TL;DR

Scampuss
Att: 2
Anima: 4 +1/s
Amrita / YS %: 2%
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Charge (Enhanced) +4.2% +7.3%
- Scampuss Escort Duration +16.0% +31.5%
Effect: Turns into a spiky Scampuss and quickly roll forward, with followup movement input continuing the roll. Does tiny damage, tiny Ki damage, but... less tiny (still small) Ki damage on block and good stagger / knockback. Humanoids who are out of Ki are flattened if hit.
Comment: A Core this cheap should not be this good. WOW this thing puts in work for it's cost, and let's just cover the Perks first. Anima Charge (Enhanced) means as long as you have *any* kind of buff, you're getting increased Anima (which in NG's, is permanent). Scampuss's are also pretty fucking busted by themselves in the Anima they generate, and are great side-grades to spec for in Soul Core builds - increased escort duration is not a meaningless niche or luxury Perk. Either ways, the reason you're using a Scampuss Soul Core is because you've stacked the other two slots with massively expensive cores and want to fill the final slot; so Scampuss's Perks will naturally synergise with them to keep your Anima income high, and keep those nuke-tier Soul Cores rolling.
As for the Soul Core Attack itself, it's an instant startup that is completely immune to grabs (extremely strong property); and avoids most mid-height attacks (it's not iframes, you are still vulnerable to damage, but it is avoiding a lot and whiffs enemy targetting with it's speed). It's also immune to being staggered and all knockback. It's also able to suck up Yokai Realm with the appropriate skill, at all times when in use (which can actually mean it GIVES YOU Anima for using it). It's also probably faster than you dashing / running around than you are, if you need to reposition away, or chasedown an enemy. Small knockback lets it act like a short-range kick that can push enemies into your setups or environmental hazards. Low recovery time enables it to be used in combos freely, both to engage and continue combos (as it restores your Ki while in use), and it's one of the only Cores in the game that you can use from wakeup after being flattened, safely getting you out of dodge in tight spots. Oh, and don't forget - you can roll Attunement cost -1 on these things, so it costs 1 Attunement to equip. One. Attunement.
So fucking good.

Kodama
Att: 3
Anima: 3
Amrita / YS %: 1%
Fixed Perks:
- Elixir Efficacy 4.2% 7.3%
- Enhanced Kodama Blessings 10% 16%
Effect: By default, throws a near-non-damaging rock at a target with ~50% chance of dropping a free Medicine. In the Dark Realm, A Sudama instead shows up, instead casting a small lightning bolt on any target locked on.
Comment: Most people don't even know these things exist. Drop any Soul Core you have for a Sudama, and there's a chance you'll get one of these. Sadly, as you might guess, pretty fucking useless all around; even the Perks are too low-tuned to get value as a farming tool.

Karakasa Umbrella
Att: 3
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %: 2-3%
Fixed Perks:
- Water Resistance 4.2 7.3
- Paralysis Accumulation (Enemy) +8.4% +14.6%
Effect: Jumps up, and fires a spiral of low-damage projectiles in a spiral around you., that each deal light paralysis.
Comment: AoE version of Nure-Onna's Paralysis, but unlike Nure-Onna, is far less capable of confirming a Paralysis, and thus, far more dangerous to use (especially against small targets). Perks.... yeah, well it's funny that the Umbrella is reistant to Water, but it doesn't do it any favors in wanting to pick the damn thing up over a Scampuss core when filling up final slots.
Overall, just stuck between two better Soul Cores - you want something cheap, take the Scampuss, you want Paralysis, take Nure-Onna. You want cheap AND paralysis?..... take a Nure-Onna with an Attunement cost decrease perk.

Biwa Boku-Buku
Att: 4
Anima: 0
Amrita / YS %: 0
Fixed Perks:
- Damage vs Revenants +4.1% +7.3%
- Soul Core Drop Rate +1.0% +2.6%
Effect: {No Soul Core Attack}
Comment: Wow, it does nothing, and it's Perks are both terrible and undertuned. Worst core in the game, not even close.

Mujina
Att: 4
Anima: 0
Amrita / YS %: 0
Fixed Perks:
- Copy Enhancement 53.3% 105.1%
- Anima Charge (Unscathed) 3.7% 9.8%
Effect: {No Soul Core Attack}
Comment: Copy Enhancement is a rare and misunderstood perk. And by that, I mean it's useless. It exclusively works for self-applied Onmyo / Ninjutsu buffs, and does not even activate for Buffs that have a negative element (aka, if an enemy casts Berserk; you do not copy either the Attack Boost or the Defense Debuff). It does not copy buffs that come from Samurai Skills, Weapon Buffs, Guardian Spirit Buffs, Difficulty Curses or Boss Self-Buffs. It is literally, only humanoids using buff-only talismans. Hey, look I wish as much as you that it copied the DotD Curses. That would have made it viable. Yes, you can just unlock-and-lock-on multiple times to guarantee you copy a buff, and yes those talisman buffs are pretty fucking strong; but the use-case almost never happens naturally outside of Magic-based / Amrita-based Humanoid Bosses. Comes with slighlty above-avaerage Attack and Defense modifiers, so if you plan on farming Revenants, Mujina can put in work, but just is not worth it otherwise.

Gaki
Att: 4
Anima: 3
Amrita / YS %: 9% Total (1% x9)
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Charge (Dark Realm) 8.1% 11.3%
- Life Drain (Yokai Ability Hit) D- A-
Effect:
Comment: Cheap, shits out Amrita. Comes out fast enough, but you don't get damage or grab immunity, and the little bastard can easily miss. Main downside is that as long as the Gaki is deployed, you are technically still casting a Soul Core, even if you can move / attack during it - meaning that you're silenced out of using your other Soul Cores. Fine as an earlygame Soul Core to get faster Yokai Shifts (synergises well with Kagewani); quickly outclassed.
{ignores guard?}

Aberrant Soldier
Att: 4
Anima: 3
Amrita / YS %: 6%
Fixed Perks:
- Efficient Yokai Abilities (All) 7.3% 16.9%
- Anima Bonus (Timely Guard) 1.0 2.6
Effect: Fires a heavy projectile, and pushes you back slighlty. Hold any direction to cancel the recovery for free.
Comment: Best spammable Soul Core in the game, even more if you can find a core with the Perk to lower the Anima cost by 1. Solid damage, nukes Ki on block, comes out pretty fast, doesn't lock you out of anything; with a huge Yokai Shift % charge for it's Anima price. Has great targetting (even on vertical targets), but the delay between the input autolockon and the projectile coming out, means that sometimes a faster enemy can avoid it, if moving perpendicular. The small knockback also automatically puts you out of position to not get hit by most wakeup attacks (eg Wheelmonk). Combine it with the Nekomata Soul Core build, and this fucker does damage. DAMAGE. Ranged Attack properties also works with Phantom Guardian Spirits too, it's great for smashing horns, and you can use it as a basic combo extender (and pairs extremely well wih Kusarigama, where you can 100-0 anything that staggers by alternating between the two) (Kusarigama? Oh yeah, Ninjustu build, and Nekomata again). Also, great Perks, makes you entire arsenal cheaper (but only if you score killing blows with them), and gives you an entire discount Rokugezo Guardian Spirit Perfect Guard Anima Charge....... on a very cheap core. And that doesn't stop you from doubling up - Rokugezo + Aberrant = near-full-Anima charge every block; enabling you to get those high-cost Soul Cores in that Aberrant pairs well with as a cheapie.

Nure-Onna
Att: 4
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %: 4%
Fixed Perks:
- Poison Resistance 4.1 7.3
- Melee Damage Vs Unscathed Enemy 1.5% 3.1%
Effect: After a short delay, blasts a huge amount of Paralysis buildup directly in a 90' angle front of you. Deals 0 damage, and does not deal any stagger.
Comment: The range width on this is pretty huge, because it's anywhere her stare-flash touches (not just anything directly looking at her). Most reliable way in the game to apply Paralysis, and Paralysis is a pretty fucking useful effect. Also, enough buildup that you can reasonably do it a few times even into the higher NG's before Resistance buildup becomes a problem. On the other hand, does no damage, and has quite a bit of recovery to it - you better apply that Paralysis or you're gonna get punished. Keep in mind too, that once an enemy is in a grab animation, your Paralysis can apply after they've caught you, and Nure-Onna is not grab-immune (nor does her wrapping around you provide any extra damage resistance, sadly). As for her Perks, too vague / unfocused to do anything with, and doesn't do much for her. Also, the snake has huge knockers, and this is a great way to appreciate their jiggle physics + get a better look at her cute horrifying face, before your character throws her away, like the used Soul Core ability she is (thank you TeamNinja).

Oni-Bi (Thunder / Maelstrom / Infernal)
Att: 4
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Elemental Attack) C AA
- Elemental Damage 4.1% 7.3%
Effect: The player summons an Oni-bi which rushes forward, damaging enemies hit for their respective element as well as a chunk of Ki damage. This also imbues the player's primary weapon with the elemental type of the soul core if used when not unarmed or in Yokai Shift.
Comment: **
{Can grind from Biwa Boku Boku, but ultra-low droprate}
{Can be used as a way to recovery quickly from doing an attack, as the animation doesn't take long to do and the soul core is inexpensive, allowing you to extend combos or keep yourself safe.}

Bakegani
Att: 4
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Damage Taken -0.6% -2.4%
- Block 5 11
Effect: x3 Water spray {cone degree?}
Comment: substantial damage reduction (i haven't tested it for exact numbers, but it is at least 50%), and provides grab immunity

Ubume
Att: 4
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %: 3-4%
Fixed Perks:
- Strong Attack Ki Damage +1% +3.2%
- Amrita Earned (Yokai Shift) +7.1% +10.3%
Effect: Emits a shockwave that lasts 3 seconds and ticks 5 times. Deals no physical or elemental damage but heavy Ki damage on raw, moderate Ki damage on block, as well as large, iteratively stacking amounts of stagger and knockback. Also has a notable multplier for Yokai Enemy Max Ki Damage.
Comment: With almost no delay on it appearing, superarmor on startup and quick recovery before the enemy is able to respond (the hitboxes linger deceptively long), this is a solid pickup for it's Attunement and Anima price, both as a mid-combo stunlocking tool (especially near walls or vs zero-Ki targets; also giving you time to choose / perform a way to deal with a blocking enemy caught in it's stunlock), as a GTFO panic button that most small-medium enemies will get stunlocked into + shoved far away from you or just a plain old cheap cost Ki nuke. Pops horns pretty well too, and the long duration basically confirms your own full Ki bar once you're done with it. Comes with the very poignant downsides that enemies (especially bosses) can hyperarmor through it, it doesn't have priority to stagger enemies that are mid-attack and it is not immune to grabs in the slightest. While you won't be interrupted out of it by non-grabs either, you are still 100% vulnerable to damage if you get hit in the startup. On the other hand; for those kinds of larger Yokai enemies, if you can catch them with an Ubume in their own recovery frames, this thing will absolutely nuke their Ki; and it's especially good for Yokai wakeups to prevent them from regenerating their full Ki bar. Perks are ok too; Amrita in Yokai Shift might get you quite a bit of extra time on a good use; but the Strong Attack Ki Damage is too low-tuned to get much value out of (even on Tonfa's who would love it).
To put it simply, for a 4 cost Soul Core, it's the most cost-efficient Ki Nuke in the game, and is very close to being the best Ki Nuke full stop for Yokai enemies (while also filling in as a stunlocker, and a zero-Ki combo extender, and a panic button). If you want something much safer which can deal with on-block better, Nurikabe is king, but you really cannot match the price on this thing.

