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Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Assassin's Creed Odyssey - A Beginner's Guide to Ancient Greece

A few handy pointers ahead of your Greek adventures.

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Have you started your odyssey through ancient Greece yet? Just getting started? We've got some pointers on how to best build your character, manage your finances, and a few other helpful gameplay hints to make your journey a smooth experience without too many untimely deaths.

How to Manage the Economy and Resources

One area where Assassin's Creed Odyssey really expands upon Origins is the in-game economy for resources. They're used for a lot of things, and managing them well is going to help you maintain your preferred gear, craft arrows, engrave gear and upgrade your ship. It's important to note that the economy for keeping your gear levelled up via blacksmiths is very different here as it will take loads of resources in addition to coins. Therefore it's not really worth hanging on to anything apart from Legendary equipment, and you won't be able to afford to keep all your Legendary gear up to scratch anyway, in fact you'll have to settle for playing most of the game with gear that's sometimes a level or two below the character level, simply because it's too expensive to keep going to the blacksmith. If you need resources, dismantle your surplus gear, if you need coins then sell them at the blacksmith. We had lots of coins late in the game though, so most likely dismantling is going to be more worth it.

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You should also be aware that some great armour sets will be given as quest rewards towards the end as well, and these will likely replace your earlier gear as there's a major perk for equipping the full set. Basically, save your resources and don't grind too much in order to keep your early legendaries viable, rather move from loot to loot until you reach the late game when it's time to double-down on the equipment you want to use for the main challenges that remain (cultist leaders, the last few mercenaries, and mythological creatures). If you need to boost your equipment early we suggest you use engravings as they're relatively cheap and can offer substantial perks.

Assassin's Creed OdysseyAssassin's Creed Odyssey

Picking the Best Skills

It's important to note that you don't unlock (with one or two obvious exceptions) the skill tree through purchasing skills, rather the options unlock as a result of levelling up your character, levelling up your spear, or progressing the main story. This means that you'll likely spend some unnecessary points early on abilities you won't use as more powerful abilities become available. The good news is that you can respec your points for a modest sum of Drachmae, but you should also be aware that towards the higher levels you'll most likely have more points than you really need anyway as you'll be able to max out your top abilities for your chosen playstyle way earlier than level 50. Remember that you also get a skill point for completing the rather easy tombs in Odyssey, so make sure you head into them and discover the stele right away when you come across them on the map.

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Here are some of our favourite abilities that we suggest you include in your character build:

Second Wind - Healing is pretty much a must, particularly as the game doesn't always allow you to employ stealth and so being able to quickly heal up to 50% of your HP instantly is incredibly useful.

Hero Strike - Levelled up, this ability allows you to deal full assassin damage with one strike in normal combat, which typically kills a grunt and does major damage to elite units, legendary animals, and the likes.

Spartan Kick - An early ability that is very useful as it creates space, sets up follow up attacks, potentially delivers fall damage, and levelled up also can affect multiple enemies. We prefer it to Shield Breaker and Charged Heavy Attack as a means to break enemy guard as it's more versatile.

Overpower Attack / Bow Strike - These unlock pretty late but are great additions and lets you deal massive damage, the bow strike also adds explosive damage to nearby enemies.

Slow Time - A late addition to the Assassin Tree and one that can be incredibly useful in crowded situations. The best thing about it is that it lets you build your adrenaline up a bit and recharge other abilities.

Battlecry of Ares - The final ability of the Warrior tree is extremely useful as it stacks with other abilities and makes some of the most difficult boss encounters a lot more manageable. Not only does it increase your damage output (which stacks with other abilities), but it means you can't be killed. You still take damage, but once the health bar is empty you don't lose anymore. If it comes to that, just make sure to use Second Wind before you exit your battlecry state.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Other than that we suggest you spend points towards the passive abilities at every opportunity, adding to your damage output, your armour, your assassination potency, stealth, and so on. Revelation is a quality of life ability that lets you scan the vicinity for loot, and Beast Master is more of a fun one that lets you tame an animal. We'd save those for the mid to late game when you're happy with your active ability build in combat.

Single Out Enemy Ships in Naval Combat

Naval combat largely comes down to manoeuvring your vessel and positioning it to do damage. As with normal encounters we suggest you focus your attacks on one ship at a time, particularly as sinking a ship replenishes your health (whether you board it or not). Time your braces to avoid as much damage as you can, and line up powerful rams using the speed boost. It's easy to overlook the most unrealistic part of your ship controls, the stop button, but this allows you to "drift" and turn around quickly, which is great for lining up volleys of javelins and arrows, as well as dodging incoming enemy rams.

