Nioh Boss Guide to help you defeat all the bosses in the game with our combat tips and easy to follow strategies.
Similar to SoulsBorne games, there’s no shortage of bosses in Nioh. On top of it, some Nioh bosses make multiple appearances, but the overall strategy to defeat them remains the same.
Nioh bosses usually appear at the end of an area or at the end of a mission. As you’d expect from the SoulsBorne clone, bosses in Nioh are challenging, hard to beat, and demand patience.
Having quick reflexes and a solid game plan are crucial in defeating a variety of bosses that the game features.
For more help on Nioh, read out our Beginner’s Guide, Ki Management Guide, and Skill Points Guide.
Nioh Boss Guide
In our Nioh Bosses Guide, we’ve detailed everything you need to know about defeating each and every boss in the game.
Nioh Boss Umi-bozu
Before fighting this boss, you should try and light three bonfires in the area. These bonfires can be tricky to spot which is why I recommend using our Bonfire Locations Guide for more information.
Lighting all three bonfires in the area will prevent the boss from spawning minions in the area – making the fight relatively easier. As for the boss itself, it’s incredibly weak to fire damage which is what you need to take advantage of.
You can dish out fire damage in any way you want, but for the choice of weapon; go with something that is quick and doesn’t require a whole lot of Ki. After you manage to enter the second phase, try to use your Guardian Spirit for some quick damage.
Stick to the strategies above and you should be good.
Nioh Boss Marume Nagayoshi
It’s another fairly simple boss battle. The key to defeating this boss is to bait his attacks, deplete his Ki, and charge in for a massive amount of damage. Similar to other boss battles in the game, I recommend something that has a fairly long range.
Just try to maintain a safe distance and force him to whiff his attacks. As soon as you see him whiffing and missing his combo, land a couple of quick strikes, and back off instantly.
Alternatively, if you’ve enough Ki, continue to attack until you see his Ki depleting and him in a vulnerable state. At this point, go in with everything at your disposal and land in a couple of strong attacks for some massive damage.
Nioh Boss Joro-Gumo
Immediately after the battle against Joro-Gumo starts, try to get directly behind her. You can either roll directly behind her or strafe along the sides while locked onto her. The reason why you need to get behind her is to hit her weak spot on her backside.
After landing a few hits, she’ll try to protect her exposed weak point. During this position, get to the front side and land a couple of strikes before backing away. This is all that you need to do in order to deal a massive amount of damage.
Once you get her to low HP, she’ll get more aggressive and will start to deal a whole lot of damage. The basic strategy essentially remains the same, but if you’re having trouble dodging her attacks; call in your Guardian Spirit and be done with her before she has a chance to react.
Nioh Boss Yuki-onna
If you’re running a pure melee build, be prepared for a tough fight. Yuki-onna is probably running a glass-cannon build – she deals an incredible amount of damage, but doesn’t have a lot of HP.
As soon as you see her preparing an attack, dodge to either side to avoid taking a massive amount of damage. She’ll occasionally summon frost all around her which will deal damage to you. To avoid it, dodge away and quickly head back in to land a couple of hits.
At about 45% HP, she’ll get even more aggressive and will start to deal more damage. At this point, try to play safe and use your Guardian Spirit to deplete some more of her HP. If you’re careful, you should be able to come out victorious.
Alternatively, you can maintain a safe distance and primarily rely on ranged attacks to deplete her HP and finish her off with your Guardian Spirit.
Nioh Boss Ii Naomasa
This boss uses a spear with an incredibly long range and a wide-arc attack. I don’t recommend blocking his attacks because they deplete a lot of Ki that can leave you vulnerable. Therefore, try to dodge whenever possible.
You should try to stick close to him and dodge towards your left-hand side which will make most of his attacks go past you. Similar to other human bosses in the game, you should only attack after he’s done with his attacks and try to deplete his Ki.
Once you’ve successfully depleted his Ki, you should easily be able to get in close to deal some huge bursts of damage and complete the boss battle.
Nioh Boss White Tiger
This is another fairly simple boss battle, especially if you’re familiar with SoulsBorne games. White Tiger is incredibly aggressive and agile which is why I recommend light armor and low stance.
You need to attack his sides often and always try to stay close if you’ve enough Ki. As soon as you sense something is about to happen, dodge to either side to be on a safe side. Alternatively, you can block if you have enough Ki to land an attack afterward.
