Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

TaintedSquirrel said:
First, engraving stats only increase every 10 levels. So you should only upgrade your armor at levels 11, 21, 31, 41, etc. Weapon damage goes up every level so you should upgrade your primary weapon as often as possible.

As for playstyles: Assassin damage scales up very fast, Hunter damage very slow. This means early game, you should focus on getting Assassination damage until you're comfortable with your stealth damage. Just remember to use Crit Assassinate on the high-ranking enemies. After that, Assassination damage takes a backseat, and you can start switching over to Hunter/Warrior gear depending on what playstyle you want.

If you still have damage problems, google the Falx of Olympos and use that. It will double your damage. It's basically necessary for the higher difficulties. The game is incredibly forgiving on Normal mode, gear priority shouldn't be causing problems.
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Problem is that if you're one level below you're utter shit. Your character seems to poke people with a butter knife even though I have five of the assassin upgraded abilities, engraved gear with stacking assassin damage. Later in the game it becomes impossible to keep your gear upgraded because for every hour of gameplay you need ~2 hours of grinding for soft leather and other crap and that is being generous. You spend more time killing deer than you do bad guys.

And the save system is still utter shit. I did an hours worth of sneaking around, completed an entire mission objective, and cleared out 95% of a fort when my character got stock and spotted (nice quality control). Congratulations, spotted, and after being smacked around my character gets unstuck thankfully. Well now my zero tier bounty goes up to two in the matter of a few seconds because I had to kill soldiers. Super humans spawn with 50 meters (were radios and teleportation a thing in ancient Greece?). I manage to escape after they start a fire but apparently my character was damaged by fire as well. Except there was no fire on my character but my HP was draining and he was screaming "shit, fire" or similar. As you can imagine my character died by the invisible fire.

The reward for this? Restart an hours worth of gameplay because the quick save system requires backing into three menus and ~30 seconds of button pressing and doesn't allow saving inside of enemy fortifications. And they lazy fuckers don't know what an autosave or checkpoint save is. You'd think after I grabbed the objective they'd give an autosave?

Fucking amateur hour at Ubisoft yet again. What an utterly shit game. Lazy throughout. The number of awkward, jarring and terrible quality issues through the game just can't be ignored. But the moment you force garbage movement controls, a broken save system to encourage people to purchase your pay to win scheme in an SP game is fucking atrocious and should be illegal. I didn't think they could fuck up more than Origins but they did. This is Wildlands level of shit.

Incompetence is bad enough and I know many developers consider bugs and a non-functional save system "adding to the difficulty" but now Ubisoft has decided to make the game abnormally a pain in the ass just to push microtransactions. That crosses a big line and it is saddening to see so many gamers lap it up and enjoy it.
 
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Ubisoft will be discussing "Game Updates" for ACOD at their E3 Conference this year. This has led to speculation we might be getting the cancelled Rome game as DLC, or perhaps a Year 2 Season Pass.
It could also just be FoA, Story Mode, and Discovery Tour related. Seems odd to waste stage time on those, though.

 
Fate of Atlantis Ep2 launches tomorrow.

Preview, warning it has character spoilers:


Map pic I grabbed from a stream.

6Um6q4E.png
 
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Is that entire map newly added as part of Atlantis CH2, in addition to the large additional new map that was brought in CH1? Or is part of CH1 also visible in that screengrab. I've not made it to the expansions yet as I play bit by bit, but it seems that Ubi has outdone themselves in terms of entirely new content and landmasses in the expansions/season pass. Origins was indeed great, but Odyssey seems to go above and beyond!

I'm completely open to them offering a "year 2 season pass" with more expansion-level content, including an entirely new chapter/semi-standalone on Rome that takes the plot forward. That hypothesis seems plausible especially in light of titles like Far Cry New Dawn and perhaps the Division games. I do hope they announce something like this, rather than just the next chapter of the expansion, discovery tour, and other known things.
 
There are 3 separate portals shown at the beginning of Chapter 1, so each chapter will take place in its own map.
The new zones aren't really that large, maybe the size of 2 zones from the Greece map.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
Ubisoft will be discussing "Game Updates" for ACOD at their E3 Conference this year. This has led to speculation we might be getting the cancelled Rome game as DLC, or perhaps a Year 2 Season Pass.
It could also just be FoA, Story Mode, and Discovery Tour related. Seems odd to waste stage time on those, though.

