You’ll have many different abilities as you progress throughAssassin’s Creed Shadows, but there are some clear frontrunners as you get started. These abilities will make your life just a bit easier when getting oriented and can give you an upper hand for combat in the beginning stages of the game. No matter your playstyle, each weapon has a designated skill tree with a range of passives and main abilities, and there are some obvious choices for both Yasuke and Naoe that you’ll want to grab before any others.
Abilities inAC Shadowsare unlocked with Mastery Points and Knowledge Points, which are earned in various ways, such as side quests, taking down Samurai in castles, and completing Kofuns, Kuji Kiris, and Temples, among many others. Before you access anything above Knowledge Rank 2, there are some clear choices regarding the best abilities I recommend investing in forNaoe and Yasuke.Remember that you can re-spec individual skill trees at any point for free, and the abilities you invest in early on are not locked in permanently.
Best Weapon Abilities To Unlock First For Naoe In Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Only Invest In Weapon Passives If You’re Planning For Combat
You won’t have access to Naoe’s more powerful abilities until you start unlocking Knowledge Points, but you’ll also need to collect each weapon type before accessing its Mastery skill tree.Your initial options are fairly limited in terms of weapon abilities, with the katana’s Tidal Wave ability being the only option for a while. If you want to focus on combat, it’s a good idea to initially invest some mastery points into the Katana passives. Dodge Attack is a nice countering move, while Melee Expert increases your general damage with weapons.
If you’re playing withGuaranteed Assassination inAC Shadowsand plan to play primarily using stealth, you won’t need to invest heavily in the melee weapons skills first.
Once you track down a tanto and Kusarigama duringAC Shadows’main campaignprogression, your best bet is to choose a weapon combo from the three and dump your Mastery Points from the other tree.I highly recommend Kusarigama, as they are the most versatile weapon option. Feral Outburst is the first ability available and deals 20% ability damage with each of the four strikes, further enhanced at Rank 2 to make enemies vulnerable. The tanto’s Shadow Piercer ability is equally as powerful, but the tanto itself (or katana) isn’t as good as the Kusarigama for taking on groups of enemies.
Best Assassin, Shinobi & Tool Abilities To Unlock First For Naoe
Tools Are Handy, But Only If You Know How To Use Them
If you aren’t using Guaranteed Assassination and want effective stealth early on, invest most of your points in the Assassin and Tools trees. At Knowledge Rank 2, youcan increase your Kunai assassination damage in the Tools treeto take down more enemies. You’ll also be able to increase Naoe’s regular assassination damage efficacy against enemies in the Assassin tree with Assassin Damage 1. It’s not a bad idea to unlock all the tools at your disposal - shuriken, smoke bombs, kunai enhancements, and Shinobi bells. These all come in useful in a range of situations.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Level Cap Explained
You can level up in Assassin’s Creed Shadows all the way to level 60, which is slightly higher than past Assassin’s Creed installments.
If stealth isn’t your bag, the Shinobi abilities are pretty universally useful. If you’re like me and like to live on the edge, you’re able to grab the Igan Roll ability, which decreases fall damage and lets you leap from ridiculous heights and roll at the last second to avoid damage.Vault is probably the best skill to grab if you find yourself in lots of combat encounters. This lets Naoe flip over the enemy and make them vulnerable, and it can really help increase damage against opponents early on.
Best Melee Weapon Abilities To Unlock First For Yasuke In AC Shadows
Spine Breaker For The Kanabo Is Extremely Powerful
By the time you unlock Yasuke, your Knowledge Rank will likely be around tier 3. Depending on how many weapons you’ve picked up with Naoe, you might have access to every weapon in Yasuke’s arsenal.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Dual Protagonists Explained
Everything to know about playing and switching between Naoe and Yasuke, the two protagonists who share the spotlight in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Even so, if you have a powerful Kanabo, such as Daybreak’s Fury,you’ll want to utilize the Spine Breaker ability first.This attack lets Yasuke rush an opponent and lift them off the ground, dealing 50% ability damage and knocking out weaker enemies. Forward Momentum and Devastation are also amazing skills for a Kanabo-focused build.
Yasuke’s stealth skills are less than ideal, and he doesn’t have an Eagle Vision equivalent.
Both the Long Katana and Naginata have excellent skills options as well, but some of the passive options are questionable. Whirlwind, for example, is a superb passive ability for the Naginata buthas a somewhat obscure input requirement that is tricky to masterwhen first getting used to Yasuke’s control and mobility. However, if you can master it, the Naginata’s Far Reach ability is OP, increasing damage by 15% for hitting enemies with the tip of the weapon. Alternatively, if you want straightforward Samurai-style combat, the Long Katana is your best bet, with Riposte, Sheathed Attack, and Power Dash.
Best Samurai & Ranged Weapon Skills To Unlock First For Yasuke
Choose Either A Bow Or A Teppo & Don’t Sleep On Samurai Skills
For Yasuke’s ranged weapons, you’ll probably want to choose one or the other, assuming you want to use ranged options at all.The bow is Yasuke’sbest stealth option inAC Shadows, while the Teppo will alert everyone nearby.Yasuke isn’t built for stealth, so using the bow isn’t going to be as ideal as the Teppo. Luckily, whichever you choose, you can access two abilities via Knowledge Rank 2. Close Quarters bashes enemies down and automatically shoots them. You’ll also have access to poison arrows for the bow right away.
Make Sure You Stop & Pet The Puppies (& All Animals) In Assassin’s Creed Shadows
When you pet the adorable animals in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, they become your pets back at the hideout, so make sure you pet them all.
More importantly, you should pick up a handful of Yasuke’s Samurai abilities, such as Link Attack, which lets you swap weapons and chain combo attacks, and Heavy Impact, which will allow you to punt large enemies with Yasuke’s War Kick ability.Brutal Assassination is Yasuke’s version of an assassination,and it entirely lives up to its name. You’ll walk up to enemies and annihilate them with a different move depending on which weapon you have equipped.
These recommendations are only recommended as your first options, but as you gain more Mastery & Knowledge Points, better options will become available. Be sure to look at the skill trees when you increase your Knowledge Rank, as better abilities will open up. You won’t be able to equip more than two, so don’t invest in more. No matter which skills you choose inAssassin’s Creed Shadows,the first ones you choose can make or break you.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Set during Japan’s Sengoku period, two distinct protagonists—Naoe, a shinobi, and Yasuke, a historical African samurai—must navigate political intrigue and violent clashes between the Assassins and Templars. Players can switch between stealthy, shadow-based gameplay with Naoe and Yasuke’s direct combat approach, exploring the duality of their missions in a beautifully rendered open world.
