In what will undoubtedly go down as one of the hardest games of the year (or maybe decade?), by now you should be aware of Nioh’s strong connection to stupidly difficult games like Dark Souls or the rebooted Ninja Gaiden.
While the bosses in particular are just monstrously hard to actually defeat, even regular enemies in any given mission can be a nightmare… unless you utilize a little-known section of the Onmyo magic skill tree.
Unlocking The Sloth Talisman
It took a few days to really come to light, but now that it’s been discovered, there’s a simple way to breeze through the entire game. Sadly, it’s not available right off the bat, and you’ll have to make it through a couple of missions first without invoking this “cheat.”
Following the Ocean Roars Again level you gain access to The Way of Onmyo: Adept training mission. Afterward, you can gain the Talisman: Sloth node of the Onmyo magic skill tree.
You will want to start working toward this skill early — before its actually available — as you’ll need to spend six Onmyo magic points skill points in total, first unlocking Devigorate and Lifeseal before you can get to Sloth.
Talisman: Sloth
Now activate the Sloth ability against anyone — even an insanely fast and aggressive boss like Hino-Enma. You’ll notice she immediately drops to half her normal speed. Yep, Sloth reduces an enemy to 50 percent speed for all movement and attacks! With this ability in tow, you’d have to work pretty hard to lose a fight, turning Nioh into a total cake walk.
Nioh Easy Mode
Obviously, not everyone will want to go this route, as the high difficulty level is part of the appeal, but if you’re tired of dying every second fight or so, this is a great way to experience the game without the frustration.
Considering there have already been two patches to tweak game balance in less than five days since release, you should probably jump on using this nerfed system immediately, as its almost certainly going to be corrected sooner rather than later.
For those who prefer to tackle the game without using a broken magic skill, be sure to check out our other Nioh guides:
- Beginner’s survival guide
- Preferred weapon guide
- Boss guide: Hino-Enma
- Isle Of Demons Kodama Locations
