Nioh 3 Boss Guide – Yamagata Masakage

Highlight of Everything We Know About Yamagata Masakage Boss in Nioh 3

• Yamagata Masakage is the first main boss that players will face at the Hitokoto Slope. You can again fight him during the “A Fiery Invasion” quest in Mikatagahara. 

• He uses a big Nodachi katana, which he swings in a wide area to deal high damage that is slow and easy to read and dodge. 

• Defeating him will give you many useful Samurai and Ninja armour sets, making him a great boss to farm different armour sets.

Yamagata Masakage is one of the first main bosses in Nioh 3. He uses a big katana and delivers wide attacks that can deal a lot of damage to you. In the second encounter, he will be riding a horse, which can make the attacks more dangerous. His attacks deal a lot of damage, but they are slow if you watch his attacks, so you can easily dodge him. In this guide, we will show you how to defeat Yamagata Masakage in Nioh 3.

Yamagata Masakage Boss in Nioh 3

Yamagata Masakage is the first boss that you will fight in Hitokoto Slope. He is a tall armoured Samurai who uses a big Nodachi katana. He has a wide swinging attack which deals a lot of damage if you are not careful. He is a senior retainer of the Takeda clan and one of the famous “Takeda’s Four Vassals.” 

After he won the first battle, Takeda promoted him to a Samurai commander. He then won many battles and earned Takeda’s complete trust. When he knew that Takeda’s own heir and his relatives were planning a rebellion, he chose loyalty and reported the rebellion to Takeda. Takeda then put him in charge of the Takeda clan’s elite cavalry unit, known as the Crimson Army. 

You will first fight at an enemy compound in Hitokoto Slope, where he will be fighting at the end of the Tokugawa Camp. You will also fight him during the “A Fiery Invasion” quest in Mikatagahara.

Yamagata Masakage Boss Preparation

Yamagata Masakage is a level – 1 boss, so try to reach two or three levels higher than him, so that you can easily defeat him. When you reach the recommended level, make sure you have: 

• Deflect from the Samurai skill tree

• Evade from the Ninja skill tree

These two skills are very important during the fight. You need to switch between Samurai and Ninja skills at the right time.

• Use Samurai to tank hits, block, and deflect attacks.

• Switch to Ninja when you get an opening to deal damage and recharge your throwables.

Always check your stamina and use Ki Pulse to recover your stamina.

How to Defeat Yamagata Masakage

Yamagata Masakage’s attacks are strong and wide, but most of them are slow, so if you read them carefully, you can easily dodge them. 

• He will spin his sword around and finish it with a slam into the ground. Dodge it, and when he finishes the ground slam, hit him to deal some damage.

• Yamagata Masakage will run straight at you and try to stab you. If you pay attention, you can easily dodge or move backwards if you keep some distance from him.

• Yamagata Masakage will swing his sword 3 times, jump into the air and come down with a strike. Keep dodging sideways during the swings. When he paused before landing, he only then dodged his final strike.

• Yamagata Masakage’s sword will glow with black flames, and his attacks will be strong and can set you on fire. As soon as you see the black flame, move backwards and dodge sideways at the last moment.

• He will swing his sword from left to right. Move backwards or sideways to avoid his sword. 

The Second Fight

In the second fight, Yamagata will be corrupted and ride a corrupted horse. When his health gets low, both he and his horse will be covered in flames, dealing more damage to you.

• Yamagata and his horse will leap into the air and slash sideways when they land. Once they jump, make a distance from them, and if you are caught in their attack, parry it.

• He will charge on this horse and perform two thrusts. When he reaches you, he will stop for a moment, and only then dodge or block his attack.

• The horse will rise, and Yamagata will slam his sword to the ground. Then he will perform a wide slash with his sword. Dodge the slam first and then dodge or parry the wide slash.

• He will ride around the arena, firing flaming arrows to create fire areas in the ground. The arrows are slow, so keep moving and avoid the burning areas.

• Yamagata will spin his sword above his head, and the horse will rise on its back legs. Then will charge forward while dragging the blade along the ground. Move out of the way, and once he stops and recovers, attack him from behind.

• The horse will rise, and Yamagata will slam his katana down when he is glowing red. Use your Burst Break to cancel the attack and break his stance.

• Both Yamagata and the horse will glow red, then jump high and slam into the ground. Use Burst Break as soon as you see the red glow to stop the attack before it hits you.

• He will run straight at you and swing the sword from the left. Run to the left side as soon as you see him charging at you to avoid the attack.

Yamagata will deal a lot of damage, but he is slow, so you can easily predict his attacks. Watch out for his breaks and dodge the attacks at the perfect time. After his attacks, he will pause for a moment, where you can deal a lot of damage to him. 

Yamagata Masakage Boss Rewards

After defeating Yamagata Masakage in Nioh 3, you can get many useful gear sets. The drops are random, so you may not get everything in a single fight. Below are the rewards that you will get after defeating him:

If you want to collect all the gear sets, you need to fight him many times to collect the full set. 

FAQs

Q. What level should you be in to fight Yamagata Masakage?

A. Yamagata Masakage is a low-level boss, but you should be at a higher level than him so that you have more health to survive his hits.

Q. What is Yamagata Masakage’s main weakness?

A. His main weakness is Confused which will start when multiple enemies come there to defeat him.

Q. Can you farm Yamagata Masakage’s later for gears?

A. Yes, his drops are random, so you can defeat him multiple times to collect all the armour sets.