This Ni No Kuni 2 Beginners Guide is meant for newcomers who want to get some basic knowledge of how many of the mechanics work in Ni No Kuni 2 before they can embark on their journey. Below are tips covering details about the combat, kingdom progression, quests overview, and much more on the world of Ni No Kuni 2.
Ni No Kuni 2 Beginners Guide
Chances are you’re new to the Ni No Kuni series, and you decided to pick it up because you can’t handle your friends telling you how good it is. They’re right about that. And to make the experience all the more satisfying and engaging, we’ve highlighted some beginner tips to help you.
These will shed light on how combat in the game works and some of the collectibles you can find, and how they affect the whole thing. We will also brush up on Kingdom building in the game and other important features to the core of the game.
This may be quite informative for players returning to the series since combat in the game has been seriously revamped in many ways.
Switching Perspectives
Just after booting up the game, there’s one thing you should know. Even though the main protagonist and the first character you play is Evan, the ousted king, you can choose to not restrict yourself to only him. Throughout your playthrough of the game, you can switch between the three main characters on the game’s cast.
You can do this during battle sequences as well. It is carried out manually by making sure the playable character is at the top of the ‘Party members’ list. Or, an easier way is to just press the ‘up’ button on the d-pad of your PS4 controller; this will lead you to play as a different character. This really makes traversing the land of Ni No Kuni 2 much quicker.
Combat and Weapons
Soon, without a doubt, you’ll find yourself in a fight with something formidable. You need how weapons and the combat mechanics in the game work for the purpose. The crux is this: each character will have 3 melee weapons, a ranged one, and 4 slots for magic skills.
Magic skills and ranged weapons will consume mana but are powerful attacks that can be charged by pressing and holding down their respective buttons. If the mana runs out, switch to your melee weapon until the mana (MP) can replenish again.
Moreover, as you continue into Ni No Kuni 2, you will find rarer, quicker, and more powerful weapons that can be picked up.
You’ll find quite a few weapons in the game with the same name. At first glance, you may think that you’ve just gotten a copy of the same weapon. But in reality, this new weapon may be a rarer or more powerful version. So, make sure to closely inspect the weapons/equipment you get
Some skills will be more suited for clearing out swarms of enemies, while others will focus on a single enemy. Be sure to read the description of each equipped skill. As far as combat is concerned, most enemy attacks can be dodged by rolling over.
Holding the ‘roll over’ button will end your character assuming the position to block or guard. Moreover, you can improve the results of your battles through Higgledy as well, which brings us to our next topic.
The game gives you the option to automatically equip the most powerful equipment you have to save some time. You can do this by hitting the square button in the weapons/equipment tab when you’re in the equipment information screen of a character.
Sometimes, using this is the better option as you want to equip the best weapons anyway. However, you should use this option very scarcely. Always try to choose your weapon/equipment yourself.
This will allow you to choose the best weapons with your play style, instead of just the strongest weapons.
Higgledy
Higgledy are creatures that will assist you in battles. They exist as the elemental forms of fire, water, land, or air. When a circle appears around them, go over and press ‘X’ to activate them. They will attack the enemies automatically, and you can have up to 4 Higgledies at a time. They also come as having various skills.
These include powerful attacks or healing abilities. They can be found scattered in the world of Ni No Kuni as Higgledy stones. They will require certain items to be offered in order to unlock the creatures. You can find a complete guide for Unlocking the Higgledy Stones by heading over the page.
Loots
Loots are identified by their sparkle on the map. Enemies will also drop these after they have been defeated. The loots will respawn after battles or fast travelling to other places.
Most of the time, the dropped loots will be items that can aid you in regenerating health or upgrading your skills. Rarely you’ll be able to acquire actual gear or weapons from the loot which this time around will be in the form of a chest.
You don’t need to collect ALL the loot in the area. Since the loot respawns anyway, you can collect it later.
As you progress through the game and collect a ton of loot, it may seem like it’s become a burden on you, and you should just sell it all or stash it away. Don’t do this.
Almost all the loot in the game has its unique uses. Aside from using the loot, you can also trade it in for something more valuable. For example, if you have a lot of pebbles, you can trade 10 of them with Mr. Higglesworth in exchange for a rare candy. This candy can then be used on a character to give them a permanent buff effect.
