Rise of the Ronin Trophy Guide & Roadmap

There are two ways you can give gifts: at the Longhouse (unlocked in Chapter 1) use the “Talk” Menu to speak to an ally, then you get the option to give a gift. The trophy unlocks after leaving the Talk Menu. The second method is to talk to allies in the open world, they are usually found at their faction bases, then you can give a gift directly without doing it at the Longhouse.

The trophy comes almost automatically when you collect all the cats for Usugumo Dayu, as you will have maximized both levels for her after collecting all cats.

You can do this at Blacksmiths found in most major towns or at the Longhouse. Talk to the Blacksmith and from his inventory select the “Upgrade” menu. You will need resources for this. Weapons require Iron Ore, Armor requires Cotton-Linen Threads. The quickest way to get these materials is from disassembling other weapons and armor at the Blacksmith. You can make a manual save beforehand, disassemble lots of gear, pick the cheapest upgrades, then reload save after popping the trophy to get your materials back.

You should get at least one full set automatically from story progress, but you still need to equip it.

Here’s an example of what set pieces look like in the equipment menu:

To unlock the Chiba Dojo, you have to complete the mission “Those Who Lead”. You then find it in the 2nd Main Region “Edo” > Sub-Region “Kyobashi” > at the named location “Chiba Dojo” (marked on map). Talk to Shusaku Chiba inside the dojo to practice. To get the highest rank (Master) in the dojo, you have to complete a fight as quickly as possible while taking minimal damage to score at least 7,000 points. An easy battle is to play against Naosuke Li, as you can kill him quickly by blocking his attacks and spamming to perform countersparks when he attacks, when his Ki (Stamina) is depleted press again for a critical hit. Make sure you play on Dawn difficulty (Easy) for this, can change it in the Systems Menu > Game Settings > Difficulty = Dawn. Also change your stance to the most effective stance to deal more damage (press and Right Stick to the stance marked with blue arrows pointing up).

You can find a Horseback Archery course in Main Region 1: “Yokohama” (Chapter 1) > Sub-Region: “Yoshida-Shinden” (in the west of Yokohama map).

Talk to the NPC there to start the training. You need to reach 9000 points at this location for Master Rank. This is done by hitting all targets with a bull’s eye while riding the horse, and reaching the finish line as fast as possible. Press to speed up with the horse. There are multiple Horseback Archeries throughout the open world, it doesn’t matter at which one you do the Master Rank.

An easy Gliding Training is in Main Region 2: “Edo” (Chapter 2) > Sub-Region “Shiba” (in the middle of Edo map).

In the north-west edge of this sub-region you will find the Gliding Training next to a Veiled Edge Banner fast travel point. You just need to fly in a straight line through all targets, use the grappling points in mid-air when your stamina runs out. There will be two moving targets (blue) that move from left to right, the other targets are stationary (red) and easy to hit. There are 8 targets total to hit for the master rank. You need 7800 points for Master Rank at this location but hitting all targets will give you 8400. There are multiple Gliding Trainings throughout the open world, it doesn’t matter at which one you do the Master Rank.

You can find a Firearms Training course in Main Region 1: “Yokohama” (Chapter 1) > Sub-Region: “Yoshida-Shinden” (in the west of Yokohama map).

Talk to the NPC there to start the training. You need to reach 7000 points at this location for Master Rank. This is done by hitting all paper targets and metal targets before time runs out, and lining up shots to hit multiple targets with one bullet. There are multiple Firearm Trainings throughout the open world, it doesn’t matter at which one you do the Master Rank.

“Odds and Evens” is a minigame that can be played at the Gambling Den, located in Main Region 1: Yokohama (Chapter 1) > Sub-Region: Miyozaki. It’s in the north-west of the main city on the Chapter 1 map. You have to catch a total of 5 cheaters in this minigame. Play until you get a purple screen to compete against a cheater, then pick “Tell on Him”. Repeat this a total of 5 times until you get the trophy. When you tell on the cheater you must defeat the cheaters in combat, then you leave the Gambling Den. You can immediately go back in and talk to the gamemaster to start another game. If you have the speechcraft “Persuade” you can convince him to let you back into the game, or you can bribe him.

You will also gain a lot of skill points from finishing all main missions and bond missions. On your way to Platinum you will get enough skill points to max out at least one Stat. You can also play the Odds and Evens minigame at the Gambling Den (see  Cheater Beater) and exchange the tokens for skill points, which are only available to a limited extent.

