The Best Abilities In Naoe’s Katana Mastery Path In Assassin’s Creed Shadows

A samurai’s weapon of choice is the katana whereas most ninjas in games typically like to use smaller weapons like daggers. In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Naoe, the game’s resident ninja, has three weapons at her disposal. She starts with a katana and then players can either buy or find a sickle and chain combo called a Kusarigama or a smaller dagger combo with the Hidden Blade called a Tanto.

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All three weapons have an associated skill tree in Assassin’s Creed Shadows and there are six main ones for Naoe altogether. Let’s begin with Naoe’s starter weapon and travel down the Katana skill tree to highlight some essentials.

6

Tidal Wave

Strike Fast Through Enemies

Tidal Wave is an active ability in the game and active abilities can be assigned to the face buttons. So, on a PS5 controller, for example, players can assign a Katana-based skill to the Triangle, Circle, Cross, or Square buttons. Some skill trees for Naoe have more active skills than others and Katana is near the top.

Tidal Wave will send Naoe dashing into an enemy for a quick strike while turning the screen black and white. It’s a stylistic choice that seems like an homage to anime art styles or perhaps old Japanese films like Seven Samurai. There are a few upgrades for Tidal Wave down this specific path, which will increase how many strikes players can use during their dashes.

5

Guard Breaker

Quickly Breaker Through Armor

Guard Breaker is another active skill for Naoe and this one unlocks a whole mess of attacks. The initial version will have Naoe attack an enemy nine times and upgrades can increase the potency of the ability. It’s kind of like Cloud’s Omnislash Limit Break in Final Fantasy 7 except less powerful and less excessive with the strikes.

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It’s not guaranteed depending on the size of the enemy and their level, but the goal of Guard Breaker is to smash through armor typically highlighted by a yellow meter above an enemy’s normal health bar. Once armor is broken through, enemies will take more damage. Guard Breaker is useful since Naoe isn’t as strong as an ox like Yasuke who can smash through armor or doors like they were nothing with just basic weapons.

4

Eviscerate

A Quick Stab Followed By A Kick Back

Eviscerate is the final active ability worth highlighting for Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The move will stab Naoe’s katana into an enemy and then she will send them flying back with a kick. Upgrades will increase the potential power of the move and the final tier will even throw down a smoke bomb.

This makes Eviscerate a good move to use if players need a quick escape if they are being surrounded by enemies. The goal is to be as quiet and as stealthy as possible with Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows but sometimes players just need to improvise to get out of sticky situations they caused perhaps with an explosion or being caught red-handed. Just don’t worry about getting through the game with a perfect stealth record.

3

Melee Expert

Increase Melee Weapon Damage

Melee Expert is a damage multiplier that will apply to all three weapons in the game: katanas, kusarigamas, and tantos. It’s a classic passive upgrade for a game with melee or weapon-based combat but it shouldn’t be ignored. The more players pump into the skill, the more effective weapons will become.

Another good skill within this path is Momentum Builder. This will increase attack power if players land consecutive strikes. Depending on the enemy type, players may have an easy or difficult time keeping up momentum. It’s a good skill but not as essential as Melee Expert since it can be unpredictable.

2

Affliction Effectiveness

Status Effects Do More Damage

Like many RPGs, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has status effects. Players can come down with them or afflict them onto enemies. Affliction Effectiveness will boost the damage players can do with Bleed, Daze, or Poison.

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Even though there is a sci-fi edge to Assassin’s Creed Shadows, it is somewhat grounded in reality or at least grounded within Naoe’s fictionalized version of Japan. Players cannot find elemental-imbued weapons like in other RPGs so status inflicting weapons is the next best thing. A weapon will detail percentages on status effects which are generally low which is why Affliction Effectiveness can be useful to boost these ratings. Cutting down a giant samurai via poison is always satisfying to see.

1

Dodge Attack

Counter After A Dodge

With Naoe or Yasuke, players can choose to block, parry, or dodge enemy attacks. For Naoe, the easier thing to do is dodge enemies as she is quicker on her feet and Naoe has a decent range when rolling away from enemies. Dodge Attack will open up a counterattack ability once purchased.

On PS5, players can hit R1 after rolling away to close in the gap and return a katana-based blow. There is a move in this skill tree literally called Counter Attack too, which is better, but players have to finish The Twisted Tree side quest first and that can take some time. So, overall, Assassin’s Creed Shadows may not have the best parry and dodge system in a game, but getting Dodge Attack is better than nothing.

Released

March 20, 2025

OpenCritic Rating

Strong