How to Upgrade Soul Cores Using Soul Fragments in Nioh 3: Farming Methods Guide

What to know

• Soul Fragments are generated by performing Resting Rites on Soul Cores.
• They function as experience for the Shiftling (Yokai/Guardian Spirit) skill tree.
• Higher-rarity Soul Cores produce more Soul Fragments.
• Fragments are also used to enhance and upgrade Soul Cores themselves.

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In Nioh 3, Soul Fragments are not items you loot from the battlefield. Instead, they are a progression resource created by sacrificing Soul Cores at a shrine. If you are building around Yokai abilities or investing in Shiftling skills, understanding how Soul Fragments work is critical to strengthening your character.

Unlike weapons or armor upgrades, Soul Fragment progression is tied directly to your mastery over Yokai powers. That means the more efficiently you manage Soul Cores, the faster your Guardian Spirit–related abilities evolve.

Nioh 3 Soul Fragments details

Aspect	Details
Resource Type	Progression currency for Shiftling tree
How to Obtain	Resting Rites on Soul Cores at a Shrine
Generated From	Soul Cores dropped by Yokai enemies
Used For	Unlocking Shiftling skills & enhancing Soul Cores
Scaling	Higher-tier cores grant more fragments
Field Pickup?	No – created through recycling only

Soul Fragments exist purely as an internal progression currency. You will never see them drop directly from enemies.

How Soul Fragments are generated through Resting Rites

The core mechanic behind Soul Fragment acquisition is Resting Rites.

Whenever Yokai enemies drop Soul Cores, you can choose to either equip them or sacrifice them. If you decide to recycle them, you convert their power into Soul Fragments.

To perform this process:

Step 1

Visit any shrine and hold the interact button to pray.

Step 2

Navigate to Manage Soul Cores from the shrine menu.

Step 3

Select the Resting Rites option.

Step 4

Choose the Soul Core you want to sacrifice and confirm the ritual.

After confirmation, the Soul Core is destroyed and converted into Soul Fragments, and in some cases, you may receive additional minor materials.

The higher the rank or rarity of the Soul Core, the greater the amount of Soul Fragments you receive. Boss Yokai cores and elite drops provide noticeably larger returns.

Where Soul Cores come from

Before you can generate Soul Fragments, you must first collect Soul Cores.

Soul Cores drop from:

Enemy Type	Drop Frequency	Fragment Potential
Standard Yokai	Random	Low to Moderate
Elite Yokai	Higher chance	Moderate
Boss Yokai	Guaranteed/High	High
Guardian-type Enemies	Rare	High

Higher-tier missions and Crucible-style content typically yield stronger cores. If your goal is to farm Soul Fragments efficiently, targeting elite Yokai encounters is significantly more effective than clearing low-level mobs.

The loop is simple but important: Defeat Yokai → Collect Soul Cores → Perform Resting Rites → Gain Soul Fragments.

How Soul Fragments power the Shiftling skill tree

Soul Fragments function as experience for the Shiftling (Yokai/Guardian Spirit) progression tree. This system governs your ability to strengthen Yokai powers, improve transformations, and unlock passive bonuses tied to your Guardian Spirit.

Without Soul Fragments, your access to advanced Shifting abilities is restricted. Even if you collect powerful Soul Cores, your progression will stall unless you invest fragments into the skill tree.

Shiftling progression typically includes:

• Passive buffs to Yokai Shift duration
• Increased Yokai ability damage
• Enhanced Anima efficiency
• Guardian Spirit synergy bonuses

Because these bonuses scale into late-game combat, investing fragments consistently keeps your build competitive.

Using Soul Fragments to enhance Soul Cores

Soul Fragments are not limited to the skill tree. They also play a role in upgrading Soul Cores themselves.

After performing Resting Rites and collecting fragments, you can return to the shrine menu and access the Enhanced Soul Core section. Here, fragments are consumed to:

• Increase a Soul Core’s power
• Improve scaling or ability output
• Strengthen Yokai skill effects

This creates a meaningful choice. You must decide whether to invest fragments into permanent Shiftling progression or into upgrading specific Soul Cores for immediate combat impact.

Soul Fragment efficiency and optimization

If you are optimizing your build, understanding fragment efficiency becomes important.

Core Rank	Typical Fragment Yield	Recommended Action
Common	Low	Recycle unless needed
Rare	Moderate	Upgrade or recycle based on build
Boss/High Tier	High	Consider upgrade before recycling

Sacrificing every core blindly is not always ideal. Sometimes upgrading a high-tier core can provide more long-term value than converting it into fragments.

Balancing progression between skill tree advancement and core enhancement is part of advanced build planning.

Why Soul Fragments matter in long-term progression

In early missions, Soul Fragments may seem secondary to weapon scaling or armor bonuses. However, as enemy difficulty increases, Yokai abilities become essential damage tools rather than optional mechanics.

Investing in Shiftling skills increases:

• Overall combat versatility
• Burst damage potential
• Survivability during Yokai Shift
• Efficiency in high-pressure encounters

If you neglect fragment generation, your Yokai toolkit will lag behind your weapon progression.

Farming strategy for Soul Fragments

If your goal is to accelerate progression, focus on missions with dense Yokai populations or repeatable elite encounters. Boss rematches are especially efficient because they drop higher-tier cores.

Because Soul Fragments are generated rather than looted, the key to farming them is maximizing Soul Core acquisition.

Efficiency formula:

Focus	Result
Higher difficulty missions	Better core quality
Elite farming	More fragments per run
Recycling duplicates	Consistent fragment gain

Over time, this cycle becomes one of the main engines driving Guardian Spirit progression.

Strengthening your Yokai power through Soul Fragments

Soul Fragments in Nioh 3 represent the spiritual residue of sacrificed Soul Cores. By performing Resting Rites at shrines, you convert unused cores into progression currency that fuels the Shiftling skill tree and Soul Core enhancements.

They are not physical drops but a system-driven resource created through strategic sacrifice. If you want to maximize your Yokai abilities and Guardian Spirit synergy, generating and investing Soul Fragments consistently is non-negotiable.

Master the cycle of collecting, recycling, and upgrading, and your Yokai power will scale alongside your weapon mastery.