Nioh 2 - How to beat Magara Naotaka

Most of the bosses in Nioh 2 are a surprise, but the imposing Yokai-fied figure of Magara Naotaka looms over this frozen mission from the starting cutscene. Here’s how to take him down.

I quite like this fight, because it’s a mixture of the harder human enemies like Saito Yoshitatsu and Yokai bosses like the Enenra you’ve faced so far in Nioh 2. I also liked it because I somehow managed to luck out and do it on my first try - if you can hear tooting, that’s my own horn.

He has a slew of very dangerous magical attacks you need to avoid, but his melee combos are actually quite punishable, and like with a lot of the tougher fights you’ll face: blocking is your friend.

Nioh 2 - How to beat Magara Naotaka

Below is an embedded video from my first blind run of Nioh 2. As I mentioned before, this successful run was the first time I’d played the fight, so it’s a messy example. However, you can see the general strategy, the kind of attacks you will come up against, and what will and won’t damage you.

Before you jump into the fight, there’s a Hot Spring behind a false Yokai wall in the house on your left before you walk up to the ledge overlooking the boss arena. It’s the house where the two samurai are patrolling after the Shrine.

As a rough general rule, you want to block, or avoid and punish, attacks Magara Naotaka does with his right arm. Then you will probably have to dodge additional attacks he throws out with his Yokai-powered left arm. These tend to deal AoE damage through your guard, which will wear you down quickly.

In the real world, he leans on two main attacks: a shockwave slash and a melee combo ending in an overhead slam. You can block or side-step the shockwave, and lurk on the edge of the melee combo.

After that melee combo, he’s slow to recover, so you can dash in for a couple of slashes.

He’s also quite weak to burning, so Enhanced Shrapnel bombs from the Ninjutsu Skill Tree are a good option, as are Fire Talismans for magic users.

In the Yokai realm, his second arm takes shape. You can treat attacks he does just with his right arm the same as before. However, shockwaves he throws with both arms will deal water damage through your guard - so you must dodge them to avoid a hefty hit.

In the Yokai realm he uses a very punishable Burst Counter where he pulls out an ice sword and swipes with it. Burst Counter this how you normally would, but pay close attention to the attack speed. It’s much quicker that most of his other slashes, so adjust your timing accordingly - otherwise you can get caught between the two hits of the combo.

As the fight progresses, he’ll use a couple more attacks where he leans back to prepare. Get the heck out of there where he leans back. He’s either going to pull out an unblockable Dark realm move which will most likely kill you. Or rush forward with a slashing melee combo that’s difficult to dodge up close.

Stand well back when he leans his shoulder to avoid these and you can punish them at the end. In the Yokai realm he can extend the range of these combos with the second sword, so pay extra attention there.

Otherwise, there’s a little kick like the Yoki and Enenra do which he pulls out randomly but has short range.

Then there’s a second Burst Counter where he reaches into the ground to fire ice puddles. You need to counter him putting his hand into the floor, rather than the hits thereafter, so I usually just dodge these.

For magic users - because of his slow general striking speed - Magara Naotaka is very susceptible to Sloth Talismans. Use these for an easier ride.

Finally, there’s also a very rare third Burst Counter he does occasionally, where he drags his sword into the ground and flicks up ice. This is simple to dodge.

Here's our list of Nioh 2 boss guides!

For more on Nioh 2, here's our page on Guardian Spirits and Soul Cores, as well as the best weapons we've seen so far.