Nioh 3 Samurai Ninja Skills Builds Guide

From the shadows of the dojo, sharpen your senses: the Nioh 3 skills that fuse samurai grit with ninja cunning, revealing hidden paths to mastery and the perfect team synergy.

The best Common skills in Nioh 3

Common skills in Nioh 3 provide reliable tools useful across all weapon types and character builds. Moves like Ki Pulse – which restores stamina during combat – and Flux variations make stamina management smoother and allow for faster follow-ups. Skills such as Grapple and Living Water improve precision and recovery, giving players more control during intense battles. These abilities form a strong foundation that complements both Samurai and Ninja techniques, enhancing performance regardless of preferred fighting style.

Here are the best Common skills in Nioh 3, along with their cost and where you can find them.

The best Samurai skills in Nioh 3

Mastery of timing, stance, and weapon rhythm defines the Samurai in Nioh 3, blending precise parries with decisive strikes to dismantle even the toughest foes.

Here are the best Samurai skills in Nioh 3, along with their cost and where you can find them.

The best Ninja skills in Nioh 3

The best Ninja skills focus on agility, precision, and tactical control of the battlefield. Paralysis Shuriken and Blister-Beetle Bombs can disable tough enemies, while Sneak Attack deals massive damage from behind. Catwalking and Sneak Thief help maintain stealth, allowing silent movement through missions. Quick-Change Scroll remains the centerpiece of survival, offering a second chance in deadly fights. Combining these techniques with high Dexterity turns your character into a deadly shadow capable of outsmarting any foe.

Here are the best Ninja skills in Nioh 3, along with their cost and where you can find them.

How to increase skill capacity in Nioh 3

Unlock more skill slots by collecting Secret Texts and Memorandums, then increasing capacity at shrines or Bodhisattva statues; texts boost a specific category by one, while memorandums require four to add a point, so focus on farmable chests and exploration milestones to steadily expand both Samurai and Ninja capacities. Keep an eye out for region-specific texts early on to balance your skill tree as you expand your toolkit.

Skills in Nioh 3 can only be equipped within the constraints of your current skill capacity, unfortunately. This means you have to be very choosy about which skills you use, because you can unlock far more than you can ever equip simultaneously.

You can increase your skill capacity though, and there are a few different ways to do so. Firstly, any “Warrior’s Texts,” “Samurai’s Texts,” or “Ninja’s Texts” items will increase their respective categories by one (with “Warrior’s” referring to the Common category). These can be found all throughout Nioh 3, often as rewards from defeating bosses, looting corpses, and opening chests.

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Memorandums are also available via the Sudama merchants and for completing all of the exploration goals in each region. However, you’ll need four of each respective memorandum to unlock one skill capacity upgrade. These cost two Yokai Teardrops apiece if you buy them from a merchant.

Best skill builds for Samurai in Nioh 3 guide

Here’s a concise Samurai skill-build guide for Nioh 3 based on current build resources and launch-window theorycrafting.

Core Samurai skills (all builds)

Take these on every Samurai build first.

• Deflect: Timed guard that parries most attacks, restores Ki, and builds your Arts gauge.

• Low Stance / High Stance: Unlock both and practice switching; low for safety and Ki, high for burst damage.

• Flux II: Restores Ki when you switch stances after an attack or Ki Pulse, enabling near-constant pressure.

• Running Water (secret skill): Ki Pulse on dodge, huge for staying aggressive while repositioning.​

• Unshakable (secret skill): Reduces damage while attacking, great for close-range trading.​

These form your universal Samurai backbone: stance flow, parry, and Ki sustain.

Katana Samurai build (classic “sword” Samurai)

Focus: close-range duels, punish windows, safe stance dancing.

• Recommended stats: prioritize Heart, then Skill and Stamina for damage and armor; add some Constitution for HP.

• Key Martial Arts: Sword of X (your main single-target art), a gap-closer, and at least one guard-break style art (names vary slightly per weapon roll in guides, but fill these roles).

• Core Samurai skills: Deflect, Flux II, Low/High Stance, plus Backwave-type follow-ups after parries.

• Guardian Spirit: Kusanagi for martial art damage and Ki Pulse recovery; Guhin if you want more defense and cheaper Ki use.

Play pattern:

• Sit in mid/low stance to bait, Deflect or quick-step through attacks, stance-switch + Ki Pulse into high-stance arts for big punishes, then drop back to low when Ki runs low.

Spear Samurai build (spacing & thrusts)

Focus: mid-range pressure, thrust combos, strong crowd control.

• Recommended stats: Heart and Skill first, then Constitution and Stamina.

• Martial Arts to take: Spear Bash, Spear Flourish, Lightning Vortex, Flying Monkey II, Cull the Herd, Spear Shove, Fatal Thrust.

• Samurai skills: Low Stance, High Stance, Deflect, Flux II as your core.

• Spirit: Kusanagi (offense) or Shin-Roku for more sustain and defense.​

Play pattern:

• Use Spear Bash and Shove to poke and drain Ki, Ki Pulse into Flourish for pressure, then finish with Lightning Vortex or Fatal Thrust when the enemy is winded or overcommitted.

