Best Early Hideout Upgrades in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Naoe and Yasuke will have the ability to build and upgrade a fairly complex Hideout. This system is introduced very early in the game, and continues to expand throughout your playthrough. Many players may assume that the Hideout is purely cosmetic, but this is not the case. Many of AC Shadows’ most important perks are acquired through building and upgrading the many structures available. In this guide, we’ll show you which Hideout upgrades are the most important in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

The Best Hideout Buildings and Upgrades in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

There are a wide range of builds that Naoe and Yasuke can use to create their own Hideout. Remember that almost every building you create will provide a unique benefit, so it is absolutely worth it to create and upgrade every available building in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. However, there is no doubt that some perks will be more useful, especially early in the game.

On top of the perks earned from building and upgrading the structures at the Hideout, there are also perks earned for the overall Hideout level. Every structure you create will add to the overall level, and they are all extremely useful. Make sure to come back to the Hideout and build as often as possible.

It goes without saying that the Forge should be an absolute priority as soon as you start the game. You’ll notice that there is an important quest around recruiting the Blacksmith and building the forge at the Hideout. Check out our guide on upgrading gear in Assassin’s Creed Shadows for more information on the forge.

Stables:

While the Stables are already built when you first arrive at Tomiko’s home – which eventually becomes the hideout – one of the best things you can do as soon as possible is to upgrade the Stables to level 2. This will make it so the material stockpiles you find around the world, which are the best source of crafting materials in the game, only require one scout to collect, instead of two.

This means that you’ll be able to start collecting multiple stockpiles each season from very early in the game. This will make building and upgrading more structures much easier as you go forward. The Stables Level 2 upgrade requires the following materials:

• Crops: 70
• Wood: 50
• Minerals: 20

Kakurega & Study:

The Kakurega and Study buildings go hand in hand, as they both deal with scouts, and the mechanics that are built around them. Before you worry about the Study, you’ll first want to upgrade the Kakurega, which is also built from the start of the game. Upgrading the Kakurega to Level 2 is one of the best early choices you can make.

The second level offers two major boons, the first being the ability to access Opportunities at the Kakurega you unlock in the world. Each Kakurega will feature two, which point to the location of a useful POI in the world, such as a place to collect a Knowledge Point, or a Legendary Chest. The second perk is arguably one of the most underrated in the game. If you become wanted in any region of the map, you’ll now be able to send scouts to clear this for you. This is incredibly helpful, especially at AC Shadows’ mid-to-high difficulty levels.

The Kakurega Level 2 upgrade requires the following materials:

• Crops: 580
• Wood: 440
• Minerals: 150

The Study is another important structure to create and upgrade, as it will help add more scouts to the roster, as well as help with the quest scouting mechanic. Simply building the Study will add one scout to the League, and reduce the search zone for quests by 25%. This means using scouts to locate quest markers will become slightly easier.

The Study requires the following materials:

• Crops: 60
• Wood: 40
• Minerals: 10

Zashiki:

The Zashiki building is one of the Themed Rooms that provides a single perk, but cannot be upgraded at all. This building will help those players who love to play with Naoe, but notice the rations don’t exactly heal a lot of her health bar. They work for Yasuke as well, but he begins the game with more rations, and is more of a tanky character. After building this room, rations will gain 20% efficiency.

Building the Zashiki room requires:

• Crops: 90
• Wood: 370
• Minerals: 280
• Mon: 960

The requirement for unlocking Zashiki in the builder states that you must help a Settsu merchant. We are not sure exactly which merchant they were referring to. We completed all the People of Settsu missions, which showed up on the map as small diamond-shaped quest markers, then it was unlocked.

Nando:

The Nando themed room will make it so you will not have to pay as much Mon to refresh your scouts at the Kakurega. When you enter the Kakurega, you’ll see some multicolored objects hanging from the wall. Approach these, and you’ll be able to pay to refresh your depleted scouts before the season changes. This will cost 200 Mon for each scout at first, but is brought down to 140 after building Nando.

Nando requires the following materials:

• Crops: 440
• Wood: 330
• Minerals: 110
• Mon: 1160

Nando became available for us after we recruited 6 scouts.

Dojo:

Finally, for those players who love to use Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ Ally summons, the Dojo will be a must-build. Building the Dojo will allow you to upgrade Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ allies to the initiate level. Upgrading it to level 2 will let you equip two allies instead of one. The third and final upgrade will allow you to upgrade allies to the Veteran level. A fully-upgraded Dojo, along with fully upgraded allies, make for an incredibly powerful team when summoned.

To build and upgrade the Dojo, you’ll need the following items:

Dojo Level 1:

• Crops: 350
• Wood: 260
• Minerals: 90

Dojo Level 2:

• Crops:470
• Wood: 350
• Minerals:120

Dojo Level 3:

• Crops: 700
• Wood: 520
• Minerals: 170

You need to recruit one ally before you will be able to build the Dojo.

As mentioned earlier, the buildings and upgrades listed above are only a good place to start. Every building and upgrade in Assassin’s Creed Shadows provides a useful perk, and is well-worth the investment.

How to Build and Upgrade the Hideout in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

If you are just beginning AC Shadows, to access the Hideout building mechanic, make sure you play past the prologue, and meet up with Tomiko. This happens very early in the game, and you won’t be able to miss it.

Once you’ve met Tomiko, and she’s agreed to let you use her home as the Hideout, you’ll have two ways of entering the Hideout Building system. The first method is to simply hold Y/Triangle when you see the prompt anywhere on the Hideout grounds. The second method is to enter the main structure that contains the poster of the Shinbakufu. To the left of this painting, you’ll find a replica of Tomiko’s property. Approach the table, and you’ll be prompted to ‘Improve Hideout.’ Hold down Y/Triangle to enter the builder.

In the Hideout Inspector Menu, you’ll see the layout of Tomiko’s property from above. This is where you’ll customize the Hideout. Press X/Square to enter the Build list. There, you’ll see every building project available to you. To upgrade, you can either press A/X while the cursor is over the building you want to upgrade in the Build menu, or return to the main Hideout Inspector menu, hover over the building you want to upgrade, press X/A to open the individual building menu, and select upgrade.