The best choices for each skill tree in Assassin's Creed: Shadows
Both AC: Shadows' protagonists, Yasuke and Naoe, have six different skill trees, so it can be overwhelming to decide what to choose. Here are the most useful.
The skill trees in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows can appear overwhelming at first. Sure, they’re not the complex tangled forest that is the skill trees from Path of Exile 2. But if you’re trying to jump into Assassin’s Creed just for the fun of being an assassin, it might be confusing what you’re supposed to do with all these knowledge points and skill options. Or maybe you just want to know what skills are the most useful. Either way, We’ve got you covered.
The best skills to unlock as early as possible in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows
Assassin’s Creed: Shadows has two protagonists. It might take a handful of hours to finally unlock Yasuke, but Naoe will be with you right from the start. Both characters have as many as six skill trees, with most of them tied to certain weapons. This article will focus on low-rank skills, the kinds of skills you’ll be choosing early in the game. Unlocking further skills will require more time, exploration, and knowledge points. So, if you’re looking for something for farther into the game, I recommend checkout out our dedicated skill tree guide.
- The best skills to unlock as early as possible in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows
- Katana
- Kusarigama
- Tanto
- Tools
- Shinobi
- Assassin
- Long Katana
- Naginata
- Kanabo
- Teppo
- Samurai
- Bow
Katana
Naoe's Katana Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
For Naoe’s katana, there are two useful skills worth unlocking as soon as possible. First, unlock Counter Attack. This upgrades the katana’s primary use: defensive parrying. A perfect deflection will grant Naoe an immediate counter attack, so dealing some extra damage while protecting yourself from attacks is absolutely worth it. Next, choose Generator. Naoe, as the stealthy shinobi archetype of this game, has significantly less adrenaline than her samurai counterpart, Yasuke. Picking up this skill gives you increased adrenaline with every successful dodge, which can prove to be invaluable.
Kusarigama
Naoe's Kusarigama Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
Naoe’s kusarigama is a key component to her toolkit. It’s her best choice for dealing with potentially life-threatening situations where she is up against groups of enemies. For this weapon, there are three recommended skills to pick up as early as possible. First is Entanglement. This skill allows you to bind enemies and throw them in any direction. Hold down the attack button during the strong attack animation to activate it. It might feel somewhat unintuitive at first, but it can be incredibly useful when you find yourself up against single enemies. Entanglement will let you control the battlefield and shift opponents into more advantageous positions, even if that’s just knocking them flat on their back.
Next is Quick Strike, another useful ability that shores up the Kusarigama’s primary weakness: one on one combat. Quick Strike allows you to deal significantly more damage by waiting a moment after an attack and attacking again to continue the combo with a second strike. Finally, we recommend Cyclone Blast. This plays on the Kusarigama’s strengths in dealing with groups of enemies. With this skill, Naoe performs pirouettes and swings the kusarigama, dealing damage to all nearby enemies. This will force enemies to give you space when they might otherwise have you surrounded.
Tanto
Naoe's Tanto Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
The tanto is a versatile weapon that can give you great defensive and offensive options. There are three recommended skills to unlock early on this skill tree. First is Shadow Piercer, it doesn’t just sound cool, it’s a very useful skill. To use this ability, Naoe throws the tanto at an enemy and pulls it out of them. The targeted enemy becomes vulnerable to charged attacks and Naoe won’t take any damage while the attack animation plays. You can use this to your advantage to interrupt enemy attacks and easily escape
Second is Shadow Barrage. This skill allows Naoe to automatically dodge up to 7 hits for the next 20 seconds. In a way, this is a temporary shield, but one that allows you to continue attacking. Beware of grab attacks though, as this skill doesn’t protect you from that. Finally, Backstab, a classic assassin’s skill. An enemy’s back is already considered a weak point when landing a charged attack. The tanto is a weapon that encourages mobility, so unlocking this ability will let you take advantage of that to hit enemies where they will hurt the most, without also needing to make them vulnerable beforehand.
