Summary
With the release ofAssassin’s Creed: Shadows, fans of the long-running series have more variability in combat than ever before. While entries likeOdysseyandValhallamay have had more weapons from which to choose,Shadowshas two very different playable characters in Naoe and Yasuke, and both can be built in myriad ways.
By default, Yasuke is a true samurai, a heavily armored tank wielding a long katana, but players have the freedom to build his combat style as they see fit. With the armor and perks, Yasuke’s kanabo and katana can make him play like an invincible juggernaut, while surprisingly, the right setup can also make him a fast, deadly archer or a status-inflicting tactician. Regardless of how they do it, thebest builds for Yasukeare those that combine awesome power and pure fun.
7The True Samurai
Make Every Strike Count
Opting for a traditional samurai-like approach to Yasuke’s fighting style has a number of benefits in addition to being the most canon-friendly choice. Many of Yasuke’sbest abilities, perks, and equipment all make one of Yasuke’s best builds the true samurai, a melee fighter who deals potentially lethal damage with every hit but whose enemies can do the same.
Investing mastery points in the samurai tree, in combination with Kitsune’s Trickery Amulet and the Samurai Daimyo Armor of Legend, increases Yasuke’s damage by between 75% and 117% but limits his health to 25%, a handicap easily corrected by numerous health perks and items. Further making up for the drawback, the Samurai Daimyo Helmet of Legend gives Yasuke a cinematic last stand and second chance if his health drops to zero. Parrying and dodging are critical, but in exchange, every hit of Yasuke’s rips through enemy armor and health like butter.
6Posture, Posture, Posture
Sheathed Attacks Become Overpowered
One of the best intersections between power and fun inAssassin’s Creed: Shadowsis with Yasuke’s sheathed attacks. Not only do they make Yasuke seem like a classic Akira Kurosawa movie character, but they deal a ton of damage as well.
The critical items necessary to build around sheath attacks are the Loyal Traveler Katana, which turns all sheathed attacks into posture attacks and applies vulnerable, and the Crimson Scale Armor, which adds a chance of instant kills with any posture attack. To strengthen the build further, players canadd any engravingthat instantly charges posture attacks, of which there are several, especially the perk that instantly charges posture attacks on any hit with a posture attack. After building Yasuke this way, all players need to do as Yasuke is enter combat ready for a sheathed attack and watch as enemies become vulnerable, shed armor, and even drop dead instantly.
5The Bleeding Edge
Make Enemies Bleed on Offense And Defense
Status effectsare minimal inAssassin’s Creed: Shadows,limited to four, but each is still worthy of its own build. Yasuke, the more straightforward protagonist, has limited options when it comes to sleep and poison but can be built to do massive bleed damage, especially using the naginata.
Crescent Strike is Yasuke’s first and main naginata ability, and by adding the Deep Cut perk, it applies the bleeding status. When using the Vengeful Foe Naginata, bleed is also applied when parrying. Together, one perk and one weapon make it easy to add bleed to a whole group of enemies, and wielding the Crimson’s Edge Katana in the other weapon slot makes the build overpowered. With the katana equipped, bleed damage instantly kills any enemy with less than two health segments, which after a minute of bleed in battle, is likely to be every enemy.
4Switch Weapons To Win
Alternate Katana And Kanabo For Constant Adrenaline
It may sound counterintuitive at first, but switching between weapons in the middle of combos, especially thelong katanaand kanabo, is one of the smoothest and most effective melee styles in the game. In fact,Assassin’s Creed: Shadowsencourages and rewards it with the right combination of perks.
The key to this build lies in using a kanabo alongside another melee weapon, for which the long katana is a far easier choice than the naginata. The key perks to invest in are the Devastation and Turmoil kanabo skills and the Link Attack samurai skill. With all three, Yasuke is capable of alternating between kanabo and katana strikes as needed, extending combos as long as needed, or dealing multiple combo finishers when desired. The result is a quick stripping of enemy armor and health and a buildup of full adrenaline chunks throughout for even more heavy damage.
3Club-Wielding Giant
Charged Kanabo Attacks With No Interruption
Yasuke’s kanabo is undoubtedly his most brutish weapon, one that deals tremendous amounts of damage but can be hard to land blows with at all. It’s the slowest melee weapon in the game, and its attacks are commonly interrupted, especially its charge attacks. Luckily, this major drawback is fixed with a single item, the Boulder Fall Kanabo.
The Boulder Fall Kanabo comes with the engraving “attacks cannot be interrupted,” which by itself turns the kanabo from a fun but challenging weapon into a literally unstoppable killing machine. Given that hits are virtually guaranteed with this engraving (which can also be applied to any other kanabo upon discovery), the perks and engravings that make this build truly powerful and fun are those that reward consecutive hits, of which there are several.
2Pure Parrying
The Best Offense Is A Good Defense
The Protector’s Helmet and Protector’s Armor are some of thebest pieces of armorfor Yasuke in general, but they can also take on central importance to a build on parrying. The game’s items are littered with engravings that strengthen parries and turn them into valid forms of attack in their own right.
The Turquoise Zephyr Katana adds the important effect that causes parries to push enemies away, and another helmet engraving (found on the Extravagant Kabukimono Headgear) adds a weak point attack on any parry. Combined with the Protector’s Armor and Helmet perks, which allow parries on any attacks and damage attackers on any parry, this build turns simple defense into devastating offense.
1Ambush Archer
End Entire Groups Before Combat Even Begins
The obvious fun of playing Yasuke is seeing him barrel through enemies like ragdolls, but what is less obvious and yet more fun is being able to prevent melee altogether. Yasuke’s Clear Mind ability slows time when aiming, allowing for multiple easy headshots before combat begins, which is the key to building his powerful stealth archer style.
The Blush of the Earth Bow adds five seconds to Clear Mind’s duration, and the Master Archer Outfit adds a whopping 200% damage to bow attacks, as long as combat hasn’t yet begun. Put together, this means players can ambush groups with Yasuke from the shadows or from above, dealing three times normal bow damage for a full fifteen seconds while enemies are in slow motion. The result is a hail of arrows that can easily end any group without even a fight.
