Rise of the Ronin Update Adds New Features and Missions Including ‘the Most Difficult Thus Far’

Rise of the Ronin version 1.05 is now available and brings some major changes to the game by adding new missions (including the most difficult one so far), applying quality of life improvements, and making a big change to cat collecting.

Detailed in an update on X/Twitter, the extensive patch notes are headlined by the addition of new content, including five new ally missions while playing on the Midnight difficulty. Three missions have the player “team up and improve local security in Unruly Areas”, while one called Path of Chaos presents different enemies on each playthrough.

Hardcore fans may be most interested in Eternal Night, however, which developer Team Ninja called “the most difficult mission thus far.”

Set bonuses have also been added to Ferocious Tiger and Prodigious Dragon, with the former receiving the Blade Flash attack, an upgraded forward dodge, and more. The latter is receiving the Last Ditch Counterspark, Neutral Combat, and more.

Formidable Foes of the Foreigner faction will now have a chance of dropping new glider appearances too, and players can otherwise test their skills against new training opponents such as their Blade Twin and bosses previously only available through bond missions.

Players can now manually reset Unruly Areas too, sync missions that have been completed on Midnight difficulty, equip two of the same weapons individually (allowing for different styles in each hand), and more. Perhaps most importantly, progressing cat collecting will now place cats that can be pet around Usugumo Dayu.

These changes come on top of a wealth of balance updates and bug fixes. The full patch notes can be seen below.

Rise of the Ronin arrived March 22, 2024 as an open-world action role-playing game exclusive to PlayStation 5 where players take on the role of a wandering samurai at the dawn of a new era in Japan. It earned a 7/10 in IGN’s review. “Rise of the Ronin marries a cool setting, Team Ninja’s mastery of tough-but-fair combat, and smart RPG design, even when map clutter and junk loot can get in its way,” we said.

Rise of the Ronin Version 1.05 Patch Notes

NEW CONTENT

• Midnight difficulty: Added new Ally Missions
  • Team up and improve local security in Unruly Areas – Thugs: Honmachi, Thugs Honjo, and Thugs: Honnoji
  • Path of Chaos – Each play through will have different enemies
  • Eternal Night – The most difficult mission thus far
• Added new set bonuses Ferocious Tiger and Prodigious Dragon. Masterwork armor and accessories will now have a chance to drop with these new Set Bonuses separately from other set bonuses
  • Ferocious Tiger set bonuses:
    • Blade Flash Attack
    • Upgraded Forward Dodge
    • Attack ↑ (Martial Skill Swap)
    • Ki Regeneration (Blade Flash)
  • Prodigious Dragon set bonuses:
    • Last Ditch Counterspark
    • Enemy Max Ki ↓ (Grapple Attack)
    • Neutral Combat
    • Upgraded Counterspark
• Added new training opponents, such as your Blade Twin, and bosses that were only available in bond missions
• Added new glider appearances that can be obtained from Formidable Foes of the Foreigner faction: Glorious Crimson, Elegant Brown, and Imperial Blue

NEW FEATURES

• Added feature to manually reset Unruly Areas that is unlocked by completion rate of a chapter on Midnight difficulty
• Added system where you can level sync missions that you have completed on Midnight difficulty
• When equipping the same two main weapon type (for example two katanas), you can now equip different styles for each weapon individually
• Can now register Jizo Statuette for item preset loadouts
• Number of times Martial Skills hit is now added to technical points in Training
• Now shows difficulty in the results screen of Training, as the higher the difficulty, the higher the possible score will be
• Added filtering for Training
• Progressing cat collecting will now place cats that can be pet around Usugumo Dayu in Yokohama, Edo, and Kyoto

