(Black rectangle is Atlas Bear repeated)

• Cut-off text: Close Combat Attack Ki Reduction (Critical)

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• Bombs also explode on contact

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• Suzaku's death prevention will remove all buffs when triggered. Remember to find an opportunity to heal before Living Weapon ends, as you will have 1 HP with no healing sources.

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• Cut-off text: Close Combat Attack (Enemy Attacking)
  
• Enku has a short window where it turns towards the enemy before charging them

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• Cut-off text: Close Combat Attack Ki Reduction (Evasion-Attack)

• Cut-off text: Life Recovery (Finished Using a Living Weapon)

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• Cut-off text: Life Recovery from Hit (Ranged Weapon)

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• Cut-off text: Auto-Life Recovery (Finshed Using Living Weapon)

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• Cut-off text: Enemy/Treasure/Amrita/Kodama Sense
  
• When summoning through Living Weapon, your element will change to one of the other four elements. Talismans will not change your weapon's element.

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• Cut-off text: Elemental Damage Reduction (Guarding)
  
• If you are not attacked for ~5 seconds, Blue Dragon will automatically trigger

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• Cut-off text: Increased Ki Recovery Speed (Critical); Prevents death as long as you are not in a critical condition.

• Cut-off text: Life Recovery from Amrita Absorption

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• It's mostly cut-off in the image, but Itokuri inflicts Slow on hit. Landing every hit is extremely difficult on small targets.

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• If the first hit whiffs, the tanuki will not perform the body slam

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• Cut-off text: Ki Recovery and Defense (Finished Using a Living Weapon)
  
• Gives temporary Super Armor (No Guard Break When Attacked)

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• Cut-off text: Close Combat Damage (No Rear Damage Bonus)
  
• The centipede's movement is relative to your location at a given moment, not where it is summoned.

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• Cut-off text: Shorten Recovery Time (Out of Ki)

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Arriving in Japan, you choose between 3: Kato, Isonade, and Daiba-washi. The two remaining spirits are then unlockable in the Chugoku region doing the sub mission The Three Angry Gods.

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• Fuse-ushi - Deep in the Shadows
  
• Raiken - The Spirit Stone Slumbers
  
  • Upgrade to Paired Raiken by finishing Invitation from the Warrior of the West

None.

• Itokuri - Spider Nest Castle
  
• Usura-hicho - Falling Snow

• Gyukuto - Memories of Death-Lilies

• Narikama Tanuki - Enter Sekigahara region
  
• Suzaku - Immortal Flame
  
• Kara-jishi - Sekigahara

• Izuna - The Mountain of Remorse
  
• Atlas Bear - The Samurai from Sawayama
  
• Tengen Kujaku - The Demon King
  
• Saoirse - The Demon King

• Nekomata - Enter Tohoku Region
  
• Bisha's Centipede - Yokai Country
  
• Blue Dragon - The One-Eyed Dragon's Castle

• Enku - Scion of Virtue

• Janomecho - The Last Samurai
  
• Nine-Tails - The Last Samurai

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• Mizuchi - Kanbei and the Overlord
  
• Paired Raiken - Invitation from the Warrior of the West

• Kato/Daiba-washi/Isonade - The Three Angry Gods
  
  • Whichever two were not picked, they will be available after completing this mission
• Hi-nezumi - Heir to the Nioh
  
• Aya-komori - The Conspirators

• Enko - The Red Oni of the Ii

• Shin-roku - The Champion of the East

• Yatagarasu - The Watcher in Darkness

• Genbu - The Inheritance

None.

• Nurarihyon - The Dragon Returns

None.

Combat-focused refers to improving your Close Combat in several ways. This includes Close Combat Attack, Ki Reduction, Grapple Damage, Final Blow Damage, etc.

Key
ATK DMG - Close Combat Attack/Damage
DMG - Damage
DR - Damage Reduction

• Atlas Bear - Grapple DMG, ATK DMG, Low Ki
  
• Bisha's Centipede - Pierce Guard, ATK DMG (excludes rear), Strong ATK Ki Reduction
  
• Blue Dragon - Ki Recovery, DMG Reduction (When Attacking), Elemental DR (Guarding), ATK DMG (Full Life)
  
• Enko - Strong ATK Ki Reduction, Break, Grapple DMG, Strong ATK DMG
  
• Janomecho - Ki Recovery (Critical), Evasion Ki Usage, ATK DMG
  
• Kara-jisji - Increase ATK (Skill), Guard Ki Reduction, Ki, Skill Life Drain
  
• Kato - ATK DMG, Ki, Ki Recovery Speed, Close Combat Attack Ki Reduction, Skill Damage

Any Guardian Spirit excluded did not have 3 or more properties related to increasing close combat damage or a property regarding Ki. However, this does not mean other Guardian Spirit choices are not options for improving your Combat.

Overall high uptime focuses on the values in Might, Tenacity, and Amrita Gauge Rate.

Higher Might means more damage can be taken. Tenacity lets you take more damage as the meter decreases. Amrita Gauge Rate determines how quickly you can regain gauge to activate Living Weapon again.

• Bisha's Centipede
  
• Blue Dragon
  
• Enko
  
• Enku
  
• Fuse-ushi
  
• Genbu
  
• Kara-jishi
  
• Kato
  
• Narikama Tanuki
  
• Paired Raiken
  
• Shin-Roku
  
• Suzaku
  
• Tengen Kujaku

Loot-based refers to any properties that can influence drop rates or help you find loot.

Some Guardian Spirits are listed under multiple categories since they have more than one property influencing drops or related.