Wheelmonk
Att: 4
Anima: 5 + ~3/s
Amrita / YS %: 6%
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Scorched Enemy) C+ A+
- Dash Ki Consumption -1.0% -3.2%
Effect: Quickly turn into a Wheelmonk and move forward as long as you have Anima and are holding the movement button. Deals light physical damage and light Fire element damage (but at a relatively high rate of twice per second) along with massive . Additionally, leaves a lingering flame-trail that lasts for 2 seconds; dealing near-nonexistant Fire element damage, but moderate Burn buildup (again, at a notable high rate of ~4 times per second). Strong knockback, light stagger.
Comment: Despite the quick-start granting near-frame-1 immunity to grabs, the damage only begins after a slight delay; leaving you quite vulnerable to damage when starting off; especially considering the low stagger paired with it. On the other hand, near-nonexistant recovery and huge status application makes Wheelmonk a great initiation tool and combo extender; with a total damage output that punches way above it's Attunement cost. Despite a pretty bad turning radius, it's knockback chains quite well into itself, making Wheelmonk arguably the best forced-repositioning tool in the game (literally able to just push your target away from it's gang of buddies, so you can deal with it by yourself) - and all the while, the enemy AI seems not to acknowledge the trail you leave behind, making it great for mass-application of Burn status, with good chip damage on top. Finally, if you can get an enemy on the ground and caught in the trail; that very light damage begins to build up extremely fast, and also does very respectable damage for it's Attunement. Perks... they're alright - Dash-Ki consumption is just about worthless, but Anima on Burn is a great slot-in that any Fire-Element build would want.
But!
But.
But....
The Anima cost of this thing is not *just* high. It's off the fucking charts. And unlike other "movement type" cores, a basic input will hold you in place, and will not provide any movement or trail (not even a tiny dash), meaning you are forced to interact with the heavy Anima fuel that the Wheelmonk "burns" through. Perks won't save you here either - cost reduction only covers the initial 5 Anima cost (already steep), not the absolutely devastating bar-burning amount of worthless fuel it needs. It's good.... yet despite that, it's straight up fucking unusable; where even a Fire Element build could, would and should just take the Scampuss over it.

Kappa
Att: 4
Anima: 6
Amrita / YS %: ~0.3%
Fixed Perks:
- Life Drain (Water Attack) D- A-
- Block 5 11
Effect: 1 second of iFrames on cast, then a 30s buff immuning all damage taken from behind. If the shell takes too much damage, it will smash, releasing a tiny amount of Amrita. Does a small amount of non-damaging knockback on use and on smash, which can stagger mid-sized enemies if up close.
Comment: Amazing slot-in for any build that isn't Soul Core spam. Costs more than a Burst Counter, but is longer duration safety and gives you lingering survivability afterwards - enables you to immune a wide array of ultra-dangerous boss attacks on the higher difficulties, for a pretty fair Anima price. Only danger is that it is not grab immune - only damage immune. Combines perfectly with the Skill that lets you cleanse Yokai Realm puddles with Soul Core skills to keep it cheap. Perks are kinda shit and it barely gives any Yokai Shift Charge, but who cares, it's fucking iframes. Highly recommended for melee builds, even through DotN; but does take up a valuable slot for Soul Core spam.

Dweller
Att: 5
Anima: 3
Amrita / YS %: 6-8% (very unreliable, depends on number of hits)
Fixed Perks:
- Paralysis Resistance 4.1 7.3
- Anima Bonus (Grapple) 1.2 1.5
Effect: The Dweller spawns and attacks 3 times; the first raw hit on-target dealing light Physical damage, and any hit after dealing almost no Physical damage with moderate Ki damage on block and good stagger throughout. Enemies killed by the Dweller's attacks have a 25% increased droprate, limited to the Smithing Materials pool (including Yokai Materials, albeit extremely rarely) + Consumable Stones. This bonus is de-activated in the Dojo.
Comment: The item gimmick is nowhere near worth it - even if it carried a Luck modifier instead of a droprate modifier (which might have given it some ultra-niche use for farming with). The fact any hits after the first deal almost no damage is just the nail in the coffin that prevents this core from even achieving it's own gimmick.
In-combat, the microscopic range combined with the *just*-too-delayed startup prevents you from using it for anything other than mid-combo attacks due to low recovery and attacking + staggering as you attack; but it doesn't really do anything mid-combo aside from block Ki damage (which other cores are better at), and can even whiff your own attacks with it's unreliably-random amounts of knockback. Obviously it's not grab immune eiher, because why would it, and also brings absolute trash Yokai Shift Charge. Coupled with poor tracking when both coming out and when trying to stay on target (it's fixed in place), as well as it's own knockback whiffing following attacks, as well as all this being single-target-only; and every single other mid-combo pressure Soul Core effortlessly out-does it in every way. Perks do not save this in the slightest, even if it is a hefty chunk of Paralysis Resist.

Fox Spirit (Thunder / Maelstrom / Infernal)
Att: 5
Anima: 3
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Elemental Weapon Damage 1.0% 2.6%
- Life Drain (Fire / Water / Lightning Damage) D- A-
Effect:
Comment:
{The damage and Ki damage is low, but it has long range, is very inexpensive and relatively quick to cast, making it solid for regaining Ki at the end of a combo, pressure on blocking human enemies and for applying elemental status effects.}
{Fixed lifesteal to element of the soulcore can be used as early sustain solution if needed.}

Tesso
Att: 5
Anima: 3
Amrita / YS %: 3%
Fixed Perks:
- Active Skill Ki Damage +1.0% +2.8%
- Backstab Damage +1% +3.2%
Effect: Player does an emote, turns around and farts out a large cloud of high-buildup Stench, that deals up to 3 ticks of light Ki damage to anything that stays in the cloud.
Comment: But that's not Toxic. That's Stench. This ability does no damage whatsoever; Tesso's only use is to prevent enemy Revenants from using Medicine healing (and bro, that's never gonna happen, even if you're farming the damn things). Stench does increase damage taken, but it's also auto-cleansed by Water debuff, which does the exact same increase, but you can build around it. Suprising amount of superarmor on this one; but huge startup, huge recovery and not grab immune in the slightest - no use in combos paired with a useless debuff.
The only people running this are underageb&s who think fart joke = funny, ancient greek playwrights and philosophers who think fart joke = funny, and degenerate /trash/fags who are getting a different kind of entertainment out of the animation.

Lesser Umi-bozu
Att: 5
Anima: 3
Amrita / YS %: 2%
Fixed Perks:
- Water Damage 5.2% 11.6%
- Anima Bonus (Saturated Enemy) C+ A+
Effect: Your character aggressively makes a feraljak soyjak-face, and spits out a projectile that either deals a tiny amount of Physical damage, a small amount of Water damage and a large amount of Water buildup on contact - or does not hit a target and instead leaves a Water puddle that lingers for ~6s. You can have multiple puddles at once. Repeated inputs have no startup.
Comment: Honestly, a worse version of Toxic Slime, even before you consider it's lower range (for whatever reason). Water Element has more than enough ways to apply it's status, and this Core ain't one of the better ones. The reason you run this is for it's strong Perks on a dedicated Water Element build - both scale up very well, and are more than worth the value to pick up this core for cheap. Plus, hey, it's still a cheap spammable Core with all the good in-combat properties of Toxic, and a discount version doesn't mean it's useless. Still works well as a mid-combo recovery cancel, but outside of you reeeeeeeally~ wanting to run Water element, Abberant or Toxic both fit the niche better.

Toxic Slime
Att: 5
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %: 2-3%
Fixed Perks:
- Poison Resistance +4.1 +7.3
- Poison Accumulation (Enemy) +8.2% +14.6%
Effect: Your character aggressively makes a feraljak soyjak-face, and spits out a projectile that either deals a huge amount of Poison buildup on contact, or does not hit a target and instead leaves a Poison puddle that lingers for ~6s. You can have multiple puddles at once. Deals 0 direct damage. Repeated inputs have no startup.
Comment: Deceptively disgusting tracking and suprising amount of superarmor - if you are locked on and fire within range, this projectile will almost always hit, even through guards, even if the enemy is in recovery animations, even while the enemy is flying in the air, even if you have just knocked the enemy in the air mid-combo and they haven't even hit the fucking floor yet. Miss? Don't worry, those micropuddles stack up a shitton of buildup too. Enables Poison builds, basically an Aberrant Soldier that swaps out short term damage and stagger, for a long term powerful DoT and enabling Poison-based Perks. Even faster to use + spam than Aberrant, if a little bit more expensive in terms of Anima. Pair it with Shirohami and Yatsu-no-Kami, and you have an extremely earlygame makeshift Poison build, whose archetype can last all the way into DotN - or just stick it on any build, for a reliable way to apply the strongest DoT in the game for cheap, while also being a very good animation cancel for combos, that also never misses. Among one of the best cores in the game

Harinobo
Att: 5
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Thrust Damage
- Increased Attack (Enemy Killed)
Effect: You turn into a meaty ball full of spikes and roll along the ground. Functionally similar to Scampush, it differs in that you hit more frequently, automatically roll forward instead of backward and are much bigger, making it easier for you to hit enemies and for them to hit you. You are immune to grapples during this attack. Continuing to move will extend the duration of this attack. {Scampuss Buffed? Extremely hard to acquire}
Comment: Gimmick is that it's the lowest cost of the 'chanelled' Soul Cores to maintain, to the point you can reasonably swap Guardian Spirits mid-movement, and still have Anima remaining once you stop moving and it's off swap-cooldown. That said, it's just not a very good gimmick - Scampuss and Waira curbstomp it in either way you'd want to take it.

Enki
Att: 5
Anima: 5
Amrita / YS %: 12%
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Damage Taken) C AA
- Melee Damage vs. Humans 1.6% 3.1%
Effect: Leaps your hitbox up, and throws a spear with a huge log-tier hitbox at a fixed 45' angle.
Comment: Spammable, pops horns well, and pretty safe while using from afar (grab immune and raises your hitbox above sweeps, but not damage immune); but locking you in place while the enemy can dodge and being unable to aim it further means it's average at best. Damage and Ki damage is serviceable, but nothing to write home about. Best use is to charge Yokai Shift - safely spamming it 3 times for a third of a gauge in a few seconds isn't to scoff at. Basically useless Perks. No reason to use this once you get better Cores.

