Life is a lot easier with friends by your side. The same applies inAssassin’s Creed Shadows,as Naoe and Yasuke can recruit members for their group, allowing them (and, by extension, you) to summon these allies in battle to give you a hand. Some even help during stealth segments.
In total, we have six distinct allies, where they have an active ability that triggers when summoned and two passive abilities while helping you out - assuming that you leveled them to their maximum level already. So, which of these allies are the most useful ones? After all, you can’t summon all of them at once, so you need to choose.
6Ibuki
The Armor-Breaker
Ibuki is a funny case here. His focus is damage, and his passive abilities make him particularly useful against armor, destroying them quickly. Considering how many enemies have armor in this game, having a character dedicated to wrecking armor is extremely effective. Why is Ibuki low on the list, then?
That’s because Naoe and Yasuke can easily become proficient armor breakers themselves, depending on how you build them. If you focus on armor-piercing upgrades for your playable characters, one or two swings with your weapon will likely do all the damage you need. you’re able to even destroy multiple enemies' armor with the likes of the kusarigama, for instance.
Still, any help is better than none, and he’ll still cause good chunks of damage even if you can take care of the enemies' armor yourself. He’ll help in combat scenarios, which means that a squishy character such as Naoe can use his help when the time comes to settle issues with violence.
5Yaya
The Wrestler
Another option for extra muscle during combat, Yaya is a good choice, at least earlier in the game - which is fitting, considering that she’s the first ally you get. Her main ability knocks someone on the ground when she arrives, and then she’ll proceed to fight beside you.
Knocking someone on the ground is one of the most useful things you can do, as you can follow up with a ground attack, which is the highest-damaging move you can perform on your enemy - aside from literally assassinating them, that is. Sadly, Yaya will just do that once when she enters the fight.
Still, she’ll help in battle, and she can even kick people away, which is particularly useful when fighting in a high place, as you can kick people off the area and cause significant fall damage. However, that’s mostly situational, and she can be more useful against bosses over large groups because of the ground attack.
4Gennojo
The… Charmer?
Gennojo’s abilities aren’t really combat-oriented. Instead, he’ll help you out by distracting people, making stealth segments easier. We wouldn’t say his help is required when playing as Naoe, since her skill set already thrives in this area, but if you wish to keep a low profile while playing as Yasuke, he could help.
His main ability will startle targets, distracting them in the process and giving you an opening to assassinate them. His passive even allows him to trigger the distraction automatically in someone who’s about to detect you, so he can make up for a potential mistake of yours. His passive also makes servants stay quiet instead of reporting crimes, so you don’t need to shut the low-level guys in a restricted area just because they saw you kill a samurai.
As stated, this is an ideal character to make stealth segments easier for you, and while we stated that Naoe doesn’t need as much help in this area as Yasuke, Gennojo has the benefit of being useful to both of them regardless. Just be careful: recruiting allies relies on your choices, and this is the only ally you can’t recruit whenplaying canon mode.
3Yagoro
The (Other) Shinobi
We mentioned how stealth-oriented allies can helpYasuketo keep a low profile, and Yagoro can do that better than Gennojo, as well as help Naoe clear an area faster than she would be herself. Basically, he’s a light version of Naoe.
you may use him to assassinate whoever you’re staring at when you summon him. If he has the proper upgrades, he’ll assassinate enemies with five health segments or less without any issues and will even kill another person as long as this extra target is relatively close to the original target.
Again, he doesn’t do anything Naoe can’t do herself, but even for her, the greatest benefit of using Yagoro is that when he assassinates people, you’re safe, meaning that he can’t be busted while assassinating and will not trigger a fight because of his kills.
2Katsuhime
The Sharpshooter
When it comes to straight combat, Katsuhime is likely the better option. She can easily hurt multiple people at once, and her attacks give enemies a nasty condition that will make your life easier in the process.
When upgraded, she’ll appear throwing a bomb that gives enemies the dazed condition, and each of her following shots will also trigger this condition. When dazed, enemies will have a chance of missing their attacks on you, and they’re also incapable of blocking. Thanks to Katsuhime’s passives, her bullets also ricochet between dazed targets, making her even deadlier.
Combat in this game is relatively easy, even in expert mode and even when using Naoe. Still, forbidding enemies from blocking is a massive advantage for you, as they can also parry you and even block you from using certain abilities with their parries, making her stand out in combat. Just don’t let enemies overwhelm her.
It’s worth noting that allies who help in combat can be a bit slow with their attacks, possibly due to the AI. Sadly, that makes them a bit less useful.
1Oni-Yuri
The Poisoner
Putting an enemy to sleep is a very effective ability. With her main ability, Oni-Yuri can put a target to sleep. If you haven’t upgraded her yet, she might be the weakest option, as other enemies can just wake the sleeping target.
However, she becomes a monster when fully upgraded. At her maximum capacity, her ability will not only put the target to sleep, but it’ll put them and whoever is nearby in a cloud of sleep poison. And if someone tries to wake the sleeping targets, they’ll be put to sleep, too, which is extra helpful.
She also has a passive that, if someonerings a bell,the guardians that appear due to the bell will take longer to arrive, which is a nice bonus. Still, putting multiple people to sleep, and thus making multiple enemies vulnerable to your hidden blade, is effective both for Naoe and her assassinations and for Yasuke for a nice way to stay hidden as him.
