Living Weapono actives is when things get really hard. Her attacks hit like a truck and if one lands she will start to combo while also being incapable of being staggered. Do not attack her for loong as she’ll nuke you quickly in the middle of your own attacks. From time to time she’ll teleport, get ready to dodge quickly without lock on for when she emerges again. From her sword she can unleash an elemental wave, dodge this but you can block it, but it will break your guard. She is resistant to all elements.
Don’t get fooled here, Date Masamune is a jerk just like Shigezane. Jerks the lot of them, the Date Clan. Masamune is the first boss to really bring Living Weapons to bear seriously, though this fight isn’t the meanest with them. Both have different effects on his moveset, Water being most obvious with the plethora of ranged attacks added in, while Wind merely increases the distance he can move during attacks, letting him continue combos on you easier after you dodge and increasing the distance covered by his grapple lunge. The only thing he has approaching true range in wind is the attack where Blue Dragon comes out to slam the ground, and that has decent wind up and recovery, so for the more “Any means” sort you can just play keep away until he tries to get his spirit to help and then line up an arrow while he’s standing back up.
Meanwhile his actual melee hits in Water LW aren’t changed up all that much, so getting close is often easier than letting him spam Water Blades down range. And Living Weapon doesn’t prevent Timely Guards or Parries from working, so you can put him on the ground and embarrass him with some skill and timing. Important to note for the “Any means” kind of folks, Mizuchi can’t ground LW Humans with its summon, the Super Armor prevents the knockdown.
Notable stuff about Maria’s fight, she’s the only enemy to Living Weapon who doesn’t lose Ki regeneration while it’s active. Ki Breaking her is difficult but doing so will dismiss the weapon enchantment and force her to reapply it before she can do the blade shots. Also get used to bosses eating chunks of your Amrita Gauge, Way of the Demon has it as a feature of every boss. Fortunately it doesn’t do anything if you’re using a Living Weapon, so pop it don’t drop it.
And let’s talk about Masamune’s Guardian Spirit, the Blue Dragon. Offering Ki Recovery Speed +20%, Damage Reduction (When Attacking) 10%, Elemental Damage Reduction (Guarding) +40%, Wind Damage +15%, Close Combat Damage (Full Life) +15%.
Blue Dragon has A Plan and while it eventually falls off for being a defense oriented plan in a game where enemies’ numbers get bigger faster but this guy pairs up with Dual Katanas like woah. Ki Recovery Speed still a good passive. Take 10% less damage if hit while attacking, pretty good, and one of Dual Katana’s mystic arts gives you a stacking damage reduction effect every time you hit an enemy. Combined with Heavy Armor like the A Master Swordsman’s Power set and Dual Katanas you can aggressively apply blade to foe with little regard to what they’re doing. Following up the defense plan, that’s 40% less damage from elemental attacks while blocking. Including attacks not normally blockable, like Masamune’s Water Blades, Wheelmonk’s fire breath. You can get this as a passive on armor, but will need to inherit it onto at least one piece of gear if you want it without Blue Dragon, but it’s really good since most elemental ranged attacks don’t take much Ki to block (since they generally ignore blocking entirely.) Elemental Damage is okay, but I’ll touch on why it’s better on Blue Dragon in a bit. Close Combat Damage (Full Life) is pretty clear, at max HP, do 15% more melee damage. Take less damage using Firm Resolve, Blue Dragon, Heavy Armor and oh wait, Wind’s status effect reduces physical damage the opponent deals. Hm. Slap some kind of health gain like Rejuvenation Talismans or Life Drain and your blades will bite deep while your foes do nothing. Naturally the stand and soak plan falls off as you increase difficulties, but it’s a damage boost with a consistent condition to trigger.
Living Weapon wise, Blue Dragon is pretty good. Baseline 20% damage with 50 wind is real good, and while it’s hurt by worst possible Gauge Rate it packs best Recovery and has solid numbers elsewhere. While not the best possible Spirit for LW builds (gauge rate really hurts those) it’s competent and fairly scary. Blue Dragon’s summon attack is neat and rides right into the entire game plan. When Summoned, Blue Dragon will hang out over your shoulder, waiting until either enough time passes or immediately before something would damage you. When either condition is met, Blue Dragon lunges out, smashing into the ground near the offending attack (or a short distance in front of you if he timed out) instantly pushing back foes and dealing many decent Wind hits with high Bluster build up. This usually prevents any damage melee attacks would do, while projectiles are largely unaffected for obvious reasons. This synergizes so well with what Blue Dragon is doing, and further what Masamune’s set, One Eyed Dragon’s Ambition, is doing.
Masamune’s Dual Katana’s pack an locked passive, increasing damage dealt to enemies with a Status Effect, specifically debuffs. It’s any debuff, so something like Bluster works. The set itself also includes a hefty Wind Damage (Weapon) bonus on it, to the tune of 45% at avg. level 150. With Blue Dragon and a Wind Talisman the numbers get big and big elemental damage means big status build up. Plus all the damage reduction you’ll have from hitting enemies with dual katanas, one of the best ways to apply elemental status effects. Further on this the 6 piece bonus of One Eyed Dragon’s Ambition is Increase Damage (Consecutive Attacks), giving a small stacking damage boost every time you hit. The entire plan rolls into a single point and that’s Always Be Attacking.
While it’s not hyper endgame viable it’s a fun build that can do some surprising work and anything that makes you feel invincible in a Soulslike is a treat.
So I was considering doing some additional videos of all the Amrita memories being shown off if people are interested. That’s the in game wiki, it’d have a lot of background information and extra stuff about all the characters, bosses, monsters, guardian sprits etc. Should I do this? Should I read it aloud or stay silent for them?
0 voters
Given the votes on here and on twitter I think I’ll do it. Two versions. One I’ll read them aloud and another one I’ll just be silent. Should work for everyone. 
