What are the strongest soul cores in the game, and why you'd want to use them in your build?

One of the best additions to Nioh 2 comes in the form of soul cores. These are essentially the “remnants” of the yokais you defeated throughout various missions across the games. 

Each of these soul cores comes with its own passive bonuses alongside special abilities which can complement your current build and help you fight your way through hordes of enemies as well as bosses.

That said, there are several soul cores that truly stand out among the rest. Here are 10 of them:

10. Gozuki

Gozuki's ability breaks enemy Ki like there's no tomorrow.

Gozuki is one of the staple soul cores for builds revolving around heavy physical and Ki damage. Its ability allows you to charge forward to an enemy to deal substantial Ki damage. This makes it a really solid choice for builds that aim to deplete an enemy’s Ki as quickly as possible.

Some good examples include builds that use tonfas and fists as their main weapons.

Apart from its active ability, Gozuki’s soul core also boosts your attack damage while in yokai shift. It also works as an excellent gap closer against enemies that try to keep a distance from you.

Why Gozuki is Great:

• Deals heavy Ki damage
• Excellent for closing the gap between you and your target
• Can stagger most yokais pretty easily
• Doesn’t have any windup involved

Gozuki Details:

• Attack: 18
• Defense: 22
• Attunement Cost: 9

9. Nure-Onna

Nure-Onna's petrifying gaze is already annoying when you encounter one, more so when you use it on your enemies.

This is no doubt the best soul core you want to use if you’re going for a paralysis build. After all, its ability, Petrifying Gaze, allows you to inflict the Paralyzed status of the enemies in a cone-shaped area in front of you.

Once paralyzed, you can deal heavy damage to your target given the right build, even doing one-shots ona well-optimized one.

Another paralysis-focused soul core is that of the Karakasa umbrella. However, despite having added paralysis accumulation as one of its passives, the Nure-Onna is still better due to its guaranteed paralysis effect.

Why Nure-Onna is Great:

• Can easily paralyze enemies in front of you
• Pretty low attunement cost
• Comes with bonus damage against full health enemies as a passive

Can be obtained pretty early in the game

Nure-Onna Details:

• Attack: 12
• Defense: 25
• Attunement Cost: 4

8. Kasha

Burn your enemies to the ground with Kasha's very amazing yokai ability.

Kasha’s soul core is one of my personal favorites due to the passives it comes with. There’s the Faster Movement bonus which triggers every time you gain amrita. This basically allows you to sprint most of the time whenever you kill enemies.

Then there’s also the  life drain passive which activates whenever you hit an enemy with a yokai ability.

Yet the best part of this soul core comes from its ability. The Hellfire Wheel allows you to fire a fiery whip toward your enemy, dealing continuous damage while inflicting the Scorched status at the same time.

Since it deals several ticks of damage per second, it essentially triggers the soul core’s life drain passive from any yokai ability hit.

It also works perfectly for crowd control, and the Scorched status it inflicts means you can inflict another elemental status to take advantage of the Confused debuff on your targets.

Why Kasha is Great:

• Can easily apply the Scorched status on your targets
• Deals consistent tick damage with its ability
• Heals you every time you deal damage

Kasha Details:

• Attack: ??
• Defense: ??
• Attunement Cost: 10

7. Ippon-Datara

Don't let this one-legged fellow fool you. His ability actually hits like a damn train.

The Ippon-Datara’s soul core is not the best in the game, but it sure is one of them. This is mainly thanks to its yokai ability, the One-legged Fury, which hits targets from up above with the hammer.

The best part is that it applies the Scorched status to enemies hit by the ability, not to mention it deals substantial damage as well.

One thing I personally like about this is the fact that you can chain it with some of your melee combos to deal heavy damage both to the target’s health and Ki. Also, the fact that it can apply the Scorched status pretty easily is something you don’t want to ignore.

Why Ippon-Datara is Great:

• Applies the Scorched status on enemies quickly
• Deals a good amount of health and Ki damage
• Can chain combo with other active skills

Ippon-Datara Details:

• Attack: ??
• Defense: ??
• Attunement Cost: 7

6. Toxic Slime

There's nothing more toxic than spitting poison at your enemy's face using the Toxic Slime's ability.

This is no doubt one of the best soul cores you could ever use whenever you’re planning on running a poison-based build. Basically, its yokai ability spits out a venomous projectile which causes poison buildup on your target.

With enough poison accumulation effect, you can technically poison a target with just a single use of this ability.

Apart from that, it also comes with a poison accumulation effect which makes poisoning enemies a bit easier.

Why Toxic Slime is Great:

• Applies the Poisoned status on enemies quickly
• Can poison targets from a safe distance
• Highly effective for poison-based builds

Toxic Slime Details:

• Attack: 21
• Defense: 32
• Attunement Cost: 5

5. Yatsu-no-kami

This slithery bastard allows for a heavy-hitting followup to the Toxic Slime's poison effect.

