Weapons in Nioh 2 are the main instrument of dealing damage, and are divided into several categories, plus ranged. All weapons have Skills that increase with using that weapon type, and each individual weapon features a "Familiarity" meter that improves the base stats of a weapon based on how long you have been using it. You can expedite familiarity increase by applying a Whetstone to your weapon, or you may find Special Effects on weapons and armor that makes the process faster.
Forging non-set Divine items will set the grace set bonus onto weapons and armor. There are 10 Divine graces in Nioh 2.
Weapons have an Item Level Cap.
How do you pick a weapon in Nioh 2?
All weapons are viable and there is no clear-cut "Best Weapon" or "Best Weapon Type". You should select your weapon based on your own playstyle, and considering whether you prefer to block, dodge, cast spells from afar, and how likely you are to remember to Ki Pulse or Flux to recover your Ki (Stamina).
If you're struggling, we suggest you check out our Builds page
Blessed and Yokai Weapons
Nioh 2 introduces 
Blessed Weapons and 
Yokai Weapons to the mix. These weapons have special built-in "Purification" and "Corruption" effects.
Purity allows you to recover a portion of the Ki lost from guarding with this weapon by performing a Ki Pulse and deals additional Ki damage based on your enemy's Purity resistance.
Corruption deals additional Ki damage, and build up the Corruption Status Effect. Enemies who are "Corrupted" receive increased Ki and Yokai damage, of which, a portion is absorbed by you.
Weapon Base Scaling Table
Below is a list of every weapon type and what stats they scale with natively. You can change the normal values of weapons with plus levels by remodeling in the blacksmith
In Dream of the Wise, you gain access to the Transform Bonus special effect on melee weapons, which allow you to change the default highest scaling stat of a weapon to the listed one.
| Sword | Dual Swords | Spear | Splitstaff | Axe & Hammer | Kusarigama | Odachi | Tonfa | Hatchets | Switchglaive | Fists | Bow | Rifle | Handcannon | |
| Constitution | B+ | C+(Hammer) | C+ | C | ||||||||||
| Heart | B+ | C+ | D+/C(Deep Curve) | D+ | B+ | |||||||||
| Courage | C+ | C+(Axe)/D+(Hammer) | B+ | C+ | C+ | D+ | ||||||||
| Stamina | B+(Both) | C+/C(Deep Curve) | B+ | |||||||||||
| Strength | C/D+(Tachi) | D+ | C | D+ | D+(Axe) | D+ | B+ | B+ | ||||||
| Skill | C/C+(Tachi) | B+ | C | C+ | B+ | C | C+ | B+ | C+ | |||||
| Dexterity | B+ | D+ | C+ | D+ | D+ | |||||||||
| Magic | B+ | D+ | B+ |
Weapons in Nioh 2
Swords are Weapons in Nioh 2 and information about their stats is shown below. This weapon works in conjunction with the Sword Skills skill tree, and usually has good scaling with the Heart stat. However, Strength and Skill also play a part in the damage they do.
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There are two types of swords, as shown by the weapon icon on the weapon card. The only difference is the more deeply curved sword icon has a slightly higher scaling with Skill at the cost of slightly lower scaling with Strength, compared to the straighter one which has more equal scaling with both of them.
Swords are the most versatile melee weapons in the game, having access to the most active skills of every weapon and nearly every tool you can have in a melee weapon, from area of effect attacks (Sword Ki and Severing Spin), long range attacks/ offense starters (Tiger Sprint and True and Through), high Ki damage attacks (Sword Ki, Kick and Shadow Sword), and evasive attacks with invincibility/ armor (Swallow Sword II, Swift Step and Flowing Shadow). It mainly specializes in high damage attacks from a single hit or short burst( Sheathed Attacks, Sword of Meditation and Omnislice), very strong off-hand options with its fast, high damage Flash Attack and it's three very useful Sheath Attacks of Iai Quickdraw, Night Rain and Tiger Sprint
and finally arguably the best parry against Human enemies in Backwave. It also incidentally is one of the better weapons to use for a ranged weapon or throwing weapon build, as it has Thrust damage and Melee Damage vs. Unscathed enemy in it's skill trees, which will boost the damage of those attacks.
However, in typical all rounder fashion, outside of it's burst damage options it doesn't have the best versions of those tools (ie. Severing Spin is generally worse than Whirlwind), and is missing a sustained damage per second attack like Water Sword or a high burst Ki damage like Reaper. It also has the issue early game of being by far the most limited by needing to unlock the weapon skills that tie the weapon together, and it has the most hidden Boss Skills out of any weapon, several of which have very high utility. It also has the least amount of easily accessible melee damage in it's skill tree, with the majority of it being Backstab Damage from Shadow Strike or the Mystic Art Sword of Meditation, which is hard to make use of. Overall, it is a very high utility weapon and gives the player the most options and opportunity to express themselves in gameplay.
Below is a list of Swords in Nioh 2, and each Sword has an effect that will ALWAYS be present, no matter what other random bonuses there may be, and these are listed in the "effect" column. Damage values are not listed since these change by rarity and level, making it difficult to compare them easily. Break and Block are listed, since these do not change with rarity or level.
Every Weapon in the game has Familiarity. The better quality of the weapon, the more Familiarity can be obtained with the weapon, and over time the damage and bonuses of the weapon will improve as the Familiarity increases up to a maximum. This way, using the same weapon over time can yield higher damage than another, even if it's lower level.
Please see Sword Skills for more information.
Agile Archer: Katana & Bow Build
An excellent Katana and Bow Build for mid game players that want to optimize their ranged and melee damage! Click here to read about the Agile Archer Katana and Bow Build.
Swords
13 Feb 2021 05:17
Added a scaling table, but accidentaly put it at the top. If anyone knows how to move the table please do so
- Anonymous
11 Feb 2021 06:00
So there is no weapon that scales with Dex and Magic?! What if you want to be a Mystic Ninja?
- Anonymous
28 Apr 2020 16:37
Great Kanemitsu doesn’t belong in this catagory. Its an odachi, not a sword. (Yes odachi are swords but you know what I mean)
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
07 Apr 2020 13:47
Dodanuki Masakuni is a good sword, the smithing text along with Tiger of Higo armour and spear texts drop from Kato Kiyomasa just before the bosses in Cherry Blossom Viewing In Daigo. Probbably my favourite set at the moment.
- Anonymous
04 Apr 2020 08:21
-SPOILERS- There's a sword I'd like shown off in a cutscene where you see Tokichiro and he learns you're still alive so he awakens the two ancient Yokai. The Ancient Yokai on the left in the water is clearly holding a unique very cool sword... what is it...
- Anonymous
21 Mar 2020 15:50
I wish they made a sword that looked like the yamanba knives. Trying to make a Ichigo Kurosaki build and the dual swords just don't look right.
- Anonymous
20 Aug 2021 14:11
As a newbie the best mechanical attribute combination for me has been split staff and tonfa with medium armor.
No attribute points are wasted letting you add con and str to make minimum req for armor and focussing on dex, magic and courage for every other point. Plus you'll pull in skill points for magic and ninjutsu.
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