Tools
Naoe's Tools Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
Naoe has access to an array of tools, but not all of them are available right away. That’s why the first skills we recommend unlocking are the three skills that unlock Naoe’s entire arsenal: Smoke Bombs, Shuriken, and Shinobi Bells. Once you’ve unlocked those, there are three other skills worth considering as well. Larger Tool Bag is just like it sounds. This will permanently increase the number of tools Naoe can carry. It’s simple, the more, the better.
Next, you’ll want to unlock Quick Throw. With this skill, Naoe can automatically, without aiming, throw a selected tool at the nearest enemy. This skill is especially useful for using smoke bombs for a quick escape or throwing shuriken to quickly stagger enemies. Finally, unlock Kunai Assassination Damage. This increases the damage dealt by throwing kunai at the head of an unsuspecting enemy. This skill allows you to turn the kunai into the perfect tool for silent, armor-piercing, long-range assassinations.
Shinobi
Naoe's Shinobi Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
It’s not all about weapons and tools. Naoe also has some useful abilities as a shinobi. An easy recommendation for this skill tree is Igan Roll. This skill allows you to reduce fall damage by pressing the dodge button before hitting the ground. This can seem like a skill relegated to specific situations, but when you’re accidentally falling from a few stories up, you’ll be happy to have this skill.
Ascension Boost also seems simple, but it is incredibly useful. This skill increases the speed with which Naoe climbs using the grappling hook. The faster Naoe is able to reach the roof, the less chance she has of being detected. Very important for a shinobi. Finally, we recommend Lightning Kicks. This skill allows Naoe to knock two enemies to the ground. It works on almost every enemy and gives Naoe a few moments of invincibility, as she cannot be damaged while in the animation. Effected enemies will lie on the ground for a few seconds, leaving them open to a hidden blade strike to deal massive damage or break armor.
Assassin
Noae's Assassin Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
It is Assassin’s Creed after all. There is something important to note with this skill tree. Assassination Damage is a great skill that we highly recommend unlocking. It increases damage dealt by assassinations, as the name suggests. This allows you to instantly kill increasingly stronger enemies as the skill improves. But there is one major caveat. In the game’s settings, there is an option to allow the hidden blade to automatically kill any enemy, no matter their strength. If you decide to activate that setting at any point, this skill is essentially useless.
But this skill tree also contains one of the most useful and iconic skills in all of Assassin’s Creed: Double Assassination. With a tanto equipped, Naoe can assassinate two enemies standing next to each other at the same time. It doesn’t take much to realize how useful this can be in the right situations. Reinforced Blade will allow for the assassination of large enemies. These are often the most dangerous enemies, so the opportunity to eliminate them without being detected is crucial.
Long Katana
Yasuke's Long Katana Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
Now we can start getting into Yasuke’s skill trees. First is the Long Katana. With this weapon, there are three skills we recommend unlocking early. First is Sheathed Attack. At first, while holding his guard, this skill will allow Yasuke to deliver a hit that breaks through the enemy’s guard. Further improvements will let you charge this hit and eventually knock down enemies.
Power Dash is another great skill to unlock early. Yasuke dashes forward, getting behind a target’s back, leaving them vulnerable and letting you strike their weak point. It can serve as a makeshift area attack because all enemies in the samurai’s path receive damage. Finally, there’s also Payback. This skill gives Yasuke a little healing. He strikes the enemy three times, restoring 10% health with each hit. With this healing, your survivability in tense combat situations will go way up.
Naginata
Yasuke's Naginata Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
At first glance, the naginata might seem like its wide, slow swings are a weakness, but as don’t let that fool you. This weapon has two useful skills that greatly increase its versatility. Crescent Strike might deal low damage, but it has a large range, and it pushes enemies back. This can be crucial when you are overwhelmed and need to create some space between you and a group of opponents.
