Nioh 3's Ninja Style offers a potent elemental build path that leverages status effects and Confusion to deal overwhelming damage. By applying multiple elemental debuffs simultaneously, players can trigger Confusion—a state that drastically increases damage taken by enemies and slows their Ki regeneration. This approach excels against both yokai and human bosses, turning difficult encounters into manageable fights.
Quick answer: Equip elemental Ninjutsu in your three slots, apply two different elements to trigger Confusion, then stack additional elements for amplified damage. Pair with weapons that have elemental imbuements and invest in Skill for Ninjutsu damage scaling.
How Elemental Status Effects Work
Each element applies a distinct debuff when you hit an enemy enough times to build up the status gauge. Water causes Saturated, increasing physical damage taken by 20%. Fire inflicts Scorched, dealing damage over time. Lightning applies Electrified, slowing enemy movement and attacks. Wind triggers Blustered, reducing the enemy's physical damage output. Earth causes Muddied, making enemies take increased Ki damage.
When two different elemental statuses are active on the same target, Confusion triggers automatically. Confused enemies take significantly more damage, move more slowly, and recover Ki at a reduced rate. Nioh 3 allows stacking a third and fourth element on top of Confusion for even greater damage multipliers, making elemental builds exceptionally powerful throughout the game.
Core Ninjutsu for Elemental Builds
The three Ninjutsu slots in Ninja Style recharge as you attack enemies, making them sustainable throughout combat. Flame Breath and Uncanny Bubble are early-game staples that apply Fire and Water, respectively. Flame Breath works best when used mid-air—the grounded version has awkward aiming, but jumping and casting it delivers the full effect reliably. Uncanny Bubble throws a water projectile that applies Saturated quickly.
Enhanced Shrapnel Bomb becomes available later and deals strong damage while applying an element. Lightning-based Ninjutsu, like Paralysis Shuriken, can completely immobilize enemies for around three seconds, though bosses build resistance after repeated applications. Pinwheel Shuriken rebounds to you and deals double damage on the return hit if it strikes an enemy's back; pressing the Ninjutsu button again as it returns grants up to two free additional uses.
Aerial Ninjutsu use is critical for maximizing status buildup. Many Ninjutsu have shorter cast times or better targeting when used mid-air. A skill unlocked later increases Ninjutsu damage based on airtime duration, rewarding players who chain footstool jumps to stay airborne longer before landing a final Ninjutsu hit as a combo finisher.
Weapon and Stat Synergy
Weapons with elemental imbuements passively apply status effects with every hit, accelerating Confusion triggers. Craft weapons at the blacksmith to guarantee imbue Water or another element on your gear. Epic equipment with a star icon has an enhanced random stat, and higher rarity gear provides more total stats. Keep any weapon with an elemental imbuement you find—these make a massive difference in status application speed.
Skill is the primary damage stat for Ninjutsu and also scales Arts damage in Samurai form. Weapons that reference Skill as one of their three scaling stats pair well with a Ninjutsu-focused build. For example, Spears and Kusarigama both scale with Constitution and Skill, allowing you to invest heavily in Skill while still boosting weapon damage. Tonfa also scales with Skill, making it another strong choice for Ninja Style.
Intellect increases Ki recovery speed and extends the duration of Onmyo Magic effects. If you use elemental talismans from Soul Cores in the Yin position, Intellect keeps those buffs active longer. Magic unlocks additional Yin slots at 7, 10, 15, 25, and 40 points, granting more Onmyo Magic options. Even non-magic builds benefit from a few points in Magic to unlock Yang Soul Core passive bonuses.
Soul Core Setup for Elemental Damage
Soul Cores placed in the Yang position summon a yokai briefly to attack, and they provide passive stats if you meet the Magic requirement. The Kamaitachi Core, dropped by the Kamaitachi boss in Maisaka east of the Maisaka Junction Shrine, deals heavy wind damage in an area and grants bonus Wind Damage plus reduced Dodge Ki Consumption at 11 and 15 Magic, respectively. This core is one of the strongest early-game Yang options for elemental builds.
Yin position Soul Cores grant Onmyo Magic consumables that refresh at every shrine. The Sudama Core, obtained by buying out a Sudama merchant's inventory with Yokai Teardrops, provides eight Thunderstorm Shot Talismans. Each talisman summons three lightning strikes in a vertical line, dealing massive damage and building Electrified status quickly. This is a missable core and one of the best early-game Yin options for triggering Confusion.
