This is a guide to the best Naoe build in Assassin's Creed Shadows (AC Shadows). Read on to learn the best abilities, weapons, armor, and trinket to get for the best Naoe assassination build.

Best Naoe Build

Best Abilities for Naoe

Best Abilities for Naoe
Assassin	Tools	Katana

Naoe's best abilities for this build will come from the Assassination, Tools, and Katana Mastery Trees (the other three trees are not important). The focus of the build is enabling one-shot assassinations, while also giving you enough tools to defeat enemies in combat.

The goal is to improve your Assassination Damage and Kunai Assassination Damage for stealth, while bolstering your Katana Damage and Abilities for open combat.

Best Abilities

Assassination Mastery Tree Abilities

For the Assassination Mastery tree, focus on improving your assassination damage. Some key abilities are Reinforced Blade and Double Assassinate which you should aim to get as early as possible.

• Assassination Damage I: Prioritize getting this, as well as the succeeding skills Assassination Damage II and Assassination Damage III, so that your assassinations scale with enemy levels.
• Improved Ground Assassinate: Get this during early game to give your regular ground assassinations a boost.
• Double Assassinate: Get this early as soon as you have a Tanto in order to unlock double assassinations.
• Reinforced Blade: Important to get as soon as you unlock Knowledge Rank 3 since now all enemies in the game can be assassinated.
• Hand Of The Creed: Guarantees that all your assassination attempts hit even if enemies see you coming.
• Vigor I: Increases Naoe's Adrenaline Chunks. Helps you spam abilities from other Mastery Trees. It is also worth obtaining the succeeding skills Vigor II and Vigor III.

Note: You can get Shoji Door Assassination but its will have limited uses since enemies need to be almost touching the door for the assassinate prompt to appear.

Tools Mastery Tree Abilities

For the Tools Mastery tree, focus on maxing out the damage output of your Kunai. These trivialize castles since they function like a regular assassinate but at range. When possible, invest in Larger Tool Bag and Tool Professional for more Kunai uses and better Tool damage.

• Kunai Assassination Damage I: Prioritize maxing this out, as well as the succeeding skills so that your Kunai become easy ranged assassination tools.
• Armor Piercing: Get the additional point upgrade for this to get +10% Kunai damage.
• Everlast: Get this so that it's easier to pick up thrown Kunai. Upgrade it to max to get +15% Kunai damage.
• Larger Tool Bag I: Max this out to get 6 Kunai to throw at Rank 3.
• Tool Professional: When maxed out, this grants +18% Tool damage.
• Shuriken: Unlock this so you have a spare throwing weapon for taking out Alarm Bells.

Note: Shinobi Bell and Smoke Bomb can be safely skipped since they are finicky to use (sometimes they work, other times they don't).

Katana Mastery Tree Abilities

For the Katana Mastery tree, you'll want to play around the Vulnerable procs you get from either deflects or the Dodge Attack passive with the No Mercy upgrade.

• Dodge Attack: Max this out by getting both the Generator and No Mercy upgrades to get Adrenaline Chunk regen and Vulnerable procs on Dodge Attack hits.
• Guard Breaker: Pair this Affliction buildup and "% chance to remove Health Segments on Attack" Engravings to help rapidly chunk away at enemy HP bars.
• Eviscerate: Really good space-maker when facing tough opponents. If you need a breather, use this to fling your opponent away from you.
• Counter Attack: Improves deflects by rewarding you with free damage on a perfect deflect.
• Melee Expert: A good passive to get later in the game to improve your Katana damage.

Best Weapons for Naoe

Bloodshade	Type: Legendary Katana Affliction: Bleed Buildup Perk: Affliction Buildup is not lost over time. Recommended Engraving: Trigger Affliction on Deflect
Call of the Void	Type: Legendary Tanto Perk: +30% damage on Tagged enemies. Recommended Engraving: Slow down time on Escape Strike.

Your best weapon combo will be a Katana and Tanto duo. The former is used when things get hairy, while the latter grants you access to Double Assassinations. Get the legendary Bloodshade Katana for easy Bleed procs.

For your Tanto, you can stick to either the Igan Sunest or Yukimitsu's Revenge during early to mid-game; at least until you get access to Call of the Void later on.

Best Armor for Naoe

Equip Light Armor with Perks that Help with Stealth

Peasant Clothes	Modifer: Damage with Tools Perk: Attacks have 3% chance to remove 1 Health Segment on hit.
Yurei-Walker Robes	Modifer: Damage with Tools Perk: Enemies are less efficient at detecting sound.
Swift Shinobi Robes	Modifer: Damage with Tools Perk: +2 Health Segments removed on Air Assassinate.
Tools Master Gear	Modifer: Damage with Tools Perk: Throw a Kunai at the closest enemy after an Assassination.

For Light Armor, you have plenty of legendary options to choose from. For a strict, stealth-only playstyle, consider getting either the Yurei-Walker Robes or the Swift Shinobi Robes.

Set Aside Headgear for Combat and for Stealth

Peasant Hat	Perk: +100% of an Adrenaline Chunk upon entering combat. When to Equip: Equip before entering combat to start off with more Adrenaline Chunks.
Legendary Onna-musha Headband	Perk: Vault over enemies while sprinting. When to Use: Replace Peasant Hat since its guaranteed Vulnerable proc is leagues better than the free Adrenaline Chunk you get.

For Headgear, you can get the Peasant Hat early in the game. However, make sure to replace it with the Legendary Onna-musha Headband since it is by far the best headgear you can get for Naoe, simply because it guarantees a Vulnerable proc when you Vault over an enemy.

Best Trinket for Naoe

Tatsu's Triumph	Modifier: Vulnerable Damage Perk: +2% tool damage per Mastery Point in Tools.

The best trinket to get will be Tatsu's Triumph since it boosts your Tool damage based on the amount of points invested in the Tools Mastery tree. This is one of the best ways to boost your Kunai damage by a large amount.

Assassin's Creed Shadows Related Guides

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AC Shadows Recommended Guides

Recommendations
Best Naoe Build	Best Yasuke Build
Best Abilities	Best Weapons
Best Armor	Best Allies
Best Tool Upgrades	Best Engravings
Activity Guides
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Legendaries Guides
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