Any time. Thanks for the appreciation.

No problem at all, glad to help.

No problem. Note that soul matching has slightly changed since this video. With patch 1.08 you can now soul match the + numbers separately to the main level number. It's a small change but it does help with leveling a little bit as you can take weapons that are lower level but equal or higher with their + and still use them to help level your higher level weapons.

Thanks man, though this is a bit old now. The new system is a little better. When you go to reforge an item, before you do look for the TRIANGLE on the bottom that reads 'Temper'. You can use Temper to see the possible rolls you can get, and if you have Umbracite you can specifically select the roll you want. That is a really cool and much better way to do it, but isn't covered in this video.

Fuzzy Bearbarian Thanks dude. I'll check that and see how it goes. I'm running a ninjutsu build with full iga set so I hope I haven't been nerfed too hard. ^_^

Cheers!

Thanks mate! Vid is a bit old though as soul matching goes way higher than 160 in Nioh 1 now. Also, Nioh 2 soul matching is much the same with only a few extra things to learn - when you get to Nioh 2, that is ;)

@@fuzzybearbarian just started playing nioh 1 1week ago. Plats at already. Installing nioh 2. Roughly your guide got me through the game smooth!this game is so underrated!

@@YT72722 Nice. Just know if you're leaving Nioh 1 so quickly you're missing the best part of the game (Way of the Nioh). That's where builds with Ethereal gear start and The Abyss, which is a 999 floor epic challenge. Nioh 2 is good too. At first I didn't like it compared to Nioh 1, but the changes to the game's mechanics grew on me over time and I quite like it now.

I agree

Nah it needs to be more complex, it's beautiful I love it

@@NAJMYNex cheers mate

It is complex, but I really like the inherited skills on the weapons through soul matching. I haven't played another game that does it, including any of the Dark Souls.

@@zcampy1664 Division? Division 2 does it better like, pretty sure destiny does this aswell? There's loads that do that

Happy to help.

Cheers mate!

No problem at all. It's a bit out of date now, but the essentials are still there. Just ignore the 160+ weapon thing, as that's no longer the upper gear level limit.

Thanks!

Thanks, just know this is an old video and soul matching goes much higher now.

Thanks.

Cheers! Just remember, this is an old video. It still helps, but it's now best not to waste too much time or resources soul matching early on in the game. Do what is necessary to help you get through, but don't go overboard as later (Way of the Wise/Way of the Nioh) ethereal gear gets introduced and that's when builds really come into play. Good luck!

@@fuzzybearbarian I already finished the game and I'm playing the "Way of the Strong". I'm currently at level 145 and I'm also farming divine armor (thanks to this video, it's now a +3 set).

@@teachersama Cool. That gives you a little bit of time to get through to Way of the Nioh and explore The Abyss before Nioh 2 comes out 😉

@@fuzzybearbarian I just started Nioh like a week ago and it's so hard to hold off on getting Nioh 2. I want to play this for a while but I really want to play the 2nd one. What's your advice? Is Nioh 2 awesome? Worth getting right now? I just completed the 1st one just haven't done much in NG+.

No problem at all.

Haha cool, thanks! :)

Thanks man, appreciate it.

Thanks man.

No problem, and thanks for the comment.

Lol thanks.

No probs. Just remember, this video is pretty old. Soul matching goes way higher now the further into the game you progress, so there's not a lot of point soul matching anything under 160 anymore. Video is still good for the general process though, but yeah, save yourself the grind and time and worry about leveling up gear later is my advice now.

Thanks, though it's a bit out of date now. Still relevant, but the levels are now much higher.

It's on my list :)

Thanks!

Fuzzy Bearbarian this is helpful thanks but why does it sometime lower the attack of the weapon when soul match

That happens because it resets the familiarity on the weapon. You just need to max your familiarity on it again (either by playing, you get fam from attacks, or use a few whetstones).

Fuzzy Bearbarian thanks

No problem at all, glad to help.

ok, so the question I still have is being even able to forge a 160, you'd essentially need to finish NG+ Queen's Eyes? (beat it a second time in Way of the Strong - was reading comments below...)

