Assassination
Guards can’t sound an alert if they’re dead. You don’t have to use stealth all the time, and violence is certainly a good option for Assassins. Attacks that you make against unwary opponents are amazingly powerful. You can instantly kill anyone in the game if you attack them before they get their weapons ready. Side attacks, back attacks, aerial attacks, and even a stab from the front can score these instant kills.
Attack your victims from any angle if they aren’t alert. Get close to the victim and tap the Assassination button when it becomes available.
When opponents have their weapons out, you need to move in from the back to seize that advantage. Back attacks perform assassination moves even when your victim is already alert and ready to fight. This frequently comes into play during ship battles because your sailors attack and distract the other ship’s men. Use that distraction as a way to go from sailor to sailor, assassinating them any time they turn their back on Shay.
Distractions
Whistling draws guards over toward your position. Use this to get patrollers near hiding spots so they can be killed and hidden without prying eyes being any the wiser.
Bodies get attention, too, so pick up and move bodies that are going to encourage guards to move close to your intended path. Or, leave bodies out so that guards move past you to investigate and then kill them from behind while they’re distracted.
Firecracker Darts are another tool for distracting guards. These ranged devices cause enough noise to make guards notice them. When this happens, you’re safe to slip off to somewhere else while they are distracted. These darts can also be used to blow up barrels of gunpowder that are found in ships or inside forts!
Eagle Vision
Eagle Vision is a power that lets Shay see targets without many distractions. Important people show up in yellow, enemies appear in red, and points of interest turn whitish.
Use Eagle Vision to hunt animals in thick growth, to track VIPs on specific missions, and to help figure out guard patrol patterns. Once marked in Eagle Vision, guards and VIPs are quite a bit easier to locate. They’ll even show up through walls for a fair amount of time.
Weapons and Tools
These are such vital pieces of Shay’s arsenal that we’ve put them in their own chapter. Continue to the next chapter when you’re ready to see all of Shay’s deadliest weapons and tools.
Swordfighting
When assassinations fail, take to the sword to defeat larger groups of attackers. Outright combat is a slower option that only defeats weaker foes; you swing your weapon again and again and wait for the combo to build until a kill animation is triggered. Basic guards are easy to kill this way, but more experienced fighters can deflect or even counter your basic attacks.
The second tier of swordfighting is to master counters. Instead of making long series of weapon attacks, use patience as your weapon. Wait for an enemy to swing at you. When a small red icon appears over their heads, press the Counter button and then attack. This automatically kills many enemies. Counter followed by your Tool button provides even more options. When paired with the pistol, you gain a very deadly move.
Extremely good opponents won’t even let you counter them. They’ll interrupt your counterattack before it kills them. For these foes, attack, press Break Guard when they parry you, and then attack again. This kills many of the stronger guard types that you come across.
Extremely good captains and enemies even stop you when you attack and then Break Guard. They’ll counter Shay! To give them more trouble, wait for them to swing, then you counter, attack, Break Guard, and attack again. This sounds tricky, but it becomes very easy once you’re used to the system.
For a beautiful blend of aggression, mix these techniques together. Use series of basic attacks to kill weaker guards in a group. Counter everyone who comes after you during this skirmish to score even more kills. Then attack, Break Defense, and attack the leaders who don’t die from your counterattacks. I
Break Defense also grabs people to use as human shields if a ranged attacker is lining up their pistol/musket. Your victim gets killed, Shay avoids massive damage, and the ranged attacker is left with a lifetime of guilt. Don’t feel bad; that lifetime is only going to be about 20 seconds long.
Kill Streak
Basic attack combos kill weaker enemies, and you can string these kills together. When you start a kill animation against your first target, push your control stick toward another guard in your current fight. Attacking immediately after the kill completes lets you chain the assault into the next foe. These kill streaks stop if you are blocked, take damage, or whiff, but they otherwise allow you to lay out entire groups quite easily.
Ranged Attacks
Pistols and the air rifle give you opportunities for ranged damage in a variety of situations. When you’re being stealthy, use the air rifle to disable guards. If sound isn’t an issue, then switch to air rifle grenades or pistols and kill your opponents outright.
Headshots do bonus damage, so they’re perfect when taking on tougher enemies or your assassination targets.