Nioh 2 - The Hollow Fortress Walkthrough

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The Hollow Fortress is a Main Mission in Nioh 2. This mission is recommended for level 33, has a level 4 difficulty, and features both human and yokai enemies. The Hollow Fortress tasks players with infiltrating Inabayama Castle and to defeat Saito Yoshitatsu.

Contents

The Hollow Fortress
The Hollow Fortress Walkthrough

The Hollow Fortress

Mission Start Text

Inabayama Castle, the stronghold of the Saito clan! It’s where Yoshitatsu slithered back to after murdering her father and stealing the Spirit Stones. The time to avenge Master Dosan is at hand, Hiddy! But it seems the defenses are more formidable than Lord Nobunga could ever have imagined.

But strangely enough, I’ve heard talk of a man who’s supposed to have captured the castle in a single night. What say we pay him a visit? He could be the key to cracking this place open.

Mission End Text

Tokichiro seems to be very agitated about the Spirit Stones going missing, but it is of little concern. Yoshitatsu’s collapse, the terrible state of the castle… Was it all caused by overuse of the stones? Hmm. Just like that dagger of yours, and the glow of this talisman of mine, this world is full of mysteries.

As Tokichiro says, Nobunga’s conquest of Mino has finally reached its end, and now it seems he has shifted his focus to the west.

Kodama Locations

From the first shrine, go straight until you reach the end and climb the ladder. On the second level, you’ll find another ladder straight ahead, climb to the upper section, cross the wooden bridge and check the right side, you’ll find it behind some sacks.
The second Kodama can be found on a platform below the first dark realm. Ride the elevator first, then about halfway, run towards the dark realm. Go around the wooden planks until you reach the end, you’ll see the Kodama below you.
The third Kodama is on the upper section outside the castle grounds. You’ll need to go pass through one level below the very top area of the prison cells and work your way to the upper section by using the stone platforms.
The fourth Kodama can be found on the watchtower of the gate that leads to the castle. To reach it, you’ll have to work your way through a narrow stone path where you’ll encounter a couple of Dweller yokai and Snowclops. The path is near the second Kodama shrine.
The fifth Kodama can be found at a corner on the east side outside the front entrance of the castle.
For the sixth Kodama, you’ll have to recover the Castle Gate Key first. Once you obtained the key, unlock the east gate and go in the side entrance. Destroy the fourth samurai armor that’s displayed along the corridor.

Sudama Locations

From the crank that operates the lift of the prison cells, go inside the large room on the right, then check the small room. You’ll find the Sudama behind a large chest that is open.
The second Sudama is found at the bottom of the slope where you encounter the Snowclops. The path leading to that area is near the second Kodama shrine at the castle grounds
The third Sudama can be found inside an armory near the castle and the house where you obtained the Castle Gate Key.

Scampuss Locations

The first Scampuss can be found in the underground prison cells. Ride the lift all the way to the top and make your way to the far west side of the corridors of the prison cells, you’ll find the Scampuss at the end that’s being guarded by a sword-wielding soldier.
Found inside an open house within some well-structured houses. From the second Kodama shrine, go around it and you’ll find the houses where you’ll encounter a Dweller and a Rokurokubi outside the open house.
Enter the castle from the east gate by unlocking it with the castle gate key. When you enter and find yourself in a corridor, look behind the large shelf that’s at the end near the stairs.

Hot Springs Locations

Head to the second floor of the castle from the east entrance of the castle’s east gate. You’ll find the hot spring behind a Nurikabe Wall after the large storage room where you encounter an Aberrant Soldier

Locks Locations

From the second shrine, climb two ladders all the way to the top. The 1x Onmyo Mage’s Locks can be found inside a chest that’s being guarded by a Koroka and Aberrant Soldier.

The Hollow Fortress Walkthrough

Upon starting the mission, a cinematic will begin where Tokichiro and yourself meet Takenaka Hanbei and ask for his aid regarding infiltrating Inabayama Castle. At first, Habnbei refuses to aid you due to his condition, but Tokichiro helps heal him and Hanbei agrees to help you capture the castle as his way of repaying for healing him.

The year is December 1567, and players arrive at an underground passage of Inabayama Castle in Mino Province surrounded by yellow crystals, you can break these crystals to collect Amrita. You’ll see the first Kodama shrine ahead and Tokichiro, speak to him to learn more about your objective. You’ll learn that Tokichiro and Mumyo will search for more Spirit Stones while you infiltrate the castle, he’ll also give you 1x Small Spirit Stone. As you approach the ladder, Hanbei’s guardian spirit will appear as your guide through the shortcut of the castle.

