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Assassin’s Creed Odysseyhas a wealth of depth to its combat that few other entries into the series quite manage. It leans hard into the RPG elements that becamepopular with Origins, and with an RPG comes skill points that define how your character fights and interacts with the world.
There are thirty-five different abilities in Odyssey, and they range from abilities that are passively applied to you and abilities that you activate in combat. Your choice in abilities is going to dramatically change your options in a fight and when planning engagements, so figuring out which works best for you is paramount.
How These Abilities Are Ranked
The abilities in this tier list are ranked on a combination ofhow often they’re useful, andhow impactful they are whenthey are used. This doesn’t mean S-Tier abilities are always going to be the best ability in any given situation, or that C-Tier abilities are never useful.
But, it does mean thatS-Tier abilitiesare going tocome into play more often, and make a tremendous difference when they do. Abilities inlower-tierscanmake the difference between life and death, but itwon’t be such a dramatic shift.
S-Tier Abilities
S-Tierabilities are thebest in the game. They either come into play in a positive way all the time, or they can effectively turn the tide of battle on their own when used.
Description
Overpower Bow Strike
Acharged bow strikethatdeals outrageous damage, but uses three adrenaline chunks. This is a fantastic opener to a fight, and a way to drop some powerful enemies in one shot.
Rain Of Destruction
Dealsranged damagein athree-meter area, dealing solid damage to every enemy inside. This is exponentiallybetterthe more enemies are in the radius, and can be used mid-fight or as an opener.
Devastating Shot
Acharged bow strikethat dealsgreat damage, andincreases damagethemore charged the shot is. Poison and Fire buildup is increased.
Predator Shot
An arrow thatdeals extraordinary damage, hasincreased range, and can becontrolled in midairfor precise shots and shots.
Battlecry Of Ares
Forten seconds,deal 20% extra damageand becomeincapable of being dealt lethal damage. The real value in this is the ability tostave off death, giving you the chance to get yourself into a better position.
Second Wind
Heal 25%of yourhealth, allowing you to sustain yourself in prolonged engagements.
Slow Time
Slow timefor 5 five seconds, allowing you to fight nearly uncontested. This is particularlyuseful when outnumberedby enemies, giving you a ton of different offensive and defensive options.
Critical Assassination
Anextra-lethal stealth attack. Considering a lethal stealth attacks enable you toeliminate an enemy without alerting any others, this can make a tremendous difference throughout the game.
Shadow Assassin
Thisincreases assassination damageby20%, and enemies are automatically looted when you assassinate them. Ensuring an assassination is lethal is crucial to staying undetected, and automatically looting enemies is going to save you a lot of time in the long run.
The Predator Arrow allows you to hit shots with your bow that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, by allowing you to change the direction of your arrow in impossible ways.
A-Tier Abilities
A-Tierabilities are only just behind S-Tier abilities. They are still utterly fantastic when they come into play; they either have a slightly lower ceiling or are a bit more niche.
Charged Heavy Attack
Acharged melee attackthat eitherknocks enemies backorgets inside their shield. A great ability for fighting enemies with shields.
Weapons Master
Thisincreases warrior damageby20%. This is going to make a particular difference in fights against bosses.
Archery Master
Thisincreases hunter damageby20%, and ensures youdon’t consume arrowswhen you use ahunter ability. This is going to save you a tremendous amount of arrows, especially when using attacks that fire many arrows at the same time.
Multi-Shot
Shoot up tofour enemieswith asingle ability, dealing solid damage to every enemy. If you have some distance from a group of enemies, this can be particularly effective.
Sixth Sense
Slow timeforfive secondswhen spottedby an enemy, and lock onto enemies with ease.
Overpower Attacks
Deal anextraordinary amount of damageon a weapon combo thatconsumes three adrenaline chunks.
Flaming Attacks
Imbue your weaponswith afire effectfor15 seconds, building up flame over time that burns the enemy with adamage-over-time (DoT)effect when full.
Shield Breaker
Deal damage andbreak small shields. This is invaluable when fighting shield enemies.
Venomous Attacks
Imbue your weaponswith apoison effectfor15 seconds, building up poison over time thatdeals DoT to enemiesandreduces their damageandarmorwhen full.
