Nioh Wiki

Nioh

Nioh is a 2017 action role-playing game developed by Team Ninja and published by Koei Tecmo, built on the studio's long-running interest in Japanese history and its Ninja Gaiden combat lineage. The story follows William Adams, an Irish-born sailor who arrives in Sengoku-era Japan hunting the alchemist Edward Kelley and ends up fighting alongside Tokugawa Ieyasu on the road to Sekigahara. Combat is stance-based: every melee weapon carries High, Mid and Low stances, a timed Ki Pulse refunds spent stamina and purifies the yokai realms enemies spread, and Guardian Spirits fuel a Living Weapon transformation. Loot drives progression in a Diablo-like way, with randomly rolled rarity and affixes, reforging at the blacksmith, and mission-based chapters that revisit real Japanese provinces and castles. It is the first game of the Nioh series and the direct predecessor of Nioh 2 and Nioh 3.

• Three Stances per Weapon: every melee weapon has High, Mid and Low stances that change damage, reach, Ki cost and dodge behaviour, and switching mid-combo is the core skill the combat is built around.
• Ki Pulse: attacking drains Ki (stamina), and pressing the stance button at the end of a combo's recovery window purges the stamina loss in one burst, so managing the pulse rhythm is the difference between a long combo and an exhausted one.
• Yokai Realms: bosses and elite yokai spread patches of dark terrain that slow regeneration and empower them, and a well-timed Ki Pulse clears the patch under the player's feet.
• Living Weapon: filling the Amrita gauge lets William channel his equipped Guardian Spirit into the weapon, granting a temporary damage and poise state with its own elemental effect.
• Guardian Spirits: a single equipped spirit supplies passive bonuses, elemental affinity and the Living Weapon form, and spirits are earned through story progress and side missions.
• Loot, Rarity and Reforging: gear drops with rolled rarity, levels and special effects rather than fixed hand-placed items, and the blacksmith reforges, soul-matches and upgrades equipment to carry good rolls forward.
• Amrita and Shrine Levelling: Amrita collected from enemies is spent at shrines to raise nine character stats, and dying drops the held Amrita at a grave the player has to walk back to.
• Ninjutsu and Onmyo Magic: two separate skill trees supply thrown tools, poisons, elemental talismans, buffs and debuffs, giving ranged and support options alongside the melee stances.
• Mission Chapters and Regions: the campaign is a sequence of discrete missions across Kyushu, Chugoku, Kinki, Tokai, Sekigahara and Omi, each with its own shrine, kodama and side objectives.
• Twilight Missions and the Abyss: harder re-runs of completed missions, plus the post-game Abyss mode, extend the loot loop past the credits.