Konaki-Jiji
Att: 5
Anima: 5
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Damage Bonus (Equipment Weight) D+ B+
- Defense Bonus (Winded Enemy)
Effect: Instantly gains 75% (66%?) damage reduction, and slams head forward. Lasts 1.5 seconds.
Comment: "What if we turned Kappa into an attack". Deals moderate damage, but heavy amounts of Ki damage, both Raw and on Block. Extremely good, but it's usability depends on the armor your wearing - if you're in heavy, this is functional iframes, if you're light, then you're going to notice that chip damage, especially on more deadly attacks.
{The Damage Bonus doesn't scale particularly well with equipment weight. Basically it will give you ~3% more damage and stay their no matter how much weight you stack. However, it is a global damage bonus and applies to everything. Consider it like tempering Damage Bonus (Agility) on your Ranged Weapons.}
{The Winded effect is the same strength as the Steel talisman, and should be up the majority of the time during mobbing situations. It also works well with the Yokai Skills inherit damage reduction while doing the move.}
{Transform into a Konaki-Jiji and turn your body to stone before headbutting your enemy. While turned to stone you gain 66% damage reduction to Physical attacks, human attacks will be repelled as if they hit a wall, and you cannot be grappled as you are transformed. Does a moderate amount of damage and a large chunk of Ki damage. Human enemies will tumble after getting hit, allowing for follow up attacks.}
{This allows you to safely attack into enemies to do the last bit of damage or Ki damage you need to finish them, or perhaps to hit a horn, or to just tank through an attack you cant dodge easily. It essentially gives you the benefits of a tank build without actually having to build it.}

Seto Taisho
Att: 5
Anima: 6
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Toughness
- Equipment Drop Rate
Effect:
Comment: Stays out for a while

Skeleton Warrior Archer
Att: 6
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %: 3-4% x2
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Ranged Weapon Hit) C AA
- Auto-Grave Recovery 10.5% 31.5%
Effect: Two Skeletons spawn by your side and fire a single flaming arrow each, before crumbling. Deals moderate Physical damage, and light Fire Elemental damage + buildup.
Comment: Very, very strong contender for worst Soul Core attack in the game. Fire's two basic flaming arrows (which won't set off Burn status any day soon), which do all the things a normal flaming arrow does (detonate gunpowder, headshot flatten on humanoids, pops horns etc). You know what else is a good way to fire Arrows? Your own fucking Bow, you lazy bastard, which also deals more damage, and with more reliable accuracy. Also, can't be spammed and locks you out of other Soul Cores while the skeletons linger on the field; turning what could have been a overexpensive and weak core into a downright negative - only has use as a combo initiator on the tiny bit of hitstagger, from a short range. Pretty obviously, not grab or damage immune either.
That said, it's got good Perks, and they 'recover' it - Anima Bonus (Ranged Weapon Hit) is massive, and makes it invaluable for Bow / Gun / Cannon builds, and a strong pickup for Phantoms (this also applies to it's own shitty Soul Core attack, refunding some of it's cost as an apology). You really do stop giving a fuck about your Graves at a certain point, but hey, for new players is a huge stress relief when paired with Masaru, and it's a cute luxury perk for later NG's so you don't have to run around to get your Guardian Spirit back on deaths. Just.... make sure you're not sacrificing any Attunement slots for it.
{note outdone by Bolt + Nyotengu = useless core?}

Yamanba
Att: 6
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %: 9-10%
Fixed Perks:
- Movement Speed (Yokai Shift) 5.1% 8.3%
- Grapple Damage 3.1% 6.3%
Effect: Applies a 50% Melee Damage buff for 12s (2s taken up by the Soul Core attack = 10s in practice), followed by a short lunge that deals a small amount of damage.
Comment: That's not a small damage buff. That's a big fuckkin damage buff. But it only works for non-elemental melee damage Who cares. Just short of the 7piece set bonuses and the tiny-duration Skill Bonuses on various weapons, Yamanba provides the largest source of Attack Increase in the entire game. With the way it works too, it doesn't override or shorten other attack buffs - if you're running Power Pills (10%-25%) or Carnage Talismans (40%); Yamanba's higher value will override for the duration her own buff is active, before silently switching back to the previous lower value. Suffice to say, Yamanba is an extremely high value Soul Core for any kind of general Melee build. You definitely can't spam her (since she's got the moderate startup while she applies the buff, she's vulnerable to both grabs and damage, her actual damage + ki damage + stagger is pretty weak, and she lingers for half a second once you're done), but she's got almost no recovery period for your own attacks and her pre-fire tracking is almost flawless, meaning that you can fluidly use her as an enemy is downed to immediately get behind them and roid up your Critical attack (which her Perk also buffs up) and any later followup for massive fucking damage. Yamanba alone turns 2 Critical's into the value of 3. She's got very respectable Yokai Shift charge, she's pretty cheap to run, and the distance her dash takes you can easily close gaps from schizo-mobility bosses, or overshoot you just enough to get backstab bonuses on your Critical. Amazing core; especially if you're the kind of person who uses Cores more sparingly and just want some cool ways to augment your playstyle.

Rokurokubi
Att: 6
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %: 6-16% (6-8% x2, second often misses)
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Scorched Enemy) C+ A+
- Yokai Ability Damage (Poisoned Enemy) +16% +31.5%
Effect: Neck elongates, and the head spins around twice; dealing moderately high physical damage, light Ki damage on raw and heavy Ki damage on block. This can hit twice, but only on large enemies either directly in front, or to the back-left. Can hit smaller enemies twice, but you need to be dead-next to them.
Comment: Low startup, bad recovery and vulnerable to grabs; but the main calling card is the good amount of superarmor on cast (don't rely on it in higher difficulties, you'll just get oneshot). 'Works' as a combo extender and as pressure on block, especially for dodge-y humanoid enemies that try to get around you; but wants to be paired with weapons with pulls, that can play around the knockback (Kusarigamas / Switchglaives are probably the only weapon that can work it - pulling in before the hits and pulling in after the hits). Overall it's just outclassed by other mid-combo Cores, finisher Cores and Ki nuke Cores that do the same things more reliably and with more utility; especially considering the average Attunement / Anima price point. Perks can save this core however - that Poison increase is not to be laughed at, and pairs amazingly with Yatsu-no-Kami nukes (but at the same time, Poison has other options). Burning Anima bonus is also nice and viable, but likewise, Fire has other options. Extremely conditional - not to say it doesn't work, just that you're almost never hitting them conditions.

Flying Bolt
Att: 6
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %: 4% (Melee Attack is 3%, Projectile is 1%)
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Ranged Weapon) C AA
- Reduced Movement (Ranged Weapon) 26.6% 51.4%
Effect: Turns into a Flying Bolt; and a performs a long-ranged melee attack, which shoots out a cloth-projectile. The melee attack has a range of ~5m, deals near-nonexistant Physical damage, strong Ki damage on raw (light on block), has light stagger and huge knockback, pushing small-medium enemies to it's furthest point. The projectile spawns at the end of this dealing near-nonexistant damage, minimal Ki damage and no knockback, but has a large buildup of Sloth status. The melee portion does not build Sloth.
Comment: It's a Sloth Talisman on a Yokai Core, with some knockback on it; and is exactly as useful as that sounds. Instant startup (including grab immunity) and quick recovery, on top of it casting faster than the Onmyo Sloth Talisman means it's easier to access, and it can be very easily weaved into combos, primarily for creating space / as a non-damaging combo finisher with the one of the strongest luxury debuffs in the game. This comes at the same cost as the Sloth Talisman does however - once you're out of the first NG cycle, the resistance to Sloth debuff goes through the roof, making it extremely difficult to apply to begin with (let alone repeatedly); even before the deadzone for the projectile (that can mean it misses entirely, even before your target not being knocked back properly). Attunement is moderate, and 4 Anima is extremely cheap for a Sloth application, but as the resistances start rising and the duration of Sloth starts lowering, that 4 Anima starts to need to be used multiple times to get the same effect. This isn't helped by the Innate Perks either, which are deceptive.....-ly shit. They only work for Bow/Gun/Cannon builds, as the Anima bonus only applies to your equippable 2-slot ranged weapons (not Onmyo, Ninjutsu, Soul Cores including itself, or Phantom Yokai Shift attacks). Also, that's not a Reducing their Movement by 25-50%, that's a 25-50% chance to apply the Reduced Movement / Sloth debuff (a Perk that you can only squeeze to a total of 84.4%, and after a long and annoying grind for Dokisai's Helmet Smithing Text off of one missable Revenant in one misison) - it's got a huge amount of buildup, but like the Soul Core, it suffers to resistances and just isn't worth it to buid.
Don't get me wrong, it's a really nice Soul Core, and one of the best for a first runthrough. But why risk it missing or not activating Sloth, when Tsuchigumo guarantees it for less price than a double-cast, with more going on?

And if you were wondering, the real name of the Yokai is Ittan-momen. No idea why she's called Flying Bolt in the translated release.

Oboroguruma
Att: 6
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Charge Attack Boost +2.1% +3.6%
- Amrita Earned +2.1% +3.6%
Effect:
Comment: Only source of Corruption Damage + Buildup on a Soul Core, a must-have for Corruption builds. Great for duelling human types - pushback, heavy ki, nukes block

Hellish Hag
Att: 6
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %: 15%
Fixed Perks:
- Life Recovery (Amrita Absorption) 10 23
- Dash Speed +3.2% 6.3%
Effect: After a short delay, does a long charge foward, followed by a small delay and a shorter charge. Deals strong damage on the first charge and weak damage on the second, low Ki damage each time and pushes enemies as it goes. Flattens low-Ki humanoids
Comment: Poor man's Gozuki. You trade the Damage, Ki nuke / easy flatten and Yokai Shift Charge; and keep the colossal range on locked on targets, grab immunity, micro-recovery and solid tracking (better tracking actually, since the Hag dashes twice, and can 180' to chase around on the second one) - in exchange for cheaper Attunement and Anima. Basically, same utility but cheaper. Works just as well as a combo initiator and extender (especially considering the Anima / availability of it), less so as a finisher. Perks are nice for luxury too - that chip-heal on Anima really keeps you topped off, especially if paired with any kind of core that shits out Amrita orbs (and can also activate some limited on-heal effects).

Ongyoki
Att: 6
Anima: 4 +
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Stealth
- Backstab Damage
Effect: Upon activation your turn into Ongyoki and turn invisible. Enemies that aren't bosses will immediately de-aggro from you. You can extend the period you remain in this state by holding the button or moving, as long as you have Anima to spend. When you exist the state, you attack by spinning the staff in front of you, dealing physical damage as well as accumulating Corruption. While transformed, you cannot be grabbed, and while invisible, you are also invincible. * Comment: {Faster iframes than Waira, lower damageNext to Kappa as best Def.}*

Onyudo
Att: 6
Anima: 5
Amrita / YS %: 6% (1% per hit -1)
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Elemental Attack) C AA
- Elemental Damage Taken -2.1% -3.6%
Effect: Turns into an Onyudo, and steadily moves forward, striking 7 times. Each hit deals moderate physical damage, light elemental damage, strong Ki damage (on both raw and block) and good elemental debuff buildup.
Comment: A cool core that's brought down by bad turning radius, unreliable stagger / knockback (since both are pretty low - most of it is you pushing the enemy's hitbox forward along with the charge) and weird hitboxes (it struggles to hit flattened / low enemies at times especially with elevation). While you are immune to grabs, the fact of the matter is that your stagger and knockback is not enough that it makes no damage reduction on this thing anything less than walking at the enemy face-first. Overall, it is a usable Ki nuker (especially on block) for it's price point, but the inability to safely play it into flattened enemies and the somewhat noticeable delay after works against this usage. The gimmick of "variable elements" is one of those things that sounds cool, until you remember that you can just equip a dedicated elemental Core of your choice, and also that your Guardian Spirit Attack is probably a better applier of status and element damage anyways (not like Onyudo's is anything much to write home about). The Anima Bonus (Elemental Attack) Perk sounds nice, but is exclusive to Elemental damage output - your mileage will massively vary with this depending on how your damage is split. For predominantly Physical builds (aka most players), this will give almost nothing; for Omnyo or certain Guardian Spirits that are heavily / entirely Elemental, this can let you tank through damage you have no right tanking through and scales up with NG cycles. Overall, it's just weak and outclassed. Fine for your first run if you don't know better; but swap it for a direct upgrade once you can.