One of the biggest openings is when the boss decides to execute a beam attack which leaves it vulnerable for a massive amount of damage. Go all in or use your Guardian Spirit to defeat it in no time.
The key to defeating the White Tiger is to use its aggressiveness against it.
Nioh Boss Giant Toad
This boss battle can be pretty frustrating, given the fact that there is a bit of luck involved in it. During the first phase, you must attack in-between his attacks. In this phase, the boss doesn’t attack often, but the occasional attacks hurt a lot so always make sure to dodge away.
Immediately after dodging an attack, close in the gap, and land a couple of quick hits before backing off again. Doing this should allow you to complete the first phase of the boss fight without taking much damage.
The second phase, however, is a tad tougher. During this phase, the boss will attack often and will toss bombs at you which hurt pretty bad. As mentioned earlier, try to keep your cool and don’t get frustrated if you die during this phase.
Try to find your openings and don’t get greedy. If you stick to the strategies mentioned above, you should easily be able to defeat him.
Nioh Boss Ogress
While fighting this boss, you need to stay directly under her chest which will cause most of her attacks to go right above you and miss. However, she’ll occasionally land an attack which targets the ground directly in front of her so do keep this in mind.
The boss has a jumping attack with a ridiculous tracking that can be pretty tough to dodge. In order to do so, either dodge away at the last second or roll away twice. Try to save your healing items for this attack.
During the second phase of the boss battle, don’t get hit by her multiple hit combo as she can dish out an incredible amount of damage in about no time. Moreover, try to call in your Guardian Spirit to deal some quick damage and shorten the battle.
Nioh Boss Okatsu
This boss is incredibly fast and has an unblockable glowing attack. One important thing to keep in mind is that she can quickly close in the gap and deal a ton of damage which is why you always need to be on your toes.
On the positive side, unlike other human bosses in the game; you can hit Okatsu with long combos. Therefore, try to conserve your Ki and continue attacking her until she gets out of range or dodges away from you.
I recommend saving your Living Weapon for the second phase of the fight in order to quickly end it. Lastly, remember that it’s an incredibly hectic and difficult fight which is why you should expect to die several times. Don’t get frustrated if you fail to get her in your initial attempts.
Nioh Boss Saika Magoichi
This boss has the tendency to turn into a frustrating one because the boss can block for extended durations of time. The key to defeating this boss is to stay close to him at all times and be as aggressive as you can possibly get.
Doing so should allow you to deal some quick damage and even stun-lock him for quite some time. I even recommend attacking even if he’s blocking to deal some damage if he decides to attack in-between.
If you see him take flight, charge in with some quick attacks after he lands. The only thing you need to be worried about is his ranged attack which can deal a whole lot of damage. Other than that, stick to the strategies above and you should be good to go.
Nioh Boss Honda Tadakatsu
This is one of the easiest boss battles in Nioh. In order to defeat Honda Tadakatsu, you need to destroy 3 purple orbs scattered around the arena. Do that and you’ll immediately defeat this easy boss.
Nioh Boss Derrick the Executioner
It’s a rather simple boss battle. You basically need to bait a few attacks by getting close to Derrick and quickly dodge towards either side. After dodging, land in a couple of hits and back off.
During the second phase, wait for his running charge attack, dodge towards either side, land no more than a couple of hits, and back away again. Stick to this simple strategy and you should be good.
Nioh Boss Onryoki
This is another fairly straightforward boss battle. As long as your equipment load is green and you’re in the low stance, you should easily be able to dodge most of his Onryoki’s attacks without ever running out of Ki.
For this boss battle, you either need to dodge and get behind him or strafe around him until you’re safe at the back. Once you’re successfully behind him, land a couple of quick hits and block the follow-up chain attack.
Stick to this simple strategy and complete the boss battle.
Nioh Boss Hino-emma
The first thing that you need for this boss battle is a melee weapon with good range. The main strategy behind beating Hino-emma is to maintain a safe distance, avoid getting hit by her combo, land 2-3 hits, rinse and repeat.
One important thing to bear in mind is that her ranged attack can leave you paralyzed; allowing her to dish out a massive amount of damage in about no time. Just make sure that you avoid the long-ranged attack and find openings.
As long as you’re successfully dodging her long-ranged attacks and combo, she wouldn’t be able to do much against you.
Nioh Boss Gasha-dokuro
Firstly, interact with three red crystals in the area that reveal the glowing spots that recharge your living weapon. During the boss fight, you need to target the boss’s weak spots followed by heading to the top of the hill to cause a massive amount of damage. Repeat this entire process 3-4 times and you should be good to go.