Rush Assassination
Launch toward an enemyat range,assassinating them, with the possibility ofchaining one more enemy. If you have two enemies that cannot be taken out individually without alerting each other, this can sometimes be the only way to deal with the situation quietly.
Revelation
Reveal all chests,hidden passages, andenemiesinside15 meters. During exploration, and when sneaking in areas with a lot of enemies, this is going to get heavy use.
Ghost Arrows Of Artemis
Fire an arrowthat canpass through objectsandenemies, dealing solid damage. This is going to be very situational, but one of the only ways to damage an enemy in the right circumstance.
Abilities likeWeapons MasterandArchery Masteraremust-havesbecause they arepassive damage increases, while abilities likeCharged Heavy AttackandShield Breakermakedealing with enemies using shieldssignificantlyeasier.
Used regularly in a rotation,FlamingandVenomous Attackscanmake a huge impacton youroverall damage, particularly againsthigh-health boss enemies. But if not used consistently, or against enemies that are easy to kill without it, they’ll be a bit of a waste.
B-Tier Abilities
B-Tierabilities can bevery powerfulwhenused in the right situation, or they make a slight difference to situations constantly. They aren’t going to light the world on fire, but they’re certainly worth a look when spending your ability points.
Ring Of Chaos
Stunanddeal damagetoenemies inside three meters. This is useful when surrounded, but ideally when you have another more powerful ability to capitalize on it.
Stealth Master
Reducethenoiseyou makewhile movingandassassinating. This is going to make stealth situations easier, but the noise reduction doesn’t come into play super often.
Call To Arms
Call aLieutenantto your side toattack enemies for 30 seconds, allowing you to escape, or giving you backup.
Vanish
Stun nearby enemiesforsix seconds, giving you time to escape a hopeless situation. This can be aneasy way to reset your stealthoptions and regain the ability to assassinate enemies.
Gear Master
Increaseyourarmorby30%. If you get hit often, this will come into play regularly. But if you’re adept at dodging enemy attacks, this ability isn’t going to help much.
These abilities mostly revolve aroundmaking difficult situations easier, likeGear MasterandCall To Arms, orimpossible situations escapable, likeRing of ChaosandVanish. Either way, they aren’t always helpful, but when you need them, they can come in big.
C-Tier Abilities
C-Tierabilities can have their time to shine, and can make up a section of a useful ability loadout. But by and large, they’re going to be there for a little bit of flavor, and aregoing to be outshinedbymany of the other abilitiesyou’re bringing along with you.
Beast Master
Tamean unconsciouswolf, andhave that wolf fight alongside you. This can only be done withone wolf at a time.
Arrow Master
Gain the ability tocraft paralyzing arrowsanon-lethalranged option. If you aren’t looking to take enemies down non-lethally, this won’t have much use.
Spread Shot
Firethree arrowsat the same time in ahorizontal line in front of you. This gives a kind of shotgun palette that can hit multiple enemies at once. At its best this can be very useful, but situations in which enemies line up perfectly for this are going to be rare.
Fire Mastery
Increasesthefire buildupcaused byFlaming Attacksby25%, igniting and dealing DoT to your target quicker.
Poison Mastery
Increasesthepoison buildupcaused byPoison Attacksby25%, dealing DoT and reducing your target’s armor quicker.
Bull Rush
Launch toward enemies, dealing damage andknocking them down. This can be difficult to aim properly, and will occasionally lead to you missing enemies entirely.
Shadow Of Nyx
Become invisiblewhenout of conflict. You will not be able to move without becoming visible, and this willdrain stamina quickly.
Hero Strike
Amelee attackusing theSpear of Leonidas, knocking an enemy down anddealing heavy damage.
Sparta Kick
Launchesanenemy,dealing damage. Targets won’t die, but can be recruited. This ability looks incredibly cool, but is extremely situational and does not do much damage.
Fire MasteryandPoison Masteryare both abilities that are going to come into play much more often in situations where you’repreparing to fightanextremely difficult enemy, and not much otherwise. They’re involved inspecialized situations, and are otherwise moot points.
Abilities likeBull Rush,Hero Strike, andSpread Shotcan be parts of a loadout that functions wellin the early game, but oftentimes they’re going to getreplaced by other abilitiesthefurther you progressinto the game.
