AC Shadows: How do skill trees work?

Assassin's Creed Shadows features two playable characters with drastically different play styles. For this reason, both Naoe and Yasuke have separate skill trees, the development of which leads them further towards the elusive assassin and the unstoppable warrior. However, not all skills can be unlocked right away. On this guide page, we described what skill trees look like and what Knowledge is.

• What do the skill trees look like?
• What is Knowledge?

What do the skill trees look like?

Each character has six skill trees dedicated to general statistics or a specific weapon. You buy new skills using Mastery Points - all skill trees use the same type of points, so you have to decide which tree to spend them on. Some skills also cost more points than just one. Spending a sufficient number of points in a specific tree increases the Mastery of that tree, which grants a specific ive bonus, e.g. increasing all damage dealt by a katana. You can also reset the skill tree at any point and for free - you get back all the points you have spent on it. We've described this on a separate page of the guide.

Available skills are divided into two types - ive and active.

1. ive skills are marked with a circle-shaped icon. As the name suggests, they work ively - in the background, you don't have to activate them after purchasing.
2. Active skills are marked with diamond-shaped icons. To use the active skill, you must press the key/button assigned to it and spend an adrenaline point. These are displayed above your health bar and you gain them during combat, by attacking and blocking enemy blows.

Skills purchased in weapon trees - Katana, Kusarigama, Tanto, Long Katana, Naginata, Kanabo, Teppo, Bow - are only available when you are using that specific type of weapon. Skills purchased in the remaining trees - Tools, Shinobi, Assassin, Samurai - are always available. For example, after purchasing the Lightning Kicks skill from the shinobi tree, you can use it whenever you want, regardless of the equipped weapon. You only have access to the Tidal Wave skill from the katana tree when you are using a katana. On a separate page of the guide, you will find a list of the best skills in the game.

What is Knowledge?

Knowledge is a form of limitation, because of which you cannot unlock all trees at once. The trees are divided into six ranks - the higher the skill is in the tree, the higher Knowledge you need to be able to learn it (e.g. to learn a rank 3 skill, you first need to have Knowledge at level 3). You can increase Knowledge by performing various side activities marked with red markers. These include activities such as temples, shrines, kuji-kiri and kata - we described them in more detail on the page How to earn Knowledge Points?.

See also:

1. Naoe and Yasuke
2. How to heal?
3. All missions

Assassin's Creed: Shadows

March 20, 2025

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