If you thought Nioh 3 was just about dodging and deflecting attacks from tough bosses, you’ve got another thing coming. There is a multitude of status effects that can be applied to your enemies or yourself.
The game divides these into two categories: Status Enhancements and Negative Effects. These are basically the buffs and debuffs of the game. Not all of them are understandable from just their name, so we’re going down both lists to explain every status effect in Nioh 3.
Every Status Enhancement in Nioh 3
As an aside, you can view these by heading into your Status menu and then pressing X to reach the Effect Icon List. The only catch is that effects are listed as you encounter them. Remember to check that list often (or view ours here) to remember what ailments you can apply to yourself and others.
Many of these buffs can be discovered through skills learned from Samurai and Ninja texts, while others are gained by equipping specific armor sets or using Talismans. Here is the list of every status enhancement we’ve come across while playing Nioh 3:
Increased Damage Dealt - Increases damage dealt by attacks.
Decreased Damage Taken - Reduces damage taken from attacks.
Degeneration - Increases Ki damage dealt to enemies.
Fire Resistance Up - Increases resistance to Fire-based attacks.
Water Resistance Up - Increases resistance to Water-based attacks.
Lightning Resistance Up - Increases resistance to Lightning-based attacks.
Wind Resistance Up - Increases resistance to Wind-based attacks.
Poison Resistance Up - Increases resistance to Poison.
Paralysis Resistance Up - Increases resistance to Paralysis.
Faster Movement - Increases running and dashing speed.
Ki Pulse: Heaven - Increases the damage dealt by your next attack.
Ki Pulse: Man - You will not lose any Ki the next time you guard against an attack
Ki Pulse: Earth - Your next dodge action will not consume any Ki.
Ki Consumption Down - Reduces Ki Consumption.
Faster Ki Recovery - Increases Ki recovery speed.
Hot Spring - Gradually restores Life. If used inside a Crucible, it also grants immunity to the area’s nearby environmental hazard.
Arrowproof - Projectiles deal no damage to you.
Increased Luck - Increases the probability of obtaining rare items.
Auto Life Recovery - Gradually recovers Life over time.
Gust - Automatically repels any incoming projectiles with the power of Wind.
Pleiades - Increase the Amrita Gauge charge rate.
Protection - Reduces received damage up to a fixed amount. The amount of damage that can be reduced will also decrease over time.
Unflinching - Enemy attacks won’t stagger you.
Increased Follow-up Damage - Increases the damage of your next attack.
Empowered Martial Art - Your next Martial Art will deal increased damage.
Income Boost - Increases the amount of money earned.
Sensory Overload - If you have the Scorched negative effect when downed or when your life reaches 0, you self-destruct. This also causes anyone else near you to explode. It’s a fun status enhancement when playing co-op!
Cutting Blast - Unleashes a shockwave from your weapon when using Strong Attacks.
Barrier - Dispels Yokai Realm pools simply by touching them.
Sacred Arrow - Increases arrow damage against Yokai.
Arts Proficiency Acceleration - Increases the rate at which the Arts Gauge fills.
Ninjutsu Acceleration - Increases the rate at which the Ninjutsu Gauge fills.
Enhanced Arts Proficiency - Increases damage dealt by Strong Attacks and Martial Arts while Arts Proficiency is active.
Berserk - Greatly increases attack power, but at the cost of increased Ki consumption and Ki damage received.
Free Physical Art - Allows you to use a Physical Arts Ninjutsu without consuming stock one time.
Attack Efficiency - Reduces Ki consumption when attacking with melee weapons.
Every Negative Effect in Nioh 3
Now we come to the debuffs of the game. Some of these are just the opposite of the above Status Enhancements, but most are unique.
For the sake of not making you read this over and over, we’ll also mention that two of the most useful curing items are the very rare Daion-Jin’s Sake and Sacred Ash. Daion-Jin’s Sake cures and prevents all elemental-based status ailments, while Sacred Ash neutralizes any abnormal statuses.
We’ll mention any ailment-specific cures or other important info the game fails to mention below on our list of every negative effect:
Decreased Damage Dealt - Reduces damage dealt by attacks.
Increased Damage Taken - Increases damage taken from attacks.
Scorched - A Fire-based status ailment that’s also referred to as Burn. Gradually reduces Life. Can be ended early by rolling around.
Saturated - A Water-based status ailment. Increases damage received by attacks.
Electrified - A Lightning-based status ailment that’s also referred to as Shock. Reduces attack and movement speed.
Blustered - A Wind-based status ailment. Increases Ki consumption and Ki damage received.
Confused - A Confusion-based status ailment. Increases damage received from attacks and also slows Ki recovery. Most Yokai have their Ki recovery completely halted. Triggers when afflicted with multiple status ailments, with the effect increasing in proportion to the number of ailments.
Poisoned - A Poison-based status ailment. Gradually reduces Life. The damage-over-time is slower than Fire, but lasts longer. Can be cured by using an Antidote.
Paralyzed - A Paralysis-based status ailment. Anyone afflicted will become unable to move. Can be cured by using an Antiparalytic Needle.
Stench - Decreases the effectiveness of medicine and makes you more vulnerable to attacks. Can be cured by using a Fragrant Wood.
Inferno - A Hellfire-based status ailment. Gradually reduces Life.
Sloth - Decreases movement and attack speed.
Reduced Movement - Decreases running and dashing speed.
Impaired Movement - Decreases running and dashing speed, and reduces jump height.
Overencumbered - Significantly increases Ki consumption. Triggered when the maximum equipment weight has been exceeded.
Life Leech - Emits life force when taking damage. The dealer of the damage absorbs this life force to heal themselves.
Ki Recovery Down - Decreases Ki recovery speed and reduces Ki recovered from Ki pulses.
The Crucible - Makes Spirit Force easier to acquire and enhances Guardian Spirit Skills. However, damage received by enemy attacks will also cause Life Corrosion. Permanently active inside a Crucible or Lesser Crucible.
Blindness - Renders the afflicted unable to grapple their enemies.
Entranced - Yokai have difficulty noticing the players thanks to the effects of Yokai Incense or Yokai Incense Burners found within the Bakumatsu era. This effect is dispelled when the Yokai are attacked.
Entwined - Reduces running and dashing speed, along with jump height. Also increases Ki consumption. Triggered by being hit or walking over the webbing from Spider enemies.
Arcane Hex - A curse that will reduce your Life to one point once a certain amount of time has passed. The countdown is represented by five purple flames that appear after a Yasha enemy has grabbed you. You can break the curse by defeating the Yasha.
Sacred Light - Decreases a Yokai’s Defense. Triggered when you activate certain lanterns in the Bakamatsu era with a Sacred Arrow.
Foulblooded - Maximum Life gradually decreases. If your current Life amount is half of the original maximum, that will start to decrease instead. Works just like Life Corrosion, meaning that you can remove the red part of your health gauge by attacking enemies or using a Healing Pill. Triggered by walking into blood pools in specific Crucible missions.
Chilled - Reduces Ki recovery speed. If hit by a Water-based attack while suffering from this, you’ll become Frozen.
Frozen - You become unable to move. The effect is dispelled when you’ve been attacked.
Increased Damage Received (Elemental) - Increases damage taken from elemental attacks.
That covers every Nioh 3 status effect we’ve seen by playing through the game and experimenting with various skills, gear, and Soul Cores. It’s obviously a lot, but the adventure is more fun when you figure out how to incorporate some of these in your strategy.
Nioh 3 is available now on PS5 and PC.
