Stealth Smarter, Strike Harder: Crucial Tips for Assassin’s Creed Shadows Newcomers
Stepping into the richly detailed, dangerous world of Assassin’s Creed Shadows can feel a bit overwhelming, especially when you’re juggling the unique abilities of Yasuke and Naoe, navigating dense forests, and plotting your stealthy infiltrations. But fear not—this guide is here to transform you from rookie assassin to shadow master in record time. We've gathered essential tips, hidden strategies, and crucial advice that'll give you the edge from the very beginning. Here’s everything I wish I'd known when I first leapt into the shadows, blades drawn, ready to conquer feudal Japan.
14. Grab the Tanto immediately—it’s the best weapon in the game
Even though Yasuke is designed as the expert in direct combat, our team has yet to find any weapon that can match the Tanto knife exclusive to Naoe, and we unanimously agree on its effectiveness. Moreover, its powerful auto-dodge ability, Shadow Barrage, combined with the Shadow Piercer throwing skill, makes the Tanto you obtain from Wakasa particularly devastating. Shadow Barrage briefly makes you immune to all melee attacks aside from grabs, and the special Tanto grants two Posture attacks on stunned enemies instead of one.
If you perfectly deflect an enemy’s attack, you can execute two consecutive Posture attacks, follow up with Shadow Piercer, and then deliver two more Posture strikes, inflicting massive damage on a single target. These are widely considered among the best Assassin's Creed Shadows skills for good reason.
13. Shrines provide essential combat buffs
Always stop to pray at roadside Shrines before infiltrating Castles or tackling new Quests, since each shrine grants a unique blessing, offering temporary boosts like increased attack damage, resistance, or even a boost to your maximum health.
You can extend these buffs further by upgrading your Hideout.
12. Prioritize unlocking Naoe’s smoke bombs early
Naoe has a wide array of tools available in her Mastery Skill Tree, but none are as crucial as the Smoke Bomb, which can be acquired early in the game. Smoke Bombs blind enemies, allowing easy escapes or stealthy assassinations within the smoke itself. Combine this with the quick throw skill, and Naoe gains a perfect failsafe in dangerous encounters.
11. Double-check your assassination attempts before committing
Due to Assassin's Creed Shadows' leveling mechanics, certain high-level or tough enemies may survive your assassination attempts, regardless of which character you're controlling. Thankfully, the game uses color-coded prompts for clarity: a yellow assassination prompt indicates you'll only wound the target, while a red prompt means you won't harm them at all. Remember, failed assassinations instantly reveal your position and thrust you straight into open combat—so always be prepared!
10. Check the recommended castle “type” before launching your assault
Each castle has a recommended character type, either Naoe or Yasuke, indicated by the rewards it offers. A castle suited for Naoe typically includes more sneaky areas and narrow entryways, whereas Yasuke-oriented castles feature gates to smash through and sometimes large boxes to move. However, given Yasuke's extraordinary combat abilities, you can blitz through castles of either type with him, which is significantly trickier for Naoe.
9. Stay on horseback and avoid the forests
Regarding navigation, the game strongly discourages taking shortcuts through difficult terrain. I highly recommend sticking to your horse and the path tracker almost every time you head out. The dense woods and steep hillsides off main paths create more frustration than benefit. Stay on horseback, follow the winding trails, and you'll arrive much faster.
8. Remember the passive bonuses hidden in your skill trees
This can easily be overlooked because it doesn’t resemble a traditional skill slot, nor can you invest points directly into it. However, at the bottom of each skill tree is a circular indicator showing passive boosts to stats like damage or health, increasing as you invest more points into the tree. Make sure to invest points accordingly. You can enjoy substantial damage bonuses to weapons by filling out the left-side perks.
7. Remember to double or triple upgrade certain skill perks
This detail is often overlooked. Several upgrades feature one or two small dots above them, signifying that they can be upgraded multiple times. These repeated upgrades—especially for certain skills—can substantially increase your damage, sometimes even doubling it, provided you remember to invest in these nodes.
6. Always complete your Contracts
Contracts reset every season, are generally very easy, and typically found nearby. They reward you generously with base upgrade materials, gear improvements, or just plain money. If you’re ever short on these resources, never skip Contracts.
5. Don’t waste time smuggling with scouts
This brings us to the next recommendation: don’t bother sending scouts to tag resources in enemy territories. They yield very little compared to Contracts, which are far more valuable. Save your scouts primarily to pinpoint quest locations or occasionally reset your wanted level.
4. Prioritize gear or perks that counter unblockable attacks
Although the game offers many playstyles, one trick is to rely on the ability to parry unblockable attacks for both characters. Yasuke can quickly acquire this ability through a chestplate named Protector’s Armor, found early at Nijo Palace in Kyoto. For Naoe, it's not equipment but a Katana perk, though unlocking it demands progressing to the final row of knowledge point upgrades—a process that takes considerable time.
3. Replace outdated gear instead of always upgrading
I initially made the mistake of constantly upgrading my favorite gear, but quickly discovered it drains your resources. Don't hesitate to discard old gear—even legendary items—in favor of rare or epic equipment, as the higher-level gear comes with significant flat stat boosts. If you really can't part ways with a legendary piece, choose just that one to upgrade, rather than all of them.
2. Acquire Legendary Blacksmith Mods
Unlocking this capability requires fully upgrading your base’s Blacksmith, but doing so allows you to extract legendary mods from gear and transfer them into other gear slots. For example, the unblockable parry perk from Yasuke’s armor can then be embedded into any other armor alongside its original base perks.
1. Remember to transmog your gear
This aspect is easy to overlook, but making your characters visually striking is a fantastic feature of the game. You can dismantle gear yet retain the unlocked styles. While most legendary gear boasts a distinctive appearance, even lower-tier gear can offer some of the game's coolest aesthetics.
