Rise of the Ronin: 5 Best Tips for Beginners

Rise of the Ronin is an outstanding action game with a ton of content. The open world is vast, the environments are rich, and there are many combat styles and weapons, among other things. Moreover, the enemies are formidable, and the challenges are difficult.

Understandably, it can be overwhelming and challenging for beginners, and mastering it takes a lot of time and failure. Fortunately, a quick crash course can help. Here, we share five smart tips for beginners trying to master Rise of the Ronin.

5. Maintain Your Ki

East Asian philosophy refers to Ki as the vital force in all living things. Essentially, it functions like energy, which your body needs to perform. Similarly, you need Ki to perform most actions in Rise of the Ronin, including basic attacks, guards, springing in battle, swimming, dodging in battle, and more. To this end, depleting your Ki limits your ability to do any of these things, essentially leaving you open to attacks.

Maintaining sufficient Ki reserves is crucial to your survival and success. The trick is to avoid over-exerting yourself in battle. As such, try dodging your enemies and creating some distance when your Ki reserves are down. Alternatively, try to parry their attacks to buy enough time to replenish your Ki reserves.

Fortunately, you can use Medicine Pills and Healing Elixirs to restore your Ki in dire situations. Interestingly, you can also reduce the amount of Ki lost from attacks in the Dawn difficulty level.

Interestingly, Ki also affects your enemies’ performance. To this end, you can drain your enemies’ Ki levels to limit their ability to retaliate, making them easier to beat. Techniques like Martial Skills and Countersparks can help you drain your enemies’ Ki levels faster. You can also bait them to attack and dodge their strikes as they use up their Ki reserves.

4. Collect Resources for Crafting to Save Coins

Coins are a crucial resource in Rise of the Ronin. You can use regular coins to upgrade your weapons and buy ordinary items from the shopkeeper. Better yet, silver coins can get you exclusive weapons, armor, accessories, and other special items. Unfortunately, you have a limited number of coins and, therefore, should avoid overspending.

You don’t have to buy everything you need. You can instead use resources collected during your adventures to craft new items or upgrade existing ones, including healing items, weapons, and armor. Interestingly, you can also disassemble the unused items in your inventory to obtain more resources.

You can collect crucial resources by simply roaming the open world. The resources are easy to spot, and you can press R1 to collect them. Alternatively, you can enable the Auto-Collect Items option in the menu to automatically collect resources within your range. You can also earn resources by completing side missions, building bonds with allies, and finding treasure chests.

3. Disassemble Inferior Weapons to Upgrade Superior Ones

You can amass a lot of weapons and armor pieces from drops and by collecting items. However, you don’t need most of the weapons or armor pieces you collect because of their inefficiency. Nevertheless, every piece counts and can help upgrade your more efficient weapons and armor by disassembling them and using the parts as Iron Ore. This is convenient, considering that Iron Ore is challenging to find.

You can disassemble your unused weapons and armor pieces by visiting a blacksmith. You can then use the Iron Ore to upgrade various other weapons. However, it is also worth noting that the service costs a few coins.

Interestingly, some upgrades apply to sub-weapons. Unfortunately, most beginners undermine sub-weapons and never use them. However, these weapons are efficient when used properly, causing considerable damage. Moreover, they come with plenty of ammo, making them reliable.

2. Build Beneficial Bonds

Not everyone is an enemy in Rise of the Ronin. Unfortunately, the game’s prologue gives beginners the idea that the gameplay is linear, requiring you to go from one mission to the next. However, there is a vast open world for you to explore down the line, and you can interact with NPCs and even form bonds with them. Notably, strategic bonds with the right people can unlock game-changing benefits.

You can build three types of bonds in your travels throughout Japan. First, Area Bonds help reveal hidden items and boost your influence within a community in a particular region. Second, Character Bonds build alliances with other characters, enabling you to learn more skills as you fight alongside them in battle. Finally, Faction Bonds build alliances with pro-Shogunate or anti-Shogunate factions and earn you discounts at the factions’ bases.

All bond types can also help you earn more XP and collect more weapons and armor. Interestingly, you can get more out of your bonds by improving bond levels. The most efficient tactics for improving bond levels include giving your allies gifts and holding conversations that align with their ideas.

1. Unlock New Techniques Using Skill Points

Unlocking more skills in Rise of the Ronin increases your overall stats and makes your character more powerful. Most notably, you need skills to learn new fighting techniques, upgrade weapons, and do more. For example, unlocking new skills in the Intellect and Dexterity skill trees upgrades your weapons. Moreover, developing the Strength skill tree unlocks techniques such as unarmed countersparks.

The game features four skill trees, including Charm, Dexterity, Strength, and Intellect. You can unlock new abilities in each skill tree by spending regular or rare skill points. Regular skill points unlock most of the ordinary skills, while rare skill points unlock more exclusive skills.

Fortunately, there are many ways to earn skill points. For example, you earn regular skill points every time you level up or master weapon proficiency. You can also convert karma obtained by defeating enemies into skill points. Other efficient techniques include using treatises, visiting shrines, and increasing your bonds.

So, what’s your take on our five best Rise of the Ronin tips for beginners? Let us know over on our socials here or down in the comments below.