Nioh Boss Ishida Mitsunari
First of all, do note that you can’t block his projectiles and must dodge them. As soon as you see him take a swing, roll behind him to land a couple of hits and dodge away again. Using spear in mid-stance and landing strong attacks should allow you to deplete his Ki pretty quickly. Ofttimes, he will collapse on the floor, allowing you to deal a massive amount of damage.
Nioh Boss Obsidian Samurai
For this boss boss fight, I recommend only engaging when he takes out his axe because the axe attacks are easier to dodge. You should try and save your Living Weapon for the Dual Katanas part or simply wait out this phase. I recommend a spear in mid-stance and hitting him whenever you see him miss an attack. However, do remember note to put in more than 2-3 hits at a time.
Nioh Boss Oda Nobunaga
For this boss battle, you should use a spear in mid-stance. You must dodge away from all his attacks with the exception of sword dash during which you need to try to get behind him. After dodging, land 2-3 hits with spears to drain his Ki quickly and charge in with a powerful finisher. Also remember that this boss fight automatically concludes after you get the boss’s HP to about 25%.
Nioh Boss Edward Kelley
For this boss battle, you are advised to use a spear in mid-stance and try to deplete his Ki as much as possible. However, as soon as you see a red shield in front of him, dodge away because of an incoming grapple attack. If he summons a snake, try to run away until it disappears. All in all, if you manage to keep him out of Ki, he won’t be able to do anything.
Nioh Boss Yamata-no-Orochi
During this boss battle, you need to find a place where the boss can attack you, but the attacks can’t reach you. I recommend using a long-range weapon in high stance which should allow you to deal a significant amount of damage. Moreover, I don’t recommend blocking so you should rely on running and dodging. As soon as you see the boss complete an attack, run in quickly and hit the head. After killing all the heads, you’ll complete the boss fight.
Nioh Boss Nue
Melee attacks executed by Nue are of fairly short range and can be avoided with rather ease. If you try to get too close to her, she’ll execute a quick tailspin attack that can be hard to dodge. Just keep this in mind and always be on your toes.
For the battle against Nue, I recommend a weapon with long-range and using it in the low stance to conserve more Ki. Your major opening needs to be a beam of lightning/poison that travels in a straight line and can be avoided by dodging towards the left-hand side.
This opening should allow you to deal some quick damage before backing off. Moreover, if you manage to deplete her Ki, you should be able to stagger her and deal a massive amount of damage using your Guardian Spirit.
Just stick to the strategy above and you should be good to go.
Nioh Boss Tachibana Muneshige
This boss is incredibly agile, deals a massive amount of damage, and can quickly close in the distance. Keeping these things in mind, I recommend a weapon with a fairly decent range in mid stance so that you don’t run of Ki easily.
You need to maintain a safe distance from him and let him do his 3-4 hit combo. To dodge, you can either strafe back or simply dash backward. However, make sure to remain in range to land your own hits.
Similar to other boss battles in the game, if you manage to deplete his Ki, he’ll be open for stagger. Lastly, if you see him rolling his weapon in the air, quickly get behind a pillar in the room to avoid taking damage.
Another thing to bear in mind is that the strategy above applies to both the fights i.e. during the side-mission and the main mission.
Nioh Boss Great Centipede
During the first phase of the boss fight, you need to continue hitting its legs. While doing so, try to be on its sides or directly behind it. I don’t recommend standing in front of its mouth. I suggest a long-range weapon in the low stance to conserve Ki.
After you manage to trigger the second phase, try to lock on, and continue strafing to the either side. As long as you’re strafing well and time your dodges well, you should easily be able to avoid its stomp attack.
Similar to the initial phase, you need to stick to its sides and avoid standing right in front of him. Continue using the strategy mentioned above and you should be able to complete this boss fight in no time.
Nioh Boss Hattori Hanzo
This is among the easier boss battles in the game. For this boss battle, I recommend a weapon with quick slashes that can be used in the low stance. What you need to do is to try and get behind him.
To achieve this, you can either dodge, strafe, or roll directly behind him. The boss does not have a lot of poise so you should easily be able to land a few quick hits and deplete his Ki. After you’ve done that, staggering him and dealing a massive amount of damage should be no problem.
This Nioh Bosses Guide is currently work-in-progress! We’ll continue to add more bosses soon!