Axe Samurai build (heavy burst & stagger)

Focus: huge stagger, high-risk, high-reward burst damage.​

• Recommended stats: Stamina, Constitution, Strength, then Heart.​

• Martial Arts: Rage (big damage buff), Battle Focus (Ki cost reduction), Rumbling Earth II, Titanic Strength, Fang Toss, Retreating Axe.​

• Samurai skills: Same core (Deflect, Flux II, Low/High Stance).​

• Weapons to look for: Infernal Axe, Helmsplitter Axe, Oak Hammer, Spearbreaker Hammer, Ryomen Sukuna’s Axe with strong attack or stance-specific bonuses.​

• Spirit: Kusanagi for damage, Guhin if you need cheaper Ki and extra toughness.​

Play pattern:

• Buff with Rage, open with a high-stance strong or Rumbling Earth II to break guard, then chain Titanic Strength and other arts while using Battle Focus + Flux II to keep Ki from bottoming out.​

Odachi Samurai build (wide sweeps & Ki damage)

Focus: wide arcs, guard crush, excellent crowd control.

• Recommended stats: First Stamina, then Strength; add Constitution and some Magic for talismans and core slots.

• Key Martial Arts (examples from guides): Beyond Infinity, Limitless, Heavenly Strike, Rising Gale, Unbowed, Battering Ram, Fracture Foe; mix one gap-closer, one big stance art, and one emergency defensive art.​

• Samurai skills: High/Low Stance, Deflect, Flux II remain mandatory.

• Spirit: Guhin as primary (Ki cost reduction + defense), Kusanagi if you want more burst.​

Play pattern:

• Use wide swings in mid/high stance to chew through Ki and guard, then capitalize with heavy arts while leveraging Ki Pulse and Flux II to offset the weapon’s high Ki cost.

Dual Swords Samurai build (fast pressure)

Focus: speed, constant pressure, and status/talisman synergies.

• Recommended stats: Heart, Stamina, then Magic and Skill/Strength as your scaling demands.

• Martial Arts: Multi-hit combos that fit your stance (guides suggest arts like Dancing Kick-style openers plus strong single-target finishers).

• Samurai skills: Low/High Stance, Deflect, Flux II as usual.

• Spirit: Guhin for Ki cost reduction and sustain; Kusanagi if you want maximum art damage.

Play pattern:

• Stay mostly in low/mid stance to barrage enemies, weave in Ki Pulses and Flux II stance switches, and use talismans (e.g., Power/elemental) to turn your high hit count into huge DPS.

If you tell me which weapon you prefer (Katana, Spear, Axe, Odachi, Dual Swords, or a mix), I can narrow this down into a single step-by-step build list (stats, exact skills to unlock first, and a simple rotation).

Best armor sets for Samurai builds in Nioh 3

For Samurai builds, you generally want medium-to-heavy sets that boost melee damage, Ki/toughness, and your chosen weapon type.

Recommended armor by playstyle

• Balanced sword Samurai

  • Crimson General Set: great general-purpose defense and stamina/toughness scaling, pairs well with katanas and Odachi.

  • Samurai’s Pride Set: all-rounder with boosts to both offense and defense, scales well with Strength and Stamina for classic Samurai builds.​

  • Swordmaster Set: light-to-medium set focused on sword damage, Deflect bonuses, and Heart-based defense.

• Aggressive/strength builds (Axe, Odachi, heavy katana)

  • Oni Slayer Set: offensive heavy set that boosts Strength and attack, ideal if you stay in high stance and trade hits.​

  • Warlord Set: very high defense, HP, and status resistance for tanky boss builds.​

  • Tatenashi Set: heavy, high-toughness armor commonly used in Axe/Odachi Samurai setups for minimal flinching and strong mitigation.​

• Mobile / dex-leaning Samurai

  • Goichimonshu Set: used in some Samurai dual-sword setups for mobility plus decent protection.​

  • Wayfarer Set: mid-weight option that supports stamina-based, stance-dancing builds without over-burdening you.​

  • Swallowtail Set (Samurai): offers luck and ranged utility; more niche, but viable if you want lighter armor and item-hunting bonuses.​

Sets that overlap with Ninja / hybrid builds

• Shadow Ninja Set: light armor with ninjutsu, agility, and Ki-regen bonuses, suitable for Samurai/Ninja hybrids who rely on fast strikes.​

• Ghost Warrior Set: focuses on evasion, speed, and damage from stealth/crit, good if you play a hit-and-run Samurai with backstab opportunities.​

• Shadow’s Embrace Set: enhances stealth and critical damage, excellent if you combine Samurai melee with Ninja-style back attacks.​

Example pairings with your weapon

Here are simple matches you can aim for as you progress:

If you tell me your main weapon (e.g., Katana vs Odachi) and whether you prefer tanky or agile, I can narrow this down to 1-2 specific sets plus a suggested mix (5-piece main set + 2-piece off-set) to target.