Nioh 3 features a huge number of bosses, many of which will pose a serious challenge even for seasoned players of the series. While the toughest enemies are usually tied to the main story, you might occasionally encounter a world boss that shouldn’t be underestimated.
One such yokai is the Demon of Envy, which can be found in an underground shrine in the Hachijo region. If you’re having trouble with this yokai, here’s everything you need to know to find and defeat the Demon of Envy.
Where to find the Demon of Envy
To challenge the Demon of Envy, head to the Heian map and travel south to the Hachijo region. From there, make your way through the swamp until you reach the Enemy Base near the Anneibo Temple shrine. After clearing the base, approach the shrine and activate it.
Then turn right, climb the ladder to the central raised wooden platform, and jump across the gap to the red awning. Run along the roof and push down the bundle of logs to create a shortcut back to the shrine. Now simply descend the path to the underground shrine, where the Demon of Envy spawns. The boss only activates when you approach the plumes of smoke in the depths, so be sure to prepare before summoning this foe!
How to defeat the Demon of Envy
I’ll be honest: the Demon of Envy is a difficult opponent. This isn’t just due to her tricky attacks, but also her ability to buff herself, increasing the damage of those attacks. Therefore, I recommend not attempting to fight her until you’re at least level 85 and have a build you’re comfortable with.
Additionally, you’ll need any armor or talismans with fire resistance , as the Demon of Envy exclusively uses fire-based attacks alongside physical ones. The intensity of these fire attacks will increase as the battle progresses, so being able to weaken the demon’s attacks or increase your resistance is key to survival.
When the fight begins, the first thing you need to avoid at all costs is her grab. While it deals significant damage, the main problem is that a successful grab temporarily increases her damage. To dodge it, when you see smoke around her four snakes, if you’re close, roll behind her. During this attack, she can’t quickly turn around, and if you’re behind her, you’ll completely avoid it. If you’re too far away to roll, simply run away and try to keep your distance.
Another attack worth punishing is her dive-bombing jump, where the Demon of Envy soars into the air and slams down, creating a fiery explosion at the point of impact. Roll as she begins to descend to avoid damage, giving you a few seconds to attack while she recovers from the move.
She also has a very easy-to-counter Burst Break —she charges straight at you, spinning like a drill. Switching stances right before impact will stun her and open a good window for attacking! This is one of the best ways to consistently deal damage, so be sure to counter this attack whenever possible!
The Demon of Envy also performs a double swing of her swords, after which her two snakes attack immediately after the blades. As with the grab, this can be avoided by rolling behind her and attacking while she’s vulnerable during these animations.
Essentially, maintaining a position behind her is the best strategy to avoid many of her standard physical attacks.
As for her fire-based attacks, there’s only one thing to be wary of at this stage: when several streams of fire begin to radiate from her body. They’ll spread across the arena and, upon reaching their final point, explode into a column of flame. This can be annoying, but if you’re not caught in the blast’s epicenter, even touching it won’t cause much damage.
Once in the Dark Realm, the Demon of Envy will infuse many of her moves with fire. For example, when she drags her sword across the ground toward you, in the Dark Realm it will leave a fiery trail, from which several pillars of flame will emerge. Her dive attack will also leave three fire puddles around the point of impact, so after dodging the initial explosion, be sure to roll away from them too!
The Demon of Envy also unleashes a ring of fire around itself, followed by all four of its serpentine heads spewing flames in all directions. When you see this, run away to gain distance and avoid the attack. This is also a good time to apply buffs, debuffs, or use ranged magic, as it is completely immobilized and frozen in this animation.
Once she emerges from the Dark Realm, the Demon of Envy will return to using the normal attacks described above. Try to get behind her during physical attacks to create safe attack windows. Given how quickly she recovers, avoid attempting long combos unless she’s stunned and vulnerable to a critical hit.
Eventually, when her health drops below 50%, the Demon of Envy will transport you to the Dark Realm and enter its deadliest phase.
During this phase, pillars of flame will constantly erupt from the ground throughout the entire Dark Realm encounter. This makes it extremely difficult to effectively attack, as the pillars of flame are relentless.
Because of this, you should use your Living Artifact when this happens to deal enough damage to force the Demon of Envy to return to the normal world. The pillars of flame will cease when she leaves the Dark Realm, so do your best to escape this phase; otherwise, you’ll have serious trouble even attacking her.
The fight against the Demon of Envy is mostly about managing your fire resistance and minimizing her most dangerous phases. This boss isn’t all that terrifying outside of the Dark Realm, as most of her physical attacks have obvious signs and can be avoided by staying behind her. Just be sure to save your Living Artifact for her endless fire attack, and you’ll be able to defeat this demon, earning you a beautiful cutscene and rewards!