Exactly.

ah, ok, so level 160's at +10 are only good then for NG++ (3rd playthrough)

At the moment there is no 3rd playthrough, not yet anyway. So right now they're only good in NG+ :P

No problem. This vid's a bit old but it's still the basics, so glad it helped.

Never liked algebra. Can't say I ever liked soul matching either lol.

Yeah, it's not cheap. But at some point you can farm Restless Spirits for plenty of gold pretty quickly. Takes about 5-10 seconds to farm it. But, it takes a little time to work up to that and until then, yeah, it's expensive and grindy unfortunately.

You can forge them, they're just super rare to forge. But you typically don't get A+ in the forge - you get that after you max your familiarity. Just some attributes that used to go to A+ now only go to A. But change to attack wise, yep, you can.

It didn't decrease it. What it did was reset the familiarity. Weapon types won't decrease your attack, so it's all good to use whatever weapon type you want.

Lol yep. There's always a dislike on nearly all my vids, and usually within the first 30 seconds of me posting it (so they haven't even watched). Could be a dislike bot running around. Either that or a complete *****. But that's the way of KZfaq, so it's to be expected. You see some amazing videos disliked and wonder what kind of an **** would dislike some of those. People man.

Yep, that's the way it works. Whatever you upgrade will have to have its familiarity re-maxed. You can do it fast on A Request from Gynchio mission. In that, there's a wall near the second chest that drops a Whetstone 99% of the time. Whetstones help speed up familiarity. Basically you run it a few times and your familiarity will be done.

It depends on how much you need the extra + to move through the game. My recommendation is to avoid soul matching as much as you can until you get to Way of the Nioh. Soul matching takes a lot of resources and these are best stored for late game. Builds really start in Way of the Nioh (Ethereal gear gets introduced in Way of the Wise but only in Way of the Nioh can you farm the Abyss for specific Ethereal gear quickly and relatively easily). Only soul match to the point that you need it as it takes a lot of time and effort to get the gold and resources needed etc, and you'll be spending a lot of time and effort in Way of the Nioh to get the exact build you really want. Anything you soul match in WOTS will be obsolete in no time, so you're best off not doing it if you don't need to. If you find you're struggling, it can even be better to summon help to get through to Way of the Nioh faster than farming/crafting/soul matching. I always say this as it is very easy to get burnt out on the game by WOTN, whereas if you just aim to get there then you'll be much happier doing the obscene amounts of farming/grinding etc that you'll end up doing to get the exact build you want to help you get through WOTN and to undertake the 999 levels of The Abyss.

@@fuzzybearbarian Thanks for your advice, helps a lot!

The higher level the weapon the cheaper it will be to soulmatch it to max, regardless of whether it was looted or forged. Since forging doesn't always give as a high a + value as looting a looted weapon should be cheaper to soul max to match. Of course, this also depends on how many times it has already been soul matched since the real cost of soul matching multiplies according to how many times the item has already been soul matched. So basically, you really don't need to be concerned about the difference in cost unless you're trying to take a lower level weapon as high as you can, which would cost a lot. If you're really worried, just run Restless Spirits over and over to get the gold you need either way :)

It's a complicated game... a really complicated game 🤔

@@fuzzybearbarian There's a lot of depth.

You should be good to max level upgrade anything to the level you are in the game (it increases with progression, so you can never go higher than where you're at New Game wise). Plus values don't matter either at this point as you can keep upgrading as long as you have the resources to do so to the level of where you are at (which of course varies depending on what region you are at, what NG+ you're in, etc). However, I recommend not doing any of that. A lot of grinding and time investment goes into upgrading, and at this point of the game you're better off getting to the point where you can get ethereal gear before investing time/resources as grinding ethereal gear and upgrading it takes a lot of time and effort, and it is best not to waste it all on early game stuff you're just going to replace. My best recommendation is to find a build that can comfortably get you there as fast as possible, or even get help from randoms. Just get there as fast as you can, and then start upgrading gear (ie. only upgrade what you need to in order to progress further and further, since ethereal gear is really where it all begins).

@@fuzzybearbarian - Thanks for the reply. I appreciate your taking the time and replying so thoroughly. Could you please tell me when, or at which stage (Way of etc.) does the ethereal drops start, and is it worth doing Abyss levels now just after DLC, without doing any NG+. Thanks.

