Bushido Skill
Bushido is the core skill of a samurai and covers the principles of honorable combat. With this skill and a Bushido book (which can be bought from the scribe NPCs on Makoto-Jima or looted from Ronin), a Samurai can use a range of special abilities. These abilities are both defensive and offensive, and can be used to bring down powerful opponents quickly and honorably.
Ability Types
- Offensive Abilities: these work like weapon special moves. If you have already activated a special move or a Bushido offensive ability, the next special move or Bushido offensive ability you activate cancels the previous one.
- Defensive Abilities: these work independently of weapon special moves and Bushido offensive abilities, and can be used while one of those is active. Only one defensive ability can be active at a time. The most recently activated one cancels the previous one.
Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
 | Honorable Execution | A killing blow. If the opponent dies from this strike it grants a 0.25 sec Swing Speed Increase bonus for 10 seconds. Depending on your Perfection level it restores roughly 8 - 10 Hit Points. If the opponent does not die from the strike, your Magic Resistance drops to zero for 6 seconds and all of your resists fall by 40 points. Mana Cost: 0, Min Skill: 25 |
 | Confidence | A defensive stance that grants Stamina and Hit Points on every successful parry. Each successful parry gives between 1 and (Bushido / 12) hit points and between 1 and (Bushido / 5) stamina. Once activated it boosts stamina and hit point regeneration for 4 seconds. If you take damage within those 4 seconds the effect ends. Mana Cost: 10, Min Skill: 25 |
 | Counter Attack | A defensive stance that automatically attempts a counter blow on your next successful parry. This blow does not delay your next normal swing, it slips in between. Normal hit chances apply. If a special move such as Double Strike or Armor Ignore was used on the previous swing, that move is repeated on the counter blow as well. Mana Cost: 5, Min Skill: 40 |
 | Lightning Strike | Delivers a blow as if you had 50% Hit Chance Increase. It is subject to the 45% HCI cap. However, if the character is under the effect of Hit Lower Attack it is calculated over 50% HCI and offsets some of HLA's effect. Some strikes made with Lightning Strike also count as Critical Hits and deal extra damage. Mana Cost: 5, Min Skill: 50 |
 | Evasion | Increases your parry chance, and also lets you parry other sources of direct damage such as spells and Dragons Breath. It can be used once every 20 seconds. The parry chance is determined by your Bushido, Anatomy and Tactics skills. Mana Cost: 10, Min Skill: 60 |
 | Momentum Strike | Only useful when you are surrounded by more than one enemy. Works only on multiple targets. A successful blow on an opponent also triggers an attempted blow on another opponent nearby. Normal hit chances apply. If the first opponent struck dies, you get a 100% damage bonus against the second opponent. Mana Cost: 10, Min Skill: 70 |
Training
You can learn up to 40 from Hamato, the Bushido trainer at the Newbie Center, and take a quest there to gain skill quickly up to 50.
- 40.0 - 62.5: Confidence.
- 62.5 - 77.5: Counter Attack (you must have a weapon in hand).
- 77.5 - 97.5: Evasion (you must have a weapon in hand).
- 97.5 - 120: Momentum Strike (at the Newbie Center you can step between two Training NPCs standing close together and use this ability).
Samurai gain various passive benefits based on their Bushido skill.
Parrying
A character who has the Parrying skill alongside Bushido can parry with a weapon alone, with no need for a shield. In fact, using a shield lowers their parry chance.
Parry chance with 120 Parry and 0 Bushido: 35% with a shield, 20% with a one-handed weapon, 20% with a two-handed weapon
Parry chance with 120 Parry and 120 Bushido: 5% with a shield, 35% with a one-handed weapon, 40% with a two-handed weapon
Bushido's Evasion ability is the only method in the game that fully blocks direct spell damage.
Perfection
A Samurai with 50 or more Bushido activates the Perfection system by using the Honor virtue on an opponent. This system lets you deal more damage to that opponent based on consecutive successful hits, and also grants a luck bonus.
Whirlwind Damage Increase
Bushido grants a damage bonus to the Whirlwind special move. This bonus is capped at 100. It is calculated with the following formula:
Damage bonus = (Bushido skill / 60 × Number of opponents)²
For example, if you are using a weapon with Whirlwind and you are surrounded by 4 enemies (enemies within 1 tile of you), and your Bushido skill is 90, you deal 36 extra points of damage to each of them. With 120 Bushido, being surrounded by 5 enemies is enough to reach the maximum Whirlwind bonus, while with 100 Bushido you would need to be surrounded by 6. Players need at least 66.6 Bushido to be able to reach the maximum bonus, and in that case they must be surrounded by 9 enemies.
Reduced Special Move Mana Requirement
The mana requirement of weapon special moves drops once the sum of certain skills reaches 200 or more. If the skill total is in the 200-299 range, special moves cost 5 less mana; at 300 and above, 10 less. The skills counted toward this bonus are:
Swordsmanship, Mace Fighting, Fencing, Archery, Parrying, Lumberjacking, Stealth, Poisoning, Bushido, Ninjitsu, Throwing
Lesser Hiryu
Samurai with 90 Bushido or higher can ride and control a Lesser Hiryu without needing the Animal Taming skill. They cannot tame one, however.
Special Moves That Require Bushido
Some new special moves that came with weapons added in the Samurai Empire expansion and later require 50 Bushido or Ninjitsu. These are: