We’re getting close to the end in Nioh 2. Some of the hardest bosses of the game are popping up in Chapter 5, and they’re only getting bigger. If you thought the spider-bull in Chapter 4 was huge, you haven’t met Daidara Bocchi. He’s only the size of a castle. We’ve got a few tips to help you handle him.
Shockingly, the castle-turned-kaiju isn’t the toughest battle in this chapter. That dubious distinction goes to Shibata Katsuie, a former general that’s gone insane. With glowing tusks and a pair of killer axes, this guy is practically unstoppable if you’re using a slow build. You’ll need to either infect the boss with Sloth, or Weaken, or get yourself some faster weaponry.
These fights are truly challenging, and if you need some help, check out the quick guides below.
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. 2: Imagawa Yoshimoto, Kamaitachi & Saito Yoshitatsu | Ch. 3: Tatarimokke, Magare Naotaka & Azai Nagamasa | Ch. 4: Gyuki, Kasha & Ryomen Sukuna
How To Beat Maeda Toshiie
Found in the castle keep, your former ally has become an enemy. Maeda is a master with a spear. The arena is fairly tight, so you’ll have to move with precision to avoid his onslaught of stabbing attacks. He uses his spear to lunge forward for a crazy barrage of stabs, and uses his spear like pole vault to leap large distances away (or toward) you.
Especially watch out for his Spirit Guide attacks. His animal will imbue his spear with fire, or he’ll launch five fireballs that slowly track you.
This is just a miniboss — his stamina bar can be very quickly drained with special attacks or by breaking his guard. This is a farily standard, straightforward fight. He won’t change forms or get more difficult as you fight him. Plug away and unleash your Yokai Shift form to take out the last bit of his health safely.
How To Beat Shibata Katsuie
The real boss of the mission is another demonic general that’s a huge step-up in difficulty. This is one of hardest bosses in the game. He’s a berserker with dual axes and warthog tusks. He attacks wildly at close range, which you can dodge and block. He’ll summon his Warthog, which charges forward while he continues to attack independently.
To do more damage to the boss, dodge to his exposed back and attack him. His back is covered in blades — that’s his weakpoint, so even if you stun him, you’ll want to circle around and him here there.
His most annoying attacks is his grapple. His hands glow black / white and he’ll rush forward with his axes spread far out. Time your dodge to avoid this killer grapple — he’ll even end certain attack strings with a grapple.
There are a few times you can safely attack him. After his charge attacks, or after his insane roaring attacks, he’ll rest for a moment. When his blades glow blue and he spins, dodge forward after he stops — his blades will continue to spin in a circle around him. Dodge forward and you’ll have a moment to attack him while the blades continue to spin.
He has two Counter Burst attacks — a charge attack that’s easy to counter, just spam your Counter Burst while guarding and you’ll get him. His second attack is a two-axe overhead swing that generates three bursts of fire. He’ll start generating more fire when he enters the Dark Realm — he’ll leave them behind when stomp-charging.
If you’re struggling against him, I recommend swapping to a faster weapon. You can also try unlocking magic like Sloth to slow him down temporarily, or equip Life Leech to heal yourself mid-battle.
How To Beat Tokichiro
Your old friend is now your enemy. He’s a human opponent that uses two Spirit Guardians at once. Thankfully, this is a pretty straightforward fight, and like other human opponents, the best way to handle him is to just get in his face. Keep attacking him and draining his stamina until he’s weak and all of his attacks get interrupted. He has some pretty dangerous powers, but they’re meaningless if his stamina meter is empty and your every strike stuns him.
Stay close and attack him to interrupt his buffs. He’ll try to buff himself with items — attack him to interrupt, even if he has stamina. Tokichiro also over-commits on most of his combo attacks, leaving himself exposed and making it easier for you to strike. This is a pretty straightforward boss encounter.
How To Beat Hachisuka Koroku
Another ‘human’ opponent. He’s the halfway mid-boss before the real fight later. He fights using ninja weapons and techniques, but you should be able to win using slower weapons. His Burst Counter attacks aren’t easy to predict, but you can fight him like any other human. Put pressure on him, stay close, and be very wary of his grapple attacks.
When he enters the Dark Realm, just retreat until the effect wears off. He’ll summon tornadoes and dangerous Yokai to help him here. There’s just way too much going on! Stay safe and just avoid him until the Dark Realm disappears.
He has multiple Burst Counter attacks, and it’s difficult to tell which he’s abount to unleash. Both start with him bowing his head low and turtling, then lunging forward. Whenever he pulls these out, just run directly in front of him and Burst Counter the lunge. That way, you don’t have to predict if he’ll attack or jump.
His most annoying attack is a sickle grapple. He’ll spin his sickle in a wide circle — you just have to dodge through it. He doesn’t have much health, but you don’t have many good opportunities to attack.
How To Beat Daidara Bocchi
The absolutely massive monster is the size of a building, and it fights by swingings its huge arms, or blasting you with eye-lasers. The trick to this fight is just knowing how to expose the weak point, and how to survive its killer attacks.
Start by breaking all the crystals on one hand. Don’t bother working on two hands — just break all the crystals on one, dodgings its eye-lasers and shattering the fingers one-by-one. When all the crystals on a hand are shattered, the boss will tumble over and expose its weak spot. Don’t just attack it while its down! You need to use a Deadly Blow to deal maximum damage.
To avoid some of its most annoying attacks, run to the far left / far right, or hide directly under its head. When it charges a giant laser attack, being closer to it makes it easy to avoid. There’s a final attack it pulls out when it’s low on health where it goes completely insane — to avoid it, just hide under its head.
To defeat the boss, you need to shatter the crystals on both hands and expose his final weak spot. Use a Deadly Blow to defeat the boss for good. Remember, it’s easier the closer you are to the boss. Hide under its head or just to the right / left of the hands.
