Acquire skill points and upgrade your ronin using these progression systems.
When you boot up Rise of the Ronin for the first time, you may be overwhelmed by the sheer number of systems and mechanics contained within. While Team Ninja have always been renowned for their exquisite action design, the game's open world necessitates more intensive tutorialization for the various ways players can interact with it.
This can mean that even simple functions like how and why you earn skill points for your character can be lost in the weeds. It can be made even more difficult when considering Rise of the Ronin has not one, but two different experience systems that dole out upgrades for you. Luckily, they're easy to understand once properly explained.
Leveling Up, Explained
Leveling up in Rise of the Ronin works just how you would expect. After reaching a certain experience point threshold, your level will increase, and you will be gifted another skill point to use.
However, this is a generic skill point which can be used to purchase upgrades in all four of the stat skill trees (strength, dexterity, intellect, and charm). Each of these skill trees has upgrades that will only unlock by earning skill points of their specific stat type, and that's where Karma comes in.
Karma, Explained
As you kill enemies, you will build Karma. Filling the Karma gauge will net you skill points, but you have to cash in at Veiled Edge Banners in order to reap your rewards.
You can continuously bank Karma even after completely filling the gauge, causing your Karma level to increase.
Doing so will earn you generic skill points and rare skill points that correlate to each core stat. These are required to unlock more powerful abilities that relate directly to each attribute, and most take multiple points to unlock.
If you've fought a lot of enemies and haven't been to a Banner in a while, don't forget to claim your rewards!
If you've banked a large amount of Karma, it's imperative that you visit a Veiled Edge Banner as soon as you can . If you're killed before you claim your skill points, the enemy that did the deed will start a Vendetta , stealing all the Karma you've accumulated.
The only way to get it back is to return and kill them or perform a critical hit . Should you die again, all your Karma will be lost for good .
How To Allocate Skill Points
Once you have a collection of skill points, you can pause the game and navigate to the Stats menu to select the upgrades you would like.
Some are one-time purchases, while others can be bought multiple times to bolster their effects. Learning a certain number of skills in each category (shown in the bottom left corner of the upgrade menu) will further buff your character's corresponding stats.