You can also give the Taskmaster specific items to get yourself some Tokens of Gratitude, which can then be traded in for some rare loot or even new residents for your Kingdom.
Enemies
Enemies labeled red are likely to be a tough battle. They will be on a level greater than yours, so we would not recommend a fight against them. The blue ones will be an easy fight, while the white ones will be on the same level as you.
It’s, therefore, important to note the color of the creature’s names before heading into a fight. Fleeing from battle, you will notice a blue circle appearing on the ground. A circular gauge will then appear, which, if it fills up, will mean you have escaped from the battle.
Initially, enemies will attack if they spot you. You can, however, outrun them, and they will leave the chase. If you can level up to a rank 5 higher than that of the enemies, they won’t attack you even if they spot you or your party. They will only engage in battle if they’re attacked first.
Zing
There’s a meter next to your meter that gains percentage on every hit you land on a foe. If the Zing reaches 100%, you can use one of the skills from the attack buttons. This will result in a powerful hit to be inflicted on the enemy.
Using the Zing once will reset it to 0%, and the procedure repeats. It is advisable to always start a battle with Zing so you can utilize the skill quickly while dealing huge deals of damage to the enemy.
Health and Mana
Having a bar of both HP (health) and MP (mana), regardless of whether you’re a mage, you need to find resources often to replenish them.
Thankfully, downed enemies will drop a blue or green orb, allowing you to regenerate mana and health, respectively. The Higgledy creatures mentioned above will throw these orbs toward you after eliminating enemies.
It is important to note that MP regenerates on its own as well, but it takes a while to do so. Collecting orbs is a much quicker way to be able to use magic again!
Gilders and Kingsguilders
The currency in the game is divided into two categories: Guilders and Kingsguilders. Guilders are the basic earnings you get from completing quests, defeating enemies, and selling items. Kingsguilders will be what you earn via the residents or the citizens of your Kingdom once Evermore has reached a certain reputation level.
Both of these currencies will shape up your experience greatly. For more on the in-game currencies in the game, be sure to check out our Money Guide.
The more citizens your Kingdom holds, the more earnings you can collect. These citizens can be acquired after completing side-quests and story missions. You can check out the link for more information!
Start Exploring Only After Chapter 4
There’s a lot for you to learn in the world of Ni No Kuni 2, but most of the systems in the game won’t be accessible until you finish chapter 4. So, don’t go out and start grinding the game from the get-go. Play through the first four chapters of the campaign and then feel free to do so
Trip Doors and Save Points
Trip Doors are checkpoints or places in the game where you can teleport to and from instantly if you’ve activated them. These can help you fast-travel from locations far away and traverse lands much quicker.
They will be doors with shiny blue light around them. Accessing one will add that point to your menu. You can then teleport to this point from your ‘Options’ in menu from anywhere.
The game AutoSaves at key events in the game start of missions, or after defeating bosses. Manually, you can head to the ‘Options’ and save the game from there.
Lastly, you can find Waystones which will save the game for you and replenish health and mana. These are like the bonfires in Dark Souls series. They will be present before a boss fight or at the end of the area.
Leafbook and Tactic Tweaker
These are like directories or like the radio intel from MGS series, which throws information in your way about certain characters and beasts called Tainted Monsters. Furthermore, sometimes locations for certain treasures will also be shared on Leafbook, Ni No Kuni’s Facebook.
The Tactic Tweaker feature will allow you to level up your skills, weapon modifications, and HP and MP bars. This Tweaker will give you just the right strengths and remove the weaknesses against the type of enemy you choose to pit against.
Dreamer’s Maze
Lastly, head to the Dreamer’s Mazes in the games if you’re looking to take that level of difficulty and challenge to a whole new level. These are dungeons crawling with some of the most difficult foes in the game, with randomly generated levels.
After clearing out the hordes of enemies, you will come across some terrifying beast at the end, a boss battle.
These are only for the most experienced players since the difficulty gets higher the more time you spend in these mazes. These dungeons are hidden in tonnes of places in Ni No Kuni 2 which you can find by heading over to the link.
