Assassin’s Creed Shadows offers double the fun by offering two protagonists that you can swap between at any time (once you’ve unlocked the feature, of course). This is handy, as both Naoe and Yasuke have vastly different capabilities useful in a range of situations. Fortunately, for this very reason, both characters come with their own Mastery trees, so keep reading to learn what are the best Abilities and Skills for Naoe.

Table of Contents¶

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Naoe’s Mastery Categories¶

As mentioned above, both protagonists in Assassin’s Creed Shadows have their own Mastery screens with six categories to place your Mastery Points in, both of these are exclusive to each character, as is their pool of points, so don’t feel you need to make a decision between one or the other.

When it comes to the categories available to Naoe, you’ll most likely unlock all six by the time you’re done with the Izumi Settsu region, the game’s starting area after the prologue. You’ll have access to trees focused on the three main weapons she can wield in Katana, Tanto, and Kusarigama, along with Assassin (that focuses on, well, your assassinations), Tools (that’s all about Naoe’s toys she uses in battle), and Shinobi (that focuses on movement abilities).

With that in mind, you may be wondering where you should spend your points across these six categories, look no further as we point out the best Abilities and Skills below.

Best Abilities and Skills¶

It should be noted that you’re never locked into your points that you spend, at any time, you can reset your mastery points by going into the respective menu and selecting the option. With that in mind, here are the best skills and abilities for Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Katana - Counter Attack Line¶

Naoe can’t really take a hit, or not many at least, so you should always be looking to either deflect blows or dodge them, and this is where the Counter Attack ability comes into play. Unlocked in Knowledge Rank 3 by completing the Twisted Tree Objective on the Objectives Board (you must unlock Character Swapping to be able to begin these quests), if you time your dodge to just before an attack hits, you’ll instead deflect it and counter attack.

This becomes even better once you rank it up at Knowledge Ranks 4 and 6 by allowing you to first perform this against Flurry attacks and then eventually, Unstoppable attacks, something that Naoe struggles with otherwise.

Katana - Guard Breaker Line¶

Guard Breaker is an ability that Naoe can learn once she reaches Knowledge Rank 4, and there are further upgrades at Ranks 5 and 6 (No Quarter and Unstoppable). This is an Active Ability that, when used, will see her launch a flurry of nine attacks against an opponent dealing 10% Ability damage for each, but more importantly, also inflicting Guard Break.

This is already useful at the base rank, but once you upgrade it fully, it won’t lose any effectiveness against large enemies and can no longer be parried or block, this is an excellent tool to use against tankier enemies when playing as Naoe.

Kusarigama - Cyclone Blast Line¶

The Kusarigama really shines when fighting multiple enemies at once, favoring AoE combat rather than single combat, for the most part. With that in mind, Cyclone Blast is an Active Ability unlocked at Knowledge Rank 3 that further promotes that style of thinking by having Naoe swing the Kusarigama around her head in a massive AoE, knocking enemies back and as you upgrade it further, it adds more hits and knocks enemies back further.

Kusarigama - Multi-Target Expert¶

While we’re not the biggest fans of the Kusarigama as you generally want to avoid combat with Naoe, if it is a weapon you’re going to stick with, than Multi-Target Expert at Knowledge Rank 3 is a must as it will increase the damage you deal when hitting multiple targets at once (a feature of this weapon). What’s more, this is a Global Passive, so will become active on any of the weapons that Naoe uses.

Tanto - Backstab Line¶

Not to be confused with the Backstabber Global Passive, the Backstab Passive is unlocked at Knowledge Rank 2 and will see that any Light Posture attacks you perform on an enemy’s back will trigger Weak Point attacks, this is better paired with the Vault ability from the Shinobi tree that lets you jump over an enemy to get access to their back. Once you upgrade this Ability at Knowledge Ranks 3 and 6 will add 100% Armor Piercing to the attacks from behind along with restoring 5% health.

Tanto - Hidden Hand Line¶

You’ll have to wait until Knowledge Rank 4 to unlock this Active Ability, but it’s well worth the wait as it will allow you to make use of the Hidden Blade when using the Tanto. When used, Naoe will sheathe the Tanto and use the Hidden Blade to assassinate an enemy while in the midst of combat. Once you upgrade this at Ranks 5 and 6, you’ll increase the damage it does to unaware enemies and prevent it from being able to be blocked or parried.

Tools - Kunai Assassination Line¶

The Kunai are excellent tools that Naoe should be looking to make use of during infiltrations as much as possible. While their damage is nothing to scoff at early on, you can purchase Kunai Assassination upgrades that will further increase the damage they deal when hitting a headshot against unsuspecting enemies.

Tools - Smoke Bomb Line¶

As we’ve mentioned numerous times on this page, Naoe’s playstyle is all about staying hidden and making the most of assassinations where possible. The Smoke Bombs, then, are an excellent tool at making that easier. When used, you can assassinate any targets that are caught in the cloud, even if you use it in combat. Combine this with the Shinobi Bell and you can create opportunities to assassinate large groups easily. As you upgrade the Smoke Bomb at Knowledge Ranks 2 and 4 will increase both the duration and radius of it, making it even easier to set up your kill zones!

Shinobi - Vault Line¶

You may have noticed that we mentioned this skill when covering the Backstab Line for the Tanto, but the Vault Line of abilities unlocked starting at Knowledge Rank 2 is one of the best there is for Naoe. This allows you to vault over the top of an enemy and find yourself at their back, where Naoe has many skills that are impacted by hitting enemies here. As you upgrade this at Knowledge Ranks 3 and 5, you’ll increase your Critical Chance and have the ability to toss a Shuriken in the process.

Shinobi - Heighten Senses Line¶

When it comes to abilities that are so strong that they’re a must have, the Heighten Senses Line comes to mind. Unlocked from Knowledge Rank 3, this Active Ability will cause time to slow down for 8 seconds while undetected, perfect for when you want to go about your assassinations unseen. This becomes even stronger once you purchase the upgrades at Knowledge Ranks 4 and 6, adding on another 4 seconds to your time and, for one time only during an activation, the ability to reset the timer if you assassinate someone.

Assassin - Double Assassinate¶

This ability requires you to have a Tanto equipped to one of your two slots (but not active) and will allow Naoe to assassinate two targets that are close together at once when leaping from the air. This is an extremely effective tactic to make use of in enemy Castles and Temples where you will see enemies bunched together more often.

Assassin - Assassination Damage Line¶

Naoe’s most effective method is to stay unseen and assassinate her targets, although you’ll quickly learn that enemies may not die instantly as you get further into the game. This is where these abilities come into play, as each upgrade will increase how many health segments you’ll deal when using assassinations against your targets.

There you have it; you now know what the best Mastery abilities and skills are for Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. With this knowledge, you can now lurk in the darkness and assassinate any foe without trouble of detection.