@@L0rd_0f_War Way of the Wise (NG+++). I haven't played in a while but I don't think that's changed. You'll also know when you can get them because Revenants will drop ethereal gear. From memory you have to complete The Queen's Eyes mission (but in Way of the Demon, not Way of the Wise). So pretty much you want to speedrun your way there. Way of the Nioh, though, is where it's at, and that's when you should start doing Abyss. I don't recommend doing it beforehand as you'll just end up wanting to go back and farm it for ethereal gear. You can get to Way of the Nioh really fast if you just pair up with someone else to run through missions.

@@fuzzybearbarian Thank you for the information. Much appreciated.

@@L0rd_0f_War Happy to help, enjoy Nioh!

First, base damage will always go down initially when soul matching anything as you lose your familiarity until you play a bit to get it back up or use a few whetstones. Second, dual swords and Kusa's scale with different stats. If you've poured level points into a stat that benefits kusa and not dual swords, then it is likely your duals words will do less damage. Third, the actual special effects on the weapons might be different, which will impact it also. And your build may suit one and not the other, etc. Just save your game before you soul match and then upgrade your dual swords and make whatever changes necessary to see how they fare. If you feel it is wasted then re-load your save and nothing lost.

Fuzzy Bearbarian alright cheers man cause I’ve got 99 Dex and 99 Skill but I’ll keep trying thanks dude!

When soul matching divine weapons the weapon you're sacrificing much match the level of the base weapon or be higher, but if both are +0 that means you're going to get +0 in return, if that makes sense. If the base weapon is 0 and you sacrifice a +1, you'll get a +1. If the weapons you have dropping aren't +1, don't bother soul matching is my advice. You're too early to waste the time and resources. Just wait until + weapons begin dropping for you.

SoloVG ok thanks! Definitely will subscribe. Hopefully your account blows up when Nioh 2 comes out, that game is hyped up so it’ll be popular meaning more views for content creators

@@jalensyd That'd be nice! I have a feeling Nioh 2 will be bigger than Nioh. I remember day one of Nioh and I was so surprised it was getting very little attention. Didn't take long to do well and get to a million sales, but upon release I'd still classify it as a sleeper hit. Since then it has attracted a ton of players, so I'm betting Nioh 2 might completely eclipse the original in sales. Here's hoping!

Yeah. Higher level gear drops as you progress forward, but ultimately the best gear is ethereal and that comes later. It's definitely better to just soldier on without worrying too much about builds and soul matching if you can, stopping to try to grind and level only if you're having trouble.

Is the level 150 at max familiarity? Do you already have change to attack on the 160(+8)?

the 150 lv is at max, and the 160(+8) does not have the change to attack? Problem is that, I wasn't allowed to pick the 150 one?

I'm guessing you don't have an existing inheritable slot on the 160+8 then?

No. actually, the 160 one has a slot for it, it's current inherit effect is "strong attack ki dmg", there are some other weapons can still be picked up as materials with the new effect. But the 150 and some other weapon are basically dark in the list and not able to be picked up

You can only have one inheritable, yep.

No, it's not worth it. It was when the game first came out, but since then they've released DLC's and the best gear is obtained from Way of the Wise to Way of the Nioh, where you'll spend a ton of time grinding and upgrading gear to make the right built. In your first play through it's not worth it now. The exception is if you're having a hard time with difficulty and need more powerful gear. Obviously then it will be helpful. But I would suggest learning enemy mechanics is a better use of time, even if you have to die a lot to do it. With a handle on enemy mechanics you can go through the whole game and just use the stuff you find along the way no problem.

You have to beat the game through and complete the Queen's Eyes mission to unlock New Game Plus (NG+). Then you'll start a new playthrough and that's where divine weapons (like the 150+ stuff) start to drop. Until then, don't worry about upgrading gear too much.

Fuzzy Bearbarian yourre the best man :)

Thanks dude!

If you have six special effects and a spare slot, and none of the six are inheritables, then you can soul match an inheritable into the seventh slot.

