Ability Sets — Assassin's Creed III eGuide

Ability Sets grant your character additional skills, weapons or bonuses, all of which are detailed over the pages that follow. Each set is composed of:

Three Abilities
Two Perks (only one with Default Sets)
One Streak
One Loss Bonus

Initially you only have two default sets to play with. As you gain levels, you will unlock up to five custom sets, which you can freely define in accordance with your preferences or the challenges that lie ahead in a particular play mode. The default sets can also be customized once you reach Level 30.

Once you have unlocked many skills and perks, be sure to prepare several Ability Sets that you can use in various situations or game modes.

	Default Set 1	Default Set 2
Abilities	Disguise	Wipe
	Money Bomb	Tripwire Bomb
	Knives	Disruption
Perks	Sixth Sense	Sentry
Perks	Unavailable	Unavailable
Streak & Bonus	Streak +250	Silent Streak +250
Streak & Bonus	Scavenger	Vision

Abilities

Abilities can be used at any time, but are then unavailable for a Cooldown period as they recharge. Some of them can be thrown by holding and releasing the corresponding button. The eighteen Abilities can be improved through Crafting, which enables you to improve two parameters of the chosen Ability.

ABILITIES

Icon	Name	Unlocked	Effect	Notes
	Tripwire Bomb	Level 6	Explodes when a target or pursuer steps on it, preventing them from moving and performing any action during a short period.	You can drop the bomb at your feet or aim and throw it. The bomb takes a few seconds to activate, which is when the Cooldown begins. Place a bomb in a narrow corridor (the entrance to a Domination territory, for instance) for an easy stun opportunity.
	Decoy	Level 6	Changes the appearance of a civilian to mimic your own, and causes them to run away, tricking your pursuers.	Good for misleading both pursuers and targets. Can be used to simply divert an approaching pursuer, or to set up a stun opportunity once they have been distracted.
	Disguise	Level 8	Temporarily changes your appearance to surprise opponents.	Use this when you are out of a pursuer’s line of sight for better results. Most effective when you stand close to a lookalike of your true skin. During an Escape, activate it right as you round a corner and turn around to surprise your pursuer. There’s a risk of being revealed when the effect expires. This exposure factor can be reduced through crafting.
	Money Bomb	Level 8	Attracts civilians within a fixed radius, but has no effect on other characters, which reveals any player in the vicinity.	You can drop the bomb at your feet or aim and throw it. The bomb blows up immediately, but the Cooldown begins only when the coins disappear. Useful to reveal a target blended in a crowd or to impede the progress of an aggressor during an Escape.
	Knives	Level 10	Throws Knives that slow down your target.	Lock your target before throwing the Knives. A target that you have hit with Knives can still stun you, so don’t approach them recklessly. Knives prevent a victim from climbing and limit their range of action. Being hit by a Knife will cause a target to fall while climbing.
	Wipe	Level 10	Reveals all players in the ability radius, prevents them from using their abilities, and silences their whispers and heartbeats.	Essentially, this turns targets into defenseless victims, giving you free reign to kill them. Useful to reveal targets blended in crowds.
	Morph	Level 12	Transforms civilians inside the area of effect into your duplicates.	This is very useful to hide from pursuers, but make sure that you use it while hidden in a crowd. Offensive use: Morph a crowd from afar to reveal a blended target.
	Bodyguard	Level 14	Creates a duplicate of your character who will protect you from pursuers.	Can only be used when you are being pursued. A very effective way to confuse your pursuers. Stay close to your duplicate for maximum efficiency and defensive stun opportunities.
	Disrupting	Level 16	Scrambles the vision of a target.	This can be used both offensively and defensively. This is a great ability to employ to elude a pursuer, or to turn the tables and stun them.
	Firecrackers	Level 16	Scare civilians and blind opponents, revealing their presence.	Can be used to identify opponents; watch the movements of all affected individuals carefully. You can drop Firecrackers at your feet or aim and throw them. The latter can be an efficient way to identify and/or stop a distant target.
	Glimmer	Level 18	Makes you almost invisible.	Can be used to escape a pursuer or approach a target unnoticed. The slower you move, the more invisible you get. If hidden, you’re almost completely invisible. If you run, an “aura” can be seen by experienced opponents.
	Closure	Level 18	Triggers all the Chase Breakers around you.	The Chase Breakers will all reopen after a few seconds. They will also open if you (or your teammates) approach them: the point is to put your opponents at a temporary disadvantage.
	Pistol	Level 20	Shoot down the targeted character after securing a Lock.	There is no Incognito, Silent or Focus bonus for kills, but other specific bonuses apply (Execution and Mid-Air). Good for rooftop chases, and for swiftly dispatching targets who lose their nerve and break cover to flee.
	Animus Shield	Level 20	Makes you immune to Poison, Bombs and ranged weapons.	Can be used both offensively (for example, to resist the effect of a Smoke Bomb dropped by a target that spotted you) and defensively (to survive when a pursuer uses Abilities against you). Increases your chances to survive longer, especially as a sound effect reveals when someone aims at you. By default, the shield can only negate one Ability, but this can be upgraded through crafting (up to three shield “charges”).
	Teleport	Level 22	Teleports you to a different position on the map.	Perfect to escape an incoming pursuer. Can be used in Artifact Assault mode to increase your chances to quickly bring back the Artifact to your base.
	Smoke Bomb	Level 22	Throw a Smoke Bomb to confuse civilians and opponents alike.	You can drop the bomb at your feet or aim and throw it. Offensive use: score Silent and Focus bonus on target; prevent Chase. Defensive use: paralyze one or more pursuers for a follow-up stun.
	Poison	Level 24	Poison a target to slowly kill them.	You can only poison a target in close proximity. The Cooldown begins when the target dies. There is no kill animation, so you can escape flashpoints stealthily.
	Poison Dart	Level 24	Poison a target from afar.	The Cooldown begins only after the Poison kills the target. You can be spotted as you aim.

