Best Dual-Sword Builds in Nioh 2 (& How To Use Them)

There’s nothing more satisfying than building a character exactly as designed and obtaining the results intended from the beginning. Nioh 2 offers players a chance to attain that feeling and revise their choices even more with its deep upgrade system that allows for a near-endless number of combinations and builds to destroy everything that goes bump in the night. Crowded with nefarious bandits, outlaws, and a wide array of evil Yokai feasting on the citizens of Japan, build Hide an arsenal worthy of a Yokai hunter and purge Japan of some of it’s most dark entities. Among the weapons offered, Dual Swords can quickly dispatch opponents while preventing Hide from taking any damage with its quick dodge techniques and highly mobile attacks.

Nioh 2 takes place in a fantasy feudal Japan, starting the year 1555 during the Sengoku era. Malevolent Yokai is at large and plagues the land like a wildfire that hungers and nothing more. Meeting a variety of individuals, the half Yokai shiftling Hide joins a team on a journey across Japan to hunt down Yokai and make a profitable living for themselves. Hide’s weapons and armor must be in top shape to survive the onslaught of evil and the Dual Swords offer but one of many ways to get started.

Best Dual Sword Builds in Nioh 2

Stats

Understand that the idea of a “best build” isn’t explicit when it comes to any particular weapon. Nioh 2 offers a range of flexibility and creativity that allows players to mess around with different ideas and concepts when it comes to making a build. Whether the focus is magic, ninjutsu, stealth, or tanking enemies of all types, Nioh 2 has something for it and it’s to players to figure it which works best for them. Most weapon types only have a single stat line up while the Odachi and Axe have two types. Every weapon has a total of 3 stats that scale and increase damage output for the weapon but they are not all equal. Leveling up the main stat is more important than the second and third but they can influence how builds may take shape.

Dual Swords

• Skill B+/ Heart C+/ Strength D+
• Skill: The Core Stat required to activate the special effects of light armor.
• Heart: Affects your Ki, and your resistance to Fire.
• Strength: The Core Stat required to activate the special effects of heavy armor. This stat also affects your resistance to water.

A great pairing weapon for the Dual swords would be the Type 2 Odachi since it’s secondary and tertiary stats scale the same way; Heart and Stamina at C. Players could choose to focus Skill and Strength by maxing them out by a certain level (300), and allow Heart to follow up second to give both weapons an effective boost to their base damage. Since Strength is the primary for an Odachi, the Dual Swords will get a boost from the lower end as well. Learning how stats scale appropriately will make it easier creating a build and provide better insight in how weapons will grow more powerful over time. If Dual swords are going to be the ultimate focus though, round out Hide’s Stats at the beginning and then gradually focus on the primary stat. Most stats cap around 1- so don’t worry about throwing points into everything. It should look a little something like this.

Lv. 30 > Constitution 10/ Heart 10/ Courage 5/ Strength 5/ Stamina 10/ Skill 20/ Dexterity 5/ Magic 6/.

As players continue toward level 100 and beyond, every other rank up throw a point or two in the supporting stats especially Constitution for Light armor. The Dual Swords are incredibly fast, so having armor that matches speed and lightness will increase the weapons effectiveness when using dodging techniques.

Lv.150+ > Constitution 20/ Heart 35/ Courage 10/ Strength 10/ Stamina 5/ Skill (99)/ Dexterity 5/ Magic 10/.

While magic isn’t essential to Dual Swords, having Magic at 10 for the very least allows for a flexible amount of usage for talismans that would go well with the Dual swords. If it’s imbuing the weapon with an element or Talismans that affect movement speed for really dire situations like Tiger running. These stats could change at anytime depending on the build, so this isn’t a finite absolute example but a reference on how to spread those points desirably for maximum effect.

Dual Sword Techniques in Nioh 2

In the case of the Dual swords, they are the fastest weapons in the game capable of dishing out moderate amounts of damage with high stance techniques almost decimating enemies. Low stance is for super evasive tactics, providing Hide with extra dodge animations and awarding players for avoiding hits. Of all three stances low is the most entertaining while Mid is the most effective for both damage and survivability. High stance techniques help deal with crowds, preventing them from overwhelming Hide when things get a little Dicey. Keep moving, and don’t forget to Ki pulse whenever there’s an opportunity. Switching stances when Ki pulsing is also recommended to keep op the momentum.

• Momentum: Landing an attack reduces the Ki usage of subsequent attacks. This effect can be boosted if another attack lands before the prior buff runs out.
• Wind Storm: A spinning attack that slices all around Hide. (Upgrade to level 2 for increased strength in the wind produced by the technique)
• God of Wind I, II, III:  Follows up a Quick attack with a roundhouse kick. Level 2 follows up with a quick slash by pressing Triangle again. The third upgrade provides a double slash after the previous one but only with a well-timed press of the Triangle button.
• Moon Shadow: Maneuvers behind an enemy after they deflect an attack, then slashes them with an extra Triangle attack.
• Mind’s Eye I, II: Now clearly see, and evade, all incoming attacks during the recovery period following a dodge (low stance only). Level 2 will increase damage output on success.
• Dual Dragon: Slash at an enemy before launching into the air to bring down a mighty blow on an opponent.
• Relentless: Increases Maximum Ki when Dual Swords are equipped as the main weapon.
• Armor Piercer: Increases Final blow damage when Dual Swords are equipped as the main weapon.

Weapons and Armor In Nioh 2

When it comes to the Dual Swords, Light Armor are hands down the best pick especially if players prefer to play around in the Low stance. Medium armor is also pretty great and doesn’t allow the total Equipment weight to exceed the 70% threshold for maintaining a stable amount of agility. Since builds in this game can be heavily centered around a specific armor set or a weapon more so, there is no absolute best weapon or piece of armor. There are weapons in the game that while haven’t received much attention, anyone with the right amount of patience can find a way to turn it into the “best” weapon for them by maximizing its destructive potential. Some of the most note-worthy armor pieces in the game are the Master Swordsman set which shows up toward the end of the game, Kingo Armor which boosts final blow and melee damage, and Tosa Governor which includes water damage that’s highly effective against bosses.

• Bone Feaster & Bamboo Cutter – Pairs with the Master Swordsman armor.
• Yamanba’s Knives –  Increased grapple damage.
• Little Crow and Quick Draw – Imbued with Purity. Excellent block and break.
• Rai Kunitsugu Dual Tachi – Increase your Mid Attack Damage by 5%
• Ichigo Hitofuri & Oyaka Toshiro – Applies two elemental buffs.
• Dual Bloodstained Cleavers –  Major increase in damage to enemies with zero Ki, imbued with corruption. Also includes Life drain.

Here is a build by Youtuber PWARgaming that features the Dual Bloodstained Cleavers that shreds enemies by using a max of 1 technique per stance. Adding Raging strike that hurts Hide for increased damage along with the Tosa armor set for regaining life per hit creates a semi-immortal Hide that decimates enemies even further once their Ki has hit zero.

Play around with each weapon to find what fits for whatever is worth pursuing. If magic will somehow highlight the build or a heavy reliance on Ninjutsu for fast hit and run tactics while depleting enemy Ki to finish them off for maximum damage. Dual swords are fast and can stagger opponents after a number of blows. Elemental build up might also work well for Dual swords as they strike many times, effectively increasing the amount of elemental damage applied to the enemy. Experiment and explore the possibilities.

Nioh 2 is available on PlayStation 4.

Source: TryTolling Nioh 2 Stats guide