How to level up fast in Rise of the Ronin
Aim for the higher numbers.
As you progress in Rise of the Ronin, enemies become stronger and capable of killing you with devastating combos. To better prepare yourself for these situations, you want to level up fast.
Although Rise of the Ronin focuses on action, giving you the chance to play as a deadly fighter who can master a fair number of combat styles, the game utilizes a progression system based on levels and skill points. While reflexes to quickly input commands are important in the game, you will still need to work on leveling up your character to increase base stats.
In this guide, we explain how to level up fast in Rise of the Ronin, covering how you can gain more experience and the difference between regular and Karma experience points.
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Earning experience and Karma in Rise of the Ronin explained
Rise of the Ronin has a multilayered system of progression that involves gaining experience to level up your character. In the game, there are two types of experience points, the regular one which is needed to increase your level, and the Karma experience. While the former gives you only Skill Points, the latter rewards you with Skill and Rare Skill Points.
As you might have expected, killing enemies is the main source of experience for both systems. When it comes to the regular experience points, you also gain these when you complete missions. On the other hand, you can only get Karma points by defeating enemies.
Another major difference between these two types of experience points is that when you die, some of the Karma points you had are lost. There is, however, a way to reclaim them. To do so, you need to defeat or land a critical hit on the enemy who defeated you. In case you die before any of these two scenarios are secured, you lose those Karma points.
How to level up fast in Rise of the Ronin
Although you gain experience by completing the main quests in the game, the Ronin missions don’t give you a lot of points. Below you find a list of objectives you should follow to farm experience and level up fast.
Bond Missions
One of the secondary quests you have access to in the game, Bond Missions are related to specific characters that you meet during the game. Completing these quests allows you to develop your relationship with them and earn lots of experience.
You can only run Bond Missions related to characters you have already established a bond with. In case you haven’t yet, focus on progressing through the main story quests, where most characters are introduced to you. In most cases, Bond Missions involve assisting the character which means fighting groups of enemies. Because of that, you end up earning experience from completing the missions and from fighting.
Grass Roots Missions
Alongside Bond Missions, Grass Root Missions are another type of secondary quest that you can complete in Rise of the Ronin. These are the more traditional kind of missions and they don’t advance the story or relationships. But they are great because they are usually short, filled with enemies to fight, and give you not only experience but interesting items as rewards.
Although these missions don’t require a high-level skill to complete or having the best possible gear for your level, you should avoid taking the ones if you’re underleveled. With the name of each mission, its level is displayed serving as a baseline to evaluate if you can complete it.
Hunting Fugitives
In each area of the game, there is a chance of having at least one Fugitive for you to hunt. These are strong, named enemies that you can defeat to increase the bond with the region. They are named enemies and tend to be stronger than the regular enemies and Formidable Foes.
Hunting Fugitives is a good way to kill a large group of enemies fast. Many of these Fugitives are guarded by weaker units. Instead of spending time walking aimlessly on the map looking for enemies, go for the Fugitives and wipe their whole party off. Besides the experience, defeating Fugitives gives you great rewards, like combat styles and pieces of equipment.
Restore Public Order
Once you’re out in the world and ready to start the main quest, one of the first activities the game introduces is the Public Order events. In specific parts of the region, you find a group of enemies who took over the place. Defeating them makes life go back to normal, revealing the region on the map that was fogged.
Since not every Public Order event is close to the initial quests, you may consider ignoring them for some time. After all, opening the map is not mandatory to finish the game. However, by doing so, you will also delay a major influx of experience. Regardless of where they are, Public Order events involve defeating lots of enemies. In some of them, you might even find a Fugitive as the leader of the band.
Using certain pieces of equipment
A good strategy to have when you want to level up fast is to run pieces of equipment that give you bonus experience and bonus Karma. The quantity might not sound much initially but when you stack two or three pieces, you can see the experience gain increasing considerably.
Even green pieces of equipment can come with a passive that increases the experience gained. Check if you have any gear with this type of ability and equip them. Even if they aren’t the strongest ones you have, weaning them is still worth it just for the bonus experience.
Have fun exploring 19th century Japan in Rise of the Ronin!