Overpowered NG+ Endgame Axe Build
Samurai / OnmyoLoops two mid-stance Axe Martial Arts, Tornado Edge and Victory Rush, so Arts Proficiency never falls off. Constant Proficiency keeps Invigorating Arts running, and a wall of stacked Life Recovery on Amrita Absorption rolls turns every connecting swing into hundreds of health back while hyper armor absorbs whatever the boss returns. The Tatenashi set cuts elemental damage by 50% and a seven-piece Grace of Inari adds 28% elemental weapon damage, so you can stand in front of a New Game Plus boss and simply out-trade it.
Damage
28% elemental weapon damage from Grace of Inari, +20% from Double-Edged Arts, Confusion burst on bosses. Steamrolls NG+
Survivability
Roughly 50% elemental reduction, -15% Proficiency DR, -10% while attacking, hundreds of HP healed per hit. Basically unkillable
Boss
Face-tanks full movesets through hyper armor. Out-heals boss damage while trading hits
The build's only real damage source and the reason the loop exists. Axes are Samurai-exclusive and natively scale with Constitution, Stamina, and Strength, so you must visit the Blacksmith and remodel yours to scale with Intellect, Constitution, and Magic instead. That realignment is what lets a stat spread built for buff duration and survivability still hit like an endgame weapon. Any Axe works as the chassis. What matters is that it carries Grace of Inari and a high Life Recovery on Amrita Absorption roll.
Target Rolls
- ▸Life Recovery on Amrita Absorption +6— The single most valuable roll on the weapon. Feeds the healing loop directly and is worth re-rolling inheritances for until it lands at +6.
- ▸Martial Art Damage +8.0% (Crucible weapon)— If you run a Crucible-sourced Axe you can roll Divine skills. Martial Art Damage is the best of them because Tornado Edge and Victory Rush are both Martial Arts.
- ▸Martial Arts Ki Damage +5.0% (Crucible weapon)— Second-best Crucible Divine skill. More Ki damage means bosses get staggered faster inside the loop you are already running.
Alternatives
- Cestus (offensive variant)Wiki
How to Obtain
The damage half of the build. Grace of Inari is a Divine Grace, an endgame set-style bonus that rolls onto Divine-rarity gear that is not already part of a named set. Running seven pieces stacks the 5-piece and 7-piece tiers together for 28% elemental weapon damage, which only applies while your weapon is elementally infused. That is precisely why the Water Talisman is mandatory: it is the switch that turns this bonus on.
How to Obtain
The keystone the entire loadout is built around. It lowers every active set's piece requirement by one, which is the only reason four Tatenashi pieces pay out the five-piece elemental bonus and why the Grace of Inari stack reaches its top tier. Remove this one accessory and both halves of the build drop a full tier at once. It must also be rolled with Grace of Inari itself.
How to Obtain
Run two of these. Each grants Life Recovery 12, and because the effect is additive you are pulling 24 points of Amrita-absorption healing out of two Soul Core slots alone. This is the largest block in the healing stack and the reason the loop out-heals boss damage rather than merely keeping pace with it.
How to Obtain
Talismans in Nioh 3 are not learned, they are brewed. You place a Soul Core into the Yin position of the Onmyo Box and it produces a specific Talisman. Every Talisman this build depends on comes from a different core, so this is the shopping list that has to be complete before the rotation works at all.
The first Samurai spirit the game hands you, and it stays relevant to the end. Its effects line up with the build exactly: Martial Art Damage and Arts Proficiency Damage both scale the only two moves you ever use. Fire is also the element this build cannot generate any other way, and you need a fourth element to reliably trigger Confusion on bosses. Water comes from your weapon buff, Lightning from the Familiar, Wind from Hellgust, and Fire from the spirit. Confusion makes enemies take dramatically inflated physical damage, so this slot is what turns a grindy boss into a short one.
Alternative Spirit
- Oh (Guardian Spirit)Wiki
How to Obtain
This is the number that makes the build immortal, and it is worth seeing all in one place. Every source below is additive, and the total applies on every single hit that generates Amrita. With the Extraction Talisman running and the Lightning Familiar ticking on nearby enemies, you are absorbing Amrita constantly, which means you are healing constantly.
