Heists

Heists are co-op missions where your goal is to steal the contents of a chest hidden in a Restricted Area. Though Heists demand a similar degree of cooperation and coordination from participating players as the co-op stories, these missions exact a (quite literal) price for detection… and a brutal sanction for those who fall in combat.

At the start of each Heist, there is a bonus reward pool. For every moment that a player is detected by an opponent, however, this total is reduced at an alarming rate. Worse still, a player who dies in combat cannot respawn. To complicate matters further, the more difficult Heists feature randomized configurations of enemies, chests, and access points, making them completely different from one session to the next, and thus unpredictable. For these reasons, Heists are no place for devil-may-care individualism or any degree of carelessness. Mistakes are expensive; fatal errors are painful in their finality. Only players who work closely and with care can hope to claim the financial rewards that the most dangerous Heists can offer.

If you have yet to do so, we strongly advise that you read the Reference & Analysis chapter before you play these missions. There are certain staple techniques that can help to drastically reduce the difficulty level when you face apparently insurmountable odds – a scenario that Heists deliver more often than you might expect…

Tithing Templars

As befits its position as the first Heist on the list, “Tithing Templars” is much more simple than the missions that follow. In many ways, it’s very similar to a main storyline Memory: an area to infiltrate, and a position to reach. From your starting position at , you might automatically assume that the fog-shrouded graveyard presents the only route to reach the artifacts hidden in the tunnels below. As it happens, there is an easier way. Bypass the heavily patrolled graveyard entirely and head for the sewer entrance at .

Deal with the two guards at the entrance () with ranged weapons, then head through. There may or may not be gates to lockpick here: it can vary from session to session.

While you are inside the tunnels, use Eagle Vision at regular intervals to identify Extremists in your vicinity. There is usually one stationary guard at the first junction that you reach, as shown on the screenshot. Wait until he faces away, then sneak past him and move along the tunnel directly ahead. As you approach the next junction, watch for a patrolling guard. Eliminate him quietly, then go in the direction of the waypoint, quietly dispatching any Extremist on the way. The chest can randomly be found in any of three possible locations.

When you reach the chamber with the chest, identify your enemies with Eagle Vision and agree on a plan of action to take them all down simultaneously. Once you have emptied the chest, carefully retrace your steps and leave the highlighted area to conclude the mission.

Catacomb Raider

This Heist also features a trip into a network of tunnels to appropriate items, but the primary challenge here is to reach the underground area without incident. You have three points of entry to choose from (, and ), each with its own merits.

Position is probably the most complicated due to the presence of a large patrol, and two guards directly outside the entrance. If you bide your time carefully, it’s possible to eliminate only the pair by the catacomb entry and sneak inside… but getting back out again will be much more difficult. Alternatively, smart use of Berserk Blades can enable you to reduce enemy numbers to a manageable level. Look out for snipers on the buildings behind you before you clamber over the walls.

Entrance presents the easiest configuration of guards to neutralize without being detected, which will also make your departure easier.

Entrance is also very complicated, with an alarm bell and a sniper nearby. Using this entrance will probably be the sole preserve of master Assassins with an appetite for heightened difficulty.

Once underground, methodically detect and incapacitate Extremists until you reach the chest marked by the waypoint – which can randomly appear in any of three possible locations. Near-constant use of Eagle Vision is a must, but be wary of employing Berserk Blades: the effects can lead to unpredictable results in the confines of the tunnels.

The Party Palace

To complete this mission, you must infiltrate the large, heavily guarded Palais Royal inside the Restricted Area and retrieve the contents of a chest highlighted by a waypoint. However, the positions of the open windows that provide access to the enormous building change for every play session – as does the location of the chest itself. When you begin, your first action should be to split up and reconnoiter the outer walls for (usually rare) open windows or doors. If you find one close to the chest waypoint, count yourself lucky and skip to entry .

If there are no points of entry on the walls of the building facing the surrounding streets close to the waypoint, you will need to brave the heavily guarded rooftops to find open windows and doors on the walls facing the central courtyard. The northern rooftops are usually clear of snipers and sentries, so that is generally the best place to get an overview of the area. Once you have identified an entrance that isn’t too heavily guarded and is reasonably close to the waypoint marking the objective, study the surrounding area carefully before you commit to gaining entrance.