Go straight, and you’ll encounter the first enemy of the mission, a yokai Dweller. Kill it, then loot the corpse that’s against the barricade wall on the right. Continue forward until you reach the ladder and you’ll see another Dweller. On the second level, go straight and climb another ladder to reach the upper section of the second level. You’ll find the first Kodama here

Cross the wooden bridge where another Dweller is standing and check the right side, you’ll find the first Kodama behind some sacks next to some bamboos. After guiding the Kodama, go straight, you’ll find a small chest at the end, just be careful since there is more Dweller yokai. After collecting the items inside the chest, jump down and walk towards the stairs. Before you run up the stairs, there’s a new Yokai that is capable of shapeshifting into a lantern. Ready your bow and shoot the stone lantern that’s lit on the right, you’ll find out that these Yokai were once stone lanterns that have acquired a spirit and became a hostile Yokai. If you shoot it while it’s disguised as a stone lantern, you can stun it and follow up with a grapple attack. Kill it, loot the skeleton that’s on the stairs, continue forward, and climb up the ladder.

You’ll now find yourself on the third level of the underground passage where you’ll encounter a soldier that’s standing by the wooden structures. Shoot the soldier, then look at the right corner of the platform, you’ll find a Dweller that’s hanging by the edge. Walk towards where the soldier was, then drop down below the narrow platform and loot the corpse that’s on it. At the bottom, you’ll see a mist blocking a gate, the yokai within the mist is an Enki, killing it may drop its soul core along with random items and equipment – after killing the Enki you can unlock the gate which opens up a shortcut back to the starting point, there’s also a skeleton in the room that you can loot.

After opening the gate, turn around, head to the door that’s on the east, then turn right into a small room where you’ll find a dead soldier and a large chest that is open. Check behind the chest, you’ll find the first Sudama for this mission. You can drop any item you want to trade some random items with it, after finding the Sudama, go out, kill the soldier that’s in the large room and loot the corpse – go back outside to where you unlocked the gate and turn the crank to call down a lift, ride it and step on the middle platform for it to go up.

About halfway up, you’ll notice a field of the dark realm, run towards it then walk up to the end of the wooden planks. Jump down onto the surface below and you’ll find the second Kodama. Once you’ve guided the Kodama back to the shrine, jump down the wooden planks below where you’ll come across an axe-wielding soldier. Go inside the corridor then head in the small room that’s on the left, you’ll find a large chest containing random items and gear. Go back to the corridor and go straight until you reach the other exit that’s on the right.

You’ll find another soldier walking on the wooden planks to your left, and there’s a slope that’s going up to your right. Head over to the left side first where you’ll find a long slope, you’ll find yourself at the top level of the area that’s engulfed with the dark realm – you’ll encounter a Dweller at the end.

Go into the door that’s on the west side and you’ll see another Dweller that’s feeding and a looting soldier which seems to be the source of the dark realm. Kill the Dweller first with your ranged weapons or projectiles before fighting the spear-wielding soldier. Once it reaches about 50-60% left of its health, it will reveal its true form which is actually a new Yokai, a Rokurokubi that is able to disguise itself as a human.

Killing it dispels the field and you’ll be able to open the large chest that’s inside a room at the east. You can also unlock the gate next to it for a shortcut, the path on the left will lead you outside castle grounds. Before heading outside, go through the gate that you just unlocked and head to another corridor that’s on the west. At the end of it, you’ll find another large chest – go back to the opposite end of the corridor, and just by the door, jump down from the edge of the wooden planks onto the stone platform.

You should reach one level down and a large prison cell that has a mist and a large chest behind it as indicated in the image above. The yokai within the mist is another Koroka, kill it, then open the chest to grab some rare items. After collecting the items, go back outside and jump down the large wooden frames where you’ll see another skeleton that you can loot – jump down, move the crank to call down the lift and ride it until you reach the top.

Go inside the corridor of the prison cells and you’ll encounter two soldiers here. Kill them then run through the corridor until you reach the end where you’ll find a small prison cell where a small and large yokai Dweller can be found. There’s a corpse inside the prison cell that you can loot for random items and a memory.

Proceed further to the west side where you’ll find the first Scampuss next to a sword-wielding soldier. From here, exit the nearby door and head down the slope. You’ll find another large chest at the end containing random items and gear – go back to lift, ride it back down, but instead of going all the way down, jump off the elevator about halfway to reach the one level below.

From there, you’ll want to head inside the long corridor of the cells and jump down from the hole that’s on the ground and onto the stone platform. Go straight from the wooden planks, and at the end, go up the slope until you reach the top where you’ll find another large chest and a Koroka yokai. The path ahead will take you to the upper section of the castle grounds.

Once you’re outside, you’ll notice that there’s another mist in the center that’s blocking the path ahead. The Yokai within it is an Enki, kill it, then check the right-hand side, you’ll find the third Kodama standing at the edge, while on the left-hand side, there’s a ladder that you can kick down to open a shortcut leading to the second Kodama shrine. At this point, you should pray at the shrine to save your progress.

Castle Grounds

From the shrine, climb back up, then the other ladder that was blocked by the mist. There’s an Aberrant Soldier ahead and a large chest that is being guarded by another Koroka that’s in its stone lantern form. Make sure to shoot the lantern first to surprise it. Open the chest and you’ll find 1x Onmyo Mage’s Locks and some random items and gear.

