Players will be forced to fight Nioh, and each of the enemies in the game will force them to employ different strategies and abilities to bring them down. Some enemies may attack the player quickly and possess greater agility, while others might be large and slow but be able to deplete the player's health bar in one or two hits. Those who hope to survive in Nioh will need to be prepared for just about anything.
This is even more true when it comes to facing off against one of the game's bosses. Each boss in Nioh brings a different set of special skills and abilities to the table that makes them that much more challenging to defeat in combat. One such enemy is the third level's final boss, Hino-emma who is lightning fast and can inflict paralyzing damage on the player. This guide shows players how to defeat Hino-emma.
Nioh: How to Defeat Hino-Emma
This boss is particularly interesting to fight against because of how fast she is, which makes dodging and staying away from her very difficult. The player can use just about any weapon to defeat her, but it is highly recommended that the player uses either the spear for its range or a sword for its speed. Being close enough to her to get caught up in one of her combos is a surefire way to get killed, so the player will want to be able to move and attack fast. She tends to recover quickly after combos, so the spear is useful for quickly closing the gap to punish her for standing still. Additionally, players will also want to bring Anti-Paralytic Needles with them to use because all of her attacks will slowly build up the paralyze meter. This will ensure that they are able to keep moving and fighting.
This fight has two different phases, and during the second phase, Hino-emma will acquire new attacks that can be particularly difficult to deal with. The first phase though she will employ several attacks that the player will want to use speed to their advantage and keep their distance between themselves and Hino-Emma. The trick is to stay just outside of her range of attacks that way she can't hit the player immediately but isn't so far away that she tries to employ her ranged attacks against the player. During the first part of this fight, she will have several attacks that will be employed against the player, and the player will need to keep a few different things in mind if they want to survive them.
The first two attacks that Hino-emma uses are her Taijutsu Combo and Umbrella combo. Both of these are three-hit melee combos that deal a similar amount of damage, but the Taijutsu combo in particular can be tricky. Hino-emma will throw out two attacks with this combo and then pause momentarily before using a powerful kick. This is designed to trick the player into thinking that she is done, so she can surprise them with the kick. With both combos, the player will want to dodge backwards to avoid these combos and then rush in as soon as she is done to punish her with damage. Players should hit her two or three times and then quickly get back in a defensive position. These are her main attacks so the player will want to continue dodging and attacking like this until she tries something else.
One of the more frustrating attacks that Hino-emma uses during the first phase is the Paralysis Wave attack. This is a ranged attack that she will throw at the player that will completely paralyze the player upon . This leaves the player open to a follow-up attack that will more than likely kill them in one hit. What the player will want to do is wait until the last possible second to dodge out of the way of the attack, and then Hino-emma will leave herself open to attack once again. If the player remains aggressive and attacks Hino-emma when there is an opening then there is less chance of her employing this attack.
The last thing to keep in mind about phase one is that the player will want to be extremely careful after depleting Hino-emma's Ki gauge. She will drop to the ground after it is depleted, but the player should not move in to attack as this is just a trap. She will sprint right at the player and grab them immediately after going down. She then will drain a significant amount of the player's health and heal herself. Players should wait for her to make a move and then dodge to then rush in and attack her.
After taking some damage she will enter the second phase, which enables her to use aerial attacks in addition to her other abilities. The first attack that she can use is the same Paralysis Wave from earlier, but this time she launches it from midair. Luckily all the player has to do is just dodge it in the same way as with the standard version, and then she will roll into another attack. The thing with aerial attacks is that the player won't be able to deal much damage to her while she is attacking from the air, so they will mostly need to wait until the attacks are over.
The other two attacks that she will employ from the air can be difficult to deal with though. The main aerial ability that she acquires is the Shuriken Throw. The player may be tempted to dodge this attack, but they are very fast and tend to track the player slightly. This means that the player should instead block through the attack to avoid taking damage. Her third and final aerial ability is a Dive Attack that ends her aerial phase every time. Depending on how close the player is to her when she triggers this attack will determine how they will want to respond to it. If directly underneath Hino-emma the player will want to hold down the block button since the attack will be nearly impossible to dodge. If they are further away they can dodge left or right at the last moment before impact and then rush in to attack her.
From here Hino-emma can go in and out of her aerial phase whenever she wishes, which allows the boss to switch between her aerial and ground attacks at will. A few tips to keep in mind that will make this fight easier is that the player will for one want to have a solid supply of Anti-Paralytic Needles on them at all times. If the player gets hit by a long combo and notices the paralysis meter creeping up then they should use one of these to prevent being paralyzed, as that is a sure-fire way to die. Another important thing to is that when Hino-emma is in the air she will take much more Ki damage than she does on the ground. This means that if the player is able to hit her with a ranged attack they can deplete her Ki gauge considerably.
The best trick to is to always be on the move and stay aggressive when fighting Hino-emma and she will go down in no time at all.
Nioh can be played on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.