Sometimes, open windows have a sentry standing just inside. A useful trick – and one that many will overlook – is that it is possible to perform a High Profile ledge assassination, which is tailor-made for this kind of situation. Once you are on the ledge below the window, hold / before you press / . Instead of throwing his victim to the ground below – with the ensuing commotion that might cause – Arno will spring through the window and pounce on the target with fatal alacrity.

Once inside, make your way through the rooms that lead to the waypoint marker, identifying and disabling all guards that might plausibly detect you (or, for that matter, the bodies of their fallen comrades that you leave in your wake). Whenever you espy a locked door, this will usually provide an alternative route that enables you to bypass a certain number of guards. After you reach the chest containing the treasure and open it, it’s usually best to leave the same way that you came in.

Royals, Guns and Money

This Heist employs a new style of mission template, which will become familiar as you play the remaining missions in this co-op category. The Restricted Area contains three fixed chests at , and : one at the heart of the central courtyard, two inside the surrounding building. However, only one of these chests contains the treasure that you seek. Complicating matters further in this mission, there are no exterior entrances: you must always make your way to the rooftops of the building. The specific configuration of guards and points of entry changes each time, so we cannot recommend one route in particular, but of one thing you can be assured: there are always a huge number of potential assailants.

As the correct chest is chosen at random, it makes sense to visit the chests in order of difficulty. Here, the chests inside the building at and – which you can access by sneaking into the mansion via an open window – are perhaps slightly easier to reach thanks to the cover that the walls offer.

The chest at – with all approaches viewed from multiple angles and elevations – should probably be left until last, as it is the most difficult to access.

Smuggler’s Paradise

Employing the same premise as “Royals, Guns and Money”, this mission requires you to open up to three chests to find the correct one containing state treasures. However, the fixed location of each chest (at positions , and ), general geography of the Restricted Area and intimidating number of guards in the area makes it an extremely difficult task. Completing the mission with a full bonus will take a methodical approach to neutralizing almost every potential hostile in the zone from the outside inwards… or inventive use of the more pernicious weapons at your disposal (particularly Berserk Blades and Poison Gas Bombs). Whatever your preferred strategy, make sure you begin the mission by eliminating all the snipers on the rooftops, which will make your infiltration much easier.

The chest at is only accessible from the east side of the building at street level. After clearing a path to the entrance, Poison Gas Bombs can be an easy way to incapacitate the guards inside the room.

The room with the chest at may seem tempting for a stealth expert… but the consequences of detection, being so close to the many guards at , will be decidedly grim. The number of guards in this room varies from session to session; again, Poison Gas is an effective way to knock them out before you enter. A Disguise may just enable you to get behind them before the effects expire.

As you may have already surmised, it’s prudent to leave the chest at until you have experienced disappointment with the other two. Begin by eliminating the marksmen overlooking the area. You can then set up a fight with the sentries below by hitting the strongest enemies with Berserk Blades, then throw Poison Gas Bombs at the positions where the ensuing conflict is thickest.

Ancient History

The Ancient History Heist takes the format employed by “Royals, Guns and Money” and “Smuggler’s Paradise” to a new extreme. There are now four chests to open, only one of which (chosen at random) contains the treasure. In addition, the configuration of guards and points of entry is randomized and changed at the beginning of each session, making it impossible to recommend one specific strategy. Suffice to say, a four-man team is a must, and you will need to employ every tactic, technique and dirty trick in your collective repertoire to finish this mission with even a fraction of the total bonus pot.

There is a single point of entry – changed every time, and usually heavily guarded, as shown in the example on the screenshot above – for the building that contains chests and , and the same applies for the house where chest is found.

Chest is out in the open, but predictably surrounded by an army of tough Templar henchmen watched by multiple snipers from above.

It Belongs in a Museum

In this Heist, there are four marked pieces of artwork for you and your Assassin companions to steal, but only one of them is the genuine article. As previously, the configuration of guards and the palace’s points of entry are randomized. Unlike the chests in the four preceding missions, though, the location of each framed, wall-mounted objective is changed each time you play, so we cannot recommend one approach in particular. While this is certainly a complication (the building is huge, and it will take many playthroughs to familiarize yourself with its many rooms and corridors), there are fortunately numerous points of entry. We suggest that you separate into a pair of two-man teams and enter the Restricted Area from positions and , as their approach is made easier by the fact that they lie outside of the Restricted Area.

From either side of the Palais du Luxembourg, you should easily reach open windows that provide convenient access to the waypoint markers inside. As long as you are slow and methodical, this can be one of the most lucrative Heist missions to play.