The best Rise of the Ronin class is framed as a choice of Blade Sharpening Origins, your fundamental training as a warrior and assassin as part of the Veiled Edge. Classes are ultimately less important that they're made to sound - there's no choice here that you can't unmake fairly easily later, as all you're ultimately doing is building on certain elements of the skill tree early.
Still, it's worth understanding what you're getting into, especially as if you have a specific build in mind for Rise of the Ronin, you can start investing in it from the moment the game begins. With that in mind, I've outlined all the Blade Sharpening Origin classes in Rise of the Ronin below, what the skills and stats tied to them do, and which class is the best one.
Best starting class in Rise of the Ronin
Having acquired all the skills tied to Rise of the Ronin's different classes, I would say the best class is the Breaker - the stealth and dexterity build - though it's ultimately not a very big choice, as there's no class skill you can't obtain for yourself relatively early on - so even if you pick the Seducer (and why wouldn't you, with a name like that), you can still buy the skills attached to the Breaker, Killer and Sapper within the first ten hours.
There's several reasons to call out the Breaker as the best class. Firstly, the ability to sneak attack multiple enemies is a useful one that can be used more than any of the others, and probably to greater effect. The Breaker's emphasis on fast-striking weapons also plays into Ronin's gameplay, as we found moving quickly and hitting fast was better than doing high damage on individual strikes (as we mentioned in our Rise of the Ronin tips page). Finally, the Dexterity skill tree that the Breaker leans into has the most skills worth pursuing, with powers that actively change the way you play and afford more options as a rule.
All classes in Rise of the Ronin and Blade Sharpening Origins explained
There are six classes in Rise of the Ronin that you can pick between when you start the game and choose your Blade Sharpening Origins. We've listed them all below, their respective strengths and what their special skills do.
- Killer: A strength-focused build that emphasises direct melee combat with larger weapons, as well as health and intimidation.
- Special Skill: Repel Arrows/Bullets (Counterspark). Allows the player to not just parry bullets and ranged attacks, but deflect them back at the enemy who fired them, if they can get the timing right.
- Breaker: A dexterity-focused build that emphasises speedy combat, ranged weapons and stealth.
- Special Skill: Rapid Assassinations. Allows the player to kill two targets in quick succession from stealth.
- Seducer: A charm-focused build that emphasises sweeping, wide attacks, stamina recovery and management, and the ability to manipulate others.
- Special Skill: Speechcraft 'Liar'. Certain dialogue interactions will have options locked off unless the player has this skill. The benefit of lying will vary depending on the context of the conversation.
- Sapper: An intellect-focused build that emphasises firearms, item management, elemental damage and crafting, as well as certain rational dialogue.
- Special Skill: Refill Up (Medicine Pills). The player regains an extra medicine pill when resting at checkpoints.
- Beginner: A blank slate that has slightly lower stats than the previous classes, but greater versatility. Rather than be given a specific special skill, players are instead given six Skill Points to invest how they choose.
- Unsharpened: Intentionally the worst class, the Unsharpened have the poorest stats of all the Blade Sharpening Origins and none of the best Rise of the Ronin skills and abilities, nor Skill Points to spend. This is meant to be an option for players who want an extra challenge, trying to deal with the fact that your character is effectively untrained and largely inept. Still, I found it good for immersion.
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