The values in these tables may be adjusted in post-release updates.

Crafting Abilities

Crafting is the process by which you can customize every Ability by modifying and tweaking its parameters. This enables you to upgrade your Abilities in a way that best suits your strategy, but can only be achieved as you reach specific level milestones. You can upgrade an Ability twice through Crafting, each upgrade costing Abstergo Credits.

CRAFTING ABILITIES

Icon	Name	Parameter	Default Value	Upgrade #1	Upgrade #2
	Tripwire Bomb	Range	1.8m	1.9m	2.0m
		Activation Time	5s	4s	3s
		Cooldown	80s	70s	60s
	Decoy	Duration	5s	10s	15s
		Cooldown	60s	55s	50s
		Behavior	Normal	Discreet	Disguised
	Disguise	Duration	15s	17.5s	20s
		Cooldown	60s	55s	50s
		Exposure	Strong	Medium	Light
	Money Bomb	Civilians Attracted	6	8	10
		Range	5m	7.5m	10m
		Cooldown	70s	65s	55s
	Knives	Speed Decrease	20%	25%	30%
		Duration	2.5s	3s	3.5s
		Cooldown	70s	65s	55s
	Wipe	Range	8m	10m	12m
		Duration	5s	7.5s	10s
		Cooldown	80s	70s	60s
	Morph	Range	3.5m	4.5m	5.5m
		Civilians Morphed	3	4	5
		Cooldown	70s	65s	55s
	Bodyguard	Range	5m	7.5m	10m
		Duration	5s	7.5s	10s
		Cooldown	70s	65s	60s
	Disruption	Aiming Time	1s	0.6s	0.3s
		Duration	5s	7.5s	10s
		Cooldown	60s	55s	50s
	Firecrackers	Range	5m	5.5m	6m
		Duration	4s	4.5s	5s
		Cooldown	80s	70s	60s
	Glimmer	Cooldown	80s	70s	60s
		Duration	8s	10s	12s
		Exposure	Strong	Medium	Light
	Closure	Range	20m	25m	30m
		Duration	5s	6s	7s
		Cooldown	60s	55s	50s
	Pistol	Aiming Time	2s	1.5s	1s
		Initial Accuracy	30%	45%	60%
		Cooldown	100s	90s	80s
	Animus Shield	Duration	4.5s	6s	7.5
		Charges	1	2	3
		Cooldown	100s	90s	80s
	Teleport	Activation Time	3.5s	3s	2.5s
		Range	35m	40m	45m
		Cooldown	100s	90s	80s
	Smoke Bomb	Range	3.2m	3.4m	3.6m
		Duration	3s	3.4s	3.8s
		Cooldown	100s	90s	80s
	Poison	Delay	6.5s	5s	3.5s
		Score Bonus	200	250	300
		Cooldown	100s	90s	80s
	Poison Dart	Delay	8s	7s	6s
		Range	12m	14m	16m
		Cooldown	100s	90s	80s

The values detailed in this table may be adjusted in post-release updates.

