In Nioh 2, your guardian spirit not only empowers you, but also protects your grave after you die.
Throughout your journey through Nioh 2, you will encounter many Guardian Spirits, each with its own special effects and features-from your first choice to the most powerful in the game.
Which starting Guardian Spirit should you choose in Nioh 2?
Personally, I used the basic Guardian Spirit throughout the entire game.
However, from the beginning, the choices you make are not the specific abilities of each guardian spirit, but the form of Yokai Shift you want to adopt.
This is an important decision because it determines what type of burst counter you can use in combat.
The brute force form is red. This Yokai Shift has a strong attack power and cannot be misplaced. For Burst Counter, they need to hit the enemy with a special attack before starting the attack.
If you want to fight at close range, you can choose this form, because otherwise you will have a hard time breaking into and effectively breaking out countermeasures.
The wild form is blue. This Yokai Shift is best for sending spam quickly, and it is one of my main uses. For Burst Counter, you need to dodge the enemy, and if the enemy hits you with an attack within a certain window, you will be staggered. I personally like this because Dodge is practical outside Burst Counters and can be quickly located.
The phantom is purple. This monster is used for mid-range attacks and triggers a static block of burst counters. The phantom has the special ability to throw weapons at the enemy and can reposition itself next to them, which is very powerful mobility.
Whichever method you choose, you won't be troubled throughout the game, but before making a decision, you should probably have your own gameplay for each game and be satisfied with your favorite one.
For more information on establishing a starting character, here is our list of the best weapons in Nioh 2 (and where you should start using them).
Soul Core in Nioh 2
The soul core is an item dropped by monsters and certain human enemies. It can be reconciled with your guardian spirit to create a special set of actions. You can finally reconcile the 3 soul cores into one guardian spirit, and different guardian spirits have different reconciliation restrictions. These restrictions define which cores can be reconciled into them.
To use the picked soul core, you need to bring it back to the shrine for purification. If you die from a soul, you will lose that soul core unless you can restore it to the grave or use the summoner's candle.
Guardian Soul gives you attack and defense bonuses, and you can adjust the soul core based on them. This bonus is obtained by multiplying the value of the soul core by the multiplier of the guardian spirit.
Each soul core brings many special effects to your character, from enhanced effects to attack statistics to Kodak sensor functions, showing you the location of the collectible Kodama hidden on the mini map.
The main event at the heart of the soul is the Yokai power they give you. These are very powerful attacks used by Yokai enemies to smash you to the ground, but with Soul Cores you can use them yourself.
To use Yokai Abilities, you must use Anima, a purple gauge under Ki. The number of gauges Yokai can use is determined by its "cost."
To get the most out of Soul Core, you need to look around for your favorite Yokai attacks and balance it with the special effects of Soul Core.
Soul Fusion in Nioh 2
To enhance the special effects of your favorite soul core, you can perform soul fusion.
Soul Fusion increases the power of the soul core by adding the level of the soul core of the sacrificed soul core to the desired target. This makes all its special effects better.
The sacrifice soul core can be lower than the desired goal, but must be the same Yokai Shift type as it is.
The real soul core has a special ability. You can change the Yokai Shift type of other soul cores through soul fusion.
For example, you can change the Enki soul core of Brute type to the wild type with Mortal soul core.
If you are interested in more fantasy elements of Nioh 2, please visit the following page to learn how to get your first ninja and magic skill points, while highlighting some of the best skills in the game.
For basic help with combat, we have a page here with some general tips, including how to get the perfect Ki Pulse.