From the chest, go left and head down where you’ll find a few well-structured houses. There’s a Rokurokubi disguised as a soldier that’s roaming and a Dweller that’s feeding outside an open house ahead of you. Try to grab the attention of the Rokurokubi first and draw it away from the Dweller, after killing it, grapple the Dweller from behind then finish it off. You can loot the corpse it was eating as well.

Kill the enemy inside the house, then head inside where you’ll find another corpse containing another memory and some items, as well as the second Scampuss.

After finding the Scampuss, go back outside and head east further into the small village. You’ll encounter a Snowclops by a large gate. After killing the yokai, proceed forward and you’ll find a large ball of snow blocking the path ahead. Strike it with your weapon and it will roll down the slope as well as hitting and killing the Dweller yokai.

Head to the bottom and on the left side, by the wooden platforms, you’ll find the second Sudama. Here you’ll also find the third Kodama shrine.

Before praying at the third shrine, retrace your steps back to the upper section of the castle grounds where you opened a large chest that was being guarded by a Koroka and Abbarent Soldier as indicated in the image above. What you’ll need to do is to walk over the narrow path and head west and climb up a watchtower. You’ll encounter a couple of Dweller that are positioned on the watchtower and some on the path you’ll take, as well as a Snowclops.

When you reach the watchtower, there’a soldier guarding the spot. Kill it, and behind him, you’ll find the fourth Kodama. From where the Kodama was, jump down and you’ll see a mist by the stairs that is blocking the path leading to the castle. The yokai within the mist is a Rokurokubi, kill it so you can proceed further.

At the entrance of the castle, you’ll encounter another Aberrant Soldier and a Snowclops inside. After killing them, go east, outside the castle where you’ll find another Dweller that’s standing by the edge next to some bamboo sticks. At the right side corner, you’ll find the fifth Kodama that’s on a small platform below.

Drop down to where it is and guide it back to the shrine. After that’s done, jump down and you’ll see another mist that’s blocking the entrance of an open house – the Yokai within the mist is an Enki, kill it so you can head inside the house where you’ll find a large chest containing the Castle Gate Key.

Go outside the house and straight towards an open field where you’ll see three soldiers. You’ll see an archer ahead, an axe-wielding soldier patrolling, and a sword-wielder that’s looting on the left. Kill the soldiers and head inside the nearby armory where you’ll find the Sudama. After trading with the Sudama, go back outside and back to the caste’s front entrance, don’t go up, but instead, go east. You’ll find a locked gate where you can use the castle gate key to reach the side entrance. You’ll see a soldier guarding the side entrance, ready your bow or rifle and shoot him on the head.

Inabayama Castle: East Entrance

Once you enter the castle from the east gate. You’ll come across a long corridor where there are armor displayed. Destroy the fourth display that’s at the end to find the sixth Kodama that’s hiding behind it.

In the same corridor, before heading up the stairs, there’s a large shelf on the left. You’ll find the third Scampuss by the supplies. Go up the stairs after petting the Scampuss where you’ll come across a patrolling soldier wielding an axe. Head towards the second floor and open the large door.

From there, go right, you’ll see a large chest at the end of the corridor and a soldier trying to open it. After killing the soldier and opening the chest, go back to the door you just opened and head inside the nearby room where you can loot an item and memory next to a painting of a crane. After searching the room, continue forward and search the floor. On the right side, there’s a large storage room where a soldier is guarding it, while on the left side, you’ll find a small chest and a small armory that also has a small chest and is being guarded by another soldier. Check the armory first that’s on the left side then go down the stairs to the front entrance of the castle where you’ll enter the Dark Realm.

The source of the Dark Realm is a Koroka located in the basement where you’ll also encounter an Enki. Once you dispel the dark realm, you can use the nearby Kodama shrine near the stairs leading to the basement – after that’s done, go back to the second floor where the small armory was and head to the storage room where you’ll find a broken wall that you can run through.

In the room next to the storage area, you’ll encounter an Aberrant Soldier. Kill it first before heading inside then look at a wall on the left, you’ll see the eyes of the Nurikabe yokai. Try to use the “Nice” gesture for it to let you through without fighting. On the other side, you’ll find a hot spring.

After using the hot spring, approach the mist that’s blocking the stairs leading to the third floor. The yokai within the mist is a Rokurokubi, after killing the yokai, make sure to loot the corpse under the stairs before heading up. On the third floor, you’ll encounter another soldier patrolling the area and a large chest at the corner of the stairs – when you’re ready, open the large door and a cutscene will trigger before fighting the boss.

Boss: Saito Yoshitatsu

The battle against Saito Yoshitatsu will begin after the cutscene. You’ll want to have a companion accompany you for this battle. It has the ability to use two different Guardian Spirits and conjure the Dark Realm which allows it to use Yokai Shift just like you. Luckily, if you are teamed up, it can easily be staggered and eventually break its stamina bar allowing you to grapple and inflict decent damage – successfully defeating this boss completes the mission, a cutscene will then trigger after ending the mission where you’ll find an unexpected encounter.

Nioh 2 – The Hollow Fortress Walkthrough

The Hollow Fortress