Also, styles with the Toughen ability are pretty much necessary for playthroughs normal and up. Otherwise a careless moment can get you one hit killed from full health. Having at least one sword with the Life & Death charm is also essential so you can regen all vitality at least between fights.
Oh yeah. Dojima's tenshin style (easily attainable) teaches expert toughen. A 75% drop in damage is no joke.
If you have a couple grand to blow. Craft a sword with three Life & Death charms.
Charms are found off of weapon parts. They're pretty random. Every time you disassemble a weapon you have a chance at the parts having charms. So you could grab a bunch of weapons you like, disassemble them, then reload the save if you don't like the results.
Alternatively.
You could go to the blacksmith and buy the parts. every time you back out of and re-enter the "buy" menu he gets parts with a different array of charms. Thing is though his parts are pretty cruddy (basal blades...woof). Consider trying to get the charms you want off a unique blade(such as from an NPC) then buy the rest from the blacksmith.
The best way to get 3 of any charm is to get a "K" pattern.
Get a blade with: | life & death | | --- | | life & death |
a guard with either : | l&f | | l&f | | --- | OR | --- | | l&f | | l&f |
Finally a grip with | life & death | | --- | | life & death |
(yes a backwards "K" can work as well)
With 3x life & death your stamina replenishes in about 7 seconds.
Another good charm is "Midas". 3x Midas can dramatically raise the amount of cash you get from dropped money bags (100-300 for smalls, 700-1500 for mediums, ????-????? for larges)