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Rome can be its own game though. Discovery Tour would be nice, but personally I just wish they went back to how they did things in prior games. In Origins I missed a lot of context and Odyssey was worse because I knew less about the time period than I did for Egypt. Discovery Tour was nice in Origins but too much detail. Sometimes we just need enough to give context of people, developments and maybe an area but 15-20 minutes on it in a separate mode doesn't help much when you're actually playing the game.
 
That's a really nice feature and it seems like they actually put some pretty comprehensive dev tools into player hands. I was worried it would be quite limited, but it seems impressive save for certain characters/locales being gated off. Its a little unfortunate that users can't import new content like models/voiced lines for the moment, as it could really offer a bevy of totally new expansion content, but still there's a lot to work with it appears.
 
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I just started playing this. What are the map icons that are a white rectangle with a thin white border around them? They have odd name such as "solarisNox" or "JasonCMalone". They almost seem like user created quests that are cluttering the game. If that is the case, how do I get rid of them?
 
Jumpem said:
I just started playing this. What are the map icons that are a white rectangle with a thin white border around them? They have odd name such as "solarisNox" or "JasonCMalone". They almost seem like user created quests that are cluttering the game. If that is the case, how do I get rid of them?
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Oh, those are user-created photos. Gold little rectangles are photos taken by you, and green ones (I think) are those promoted by Ubi as Photo of the Day or something. If you click down on both LS + RS (or whatever the keyboard binding is, I play on PC but use a controller for this sort of game), you'lll freeze gameplay and go into "Photo Mode". You can then manipulate the frame/angle and even have some editing tools before taking a picture. Each picture is auto-uploaded and any can be moused over by you (or anyone else) and expanded to see the full view, at which point there is a button to give them a "like/heart".

They shouldn't get in your way too much, but when you're on the map there are 2 sets of "filters" you can cycle through. One ( normally LT controlled) goes through important stuff like quests, historical locations, and I think any of the optional Helix purchased special maps (ie tablets, Orichalcum etc), but the RT menu allows settings for Photos - you can hide all photos, allow those taken by you, taken by you + your UPlay friends, see all photos etc. I wouldn't really feel the need to hide them too much as 1) some people spend lots of time taking and editing neat pictures and more importantly 2) many people take pictures of certain tricky, special locations so if you're hunting for something special in the area sometimes pictures can help, but if they're getting in your way you can always hide and show as you like.
 
RanceJustice said:
Oh, those are user-created photos. Gold little rectangles are photos taken by you, and green ones (I think) are those promoted by Ubi as Photo of the Day or something. If you click down on both LS + RS (or whatever the keyboard binding is, I play on PC but use a controller for this sort of game), you'lll freeze gameplay and go into "Photo Mode". You can then manipulate the frame/angle and even have some editing tools before taking a picture. Each picture is auto-uploaded and any can be moused over by you (or anyone else) and expanded to see the full view, at which point there is a button to give them a "like/heart".

They shouldn't get in your way too much, but when you're on the map there are 2 sets of "filters" you can cycle through. One ( normally LT controlled) goes through important stuff like quests, historical locations, and I think any of the optional Helix purchased special maps (ie tablets, Orichalcum etc), but the RT menu allows settings for Photos - you can hide all photos, allow those taken by you, taken by you + your UPlay friends, see all photos etc. I wouldn't really feel the need to hide them too much as 1) some people spend lots of time taking and editing neat pictures and more importantly 2) many people take pictures of certain tricky, special locations so if you're hunting for something special in the area sometimes pictures can help, but if they're getting in your way you can always hide and show as you like.
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Thanks for the explanation.
 
I have the rectangles, I have never taken an in-game photo, so it must be someone else's? And why would it show up on my game?, I never asked for the download.
 
pek said:
I have the rectangles, I have never taken an in-game photo, so it must be someone else's? And why would it show up on my game?, I never asked for the download.
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Indeed most of them are from other users - yours (if you took any) would look slightly different thanks to a gold (i think) box instead of a white or green one. Their presence is simply a feature of the game's online community - photos taken by those on your UPlay friends list are populated first I think, but there are also a bunch of outright random ones. I believe that photos with more "likes" will tend to be shown more widely, but the actual order or decision of who sees what when is not public. Many feel it enhances their game experience for the reasons I said above: some photos are just neat or aesthetically interesting, while others showcase a particular hidden collectible, locale, quest item location etc... They're not something you have to "ask" for, but you can turn them off if you wish.
 
I like the photo thing, it’s interesting looking at other people’s screenshots and I like taking my own. The game is gorgeous.
 
Can you find all weapons and armor sets through game play, or do you end up having to purchase them if you want them?
 
