Last updated: 5 September 2026

Onimusha: Way of the Sword Skill Upgrade Priority — Best Skills to Unlock First

Way of the Sword splits its skill tree into two currencies and two categories, and it's easy to spend Oni Stones on flashy Special Skills before realizing you can't fully max the tree on your first playthrough anyway. Here's how the system actually works and which skills are worth grabbing early.

01Two Trees, Two Currencies

Everything is enhanced at the Spirit Mirror, under "Enhance Equipment/Abilities." Basic Skills and Special Skills draw from separate pools of currency, so hoarding one doesn't help you afford the other:

• Power Stones power up Basic Skills — the foundational moveset that includes Issen, Chain Issen, Break Issen Combo, Deflect, Blazing State, Oni Bow, Assassination, Stealth, Petrify, Flat-Out Sprint, Environmental Objects, Soul Absorption and Charm Capacity.
• Oni Stones power up Special Skills — the more advanced techniques: Oni Vision, Oni Strength, Oni Agility, Oni Awakening, The Two Celestials, Wind-Whipper, Earth-Shakers, Firebird Flute, The Flashing Void and Still Water.

02You Can Max Basic Skills, but Not Special Skills, in One Run

There are 54 Power Stones in the game, and you can realistically find enough of them across a single playthrough to fully upgrade every Basic Skill. Oni Stones are the same total count — 54 — but the game doesn't hand you enough of them in one playthrough to max the entire Special tree. Whatever you've unlocked carries into New Game+, and remaining Oni Stone pickups respawn there so you can finish the job on a second run rather than needing to farm them out in place.

Practically, that means Power Stone spending is close to a solved problem — you'll get to everything eventually — while Oni Stone spending is a real prioritization decision on your first playthrough, since some Special Skills simply won't be affordable until New Game+.

03Priority Pick: The Oni Vision Line

If you're deciding where to put early Oni Stones, the Oni Vision skills pay for themselves the fastest. They reveal nearby treasure and expand how far out your search radius reaches, which matters because a huge share of the game's collectibles — Power Stones and Oni Stones included — sit in easy-to-miss chests and side rooms. Unlocking the Oni Vision upgrades early means every subsequent area you explore turns up more of the very currency you're trying to spend, instead of relying on blind exploration or an outside guide to find everything.

04What to Grab on the Basic Side Early

Since Power Stones aren't the scarce resource, there's less risk in spending them, but Deflect and Soul Absorption are worth prioritizing over more situational picks like Stealth or Petrify early on — they come up in essentially every fight, whereas the situational skills only pay off in specific encounters. Chain Issen is also worth grabbing reasonably early if you're fighting through groups of Genma often, since it turns isolated Issen kills into a multi-target tool instead of a one-off finisher.