When it comes to Soulslikes, Nioh is one of the select few that can say it fully understood what makes those games click, and how to make that style its own. With combat at lightning speed and techniques operating almost like an epic character action game, it firmly has an identity of its own, using war-torn Japan as its backdrop.
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Of the seven different weapons in Nioh, the spear is one of the most versatile. Offering incredible speed in low stance and unmatched reach in high stance, paired with effective transitioning between stances, it can handle any situation with ease. And though it has plenty of skills to choose from, some are essential for bringing the spear to its greatest heights.
10 Spear Stance Change
Arguably the most important of the skills is Spear Stance Change. Though simply named, it has an incredibly powerful effect. While in high stance, performing a Ki Pulse (it doesn't even need to be a perfect Ki Pulse) will do a quick attack, a short-range spin of the spear at no Ki cost.
This is great since any enemy that may get close to you after performing a high stance attack can be managed. It's great risk mitigation and one that makes high stance a bit safer to use.
9 Mystic Art: Fluidity
Now, spear stance change is massively important, but just one stance isn't enough. That's where Fluidity comes in. Fluidity makes it so Spear Stance Change functions with all stances, and lets you swap to other stances seamlessly from a Ki Pulse stance too.
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This is a massive improvement as it allows this quick bash to fit into the much faster attacks or low and mid stance, meaning you can potentially combo for much longer without interruption, thus negating the hardest part of Ki management in the game. It also fundamentally improves other skills' utility too.
8 Merciless Barrage
As is the case with all weapons, once an enemy is out of Ki, you can perform a grapple on them. Though this works on all enemies, it functions differently on human enemies, where a full animation plays. Spear, however, can gain an alternate grapple in Merciless Barrage.
Spear's default grapple has you pierce the enemy and throw them back. Merciless Barrage has you pierce them, throw them into the air, pierce them again and throw them to the ground. Though it has a much longer build-up leaving you open to attack, the reward is substantial. It deals massive damage, but also knocks down enemies, leaving them open to another ground grapple attack.
7 Flash Attack
Flash Attack is actually a move shared across all skills tress rather than just spear. However, it is still an incredible move for spear due to its nature. Flash Attack allows you to automatically perform a unique quick attack when swapping into another weapon after a Ki Pulse.
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Outside of the seamless weapons change, for spear, the swap attack is a long-range spin. This means if you are fighting with a short-range weapon, you can swap into spear to knock an enemy back and then keep them at range. It allows you to more effectively control the scenario and alow gives you a free attack.
6 Twirl
As with every weapon, spear has its own parry attack. Though, unlike many others, Twirl is the spear's only parry attack, though a powerful one. It has an incredibly tight parry window, requiring expert reading of an opponent's moves to perform successfully. The reward, however, is the enemy knocked to the ground, instantly opening them to a ground grapple.
Though this unfortunately has no real effect on yokai enemies, its effect on human enemies is profound. It is especially useful since it can be used on human bosses. If you can manage to successfully parry their attacks, most fights can be over in an instant.
5 Spear Bash
Usable only in low stance, Spear Bash is an incredibly effective move for reducing enemy Ki quickly. After a heavy attack, if you follow up with a quick attack, you'll very rapidly close in on the enemy and deal a good chunk of Ki damage. Even if the first hit misses, the closing distance on the quick attack will likely close the gap.
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The bash even deals good Ki damage if the enemy blocks. But for this move, Spear Stance Change offers a massive improvement. After performing Spear Bash, a Ki Pulse will then knock the enemy back, likely before they can recover their Ki. You can then instantly follow up with Spear Bash again, potentially stun locking enemies.
4 Pole Kick
Pole Kick fills a similar area as Spear Bash, an attack that can rapidly reduce an enemy's Ki. Though, unlike Spear Bash, Pole Kick is more for pushing the enemy away, rather than drawing you in.
However, Pole Kick can be used on any stance. So potentially you could Pole Kick, Ki Pulse into another stance, then use Spear Bash to close the distance and repeat, once again locking in opponents. It's all about Ki management here.
3 Tornado
Tornado is an interesting move with a lot of utility. The move works in stages. After a quick attack, a heavy attack will activate Tornado, slamming down the spear and staggering nearby enemies. The move can stop here, or you can press heavy attack again and perform a large spinning move that pushes you forward.
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Being able to separate the attacks gives you ample time to react to scenarios, but the move itself can also deal massive damage. On top of having good tracking, it will deal good Ki damage if an enemy blocks or heavy damage if not. It can also rapidly build up statuses due to the high number of attacks.
2 Flying Monkey
Usable only in low stance, Flying Monkey gives you a pseudo-jump button. After performing any quick attack, dodging forward will have you jump over the enemy, likely landing behind them. This is very effective as a dodge, allowing you to dodge any attack that has a long reach more effectively than a directional dodge might.
But after being upgraded, Flying monkey then lets you do a diving attack at any point during the jump. This lets you place an opponent while planning your attack while you're basically unreachable. This is most effective against attacking opponents, giving them no chance to guard against your downward strike.
1 Piercing Rain
Though usable only in high stance, Piercing Rain fits the strengths of that stance best. Following any quick attack, a heavy attack will activate Piercing Rain, having you rapidly thrust ahead of you before pausing to unleash a final thrust. Though the initial series of thrusts can be easy to dodge, the final thrust will reposition you to face the opponent again, so it has decent risk mitigation.
Because of the speed of thrusts, it can be hard to avoid once the first hit lands, essentially locking the opponent into the full attack. But unblocked, the attack deals massive health and Ki damage even against yokai, making it a powerful finishing move.
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