Q-BZ said:
You can find or earn everything... theoretically. ;)

https://holdtoreset.com/special-vendor-oikos-of-the-olympians-in-assassins-creed-odyssey/


You better believe some RNG comes into play here but if you have done everything else in the game this is what's left.
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Indeed. I'm of the opinion that, while I'm glad the option is present, they're REALLLLLLYYYYYY pushed the idea to its limit. Every few days when the Oikos resets, there are typically a couple of items that can be purchased directly, some of which being "normal" Epic quality items and others being the Legendary ones that otherwise only come from the Helix (ie real money) store. Of course, the only ones worthwhile are the Legendary known Helix items. Besides this, there is an option to take a "random gift" for a lot less of the currency (all Oikos currency is Orichalcum, a very rare currency that can be attained from some Daily, Weekly or other special marked quests along with finding nodes of it around the map - it has a blue-green look to it and will "sing" if your eagle looks DIRECTLY at it). The "random gift" could be any of the Legendary items, but the loot table is also filled with a ton of normal randomized Epic (ie purple) gear, last I checked.

It is possible over a LONG period of time to pick up the more desirable Helix Legendary weapons when they go on sale (there are certain weapons with special bonuses deemed really desirable and unique), and you can perhaps collect an entire Legendary Helix "outfit" if you wait long enough and be sure to buy each component "part" when it goes up for sale. However this can take a very long time indeed even to get one "full' set or the particular weapons/items you want. I should also mention that unless things have changed certain other Helix items - notably the "paid map markers for collectables" , the "XP and/or Money boosts" etc... require Helix purchase. Now sure, you can find all those collectibles in game without the map markers (good bloody luck without a map or someone else's pictures of the markers in the case of Orichalcum nodes) and you don't NEED the faster XP / Money gain, but I felt they should have been available on the Oikos for those interested.

While I think Ubi's latest titles like Odyssey and The Division 2 are great games and well supported overall, I do think the "additional cosmetics and stuff for sale" needs to be tweaked significantly. These are $60 full priced titles and if you want full season pass and other boxed-level content upgrades, they're pricing them at around $100 for Gold (something I don't necessarily object to, assuming the expansions are considerable and content heavy) and now even $125 for Ultimate (ie Gold plus some extra stuff, Deluxe cosmetics etc.) Its not a good feeling to see neat cosmetics available for sale on day 1, for those who have already pre-paid around $125. This is part of the "live service" justification and "recurrent user spending" garbage; I don't mind meeting devs halfway - I'll pay more for expansions and whatnot if its quality content and I don't mind prices going up a bit to deal with a variety of things. However, when they overlay a bunch of additional things to purchase after all that, its frustrating. Now, this is not to say they can't have these items for sale - those who want that outfit or ship cosmeitc or whatnot ASAP can still buy it. If they tweaked the mechanics to make it a little "easier" - say, if Oikos "random" chests ONLY had Helix store items within - still a lot of variation, but nothing feels "wasted". Likewise, tweaking the cost of outright purchased items and allowing "sets" to be purchased at a discount in game the way they are in the Helix store (ie You can buy all the armor pieces for a given set together, or armor set + weapon + mount etc) would be little things making it more accessible.
 
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How do I play as a Hunter when arrows consume so much wood? I got to level thinking the Archery Master skill would solve my problem. But it doesn't apply to normal arrows.
 
Jumpem said:
How do I play as a Hunter when arrows consume so much wood? I got to level thinking the Archery Master skill would solve my problem. But it doesn't apply to normal arrows.
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Arrows always cost 1 wood each but as you level you earn more wood from sources. Eventually you will have thousands and arrow cost won't matter. Also, regular/poison arrows can be recovered from corpses or the ground... Fire arrows are destroyed on use.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
Arrows always cost 1 wood each but as you level you earn more wood from sources. Eventually you will have thousands and arrow cost won't matter. Also, regular/poison arrows can be recovered from corpses or the ground... Fire arrows are destroyed on use.
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Okay, thanks. I very rarely find them on the ground. They don't seem to have an indicator that they are there.
 
Jumpem said:
How do I play as a Hunter when arrows consume so much wood? I got to level thinking the Archery Master skill would solve my problem. But it doesn't apply to normal arrows.
Click to expand...

Archery Master (along with other major "passive, raw bonus to a certain talent type" traits - Melee raw damage, Melee Charged weapon damage, Armor, Assassin/knockout Damage, Critical Asassination damage etc..) is indeed a useful skill as it makes your talents not consume ammo - a big bonus when you're talking about something like the multi-shot option that shoots 4+ arrows at time etc! However, I can understand that especially earlier in the game, it can feel like you're using up a ton of arrows just with "regular" shots.

