Here are a few quick tips on how to defeat Yamagata Masakage quickly and easily. He is the first boss in Nioh 3. For fun, I decided to defeat this boss using a ninja instead of a samurai. It should be noted that this is only the beginning, or rather a demo version of the game, which is available for free, so everyone can play this amazing game.

Preparation for battle with Yamagata Masakage

Before the battle begins, you need to prepare. There is a yokai near the arena that often drops elixirs that replenish your health. You can stock up on elixirs before the battle begins. Collect 7 or 8. Defeat the yokai, restart the location, and defeat it again. This way, you will level up and collect elixirs.

Yamagata Masakage boss fight

Now let’s move on to the boss fight. First, you need to focus on the target. Next, your battle tactics will be defensive. You need to wait until the boss starts attacking you, just dodge his attacks. Of course, it will take you a few tries to understand when to dodge. Therefore, do not collect elixirs for the first battle so as not to waste time. Once you have a general understanding of the timing of when to dodge, you can proceed to attempt to win.

My ninja uses dual swords. Attacking with this weapon briefly stuns the enemy. But don’t get carried away with attacking. After a few strikes, retreat to a safe distance. Usually, when the boss jumps up and forcefully thrusts his weapon into the ground, you have time to attack him. Try to stay close, but at a safe distance. As soon as the boss’s Ki energy, or stamina, drops to zero, you will have a short window of opportunity to attack him with a powerful blow and inflict a large amount of damage.

When you are at a distance from the boss and see him running towards you, creating a whirlwind with his weapon, know that after the first attack, he will have several more strikes. This is a series of attacks that you must dodge. But this series can be interrupted. When the boss runs at you, use your ninjutsu skill and throw a fire charge at the boss. This will disorient him and he will stop the series after the first blow. If you dodge successfully and stay close, you will have the perfect time to attack your opponent.

You need to constantly monitor your own stamina bar and your opponent’s stamina bar. In some cases, when you see that you have almost no stamina left, it is better to retreat and recover or start attacking. Therefore, some convenient moments for attack will be missed, but it is safer. In principle, you can shoot the boss with a bow or throw shurikens from a distance, but the damage they do is very small, so I would not focus on using these weapons.

You can also switch to samurai during the enemy’s red attacks, but I did not use this skill. Firstly, I couldn’t always do it in time, and secondly, my goal in this fight is to win using the ninja style. Since the enemy’s attacks are really powerful, you need to be careful with your health level. Don’t push yourself to the limit and use health potions in time.

Success in this battle depends on your ability to dodge in time and understand when to attack the boss. If you haven’t played this series of games before, you probably don’t have much experience with battles like this. Therefore, you will need a few attempts to learn how your opponent moves, when it is better to dodge, and when to attack. In fact, there is nothing complicated about this battle. You have a large arsenal of skills at your disposal, and while you may not use all of them here, this is where you will understand your character’s basic behavior.

Ultimate ability in the final

When a flying cat appears next to you, you are almost at the end of this fight. Use this ultimate ability. I didn’t immediately realize that this was the time to radically change tactics and attack continuously, so I lost some time and didn’t manage to finish off the boss during this transformation. I think you’ll do better.

After completing the ultimate ability, I needed a few more attacks to finish the fight. At that moment, I even managed to get scared, because losing one step away from victory would be very unpleasant. But everything ended well. Yamagata Masakage is defeated, it’s time to collect the loot and move on with the game. I also recommend checking out the following guide, where I explain how to defeat Jakotsu-baba.