Upgrade Soul Cores through Resting Rites at a shrine. Dismantle unneeded cores to gain Soul Fragments, then use those fragments to enhance your equipped cores to higher levels. Higher-level cores provide more Attack and Defense in the Yang position and stronger effects in the Yin position.
Essential Skills for Ninja Elemental Builds
Skills are passive bonuses unlocked by finding Secret Skills Texts in chests or on corpses throughout the world. Yokai Banisher allows Mist—the Ninja Style's evasion move—to dispel Yokai Realm puddles, removing one of Ninja's major weaknesses. Supreme Shift teleports you behind an enemy after a successful Burst Break, positioning you perfectly for backstab damage. Armor Piercer increases Final Blow and Grapple damage by 15%, making it valuable for finishing staggered enemies.
Awakening reduces the cast time of all Onmyo Magic by roughly one second, making it essential for builds that use elemental talismans frequently. You unlock this skill by completing "Way of the Onmyo: Novice" in the Eternal Rift. Thrown Blade Counter automatically throws a free shuriken at your locked target when you evade, occasionally staggering enemies and costing only three skill capacity.
Each skill category—Common, Samurai, and Ninja—has a capacity limit. Increase capacity by finding Memorandums and Texts in the open world. Prioritize skills that directly support your elemental strategy: faster casting, bonus element damage, or improved mobility to maintain backstab positioning.
Combat Execution and Timing
Start fights by applying two elements quickly to trigger Confusion. Use your weapon's elemental imbuement for one element and a Ninjutsu for the second. Once Confusion is active, stack a third element if possible—this amplifies the damage multiplier further. Ninja Style deals double damage when hitting enemies from behind, so use Mist after attacks to reposition and maintain backstab angles.
Burst Breaks are critical for elemental builds. When an enemy glows red before a Burst Attack, swap styles at the exact moment the attack lands to execute a Burst Break. This massively reduces the enemy's Max Ki and restores your own Ki. With Supreme Shift equipped, you'll teleport behind the enemy automatically, setting up backstab damage and allowing you to unload Ninjutsu while their Ki is depleted.
Footstool chaining keeps you airborne indefinitely as long as your last action wasn't a footstool. Alternate between aerial attacks and footstool jumps to build airtime, then finish with a high-damage Ninjutsu to benefit from the airborne damage bonus skill. This technique works especially well against large bosses with slow attacks.
Bosses with zero Ki Meter stagger on every hit, creating an opening to spam attacks. Swap to Ninja Mode during these windows to maximize backstab damage. When bosses enter Dark Realm phases with relentless attacks, switch to Ninja for superior mobility and dodge around until the phase ends. Patience during these phases prevents unnecessary deaths.
Gear and Blacksmith Optimization
Use the Auto Equip function early in the Warring States region to maintain appropriate gear levels while learning the game's systems. Once you reach the end of the first era, start manually selecting gear with stats that support elemental damage. Look for increased elemental damage, faster status buildup, Life Recovery from Amrita, and Ki-related bonuses.
Soul Matching at the blacksmith increases gear level or +value. Select Level to bring underleveled gear up to your current progression. Select +Value to add or increase the plus modifier on Epic equipment, which grants massive Attack or Defense bonuses. Turning gear into +value requires Azure Soul Ores, obtained by dismantling +value equipment through Soul Extraction. Save all +value drops for this purpose.
Remodeling allows changing the reference stats of any +value weapon, making any weapon pairing viable. If you want to use weapons with no common reference stats, remodel one to match the other's stats for perfect scaling. This system is expensive early, but becomes essential for endgame build flexibility.
Kodama and Title Buffs
Kodama Blessings are spent at shrines using Kodama Merit earned by finding Kodama in the open world. Prioritize Elixir Efficacy first, then Drop Rate, Spirit Force Bonus, Damage Taken reduction, and Damage Dealt in that order. Spread points across categories rather than maxing one—incremental gains across multiple buffs provide better overall value.
Titles grant points to spend in nine categories as you naturally progress through the game. For Ninja builds, prioritize Dodge Ki Consumption in the Ninja category and Ki Recovery or Living Artifact Duration in Tactics. Subjugation's Amrita Earned helps with leveling, and Formidable Enemies' Melee Ki Damage accelerates stagger windows. Spread points to avoid sitting on unspent merit.
Elemental Ninja builds scale powerfully from the early game through New Game Plus. The combination of Confusion, backstab damage, and aerial Ninjutsu creates a playstyle that handles most encounters with minimal risk while maintaining high damage output. Invest in Skill, equip elemental Ninjutsu and Soul Cores, and master Burst Breaks to maximize effectiveness.