I know it may not feeel helpful now, but as you level up and play on you'll eventually have so much wood that arrows - even the fancy arrows which cost more - are not much of an issue. On your way there I suggest a couple of things - first, level Archery Master (or whatever the passive archery damage thing + no arrow consumption w/ specials etc) to make you more efficient both in terms of arrow use with specials and raw damage. Collecting wood isn't too bad - I find you can ride your horse and basically hammer the "pick up key" to grab some ore and wood nodes when traveling fast. Also, battles at sea concluded by either boarding the enemy or "cleaving" them will grant a considerable amount of wood resources. In case you're not familiar, Cleaving takes place when you use the battering ram on the prow of your ship to bisect an enemy in two. This happens when either they're very low health or even have the "ready to board" anchor icon above it (the latter is a good time, even if you don't intend to board as is easier to get lind up) and your killing blow involves Charging (aka hold down the button that speeds your ship up, rower rowing faster etc. There is a blue meter so you can only do this for so long, based on how upgraded your rower stamina might be) at the enemy ship and ramming them from a perpendicular angle (ie the nose of you ship smashes headlong into the side of the enemy's). If successful, you'll see a little mini finishing animation as your ship cuts the enemy ship entirely in two, which gains more resource - especially wood - compared to sinking it more conventional ways (though I think that successful boarding offers equal or better rewards).

Don't forget to vary your combat styles, so you're not depending on Hunter skills exclusively especially through the early and middle part of the game. If you spread out your combat style, like assassinating patrolling enemies in a fort or camp, you'll sometimes get some extra arrows and other resources. Don't forget to loot "arrow racks" as they're a fantastic, free way to get restocked and present in pretty much most populated areas, including forts, bandit/soldier camps etc. Looting can save you from having to craft every single time you need more arrows, so if you're not getting ready for a mission or major encounter, its okay to leave your arrow slots not quite full in the hopes you'll loot instead of have to spend resources crafting. As you level up though, you'll eventually find that so long as you keep gathering resources as normal, you'll have so much wood for things like Ship upgrades (the last tier is enormous for all resources, an exponential increase) that that crafting won't be a problem. Don't forget though, depending on your financial situation you can always buy wood from stores if you absolutely want to have it immediately.

Hope this helps!

Edit: Oops, didn't see any other replies when I wrote the above!

In follow up to your question about rarely seeing wood nodes, when you're out and about on foot they look like little spindly trees that have a bit of a "shimmer" to them, like all nodes. When you get close to them you'll get a "press Y to pick up" dialog and they'll vanish, adding wood to your inventory. Theyre a bit easier to spot outdoors than some of the other nodes (ie ore nodes are close to the ground etc) so once you know what one looks like, it will be easy to find them. You can ride your horse and loot at the same time without getting down; sometimes I find several tree nodes in relatively close proximity the way I'm traveling too.

Oh, TaintedSquirrel brought up a very good point - you can loot most arrow types (Fire arrows and Explosive can't be picked up) both from the ground and from enemies/corpses

There are multiple arrow types, from the common wooden arrow you'll use most of the time, to more specialized ones that unlock with a Hunter talent. I suggest getting the Paralysis / non lethal arrow unlocked ASAP as they both do a little more damage than standard, but also make it easier to finish off an enemy without killing them, as opposed to having to unequip your weapon and hand-to-hand finish them or use an ability like Spartan Kick as the killing blow. Regular arrows will be made fiery or poisoned for the duration if you activate talents for Fire or Poison skills, but but the next tier for arrow types includes Fire and Poison arrows themselves. I think these these offer more damage and Fire/Poison build up than a normal arrow while in Fire/Poison mode; I am not sure if using say... Poison Arrows while you activate the Poison ability will "stack" and make the effect stronger/faster or not. The top tier of the talent unlocks Explosive arrows which do both direct and AOE damage (I think) in considerable amounts. There's also one other arrow type NOT linked to the arrow crafting talent - Death Arrows. Expensive to craft in resources, Death Arrows seem to be simply a much stronger version of a regular arrow; I'm not sure if they have any special abilities. I think I unlocked the ability to craft them by finishing the first two Legendary Beast Hunting quests, which come from the Sisters of Artemis (ie Calydonian Boar, Lykaeon Wolf etc..). I can recall she offered some Death Arrows as part of a reward and after that I was able to craft by own, as well as rarely pick them up elsewhere.