Kiryoki
Att: 6
Anima: 5
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Active Skill Damage 1.6% 3.1%
- Extended Elemental Weapon 8.3% 12.9%
Effect: 4 shockwaves forward
Comment: Ranged option for Combo-extension; shockwaves = unblockable (pair with Shiro / Ito). Fastest startup+recovery of the ranged attacks, and features a good amount of damage to boot - lacks the range and tracking of Aberrant, but mid-combo it'll catch anything close to you.
{Borderline broken, but held back by cost and poor + unreliable tracking / hitbox to be reliable. Good perk, Active Skill is damage that scales - even if low, adds up, especially on Active-skill-heavy weapons like Odachi, Tonfa, Switchglaive}

Underworld Soldier
Att: 6
Anima: 5
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Grapple) 1.2
- bMelee Damage (Dark Realm
Effect:
Comment: Changes effect depending on target. Yokai ver. can miss short enemies. Grapple long duration for Humans
While fully transformed, you cannot be grappled.

Suiki
Att: 6
Anima: 5 +
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Enemy Saturated)
- Anima Charge (Yokai Shift)
Effect:
Comment: Discount Enenra for Water

Nuppeppo
Att: 6
Anima: 6
Amrita / YS %: 10% (1% x10)
Fixed Perks:
- Life
- Life Recovery (Amrita Absorption)
Effect:
Comment: Does not benefit from it's own buff; and the buff is Yamanba's but with a downside. Only usecase is to either stack it with Yamanba, or if you already have some source of Attack Up y; otherwise she's cheaper, safer and basically better in every way aside from AoE hitbox.

Fuki
Att: 6
Anima: 6
Amrita / YS %: 15%
Fixed Perks:
- Ranged Damage 1.8% 5.4%
- Dash Ki Consumption -2.8% -5.8%
Effect:
Comment: Basically, you're choosing between this and Aberrant if you want ranged damage Soul Cores to spam. This one is the higher-risk, higher-reward one; costing and dealing more damage per shot, with less safety. Perk boosts itself, and is a great addition to any Phantom Yokai Shift.

Kinki
Att: 6
Anima: 7
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Bare-Handed Attack Damage
- Damage Taken -0.7% -2.4%
Effect: Charge-slam
Comment: Honestly, a pretty mediocre Core in the greater scheme of things, that's just done better by Gozuki. But it's got a niche; and it fits that niche well. For the motherfuckers that show up to a swordfight competely unarmed (not using Fist weapons, I mean, unarmed). Bare-Handed Builds are dangerously viable memes when squeezed, since they work around exchanging most of their flat damage that they'd expect from a weapon, for numerous large %increases that quickly ramp up exponentially - so ANY unique large source to them is like cocaine. Kinki is the only Soul Core that lets you squeeze it further with it's boosted Fixed Perk, along with a Core that (while outclassed by other chasedown Cores like Hag or Gozuki) still gets the job done, and is of high value utility to the micro-ranged and low-mobility playstyle that is Bare-Handed. Also, while you're not gonna take it for this reason; for those Bare-Handed builds, you can stack this with Nurikabe and Lady Osakabe to hit a very fucking respectable 7.3% Damage Reduction (from all sources, which includes environment or DoT) - and since Bare-Handed builds always spec for the heaviest armour, that's before the damage you're mitigating from that.

Mitsume Yazura
Att: 7
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %: 3%
Fixed Perks:
- Enemy Sensor
- Anima Charge (Critical) 9.4% 15.6%
Effect: Roots the player in place and turns into a Mitsume Yazura, before firing lasers all around that hit twice, dealing no Physical damage, light Elemental damage, good Ki damage (on raw and on block), heavy stagger / knockback and heavy Element buildup. The laser-visual-cue is a lie; it's a full 360' AoE. The element Mitsume Yazura fires depends on the Guardian Spirit you have equipped.
Comment: Fast startup, cheap Anima, grab immunity and high knockback makes this a good on-demand Panic button; but it's balanced around the variable-element gimmick, and suffers for it. You know what else deals the same Elemental Buildup as your Guardian Spirit? Your Guardian Spirit's unique Spirit attack, which is often way better (on top of not taking up Soul Core slots or Attunement). You're not gonna combo-extend with it either, due to notable recovery. All the elements also have better Status Appliers and Damage Nukes that are cheaper or higher damage (usually both) - and for a panic button, Ubume does the same, but better, for almost half the Attunement. That said, while there are better Fire / Water / Lighting Soul cores; Mitsume is one of a very few Cores that is even able to deal Purity / Corruption, when paired with a respective spirit. Great... until Oboroguruma is just flat better for Corruption; so all that's left for Mitsume Yazura is being *paired* with White Tiger as an alternate cheap Anima application option for Purity builds. And even then.... you've got better things you can run instead of a second Purity applier. Useless Perks don't do it any favors either.
The depressing part is that it used to have a really fucking cool niche - if you swapped Spirits before it fired, you could swap your elemental damage output on the fly; making it an invaluable general-application tool for Confusion builds, that could neatly fit on your Secondary Spirit without interfering with your main Soul Cores. Then it got 'fixed' / patched. Shame. Overall a Ki nuke with a buildup gimmick that's firmly outclassed by every other one.

Koroka
Att: 7
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Fire Damage 5.4% 11.6%
- Stealth D A
Effect: Casts 4 Fireballs that each individually deal light Fire Element and strong Burn buildup, and slowly chase a target at short range. In Dark Realm, casts 8 Fireballs.
Comment: The heavy delay is the worst part about this core - but at the same time, you can use it on any wakeup / Crit recovery animation to completely cover it's cast time, and chase along with the slow Fireballs for nice pressure. Doesn't change the fact that such extreme startup is going to get you killed, since you're neither grab or damage immune; and the status buildup is nowhere near guaranteed, even on first application. Just a kinda shit Soul Core attack overall for the cost (everything it does, something else does better or cheaper - namely Oni-Bi, Scampuss or Shuten). Main value lies in it's Perks - valuable side-pick for Fire element builds considering that it scales upwards well, and even if not, it basically maxes out your Stealth if you want it as a luxury perk without investing (which if you think is useless aside from out-of-combat, say it again after an out-of-arena boss drops aggro on you without you even trying, and setting up a free round of buff refreshes and more reliable backstab Critical + Unaware target bonuses).

Namahage
Att: 7
Anima: 5
Amrita / YS %: 6%
Fixed Perks:
- Melee Damage vs. Zero-ki Enemy +5.2% +8.3%
- Defense (Yokai Shift) +32 +63
Effect: Moves forward in a straight line, striking 7 times in quick succession, with the final one beng slighlty delayed but with identical properties. Each hit deals moderate damage, moderate Ki damage on raw (minimal on block) and has good stagger + knockback as it pushes them along.
Comment: You're using this Core for stunlock and only for stunlock - the damage on it isn't to write home about for the cost, and it has pretty poor tracking due to only moving in a straight line. With how the Perks are designed, it's pretty obvious they wanted you to use this as a combo ender / zero-ki stunlock extender due to it's high number of hits in a short time, combined with the taxing recovery period (especially on the humanoids it more easily stunlocks); but there are multiple cores on this Attunement tier that just do more, while also doing more, and cheaper cores that do it's various applications better (Scampuss, Ubume, Yamanba etc). Grab immunity is nice, but the dogshit perks are not.

One-Eyed Oni
Att: 7
Anima: 6
Amrita / YS %: 15-20%
Fixed Perks:
- Strong Attack Damage +1.6% 3.1%
- Break +3 +6
Effect: After a moderate delay, does 4 forward attacks. Does not hit all the away around in a circle as the animation suggests; but can hit low-stance and flattened enemies.
Comment: It's got good damage, and it's main use is to shatter through blocking enemy's Ki; but the heavy delay, heavy recovery, low tracking on input, can whiff it's own attacks, high overall Attunement + Anima cost and lack of either grab or damage immunity just takes and takes and takes away from this purpose. Overall, a bad and expensive core whose basic-tier Strong Attack Perk puts in more work than the Skill itself . While even small Break increases can be significant Break, this one isn't worth it. Just outclassedin all ways before you even get it. Do not use.

Yoki
Att: 7
Anima: 6
Amrita / YS %: 10-11
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Amrita Absorption) D- B-
- Defense (Yokai Shift) 32 63
Effect: Humanoid Grapple,with a followup. If it comes in contact with a grapple immune enemy, both the grapple and the follow up will perform and deal damage.
Comment: Higher damage tuning with good tracking and a respectable amount of Yokai Shift charge; but locks you out of movement for way too long, both on connect and a whiff, relegating to only have use as a combo finisher (of which there are better). Only good in 1v1's vs grapple-able enemies, which, to be fair, does make up some of the harder missions in the game - but only works on bosses if their Ki is low (will take priority + immune all other enemy grabs though). Cheap Anima brought down massively by Attunement that just ain't worth the investment otherwise. Perks are weak; bonus Anima has huge uptime but is way too low-tuned, Defense is a solid chunk on first NG but does not scale in the slightest, so is useless once Armour is in the 100's alone. Usable in first NG, but just skip on this one.

Yasha
Att: 7
Anima: 6
Amrita / YS %: 9.5%
Fixed Perks:
- Active Skill Ki Consumption -2.2% -4.3%
- Anima Bonus (Water Attack) D+ B+
Effect: Stomps down, pushing forth a wall of water, pushing enemies along with it. Hits up to 3 times, dealing high Physical damage, moderate Water element and high Water buildup. Low Ki damage on raw and block, but high stagger. Humanoids out of Ki are flattened.
Comment: Water Nuke for Water Builds. Main downside is that it's got some recovery (preventing it from being used as a combo extender, even before knocking enemies away), but boy does it hit like a truck. High hitbox pops horns and even catches flying enemies, wide hitbox gives you space in trashmobs, and grab immunity keeps it safe. Perks are low tuned, but are more than valuable enough on the water builds that want to run her. Other than that, struggles compared to other generalist Soul Cores - works as a one-and-done Water buidup application tool, but you've got cheaper options.

Ippon-Datara
Att: 7
Anima: 7
Amrita / YS %: 16%
Fixed Perks:
- Yokai Ability Damage (Scorched Enemy) 16.0% 31.5%
- Equipment Drop Rate 2.7% 5.3%
Effect: Does a flip, and slams down a hammer in short range. In Dark Realm, creates a lingering Fire puddle for ~5s.
Comment: Good physical damage, light elemental damage (heavy inside Dark Realm), heavy Ki damage and heavy stagger. Best used as a way to reliably pancake / ground humanoid enemies to set up for a Critical, but does pop horns well into Yokai enemies too, and on Bosses is a reliable Burn application in Dark Realm. A commonly used combo-extender Soul Core - it comes out fast, has very little recovery and rarely misses; but is slighlty brought down by its Anima and Attunement cost, preventing it from being used too often (and in turn leading others to come out on top). Does truecombo off of a lot of Weapon Skills that stagger, often charged attacks, and is fast enough to be used on Critical-state enemies and still get the Critical off. Pretty bad Anima cost to Yokai Shift charge ratio (but to be fair, you're not using it for that). Has taken definite nerfs since it's release state - you now need the enemy to *already* be on Fire to activate it's own Perk and reach damage closer to what it once was, rendering it somewhat overrated in the final build of the game compared to it's strength on release; and it's Ki damage on block is much more average. No useful Perks otherwise. Oh, and it does dodge sweeps and avoids grabs on reaction (your hitbox is indeed lifted completely off the ground / above your head for a few frames), but you aren't damage immune. Overall, a good Soul Core, but you've got better options available to you - a pretty controversial take, considering retards still think it's the best Core in the game after the nerfs.