You have the option to decrease the danger level of the Dream Maze by using ‘Orbs’ which can be found in the overworld. You can get these orbs from stray pots, and there’s also a chance for them to be dropped when you kill an enemy.
When you’re in the Dream Maze, fill your bar up to the brim and then use the orb to decrease it back to 0. This will allow you to spend more time in the dungeon and use your orbs more efficiently.
Return to Dungeons After Unlocking New Skills
When you go through a dungeon for the first time, you most likely won’t be able to explore it in its entirety. There will be some areas that’ll be locked off, and you’ll need some unique skills to enter there.
Make sure to note these locked areas so that when you eventually get the required skill, you’ll remember to explore that area of the dungeon and get some more loot.
Save your Guilders Until You Get a Kingdom
After you get your own Kingdom, you’ll be able to craft and upgrade equipment yourself. Spending your guilders on buying/upgrading weapons or armor before you have your own Kingdom is a very bad idea. Just save it up until you have your own kingdom management.
When you get multiple kingdoms, remember to look after each one. Each Kingdom will have its own unique missions and rare loot.
Keep an Eye on Your Leafbook
The Leafbook is a social media platform in the game. It may seem like just a gimmick at first, but it’s important to keep track of as it helps you find secret items and monster info.
It also gives you tips and clues, which can be saved for easy access by ‘liking’ them.
Ni no Kuni 2 Combat Tips
While exploring Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, you will face several enemies. To fight with all the enemies, you need to learn combat skills. The battle system seems to be rather basic, but you will miss many details if you are a beginner. Below are the combat tips that we think are a must to learn if you want to fight in the game.
Activate Shield
The first thing you can do to enhance your combat skill is to look into building a better defense. So, by activating the shield, you will be able to block most of the damage during attacks. You can activate the shield by pressing L1 on your controller.
Dodge
Dodge is the most powerful defensive you can have during the fight. Press L1 while aiming in any direction with the left stick to dodge in that direction and avoid getting hit.
You will never be hit while dodging, so this can be called a small invincibility frame. You can completely evade oncoming assaults if you dodge at the right time.
Some enemies use attacks that will fire projectiles that will hit you even if you are rolling, so the best advice is not to stay stagnant during the fight.
You can upgrade your dodge roll, increasing your Invisibility time later in the game. That way, it will become very hard to hit you.
Know your Controller
The Controller configurations for Ni no Kuni 2’s fighting aren’t all that complex.
- You may use the L1 to dodge
- Press Square for light attacks
- Triangle for strong attacks,
- Click on the right thumbstick to focus on a single adversary.
- Press L1 while aiming in any direction with the left stick; you will dodge in that direction avoiding the hit.
You can use Square and Triangle back and forth to do a mix of strikes, but the best combination of attacks is to use a light attack with a subsequent heavy attack. Lastly, it all comes to practice, and the more you do more you are perfect.
Get Help from Higgledies
Higgledies can also help you during the fight. You can give them food to become loyal to you. You can give them directions by getting close to them and then pressing X to use their abilities. This only applies to Higgledies that have colored circle on them.
Higgledie may be of many skills, so check them first in the menu before summoning them. Some do strike with high damage, and some restore lost health.
You should be careful when someone is very close to attacking you as the attack could also hit the higgledies and disperse them. Then you have to hold back for the higgledies to reorganize and start helping again.
Switch Characters Mid-Fight
You should begin fighting as your main character as you enter combat. However, there is an option to swap between characters while in between the fights. You can swap between the three players in your party by tapping down or up on the Directional pad while in battle.
Each character has its unique skills and spells. Some skills work better against large groups, while others are more effective against bosses. It is best to change the strategy if you are failing with one.
Master your Weapons
You can equip up to three weapons with each character, and the best thing about them is the ability to switch swiftly between each one during the fight. Press L2 to switch your weapons.
You can add each weapon to use in a specific scenario during the fight. And switch between them when you see the need for it because every weapon is not made to run in every fight.
Every weapon during the fight has a percentage beside it. After every consecutive, the percentage will rise and finally, it will reach 100%. The weapon will do more damage, so you can use this attack strategically to gain more advantage during the fight.
