Spirit Force is a crucial combat resource in Nioh 3. It powers your Guardian Spirit's abilities, allowing you to string together some truly powerful and stylish combos. It's quite likely that players are using Spirit Force without knowing exactly what it is or how it works, and if you want to cobble together a build that that makes full use of this resource in Nioh 3, you'll want to understand all the important things about Spirit Force along with the cool stuff you can do with it.
How To Get & Use Yokai Soul Cores In Nioh 3
Yokai soul cores is an essential mechanic that'll help players in Nioh 3.
Nioh 3 Spirit Force Mechanic
Spirit Force is the resource players spend to use their Guardian Spirit skills. Every Guardian Spirit in Nioh 3 has a couple of skills that usually come in the form of attacks, and you want be able to use any of them if you don't have any Spirit Force.
Guardian Spirit skills are very powerful. They deal good damage against both Life and Ki, and if you hit a yokai with a Guardian Spirit skill, their maximum Ki will be reduced, making them easier to stagger. This is especially useful when fighting bosses in Nioh 3.
Guardian Spirit skills require no Ki to use, and you can use them even when you've been fully stance broken. Use this to get out of sticky situations or to extend your combo without fully exhausting your Ki bar.
How to Get Spirit Force in Nioh 3
This mechanic and the ability to use Guardian Spirit skills are unlocked the moment you clear your first Lesser Crucible. When you destroy a Lesser Crucible, Nekomata will offer you its power, enabling the use of Guardian Spirit skills for all the spirits you have and will get in the future.
Spirit Force is obtained by attacking enemies. Successful hits will build up the sectioned bar below your Life and Ki bars as well as the small circle representing your equipped Guardian Spirit skill. Alternatively, you can use consumable items like Lantern Plant Fruits to instantly gain Spirit Force.
You can increase your maximum Spirit Force by spending Prestige under the Tactics tab in the Titles menu.
The items you get in Nioh 3 may have affixes that modify your Spirit Force in different ways. If you want to make heavy use of your Guardian Spirit skills, then items that improve your Spirit Force generation or efficiency in any way will be the best ones you can use.
All Guardian Spirits come with one Guardian Spirit skill by default. You can unlock another one by destroying more Crucible cores or meeting other requirements specified by the skills themselves.
- 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
- 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
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