Itsumade
Att: 7
Anima: 8
Amrita / YS %: 15-16%
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Purification) 0.3 1.6
- Corrupted Accumulation (Enemy) 8.4% 14.6%
Effect: * Ki nuke
Comment: Tatarimokke. Not grab immune*

Nurikabe
Att: 8
Anima: 2 (6)
Amrita / YS %: 32% (8%, 9%, 15%) (up to ~61% if hitting multiple targets)
Fixed Perks:
- Damage Taken -0.6% -2.4%
- Toughness 3 9
Effect: Shifts, and strikes downward, up to 3 times. Last strike has an extended hitbox, deals more damage and splats out-of-Ki enemies. Inputs need to be made in advance.
Comment: Deceptively huge range, paired with the cheapest Anima cost in the game. Medium stagger followed by high stagger, and massive amount of Ki damage on raw and on block; with somewhat lacking damage to compensate. Completely immune to grabs from activation, making it extremely safe to use even in a panic. Downside that you're rooted in place for a while, you need to input your duration on prediction (not reaction), you are not damage immune, and it's duration and recovery is just pushing it to be reliably used in combos unless you get the staggers (but it does set up Criticals, so makes for a great finisher). One of the best Amrita / Yokai Shift cores in the game due to it's huge hitbox, on-demand Anima cost and high total charge - in many ways, superior to Mezuki, due to it being safer and far cheaper to use. Perks are very low tuned, but they're the kind of perks that are so valuable, it doesn't matter - blanket mitigation that scales upward, and helps get you to those valuable lategame Toughness tiers. Definitely underrated.

Waira
Att: 8
Anima: 5 + 1.25/s
Amrita / YS %: 3%, followed by 4-12% (varies greatly depending on how much of the hitbox you land)
Fixed Perks:
- Melee Damage (Dark Realm) 2.1% 3.6%
- Other Realm Resistance 1.6 3.1
Effect: Dives down, dealing a small amount of Physical damage and a good amount of Ki damage on raw. From there, will stay underground (immune to all damage), until either stopping movement or running out of Anima. Once finished, will burst out, with a number of high damage AoE's originating from the centre. Does not stealth you against enemies that are already alerted. Humanoids can be knocked up and flattened at low Ki.
Comment: This is not iframes for evading things with, nor is it a way to sneak-approach enemies. This is a mid-combat damage Soul Core that helps deal with crowds of enemies (trashmobs and large alike), ideally as a ultra-safe finisher as you quickly recover all your Ki for the duration to set up for your next chain. You also want to be using the initial dive-in's damage to set up a Ki break, or to catch an enemy in a fixed animation, so you can aim the explode-out perfectly. Finally, the startup is completely immune to grabs (but not damage), making it a solid choice as a mindless counter to enemy indicators. To get the absolute most out of it, approach it a bit differently - unlock and turn the camera downward to get dead-centre hits more easily. Perks are complete wastes, basically nonexistant. Fun core to use, and definitely viable for the everyman, but expensive Anima costs if you're careless with it, and doesn't do anything else especially well aside from damage, for an Attunement tier that definitely works against it.

Giant Toad
Att: 8
Anima: 7
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Bomb Damage
- Untouched Ninjutsu
Effect: 5 times
Comment: **

White Tiger
Att: 8
Anima: 7
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Enemy Purified)
- Purified Accumulation (Enemy)
Effect:
Comment: Only source of Purification Damage + Buildup on a Soul Core, a must-have for Purification builds.

Tsuchigumo
Att: 8
Anima: 7
Amrita / YS %: 10-11% (Startup-hit only, and not if blocked. Web provides 0%)
Fixed Perks:
- Active Skill Ki Damage +2.2%
- Dodge Ki Consumption -1.6%
Effect: Creates a lingering web around you that lasts ~8s and slows enemies inside. Startup does moderate Physical and Ki damage in an AoE around the character. Multiple webs can be active at one time.
Comment: If you've been with Nioh for any amount of time, you might have realised that Sloth Talismans are fucking busted. Or "were" fucking busted - they've only taken hits to their buildup since their inception, to the point only Onmyo builds can use them these days, even before later NG's. This is where Tsuchigumo comes in - it's an AoE field of guaranteed Sloth for a decent period of time - more than enough to be able to breathe easily and reapply your damn buffs in peace. Instant startup, slightly delayed recovery, and restores Ki for the duration. It's also grab immune (which is nice), and enemy AI will actively try to escape the web, even if it means running away from you and turning their back, for a nice backstab modifier.
If you don't care about the haters and want your damn fucking Sloth, Tsuchigumo is the luxury Core you're after - under the downside that it's a damn expensive Anima cost, even for how useful it is.

Ancient Nyotengu
Att: 8
Anima: 7
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Ranged Hit) D+ B+
- Untouched Tengu Fan 49.4% 59.5%
Effect:
Comment: Combo with Phantom for blanket anima Yes, she's a crossover from Dead or Alive.
{Anima Bonus (Ranged Hit) also applies to things like shurikens and spells. Ranged weapon hit is purely guns/bows/hand cannons.Grab vuln. You create three Nyotengu clones to attack an enemy you lock on to. It has far range and does a large amount of Ki damage. If you don't lock on to an enemy, the three clones fan out in front of you instead..The recovery time isn't long, making it a strong option to continue offense or safely attack at range.}

Karasu Tengu
Att: 9
Anima: 4
Amrita / YS %: 0%
Fixed Perks:
- Anima 0.7 1.6
- Anima Bonus (Onmyo Magic Hit) D A
Effect: Creates a non-damaging vortex that lightly pulls small enemies in. The player's hitbox rises into the air, pauses, then comes slamming down in a good Physical damage hit, with good Ki damage on raw (poor on block). Small and medium enemies are also flattened if caught directly underneath.
Comment: Just like the skill itself, this Soul Core has big upsides and big downsides. Main upside being very, very safe iframes once cast - it's immune to grabs all the way throughout, and while you're not immune to damage in the startup, once you're in the air, nothing hits you. That startup is fast, and the recovery is.... well it's OK (neither good nor bad; and you don't need it to be amazing, since the splats it sets up cover the recovery for you). Pretty cheap, good damage, pops horns very reliably, great for clearing out trashmobs, and can immune dangerous / annoying moves from large bosses. Great perks here too - small chunk of Anima that helps pay for itself, and an Anima Bonus for Magic users that scales into later NG's, which is enough to make it considerable for that alone (making it functional free and aggressive iframes on demand, if you've got a constant source of Onmyo feeding it, such as the Elemental Familiars - or just a battery for your other Cores). But then we get into downsides - most obviously being, holy shit, 9 Attunement. Also can easily miss on larger enemies it doesn't vortex, and 0 Yokai Shift Charge is just plain unreasonable. Also, if you're going for 9 Attunement for an Omnyo Anima bonus..... why not just spend 1 extra and take Ryomen, who provides a better version of the same Perk, on top o being Ryomen. Hey, not saying you can't take both here - but these are expensive cores on a limited budget. Karasu Tengu is expensive to the point of inefficient in terms of Attunement when there's better options, but fits in fine for Onmyo builds.

Tatarimokke
Att: 9
Anima: 5
Amrita / YS %: 9%
Fixed Perks:
- Yokai Ability Damage (Corrupted Enemies) +17.0% +31.5%
- Melee Damage (Dark Realm) +2.2% +3.6%
Effect: After a very long startup, releases 4 homing Soul-projectiles, each dealing minor Physical damage and moderate Ki damage. If these projectiles do not find a target, they instead fall to the floor and create 4 Yokai Realm puddles. Has a notable amount of knockback vs Humanoid enemies, and instead has a notable Ki damage multiplier vs Yokai enemies. Projectiles are completely unblockable, but can be destroyed by enemy attacks before contact.
Comment: Very unique Soul Core with a few cool applications. For starters, it's way too slow to be used in a combo and way too low damage by itself to be used as any kind of pressure tool (and it's not grab immune or damage resistant either, making it extremely risky combined with it's delay and cast time). It's the unique attributes where it shines.
To begin with, when paired with Itokuri (or Shirohami), the projectiles it fires become completely unblockable sources of status buildup, and each individually combine to apply quite a lot of buildup despite their low base buildup properties - which in particular for Itokuri's case, can make a it a guaranteed way to bust an enemy out of block state (something that not even the dedicated Ki nukes are capable of). Next, it's ability to create free Yokai Realm pools actually enables it to be viably used as not only as a setup for an endless Anima battery (Dragon's Echo + Devour Yokai Realm + any Anima increaseon Purification), but gives Yokai Realm and Other Realm skills a reliable way to activate. This also applies for all Yokai-Realm-Cleanse effects too - most notably of which being the Izanagi Grace 7pcSet Bonus (granting a hefty 30% damage increase; along with a variety of useful luxury buffs).
But most of all, it combines with it's bird-bro Itsumade for the single highest possible damage output any Soul Core combo can do;

• Step 1: Use Tatarimokke. If you want to use it when enemies are around you, turn around for it, the souls won't home in on them.
• Step 2: (Optional) Take 4 steps back, turn towards the Yokai Realm you just made, do it again. If the puddles connect, they'll cancel out, so you need to get used to the range on this. Don't do this in combat, it's risky enough as is, and one set is more than enough damage; this second step is only good as setup, such as for in-between waves.
• Step 3: Run 90' to the square you've just created, and while not touching it (or you'll suck up some of the Yokai Realm Pools with the Shiftling Skill), use Itsumade.
• Step 4: Itsumade detonates Yokai Realm Pools. Each individual puddle detonated deals ~x3 the amount of damage that any other Soul-Core-Nuke in the game does. Anything caught in the middle gets hit with 8 ultra-nukes and the Itsumade's lesser-nuke (that one is 'only' on the same level as the other Nuke-tier Soul Cores).
• Step 5: There is no Step 5. Nothing survives this shy of Corrupt-immune enemies or the intentionally bullshit difficulty Abyss Depths stuff. I'm not even joking, kidding, exaggerating or any variation of the term - on a dedicated build this combo can do just shy of 750,000 damage; in the same climate where a fully charged high-stance heavy attack deals ~5.000 damage and the other nuke-cores on dedicated builds scrape near the 50,000 mark under optimal conditions, and "one-shot" empowered Ninjutsu / Omnyo builds come close to the 200,000 mark.

Takes some time to set up, and definitely takes some getting used to, but combined, the Tatarimokke-Itsumade combo will easily oneshot non-Corrupt-immune bosses by itself, even before buff-debuff setup. To simply compare it to the other Nuke-damage Soul Cores is an unfair understatement. Combine all this with the Yokai Ability Damage (Corrupted Enemies) Perk being near-mandatory on Corruption builds (which Itsumade is also a part of); and the Owl might not be the strongest, it might not be the cheapest and it might not be the best for combos; but it's niche utility is both ultra-valuable and very viable.

