Got back into Nioh after playing online with a friend of mine. It was my first time to do a coop session and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I was very dissatisfied with my weapon choice by the end though, so I thought about resolving that over the next couple of days.
Maybe it was a coincidence, but I’ve been watching speedrunning archives lately so I looked and found a speedrun for Nioh. The weapon of choice? Dual swords. They’ve been nothing but amazing so far. Using them made Nioh feel like a different game, enough to make me think that maybe I’ve been playing it wrong the whole time.
My first playthrough was done with a spear. It was functional. I took advantage of its reach as much as I could. My second run was done with a sword. I was not able to finish the game with it, finding its associated skills unfit for my playstyle. Sword is parry-heavy and I’m not very good with parrying. I then tried the odachi; felt like I was just replaying the spear. And this is the weapon that I was referring to earlier, the one that left me dissatisfied.
So, what’s the big deal with dual swords?
- Low stance allows quick attacks to be really spammy; having an elemental effect means that the debuff is quickly applied.
- Sign of the Cross is powerful.
- God of Wind depletes ki when it hits. It’s a godsend for dueling, especially with Moon Shadow.
- Water Sword drains enemy health bars.
That’s it. It’s simple yet effective. The damage output is far greater than any other weapon I’ve used so far, making gameplay less about defense, which is an odd thing to say about a Souls-like game.