How to beat Blue Demon in Rise of the Ronin

If you’ve come to this article, I would hazard a guess you’ve just been royally walloped by Rise of the Ronin‘s Blue Demon boss and need advice on how to bring him to his knees.

After an enjoyable tutorial section and rummage aboard a boat in Rise of the Ronin, the time comes to square off with the admirable Commodore Matthew Perry. The name may be familiar, but he’s very much a homage to the real-life figure who played a prominent role in the end of Japan’s 19th century isolationism.

Just as you’re about to best the noble soldier, a mysterious figure jumps to his aid: the Blue Demon. This highly skilled character will more than likely kill you, but this doesn’t have to be the case.

Can you beat the Blue Demon in Rise of the Ronin?

To clarify: Yes, the Blue Demon can be defeated in Rise of the Ronin. It’s not an unwinnable battle.

Fans of Souls games and Japanese-inspired titles will be familiar with this scenario. First up was FromSoftware’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in 2019, which had you battle Genichiro Ashina as the tutorial boss. You’re expected to lose, especially if it’s your first time playing, but you can defeat him—although the following cutscene always ends up the same.

On the other hand, Ghost of Tsushima went down a different path with its tutorial boss, Khotun Khan. Even if you deplete his health completely, you have to keep fighting until you lose. But unlike Blue Demon and Genichiro Ashina, the Khotun Khan fight is unwinnable.

How to beat Blue Demon boss in Rise of the Ronin

The first thing to do is manually save before fighting Perry, so you can redo the Blue Demon fight if you lose. It’s a hard fight as it’s in the early game, and you don’t have your main gear and skills you acquire later on. If you want to beat the Blue Demon now, you must save to redo the fight as the story continues on whether you win or lose, and you could lose your opportunity.

A big tip, which is obvious but true, is to practice and memorize the Perry and Blue Demon fights. I say both because you need to get to the point where you master the Matthew Perry fight, take little-to-no damage, and enter the Blue Demon scrap with at least three Medicinal Pills, if not all four.

One little trick I like to use is a character swap to your Blade Twin to grab the Blue Demon’s focus. Once he aggros you, switch back to the other Twin, and with Blue Demon temporarily disinterested in you, take the opportunity to pepper the boss with the explosive barrels, and lay into him with your ranged weapons.

As I mentioned with my Rise of the Ronin best tips, you need to be good at parrying. With no status-afflicting items or stats-boost consumables for this fight, the onus is on expert swordsmanship to get the job done. Parrying and deflecting helps to break the Blue Demon’s stance quicker, allowing you to land devastating critical hit damage.

My final tip to defeat the Blue Demon is one you may not like, but it’s in your best interest: wait until you have completed Rise of the Ronin, then make a new save and try again. Knowing how long Rise of the Ronin is might not make the idea appealing if you want to get it done straightaway, however, attempting it many hours later is logical as your ability will be significantly greater and the fight will be much easier in comparison.

How to get Tears of a Blue Demon trophy in Rise of the Ronin

Beating the Blue Demon on the boat gives you the Tears of a Blue Demon trophy in Rise of the Ronin.

It’s a Silver trophy with the description: “Managed to beat the Blue Demon aboard the Black Ship.” So, if you’re a PlayStation Trophy enthusiast and want to earn the Platinum trophy for completing the Rise of the Ronin trophy list, you have no choice but to conquer the Blue Demon in the action title’s early stages.