The Karma system in Rise of the Ronin explained

Rise of the Ronin Karma — (Image credit: Koei Tecmo)

Rise of the Ronin's Karma system is a special kind of secondary XP based around killing enemies, and sometimes killing them a second time in special Vendettas. Karma is different from experience, but fortunately it's not that different, it's just that Rise of the Ronin doesn't explain the distinction particularly well. Fortunately, we're here to lay out the basics clearly and ensure that you understand what's happening when you collect Karma, and how to reclaim it in a Vendetta.

What is Karma in the Rise of the Ronin?

Karma in Rise of the Ronin is basically a second kind of experience that players obtain solely through fighting enemies. Here are the basics:

As you play through Rise of the Ronin, every enemy killed earns the player Karma.
Karma rewards will vary according to enemy level.
If you watch the upper-right corner of the screen, you'll be able to see your Karma bar filling.
When that bar is full - and only when completely full - players can bank their Karma at any of the Veiled Edge Banners. You can also use the Rise of the Ronin fast travel system at these banners, if you weren't aware already.
Banking Karma earns the player some skill points that can be spent, as though they'd levelled up normally (you can find other methods to gain skill points in our guide on how to level up in Rise of the Ronin)
Karma is also banked automatically at the completion of a mission

So it's basically another kind of XP, just similar enough to the standard XP to make things confusing. However, this is only limited to enemy killing - Karma can't be obtained by mission completion or anything like that. The specific skill points you get upon banking that Karma will vary, but it's always worth doing if you get the chance - if you've obtained a full bar, sometimes it's even worth backtracking a little rather than risk losing that Karma. Speaking of which…

Vendettas explained

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If a player is killed by an enemy in Rise of the Ronin, that enemy steals all their Karma. At that point, it triggers a Vendetta - basically the chance to steal it back. To do so, you need to either kill the enemy, or at least land a special high-damage attack on them, like a critical hit or stealth assassination. That will get you your Karma back and complete the Vendetta. If you die again before doing so, that Karma is just gone, sorry to say - and it starts a Vendetta with the enemy that killed you. It's rather like dropping your Runes in Elden Ring, if that helps the comparison.

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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.