To develop Technology you need Foreign Books, which are obtained from Treasure Chest collectibles:

» Rise of the Ronin Collectible Guide
» Rise of the Ronin All Treasure Chest Locations

» Rise of the Ronin Collectible Guide
» Rise of the Ronin All Fugitive Locations

You must complete 50 of these random encounters. While going for all collectible trophies you should come across 50 of them, just be sure to always do them when you see them. You can also get them relatively after the story by riding along main roads. They include different tasks such as enemies you must defeat, tossing jars at an NPC, catching a thief, following a wolf etc. It will usually be obvious what to do when you get there, as you’ll have to interact with something in the immediate surroundings, rescue someone, or follow someone. If an NPC is there make sure you get the encounter reward from him to count it as completed.

You can see how many you’ve done on the trophy tracker in the trophy list.

» Rise of the Ronin How to Unlock All Allies

The “Blue Demon” is the endboss in Main Mission 2: Infiltrating the Black Ship. The first time you fight him, he will be very difficult to kill and if you die the story will automatically skip the fight. To make this much easier, do it after the story via Mission Replay. When you finished the story you can go to any Longhouse and select the “Testament of the Soul” Menu to replay this mission. After the story you will be Level 50+ and will defeat the boss in a few hits if playing on Dawn (Easy) difficulty. You have to rush through the mission again, defeat the Matthew Perry boss at the end of the ship, then the Blue Demon boss spawns.

“Midnight” difficulty is unlocked upon finishing the main story. You can then interact with any Longhouse > select the “Testament of the Soul” Menu > press to switch to Midnight difficulty > the first time you do this, you’ll have to fast travel back to Yokohama (Chapter 1 Region) > interact with the Longhouse there again and use the Testament of the Soul > press to switch to “Ronin Missions” (main story missions). Now you can replay any story mission on Midnight difficulty.

The easiest option is to replay the first main mission “Veiled Edge Village”. It only has two enemies with wooden weapons and one boss at the end. The mission is Level 56, you should be the same level or higher to make it easier. Having bought the stat upgrades for more Medicine Pills is particularly helpful so you can heal more often. An easy strategy against the boss is to run away and wait for your AI teammate to distract her, then land a combo from behind, rinse and repeat. Using charged attacks from a safe distance is also a decent method, or blocking and using Countersparks on the last hit of the combo to stagger the boss.

The more you level up, the easier this becomes. If you are having trouble, keep it until you’ve finished all Bond Missions which will level you up a lot. After the story you also unlock the “Breakthrough” stats, you can buy passive stat boosts there to become stronger.

At the end of his bond mission you will have to fight Shinsaku, then you have to give him medicine to cure his tuberculosis, which will give you a results screen that says he was saved.

His first 3 missions unlock gradually from story progress. The 4th mission requires reaching Bond Level 3 with Shinsaku. After doing his first 3 bond missions you should already be Bond Level 2. To quickly increase the bond go talk to Shinsaku at any of his open world locations, for example in Edo (Chapter 2) he’s found in Sub-Region: Azabu > Choshu Clan Villa (green map icon). Exhaust all dialogue options. You can also give him a gift (the ones with a heart icon give the most bond). For the remaining bond progress, use Testament of the Soul to replay main quests and take him with you as an ally. After each quest you play you can also give him another gift if you like, or just keep grinding more missions until you reach Bond 3. Then you get a notification that a new mission is available.

What dialogue choices you pick during his missions doesn’t matter, you will always give him the medicine in the end. If he already died during Chapter 3 that’s okay, you can still play his Bond Missions after the story by using the Testament of the Soul to travel back to previous time periods/regions. If you sided with the Anti-Shogunate faction (green) he will die in Chapter 3 but it doesn’t void the trophy, it still unlocks regardless when completing his 4th bond mission, so this isn’t missable.

For the first mission to be available, you have to pick the Pro-Shogunate faction choices (purple). You can change your faction by using the Testament of the Soul, replay from the Chapter 2 main mission “A Rift in the Roshigumi” > finish “The Ikeda Inn Incident” where Soji is with you as an ally > continue playing until you finished “Fate of the Vanquished” Main Mission. After this Soji’s first bond mission will appear.

It’s not available if you pick the Anti-Shogunate decisions (green).

The location for this is in Main Region 3: Kyoto (Chapter 3) > Sub-Region: Higashiyama (south-east corner of the map) > Landmark: Kiyomizudera Temple.

It will get marked on the map as a Landmark when going near it. You must go to the balcony where the Veiled Edge Banner fast travel point is, slightly west of the Landmark icon on the map. Next to the Veiled Edge Banner jump off the balcony and glide for a few seconds until the trophy unlocks. It’s the big main building with the wooden scaffolding below it on the side of the mountain, not the tall red-roofed temple. You will visit this location as part of the Chapter 3 main story, then the Kiyomizudera Temple will automatically get marked on the map.