In *Assassin’s Creed Shadows*, Naoe embodies the art of stealth and assassination, yet she's no stranger to direct confrontations when properly strategized. For players eager to maximize her potential, here's a guide to the best initial skills for Naoe, focusing on skills achievable up to Knowledge Rank 3 through diligent engagement with the game's starting regions.
Katana
- Dodge Attack – Katana Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1 Mastery Point): Enhances your defensive capabilities, allowing you to counter aggressive enemies effectively.
- Melee Expert – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Boosts your melee combat prowess, making you more formidable in close quarters.
- Counter Attack – Katana Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Increases your ability to punish enemies who leave themselves open after attacking.
- Eviscerate – Katana Ability (Knowledge Rank 3, 5 Mastery Points): A powerful finishing move that maximizes damage output, ideal for ending fights decisively.
These skills position you as a defensive powerhouse, ready to exploit enemy aggression with skillful dodging and counterattacks, culminating in devastating strikes with Eviscerate.
Kusarigama
- Entanglement – Kusarigama Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1 Mastery Point): Enables you to control the battlefield by entangling foes, setting them up for further punishment.
- Affliction Builder – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Enhances your ability to apply debilitating effects, crucial for crowd control and single-target engagements.
- Big Catch – Kusarigama Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Improves your capacity to handle larger enemies, adding versatility to your combat style.
- Multi-Target Expert – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 3, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Increases your effectiveness against multiple enemies, a must-have for chaotic encounters.
- Cyclone Blast – Kusarigama Ability (Knowledge Rank 3, 7 Mastery Points): Unleashes a devastating area attack, perfect for clearing groups of enemies.
Mastering these skills transforms you into a formidable force against both groups and solo targets, leveraging Entanglement for crowd control and Cyclone Blast for mass destruction.
Tanto
- Shadow Piercer – Tanto Ability (Knowledge Rank 1, 5 Mastery Points): Delivers high damage, especially effective against vulnerable targets.
- Gap Seeker – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Enhances your ability to find and exploit enemy weaknesses, increasing your lethality.
- Backstab – Tanto Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Amplifies damage when striking from behind, perfect for stealth kills.
- Backstabber – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Further boosts your backstab damage, making you a silent but deadly assassin.
- Back Breaker – Tanto Passive (Knowledge Rank 3, 3 Mastery Points): Increases the damage dealt to armored enemies, ensuring no target is safe from your blade.
The focus here is on maximizing damage output, particularly with stealth and backstabbing techniques, ensuring even the most armored foes fall swiftly to your Tanto.
Tools
- Smoke Bomb – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1 Mastery Point): A versatile tool for creating chaos or escaping detection.
- Larger Tool Bag I – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Increases your tool capacity, allowing for more strategic options during missions.
- Shinobi Bell – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 1 Mastery Point): Distracts and lures enemies away, creating openings for your attacks.
- Enduring Haze – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Extends the duration of your smoke bombs, giving you more time to maneuver.
- Kunai Assassination Damage I – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Boosts the lethality of your kunai, ideal for silent takedowns from a distance.
- Shuriken – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Useful for disabling alarms and triggering explosives, adding tactical depth to your arsenal.
These tools enhance your ability to manipulate and control the battlefield, making it easier to reach and eliminate your targets without alerting the entire area.
Shinobi
- Ascension Boost – Shinobi Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Increases your climbing speed, crucial for navigating the game's vertical landscapes.
- Vault – Shinobi Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 1 Mastery Point): Reduces fall damage, allowing for more daring maneuvers.
- Igan Roll – Shinobi Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 1 Mastery Point): Enhances your mobility, helping you evade and reposition quickly.
- Heighten Senses – Shinobi Ability (Knowledge Rank 3, 5 Mastery Points): Slows down time, giving you a critical edge in crowded or tense situations.
These skills keep you stealthy and agile, ensuring you can reach your objectives without alerting the enemy, thanks to improved climbing, reduced fall damage, and time-slowing capabilities.
Assassin
- Executioner – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Enhances your assassination damage, making your strikes more lethal.
- Improved Ground Assassinate – Assassin Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Improves your ground assassination technique, increasing its effectiveness.
- Double Assassinate – Assassin Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Allows for simultaneous takedowns of multiple targets, crucial for efficiency.
- Assassination Damage I – Assassin Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Further boosts your assassination damage, ensuring quick and silent kills.
- Reinforced Blade – Assassin Passive (Knowledge Rank 3, 4 Mastery Points): Enhances the durability and effectiveness of your Hidden Blade, vital for tackling tougher foes.
These skills are best paired with a Tanto, allowing you to execute swift and lethal strikes, particularly with the Hidden Blade. They facilitate dual assassinations and help in taking down stronger enemies, though caution is advised against those with higher health until your skills are adequately upgraded.
By prioritizing these skills under each tree, you'll transform Naoe into Japan's premier assassinating shinobi in *Assassin’s Creed Shadows*. For additional guidance, be sure to visit The Escapist.
