Guardian Spirits in Nioh 3 do far more than guard your Amrita when you die. Each one provides passive stat bonuses, elemental infusions during Living Artifact, and two unique Guardian Spirit Skills that can shred a yokai's maximum Ki. But the game does a poor job of telling you that you can actually raise their enhancement level — and the menu to do it is tucked inside a submenu you might never open on your own.
Quick answer: Go to any Shrine, select Manage Soul Cores, then choose Enhance Guardian. Pick the spirit you want to upgrade, spend Soul Fragments to raise its level, and confirm with the Enhance button.
How to enhance a Guardian Spirit at a Shrine
Step 1: Approach any Shrine on the map and interact with it (R1 on PlayStation). Shrines are the same rest points where you level up your character, prepare Onmyo Magic, and manage Soul Cores.
Step 2: From the Shrine menu, select Manage Soul Cores. This is the same category you use for equipping and rearranging Soul Cores, so it's easy to overlook the other tabs inside it.
Step 3: Inside Manage Soul Cores, choose the Enhance Guardian option. You'll see a list of every Guardian Spirit you've unlocked so far.
Step 4: Select the spirit you want to power up. The number of levels you can add depends on how many Soul Fragments you currently hold. Each level increases the spirit's Attack Power and Defense Power bonuses, which are flat stat additions applied to your character.
Step 5: Confirm by pressing the Enhance button. The stat changes take effect immediately — there's no need to re-equip the spirit.
You'll know it worked when the spirit's enhancement level number increases on its stat screen, and the Attack/Defense values tick upward. At Enhancement Level 30, for example, a spirit like Kusanagi (Fire) reaches 50 Attack and 45 Defense, while Narikama Tanuki hits 41 Attack and 56 Defense.
How to get more Soul Fragments
Soul Fragments are the currency for Guardian Spirit enhancement, and you earn them primarily by recycling unwanted Soul Cores. If you've been hoarding cores from defeated yokai, you're sitting on a pile of upgrade fuel.
Step 1: At any Shrine, open Manage Soul Cores and navigate to the Resting Rites tab.
Step 2: Mark every Soul Core you no longer need by pressing Triangle on each one. Higher-rarity cores yield more Soul Fragments, so disposing of duplicates or cores from builds you aren't running is the fastest way to stockpile fragments.
Step 3: Press X to confirm your selection. A second confirmation prompt will appear — select Yes, and the cores dissolve into Soul Fragments that go straight into your inventory.
There's no penalty for recycling cores aggressively. You can always farm more from yokai enemies, and the Soul Fragment return on rare cores is generous enough that a single cleanup session can fund several enhancement levels.
How much do Guardian Spirit upgrades actually matter?
The raw Attack and Defense numbers from enhancement are relatively modest on their own. Raising a spirit from level 1 to level 20 adds roughly 30 points of attack — a small fraction of your total when late-game weapons already carry over a thousand attack stat. The direct damage increase from that flat bonus alone won't transform your build overnight.
Where the real value lies is in the special effects that unlock as you progress. Guardian Spirits start with three passive special effects, but two additional effects and their Guardian Spirit Skills require you to destroy Crucible Spikes found throughout the world. These unlocked effects — things like Martial Arts Ki Consumption reduction on Guhin, Ki Recovery Speed on Nekomata, or Damage Bonus (Amrita Gauge) on Kusanagi (Fire) — can meaningfully shape how a build performs. The enhancement level boosts the potency of these effects alongside the flat stat gains.
So while the raw attack bump is incremental, the cumulative benefit of a fully enhanced spirit with all its special effects active is noticeable, especially in tougher content like side missions and Crucible runs.
Crucible Spikes and unlocking Guardian Spirit Skills
Enhancement level is only half the equation. Each Guardian Spirit carries two Guardian Spirit Skills — powerful combat abilities activated with L1 + Square when your Spirit Force Gauge is filled. Some of these skills are locked behind story progression, while the additional special effects require destroying a set number of Crucible Spikes scattered across the game world.
For instance, Guhin's bonus melee damage against Winded enemies requires six destroyed Crucible Spikes, while its Strong Attack Ki Consumption reduction unlocks after two. There are 42 Crucible Spikes total in the game, and destroying all of them fully unlocks every spirit's complete kit. Seek these out as you explore — they're often hidden in side paths or behind Spirit Vein traversal puzzles that require specific Guardian Spirits to access.
Switching between Guardian Spirits
If you want to swap your active spirit — whether to access a different Spirit Vein type or to match a new build — the process is straightforward. At any Shrine, select Change Guardian Spirit from the main menu. All unlocked spirits appear on the left side of the screen, and you can preview their stats, element, and skills before committing. Select the one you want and exit the Shrine.
One important detail: changing your equipped Guardian Spirit only affects which spirit's skills you use in combat and which passive bonuses you receive. It does not change which spirits are available at Spirit Veins. If you've already unlocked the compatible spirit for a given Spirit Vein, that vein remains accessible regardless of what you currently have equipped.
Guardian Spirits are also locked to a combat style. Samurai-style spirits like Guhin, Golden Shachi, and Murakumo (Samurai) can only be used while in Samurai style, while Ninja-style spirits like Nekomata, Enko, and Kusanagi (Ninja) require Ninja style. Some spirits, such as Kongojishi and Ho-oh, have separate versions for each style with different elements and skills.
It's worth checking in on your Guardian Spirit enhancement every few hours of play, especially after clearing areas dense with yokai where you've accumulated a surplus of Soul Cores. The upgrade menu is easy to forget about, but keeping your spirit's level roughly in pace with your character level ensures you're getting the full benefit of its passive effects and stat bonuses throughout the campaign.