The absolute best soul core for poison-based builds, this one pairs up pretty well with the Toxic Slime core. It comes with a passive that allows you to deal additional melee damage against poisoned enemies. As such, you can deal pretty heavy damage against poisoned enemies as long as you get enough of this passive on your accessories.

Meanwhile, its Impaling Doom ability deals a pretty substantial amount of damage and can even destroy enemy ki as it hits its target several times. Besides, it has almost no windup and won’t lock you to an animation while using.

Why Yatsu-no-kami is Great:

• The best soul core for poison-based builds
• Deals heavy damage against poisoned enemies
• Can deal backstab damage as it can hit a target’s back while rebounding

Yatsu-no-kami Details:

• Attack: 21
• Defense: 32
• Attunement Cost: 5

4. Yamanba

Strike fear to your foes with this old hag's scary visage followed by the stab of her steely knives.

The Yamanba’s soul core doesn’t have a lot going for it if we’re going to talk about its passive bonuses. Its Grapple Damage passive only provides minimal increase to grappling overall, and its movement speed bonus is only active while you’re on yokai shift.

However, the icing on the cake comes from its yokai ability, Sharp Old Hag. The ability itself doesn’t deal a lot of damage, but the effect that comes with it is pretty powerful. Whenever you use the ability, it gives you a 50% melee damage multiplier which lasts for 20 seconds.

This is a very significant damage bonus that you can take advantage of during its entire duration.

Why Yamanba is Great:

• Gives a major increase to melee damage
• Can stack with Tengen Kujaku’s bonus for even more damage

Yamanba Details:

• Attack: 15
• Defense: 6
• Attunement Cost: 6

3. Nuppeppo

Nuppeppo surely is a stuff of nightmares, but the bonuses it offers is something you don't want to miss.

Basically the stronger version of the Yamanba soul core, Nuppeppo is one of the most popular soul cores used by melee-focused builds. It provides bonuses to your health as well as life recovery each time you poison an enemy.

However, none of them are what makes this soul core the best. In fact, it has something to do with its yokai ability which gives you the Berserk buff which lasts for a pretty decent duration.

Just like Yamanba’s buff, this one also gives you a 50% melee damage multiplier. However, you will use twice the ki consumption and will also take 50% additional Ki damage when hit. The best part is that the buff can be stacked with other attack bonus effects like the Carnage talisman.

In case you’re wondering, Carnage talisman grants a 40% melee damage multiplier, effectively giving you up to a 90% melee damage multiplier that lasts for a good amount of time.

Why Nuppeppo is Great:

• Gives a major increase to melee damage
• Can stack with Carnage talisman for a major damage increase
• Its yokai ability can hit multiple enemies in a wide area

Nuppeppo Details:

• Attack: ??
• Defense: ??
• Attunement Cost: 6

2. Ryomen Sukuna

Basically the soul core you need if you want a spin to win playstyle.

Ryomen Sukuna is a late-game boss which makes farming for his soul core a little bit intimidating. However, doing so is worth it as this one actually gives a lot of amazing bonuses.

For one, it gives you Anima bonus whenever you inflict the Confused status on an enemy. This allows you to spam your yokai abilities since you can fill up your gauge pretty quickly.

Second, if you’re also running an Onmyo magic build, you can benefit from double the anima bonus whenever you hit a Confused enemy with Onmyo magic.

Lastly, its Fire and Ice yokai ability transforms you into Ryomen Sukuna himself. While in this form, you spin briefly for a few seconds while inflicting both the Saturated and Scorched effects on your enemy, basically giving them the Confused status.

Since you can regenerate your anima pretty easily, you can essentially spam this ability until you defeat your target.

Why Ryomen Sukuna is Great:

• Great for applying multiple status effects
• Deals substantial damage in a wide area with its ability
• Grants amazing anima bonuses

Ryomen Sukuna Details:

• Attack: 57
• Defense: 63
• Attunement Cost: 10

1. Otakemaru

This thing is ridiculously OP, not even all of the soul cores in the list come close.

Otakemaru is the final boss you fight in the base game, and his soul core is no doubt the most powerful there is. It grants a +1 to your Anima gauge, allowing you to use even more yokai abilities.

Pair it with the anima bonus whenever you inflict the Confused status on an enemy, and it’s basically a spamfest from this point forward.

Its yokai ability, the Sanmyo Storm, deals an insane amount of area damage while applying various status effects to the target as well. And since it can pretty much apply the Confused status on its own, you can simply spam the ability until your target or the boss is dead.

This is pretty effective against large targets, but it also deals heavy damage against human enemies as well. Overall, it’s the best and most powerful soul core in my opinion.

Why Otakemaru is Great:

• Deals insane amount of damage on a large AOE
• Can be spammed like crazy
• Applies various elemental effects in seconds
• Works in tandem with Onmyo magic builds which makes it even more OP

Otakemaru Details:

• Attack: 89
• Defense: 96
• Attunement Cost: ??

That concludes the list of the best soul cores you can find in Nioh 2. What’s your take on it? Do you have other favorites that are not on this list? Please let us know in the comments below.

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