Nioh Best Starting Weapons Guide – Best Weapon Types, Which Weapon Combinations to Choose

Nioh Best Starting Weapons Guide to help you find the best early game weapons that will take you through most of the early game without much difficulty.

Nioh Best Starting Weapons Guide to help you find the best early game weapons that will take you through most of the early game without much difficulty.

On the very first mission of Nioh, players will be asked to select up to two starting weapons depending on their play style.

There is no restriction on the type of weapon they can equip, however, a player can only have a maximum of two weapons equipped at the same time. Each of these starting weapons has a different and unique play style that might not be for every player.

For more help on Nioh, read out our Character Builds Guide, Best Stats Guide, and Amrita Farming Guide.

Nioh Best Starting Weapons Guide

In our Nioh Best Starting Weapons Guide, we’ve detailed arguably the best starting weapons in Nioh.

Nioh Best Starting Weapons

As such, these weapons also come with their own stats that are relevant to their playstyle. Nioh has a total of five weapon types, each with its own traits:

Swords: This One Offers +1 heart
Dual sword: This One Offer +1 Skill
Kusarigama: This One Offers +1 Dexterity
Axe: This One Offers +1 Bonus to Stamina
Spear: This One Offers a Starting Bonus of +1 Armor

These bonus stats determine which player stat does the weapon best scale with. When players start the game, they have 5 points in each attribute so depending on how they want to play, the +1 to that specific trait can be quite useful so starting weapon selection is pretty important.

Swords are really useful for people who aren’t very well versed in games like Nioh and Dark Souls as they are the best average weapon.

They have a good attack range and a medium speed so even new players can use them with ease. The added bonus of Heart increases the Ki so players can use more attacks, dodge frequently and block for a longer time before running out of Ki.

Dual swords, on the other hand, are meant for those who don’t really care about weapon damage and want to just rush the enemy. Their high attack speed makes up for the lack of damage but they can be quite challenging to use due to the complicated moves

Spears are once again an idea starting weapon for new players thanks to their extremely high range which allows players to keep enemies at bay.

Spears are however slow to use and not very effective when fighting in tight spaces so players will need to kite enemies to open areas. The added bonus of Body increases player health as well as the damage they deal with attacks.

Axes have the highest damage in the game but are difficult to use so not recommended for new players. They have the shortest attack range in the game and are extremely slow.

Once players get familiar with Nioh, it is a good idea to swap to an Axe as the Stamina bonus increases health and carry capacity which allows players to wield heavier weapons.

Kusarigama are the most advanced weapons in Nioh. They have a pretty decent range and attack speed but their damage is very low. The Dexterity bonus boosts player Ninjutsu which allows chaining together different moves.

Nioh Weapon Combinations

Since players have to choose two weapons in the start of the game, they should try to pick those that not only suit their play style and experience with such games but also complement each other.

In such a case, one high damage weapon works best with another that either has a long range or high attack speed. Below are some combinations players of all skill levels might find useful at the start of Nioh:

Spear & Axe
The stat bonuses of both will increase health and spear will allow players to keep enemies at bay when they are in trouble while Axe will deal massive damage.

Spear & Dual Swords
Spear would be the main weapon of this combination to deal high damage while dual swords will work best in tight spaces to deal quick damage while making sure attacks don’t get interrupted by the environment.

Spear & Sword
A nice balance between axe and dual sword combo to deal a moderate amount of damage in all sorts of situations.

Sword & Dual Swords
The stat bonus will improve player’s Ki so they have more opportunities to block and dodge attacks while still retaining a decent amount of damage in all situations.

This is all we’ve on our Nioh Best Starting Weapons Guide. If there is anything else you would like to add, let us know in the comments section below!

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