Assassin’s Creed Shadows: How Afflictions Work

How exhausted are you by stagger? It’s unironically the worst status affliction in video gaming history. Thankfully, it’s not much of an issue in Assassin’s Creed Shadows—at least for the player. The action-adventure from Ubisoft does have a similar status effect—Daze—but you’ll most often be the one inflicting it upon unsuspecting samurai. There are others, too, and we’ll delve into each one. Once you learn the ins and outs of each status effect, you can wield them effectively against your foes!

This isn’t a Soulslike. Assassin’s Creed Shadows relies on a handful of status effects designed to work quickly, stagger opponents, and finish fights fast. As such, there are only four to consider:

• Bleed: Think of Bleed in Assassin’s Creed Shadows like that of Elden Ring. It immediately deals massive damage, then slowly whittles away additional health until an enemy heals or succumbs to your onslaught.
• Poison: Upon filling the buildup meter, Poison deals damage over time, albeit light damage, and interrupts enemy attacks and abilities. A Poison-inflicted foe may occasionally vomit, causing them to be open to attack temporarily.
• Daze: Oh, Daze. Upon filling the affliction meter, enemies become vulnerable for a short period. They miss attacks, cannot defend, and are open to critical hit damage.
• Knock Out: Knock Out is a unique affliction in that it only occurs when induced by an ability or when you stealth-grab an enemy and choose to KO instead of killing them. The enemy is knocked unconscious on the ground for a short period, during which you may finish them if you’d like.

How to inflict status afflictions

In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, specific weapons found throughout the game world, especially high-tier, rare weapons, induce afflictions. Conversely, you can use particular abilities for Naoe or Yasuke that deal affliction effects. As weapons, besides legendaries, seem randomly generated, we won’t sit here and list potential finds. They’ll vary in your game. Instead, we can offer you a few abilities guaranteed to deal affliction damage, like:

• Deep Cut: Once upgraded with Deep Cut, Crescent Strike inflicts 35% Bleed buildup.
• Dazed: As its name suggests, Dazed increases Daze buildup per strike by 15% on Quick Strike.
• Concussion Bullets: Unlocks a unique bullet type for the Teppo that increases Daze buildup.
• Shrapnel Bullets: Unlocks a bullet type for the Teppo that increases Bleed buildup.
• Poison Arrows: Unlocks an arrow type for the Bow that inflicts Poison.
• Serrated Arrows: Unlocks an arrow type for the Bow that increases Bleed buildup.
• Hunter’s Mark: When wielding a bow, Staggering Blast, once enhanced with Hunter’s Mark, automatically applies Daze.

As you can see, most of the affliction-based abilities require a ranged weapon, which isn’t an issue for either character once you reach mid-game.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available now, afflictions and all, on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.