AC Shadows: How to quickly gain XP?

Do you want to quickly grow in strength and be able to duel with the strongest enemies in Assassin's Creed Shadows? If so, we encourage you to check out this section about fast XP grinding, which will increase not only your base stats, but also your Mastery Points.

• Completing story and side quests
• Sketching animals
• Killing Ronins
• Ways to gain smaller amounts of XP
• Are there ways to increase the XP you gain?

Completing story and side quests

It's no surprise that completing all sorts of quests, whether main or side ones, will reward you with the most XP points. In terms of side quests, it's worth checking in advance how much XP you will receive after completing them, as some will reward you with resources or equipment rather than experience points. In our guide, you will find a complete list of all the main quests.

Sketching animals

Sometimes while traveling through the open world, you will notice an icon of a brush and a piece of paper on your compass. It's worth approaching such markers right away (but slowly, so as not to scare the animal). Why is that? Every animal sketch will not only reward you with a decoration that you can use in your Hideout, but you will also receive as much as 500 XP. Initially, it's really a lot, and thanks to this activity, it's very easy to level up with little effort in a fairly short time.

Killing Ronins

In the first two regions where you will arrive as Naoe, you will encounter Ronins in the cities, in guarded areas. They will usually be marked with a skull symbol, as their level is too high for you at the very beginning. This doesn't mean that they cannot be killed though. In the game settings, you can enable the option for instant assassination with a hidden blade (we've described this option on a separate guide page). Thanks to this option, all you have to do is sneak up or jump onto a roof and wait until a Ronin gets close enough for the assassination to become possible.

However, if you want to play without this option enabled and you haven't invested enough in the assassin's tree yet, it's worth fighting them with kusarigama. This weapon features a very large range, thanks to which you will be able to slowly but effectively kill Ronins, without being exposed to their attacks, which can kill you in one hit. Killing one of them will result in gaining a large amount of XP, and killing all of them will guarantee as much as 5,000 XP. Of course, it concerns the Ronins from a special list.

Ways to gain smaller amounts of XP

Of course, there are other ways to gain XP, the catch is that they are not profitable enough to focus solely on them. They offer too few points at once for it to be worth it.

1. Offering at the Jizo statues - usually Jizo statues are located near the roads leading to cities. By interacting with them, you can offer a small gift (don't worry, you won't lose anything), thanks to which you will receive 50 XP.
2. Defeating enemies - you will always receive some XP points when defeating stronger enemies. Since you will engage in combat quite often, XP will quickly accumulate. The catch is that the XP amounts that you gain this way are not that impressive when it comes to regular enemies.
3. Exploration - discovering new regions and cities will also grant you some XP.

Are there ways to increase the XP you gain?

Unfortunately, Assassin's Creed Shadows does not offer any way to increase the amount of XP gained in order to further develop your character.

See also:

1. Game guide
2. All quests
3. Fast travel
4. How to gain knowledge points?

Assassin's Creed: Shadows

March 20, 2025

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