What I learned from the first test of valor(Master Ninja)

Hello, everybody. I`m nepu47. This is my first post.

I started original Ninja Gaiden 2 from 2022 December, and I am currently on Master ninja difficulty.
I accidentally skipped Tests of valor on Mentor difficulty, So I tried to do this time.

And I am stuck in the first test of valor in exact 3 weeks lol.

But I`m not complaning. Oddly, I enjoyed more than last sessions on Master difficulty. Sure, Master ninja difficulty was more difficult than mentor but I was not so overwhelmed, I didn`t feel a huge escalation from mentor difficulty until stage 3. But when I got stuck in this test of valor, I can feel that the hieght of hurdle is high but it seems that I could reach. Everytime I learned and relearned tricks and nuances. I always feels that I am just an one inch far from the goal, Even it is not a true.

So, In this particular segment, I learned these.

- How to land on ground safetly
Most of enemies can grab you when you land on ground. Especially izuna drop is a quiet dangerous move. So you have to avoid this, landing on X or landing or Y makes your life more safer. And use Wind path more frequently. Throwing Shurikens can help you, but lock-on is not reliable so do not expect so much.

- How to do counter more safetly
Human enemies usually do rapid combos, so after hearing striking sound do counter is very safe choice. And in the case of dragon sword, If there are too many enemies, don`t perform "Guard+X". You could not see where ryu goes and die. But in the case of lunar staff, "Guard+X" has massive I-frames and delimb enemies many times.

- Usage of delimbing and enemy isolation
After delimbed, enemies don`t run into you. This is written in Raeng`s column, so I`ll pass it.

- Weapon nuances
If you wanna izuna drop with Lunar staff, It is way easier to do normal jump toward enemies. I don`t know why, But I found that izuna drop of lunar staff doesn`t perform well after Wind run(X+A homing jump). Falcon`s talos is an excellent choice for an isolated enemy. Especially izuna drop after Flying swallow is fantastic.

- Essence management
This is my speculation, But red or blue orbs come out more frequently when you "overkill" enemies. After delimbing enemies, doing more combos or izuna dropping makes more high possibility to spawn blue/red orbs? I`m not so sure so I would wanna hear your opinions for this.

Anyway, I have a lots of fun in this section. I don`t know how far could I go, But I don`t have a big gaming plan before sifu`s arena expansion launch so at least I`ll do this to end of March. Also I maybe update or reply this thread if I make progress. Thank you for reading this.

ps. This is how my play looks like (today)

>blue orb drop rate
killing an enemy with a UT or OT prevents them from dropping blue or red orbs. Blue orbs also spawn more frequently when you are below half health

>counter attacks
you can dodge almost immediately after the first part of the dragon swords X counter in order to chain i-frames.

Good luck on the play through this test of valor without abusing the falcon's talons is probably the hardest fight in the game imo so if you can beat it you'll probably be set for the rest of the game

> TOV1
It's honestly just such a good one. My only complaint about TOVs and also Survival Mode is the lack of walls, you really miss out on a lot of combat options by walls being absent which is a massive shame imo.

> orbs
As noted, overkilling isn't a thing. In fact it is a detriment to a degree, as a 20+ hit combo results in a Yellow orb. I'm unsure if you can stack this combo-modefier with OT and then UT for more essence though.

If you are below 50% HP, as noted, you gain more blue orbs (unless you OT or UT, in which case you are locked into yellow)

> gameplay
My biggest tip regarding it would be:
a) stay mobile, especially in such a large fight don't hold block, get out of there.
b) avoid style, it's neat if you can manage it but doing a fancy string while ganged up will get you killed.
c) try and use shurikens or other followups after a flyingswallow's 'bounce' in the air, this cuts your airtime. You can also do shurikens INTO swallow mind you, making it hit more often.
d) try and implement continious-jumping, sometimes a jump>jump>jump>dodge>jump is better for positioning than constantly dodge jumping. Also try and not go in a straight line, you'll avoid more IS this way.

I still can`t believe this, but I beat it today morning(three weeks and one day!).



To gain more essences for upgarade weapons was one of my primary purposes, but I used many healing items and was too busy to use UT so I got less essences before. lmao. I even forgot to use other weapons other than Dragon Sword, because I was so focused to deal with enemies.

But I`m not regretting. I almost shout "YES!" loudly when it`s done.
I got confidence and skills, that`s better than essences.

I can say that NG2 is a great game, And I am so so glad to get this one.

Thanks for advices, guys.

As noted on Twitter, absolutely fantastic! Now enjoy a shitty bossfight :p

>and also Survival Mode is the lack of walls
What the FUCK.

Note, survival mode has trees which you can use as walls. But TOVs have zero jumppable walls. Just wish Survival had a few real walls with more room to manouver.

> A shitty boss

I fought with him only two hours today, But I absolutely hate Gigadeath. and If I lose all my essences for skipping this boss, I`ll take it. As noted, I spend almost 30+ hours for one arena, and I didn`t feel like this. I learned something, I tried new tactics and new tricks.

I`ll do it but maybe I`ll lessen the time for playing with gigadeath, and play some other stuffs(Metroid Prime remaster, Wulong, or something else).

Gigadeath for me is always: spam all the items, all the ninpo, all the UTs, don't care, get it over with. Horrible fight. I have a NG+++++++++++ file these days where I have 10 ninpo slots so I just spam Inferno/Void over and over as revenge.

Unpopular opinion: I don't really mind Gigadeath that much. Then again, the only ranged boss I liked were the two dragons in Chapter 9.

I always try to be understand but no I legit hate this boss hahaha, glad to hear he's not fully hated by everyone though

I got into 2nd Test of valor(in stage4, a museum), and it was surprisingly underwhelming in contrast to the first one. Unless it has a boss for last encounter, I could easily finish this one with lunar staff.

Only the first Test of Valor is interesting imo, and there's a reason most players love that one. Every other one is either a mindless grind or way too easy. The last one is the worst imo, just an hourlong grindfest.

Recahed Third Test of valor. It`s better than 2nd one, but not close to 1st one. Also I have many tools now(Dual swords, Kusarikama...) It`s more fun to play with enemies.

Any tips for 3rd test of valor? I almost god 2 hits k.o., so delimbing all enemies and killing one by one also doesn’t help. Do I have to kill warewolves asap, using lunar staff 360OT? Any suggestions for weapons(I use dual swords or lunar staff)?

kill the dogs first and only then fight the werewolves. Don't kill even 1 werewolf before all the dogs are dead, otherwise they will start throwing body parts at you.

> Don`t kill 1 were-wolf
This hint itself was easy to execute, but their jump attacks are way more threatening to me. maybe I just lacks of recovery items.


I got bored and I gave up the third test. Then I met the most boring boss - water dragon. He is boring even in MN lol