Magatsu Warrior
Att: 9
Anima: 6 + 3
Amrita / YS %: 6-7% (single input) / 10-11% (double input)
Fixed Perks:
- Active Skill Damage 1.6% 3.1%
- Anima Charge Bonus (Cumulative Damage) C AA
Effect: Grows an extra set of arms and begins slashing; with each melee slash firing a corresponding ranged attack. Attacks depend on the number of inputs - a single input will do 2 attacks, followed by a doubleslash finisher, while a second input will do 4 extra attacks (6 total), followed by the double-slash finisher. The finishing portion does not have a corresponding melee attack; so the maximum number of hits is 14. Each slash does moderate Physical damage and moderate Ki damage; while the light projectiles deal light Physical damage and light Ki damage, and each of the double-projectiles do moderate Physical damage and moderate Ki damage. All attacks penetrate, and do strong stagger and light knockback. When unlocked, these projectiles will come out at various angles; while locked onto an enemy, these projectiles come out horizontally (and will change mid-cast accordingly).
Comment: You're not using this just for the projectiles - while they certainly put in some work, both Attunement and Anima costs are too damn expensive for them. Instead, if you're running Magatsu, you need to be reliably landing the melee portion; which is sadly brought down by them pushing away most enemies with their own knockback (pushing enemies out of the sweet spot), even if done a point-blank range. While you usually want to do both stages; the cheaper option is perrfectly timed so you can always perform it near an out-of-Ki large enemy and still get a critical. That said, if you need a mid-combo ranged option - Aberrant, Toxi or Kiryoki do the same for much cheaper, while Kinki is more economic for a damage option. It's viable option, but not quite enough to be preferable for the Soul Core Attack itself. Magatsu can work as a combo finisher (especially against zero-ki); but despite the relatively fast recovery, the knockback and lengthy duration is pushing it to be used as a reliable extender without your weapon having an innate gap-closer (on top of being locked out of other Soul Core uses while in recovery). The penetration is nice in a crowd, but isn't something you can rely on.
The Perks are where it gets some it's value from, and they're somewhat niche. Active Skill damage is nice and helps everyone, but is low-tuned; however the Anima Charge Bonus on Cumulative attacks is identical to the one found on all Feral Guardian Spirits; and Magatsu's high attack rate ensures that you can very quickly build up that silent multiplier (ideally done on zero-Ki to confirm all the hits), making him much higher value for those Guardian Spirits, when it comes to rapidly building their Anima generation up. He is expensive, but in those builds, he begins to pay for himself. In particular for Itokuri, each hit builds flat Paralysis scaling, so is an amazing pickup there.
Overall, an awkward core that does a quite bit on the right build, but is immensely brought down by it's sheer cost in terms of both Attunement + Anima, and conditionally lacking damage + Yokai Shift Charge. Many people sing it's praises due to it's release state, but it did get nerfed quite significantly to where it is now.

Onryoki
Att: 9
Anima: 6
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Damage Taken) C AA
- Damage Taken (Mid-Attack) -6.5% -21.5%
Effect: After a slight delay, transforms into a Onryoki; spinning the balls around once. The large outer ball does light damage, while the inner ball does colossal damage. Both do moderate Ki damage on raw and nuke Ki on block.
Comment: A reliable hyerarmor finisher that doubles up as a Ki nuke, a trashmob clearer and a Yokai Shift Charger, which does good damage throughout and doesn't mind taking a bit of a beating due to it's Perks. While it's got deceptively huge range, this only counts for the lighter-damage outer ball. Also deceptively tall; can reliably pop horns and hit aerial enemies. Best used when an enemy is forced against a wall to confirm both balls hitting twice; but there is a golden spot to the close-front-right. The Perks aren't good enough to take for them alone; more that they help the Soul Core attack along a bit. If you are taking it for the Perks, you're gonna always want to pair this with the Inosaso Guardian Spirit - by default Damage Taken (Mid-Attack) is pretty shit and will get you killed (because that does not apply to startup or recovery frames / when you don't have an enemy in stunlock anyways - and does not apply during the wide array of oneshot grabs in NG+'s), but if you are gonna run it, you better damn well run as much of it as you possibly can to chase that 100% immortality, and hope you get your kills mid-hyerarmor from this Soul Core. Works on all builds otherwise as a generic damage finisher.

Enenra
Att: 9
Anima: 6 + 2.5/second
Amrita / YS %: 8% per cast
Fixed Perks:
- Anima 0.8 1.6
- Anima Bonus (Scorched Enemy) C+ A+
Effect: Transforms into a damage-immune fire tornado as long as you are moving around. Deals predomoninantly Physical damage, with a small amount of Fire element and moderate burn status buildup.
Comment: I know want to use Enema like iframes on demand, but it's nothing like that; it's way too delayed and expensive to be using it that way. If you want that, just take Wheelmonk for cheaper. This is a Core that you need to setup for in advance (aka you have to set them on Fire beforehand or it chews through your Anima; both it's Perks are there to mitigate this), and you only really use it during Yokai Shift when you're free to do so semi-infinitely (ideally pair it with a Feral for the culmulative bonus, and the ability to instantly charge-dash away if it ends early because jank). It can definitely pile up damage, but it's knockback can get annoying if you're not used to it - just hold forward and try to "steer" it rather than move normally. Kinda useless and easily outclassed when used in general terms; however when used appropriately, for Empowered Ninjutsu / Onmyo builds, Enema will endlessly power up spells for free while active, and is 100% safe to use, which guarantees these kinds of builds their juicy nukes that usually take a lot of time to charge. Also does the same for the even more niche Corrupt-Weapon-Sentience reset or Soul-Release-Familiarity reset builds. It's also pronounced En-En-Ra, and no, all that beforehand wasn't auto-correct.

Lightning Gods of Yomi
Att: 9
Anima: 7
Amrita / YS %: 3-4%
Fixed Perks:
- Melee Damage vs Electrified Enemy +3.4% +6.3%
- Onmyo Magic Power +5 +19
Effect: Spawns 5 huge-AoE lightning bolts in line forward that strike in order after a delay; dealing no Physical damage, colossal Lightning Element damage, moderate Ki damage on raw and block and huge Lightning buildup. The player teleports somewhere near the first target it hits (can be in front or behind), and strikes with an extra Lightning Bolt, with the same properties.
Comment: Near-instant startup, low recovery, grab immunity AND iframes; paired with strong damage, good Anima cost and a huge-distance chase tool, that can be used as an initiator, extender or finisher. What's not to love?
Well, one major flaw actually.
Main downside is actually nothing to do with the Soul Core or Perks itself - it's the scenario you're using it in. See, as you're about to read just below, Lightning Builds already have a Nuke, and one which is far better then LGYomi. Nue. For the same Attunement price, and 1 more Anima cost for even more damage (especially on large targets - LGYomi can hit 6 times maximum with a more difficult spread, Nue can hit 9 times quite easily). Considering the already-high Attunement cost, it makes LGYomi a hard sell for the Lightning Builds she wants to be on, when Nue is already taking up 9 slots. Once you remove the idea that Lightning builds need their Nuke, LGYomi's main use is as a combo and long-range chasing tool..... of which there are now similar, for much cheaper. Overall, LGYomi's main selling point is it's Melee Damage Perk, which is still pretty low-tuned to justify the cost (it can be worth it depending on taste, how many slots you have spare and what you want to run in your third slot after her.... it's still just low-tuned thougheverbeit). The Onmyo Power is neat, but does not scale whatsoever into later NG+ cycles.
It is a cool ability, and new players / general builds can definitely have their fun with it, but it suffers from optimisation and meta. Why run Izanami-the-Hag (that's who the female corpse is btw, wife in the creator-God couple of Japan - the Lightning Gods of Yomi are the faces attached to the corpse), when you can run her goon Hellish-Hags or Yamanba (or Scampuss) instead, for cheaper and arguably better value, while freeing up more Attunement slots. Still. Good Core. First paragraph isn't wrong.

Nue
Att: 9
Anima: 8
Amrita / YS %: 2-3% (regardless of multihit)
Fixed Perks:
- Lightning Damage 5.4% 11.6%
- Shock Accumulation (Enemy) +8.2% +14.6%
Effect: Nue spawns in and roars, pushing small enemies immediately in front of you forward. 9 Lighting bolts spawn, starting in front of the player and spreading to the sides, covering the full 180' in front. Deals no Physical damage, colossal Lightning Element damage, moderate Ki damage on raw and light Ki damage on block. Heavy Lightning buildup only occurs on direct hits; and can miss buildup while still dealing damage. Can hit multiple times on large hitboxes, less reliably on small enemies, unless they clip two bolt hitboxes.
Comment: THE Lightning build Nuke, and a must-run for those builds; just off of the Perks alone. Shin-Roku + Ame-no-Mitori (Secondary) + Nue = a very simple, flexible and strong foundational setup that frees up 2 other Soul Core slots for different Perks (something that Fire and Water Element builds can't brag, since their Element Damage Perk Soul Cores come with less optimal secondary Perks). Long recovery prevents you from using it mid-combo, but the debuff itself helps that be lesss of an issue, and you are grab immune throughout. Attunement and Anima are exactly what you'd expect for it's value. Main downside is has a noticeable close-range deadzone and sometimes fucky targetting - this is a combo finisher through-and-through (for recovering Ki with) and does not immediately chain into anything else very well. Also works as a trashmob clearer and hurts large-size bosses much more due to their hitboxes - but it's lacking Ki damage and Yokai Shift charge means that damage is all it can do.
But then again, that's kind of the point of a Nuke. Can't have Nuke without Nu-e after all.

Tate Eboshi
Att: 9
Anima: 8
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Increased Attack (Amrita Absorption)
- Amrita Earned (Yokai Shift)
Effect:
Comment:

Gozuki
Att: 9
Anima: 8
Amrita / YS %: 24%
Fixed Perks:
- Charge Attack Boost 2.1% 3.6%
- Attack (Yokai Shift) 23 53
Effect: Charges towards enemies, and on contact performs a followup. If a humanoid is out of Ki, knocks them up for extra damage on the second hit, leaving them vulnerable to a Critical.
Comment: The animation of this ability would leave you to believe this is a short-range and limited. You would be wrong. Gozuki got a massive buff during the DLCs - this bull will reach halfway across a fucking football field on activation if you're locked onto an enemy, and very rarely misses due to a wide hitbox and amazing startup tracking. Works great as an initiator (range), a combo extender (low recovery) and a combo finisher (great damage, more to low-ki humanoids, and gives you a Critical with a longer window because they're fully knocked down). Perks are alright, and work best with Hatchets (since Charge Attack Boost also affects Dash Attacks), Attack Boost on Yokai Shift is substantial in NG, but doesn't scale. Pair that with low recovery, relatively low Anima, grab immunity, high total damage and A QUARTER OF YOUR FUCKING YOKAI SHIFT CHARGE on hit, and even if Gozuki is less popular than his brother, he is still definitely usable.

Mezuki
Att: 9
Anima: 8
Amrita / YS %: ~70% (~27% x2 x1.5) (Pleiades affects it's own Charge %, so can vary randomly depending on who it kills and when)
Fixed Perks:
- Pleiades (Enemy Killed) 28.2% 51.4%
- Attack (Yokai Shift) 24 53
Effect: After a short delay, does a ~5m sweep across the full 180' in front of you.
Comment: The first soul Core you're guaranteed to get, and holy shit, it's one of the best. Why is this a design philosophy. Sweep it through any small-to-large crowd of enemies, for very good AoE damage, good Ki damage, good stagger and more Amrita than you could ask for, even through multiple nerfs (you can see the remains of some of them in the Soul Core previww, back when it also had almost 0 startup and covered 270' including behind you). Comes with a chunk of superarmor, which mitigates the notable recovery period, but is not grab or damage immune. The Pleiades perk is what turns this decent Soul Core into borderline broken, and what sets it above other Amrita-gain cores - it only activates off of enemies you kill with this Soul Core attack itself, but roids up how much Yokai Shift charge it delivers on top of popping horns very easily due to a tall hitbox. The Pleiades buff then lasts for a solid 20-30s depending on your personal buff extenders (so whatever remaining charge it doesn't rack up, you can finish the rest by yourself); resulting in the single best Yokai Shift charging Soul Core in the game. The Attack during Yokai Shift is nice, but doesn't scale, and falls off at later NG's. Sadly, doesn't really fit into combos and is more one-and-done kind of super-move, and wants to be used to kill at least one enemy for the higher cost, but doesn't need to be anything more because it's fucking broken enough as it is.

