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Assassin's Creed Shadows

Yaya Ally Guide

By
Ben Chard
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The Hideout is a new feature in Assassin’s Creed Shadows and alongside it is The Dojo, a new building that becomes available once you recruit your first ally. These are story-based characters who become available for use in combat, usable on cooldown like a skill. Yaya is the first ally you can recruit and if you’re not careful, you can miss your chance, keep reading to learn everything you need to know about this powerhouse.

Yaya is the first ally you can recruit in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Table of Contents

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Unlocking Yaya

As mentioned at the top, Yaya is the first character you can recruit as an ally, early on in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. You’ll first encounter her during The Wounded assassination, one of the Onryo that Naoe is hunting down. She’ll play a prominent role in the downfall of Wada Koretake and once he’s been dealt with, you’ll have an important scene with a choice involving Yaya. In total, there are three choices you need to deal with to recruit Yaya, they are:

  • At the end of Heads Will Roll (The Wounded/Wada Koretake assassination) you will be asked how to deal with the captives. You must choose “Killing them isn’t justice.” here.

  • At the start of the Stray Dogs quest you must answer with “Forgive him.” when dealing with the Shrine Raider.

  • At the end of the same quest, you will have one final choice. You must choose “You need to forgive each other.” and during the next choice, choose to ask her to join you and she will.

Yaya’s Ranks

All of your allies can be ranked up twice by using The Dojo in The Hideout, this will cost your Mon to do so along with making sure you have the required Dojo rank. Below, you can find the details of what unlocks for each rank for Yaya:

Rank Dojo Level Mon Unlocks
Default Rikishi Active Ability, Yaya’s Novice Armor
Initiate 1 ? Oshitaoshi Passive Ability, Yaya’s Initiate Armor
Veteran 3 2850 Inner Strength Passive Ability, Yaya’s Veteran Armor

(1 of 2) You’ll need to build and upgrade the Dojo to manage your allies.

You’ll need to build and upgrade the Dojo to manage your allies. (left), Yaya’s abilities center around the ability to pushback your foes. (right)

Yaya’s Abilities

All allies in Assassin’s Creed Shadows come with both an Active Ability, and a Passive Ability. Whenever you use their Active Ability, it will enter a cooldown before you can use it, these abilities are independent of your other Active Abilities that Naoe and Yasuke have access to. Below, you can find the abilities that Yaya can unlock and what they do:

Ability Rank Unlock Description
Rikishi (Active) Novice Yaya joins the fight and performs pushback attacks
Oshitaoshi (Passive) Initiate When joining a fight, Yaya will knock down an enemy
Inner Strength (Passive) Veteran Yaya uses a powerful kick to send enemies flying

Yaya Analysis

Yaya will get a lot of use as an ally due to her being the first one that you’ll unlock, as such, there’s no reason not to have her equipped and look to upgrade your Dojo to level 3 to make full use of her. Once you get to the point you need to make a decision on who to take, you may want to look at some of the other choices, especially for Yasuke, who won’t benefit as much from Yaya’s unique traits.

Naoe, however, will always benefit from Yaya, being a more nimble fighter and not having access to pushbacks herself (unlike Yasuke), as such, consider making her a mainstay of your ally setup. Do look to upgrade her at least once as soon as you get her, it’s not until she gets access to Oshitaoshi (at Initiate) where she truly shines, and Inner Strength will massively help out in situations where you find yourself surrounded.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Ubisoft
  • Platforms,
    Mac, PC, PS5, XB X|S
  • Genre
    Action RPG
  • Guide Release
    18 March 2025
  • Last Updated
    28 March 2025
    Version History
  • Guide Author

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Assassin’s Creed has finally made its way to Japan! Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the next iteration in the classic franchise, featuring an expansive open world, set in 16th century Japan, near the end of the Sengoku period. It features two playable protagonists, Naoe, a shinobi that specializes in stealth, and Yasuke, a samurai that specializes in combat. The tale is one of revenge, as Naoe and Yasuke team up to take down the Shinbakufu, who killed her father and left her for dead. This guide will contain the following:

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