Best Samurai & Ninja Skills to Unlock First in Nioh 3

Nioh 3 has several skill trees for players to tinker with, and while the diversity is welcome, having so many things to choose from can be very overwhelming for players who are completely new to the series. The skills you get have a significant effect on how effective you are in combat, but unlocking them is only half the battle. You'll still need to learn how to work and how you can incorporate them into your gameplay. In this guide, we'll cover the best Samurai & Ninja skill in Nioh 3 as well as some tips on how to use them properly.

How To Unlock Skills And Increase Skill Capacity In Nioh 3

Gathering Memorandum and Secret Texts is the key to learning new skills in Nioh 3.

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By Nahda Nabiilah

Best Samurai Skills to Get First in Nioh 3

Skill	Description
Deflect	Block an incoming attack at the perfect time to Deflect it, negating its damage while recovering your Ninjutsu and Arts gauges.
Flux 1 & 2	Changing to another Stance after a Ki Pulse greatly increases the amount of Ki recovered.
Frost Moon Skills	The three Frost Moon skills allow you to follow-up with a free hit after using Flux to recover Ki. Do this by inputting the Stance swap button again after swapping Stances.
High/Low Stance	Switch to High/Low Stance. Your moveset and dodge behavior changes depending on what Stance you're in.

Deflecting attacks and using Frost Moon skills are the key tenets of Samurai combat in Nioh 3. These skills effectively allow you to stand your ground and continuously trade blows with the enemy without running out of Ki or taking damage. Stance swapping will let you do some really cool and powerful combos, but if you're a complete beginner who's just learning how to play Nioh 3, we recommend fully mastering Mid Stance of any weapon first.

You can use the Frost Moon attack of the same Stance you're currently in, but you won't get the extra Ki recovery from Flux.

Recommended Early Samurai Weapon Skills

Weapon	Skills	Notes
Sword	Kick Night Rain	Kick is great for damaging enemy Ki, while Night Rain is great for dealing damage to Ki-drained enemies.
Dual Swords	Mortal Flow God of Wind 2	Use Mortal Flow to close gaps and God of Wind 2 to punish. Use Spirit Guardian skills or Flux to cancel recovery animations.
Odachi	Twin Moons Sunset Breeze: Heaven	Sunset Breeze: Heaven lets you transition from Mid/Low Stance to High Stance mid-combo, giving you smooth access to Twin Moons.
Axes/Hammers	Victory Rush Titanic Strength	Use Victory Rush to recover Ki while damaging enemies, and Titanic Strength to finish your combos.
Switchglaive	Kibosh Kicker Switch Stance: Blade/Edge/Retribution	Kibosh Kicker is great for depleting enemy Ki. The Switch Stance skills are highly technical, but they play an important part in Switchglaive gameplay, so it's best to get used to them early.
Spear	Spear Bash Spear Flourish	Both Spear Bash and Spear Flourish are great for adding extra damage to your combos.
Cestuses	Stomp Spinning Kicks Rushing Gale	Stomp to increase your damage, then combo Spinning Kicks into Rushing Gale for strong damage.

We recommend getting the skills listed above to help you learn some very basic combos for each of the weapons. Practice using them in combat so you can get a better feel for how to use them.

You can respec for free in Nioh 3, and if you want to practice these skills somewhere isolated, go to a Shrine, select Battle Scroll, then look for the Training Ground option.

Best Ninja Skills to Get First in Nioh 3

Skill	Description
Evade	Dodge at the perfect time to restore Ki and both Arts and Ninjutsu Gauges.
Cicada Shell	Use right before an enemy hits you to teleport behind them.
Flame Breath	Spit out a jet of flame.
Gunpowder Bomb	Throw an explosive bomb.
Groundfire	Lay down an explosive trap.

Unlike Samurai Style's skill tree, the one for Ninja Style is more like a toolbox. While Samurai's Flux and Stance-related skills are all crucial to how that Style plays, the Ninjutsu and techniques under the Ninja skill tree are all situational (except for Evade, which is generally useful). We picked the skills above for the following reasons:

Evade enables perfect dodging, improving your Ki and Ninjutsu management if you can time your dodges correctly.
Cicada Shell lets you cancel out of combos and dodge incoming attacks.
Flame Breath gives you an easy way to make enemies burn. It's also great for dealing with the slime-like water yokai and other water-weak enemies.
Gunpowder Bomb is for dealing area damage; great for groups of targets.
Groundfire is an alternate option for Gunpowder Bomb that deals more damage.

Ninjutsu can also be used while in the air, and doing so lets you use them faster.

Recommended Early Ninja Weapon Skills

Weapon	Skills	Notes
Ninja Swords	Shadow Cyclone Kurama Sword Dance	Use Shadow Cyclone to position yourself behind an enemy, then follow up with Kurama Sword Dance for damage.
Dual Ninja Swords	Cloudsplitter Spinning Drill	Use Cloud Splitter to go mid-air, use a Ninjutsu like Groundfire, then finish with Spinning Drill.
Kusarigama	Deadly Mark Crimson Flurry	Start with a Light Attack into Deadly Mark, then use Crimson Flurry. Finish with a Spirit Guardian skill or Crimson Flurry 2.
Tonfa	Impenetrability Dragon Slayer Storm of Strikes	Parry and counter with Impenetrability and Dragon Slayer. Use Storm of Strikes to close gaps and deal damage.
Hatchets	Scaling Waterfall Plummet	Scaling Waterfall enables aerial combos, and Plummet ends them.
Splitstaves	Serpent Sweep Darting Cloud Falcon Strike	Darting Cloud and Falcon Strike are great for positioning yourself behind enemies. Use Serpent Sweep to deal tons of damage when behind targets.
Talons	Flying Fist Spinning Kicks	Flying Fist disengages you from enemies, while Spinning Kick gets you closer to them.

As you continue your playthrough, you'll eventually get equipment with Crucible Arts, weapon skills that are directly tied to weapons themselves. Make sure to check them out and see if any of them can fit into your combos.

Using Ninja Style is all about managing your Ki and being relentless with your assaults. Get in, hit the enemy as hard as you can, then get out.

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Nioh 3

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Action

RPG

Soulslike

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Systems

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Released: February 6, 2026

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ESRB: Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Suggestive Themes, Violence, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
Developer(s): Koei Tecmo
Publisher(s): Koei Tecmo
Multiplayer: Online Co-Op
Prequel(s): Nioh, Nioh 2
Franchise: Nioh
Number of Players: 1-3 players (online)
Steam Deck Compatibility: Unknown
PC Release Date: February 6, 2026
PS5 Release Date: February 6, 2026
Genre(s): Action, RPG, Soulslike
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, PC
OpenCritic Rating: Mighty