Our Rise of the Ronin tips and tricks comprise a whole range of advice and titbits we wish we'd known before beginning the game. Whether it's stealth, combat, exploration or more besides, RotR has a whole range of complex systems with subtle nuances that can be used against you until you learn them properly - and that learning experience can be more than a little brutal for the unprepared.
Fortunately, there's a way around that. Having played through the game in advance and gone through all those tough lessons on the streets and highways of nineteenth-century Japan, I'll take you through the nine essential tips and tricks I wish I'd known before beginning Rise of the Ronin.
1. Speed is more important than raw power
Like in many games, there's a balance in the weapon pool between power versus speed - how quickly you can swing a weapon over how hard it hits when it lands. While both are viable, we absolutely found that speed is more helpful. Combat in Rise of the Ronin is slick and demands fast reaction times, and you'll want to make it as easy as possible to keep pace with the enemy warriors you go up against, especially when learning the combat. Feel free to swap out for a heavier Nodachi later or when you feel you're ready, but ultimately it always feels easier when you're as swift as possible - we'd say all the best Rise of the Ronin weapons are those that move fast.
2. Don't button mash or go berserk
It's tempting at many times to start an absolute frenzy of strikes to wear down your enemies, but you need to be careful. Rise of the Ronin rewards careful, calculated attacks, and will punish players who mindlessly run in swinging or try to overwhelm their opponents without thinking about stamina or which of the Rise of the Ronin Combat Styles you're using. It's not usually possible to stunlock enemies, for one thing, and all too easy to burn through your Ki (Stamina) this way, especially if you haven't mastered the Blade Flash that can be used to restore your energy.
Instead, play carefully - watch your opponent, place defensively, and leap in to retaliate when their guard is down. That's a big part of why speed is so important - responding to enemy actions and exploiting gaps in their attack patterns is something that is much easier when you're fast. All this doesn't mean that you can't ever launch into a massive combo of strikes and slashes, but you need to be clever about when you start it, and be ready to cancel out at any moment.
3. The Counterspark isn't the only thing that needs to be practised
The Counterspark - aka, the parry - is your best defensive move, but it's not the only move, one part of your defensive arsenal that also includes the dodge and the block. Admittedly, the Counterspark is the best option to anything that the enemy does, but it's by far the trickiest to do, and way too easy to invest too much in it. You need to keep practising the dodge and block too, because there'll be moments in boss fights or big fights where you really don't want to be dependent on such a high risk technique. Keep a constant sense of how far the dodge will take you, or how much Ki the block uses up. You'll need them both.
4. In stealth, enemies are more likely to see you than hear you
Rise of the Ronin's stealth system takes both enemies spotting you and hearing you into account - but they're far more likely to see you. Enemies are pretty eagle-eyed, meaning that if you're in their sightline, even down the street and crouched, you don't have long to get to cover before they mark you out.
Contrarily, while RotR enemies can technically hear you, they're practically deaf and their capacity to notice sounds is close to zero. It's very common to have a full-fledged swordfight with the occasional gunshot in a room, only for those a few feet away in the corridor outside to be completely oblivious as long as there's a thin wall between you and them. Plan your stealth accordingly - keep to the rooftops, outside of enemies' field of view, but feel free to drop down and take them out if they're looking in the other direction.
5. The Rifle is an overpowered tool of death
There's several ranged options in Rise of the Ronin - shurikens, bows, pistols, or just using brute strength to sling an opponent across the battlefield - but by far the best among them is the Rifle. Headshots are fairly easy to get - especially in stealth - and nearly always kill on the first shot. Yes, it makes noise, but as mentioned above, most of the enemies you go up against aren't particularly aware of noises, and any foe more than twenty feet away probably won't hear you.
6. Some areas might seem inaccessible, but keep looking
Time spent playing Assassin's Creed or Ghost of Tsushima might've conditioned players to think that if you can't press your nose against a flat wall and instantly start scaling it, it can't be climbed - but that's not the case here. Your character isn't a great climber, but we found that a lot of locations that seemed impossible to reach at first glance are actually totally within reach - you just need to work out how to get there.
Once you have the grappling hook and glider, that's about as many abilities as you can expect to get for platforming and climbing, so if you don't think you can get to a location with those alone, you're probably wrong. Take a step back, look around, check nearby buildings and look for grapple points. If there's somewhere high up, look for neighbouring buildings and low ledges that you can then use to get to higher ground before crossing over. The route may not be direct and obvious, but it is there the challenge is finding it.
7. Check the progression trees to see what rewards are waiting for you
There's plenty of different progression paths in Rise of the Ronin - bonds with friends you can develop, region bonds that represent completion, weapon proficiency and more besides - and while they all get completed in different ways and offer different rewards, the game lets you check ahead from the pause menu to see what they each have to offer. If you need a particular item or rare skill point, look at your progress in the various trees - you might be close to getting what you need in one of them.
8. Money is common, Silver Coins are not
There's two currencies in Rise of the Ronin - a standard money, and the rarer Rise of the Ronin Silver Coins. Money can be obtained in all manner of ways, from selling gear to picking pockets, but Silver Coins are largely tied to completing missions or side quests, along with a few other select activities. Point is, they're much less common, so while you'll come across plenty of vendors who'll accept Silver Coins in return for their best gear, you need to be frugal and selective about how you spend them - or you'll regret it later.
9. Invest in medicine - either through crafting, skills or both
Player health in Rise of the Ronin isn't especially high, and it's easy to get caught in a damaging combo that shreds your health bar. You'll want to invest in healing items before long, and there's two main ways to do this - crafting single-use Elixirs (which thankfully are made from generally accessible materials in the world), and learning the best Rise of the Ronin skills and abilities that increase your number of Medicinal Pills (the auto-filled default healing items). These both serve as indirect - but massive - extensions to your health bar, and are an essential part of progression that the game could probably serve to highlight more.
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