Fuzzy Bearbarian but I have to remove any effect from the same category right ?

Yes. For change to attack though, the conflicts are limited. If you don't already have change to attack on you should be good.

Say what?

Mostly they have to drop in game, but you can forge them (it's random when forging, just like it is when dropping in game). The higher you go in game the higher the + will be. In late game Way of the Wise they drop as high as +25 (maybe even +26, I can't remember lol).

I've never had any luck for Raikiri swords. But RNG is RNG.

Yep, same process.

Nope. But +1's drop extremely regularly. They are the most common of them all.

Sounds like you're just having bad luck. Also, if you've just finished Way of the Strong I wouldn't bother farming. Whatever drops you'll just be replacing pretty quickly anyway.

Fuzzy Bearbarian I did notice that on Way of the Demon Greater Demon Hunting mission that the armour was +11/+12 so I’ve just been farming revenants for glory and I use that to buy ochokos and use them to max out my divine item drop rate, I’ll try it also with accessories for drops and guardian spirits thanks anyway dude :)

Also, always check the blacksmith buy section after each mission. Sometimes, occasionally, there's some good stuff for sale that you otherwise might miss. It changes after each mission. But honestly, at +11/+12 you're seriously wasting your time. You'd be better off choosing to farm for a build that will make you strong enough to continue on and just soul match with the levels that drop as you go. Start with a set of Tatenashi. Forge Firearms Damage onto all your gera, then secondly Elemental Damage Reduction. Firearms/Elemental on your accessories if you're lucky to get that drop too. That alone will get you further than farming for +value on gear.

Fuzzy Bearbarian well shit hahaha thanks heaps dude, also with the farming I changed some of my kodama blessings and accessories and found an Odachi with CTA AA- so I’ll be saving that for soul matching :)

I feel ya. You'll be happy to know once you get to NG++ from the very first mission you'll be getting +11's (my first run of the very first mission I got a 180+11. So yeah, all that soul matching feels like it was a waste of time. You've got the right approach.

Fuzzy Bearbarian Well, actually I'll never go to NG++. From what I've been told, missions are higher than 400 and I'm only level 150 and I also don't even plan on leveling up to level 200. I already completed twilight missions in the past where i was very low level but not so much ^^ Thanks for the info though. Maybe one day...

With the way they've changed how slow it is to level up, I don't blame you one little bit.

Lol yep, soul matching has changed since this video. Well, the principles are mostly the same though. Mostly.

If you press the TRIANGLE button on the reforge button, it will switch to divine fragments. Reforging with divine fragments increases the odds of getting a blue or purple special effect, such as Change to Attack. If you still have bad luck, farm revenants until one drops a weapon with the Change to Attack inheritable on it that you want, then inherit that.

You can also farm revenants for the "Change to attack x" gear. That's where I found most of mine. I wanted a Change to Dex A+ and found two during one short bridge farm. Also a good farm for plenty of armor with inheritable attack on it (up to +35 for each, for an extra 175 atk). Seems a lot of those dead folks had their gear decked out.

Yep. Isle of Demons, The Disappearing Ranjatai, and The Battle of Osashi bridge. All good places, with the last two being the best as you can complete both of those missions in seconds once you've farmed your revenants.

Hey Fuzzy. Great vid. Got a question: you said that you must finish the 320 mission to roll a 160. I hadn't and was able to roll a 159. Why is this the case? What do you think the atk difference is between the two? I ask you bc you really do seem to be all-knowing when it comes to Nioh. Sincerely. I trust nobody but you with all things Nioh.

You can soul match up to 150+10 but you'll never to get to 160 without completing the 320 Queen's Eyes mission. In terms of attack value, I can tell you the difference between a 150+10 and a 160+10 depends on the weapon, but between my two Shiranui's that I demo in this video, it's 42 attack points. Oh, and thanks for the nice comment, though I wouldn't say I'm all-knowing. I feel like I learn something about Nioh every day, even now. :)

You need to find the 150+1 to soul match into it. If +1's aren't dropping for you yet you just need to make more progress in the game.