Daidara Bocchi
Att: 10
Anima: 6
Amrita / YS %: 15% (Beam = 14%, +1% if the Head connects)
Fixed Perks:
- Life 120 265
- Toughness 4 10
Effect: The player emotes, and a short distance ahead, Daidara pokes his head out of the ground and very quickly spins around anticlockwise, from the 4:00 position to the 5:00 position, while firing a beam. The head protruding from the ground deals moderate Physical damage; meanwhile the Beam deals colossal Physical damage. Both deal moderate Ki damage (on raw and on block) and have huge priorty stagger and knockback.
Comment: Damage nuke of the combo-extenders; and the highest singular source of (any) damage a Soul Core has access to (even before the part where, yes, it also benefits from backstab multiplier if the beam hits from behind, which it will). It has a high Attunement cost due to it's Nuke-tier damage, but is extremely cheap for it's Anima and fills a niche the both Physical damage nukes don't (instant start and near-instant recovery) and the combo-extenders don't (mass AoE trashmob clearing). This cast time enables you to cast it even off of a deflect, then continue a combo unimpeded as Bocchi swivels around, for a delayed hit that is very reliable to play around within a combo. On the other hand, the enemy AI can play around it without combo pressure (deflecting or rolling it) and you aren't grab immune for it's short casting time, so you ideally want to make sure you have some pressure on them, rather than throwing it out raw. Also, keep in mind, there is a deadzone between the 4:00 and 5:00 positions - and if used near a wall, the head becomes a reliable hit, but the beam could hit whenever. Perks fall off hard since they do not scale, but the Core is enough value for damage alone when used optimally to ignore it.
For it's cast time, it's easily the most concentrated / highest ratio of cast-speead:damage in the game, one of the best Anima economy sources of damage in the game, and respectable Yokai Shift charge on top. If you're the kind of person who really loves your 100-0 Truecombos and definitely knows what they're doing; pair this with your Scampuss and either Ubume / Toxic Slime to have a response to every scenario and some pretty funky ultra-combos against enemies you can control. On the other hand, if you're not comfortable with Soul Core combos, animation cancelling, setups and the like - be assured that you can skip this for something with higher immediate value.

Kamaitachi
Att: 10
Anima: 7
Amrita / YS %: 17.5% (total, they don't miss)
Fixed Perks:
- Quick Attack Damage 1.8% 3.2%
- Dash Ki Consumption -1.8% -3.2%
Effect: Spawns 3 Kamaitachi, which quickly spin toward an enemy; each dealing moderate Physical + Ki damage on raw, and heavy Ki damage on block.
Comment: .....it's not worth it buddy. So much Attunement, such high Anima cost, so little going on aside from a quick trashmob clearer with good stagger, and an on-block Ki nuke. At the very least it's low-comittal (quick startup, nonexistant recovery), enabling you to chase the Kamaitachi and attack along with them to further put pressure on block; but you've just got better options available for everything it does. Also, those Kamaitachi stay on the field for a while after use, silencing your other Soul Cores until they're gone. Perks are nice general-utility, but are extremely low-tuned. Some bosses Soul Cores had to get the short end of the stick, and Kamaitachi is one of them.

Lady Osakabe
Att: 10
Anima: 7
Amrita / YS %: 14-16% (total, on all three hits, including groups of enemies)
Fixed Perks:
- Damage Taken -0.7% -2.4%
- Anima Charge (Dark Realm) 8.4% 11.3%
Effect: After a gesture, 3 large tentacles come out of the ground and spin once at an odd interval to each other. Deals heavy Physical damage, high Ki damage raw, low Ki damage on block and massively pushes around + staggers all enemies hit. Depending on the knockback, this can hit up to 4-5 times, but usually hits 3 times.
Comment: Heaviest stagger and knockback in the game (will even shove large bosses around), especially if you can get all three tentacles to pinball the enemy around (pretty easy). Amazing at interruptions, cleans out trashmobs like no business (and will charge up your Yokai Shift quickly), with such huge hitboxes that flying enemies get clipped and horns are almost always popped if in frontal reach. Despite the near-instant cast time, it's pretty hard to weave into a chain due to moderate recovery and no grab immunity - but consider that much of this is mitigated by the massive priority her knockback and stagger offers, making it safer than other Soul Cores with this downside. Use it either as a trashmob cleaerer, a combo finisher, or to knock enemies back into you at an angle where you have the priority action. Nice general Perks too - synergises especially well with Nurikabe Soul Core to double-dip on the blanket Damage Reduction. While not optimal, if you really want to push for a bit of a memebuild; Osakabe and Masaru's Guardian Spirit skill will infinitely stunlock off of each other (given their huge stagger values), while in Masaru's Yokai Shift to semi-endlessly spam them. Finally, Anima is exactly what you'd expect for a Core like this, but the Attunement is on the higher end for it's value.
Doesn't fit into any specific build otherwise per se, but is a good pickup if you're looking for a "occasional big attack"-type Soul Core (like how most people use them). That said, at this Attunement tier, it needs to do more to justify itself past it's knockback gimmick - Daidara Bocchi is a straight upgrade for price, damage, combo-usability and reliability; with the only tradeoff that Osakabe is better suited to deal with multi-boss encounters.

Gyuki
Att: 10
Anima: 7
Amrita / YS %: 14%
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Poisoned Enemy) C+ A+
- Melee Damage vs. Saturated Enemy 10.8% 16.6%
Effect: The player gestures, and the Gyuki's huge head rises from the floor a short distance away, hitting twice. The first hit deals colossal Physical damage, while the second hit deals strong Physical damage. Both hits do good Ki damage (on raw and block), have a massive amount of Poison buildup, with light knockback and high stagger.
Comment: One of the good plain ol' Damage Nukes, Gyuki is is a high damage option for any build that shits out a ton of Poison to boot (leading what is already a good cost:ratio Core to do even more damage long-term). You want trashmob clear; Gyuki got your back, with the added benefit against Yokai, that it's tall and wide mega-hitbox is almost guaranteed to deal it's nuke-level damage to their horns / weak spots too (even if in the air). Delayed cast and high recovery for it's cast speed prevents it from being used anywhere in a combo really well, but does work as a finisher if you've got Anima to spare, and can reliably fill up a Poison gauge (even as resistance starts building). However, no grab immunity or damage reduction also means you're going to want to disengage or already have the enemy in a vulnerable state to get this off safely; but you can confirm the semi-unreliable hitbox by just doing it into a wall (which covers your player model too, increasing it's safety due to the stagger). Not that it will miss, because even if the Gyuki spawns in a weird spot, the hitbox is fucking massive.
Perkswise, it's got two good value Perks, that are torn between two completely different builds, and the high Attunement cost hurts it for this reason (since, well simply put, this Attunement tier is home to much better Cores). Poison builds typically want access to Yatsu-no-kami for the Melee bonus (and don't need multiple Nukes), while Water Element builds are more reliant on a few mid-cost Perks (that make Gyuki a tight squeeze to fit in) on top of Uminyudo also existing as another possible nuke for their build, which offers Confusion instead of Poison for the increased cost (actually evening out roughly the same in terms of raw damage output, when you factor in Gyuki's innate boost vs Saturated opponent, on top of being faster and safer overall). It's a good generalist option, don't get me wrong, but it's not *such* high value that you're going to take it on it's ideal builds for the Perks alone. That said, an amazing Core in general, that does some funny funny fucky-wucky things when paired with a Water Spirit Isanagami.

Kasha
Att: 10
Anima: 7
Amrita / YS %: Swirl = 7% Maximum (1% x2 (each swing around), Top = 1% x5)
Fixed Perks:
- Life Drain (Yokai Ability Hit) B+ AA+
- Faster Movement (Amrita Absorption) (125% for 15s)
Effect: Spins a whip around the characters head that can hit twice; before spawning a Spinning Top. Every hit of this deals moderate Physical Damage, moderate Fire Element damage, light Ki damage (on raw and block) and moderate Burn buildup; along with good stagger and knockback. The Spinning Top will seek out enemies for the next 5 seconds, as it moves toward them in a wobbly line, and bounce into them (or nearby walls); dealing the same damage each time. If used in the Dark Realm, the flames on the Spinning Top turn blue, doubling Fire Element damage and buildup.
Comment: *Fire Element is stuck with a lot of shit cores. Shuten Doji is good, but lacks damage. And so it's up to Kasha to not only be the Fire Element's only Nuke, but also to try to clean up for the rest of the Cores in her Elemental category.

And holy fucking shit does Kasha deliver on both those fronts.

It is no small statement, that Kasha is the single best Nuke in the game. She's not the strongest of the lot, nor is she not the most useful of the lot - instead, she's a strong balance of each, with huge damage and utility that more than excuses her high Attunement Price point. If you want a single damage core to pair with two utility cores, on any generalist build (not just Fire Element); Kasha is usually the best contender for that that slot.
To begin with; the Perks. Life Drain on any Soul Core is good - and it's even better when it's tuned that high (33% of all Soul Core damage returned as healing, off this core's Perk alone). Even if you hold on using her core to Nuke with, she passively provides a strong beneift to both your other Cores, which is massively useful in both general and Soul Core spam builds. The Perk alone is a force-multiplier to every other Core in the game; including making some of the other best Cores in the game even better. You will never go wrong with getting your health topped off just for playing the game - and let's not forget, Kasha is a damage nuke herself, so she synergises with her own Perk. Next; under normal circumstances, mobility is pretty useless if you know what you're doing, along with it being tuned too-low-to-care. Having Kasha's high-tuned perma-mobility from any amount of Amrita enables you to reposition with ease - useful for everyone, to plain old Melee Builds weaving between enemies and not take damage, Ranged Builds trying to get a good spot to cast, or Yokai Shift builds who are trying to burn through the level as fast as possible. This is a huge chunk of movement speed that turns jogging into running, and running into sprinting. Also affects your dash distance too.
These two Perks alone would make Kasha into an expensive, but usable Passive + Luxury Core even before the Attack. But then there's also the attack to cover.
Ever wanted a friend to fight with you, but don't want to summon? Say hello to your schizophrenic neo-Pitbull buddy, the Spinning Top. There's no controlling it, and there's no use trying to - it will go for enemies, but completely ignores your lockon target and bounces around so much, that even it doesn't know where it's going next. Instead, you just fire-and-forget this fucker, and it will either stunlock / bite away at bosses (healing you up), or ping around and clean up entire crowds of trashmobs for free (also healing you up). The startup on the whip has great stagger, deceptively good range and good superarmor; making it good for both finishing combos (and spawning the Top to keep them busy while you get some breathing room with your now-full Ki and roided movement) and also for interrputing smalle-mid sized enemies to semi-safely start combos with (but do note, you're grab vulnerable). Pops horns like no business too. Low recovery once the Top is active means you can semi-safely play / attack with the Top beside you, but the Top is so random and deals enough knockback that you're not going to do any fancy-reliable chains off of it. Did I also mention the damage? It's "unreliable"; but it's the difference between colossal amounts of damage, and just flat out wiping waves by itself - the Top will often drag around enemies or get caught on map geometry and stick to an enemy, dealing what can only be described as unintendedly high amounts of damage with it's huge tickrate. It's evenly Phys-Fire split too, so nothing is going to just resist / immune it. Keep in mind though, it's pure single-target, so it is outclassed by many other crowd-controllers in that department.
The only downsides are that it's Attunement cost of steep-but-worth-it still means it's steep; and that as long as the Top is active, Kasha is deemed as "in use", silencing you out of your other Soul Cores. Oh, and also - useless into Block - the Top will ping off of any enemy in block state (not that it matters - focus on using it on zero-Ki to grind an enemy to dust, or throw it in a crowd for those pings to ram straight into another enemy instead). . Anima on it is very fair, and everything else about it bordering on the best in the game.

tl;dr - Does everything, into every situation. If in doubt, Kasha. BEYBLAAAAAADE - LET IT RIP!

