Assassin’s Creed: Shadows features a wide variety of weapon types for Yasuke and Naoe to wield. Each weapon plays completely differently from the others and all of them have their purposes in gameplay. Giving gamers the ability to decide on what combat style they may use helps make each player’s individual assassination methods feel unique.
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Despite that, though, not every weapon in Shadows is built evenly. When analyzing them based on their purpose in combat, what skills they come with and how satisfying they are to use in general then it becomes possible to make the following list of the best weapon types in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows.
Very Little Use
While most of the weapon types in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows have their uses depending on an individual player’s gameplay preferences, one has to question what the point of Yasuke’s bow and arrow even is. This ranged weapon can silently take down foes from afar or leave a nastywound in their knees.
The bow and arrow’s purpose comes into question when one considers Yasuke’s other weapon options, as he actually has another ranged weapon that does much more damage to enemies than the bow. The only advantage the bow has over that weapon is that the player could theoretically take down foes silently with the bow, but Yasuke’s playstyle isn’t meant to be stealthy at all. He’s supposed to charge in and wreak havoc on castles. Perhaps if this weapon was given to Naoe instead it would have ranked higher on the list, but as it stands it’s the one useless weapon in the game.
7Katana (Naoe)
Not Very Stealthy
The Katana is the only weapon type in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows that’s shared among both Naoe and Yasuke, though they have different skills and methods of using them. Naoe’s katana inflicts enemies with quick strikes to slowly slice away at their health. While it does its job, using the katana as Naoe should always be a last resort.
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Because Naoe’s gameplay is centered around sneaking around and assassinating enemies, getting into big fights with the katana equipped will often lead to death. Without the useful skills her other two weapons have, it’s hard to think of Naoe’s katana as anything but a tutorial weapon.
6Katana (Yasuke)
A Samurai’s Pride
In contrast to Naoe, when Yasuke wields a katana the player can wipe out entire castles worth of enemies within minutes via his swift strikes that chop through health bars like they were bamboo. The skills he’s able to use while wielding one of these swords are equally dramatic, often causing a bloody screen effect to emphasize how brutal they all are.
Despite how cool it is to use the katana as Yasuke, this weapon style still ranks in the lower half of this list due to how simple it is. There may be nothing wrong with Yasuke’s katana, but he just has more interesting weapons in his arsenal which feel better to use during combat.
An Actual Gun
Next up on the list is Yasuke’s other ranged weapon: the Teppo, or as it’s known in English, a gun. While Yasuke isn’t the firstAssassin’s Creed protagonistto use a gun, he might be the best at using them. The damage output of these weapons is the highest in the game, hitting an enemy in the head with one of these is practically an insta-kill, allowing the player to take down enemies before they have a chance to get close.
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Despite that high damage output, the Teppo only ranks in the middle of this list due to the amount of time it takes to get a single shot in. Because Yasuke needs to pump his gun before he can fire again, it’s only useful during encounters with only a few enemies. So while it’s a fun weapon to use, it’s much more limited than others in the game.
A Spiked Bat
Next up on the list is Yasuke’s Kanabo weapon style. These spiked bats are slow to swing, but back a mighty punch. There are few things in this game more satisfying than charging out to and launching a samurai several yards away with a heavy attack as if he were a baseball. Being able to knock enemies around alone earns this weapon a high placement on the list.
While the Teppo may inflict more damage to enemies, the Kanabo are easily Yasuke’s strongest melee weapon, as even bosses will have their health bars decimated with a few precise strikes. While this weapon type is a strong contender for Yasuke’s greatest, there are just a few weapons in the game which outclass it slightly.
Yasuke’s Best Weapon
When playing as Yasuke, the player will often find themselves utterly surrounded by enemies, being forced to take them down one at a time while blocking attacks from all directions. One of Yasuke’s weapons is actually built for situations just like this: the Naginata. These polearms have a long reach and wide horizontal attacks which make them perfect for cleaning out entire rooms at once.
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Yasuke’s various naginata skills fully emphasize their crowd-clearing advantage as the damage done by his attacks with these weapons actually scales higher if more than one enemy is hit at a time. For a character whose entire gameplay style is focused around charging into castles and fighting everyone, it’s hard to argue that any other weapon type is better for Yasuke.
It’s a shock that the Naginata moveset wasn’t given to Naoe as it is commonly portrayed as a feminine fighting style, with even the Naginata master Yasuke fights in this game being a woman.
2Kusarigama
A Shinobi’s Strongest Weapon
Placing second on the list is Naoe’s Kusarigama weapon. Despite Naoe’s gameplay style mostly being centered around sneaking around unseen, this weapon is excellent for taking down entire crowds of enemies as if she was Yasuke. With its incredible range which can hit multiple enemies at once, great skills which can make enemies vulnerable to ground attacks and stylish animations, it’s incredibly fun to take down small bases as Naoe with this weapon.
While the Kusarigama is easily Naoe’s most useful weapon for combat, it also has some major drawbacks which exist to balance it. The biggest of these drawbacks is that when she has this weapon equipped, Naoe will be unable to perform theDouble Assassination skill. Because this skill is such a large part of the game’s stealth, players will have to pay a large price when using this weapon. For this reason, it just barely misses the top slot of this list.
Undefeatable Skills
Placing first is Naoe’s third weapon: the Tanto. These small knives are an Assassin’s best friend as they allow Naoe to not only quickly strike at an enemy’s health bar, but also let her quickly spin behind an enemy so they need to spend a second turning toward her while she keeps up the attack. Using two blades also helps the player feel like they’re playing aclassic Assassin’s Creed game.
What truly makes the Tanto the best weapon in the game is the Shadow Barrage skill Naoe can learn with it. When this skill is activated, Naoe cannot take damage for thirty seconds. This makes any combat encounters or boss fight with her a breeze as she will quickly dodge even unblockable attacks from enemies. With a skill that useful, it would be ridiculous to rank the Tanto anywhere but the top of this list.
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