Seems not, they made that a paywall now

You can beat the game without ever doing any of this, yes. However, it will take a lot more skill as the damage you can put out will be less than what it could be. Still, there are a lot of players who have gone through the entire game without even using their Amrita. I saw a level 1 Revenant in the final mission in NG+, so yeah.

Thank you.

No, it actually increases the stats. The appearance of a drop is only temporary. You have to increase the familiarity on the weapon again to get it to its max potential.

@@fuzzybearbarian oh okay see I wasn't aware of that I was getting so upset wondering why I couldn't make stronger gear lol

@@franciscolira3843 It's a common thing a lot of people don't realize because it's not really explained at all. That moment when you watch the damage of your weapon go down is like wtf! I totally get it.

*Should you just not even bother with soul matching until endgame?* Depends on what you call the "end-game". The end-game to me is Way of the Nioh and the Abyss. The "end-game" to some is anything NG+ and beyond. The "end-game" to others again are the last few regions of NG. And to others again it is the DLC's. So it depends on what you feel the "end-game" is. But, soul matching is helpful at all stages of the game as it helps reduce the damage you take and it helps increase the damage you can deal. *I don't understand a lot of this and I know you can bump weapons up like 8 or 9 levels at a time at lower levels, but this explicitly says it will only go up one at a time* When you get to later levels there are stats that read something like "soul match + level inheritence" which enable you to soul match two items and the base gear will have its + value go up to match the piece with the inheritence stat on it, no matter how much higher it is (you can bump +60 levels up, for example). That is the only way to bump up your soul matching level by a higher amount than 1. Otherwise it's +1 at a time. So when you say "You know you can bump up like 8 or 9 levels at a time at lower levels" I don't know what you're talking about.

There are various reasons. One is the cost of soul matching increases per item each time you do it on that item. Another is the cost is higher if you try to soul match an item that isn't the same type as the item you're soul matching into (ie. matching boots into a helm will cost more than matching a helm into a helm). The biggest reason is low level gear you are taking with you as you progress through the game will cost more and more the higher you level it. In later game this means gear you get in Way of the Demon, for example, will cost an arm and a leg to upgrade it throughout Way of the Wise. So basically, the idea obviously is to get new gear and level that up instead, which kind of sucks. But it is what it is.

Yeah. Nioh is awesome but the grind for a max weapon with best stats is too much. Fortunately, unlike Destiny, players who get good rolls on their weapons can drop them for other players to have them too. The Nioh community is great like that, and there are places that everybody knows where they can go to get better weapons from other players. There's no trading in Destiny like that!

Yeah that's a nice bonus. I still don't think I'd want something like that in Destiny, but for here, it makes sense and makes somebody a nice guy / gal for helping people out.

Nioh's loot system is way better than Destiny's. If Destiny had Nioh's loot system, I'd probably still be playing it. There's simply no comparison of a game that has limited uncustomizable loot to a game that has a vast pool of customizable loot. None.

You need the +1 or higher from a drop or from forging.

Thats kinda Shitty :/... but thanks for the help ;)

Don't worry, you'll be drowning in them at some point.

Yeah i just helped too many friends finish their first playthrough that i didnt really play ng+ x)

No, you don't. Maxing familiarity on the weapon you want to upgrade merely maxes out it's perks and its attack level. You can soul match a weapon without maxing its familiarity right up to 160+10, and if only then you finally max its familiarity its attack will still be as high as it can be.

This is going to save so much time, thank you.

I'll bet, and my pleasure.

Joe Benford they usually dropped by high level revnants or in higher level missions (like the demon king revealed ng+ mission or in twilight missions as well)

Higher level equipment drops in higher level missions. However, +4's and +5's are way more common, so the +6's and +7's you see in my inventory have been crafted by me. Some of them from matching +3's and up. A Meeting on the Other Shore drops regularly +4's and +5's, and is the easiest of the higher level missions to complete once you have a decent strategy for beating both human bosses. I beat them in under 20 seconds a few times in a row and that will net me a number of +4's and a few +5's to match together.

Thanks for the reply man, I appreciate it keep up the vids. ( Don't be afraid to go in depth because idiots like me may not know what you think we should lol)

I try to cover as many bases as I can think of when I make a vid. Even then I forget/miss/don't know extra stuff. I think Nioh makes idiots of us all :)

Soul forging resets your familiarity. Damage goes higher once you max your familiarity on the newly forged weapon.