GOod luck!
 
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RanceJustice said:
Archery Master (along with other major "passive, raw bonus to a certain talent type" traits - Melee raw damage, Melee Charged weapon damage, Armor, Assassin/knockout Damage, Critical Asassination damage etc..) is indeed a useful skill as it makes your talents not consume ammo - a big bonus when you're talking about something like the multi-shot option that shoots 4+ arrows at time etc! However, I can understand that especially earlier in the game, it can feel like you're using up a ton of arrows just with "regular" shots.

I know it may not feeel helpful now, but as you level up and play on you'll eventually have so much wood that arrows - even the fancy arrows which cost more - are not much of an issue. On your way there I suggest a couple of things - first, level Archery Master (or whatever the passive archery damage thing + no arrow consumption w/ specials etc) to make you more efficient both in terms of arrow use with specials and raw damage. Collecting wood isn't too bad - I find you can ride your horse and basically hammer the "pick up key" to grab some ore and wood nodes when traveling fast. Also, battles at sea concluded by either boarding the enemy or "cleaving" them will grant a considerable amount of wood resources. In case you're not familiar, Cleaving takes place when you use the battering ram on the prow of your ship to bisect an enemy in two. This happens when either they're very low health or even have the "ready to board" anchor icon above it (the latter is a good time, even if you don't intend to board as is easier to get lind up) and your killing blow involves Charging (aka hold down the button that speeds your ship up, rower rowing faster etc. There is a blue meter so you can only do this for so long, based on how upgraded your rower stamina might be) at the enemy ship and ramming them from a perpendicular angle (ie the nose of you ship smashes headlong into the side of the enemy's). If successful, you'll see a little mini finishing animation as your ship cuts the enemy ship entirely in two, which gains more resource - especially wood - compared to sinking it more conventional ways (though I think that successful boarding offers equal or better rewards).

Don't forget to vary your combat styles, so you're not depending on Hunter skills exclusively especially through the early and middle part of the game. If you spread out your combat style, like assassinating patrolling enemies in a fort or camp, you'll sometimes get some extra arrows and other resources. Don't forget to loot "arrow racks" as they're a fantastic, free way to get restocked and present in pretty much most populated areas, including forts, bandit/soldier camps etc. Looting can save you from having to craft every single time you need more arrows, so if you're not getting ready for a mission or major encounter, its okay to leave your arrow slots not quite full in the hopes you'll loot instead of have to spend resources crafting. As you level up though, you'll eventually find that so long as you keep gathering resources as normal, you'll have so much wood for things like Ship upgrades (the last tier is enormous for all resources, an exponential increase) that that crafting won't be a problem. Don't forget though, depending on your financial situation you can always buy wood from stores if you absolutely want to have it immediately.

Hope this helps!

Edit: Oops, didn't see any other replies when I wrote the above!

In follow up to your question about rarely seeing wood nodes, when you're out and about on foot they look like little spindly trees that have a bit of a "shimmer" to them, like all nodes. When you get close to them you'll get a "press Y to pick up" dialog and they'll vanish, adding wood to your inventory. Theyre a bit easier to spot outdoors than some of the other nodes (ie ore nodes are close to the ground etc) so once you know what one looks like, it will be easy to find them. You can ride your horse and loot at the same time without getting down; sometimes I find several tree nodes in relatively close proximity the way I'm traveling too.

Oh, TaintedSquirrel brought up a very good point - you can loot most arrow types (Fire arrows and Explosive can't be picked up) both from the ground and from enemies/corpses

There are multiple arrow types, from the common wooden arrow you'll use most of the time, to more specialized ones that unlock with a Hunter talent. I suggest getting the Paralysis / non lethal arrow unlocked ASAP as they both do a little more damage than standard, but also make it easier to finish off an enemy without killing them, as opposed to having to unequip your weapon and hand-to-hand finish them or use an ability like Spartan Kick as the killing blow. Regular arrows will be made fiery or poisoned for the duration if you activate talents for Fire or Poison skills, but but the next tier for arrow types includes Fire and Poison arrows themselves. I think these these offer more damage and Fire/Poison build up than a normal arrow while in Fire/Poison mode; I am not sure if using say... Poison Arrows while you activate the Poison ability will "stack" and make the effect stronger/faster or not. The top tier of the talent unlocks Explosive arrows which do both direct and AOE damage (I think) in considerable amounts. There's also one other arrow type NOT linked to the arrow crafting talent - Death Arrows. Expensive to craft in resources, Death Arrows seem to be simply a much stronger version of a regular arrow; I'm not sure if they have any special abilities. I think I unlocked the ability to craft them by finishing the first two Legendary Beast Hunting quests, which come from the Sisters of Artemis (ie Calydonian Boar, Lykaeon Wolf etc..). I can recall she offered some Death Arrows as part of a reward and after that I was able to craft by own, as well as rarely pick them up elsewhere.


