Should You Kill or Spare Naosuke in Rise of the Ronin

In Rise of the Ronin, Team Ninja takes players to the final years of the Edo period where anarchy started dominating the political aspect of the society. The more players complete missions to uncover the game events, the more they encounter formidable bosses. Among them, a few can be dealt with without any issues, but the rest of the bosses will give players a hard time defeating them. Unfortunately, Naosuke Li is among them. 

Well, the fight starts with Naosuke Li, but later the Blue Demon will join the battle, making it a lot more challenging to complete. However, that’s not the end, the fight ends with a choice, where players need to decide, whether they spare Naosuke Li or kill him. This choice is tricky unless players know about the exact consequences of their choice.

If you are confused about what to choose, this guide will help you with all the consequences and the best one to pick. Before that let’s check out the location and the battle process.

Rise of the Ronin- Naosuke Li Location and How to Deal with Him?

Naosuke Li is one of the vital characters in the game and players will find him in the final mission of Act 1. That’s kind of a tradition in Rise of the Ronin that every main story mission will end with at least one boss fight. As you start the journey, eventually you will reach the final mission of Act 1 named, The Sakurada Gate Incident. The mission begins with several regular enemy fights.

Don’t take much damage in these fights as you have to take as many health potions as possible for the boss fight. Your target is not to defeat these enemies but to deal with the two main bosses of the mission. Naosuke Li is not a very tough opponent to deal with until Akikatsu Manabe (Blue Demon) arrives. Primarily, the boss uses shockwave projectiles, and mastering the Counterspark move will easily help players avoid these attacks. 

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From the very beginning of the fight, make sure you are keeping a safe distance from the boss and dodge or parry his attacks. A few of the boss’s attacks will be unblockable. Make sure you watch out for them. When the boss takes enough damage, Akikatsu Manabe will appear as a savior. From this point, the fight will become one of the toughest fights to win, and without a proper strategy, it is almost impossible. 

Don’t try to deal with both bosses simultaneously. When you deal with Naosuke Li, let your teammates distract the Blue Demon. Of course, watch out for the attacks as sometimes the Blue Demon will attack you as well. For a detailed walkthrough of the fight, check out our guide on it:

Once you have defeated both enemies, Naosuke Li will be found on the ground waiting for you to decide his fate. You can decide, whether it will be his last fight or he will have a few more moments to live. 

Naosuke Li Choice Guide- Should You Kill or Spare Him?

Before discussing the best decision you can take at this point, the players need to know the consequences of each option. How sparing or killing the boss will affect the gameplay. So, first, we will discuss that part and then determine the best decision for Naosuke Li.

Spare Naosuke Li

If you are tired of killing enemies and finally decide to spare Nausuke Li, the cutscene will show that the Blue Demon is taking the boss out of the battle arena. However, this won’t really save the boss’s life. Naosuke will be banished from the shogunate for the disgrace, and after a short while, players will get the news that he got assassinated by your Blade Twin. Though you didn’t kill the boss, his life is still at the end. 

However, if you spare the boss, you will receive the Blue Demon’s Mask and the Awataguchi Tadatsuna katana. Apart from that, in Act 3, players will eventually get a Bond mission named The Watchman. In this mission, players will get the chance to work with Akikatsu Manabe.

Kill Naosuke Li

If you have decided to kill Nausuke Li, in the next Act, a few characters will mention the fact that you have killed the boss, but nothing serious consequences will happen. It doesn’t really block you from switching sides. You can still be Pro or Anti-Shogunate, according to your choice. Now, players may get a bit confused about receiving the Act 3 bond mission The Watchman after killing him. 

Well, regardless of whether you kill or spare the boss, this mission will pop up. The only difference is instead of completing it as a partner of the Blue Demon, players need to fight this challenging opponent one more time. 

What is the Best Choice?

From the above discussion, players must have got one point that none of these choices will make any significant impact on the game’s main story. Regardless of what you choose, the main story of the game will progress in a similar way, only a few side missions will differ. Therefore, you can choose whatever you like. If you want to kill the boss, go for it. 

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Anyway, we suggest, don’t kill the boss. Spare him. He is not going to harm you later in any way. So there’s no point in killing him. The most important part is, that sparing Naosuke Li, will let you play as an ally of the Blue Demon and save you from fighting the boss another time. Moreover, killing the boss will make the Americans a bit repelled, and increase the British power to some extent.

That’s everything, players need to know about whether to spare Naosuke Li or kill him in Rise of the Ronin. Killing or Sparing this boss won’t change the outcome of the story. However, if you spare him it will show the humanity of the players, and along with that, they will have the chance to get Blue Demon’s Testament of the Soul. This will be incredibly helpful in the further progression of the game.