On the other side of the spectrum, Whirlwind delivers a strong combination of hits against a single enemy. This is your best option when using the naginata against a single, powerful opponent. With both skills unlocked, the naginata can become an ideal weapon for dealing with large groups or with single targets.
Kanabo
Yasuke's Kanabo Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
For some of the most powerful, devastating blows in the game, there’s no better choice than Yasuke’s kanabo. There are two useful skills to quickly unlock this weapon’s full potential. First is Forward Momentum. The first hit in a kanabo combo is always weak, but the follow ups are devastating. Forward Momentum increases the speed at which Yasuke can execute these combos, blazing past the weak first hit to reach the powerful strikes faster. The quicker you can start dealing those blows, the more devastating you will become.
Speaking of devastating, another great skill to unlock is Devastation. This unlocks a skill where changing the type of attack at the end of a combo (from weak to strong or vice versa) results in a more powerful final blow. The last hits of a kanabo combo are already the weapon’s most powerful strikes, so this skills improvement of them is even more devastating.
Teppo
Yasuke's Teppo Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
For Yasuke, who is rather slow and cumbersome compared to Naoe, having a ranged weapon is crucial. We recommend always having one melee weapon of choice with one ranged weapon of choice. You can read more about our weapon recommendations in our breakdown of why there isn’t a best weapon in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. The teppo is one of the two ranged options. There are three skills worth unlocking as early as you can. Larger Pouch is an easy one, as it increases the maximum capacity for ammunition.
For the more action-focused skills, we recommend Armor Buster. With this skill, Yasuke reloads the teppo and fires a shot that destroys the enemy’s armor. Apart from piercing through an enemy’s defenses, Yasuke also becomes invincible during the attack animation, so it’s easy to safely reload the teppo even in the middle of a fight. Explosive Surprise is a great skill for crowd control. Yasuke throws a pouch of gunpowder and automatically shoots it, causing an explosion.
Samurai
Yasuke's Samurai Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
Yasuke is the weapon master, with five of his six skill trees revolving around his varied arsenal of options. But the Samurai skill tree is more generally useful. You don’t have to commit to using a certain weapon to make these skills worth unlocking. Regeneration is as good as it sounds. With this skill, killing an enemy heals Yasuke. Given your fighting style, which will often lead to fighting multiple enemies at once, this is a skill that will greatly facilitate your long-term survival. Even combo it with the Long Katana’s Payback skill for extra healing.
War Kick must be one of the most useful skills in the game. Yasuke performs a fast, powerful kick that pushes enemies several meters away. Thanks to this, you can give yourself space, instantly interrupt dangerous combinations, push enemies into walls, and of course, knock them off roofs and cliffs. Brutal Assassination is also a great skill, but it can be a little more situational. Sneak up on an unsuspecting enemy to immediately assassinate them. This will work with most enemies, but keep in mind the tradeoff for being incredibly powerful, is that this move is also incredibly loud. It will almost always draw nearby enemies in for a fight. We recommend using this skill to immediately eliminate the most dangerous enemy before the fight starts.
Bow
Yasuke's Bow Skill Tree.Assassin's Creed: Shadows, Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
The bow is the other ranged option for Yasuke. Compared to the teppo, the bow is geared more towards taking out single targets and provides Yasuke’s only option for silent assassinations. Large Quiver is a great skill that increases the maximum capacity for arrows, as we’ve said before, the more, the better.
The other two skills we recommend unlocking as soon as possible include Marksman’s Shot. When hitting an enemy with a charged head shot, this skill allows Yasuke to fire an immediate second shot to the head. This is ideal for taking out lightly armored enemies. The first shot destroys their armor, and the second shot kills them. The only way for Yasuke to perform silent assassinations, is Silent Arrows. This unlocks a special type of arrow that ignores armor and deals massive damage when hitting an unaware target in the head. This is Yasuke’s best bet for taking out dangerous enemies from a distance before closing in to take on the rest.
