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The best Naoe gear in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

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One of the protagonists in Assassin's Creed Shadows.
Ubisoft

Assassin’s Creed Shadows introduces a few interesting twists on the series’ established formula. There are new features like Scouts and a fully upgradable hideout , but the big change is the addition of two distinct protagonists Naoe and Yasuke . Unlike Syndicate, these two characters serve vastly different roles, with Naoe being suited more towards stealth and Yasuke a better fighter. Each one has their own skills to unlock, but just as important is equipping them with the best gear. You will be drowning in loot over your playtime so knowing which is worth keeping and upgrading can be tricky. If Naoe is your preferred character, these are the items you should be using to maximize her potential.

Best Naoe gear

Naoe showing off her equipment in Assassin's Creed Shadows.
Ubisoft

Naoe can hold two weapons, plus armor, headgear, and a trinket. These are the ones we found to be the most powerful for her.

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Weapons

For Naoe’s katana, the Bloodshade legendary katana has the most powerful bleed abilities in the game. It obviously inflicts bleed, but its special perk is that bleed buildup doesn’t drain over time so you don’t have to be overly aggressive to get it to proc. You can find this katana on a ship to the west of Osaka on the coast of Amagasaki in Izumi Settsu.

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For a secondary weapon, the legendary Tanto Call of the Void is a solid alternative. It is strong on its own, but comes with the perk of dealing 30% more damage to enemies you have tagged. If you’re playing Naoe as intended, every enemy should be tagged so this is an easy way to get a massive damage buff.

Armor

Since you will want to stay out of open combat as much as possible, go for the Tools Master Gear. This will increase tool damage, but also adds in the perk where you will automatically throw a kunai at the nearest enemy after performing an assassination, allowing you to remain undetected while clearing tricky groups.

Headgear

Grab the Swift Shinobi Hood as soon as possible. Its perk slows down time when you get detected so you can either take out the guard who spotted you or make a quick escape to hide as a last resort.

Trinket

Finally, our favorite trinket is the Tatsu’s Triumph trinket. It will increase all vulnerable damage you deal, which pairs great with your weapon options, plus adds 2% tool damage for each point you’ve invested in the Tools skill tree. This stacks with your armor buff, making tools incredibly deadly.

Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over five years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…
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Now that there are double the protagonists in Assassin's Creed Shadows, there are twice as many skills to learn. Earning XP, as well as the new Knowledge Points, will let you access six skill trees for both characters, with around a dozen or more skills in each to unlock. The game is long enough that you could unlock them all, but that would require a lot of time or grinding. Plus, not all the skills are as useful as the others. Building up both characters is important, but we will be focusing on the most powerful skills you should be getting with the shinobi Naoe.
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One of the protagonists in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

By the time we get to Assassin's Creed Shadows, most of us will be familiar with how the games work. Since transitioning more towards RPGs than stealth games, the titles have not only gotten longer but also embraced skill trees. Naoe and Yasuke each have unique progression paths to work through, but right away you will notice that most of the best abilities are gated off. Like Scouts, Knowledge Points are a new feature that you will need to master if you want to be the best assassin possible. We'll share all our knowledge about Knowledge Points with you.
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