Cursed Enemies | Nioh 2 Wiki

The "Curse" status effect is a a special effect certain enemies will gain during missions done while in Dream of the Demon or higher. These enemies are significantly more dangerous than normal versions of them, but you can temporarily nullify the curse by doing certain skills, and the curse is gone permanently after the enemy dies the first time. You can tell an enemy is cursed by their red glow.

What is the "Curse of..." Status Effect?

This is an effect that some enemies have in Dream of the Demon, Dream of the Wise, Dream of the Nioh, and the Underworld/ Scrolls of the Damned. Some enemies during certain missions will always be cursed every time you play it, whereas other times random enemies will be cursed. Every enemy that is tied to the Dark Realm will also be cursed. The specific effects it has varies between each difficulty:

Curse of the Demon	Increased Movement Speed An elemental, poison or paralysis effect applied to their Melee Attacks, if they weren't there already. Not every enemy gains this bonus. Human Enemies Consume less Ki when attacking Yokai Enemies receive less Ki damage Significantly increased loot drop rate when killed.
Curse of the Wise	All of the above effects. Increased Ki Damage Life Drain on their attacks
Curse of the Nioh	All of the above effects Passive life recovery. This effect goes away for five seconds after the last time you deal damage to them.
Curse of the Damned/ Underworld Curse	This is a special version that appears while playing in the Underworld or a Scroll of the Damned. Rather than a red glow, enemies glow purple, and have all of the same effects as the Curse of the Nioh, but to a greater degree. In addition, they gain a large increase to the amount of health they have, and this cannot be removed by removing the curse and will last until they die for the first time. Cursed Yokai enemies will also recover from being winded even if they are Confused, if you are not currently hitting them.

How Do You Remove the Curse?

• Doing a Final Blow.
• Doing a Grapple or equivalent active skill (Sneak Attack, Merciless Barrage, Dragon Horn, Dragon Claw, Dragon Fang, and Izuna Drop).
• Doing an attack that does an animation on a zero-Ki Human (ie, Celestial Retribution, Fatal Thrust, Battering Ram etc.).
• Doing a Burst Counter (This removes the Curse for the longest amount of time).
• Extended Curse Nullification will increase the time the curse is removed by the total percentage amount you have.
• The effect does not come back after the enemy has died. If the enemy respawns, it will not have the curse again.

Since most of the ways to remove the curse involve the enemy running out of Ki, consider building towards Ki damage or Yokai Abilities.