Afraid not. Be good if you could, but nope.

i see.... thx for replying

Yes, for sure. Anything that can be forged can come out level 160, provided you've beaten the Queen's Eye's level 320 mission.

Fuzzy Bearbarian so far craft for bow and no luck for lv160 range weapon...

I assume you've completed the level 320 Queen's Eye's mission, which you need to forge any 160. But apart from that, RNG is RNG my friend.

Fuzzy Bearbarian do you know the difference perk long range damage and bow damage/matchlock damage..is it have same effect?? i have long range damage in my matchlock 30%

I believe Long Range Attack Damage applies a percentage bonus to your attack value prior to the shot, allowing your shot to do be a more devastating blow from the outset. Bow/Matchlock damage applies the damage % increase to the damage dealt after the guard has been broken by the shot. So one dishes out more damage as a cause, the other as an effect. But since shots are rarely blocked by anything other than revenants, the damage should theoretically end up the same if all other factors are equal.

Yes.

Fuzzy Bearbarian that is extremely time consuming I'm guessing lol

Pretty much, yep.

Later in the game (later regions) as you upgrade Blacksmith abilities you can randomly forge anything from +1 to +5 apparently, but it's extremely rare. In many hundreds of forges I never saw one.

@@fuzzybearbarian so I guess the "only way" is to farm revenants and bosses? (thanks for the quick answer in a 3 year old video btw 👍)

@@mokyaffe Not revenants, they typically drop base level gear. Best and only thing to do is to farm the highest level mission and soul match. Just remember, don't waste time farming if you're not far into the game. This video was made when 160 level gear was the max. A lot has changed since then, and I no longer think it's worth farming or spending a great deal of time on any build until you get to Way of the Nioh. My advice is make your character as strong as it needs to be to get you to WotN and no more, then when you get there start working on your builds. This way you can also save up as much of your gold and materials as you possibly can for when builds really start. I recommend this even to the point where it's worth opening up for co-op help to get you there faster than you otherwise would. A good reason to do this is also to prevent burnout. You'll almost certainly get burnt out if you try to make builds in every region and try to farm in every region, as Way of the Nioh is where builds really begin (thanks to The Abyss), and since The Abyss is sooooo long and requires decent well made builds to really get through unless you're a god at the game, it's a pretty big time sink ahem investment at that point.

Do Marobashi and you'll be rolling in plus weapons :)

Ok I will try that, thanks

Ahh so you really only get those after you unlock 4th area then?

Ah, no. You can get +1 divine items all through NG+. But they drop like candy in that mission, though they are more often +4,+6 and +6. Sounds like you've only just started NG+?

Fuzzy Bearbarian yeah. I clear all of first and part of second. So mission level is 200 and up only

If you're just starting don't even worry about soul matching. You'll end up grinding way to much for stuff you'll abandon as soon as you finish NG. Spend the bulk of your time just learning all the different fight mechanics and what all the different skills do, and how to use them.

@@fuzzybearbarian thats what i been doing , it took me about 4 hours to learn the mechanics jajajaj now im advancing through the game is fun . now im using magic , is fun i dont know why i hanvent played before lol

@@fuzzybearbarian thanks so NG+ is where the game gets good ?? why though ?

@@TheLateral18 Well I loved the game from the start, of course, so I think it's good from the very first second :D. But NG+ introduces divines which expands your build possibilities. Personally though I think the game really happens when ethereals get introduced and you get to play with Grace's. But I say that being someone who thrives on doing builds, so yeah, might be a bit biased on that.

I've only ever forged 200.

same, probably red demons drop it

You're not the first commenter to say that. I'm starting to wonder now :)

Nope, 160 gear isn't a glitch.

Huh, interesting... Keep up the great work!

Thanks. Out of interest, was their a reason your thought 160 was a glitch?

Because I heard anything higher than 150 (+10) was a glitch, like there used to be Level 320 gear, which got fixed.

Ah. Yeah, 320 gear got removed from the game. But 160 is meant to be there.