GOod luck!
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Wow! Thanks for all of this. I have started to see many more arrow racks in the past couple of hours.
 
Q-BZ said:
I'm extremely impressed with Atlantis!
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Definitely the best part of the game. Sadly, it had some of the same-same with quests.

Here's to hoping they wrap it up nicely since I felt the "real world" part left us hanging.

My other thought is that Alethia looks oddly like Juno. Sisters? Clones? I just have to know more of the mysteries.
 
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CrimsonKnight13 said:
Definitely the best part of the game. Sadly, it had some of the same-same with quests.

Here's to hoping they wrap it up nicely since I felt the "real world" part left us hanging.

My other thought is that Alethia looks oddly like Juno. Sisters? Clones? I just have to know more of the mysteries.
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They do a good job wrapping it up for the most part although I will say it's a bit anticlimatic when it's all said and done. People have to take in the totality of everything that's happened at the end.

It is pretty amazing to wrap it up and walk around with your character and take in just how much that character has gone through. Overall it's been quite a ride and a hell of a yarn.
 
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Couple of conditional engraving unlock questions...

First, what is the deal with Leader kills! The engraving for +All Damage requires Leaders to be killed and a ton of them! So if you're starting out, even if you don't plan to flip an area for Conquest Battle, at least kill its Leader or this will take you forever! I think I'm up to the 3rd orrank and just going up one more rank requires 20 Leaders killed! Is there anywhere in particular that this gets easier or you figured out how to farm it?

Next, "Arrow Kills on Distant Enemy" - Its really hard to figure out what "Distant" counts! I'd love for them to have an icon or something if you're attacking a "Distant" enemy. I THINK using Hunter abilities (ie Predator) count here, but I don't know if any of the AOE types go far enough? Any tips for this one besides literally backing up until you're entirely out of range of even Predator arrows and then barely stepping back into range? This is so situational it takes a very long time.

"3 Bow Kills within 30 Seconds" - This one is not necessarily as bad as a few others, but I have to wonder a few things. Is it only non-ability kills or do things like the Rain of arrows or MultiShot work too? I'm pretty sure it counts on aggressive animals (ie snakes, wolves etc). Do the kills have to be consecutive and bow based every time (ie Kill a guy with a bow, kill two with melee, kill the last two with a bow, so long as it all is within 30 seconds? Or does it need to be 3 bow kills in a row?)

"3 Kills without getting hit" - Is this one only melee, open (hostile) combat? That is to say, you have to kill 3 enemies each with melee, consecutively, without getting hit? Can you use abilities? Archery? Anything else to that?

I think these are the primary ones I've had difficulty leveling up besides just playing.


Next, anyone want to talk about what active abilities they find most useful? Some may have multiple builds I'm sure, others will have semi-generalist use setups. Please note that this discussion is for those who are likely of higher level (ie able to upgrade their abilities to 3rd rank ) and can respec and pick what they want. To be clear, this is only active abilities that need to be assigned, so all of the really useful passives and things that don't take a slot like Overpower or Heavy Charged Strike don't count. So 4 Ranged , and 8 (2x 4 decks) Melee, all at 3rd rank unless otherwise specified. Please note, none of these are the "enhanced expansion versions" that I hear unlock later in the game during the expansions, which may change the balance - feel free to mention if some get hugely improved with these but please don't mention any spoilers on how. This is what I'm currently using, but I've not tried out everything yet...

Ranged -

Predator Arrows - Given the "sniper" zoom and increased distance I've used this one a lot. Overall a good tool I've found. I hear some prefer Devastating shot full charged instead despite the lower range?

Ghost Arrows of Artemis - I used to use Devastating Shot instead, but when I unlocked Ghost Arrows I found it seemed to do nearly as much damage and be way more situational useful. You can hide inside a building or something and just headshot anyone within range without having to worry about a clear path, as they go through any obstacle - walls, shields, etc.! This is a great way to take out Leaders with a low chance of getting caught, for instance.

