Riven Cave Walkthrough
From the new Sculptor’s Idol, you can grapple up the branches to a small tunnel that holds an Adamantite Scrap. Grappling up to the next ridge, and you’ll see the ravine here is lined with large impressive statues – but a Monkey will soon drop down in front of you. Wait, is that Monkey holding a sword? Yup!
Keep in mind that it’s still just a wild animal – and will die pretty quickly, and even a shuriken will almost certainly kill it – but armed with a sword he can do some damage before being killed, so fight cautiously.
From here there’s a few ways you can proceed – down below, straight ahead, or using the statue arms to grapple above. If you take the high road, another Monkey further up will spot you and start hopping along other statue hands further back in the ravine before turning to face you. Wait a minute — that Monkey’s got a gun! He’s also surprisingly accurate and powerful with it, and will try to lure you into chasing him so you don’t notice the two other Monkeys stationed along the right wall ready to open fire on you.
Instead, turn the tables on them by using Shurikens to take them out from afar, and then ambush the remaining Monkeys along the right wall. Be sure to head back to where the first Rifle Monkey was to find a Pacifying Agent, and then look for a platform below the first statue where another Monkey guards a Snap Seed.
As for the three giant statues on the left wall, look behind them to find 4 more Monkeys waiting with rifles and swords among them, and clear them out before grabbing the Contact Medicine they were guarding. Further up among the middle statue is some Spirit Emblems and Ako’s Sugar at its feet, while the last statue has a ledge behind it dropping down to Contact Medicine – but be on your guard!
Down here you’ll be ambushed by up to three Nightjar Ninja (two of them are hiding above) – and things can get very chaotic very fast, as one of them will light their weapon on fire. Remember to wait for their spinning knife attacks to deflect rapidly and then retaliate, and use moves like the Chasing Slice with your shuriken to chase them when they jump away. After killing them, jump back up to the ledge with the fallen statue to find Scrap Magnetite behind its head.
By now you may have noticed the ravine is very deep indeed, and a fall will take you all the way down to a poisonous mire – but for the time being we’ll hold off on exploring that location as it eventually leads to the Ashina Depths.
For now, take a look from the fallen statue to the nearby grove where a gigantic horde of Monkeys are sitting – 22 in all, and boast several rifles and swords among them. Obviously they will not take kindly to your arrival, and it is very easy to get overwhelmed.
Because of this, you’ll want a plan, and the Loaded Firecracker has the answer – particularly the Springload Firecracker that shoots in a circle. With it you can jump headlong into the group and let loose a burst of explosions to stun most of the group at once – and follow up with either a Chasing Slice or Whirlwind Slash to try and catch as many Monkeys as you can in as few hits possible – as Deathblows will only waste time.
As the group starts to recover, keep stunning them with fireworks until their ranks thin, and then swap to shurikens and keep using Chasing Slice to hunt them down until you can mop up the rest of the group. Defeating all of them will reward you with the Monkey Booze that you can share with the Sculptor, Emma, or Isshin Ashina, and you can also find a Pacifying Agent on a lower ledge, and Scrap Iron against the back wall. There’s also some Ungo’s Sugar on a low ledge across the ravine from the Monkeys.
From here, look for another large statue against the end of the ravine wall and grapple across its hands to see a large pool in the distance with something sitting on the far end. Jump from the hands to the large white rope around the tree and use it to get close to a far platform you can grapple to where you’ll find the Bodhisattva Valley Sculptor’s Idol. Just below this platform, be sure to look down and you’ll find a Mibu Balloon of Soul.
Next up is: Boss Battle Guardian Ape