Nioh 3: What Are The Best Crucible Arts?

What to know

• Crucible Arts are unique martial arts that come attached to Crucible Weapons.​

• You permanently unlock an art by raising that Crucible Weapon’s Familiarity to 100%.​

• After unlocking, you equip them via the Customize Martial Arts menu on compatible inputs.​

• Many arts are playstyle-defining because they add survival tools, mobility, or big punish options, not just damage.​

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Crucible Arts are one of Nioh 3’s most important power spikes because they let you graft highly efficient, often situationally broken moves onto your preferred weapon setup once you unlock them. If you want the best Crucible Arts, you should prioritize the ones that reliably solve common problems like staying alive, controlling space, and converting enemy Ki breaks into momentum.​

Crucible Arts are unique martial arts available to Crucible Weapons, and each Crucible Weapon can permanently teach you its attached Crucible Art once Familiarity reaches 100%. You get Crucible Weapons by defeating yokai inside Crucibles, and Crucible Weapon drops are visually marked by red wisps of smoke and a red flaming skull icon in your inventory. After you unlock an art, you assign it from Customize Martial Arts to a compatible input for weapons of the same type.​

Best Crucible Arts to prioritize first

These picks are focused on consistency and impact across most encounters, using effects that are already confirmed and described.

Axe: Soul Devourer

Soul Devourer is a standout because it restores Life if it lands and it keys off successfully deflecting an attack, which rewards good defense with a direct sustain payoff. It fits players who want to trade less, stay aggressive longer, and stabilize fights that would otherwise drain your healing.​

Kusarigama: Waterfall

Waterfall is a parry that throws an enemy backward, giving you a clean momentum shift in fights that punish sloppy spacing. If you like controlling tempo, this is the kind of tool that turns defense into offense without needing a big opening.​

Odachi: Cascading Wave

Cascading Wave breaks your fall by planting your odachi and generates a shockwave, with bigger falls increasing the shockwave area. In practice, it gives you a unique safety valve for vertical or airborne situations while still threatening nearby enemies.​

Hatchets: All Ablaze

All Ablaze increases Attack and movement speed in exchange for sacrificing Defense, and it can only be used when your hatchets are sheathed. This is strong when you understand a fight well enough to leverage speed and damage windows, but you should respect the defensive trade and only run it when you can avoid getting clipped.​

Spear: Bracing Breeze

Bracing Breeze deflects an incoming attack and can be followed up with an extra input for a stab, with the follow-up changing based on the deflect result. If you want a reactive, duel-friendly tool that keeps you safe while still advancing pressure, this is one of the better all-around options.​

Sword: Severing Spin

Severing Spin hits around you in all directions, making it useful when you need quick crowd control or want to punish enemies trying to flank. It is also easy to integrate because it is any-stance, so you are not forced into a specific posture just to access it.​

Switchglaive: Empty Retribution

Empty Retribution is a high-stance series of spin attacks in scythe form that can pressure groups or punish longer openings. It is best when you can create time to let the multi-hit sequence work, rather than trying to force it into tight duels.​

Ninja sword: Shadow Slice

Shadow Slice slips past an enemy while unleashing a slash, which is valuable because it blends repositioning and damage into one action. If you tend to get pinned in front of aggressive yokai, this kind of pass-through tool can keep you attacking while escaping danger lines.​

Dual ninja swords: Divine Flight

Divine Flight charges at the enemy while guarding in mid-air and is specifically for use while airborne. It is not always on, but when you are already using aerial movement it gives you a rare mix of approach plus protection.​

How to unlock and equip the best ones fast

Step 1: Get a Crucible Weapon drop

Fight yokai inside Crucibles until you see a weapon drop with red wisps of smoke, then pick it up and confirm it has the Crucible Weapon skull icon in your inventory.​

Step 2: Commit to one weapon type at a time

Equip the Crucible Weapon you want to learn from and keep it on until the Familiarity gauge reaches 100%.​

Step 3: Permanently unlock the attached art

When Familiarity hits 100% on that Crucible Weapon, the attached Crucible Art becomes permanently unlocked for that weapon type.​

Step 4: Slot it into your build

Open Customize Martial Arts and assign the unlocked Crucible Art to a compatible button input so you can use it on other weapons of the same type.​

Step 5: Pressure-test it in real fights

Use the art in situations it was designed for, such as parries against predictable strings, mobility arts against tracking attacks, or sustain arts during longer attrition encounters.​​

Rewards and progression

Picking the right Crucible Arts for your playstyle

If you want a safer learning curve, prioritize defensive conversion tools like parries/deflects and sustain, such as Waterfall and Soul Devourer. If your focus is speed-killing and you already dodge cleanly, consider high payoff buffs like All Ablaze, but treat the defense loss as a real cost. If you fight lots of groups or chaotic arenas, any-stance multi-target coverage like Severing Spin tends to pay off immediately.​

Start by unlocking one high-impact Crucible Art for your main weapon type, then expand into utility picks that cover your weak matchups. Once you have a sustain option, a defensive conversion option, and a space-control option, you will feel your fights become far more stable even before deep optimization.​