Top Skills to Unlock Early for Naoe in Assassin's Creed Shadows

In *Assassin’s Creed Shadows*, Naoe thrives in the art of stealth and assassination, embodying the essence of a shinobi working from the shadows. While her primary focus is on silent kills and strategic planning, she's also capable of handling direct confrontations with the right preparation. To maximize Naoe's potential, here are the top skills to prioritize early in your journey, up to Knowledge Rank 3, which can be achieved quickly by engaging in the game's open-world activities within the starting regions.

Best Skills to Get First for Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Katana

• Dodge Attack – Katana Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1 Mastery Point): Enhances your defensive capabilities, allowing you to counter aggressive enemies effectively.
• Melee Expert – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Boosts your melee damage, making you a formidable force in close combat.
• Counter Attack – Katana Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Perfect for players skilled in dodging and deflecting, offering a powerful counter to enemy attacks.
• Eviscerate – Katana Ability (Knowledge Rank 3, 5 Mastery Points): A devastating finishing move that can end fights quickly, especially when combined with other skills.

These skills transform Naoe into a defensive powerhouse, ready to punish any enemy who dares to attack. If you excel at dodging and deflecting, these abilities will give you ample opportunities to counter, deal significant damage, and finish off opponents with Eviscerate.

Kusarigama

• Entanglement – Kusarigama Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1 Mastery Point): Ideal for building up afflictions, allowing you to control and damage enemies effectively.
• Affliction Builder – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Enhances your ability to apply afflictions, making your attacks more potent.
• Big Catch – Kusarigama Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Increases your ability to throw and damage even larger enemies.
• Multi-Target Expert – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 3, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Essential for dealing with multiple foes, keeping them at bay while you dish out damage.
• Cyclone Blast – Kusarigama Ability (Knowledge Rank 3, 7 Mastery Points): A powerful area-of-effect attack that can clear groups of enemies swiftly.

These skills make Naoe a formidable opponent against both groups and single targets. Entanglement is particularly useful for affliction buildup, and upgrading it allows you to manipulate larger enemies for extra damage. The other skills here enhance your ability to handle multiple enemies, keeping them at a distance while delivering impactful attacks.

Tanto

• Shadow Piercer – Tanto Ability (Knowledge Rank 1, 5 Mastery Points): Amplifies your damage output, especially against vulnerable enemies.
• Gap Seeker – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Enhances your ability to exploit enemy weaknesses, increasing your damage potential.
• Backstab – Tanto Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Increases damage when attacking from behind, perfect for stealthy assassinations.
• Backstabber – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Further boosts your backstab damage, making you a lethal assassin.
• Back Breaker – Tanto Passive (Knowledge Rank 3, 3 Mastery Points): Enhances your ability to deal significant damage to armored enemies from behind.

These skills focus on maximizing your damage with the tanto, particularly by exploiting vulnerable enemies. Even armored foes will fear your blade, and using your R2/RT attack to spin behind ensures you can always target their weak spots for maximum impact.

Tools

• Smoke Bomb – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1 Mastery Point): Essential for escaping or setting up chain assassinations when spotted.
• Larger Tool Bag I – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Increases your tool capacity, allowing for more strategic options.
• Shinobi Bell – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 1 Mastery Point): Useful for luring enemies away from your path.
• Enduring Haze – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Extends the duration of your smoke bomb, giving you more time to maneuver.
• Kunai Assassination Damage I – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Boosts the damage of your kunai, making them more effective for long-range kills.
• Shuriken – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Allows you to destroy alarm bells or trigger explosives, adding versatility to your toolkit.

These tools enable you to manipulate guards and clear paths to your targets effectively. Use shuriken to disable alarms or trigger explosives, the Shinobi Bell to distract enemies, and kunai for long-range assassinations. If spotted, deploy the Smoke Bomb to escape or set up a series of kills.

Shinobi

• Ascension Boost – Shinobi Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Speeds up your climbing, crucial for navigating the game's environments quickly.
• Vault – Shinobi Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 1 Mastery Point): Reduces fall damage, allowing for more daring maneuvers.
• Igan Roll – Shinobi Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 1 Mastery Point): Enhances your mobility, helping you evade and reposition swiftly.
• Heighten Senses – Shinobi Ability (Knowledge Rank 3, 5 Mastery Points): Slows down time, giving you a crucial edge in crowded or complex situations.

These skills keep you hidden and agile, ensuring you reach your objectives without alerting enemies. Faster climbing and reduced fall damage are invaluable in all scenarios, while the ability to slow down time provides a safety net in challenging areas.

Assassin

• Executioner – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Increases your assassination damage, making your strikes more lethal.
• Improved Ground Assassinate – Assassin Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Enhances your ability to take down enemies from the ground, crucial for stealth kills.
• Double Assassinate – Assassin Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Allows you to take out two targets simultaneously, a game-changer in crowded areas.
• Assassination Damage I – Assassin Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Further boosts your assassination damage, ensuring quick and silent kills.
• Reinforced Blade – Assassin Passive (Knowledge Rank 3, 4 Mastery Points): Strengthens your hidden blade, making it more effective against tougher enemies.

These skills are best utilized with a tanto as your primary weapon, enabling swift and effective assassinations. Dual assassinations and the ability to take down larger foes are invaluable, but remember to upgrade your skills to handle enemies with higher health as you progress.

By focusing on these skills, you'll transform Naoe into the ultimate assassinating shinobi in *Assassin’s Creed Shadows*. For more tips and guides, be sure to check out The Escapist.