Quick Links
The Assassin’s Creed series is built on a foundation of moving in silence, and whileAssassin’s Creed Shadowsgives you the option to take a loud, direct approach to many scenarios, stealth is still an effective method. Naoe is a talented Shinobi who has a plethora of tools and talents at her disposal to help keep out of enemy sight.
Although it’s incredibly stress-inducing to avoid detection while guards pass by you only a meter away, mastering how to be good at stealth in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is exceptionally satisfying. If you want to role-play as a true assassin or would rather avoid full-scale wars in castles and forts, then we’ve got all the Assassin’s Creed Shadows stealth tips you’ll need.
What Are The Keys To Stealth?
Perfecting stealthin Assassin’s Creed Shadows is all about knowing whattools, abilities, and strategic advantagesyou can take to keep hidden from your enemies.
First, it’s important to know thethree states of being detected:
you’re able to make a guard briefly attentive to complete your stealth goals but don’t push your luck by getting too close.
Now that you know what to avoid, there are a fewkey factors that will help you maintain stealthin Assassin’s Creed Shadows:
We’ll dive deeper into the latter three points soon, but one of the first things you’ll need to know is whatabilitiesare at your disposal.
Your most important Stealth ability isEagle Vision (Click and hold the right stick), as it allows you to see where every enemy within a certain radius of Noae is located.
Eagle Vision is the first thing you should usebefore you can calculate timing and use your environment and tools to evade or assassinate your targets.
Secondly, yourEavesdropping/Observing (hold LT/L2)ability can improve Eagle Vision’s effectiveness by allowing you to hear enemy conversation or mark people and points of interest.
Thirdly, is yourStance (hold X or Square to change),which governs whether Noae isstanding, crouching, or proneon the ground. Changing your stance allows you to hide in the tall grass and have quieter movement to avoid detection.
With these three core abilities at your fingertips, let’s dive into more information about how to master stealth.
What Tools Can You Use To Stay Hidden?
In addition to Noae’s natural abilities, she also has a variety of valuable tools she can use to help keep enemies from detecting her, among other uses.
To choose a tool, select it from the d-pad by holding LT/L2. To use a tool, hold LT/L2 to aim, then RT/R2 to throw.
While the Kunai is only useful if you want to kill a weak enemy from a distance, the other three Shinobi tools are immensely helpful for keeping you in stealth.
Smoke Bombsare particularly useful when you’re in the middle of an engagement that you want to escape, but can be used offensively to reposition yourself during a fight.
Smoke bombs typically are used when you’ve already been detected, and ideally, you don’t want to be in a situation where they’re you’re only option for remaining hidden.
Shinobi Bellsare incredibly useful tools that can eitherbuy you some timeby distracting a guard orhelp you eliminate a targetby bringing them closer to your hiding spot. This is your most versatile stealth tool.
Shurikensare great for improvising, as you can throw them at the environment to trigger a distraction, which, like the Shinobi Bell, can be used to slip away or defeat a foe. You can also use this to stagger an enemy and knock them from a ledge if you’re clever.
How To Use Your Environment To Maintain Stealth
Two of the four key facets of stealth meet here, assurveying your environmentis just as important asexecuting at the right moment.
Firstly, everything goes back to your initial Eagle Vision, as you shouldget to a high point using your grappling hook to studythe layout of a given area, making note ofeach guard’s path and movementtiming.
Knowing this information is essential in making the right decisions that will take you from point A to point B while avoiding detection.
One of your best advantages is toutilize shadows or low-light areasto move through areas without being noticed. Moving around at nighttime can be much easier due to this.
Keep in mind that certain opportunities might only arise during certain seasons. For example, you can only knock icicles onto enemy guards during the winter season.
There arethree major environmental spotsto take note of when surveying an area:
Wateris the best hiding spot because you can also reposition yourself and sneak to more advantageous locations when shrouded under the cover of water.
Trapdoorsare similar as they allow you to move around without being exposed. There are two kinds of trapdoors: those onroofs,and those onfloors.
Roof trap doors will drop you into a building, which provides cover and many corners to evade or kill your enemies.Floortrap doors are great escape routes if you’re in a room and want to avoid alerted guards coming to check on a disturbance.
Lastly, hay bales, wells,etc. are the least mobile hiding spots, but they offer the opportunity to hide in plain sight near enemy guards, so you’re able to quietly assassinate them and hide their bodies, or avoid detection until they pass.
Putting It All Together
With all that in mind, here’s the best approach to take if you want to maintain stealth and defeat your foes in silence:
However, you should also keep an eye out for certain armor pieces that provide additional stealth benefits, such as making it more difficult for enemies to hear the sounds you make.
With the right combination ofgear, knowledge, preparation, tools, and execution,you’ll be silently assassinating all of your targets as Noae.
