Rakuyo's Dual Swords Build | nioh Wiki

Rakuyo's Dual Swords Build

Rakuyo's Dual Swords Build

A basic Dual Swords build for enthusiasts with tips and equipment advice.

Description

Dual Swords are weapons that are very defensively oriented, and I myself am not a huge fan of the Dual Swords moveset. The philosophy behind the Dual Swords is that they're very good for blocking, and consume very little Ki. They're not in fact the high DPS, high speed weapons you may want them to be. If you want a fast high DPS weapon, you should probably go with the Tonfa or Kusarigama. Dual Swords are also notably more useful against Humans than against Yokai. Which is unfortunate, because Yokai form the largest of the two groups. One good Dual Swords skill you can get right away is Cherry Blossom. For High Stance you can also get Windstorm, a very good L1+Triangle, which unfortunately only works on High Stance. Windstorm is a high damage attack with multiple hits, which also functions as a crowd control attack. I'm not a huge fan of the basic attacks on High Stance, and feel you really need Cherry Blossom and Windstorm to make it viable. Another Skill you can get right away is Demon Thrust, which is a handy L1+Square counterattack, which unfortunately only works on Mid Stance. Demon Thrust is basically a quick stab from guarding position, a humble attack really, but it's handy. A must have for Dual Swords is the God of Wind combo, which you must learn in order to acquire Moon Shadow. Moon Shadow is one of the best moves that the Dual Swords have. You can trigger it when your attacks are deflected by a guarding enemy, and what happens is: you circle the enemy, and then you deal massive Break damage. The Break damage is so high that enemies are often knocked out of Ki in one hit, or two hits max. You can then go for a Grapple or a Killing Strike, as you see fit. But Moon Shadow doesn't deal much damage or Ki damage if the enemy isn't guarding. God of Wind is just a very good pair of combo enders, which can also sneak in some Break and Ki damage. Unfortunately you can't get the full God of Wind combo until you're an Adept, and you can't get Moon Shadow until you're a Veteran. You can also still get Tachi Arts and Sign of the Cross, but that's basically it, as I don't consider the other Dual Swords attacks to have much value. My preferred Mystic Art is Firm Resolve.

Dual Swords work very well with Paralysis. If you paralyze someone with Medusa Powder, you're more or less guaranteed to get two Grapples out of it (may require a certain Ninjutsu Power level), as the paralysis keeps building during the Dual Swords Grapple.  You could also opt to perform a Grapple, then land a charged up Sign of the Cross. My preferred way of knocking the horns of a Yoki or Namahage is the High Stance strong attack. In terms of stance, it's best to use Mid Stance or Low Stance, and use those to trigger God of Wind or Moon Shadow, or go into High Stance to trigger Cherry Blossom or Windstorm.

Contrary to what you may think, Dual Swords are most effective when wearing armor with a lot of Toughness. This is because Dual Swords are economical in terms of Ki consumption, because they require Toughness for their long combos, and because Toughness improves their blocking capabilities further. One set you could go with is the Master Swordsman's Set, which is designed to work well with Dual Swords, and greatly increases the viability of Sign of the Cross.

Dual Swords come in two types, and they either scale B+ Skill, C+ Strength and D+ Heart or B+ Skill, C+ Heart and D+ Strength (Heart and Strength are switched).
For more information on scaling and speccing see Weapon Scaling Tables.

Dual Swords Skills In The Build

• God of Wind
• Moon Shadow
• Cherry Blossom
• Windstorm
• Demon Thrust
• Tachi Arts (passive)
• Defence Arts (passive)
• Firm Resolve (Mystic Art)
• Sign of the Cross (optional)
• Random Slice (optional)
• The Shrike (optional)
• Raijn (optional)

Dual Swords Skills I Don't Like

• Water Sword
• Heavenly Flow
• Earthly Flow
• Mortal Flow