Rain of Vengeance (or whatever its called) - The one with the volley of arrows AOE style. I found this one useful for taking out groups especially from a concealed location, provided they are within range and are not under a roof or whatnot. Note that Explosive type arrows do NOT seem to work here, unlike other special arrow types? This seems better for stealth and can have some in combat use if you're quick. I used to use Multi-Shot previously and that is the opposite - much easier in combat, but you have to worry about trajectory or whatnot if stealthy. Not sure if its worth keeping both MultiShot and this, so for the moment I'm sticking with Rain. What about you guys?

Rapid Shot - I really only picked this to try it out, as I used to use Multi Shot along with the aforementioned. Haven't used it enough to figure out if its really useful but it seems to be a nice in-combat focused ability, but not sure how it stacks up to Multi during a big battle (like aggroing a fort).

Melee, Deck 1 : The primary combat abilities

"Regeneration/Health Restore" - Can't tell you how useful it is to have a healing ability around. Pretty much a must have given its use for any sort of conflict.

"Rage of the Bloodline" - One of the abilities added in a patch, this I found an all around great combat ability. It does a good bit of damage against a single enemy, but also generates 3-4 bars of energy! Originally, I used the Spartan Kick for the early part of leveling, but I found it just didn't scale very well either doing damage, knocking back bigger enemies/mercenaries or being useful for non-lethal takedown (compared to barehand fighting or non-lethal arrows; it was fun to use against low level soldiers and watch them go flying, but I do wish it would have scaled up.

Shield Break - Given how often you find yourself fighting shielded enemies, this is a really useful ability with a quick cooldown. By level 3 it breaks any shield and even does damage with a little AOE explosion knocking back the wielder and hurting those nearby. Makes Warrior fighting much easier rather than contending with shields. I tried the "Ring of Chaos" as a replacement for this and it was neat knocking everyone back, but I am not sure if its a good alternative rather than a compliment perhaps?

Hero Strike - This is the Assassin-damage-using attack with the Spear and its quite powerful . It pretty much "trips" and goes under any shielded/knocks down any enemy and does a lot of damaging strikes on them given the increased level of Assassin damage vs Warrior ; its the only Assassin damage ability you can use in combat. Definitely something I've used since the beginning.

Melee - Deck 2 - This is where I put either out of combat or secondary abilities

Rush Assassination - Fantastically useful but only from out of combat, you can basically chain and assassinate 4 people! Not quite as much damage as a full on "Critical Assassination" on a single enemy , but its good for clearing out groups. Note this doesn't seeem to "really" break stealth/alert other enemies who don't see you attacking and if you have the "Assassinations don't leave corpses" abilities, they vanish here too!

Poison AND/ OR Fire - These are the "buffs" and they both work the same way. I suggest at very least putting one point into the "base" active ability, then maxing out the passive upgrade for each; the base has to do with the length of time you can poison/fire, the passive upgrade has to do with the built-up rate and damage/effectiveness! I should mention that if you don't use both, I would suggest maxing out the active ability, as it means no cooldown - something more important if you don't need to "swap". Between the two I think I've found Poison more useful given that it weakens enemies in addition to DOT, not to mention you can't catch yourself aflame. Not sure if Fire does more damage, and it does occasionally make enemies panic, but the lack of weakening and the increased danger makes me feel it may not be quite as good? Does Poison damage depend on Assassin while Fire damage Warrior? Anyone like one or the other? I used to use both, but now I just stick with Poison for the moment anyway. I'm guessing that things may differ depending if you go for a specific build (ie Agamemnon's Legendary set seems based around Fire) but I don't know if its worth building for something like that.

Rage of Ares - This is the ability that allows you to globally do 20% (+ more damage every time you either hit, or get hit) for a period of time and also cannot die while its active! I've seen mixed reports if it boosts ALL kind of damage, including Assassination / Hunter , or if its only Warrior type? If it really does boost All, then even Assassins can benefit if you toggle this before you go to Rush or Critical some difficult enemy etc. Overall seems quite useful and even more if it really works on all forms of damage.

??? - The last slot I'm not sure about now. I used to use the "Cloak of Nyx" stealth ability which, if out of combat, allows you to go invisible completely! By level 3 you can move and until you actually attack, you stay cloaked, all at the cost of Energy drain that by lv3 is reasonably slow. However, I found that in many situations I could stealth well enough without it so I'm not sure if I should keep it. I also tried the "Vanish" ability though only at level 1, which is a flashbang/smokebomb type thing that takes in-combat enemies into a stun, allowing you to either run away and hide or hit them. Not that they're not out of combat do you can't assassinate them, unless you run and hide enough for them to start searching for you. Really not sure what to use here. I figure I have perhaps one more slot for an active ability of some sort, depending on its usefulness.

