If you’ve finished Nioh 2’s main story and thought, “that was tough but fair,” then congratulations, you’re not ready for the Underworld. The Underworld isn’t just a challenge mode, it’s a 108-floor descent designed to test how far you’ll go before rage-quitting. It’s also where the game quietly says, “oh, you thought you were good?” and then drops a Yokai-powered anvil on your confidence.
Let’s go over how to prepare for this terrifying yet addictive endgame mode without losing your mind, or your Amrita.
Understanding the Underworld
The Underworld unlocks after completing the final mission of The First Samurai DLC. It’s basically a multi-floor gauntlet where each floor is a mini-level filled with Yokai, bosses, and cursed loot. The deeper you go, the harder it gets, but the better the rewards.
You’ll earn Divine, Ethereal, and eventually Set Gear that can turn your build into something unrecognisable from your story setup. Each floor has three sub-areas, and you can leave after clearing them, but the real flex is pushing deeper.
Recommended Level and Gear
Minimum Requirements
- Level: 300+ (though 400+ is way safer)
- Weapon Proficiency: Max out at least one primary weapon
- Gear Rarity: Divine (green) or Ethereal (orange)
- Soul Cores: Level 30+ with strong bonuses
Essential Gear Traits
You’ll want rolls that prioritise:
- Anima Charge Bonus (so you can spam Yokai skills)
- Damage Reduction (Critical)
- Life Drain (Active Skill)
- Toughness and Ki Recovery Speed
If your build doesn’t make you feel borderline immortal, you’ll melt by floor five.
Builds That Work in the Underworld
1. Tanky Onmyo Hybrid
If you enjoy turning Yokai Realms into your playground, go for an Onmyo-heavy build. Combine Onmyo Magic Power with high Toughness and elemental projectiles. You can literally throw lightning balls until everything around you stops existing.
Core Gear: Onmyo Austerity + Master Swordsman hybrid sets.
2. Dual Katana Lifesteal Build
Fast, flashy, and just plain fun. Duals let you shred bosses while healing mid-combo if you stack Life Drain and Damage Bonus (Agility).
Core Gear: Swallowtail set or Tsukuyomi + Life Drain synergy.
3. Fist Demon Mode Build
High-risk, high-damage. Pair Fists with Yokai Shift enhancements, keep Purity or Corruption damage rolling, and you’ll nuke bosses before they even transform.
Core Gear: Tsukuyomi + Tate Eboshi’s Grace (Ethereal).
Soul Cores That Actually Matter
- Kasha: For mobility and fast elemental burns.
- Gozuki: Classic opener for clearing mobs.
- Mizuki: Great crowd control and boss interrupt.
- Nurikabe: Weirdly effective for staggering enemies.
- Namahage: Boosts damage when surrounded, which is 100% of the time in the Underworld.
Upgrade your Guardian Spirit and Soul Cores to maximum synergy. You’ll want a setup that feeds Anima gain and elemental bonuses constantly.
Consumables You Shouldn’t Ignore
- Elixirs: Obvious, but stock 10 at all times.
- Sacred Ash & Rejuvenation Talismans: Keep you from burning through Elixirs.
- Barrier Talisman: Absolute must. Prevents Ki crashes mid-battle.
- Extraction + Pleiades Combo: Infinite buff uptime if you know what you’re doing.
- Yokai Water Pots: Because nothing ruins your flow like corrupted ground.
Also, bring Luck Bringers. You’ll want that Ethereal drop before floor 10.
Mindset and Playstyle
You can’t rush the Underworld. Treat it like a Soulsborne marathon rather than a sprint. Play patiently, use corners, and never assume an enemy is alone. The Yokai will always have friends waiting just off-screen with ranged weapons and poor manners.
Remember: each death is free data. Learn enemy patterns, adjust your elemental counter, and experiment. You’ll fail a lot, but failure is just research with extra steps.
Co-op is Your Secret Weapon
The Underworld supports up to three players. Running with friends or randoms can make the early floors much more forgiving. Just make sure you’re not the person who dies every 30 seconds and forces the team to revive you mid-boss fight.
Pro tip: when playing co-op, stack different elemental buffs so the team can trigger Confusion status faster. It melts bosses.
Rewards Worth the Pain
You’ll start collecting Ethereal Graces, essentially divine set bonuses that transform your build. Pushing deeper unlocks higher rarity versions and special Divine Fragments used to reforge gear. Eventually, you’ll unlock the Depths of the Underworld, where only true masochists (and platinum hunters) venture.
Seven Swords Takeaway
The Underworld in Nioh 2 is less of a DLC feature and more of a personality test. It’s where builds go to prove themselves, and where your patience learns what real endurance means. You don’t beat the Underworld, you just survive it long enough to start calling it “fun.”
Go in with the right mindset, a well-tuned build, and a stubborn refusal to give up. Because once you make it past the early floors, every victory starts to feel earned in a way few games can match.