Your ship will level up with your character, however, that's not enough. There's a pretty extensive ship upgrading tree and not only does it require lots of wood and iron (and other resources), but you're also going to need to find Ancient Tables in ruins in order to meet the requirements for upgrading. Add to these lieutenants that offer perks and you've got a lot of things to keep on top of. Keep in mind that the best lieutenants are acquired through completing certain side quests, and these offer some serious perks that will make the Adestria much more potent.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Use Ikaros to Scout Ahead

If you've played Origins you no doubt already know this, but as the Eagle-Bearer you really should use your eagle (Ikaros) ahead of every camp, cave and fort you take on. Tagging enemies, objectives, and loot will allow you to plot the best course of action and avoid detection. You upgrade Ikaros's perception through synchronisation points, so make sure you always unlock these as soon as you enter a new area. These also allow for fast travel and give experience, so make sure you don't forget about it.

Ikaros is also a useful ally as he can distract enemies and you can also send him to harass specific targets.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

Whittle Down Their Numbers

Odyssey is, for the most part, a game where you're one against many, and it's important to manage enemy numbers. Whether you use stealth to assassinate guards from the shadows until you're exposed (or not), or in direct combat, it's important to make sure you're not overwhelmed by sheer numbers. When in direct combat we try and make sure the archers are taken out first, units will shift between melee and ranged, but they do have primary purposes and it's so annoying to get hit by arrows while engaging someone else in melee range.

There are abilities that allow you to do damage on enemies within an area of effect (Ring of Chaos), but we found that it's usually a better strategy use go in heavy on single units and use your overpower attack or Hero Strike (possibly the best ability in the game) to kill one or two enemies immediately, or do lots of damage on an elite enemy. Using your best abilities first will allow the cooldown to begin meaning you can use them soon again.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

The Bow is your Best Friend

It cannot be overstated how useful the bow is, particularly once you've added a few key abilities to your character build (Arrow Master, Devastating Shot, Overpower Bow Strike, Sixth Sense, Archey Master, Predator Shot). The final skill in the Hunter tree is the Ghost Arrow of Artemis which can travel through shields and even walls. It almost feels like a hack, but it's nowhere near as powerful as a Devastating Shot or Overpower Bow Strike.

We're not too keen on Spread Shot, Multi Shot, and Rain of Destruction, as we prefer to go for single unit damage and headshots as opposed to dealing small amounts of damage to multiple enemies. There are certainly times when Rain of Destruction can be useful, but it's not a favourite of ours.

Don't forget your bow even in the middle of what has been a melee engagement, just dodge back and fire. If you want your arrows to hurt a bit more than mosquito bites you should make sure to hold the trigger until the shot is fully charged, and aim for the head, a well-timed charged arrow can also send a charging enemy stumbling back, cancelling an attack you wouldn't have been able to parry.

Another important thing to note is that abilities and special arrows stack with Devastating Shot. If you use a Death Arrow with it you'll deal some serious damage.

The Predator Shot, when used cleverly, can be the most overpowered ability in the game. However, it takes a little practice and it's a bit of a glass cannon type deal and only really makes sense when enemies can't get close to you.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey

How to Climb that Mercenary Ladder

The Mercenary system is one of the least talked about new features of Odyssey, but it does provide some of the most memorable combat encounters of the game. Hunting down Mercenaries should be a priority as the bonuses you receive for climbing the ranks are quite substantial (lowering costs at blacksmiths, or for ship upgrades for instance). Any time you see a Mercenary at your level or below is a good time to kill them in our opinion. Unless there are lots of guards nearby or you're already wanted. You'll also want to avoid facing multiple Mercenaries simultaneously, even if that is a fun challenge.

Make sure you get a good first strike in, maybe sneak up and either attack using stealth or send a Predator Shot at their unsuspecting heads. As soon as you've identified them you can check their specific strengths and weaknesses in the Mercenary tab, take them out accordingly. We found the ones with fire attacks most pesky, so make sure you hit those ones extra hard.

Once you've unlocked the Arena a good option is to challenge them there as there will be no open-world distractions or back-up to help them out. Mercenaries also drop great loot, so that's another reason to take out the competition. But beware high-level Mercenaries early on. If you raise your wanted level you could see Mercenaries 10, 20, or even 30 levels above you come after you, and that's not a winnable fight.

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