Nioh 2 Build Guide – Dual Sword Build – The Cross Swordsman 2.0

After Hatchet Build and Odachi Build in my previous guides, I decided to return to one of my favorite weapons in Nioh – The Dual Sword.

A coffee for the writer!A coffee for the writer!

Nioh 2 Dual Sword Guide


The Dual Sword originally appeared in Nioh as one of the five main weapons (Sword, Dual Sword, Spear, Axe & Kusarigama)

The Dual Sword’s main stat is Skill.

Skill does not increase your Ki directly, but boost your Ki Pulse power and in turn recover more Ki than usual. Skill stat also has a boost to Ninjutsu Power, making combining this with a Ninjutsu Focus build is pretty easy.

At 99, Skill (Like other B+ Scale stat) will give you a +226 Attack


Nioh 2 Stat scale can be checked quickly at the Nioh 2 Stat Calculator here.

If you already used it in Nioh, you will feel right at home in Nioh 2 as it still kept all the previous Armor Set.

Nioh 2 Build – The Cross Swordman 2.0


I published a building way back in Nioh release in 2017 – The Cross Swordsman. It was one of the very first guides I had on this site.

The Cross Swordsman 2.0 follows the same path, with a slight addition on alternate armor and new skill from Nioh 2.

Nioh 2 Dual Sword Build – Stat

Unlike my previous three builds (Switchglaive Build, Hatchet Build & Odachi Build) This build does not require Magic – you still can benefit from some Magic – but it is a story for the other day.

This build focus on the base damage of the Dual Sword only – which can be upgraded directly from Skill – making this your main focus on this build.

Constitution, Stamina & Strenght is needed to wear the armor in this build. 14 for Stamina and 16 for Strenght

Strength has a D+ Scale with Dual Sword, so you can get a minor attack up with 16 Strength

Nioh 2 Dual Sword Build – Skill


Must have Dual Sword skill for this build

  • Windstorm + Windstorm II – This can be used as an initiator for Sign of the Cross
  • Sign of the Cross I & II – This is to speed up your charge time.
  • Relentless I, II, III – This increases your Ki, allow more SOTC.
  • God of Wind I, II, III – This is your main combo to break Human Ki as well as an initiator into SOTC

While your main combo is God of Wind Combo + SOTC, Windstorm can also be combo into SOTC. Windstorm II upgrade will also let you break Yokai horn more easily, staggering them in the process.

The new Skill for Dual Swords are

  • Ultimate SOTC – This is dropped by Tokichiro.

The rest of your skills depends on your liking, you can put in more point to Counter Skills like The Shrike, or some cool looking skill like Raijin.

I pick Mystic Art Momentum for this build, as this allows you to land SOTC more consistently. The rest of the points is put to Melee Mastery to increase the Dual Sword attack.

Nioh 2 Dual Sword Build – Weapons


Of course, your main weapon should be Bamboo Cutter & Bone Feaster As this is part of the Master Swordsman Armor Set. Before this Dual Sword, you can try the following

  • Yamanba’s Knives – The pair of knives from those old hags, this has a bonus to Grapple Damage

  • Rai Kunitsugu Dual Tachi – Increase your Mid Attack Damage by 5%

Nioh 2 Dual Swords Build – Armor Set


At Familiarity 200,000 You will unlock the Dojo Mission Master of the Dual Blades.

Your easiest option is the Master Swordsman Set. However, this armor set only shows up near the end of the story and can take some time to farm for. Of course, you can cheese out the actual “Master Swordsman” himself for this armor set.

At 5 pieces, you got both the 40 Increment to Attack and SOTC Damage. The downside of this armor is it requires a hefty amount of Stamina to make sure you are not running out of Ki.

If you are confident with your Ki Pulse timing, this is not an issue though.

Before getting this Armor set, you are good to go with any Light/ Medium Armor which can give you boost to your melee Damage. Some options are as follow:

  • Kingo Armor – Provide a boost to melee Damage and Final Blow Damage

Nioh 2 Dual Sword Build – Guardian Spirits

In the beginning, the Lighting Bird Ame-no-Mitori is a solid pick as it provides you movement speed as well as several

This bird can be used till the end of your progress to Dream of the Samurai.

On Dream of the Strong, you can try Yumehami (Tokichiro Guardian Spirit) This spirit has a focus on Ki Damage boost and ki Recovery – which can give you more Sign of the Cross combo for harder fights.

Nioh 2 Dual Sword Build – Souls Cores


Magatsu Warrior Soul Core

This has a small bonus to Active Skill Damage, and the animation is also super cool to execute

Namahage Soul Core

If you master the SOTC combo, you can easily break the Ki of enemies pretty easily. The Melee Damage vs Zero-Ki enemy from this soul core increases your damage by 5%

Nioh 2 Dual Sword Build – Cross Swordsman Playstyle

For Yokais, you will need to perform the Windstorm to break their horns, and follow up with SOTC, with one or two SOTC these Yokai can be quickly sent back to Hell.

For Human enemies, the God Wind combo and follow up with SOTC is your go-to move. This combo requires some timing with the triangle.

While SOTC is the main focus on this build, Water Sword II can also be used against those giant monsters, as mostly they will be stationary.

Dream of the Strong Dual Sword Build

In Dream of the Strong, you can invest in some Magic or Dexterity, this is to imbue your Dual Sword build with elemental like Lighting or Poison. Dual Sword with these elemental can give you an upper hand in the end game content of Nioh 2.

Conclusion

The Dual Sword is pretty easy to pick up, this is thanks to it’s fast attack speed and the powerful Sign of the Cross skill. You can easily build a decent SOTC build pretty early in the game and later on switch to other playstyles (Ninjutsu or Onmyo Magic)

Check out my Nioh 2 Builds Guide in below post

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