Top Skills to Prioritize for Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

In *Assassin’s Creed Shadows*, Naoe's approach to eliminating targets is rooted in stealth and precision, though she's also capable of handling direct confrontations with the right strategy. To maximize her potential, here are the top skills to prioritize for Naoe, focusing on skills up to Knowledge Rank 3, which you can achieve quickly by engaging in the game's early open-world activities.

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): Increases your ability to punish enemies who attack you, turning their aggression into your advantage. - **Eviscerate** – Katana Ability (Knowledge Rank 3, 5 Mastery Points): A powerful finishing move that can end fights quickly, especially when combined with your dodging and deflecting skills.

Kusarigama

- **Entanglement** – Kusarigama Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1 Mastery Point): Ideal for building up afflictions and controlling enemies, even larger ones, for extra damage. - **Affliction Builder** – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 1, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Enhances your ability to apply and stack afflictions, making you more effective against groups. - **Big Catch** – Kusarigama Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Further improves your control over enemies, making it easier to manage multiple foes. - **Multi-Target Expert** – Global Passive (Knowledge Rank 3, 1/2/3 Mastery Points): Increases your effectiveness against multiple enemies, keeping them at bay while you deal damage. - **Cyclone Blast** – Kusarigama Ability (Knowledge Rank 3, 7 Mastery Points): A devastating area-of-effect attack that can clear out groups or finish off a single target.

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 stealth kills. - **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): Allows you to deal significant damage to armored enemies, ensuring no target is safe from your blade.

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): Lures enemies away, creating openings for your attacks. - **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): Enhances the damage of your kunai, making them lethal at range. - **Shuriken** – Tools Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Useful for disabling alarms or triggering explosives, adding versatility to your toolkit.

Shinobi

- **Ascension Boost** – Shinobi Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 2 Mastery Points): Speeds up your climbing, crucial for navigating the game's environments swiftly. - **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 position yourself effectively. - **Heighten Senses** – Shinobi Ability (Knowledge Rank 3, 5 Mastery Points): Slows down time, giving you a strategic advantage in crowded or complex situations.

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 a prone position. - **Double Assassinate** – Assassin Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Allows you to eliminate two targets simultaneously, perfect for clearing out groups. - **Assassination Damage I** – Assassin Passive (Knowledge Rank 2, 3 Mastery Points): Boosts your assassination damage, ensuring quick and efficient kills. - **Reinforced Blade** – Assassin Passive (Knowledge Rank 3, 4 Mastery Points): Strengthens your hidden blade, making it more effective against tougher enemies.

By focusing on these skills, you'll transform Naoe into the ultimate stealth assassin in *Assassin’s Creed Shadows*, capable of navigating Japan's landscapes with deadly precision. For more tips and guides, be sure to check out The Escapist.