Nioh 3 Hiruko Boss Battle Guide

This Nioh 3 Hiruko Boss Battle Guide details all the tips and tricks you need to defeat Hiruko. Hiruko is where the fights start getting more serious. This battle has two proper phases, and once you push him to about half health, he changes form and comes back with a full health bar. Because of that, you should ideally be at Level 100 or higher, with gear around Level 90+. The fight is not extremely hard, but if you lose control of the pace, it can quickly go wrong.

Hiruko Boss Battle Guide – Nioh 3

You will face Hiruko Boss in Dark Roots Mission at level 93, and you should use Ninja Style with Dual Swords. This boss fight is of mid difficulty.

This boss doesn’t take damage from Ninjutsu the way some earlier enemies did, so don’t rely on it as your main damage source. Instead, the real damage comes from attacking his back. If you are using Dual Ninja Swords in Ninja Style, your goal is to stay mobile, avoid his combos, and constantly reposition behind him. Dodging forward-left usually helps you slip around his attacks and land at his back side. Once you are there, unleash quick combos and end them with finishers to deal serious critical damage, especially if you are using a Crucible weapon.

Between your attack strings, throw a Shuriken. This gives you a short breathing window while your Ki recovers, and when thrown from behind, it also adds solid critical damage. The pattern is simple: dodge, get behind him, combo, throw Shuriken, recover Ki, repeat. Staying in Ninja Style helps you recover Ki quickly, making it easier to keep the pressure on without exhausting yourself.

For Soul Cores, bring Scampuss and Ibaraki Doji. These are very important in this fight. Save Ibaraki Doji for when Hiruko’s Ki is already halfway depleted, especially during his second phase. When used at the right time, it deals heavy Ki damage and will stagger him. Once he is staggered, immediately move behind him and punish with full combos and finishers. You can remove a huge chunk of his health in just a few seconds if done correctly.

After that, start using the Scampuss summoning seal frequently. The Scampusses stay active for a decent amount of time and help drain his Ki faster while you continue attacking from behind. Your main objective is not just raw damage, but breaking his Ki as often as possible. Every time his Ki drops, you get a big opening for critical back damage.

During his second phase, stay calm. He is more aggressive, but the strategy does not change. Keep circling, keep getting behind him, and focus on Ki damage first, health damage second.

That is all for this guide. Additional Nioh 3 guides are linked below:

This concludes our Nioh 3 Hiruko Boss Battle Guide. If you want to add anything to this guide, feel free to use the comments section below.