In Assassin's Creed Shadows the skills are one of the best ways to improve your gameplay as you head into the early hours of the game. It gives you an advantage over your enemies and will help you as you traverse to areas with higher-level enemies. However, knowing which ones to unlock first is one of the ways that you can improve your gameplay with a little tweaking.

There are many skills in Assassin's Creed Shadows, and I know it was overwhelming to look at the skill tree and see how many there were just for Naoe. It gets even more overwhelming once you can also take control of Yasuke. However, you can re-spec at any given time, so take these options with a grain of salt and the knowledge that you can experiment to your heart's content. These skills are mostly focused on Naoe, as you spend the majority of the opening hours playing as her, but there are a few Yasuke skills in there as well.

10 Dodge Attack

Naoe - Katana Tree

This is a ive ability that you can unlock very quickly as Naoe, as it is a Knowledge 1 skill and you can easily make this ability work really well for you. This one is nice to have early on, as Naoe is much more vulnerable in open fights than Yusuke is, and you will not have the option to skip some of them.

You will have several bosses that you cannot assassinate, and even though that is where Naoe's skills lie, you sometimes have to face your foes in battle. This one is nice because you will be doing a lot of dodging, and it's a ive ability that does a fair amount of damage. There are several other skills tied to this one:

Consider taking this one early as it does make a difference with the first few big enemies Naoe has to face without relying solely on stealth skills.

9 Forward Momentum

Yasuke - Kanabo

This is a great weapon to use against other enemies, as it can deal a lot of damage to a large amount of enemies at once. There are some great abilities you can use with it later, but early on when you are still getting your feet, you should get Forward Momentum, which allows the weapon attack to hit the next enemy faster.

Later, this will make your abilities hit harder and faster, which is nice to have. Things like Crushing Shockwave tied to other hits will give you a lot of power to overwhelm your enemies. It's a nice perk early on, but it makes a big difference later on as well.

8 Quick Strike

Naoe - Kusarigama

You will open up this skill tree once you get a Kusarigama, which you can do fairly quickly. I found one during the first main target assassination mission, and it was a good one. There are some very formidable abilities further up in the ranks, but Quick Strike only requires a Knowledge Skill of 2 in Assassin's Creed Shadows, and it allows you to make two extra strikes after an attack.

Here I am mainly focusing on Skills you can get within the first 2 Knowledge ranks, due to how the Knowledge system works and how you progress through the beginning hours of the game. That said, Rank 3 for this tree has a skill called Cyclone Blast that you will likely want to grab as soon as you can.

Because of this, it's useful as a way to break down an enemy's guard and, if used in combination with an already vulnerable enemy, can do a lot of damage quickly. I found it to be a great way to start out the game, and something that was fairly easy to use.

7 Silent Arrows

Yasuke - Bow

As someone who is much more thrilled by the stealthy side of these games and doesn't like being forced into open combat, I don't find myself playing as Yasuke that much. However, one of the things I missed the most in Assassin's Creed Mirage was the bow, and it's what I miss most playing as Naoe as well.

However, the Silent Arrows, and the Poison Arrows much later, is a Knowledge 2-ranked skill, allows me to do a bit of both. It's nice to have a bow and to be using it to do a little bit of stealth again. It was my favorite part of Assassin's Creed Origins, and I boosted that bow skill to the heavens in that game. I am glad to finally get the same kind of skill again.

6 Shadow Piercer

Naoe - Tanto

This might seem pretty obvious as it is Rank 1 and right above the general skill, but it is a great ability to have and one you want to have as soon as you acquire a Tanto. It allows Naoe to throw the Tanto and then dash toward the target, stab them, give them a Vulnerable status, and dealing a great deal of damage on top of it. It gives Naoe a little bit more of an edge in open combat, something she typically struggles with early.

Like Dodge Attack, this one has a couple of related abilities:

There are a lot of cool ways that this move can be used, and you will have to see what works for you, but I think this is one of the most fun ways to use the Tanto in the game.

5 Brutal Assassination

Yasuke - Samurai

This is a Knowledge Rank 1 skill for Yasuke, and it's the closest he can get to assassinating an enemy. It's a fun skill, and like many others, you can upgrade this one quite a bit over time with these skills:

There are a lot of options with Yasuke, and a lot of different weapons you can test out. I didn't list a skill for each of them in this list, particularly since you don't get to Yasuke until a little later in the story, Check out the best skills for Yasuke to see which ones are recommended, but this is a skill that will be useful no matter what you choose to do weapon-wise.

4 Shinobi Bell

Naoe - Tools

This one is a great way to cause distractions that don't involve you having to whistle yourself. Many times I found that whistling just made my life harder, as in this game more than one enemy tends to travel together more often than in past games. In fact, an enemy will go collect someone else to search with them, which can make it hard to lose them or to assassinate one of them without alerting the whole camp.

So, having a tool to distract them away from something you are trying to get to, or to get them into a convenient set of bushes, is a great way to get what you need. It's available early as a Knowledge 2 skill. I also think the Kunai Assassination Damage is a great skill to take as early as possible, so try that one out if you find yourself using the knives a lot.

3 Ground Assassinate

Naoe - Assassin

Weirdly, this skill has to be unlocked while Hidden Blade is a separate ability that you have as soon as you acquire the blade. However, you will likely want this one before Shoji Door Assassination. That one is helpful and neat to have, but you will encounter less enemies behind doors early on, while you will find plenty on the ground. Definitely take both when possible, but Ground Assassination should take priority.

I didn't pick any skills on the Shinobi tree for this list, mainly because the early Knowledge ranks are not as relevant quickly as the ones on the other trees. Grab is the most useful, and it is automatically unlocked.

I very much wanted the Shoji Door Assassination to be relevant quickly, and I like that you can just crash through doors if you want to, but one of them is just slightly more utilitarian. There are also some very good improvements for Ground Assassination early on, making it possible to take on bigger targets faster.

2 Combat Expert

Yasuke - Long Katana

This is one of the options that are useful for Yasuke no matter what you end up doing with your weapons, as it affects every melee weapon he ends up using. This means that, even if it isn't as flashy as some of the other abilities, it will make everything you do a little more powerful.

The Riposte skill is also useful, and I am not entirely sure whether it will play off of every attack or just ones with the Long Katana. If you do find yourself using this weapon most of the time, consider taking Riposte first instead. However, I appreciate that the Combat Expert is always going to be helpful.

1 Double Assassinate

Naoe - Assassin

This is always my favorite and most useful skill in any of the modern Assassin's Creed games. I'm glad it made a reappearance here, and it's even more useful in this game so long as Naoe gets a Tanto. This is because of the tendency for enemies to move in pairs, and the number of times I looked at a pair of enemies wishing for the Double Assassination.

Like in the recent Assassin's Creed games, you will not immediately be able to assassinate every enemy. You will have to go up the skill tree to do so.

There are a lot of ways to increase your Assassination damage as the Knowledge Rank gets higher. Reinforced Blade is the most useful one you can get to, as it lets you target large enemies. It's one of the things that can get to you if you target the wrong person early on. Hand of the Creed, similarly, can allow you to play a high stealth game.