The bosses of Nioh 2 get even tougher as we enter Chapter 2: Soaring. Your protagonist teams up with a Spirit Stone collector and joins up with Nobunaga’s army, aiming to reunify Japan through bloody conquest. That means you’ll be targeting regular humans with enhanced powers more often than before — two of the three bosses in Chapter 2 are human, and they have their own quirks you’ll need to look out for.
Humans have a completely different stamina meter, and unless they’re very demonic, they can’t summon a Dark Realm. Mostly, that makes these battles a little easier. Human enemies do gain new skills as the fight goes on, but they aren’t exactly puzzles to solve. It’s all about learning how to counter them, when to attack, and when to unleash your Spirit Guardian Yokai Shift form — it’s a power I tend to forget about, but those moments of invincibility make defeating some of these bosses so much easier.
More Nioh 2 guides:
12 Tips To Help You Get Started Slaying Yokai | Beginner’s Guide | 8 Extremely Useful Advanced Tips | Healing Fast, Instakill Attacks, Invisibility & More | How To Farm Proficiency & Earn Skill Points Faster | How To Beat Every Boss | Ch. 1: Mezuki, Enera & Yatsu-no-Kami | Ch. 3: Tatarimokke, Magare Naotaka & Azai Nagamasa | Ch. 4: Gyuki, Kasha & Ryomen Sukuna | Ch. 5: Shibata Katsuie, Tokichiro & Daidara Bocchi
How To Beat Imagawa Yoshimoto
This sword-wielding General summons a massive lightning-infused elephant when he attacks, and he’s the first human boss in the game, so he won’t summon a Dark Realm. He wields a variety of slash attacks, using both of his blades to strike or lunge forward with surprising speed.
Imagawa uses a bow that shoots volleys of lightning arrows. If he points the bow forward, he shoots a spread of arrows in an arc. If he aims upward, he’ll drop multiple volleys of arrows down on top of you. It tracks, so sprint — it takes Imagawa time to recover after launching a volley, so it’s a perfect time to attack him.
You can interrupt his bow volley by attacking him at close-range. Most of his attacks are very slow to prepare, so you can always predict his next move — dodge or sprint to avoid the arrows, and do the same for the elephant lighnting blast. His melee attacks can all be blocked.
It’s difficult to drain his stamina, unless you have specific stamina-draining special moves you’ve unlocked. You’ll just have to predict his attacks and whittle him down until he’s defeated.
How To Beat Kamaitachi
With blades protruding from its legs and tail, this huge demon ocelot clings to trees and launches tree-cutting waves straight for you. It will rapidly spin and charge forward, or launch wide projectile blades straight forward. When it spins up, it can generate slow-moving tornadoes that track you.
When it climbs onto a tree, it will either launch itself directly forward, or fire a wind projectile. You can block the wind projectile to protect yourself 100%, or hide behind a thick tree. The bigger trees won’t fall, so you can use them to hide from any of the projectiles in this boss fight — including the tornado.
There are a few times when you can reliably hit the boss — after it jumps in the air and spins forward, or after a Burst Counter attack. It will glow red on a tree and spin forward, giving you a chance to Burst Counter and attack. You can also fully absorb both of these attacks with a block. It takes a moment for the boss to recover. If you have enough stamina to attack, that’s your best shot.
Drain his stamina meter (slowly) and then go all-out when he’s in the red. Like all enemies, he’s instantly interrupted by all attacks when his stamina is at zero. That means you can slash him as long as you have stamina and stop all of his incoming attacks instandly. Learn to Burst Counter him, and you’ll be able to win with some patience.
How To Beat Saito Yoshitatsu
The General at the top of the cursed castle wields multiple guardian spirits, uses two weapons (Dual Swords and Odochi), and he can Yokai Shift to unleash even more powerful attacks. He’ll Yokai Shift when he summons a Dark Realm, and he can take one of two different Guardian Spirit forms. Basically, you’re fighting a mirror image of yourself.
He’s human, so he’ll run out of stamina quickly. His Dark Realm / Yokai Shift form is dangerous, but he’ll run out of juice fast. The fight itself is fast and brutal, but he doesn’t have a huge health meter like certain opponents you’ve faced before. Taking him down just means you need to play carefully, block often, dodge, wait for Burst Counter opportunities, and strike when you can. Even when he’s in demon form, your attacks will momentarily stun him.
As far as bosses go, he isn’t too difficult. Defeating him will unlock a second Guardian Spirit slot.
