Ronin: The Last Samurai is a brilliant action role-playing game from Dreamotion Inc. The story revolves around the last samurai who is out to avenge the death of his Lord. You will have to equip the best gear to him, including the strongest of the swords, level them up and train him to unlock deadly abilities and only then you can vanquish his Lord’s tormentors.
One noticeable aspect of this game is its graphics. The East Asian ink wash style visuals complement with the game’s theme very well. Game controls are easy – you have a block button on the left and attack button on the right. With these two buttons, you can perform various actions, such as parry, counter flash and stun.
It’s all about timing and the right action to deal with enemies. Combat is fast-paced so you will have to be very quick in attacking your enemies. Our beginner-level Ronin: The Last Samurai guide and tips will train you to fight your enemies and defeat them.
Table of Contents
How to Deal Posture Damage to Enemies
When the enemy is about to strike, press and hold down the block button to defend against his attack.
When a common melee enemy attacks you and you are successful in blocking, your character will not take HP damage. However, he will take “Posture Damage” (PD). The red gauge above a character is the HP gauge and the yellow gauge just below it is the posture damage gauge. Note that every time you defend an attack your yellow gauge fills up a bit.
In Ronin: The Last Samurai, posture damage plays an important role during battle. When the yellow gauge is full, your character’s posture breaks and he becomes stunned, unable to attack for a few seconds. The same applies to the enemy. When his yellow gauge is full, he is stunned and he cowers down. When the enemy’s posture breaks, make the most of this and press the attack button repeatedly to deal HP damage and watch his health bar decrease rapidly.
Increased CRIT Rate
Once the enemy posture is broken (yellow gauge full) and he is stunned, your character’s CRIT rate is increased when he attacks the stunned enemy.
The attack button is located on the extreme right side of the screen. Tap it to attack an enemy once you have defended his attack successfully.
Don’t Get Surrounded by Enemies
You are doomed if you are sandwiched between two enemies. The one behind you will attack while you are busy defending against the enemy on the front. Pressing and dragging the block button allows your character to move. Try to move away from your enemies using this button.
Your character should be positioned in such a way that he faces both enemies and there’s no one behind him. Yes, enemies will attack together, but with a more powerful sword, you can strike hard to deal damage to both of them when they are close to you.
Parry Enemy Attack
You can “parry” an enemy attack in two ways – either by tapping the block button or pressing the attack button the moment the enemy dashes to attack you. It’s all about timing and you must hit the block/attack button at the right time to parry.
Time Your Parries
A well-timed parry can deal a massive posture damage to the enemy. You will notice the yellow gauge filling up pretty quickly with a successful parry. It also means that your character won’t take any posture damage from the enemy.
How to Deal with Riflemen?
Ranged enemies will attack your character from a distance. The best way to avoid excessive damage is to press and hold the block button on the left side of the screen. Please note that even if you block a ranged attack, you will still take some HP damage as ranged attacks inflict “Penetration Damage”.
Always Attack Ranged Enemies First
Prioritize attacking ranged enemies, such as the rifleman, when surrounded by both melee and ranged foes. Remember that ranged foes deal penetration damage, decreasing your HP, despite blocking their attack. Press and hold the block button and drag it to move your character towards the ranged enemy and finish him before he deals more damage. You can then quickly press the attack button to dash towards the next enemy.
Yes, you can parry ranged attacks, but unfortunately it won’t deal any posture damage to the ranged enemy, unlike melee enemy, who takes a big posture damage when you are successful in parrying his attack.
Beware of Heavy Attacks
Pay attention to markers when an enemy uses a heavy attack. Heavy attacks are usually slower than normal attacks, but deal great damage to your character if successful. When you see the marker above an enemy, it means he is ready to launch a heavy attack. Quickly tap the block button to defend. Note that you cannot parry heavy attacks and you will still take damage when you are successful in blocking them.
Use Skills
Your character’s skill charges up during battle. The skill button is located next to the attack button. When charged fully, press the skill button to activate it. Most of the skills will remain activated for a few seconds. Your character will gain special power for the duration. Make the most of those precious seconds when it’s activated and deal maximum damage to the enemy by tapping the attack button at quick intervals.
Choose an Ability Wisely
Before a battle begins, the game allows players to choose an ability from three abilities. These abilities are randomly chosen before a battle. Abilities are actually “buffs/debuffs” and there are several of them, such as Fatal Blow, which increases CRIT damage by a certain percentage, Vital Enhancement, which gives a boost to your character’s HP and Stagger, an ability increases posture damage to enemies by a certain percentage.
Select an ability wisely. Since three random abilities are given, your priority should be to select the one that can inflict some kind of a damage, be it posture or HP, to an enemy.
Time Your Counter Flashes
Like I said earlier, heavy attacks are slower than normal attacks. Just before an enemy lands a heavy attack, quickly press the attack button to counterattack. This attack method is known as “counter flash” in Ronin: The Last Samurai.
Always time your counterattacks. A well-timed counter flash not only invalidates a heavy attack, but also deals a CRIT hit on the enemy.
You will have to practice counter flashes to time them. The best way to do this is to go to “Sacred Scrolls” located on the top-right corner of the screen > Practice > Shogun’s Soldier.