So has anyone tried the other abilities? Any particular winners in your build? What do you think?
 
Rapid shot - Very useful if you use explosive arrows and want to whittle down a merc from a distance. Then sneak up and hero strike. I found that the mercs are really slow, (they even call out for you to slow down!) so if you want, hero shot and run away, hide, wait for you meter to fill up, then hit them again.

When you hit around 60 the merc ranks seem to expand from lvl 9 - 1 to go up to s4 (level 94, really when you are 63?!).

The armor sets add a lot, Greek Hero's set good for beat downs. The Amazon set gives you health back for each hit you make, so good for brawls where you might not have time to hit the regenerate health. Posiedon's trident is good for the breath underwater perk so you don't have to waste an etching (kills the sharks from the surface with bow/arrow).

I also found out that you can re-stock your arrows in the middle of a battle without any penalties, did that with Medusa, had to reload quite a few times.

One annoying bit, having to farm polemarch's for the seals, thankfully, those quests only last for about 4 rounds before it stops (talk about radiant quests!!!), but they do re-spawn when you have the big battles. The fort's re-set after the first time, but the polemarchs do re-spawn.

I wish I knew some of these things at first, wasted xp points in useless skills, the Spartan Kick and Bull Rush are not that useful, contrary to on-line guides, I spent good money re-setting my skills, at least for my style of play. The explosive ring is much more useful (with a -25% refill time for buffs etching), especially in sea battles, when you board an enemy, a couple of explosions knock the enemy off their ship, then you can loot.

I also found that if I sneak into a fort and booby-trap the beacon, you can do pretty much what you want without the extra troops flooding in. Doesn't stop the merc-meter from filling up, but once past lvl 50, you can play hide and seek with the mercs and rack up kills if you can isolate them. I enjoy it more now that I did at first.

Edit for spelling of 'polmarch'
 
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Rush assassination: Try to get a polemarch or merc with a lower level soldier near them, rush assassinate the higher level, then the lower level (usually kills them), then rush the other again, good to kill polemarch's without a fight (important if you didn't trap the signal beacon and the fort is alerted), works somewhat for merc's if they have an animal with them, you'll still have to either play hide and seek or have a brawl.
 
pek said:
Rush assassination: Try to get a polemarch or merc with a lower level soldier near them, rush assassinate the higher level, then the lower level (usually kills them), then rush the other again, good to kill polemarch's without a fight (important if you didn't trap the signal beacon and the fort is alerted), works somewhat for merc's if they have an animal with them, you'll still have to either play hide and seek or have a brawl.
Click to expand...

I've done this 4x with 2 elites in an area. Worked wonders.
 
Well damn, game just crashed on me while I was doing the Legacy of the First Blade. Got the sword that gives you one extra kill with the Rush, plus it has fire. Can't remember the name, have to start the game again.

Edit, sword is called "Pride of the Lion". I have been using legendary knives (I didn't notice at first how the blood spray was when slicing & dicing someone). Kind of cool. I can one-shot or two-shot a merc now if I get the drop on them. Not sure how those tiers work, I'm at S2 after most of the main quest. I wish I had this equipment when I went after the big boar. Damn that thing was a pita to kill.
 
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Forgot to update this; The "Pirate" set of Armor is really good for sneaking around and doing a one-shot on any character your level. I haven't started 'Atlantis', yet, so can't say anything about the loot there. I haven't figured out the system of mercs & discounts at the smith & ship upgrades. Been killing the ones I see local to me, but they sometimes aren't on the merc tree and don't give any benefit to killing them (aside form the loot (or as Deacon says in FO4, "Corpse squatting")). I didn't start playing AC until Syndicate, don't want to go back earlier since the move/strikes are different, and I find that muscle memory can really screw me up going from game to game (FO4 to BL2 to AC:O). At least Civ VI & GalCiv 3 don't require 'twitch' playing. Really can't do that well any more.

Sooner or later I'm going to be limited to 'Solitaire'.
 
Just started Odyssey after finishing Origins. Since Bayek was so OP in Origins I went Hard difficulty with Exploration mode in Odyssey and have been having a great time. At level 14 it's still not all that difficult though I have been killed 2 or 3 times by mercs (but killed like 8 so far) and that damn pig is impossible at the moment. I've not been really wanting for gold or resources yet as I just use the Blacksmith to upgrade my best gear every couple of levels until I find something better (what I did in Origins). I'm not a fan of the ship gameplay but it does feel pretty epic when you leave the starter island and hit the sea and the graphics are beautiful.
 
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