WEAPON ADJUSTMENTS

• Adjusted so Violent Gale and Flash attack is easier to do after certain martial skills
• Katana: Yagyu Shinkage-ryu – Follow-up attack after counterspark is now easier to land
• Katana: Nioh-ryu – Adjusted so you are less likely to accidentally trigger Nioh-den: Iai Quickdraw when performing Veiled Arts after Blade Flashing
• Katana: Nioh-ryu – Nioh-den Iai Quickdraw consumes less Ki, and overall increase in damage and Ki damage
• Katana: Aisu Kage-ryu – Crimson Light consumes less ki, and at max blood gauge, damage, and Ki damage is increased
• Saber: British Training – Reduced Ki consumption of throwing knife, and increased damage
• Bayonet: Mumyo-ryu – Bone Shatterer now easier to follow up with critical hits on enemies with depleted Ki
• Bayonet: French Training – Follow-up show after counterspark is now easier to hit
• Oxtail Blade: Mumyo Kaishin-ryu – Midnight Banquet now easier to follow up with critical hit on enemies with depleted
• Great Sword: Mumyo Kaishin-ryu – Midnight Mist is now easier to hit
• Unarmed: Mumyo-ryu – Raging Wolf is now easier to hit

CHARACTER ADJUSTMENTS

• Adjusted player knockback distance on successfully countersparking enemy attacks
• Now possible to switch styles when: Guarding enemy attacks, during some animations of being hit by enemy attacks, and during Flash Attack
• Calling your horse while sprinting will continue the sprint after mounting the horse
• Adjusted and improved stats of unique attacks of Ally characters across the board
• Adjusted so that you will no longer switch lock on targets when controlling the right stick with the combat style UI showing during Critical Hits

ENEMY ADJUSTMENTS

• Shortened flaming area that certain bosses create
• Adjusted and nerfed Bayonet bullet damage and state of certain enemies

OTHER ADJUSTMENTS

• Increased chance of obtaining Masterwork equipment from formidable foes
• A portion of main weapons and sub weapons can now have set bonuses
• Adjusted so that specific equipment that had limited ways of obtaining to now drop from enemies as well
• Can now overwrite set bonuses when bond transferring on Masterwork equipment
• When selecting equipment for bond transferring, equipment that cannot be selected is now filtered to not show
• Items that heal status ailment are now affected by Skill Bolster Duration ↑ and Technology Development Inventory ↑
• Can now obtain the unique accessories by triggering the Veiled Vow dialogue event, and no longer need to commit to the Veiled Vow
• Dialogue lines played after breaking a Veiled Vow now resets after certain conditions
• Fertilizer purchased from Robert Fortune is now cheaper
• Increased the types of material you can purchase from Robert Fortune and Alexandria Moreau
• Increased Red Nuts gain when gardening
• Can now change the time in the Redesign menu
• Midnight difficulty, Edo: Location hubs – Yoshinobu Tokugawa, Taka Murayama, and Hachiro Kiyokawa will now appear in their hubs
• Shintaro Nakaoka will now appear at Choshu Clain Estate in Kyoto when using the Testaments of the Soul
• Adjusted to increase chance of encountering other player’s ronin avatars at towns or roads

BUG FIXES

• Fixed bug where you could transfer despite lacking materials or money through an unconventional method
• Fixed bug where you could not purchase Coal from blacksmiths
• Fixed bug where Blade Twin’s Kimono and Modernizing Vassal’s Kimono – Belt were not shown as selectable pieces
• Fixed bug where each equipment sometimes were shown in different colors each
• Fixed bug where Current Equipment showed default appearance under certain conditions
• Fixed bug where saving and loading before arriving at Kannai disabled Chance Encounters until arriving at Kannai
• Fixed bug where Veiled Arts set for other styles would have different stats compared to the original
• Fixed bug where some Martial Skills would ignore guard
• Fixed bug where you would be forced into swimming when performing certain Martial Skills nearby water
• Fixed bug where while using Martial Skill Blossom Blizzard, if you take damage from certain enemy skills will make you unable to dodge out of it
• Fixed bug where in Niph-ryu, switching to middle stance would sometimes switch to high stance
• Fixed bug where after drop down assassinations, performing certain martial skills would cause you to take fall damage
• Fixed bug where Ki Blaze effect would vibrate excessively
• Fixed bug where when using Ally Alexandria Moreau, her grapple throws were not matching the indicator
• Other minor fixes

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.