Nioh 3: Change these settings before you start playing

Have you looked through Nioh 3’s several pages-long settings menu? Well, you don’t have to do it alone.

Image credit:Team Ninja, Koei Tecmo.

As the third game in a decade-old series, Nioh 3 builds on its predecessors in several key ways. This also means that its options menu has grown to accommodate settings we’ve come to expect from the other Nioh games, as well as new and interesting additions.

You could say that Nioh 3 has too many options, but that also means you have far more control on your experience than you might realise. If you think there’s a different way of doing something, there’s likely an option for it.

In this guide, we’ll go over a few of our favourite options, what they do, and how to change them.

Change lock-on behaviour

Nioh 3’s default lock-on settings are fine, but depending on which flavour of Souls-likes you enjoy, you might find some of them a little harder to get used to. There’s a host of settings that govern how lock-on works, what triggers/interrupts it, which enemy it prioritises, button behaviour and more.

You’ll find all these in page four under System > Basic Game Settings . Here’s what we recommend you set:

• Automatically Lock-on After Landing a Melee Attack to ON .
• Change Target when Lock-on Target is Defeated to ON .
• Reset Camera When Using Lock-on with No Target to OFF .
• Automatically Lock-on After Landing a Melee Attack to ON .

Change item pick-up and disposal behaviour

Nioh 3, much like its predecessors, is a loot game. You’re going to be getting armour, weapons, accessories and more practically every minute. It’s now even more of a chore because you have to maintain a Samurai build, as well as a Ninja build.

The game, however, offers a few options to cut down on some of that busywork. We’ve already covered auto-equip in our informative Nioh 3 gameplay tips guide , but there are even more options to consider.

Head to System > Basic Game Settings , and navigate to page five. Here’s what we suggest you change:

• Item Auto Pick-up to ON .

Then, on page six , change these settings:

• Include Crucible Weapons in Auto-Equip to ON .
• Automatically Dispose of Excess Equipment to SELL .
• Auto-Disposal Rarity to Uncommon Or Below .

Image credit:Team Ninja, Koei Tecmo.

Change the behaviour of certain menu functions

There are even more settings to play with in this extensive menu, which govern how certain gameplay features work, as well as what some menu functions can offer you.

Under System > Menu Settings , start off on page one. Change these two settings:

• Auto-Refill Ammo from Storehouse at Shrines to ON .
• Automatically Use Acquired Locks of Hair to ON .

Moving on to page two , here’s what we think you should change:

• Number of Item Shortcuts to 3 SETS .
• Style Shift via Style Changes in Menus to OFF .
• Add Tabs for Each Weapon Type to the Items Menu to ON .
• Add Tabs for Accessories to the Items Menu to ON .
• Display Item Level (Not Main Stat) in Equipment List to OFF .

Page three has a few more options we think you should change, too:

• Display ! in the Equipment Menu to Only When Stronger than Equipped Item .
• Register Shortcuts After Setting Soul Cores in the Onmyo Box to OFF .

Now onto page four :

• Purchase Confirmation, Tool Forging Confirmation, and Soul Matching Confirmation to Don’t Confirm .

Pages four and five under the same Menu Settings page also offer individual settings for the confirmation messages the game just cannot stop giving you. They’re split between Offering, Resting Rites, Sale, Disassembly, Soul Extraction, and Donation.

Each sub-page covers the types of rarities you’re okay getting rid of without confirmation, whether or not you want confirmations for batch items, the values you want included/excluded, whether Crucible Weapons are included in any of that, and if you want one final confirmation at the end of the process.

Your preference for each is going to vary, and you certainly shouldn’t mess with those settings before spending enough time with Nioh 3. Only come back to that page after each of those features has been unlocked and you’ve managed to use them several times, so you know what you’re including or excluding. It’s also worth keeping in mind that your considerations for each one of those will change again in New Game Plus, as loot becomes more relevant.

Nioh 3

PS5 , PC

Sign in and unlock a world of features