Perks

You can further customize your character by choosing two Perks, additional powers that remain active throughout each match. Perks are also unlocked through Level progression.

PERKS

Icon	Name	Effect	Unlocked
	Sixth Sense	Reveals notorious pursuers behind you and decreases the time needed to escape pursuers during a chase.	Level 6
	Copycat	Allows you to copy the Ability Set of the opponent who just killed you.	Level 8
	Sentry	Increases the time a target will remain locked when you lose sight of him or her.	Level 10
	Hot Pursuit	Increases your speed when chasing a target and slows down the depletion of your Approach Meter.	Level 12
	Resistance	Reduces the duration of stuns or Contested Kills.	Level 14
	Overall Cooldowns	Reduces all Ability Cooldown periods.	Level 16
	Resilience	Decreases the duration of Abilities used against you.	Level 16
	Unstoppable	Opens all recently closed Chase Breakers and allows you to charge through civilians without falling.	Level 18
	Blender	When you blend with a crowd, one of the civilians is automatically Morphed into your character’s skin.	Level 20
	Kill Buffer	Decreases your Kill Streak by 1 instead of resetting it when you die.	Level 24

Streaks

Streaks are performance-based bonuses earned through cumulative accomplishments or successive failures within each round.

A Kill Streak of successfully completed contracts will reward the player with extra points or a temporary play bonus.

Players who consistently die or lose contracts will incur a Loss Bonus, which actually helps them to arrest their poor form by granting small advantages. Loss Bonuses occur after five contract losses in a row, or after five deaths or stuns in a row.

Kill Streaks

Icon	Name	Description	Unlocked
	Streak +250	Receive 250 points when you kill or stun 5 targets without being killed.	Level 8
	Silent Streak +250	Receive 250 points when you silently kill or stun 3 targets without being killed.	Level 10
	Mass Morph	If you perform a Kills Streak of 6, up to 15 surrounding civilians will be morphed into your lookalikes.	Level 12
	Silent Mass Morph	If you perform a Silent Kills Streak of 4, up to 15 surrounding civilians will be morphed into your lookalikes.	Level 14
	Streak +550	Receive 550 points when you kill or stun 7 targets without being killed.	Level 16
	Silent Streak +550	Receive 550 points when you silently kill or stun 5 targets without being killed.	Level 18
	Animus Hack	If you perform a Kills Streak of 8, this enables you to kill whomever you want from a distance. The sum of points you earn increases with each opponent you kill in this manner.	Level 20
	Silent Animus Hack	If you perform a Silent Kills Streak of 6, this enables you to kill whomever you wish from a distance. The amount of points you earn increases with each opponent you kill in this manner.	Level 22

Loss Bonuses

Icon	Name	Description	Unlocked
	Scavenger	Rewards you with 200 points for each Ground Finish until you perform a kill or stun.	Level 6
	Shadow Approach	Fills up your Approach Meter faster when hunting your main target until you perform a kill or stun.	Level 8
	Ability Switch	Allows you to change your current Ability Set each time you lose or miss your contract until you perform a kill or stun.	Level 10
	Vision	Reveals targets in your line of sight or their location through walls until you perform a kill.	Level 12
	Revelation	Reveals all pursuers in your line of sight until you perform a kill.	Level 14
	Minor Hack	Allows you to kill your next target from a distance.	Level 18
	Score x2	Doubles the points earned by your next kill or stun.	Level 20
	Boost Cooldowns	Resets and decreases the duration of Cooldowns until you perform a kill.	Level 22

The values in these tables may be adjusted in post-release updates.