• Daiba-washi - Luck, Equipment Drop Rate
  
• Gyokuto - Luck while Living Weapon is active
  
• Itokuri - Luck, Human & Yokai Item Drop Rate

• Izuna - Amrita Earned
  
• Mizuchi - Amrita & Gold Earned
  
• Nurarihyon - Amrita Earned from Enemies
  
• Saoirse - Amrita Sense, Amrita Earned
  
• Suzaku - Amrita Earned while Living Weapon is active
  
• Tengen Kujaku - All Senses

• Bisha's Centipede - Money earned (don't they mean gold???)
  
• Daiba-washi - Luck, Equipment Drop Rate
  
• Gyokuto - Luck while Living Weapon is active
  
• Itokuri - Luck, Human & Yokai Item Drop Rate
  
• Mizuchi - Amrita & Gold Earned
  
• Nine Tails - Divine/Ethereal Item Drop Rate
  
• Paired Raiken - Treasure Sense
  
• Tengen Kujaku - All Senses

These Guardian Spirits have high Amrita Gauge Rate. With high Spirit invested, it can take as few as one or two Onymo projectile with Extraction Talisman active to charge the gauge completely for some spirits. However, all of them, with the exception of Paired Raiken, have low Might and cannot withstand more than one or two hits in most cases.

• Aya-komori
  
• Daiba-washi
  
• Gyokuto
  
• Hi-nezumi
  
• Itokuri
  
• Nekomata
  
• Paired Raiken
  
• Saoirse
  
• Usura-hicho
  
• Yatagarasu

These effects are only active when Living Weapon is active. In most cases, they are not useful or practical.

• Daiba-washi - Life Recovery when Living Weapon ends
  
• Gyokuto - Luck while Living Weapon is active
  
• Izuna - Auto-Recovery when Living Weapon ends
  
• Janomecho - Auto-Recovery when Living Weapon ends
  
• Shin-Roku - Ki Recovery & Defense when Living Weapon ends
  
• Suzaku - Auto activate Living Weapon upon fatal blow taken, Amrita Earned while Living Weapon is active

• Daiba-washi
  
• Fuse-ushi
  
• Mizuchi
  
• Hi-nezumi (not reliable)
  
• Aya-komori
  
• Enko
  
• Narikama Tanuki
  
• Genbu
  
• Atlas Bear

*Human bosses cannot be downed repeatedly in quick-succession (need confirmation on downing enemies by making them fall forward with GS summon). You must wait a few seconds before doing so again, otherwise they will just stumble backwards and get back up. This includes downing enemies with weapons, except for weapons, it is a stumble cooldown, and they will not stumble again for a short time.

For Yokai, most (if not all) of these Guardian Spirits will cause flinch and interrupt their actions, including larger Yokai that cannot be staggered by attacks or projectiles.

• Aya-komori - Agility Damage Bonus
  
• Bisha's Centipede - Pierce Guard, Poison
  
• Blue Dragon - Elemental Damage Reduction (Guarding)
  
• Enku - Thrust Damage, Damage (Status Ailments)
  
• Fuse-ushi - Guard Ki Reduction, Life Recovery from Amrita Absorption
  
• Hi-nezumi - Unlimited Onmyo, Stealth for Enemies
  
• Itokuri - Paralysis
  
• Janomecho - Chance to prevent death while not in critical condition
  
• Kara-jishi - Guard Ki Reduction, Skill Life Drain
  
• Narikama Tanuki - Unlimited Elixir
  
• Nine Tails - Chance to nullify elemental damage, Divine/Ethereal Item Drop Rate
  
• Nurarihyon - Blind Enemy (Saturated)
  
• Paired Raiken - Skill Ki Damage, Yokai Close Combat Damage
  
• Saoirse - Special Effects (Critical)
  
• Shin-Roku - Summon gives temporary hyper armor (No Guard Break)
  
• Suzaku - Activate Living Weapon (No Life), Auto-Charge Amrita Gauge (Critical)
  
• Tengen Kujaku - Extended Elemental Effect, Stance-based bonus from Amrita Absorption, Yokai Damage Reduction, summoning during Living Weapon changes element to a different one randomly

For any secondary Guardian Spirit, you gain a smaller bonus of one of its listed properties when it is not the active Spirit. You also gain a second bonus based on the pairing of Guardian Spirits. Some have generic bonuses based on the element pairing while some have unique bonuses between specific Guardian Spirits. If this is of any interest, you can explore these properties as there are many unique combinations available. Though, it should not be a primary focus when deciding which Guardian Spirits to use.

Living Weapons' major weaknesses include:

• Any source of high Ki damage
  
• Pools that deal continuous damage
  
• Fire trails or environment-based fire

Ways to maintain Living Weapon or regain Amrita Gauge quickly:

• Extraction Talisman (produce Amrita on hit with any source)
  
• Pleiades Talisman (multiplies gauge gained from Amrita absrobed)
  
• Any Spirit Stone (amount of gauge restored depends on stone tier)
  
• Protection Talisman
  
• Projectile-based Elemental Onmyo Talismans while Extraction Talisman is active
  
  • Significantly boosts the gauge compared to any other source

Guardian Spirits can be summoned while Living Weapon is active.

With the DLC installed and upon unlocking the DLC regions, you can switch between two Guardian Spirits at any given time, including while Living Weapon is active. However, when switching while not using Living Weapon, the Amrita gauge must reset before you can gain gauge normally again or activate Living Weapon. When switching Guardian Spirits while Living Weapon is active, you lose a high amount of the "health" bar to use the Guardian Spirit you switched to.

Late for this, I know. Too many games to play to work on this and finish in a timely manner. The other issue is the perceived usefulness of this knowing how most people look up the old online guides for meta picks or supposed easier gaming experience. I mainly made this to have the summon effects visible along with the stat benefits the Guardian Spirits provide. If you find this useful, cool. If not, I hope you find better.