Do not skip this. Axes natively scale with Constitution, Stamina, and Strength, but this build deliberately dumps points into Intellect, Constitution, and Magic instead. Remodeling at the Blacksmith re-points the Axe's scaling onto your three highest stats, which is the only thing keeping the weapon's damage competitive with a conventional Strength-based Axe build.
Combat Strategy
- ▸Brew charges of Extraction, Water, Carnage, Barrier, and Hellgust Talismans at the shrine before heading out. Awakening makes the casting sequence fast enough to complete under pressure.
- ▸Cast Extraction, Carnage, and Barrier Talismans in sequence. Extraction is the one that must never lapse, since it is what generates the Amrita your healing feeds on.
- ▸Activate the Lightning Familiar Talisman and apply the Water Talisman to your Axe. Water is not optional, it is the enchant that switches on Grace of Inari's 28% elemental weapon damage.
- ▸Sheathe your Axe and activate Battle Focus. It can only be triggered while sheathed, so this has to happen before you engage rather than mid-combo.
- ▸Walk into melee range and let the Lightning Familiar orbs make contact first. That starts Amrita generation and your passive healing before you have even swung.
- ▸Hold the heavy attack button in Mid Stance to open with Tornado Edge. The animation carries enough hyper armor that you can start it inside an enemy's attack window.
- ▸Do not open with a dodge or a repositioning move. Every second spent not attacking is a second the healing loop is switched off.
- ▸As the Tornado Edge animation finishes, perform a Ki Pulse while holding the left stick forward to chain into Victory Rush.
- ▸Alternate Tornado Edge and Victory Rush back to back with no gaps. This is the entire rotation, and it is what keeps Arts Proficiency permanently active.
- ▸Keep swinging through enemy attacks. Hyper armor prevents stagger for as long as your Ki holds, so trading hits is correct rather than reckless.
- ▸Ki Pulse Mastery means Victory Rush returns extra Ki on every repetition, which is why the loop sustains itself instead of draining.
- ▸Watch the Ki bar rather than your health. Health takes care of itself through Amrita absorption, but Ki is the resource that keeps hyper armor online.
- ▸When Ki is close to empty, stop attacking for a single second. The Barrier Talisman refills it almost immediately and you resume the loop without losing Arts Proficiency.
- ▸Re-apply the Extraction Talisman when it expires. At 99 Intellect it lasts roughly two minutes, so most fights need one application and long ones need two.
- ▸Standing next to enemies with the Lightning Familiar active heals you passively even between swings, so there is rarely any reason to back off.
- ▸Stack multiple elements quickly to trigger Confusion, which makes bosses take dramatically inflated physical damage. This is the build's burst window.
- ▸Apply Water through your weapon enchant, Lightning through the Familiar, Wind through the Hellgust Talisman, and Fire through the Kusanagi Guardian Spirit.
- ▸If you swapped to the Oh Guardian Spirit for extra healing, its Wind overlaps with Hellgust. Use the Ninja Calamity spells to supply a fourth element instead.
- ▸Once Confusion lands, do not change anything. Keep running the same Tornado Edge and Victory Rush loop, since the inflated damage multiplier applies to it directly.
- ▸Never let Ki hit zero while mid-animation. You lose hyper armor instantly and will be staggered, which is the primary cause of death for this build.
- ▸Stopping one second early always beats pushing one swing too far. The Barrier Talisman recovery is fast enough that the lost damage is negligible.
- ▸Resist the pull of the offensive variant. The creator tested Warrior of the East and Brave Demon Hunter for roughly 23% more Martial Art damage and died repeatedly, and the defensive setup already kills fast enough that the extra damage buys nothing.
- ▸Skip Ninja levels, gear, and skills entirely, with the single exception of the Calamity spells if you want an extra element for Confusion.
Sources
Verified: 2026-08-28 · All content is original with full credit to original creators.