Ryomen Sukuna
Att: 10
Anima: 8
Amrita / YS %: 3-4%
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Enemy Confused) B AA
- Anima Bonus (Onmyo Magic Hit) B+ AA+
Effect: Transforms, and after a short delay, quickly spins around 4 times in a large AoE; each side of Ryomen dealing damage at the same time for 8 hits total. Deals light Physical damage, moderate Elemental damage (half Fire, half Water), moderate Ki damage (on raw and on block) and moderate buildup. As it moves forward, deals moderate stagger and knockback to all angles. You can move a limited amount during this process, but has a wide turning radius and moves a very short distance.
Comment: Amazing Soul Core, both for general use and the Omnyo builds it was very clearly designed for. Can't go wrong with Confusion status - especially when one Soul Core is able to do all of it for you, and made with the ideal debuff combination to apply it with (Water for increased damage, Fire for more damage). Benefits from it's own status too - so that damage massively ramps up mid-attack if you can get both Water and Confusion debuff applied. The recovery on this thing is absolutely crazy (you are able to begin your melee attack animations before you've even finished the Soul Core); and is easily the fastest recovery Core in the entire game, even beating out ones like Scampuss, Ubume or Daidara - enabling it to be an amazing initiator. Slight delay on startup paired with instant grab immunity means it's tolerable for use as a combo extender (working amazngly well as a zero-Ki extender in particular, due to it's low-reaching hitbox). While it's stagger and knockback is light; the moment it applies Confusion, none of it matters because all it's ticks of damage stunlock - which uniquely gives this a brutal amount of value as a finisher vs zero-Ki targets (since Confusion adds additional duration to them getting up; on top of it already having a high number of hits-per-second to punish them while they are downed, on top of massively preventing Ki regeneration). For it's Perks, the Confusion Anima bonus greatly mitigates much of the cost of running this thing; while the Anima Bonus is a must-have for most Omnyo builds alone, massively beating out the value of the Karasu Tengu's identical but lower tuned bonus (while again, providing a solid damage nuke).
While Ryomen Sukuna is not the only Confusion Nuke in the game; it's the cheapest, most reliable and fastest to use, so it's ability to be paired with more expensive side-cores in terms of both Anima and Attunement is definitely to it's benefit. Well, relative terms at least (it's still 10 Att / 8 Anima)..... considering it's competiton is so damn fucking expensive (looking at you Uminyudo / Nightmare Bringer / Otakemaru)

Yatsu-no-Kami
Att: 10
Anima: 8
Amrita / YS %: 12-13%
Fixed Perks:
- Melee Damage vs. Poisoned Enemy +15.8% +21.6%
- Anima Charge Rate +3.4% +6.3%
Effect: Yatsu-no-Kami spawns, and slithers forward. If it hits a wall, it will turn around and continue, up to 3 times. Deals heavy Physical damage and moderate Poison buildup, and is capable of hitting the same enemy up to two times on each bounce, provided it's slithering past them for long enough.
Comment: You're taking this as much for the Poison damage perk as you are the Core ability - mandatory slot-in for Poison builds alone, and the Anima Charge Rate is pretty neat in late NG's once upgraded. As for the Soul Core ability itself, it's got solid stagger, but locks you out of your other Soul Cores while on the field - your best followup is to get a good charged attack in or apply a quick buff while it buys you some time. Obviously using it in tight spaces gets you more damage with 3 bounces, but there's a very tight golden distance that can get you 6 hits (2 double hits, 3 times), making this an absolute fucking damage nuke of a Soul Core with experience and optimal usage. Also, don't forget that great Melee Damage vs. Poisoned Enemy Perk also applies to it's own damage - try poisoning the enemy with a cheaper option before, and Yatsu-no-Kami gets a neat extra multiplier to it's already among-best-in-game damage. Finally, YnK has poor Ki damage by default, but has massive Ki damage through block - on top of nuking healthbars, it's a great tool for dealing with humanoid bosses (even if it struggles more with Yokai due to it's low hitbox not popping horns, and long cast being vulnerable to grabs and damage). Main downside is just that it's competing with Kasha.

Uminyudo
Att: 10
Anima: 9
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Anima Bonus (Saturated Enemy) B- AA-
- Life Drain (Lightning Attack) D A-
Effect:
Comment: Elemental Nuke that only works as an empty Ki combo finisher. Strong perks, schizospread. If you just so happen to be running a Lightning-Water Confusion build.... I mean yeah, no shit, but for everyone else it's just unfocused for such a steep cost in terms of both Attunement and Anima (it's the 3rd highest total in the game before the Otakemaru Cores), and there's cheaper Confusion appliers (Ryomen Sukuna) or higher cost Confusion nukes that don't need the setup (....the Otakemaru Cores) (or Ryomen Sukuna). Basically a worse Ryomen Sukuna with worse passives and a higher cost.
{Highest single-damage Soul Core in the game over full extent? - but duration and Itsumade-Tat combo}

Nightmare Bringer
Att: 10
Anima: 10
Amrita / YS %:
Fixed Perks:
- Damage vs Corrupted Enemy
- Anima Charge (Awakened Weapon)
Effect:
Comment:
If you like corruption use a yokai weapon, put this on the baku spirit and have fun. blocks your view

Shuten Doji
Att: 11
Anima: 5
Amrita / YS %: 2% (total, including groups)
Fixed Perks:
- Increased Defence (Amrita Absorption) (80% taken for 15 seconds)
- Break 4 7
Effect: Quickly chugs down from a Gourd, then quickly spits a line of fire in a 5m range, 180' cone, hitting once and penetrating. Deals zero Physical damage, colossal Fire Element damage, light Ki damage (on raw and block), colossal Burn buildup and has good stagger priority with little knockback.
Comment: This guy used to be on the highest Attunement tier of 11. They lowered him down one and then buffed him again anyways, and as Gozuki got nerfed down; resulting in Shuten Doji becoming a strong competitor for the premier Yokai Shift Charger Core. This is because not only is Shuten Doji's Yokai Shift Charge unconditional (he doesn't need to kill to recieve his Pleiades buff), but he also comes with a free Extraction buff (aka, everyone shits out more Amrita, even before you absorb it with a multiplier). And all of this is before the actual attack itself - the best pure-element Fire Nuke in the game that near-guarantees Burning status, which is cheap as fuck at only 5 Anima cost, and can be fluidly woven into a combo at the beginning or end viably (more reactively than Mezuki, due to the low windup). Can't really use it reliably mid-chain, jut a bit too delayed. You want something burning (such as if you've just applied Water / Lightning debuff), Shuten is an insta-burn, simple as. Fire also has the benefit of having critically-weak enemies, so Shuten's pure-element will pop annoying Umi-Bozus and the likes, like no business. Synergises especially well with any source of Heal-on-Amrita (such as Hellish Hag or Nuppeppo's innate Perk), giving you huge amounts of mid-combat regeneration.... provided you survive the hits you're taking (which is also boosted by Shuten's Defensive Perk).
On the topic of Shuten's Perks, and they're also extremely respectable - but you'll get mileage depending on your build. For starters, Increased Defense does not vary all that much (unlike Increased Attack). Almost every source of Increased Defense is on the same tier (80% taken), with the only stronger exception being the default Samurai skill that grants it on a perfect Ki pulse (which is 70% taken, a 12% increase, for everyone). If your build has any source of high-uptime Increased Defence (most notably the Grace of Susano 6pc, a very commonly ran set at DotN); chances are that you're getting nothing extra from this. That said, with how it works, Shuten Doji is still a permanent Steel Talisman with no cast time, no conditions and is overall the best "source" of it - making it far more value than sources such as Steel Talismans themselves or Hakutaku. On the other half; Shuten offers the highest amount of flat Break of any core, a stat where small amounts can mean a lot (Break being your on-block Ki damage flat multiplier, for all attacks). This boils down to your weapontype, as all weapontypes are ultimately graded by general "Break tiers" that don't scale all that much through the NG's. In short, 7 Break on a Kusarigama that has 50 Break is going to put in a shitton more work than on an Axe with 160 Break. Great boost for most weapons, ignore this perk if you're over ~90-100 Break.
Absolute sleeper of a Soul Core, and one of the best in the final version of the game. Cheap to use, amazig buffs, never a bad time to use it aside from Fire-immune enemies.

Otakemaru
Att: 11
Anima: 10
Amrita / YS %: 6-7%
Fixed Perks:
- Anima +1.0 +1.6
- Anima Bonus (Confused Enemy) A- AA
Effect: The Player emotes, and Swords imbued with Fire / Water / Lightning begin to randomly rain down for 3.6 seconds, at a rate of 1 sword every 0.1s (36 Swords, 13 of each). Each sword deals moderate Physical damage and light Elemental damage, light Ki damage and moderate buildup of each status; along with light stagger and minimal knockback.
Comment: For the final boss of the basegame, this is both brokenly OP and a complete letdown. All of it depends on the size of the hitbox. Dealing with something the size of a Gyuki? Every sword lands, single most damaging Soul Core in the game by itself, no contention. Dealing with a normal enemy. You're lucky if you get 2-3, if that; resulting it dealing less than half the damage of Soul Cores half the cost. Considering it takes ~2 swords of the same element to apply the debuff; it's also unreliable to apply Confusion. Even as a trashmob clearer, it's random nature also hurts it's ability, and since the cast location is fixed, an enemy running you down can already be out of the danger-zone before the first sword lands (though it will adjust it's location based on your lockon). As expectable; this is doesn't do anything extra for combos either; with no form of immunities, a delayed cast and your own knockback able to push enemies out of the danger-zone (again, on top of the randomness element). Perks don't salvage it either - more Anima is nice, but not exclusive or ultra-high value, leaving this only with it's Confused Enemy Anima bonus. While the blanket damage-anima bonus is potentially better than Ryomen Sukuna's on-application version of the bonus, it still requires more effort from the Player (damage from Soul Cores do not charge Anima, you need to deal your own damage on the Confused target to recover the cost), on a Soul Core that is again, just unreliable to even apply it for the average encounter.
This is an absolute Damage Nuke for huge bosses (that cannot be understated), with good ability to singlehandedly delete healthbars of the mere "large" bosses if you catch them at the right angle - but in all honesty, just skip and go for something more reliable. Ryomen Sukuna is the Confusion Core of choice, not Otakemaru.