AC Odyssey: Passive assassin build Assassin's Creed Odyssey Guide and Walkthrough

Last update: 22 December 2022

Archer (hunter) and warrior builds are great for Assassin's Creed Odyssey, but it is equally viable to play the game as a character who is focused primarily on silent killing. The following page contains various information and hints on how to prepare an assassin build in Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Our hints provide information on selection of weapons, armor, abilities and engravings.

• Basic information
• Best skills
• Assassin's gear
• How to play as an assassin?

Basic information

1. It is impossible to play a character who will be a 100% pure assassin, i.e. able to eliminate all encountered enemies from hiding. Sneaking into many locations in the game world is still possible, but in some missions or conquest mode battles you have to deal with your opponents in direct confrontation. You must keep that in mind to avoid a situation, in which you suddenly find yourself in an unexpectedly difficult fight.
2. In our build, the assassin makes us of several abilities from the warrior's tree and one skill from the hunter's tree. This is of course only our suggestion. If you like to use bows, you can prepare a slightly modified build, which supplements assassinations by dealing ranged damage. It is also worth remembering that the game allows you to reset your abilities at any time. If you have created a build that you are not entirely (or not at all) happy with, you can always redistribute your skill points.
3. The build greatly emphasizes maximizing the chance for dealing critical damage and increasing the amount of damage caused by critical hits. Consider the engravings we have described below, which can improve both of these parameters.
4. Later in the game, try to kill enough cultists to be able to upgrade the Spear of Leonidas to level 5. This will unlock your access to the highest levels of active skills. It is also a good idea to save around four development points for later. Once the spear has been sufficiently upgraded, you will be able to unlock the best versions of all your favorite active abilities right away.

Best skills

Below we have listed active and passive skills from the assassin tree, which you should be interested in while making an assassin build. Just to remind you: at any given moment you can have up to four active abilities (not counting those related to the possible use of the bow). However, nothing stands in the way of switching to other skills after you've sufficiently advanced and unlocked them in the game.

1. Shadow Assassin - It is a very important ability that increases damage when carrying out assassinations (surprise attacks) and stunning attacks. Try to develop it as much as possible. Subsequent skill levels, in addition to further increasing "normal" damage, also provide a critical damage bonus.
2. Venomous Attack - This skill is useful in the early stages of the game when you don't yet have the "all damage inflicted by weapons becomes poison damage" engraving, which allows you to "poison" any weapon in your possession (the engraving is a reward for defeating the mercenary Meleagros). Poison damage will be useful if you are forced into an open fight. A poisoned opponent will gradually lose their life points even if they are not being attacked. In addition, poisoning causes their attacks to weaken, in addition to removing some armor points.
3. Rush Assassination - It's one of the most powerful skills of an assassin. Above all, it is very easy to use. You can "teleport" yourself to the targeted enemy (but only when you're still out of open conflict). But that's not all, because you can "jump" to another opponent. Improving this skill makes it even more powerful. You can attack up to 4 opponents in a row or jump between two or three stronger opponents.
4. Poison Mastery - Purchase all three levels of this passive ability if you use the Venomous Attack active skill or the engraving that allows you to deal poison damage. This way you will strengthen these types of attacks.
5. Critical Assassination - This is one of the essential skills for an assassin. Unlock its first level as soon as you advance sufficiently and improve it as much as possible. Critical Assassination is perfect for eliminating individual enemies while infiltrating hostile locations. Inflicting much more assassin damage increases the likelihood that the target will die from a single attack.
6. Hero Strike - A unique feature of this ability is that you can also inflict assassin damage from the Spear of Leonidas even during open conflict with enemies. This makes it one of the abilities that you can use if you are detected or can't sneak at the moment.
7. Stealth Master - You can leave buying this passive ability for a bit later, but definitely shouldn't ignore it. It reduces the likelihood that your stealth attacks will be noticed by your opponents. This is particularly helpful in large locations such as forts, where the premature detection of the protagonist can have devastating consequences.

In addition to the skills from the assassin tree, you should also consider the following abilities:

1. The passive ability Sixth Sense from the Hunter tree - it guarantees that the time will slow down for a few seconds when the hero is spotted. This gives you the time to react to the situation - best combined with the active ability Rush Assassination. You can "teleport" yourself to an opponent who has noticed your character before an open conflict erupts.
2. Active ability Battlecry of Ares from the Warrior tree - A unique feature of this ability is that it increases all types of damage for a specified period of time. It can also increase the strength of assassination attacks. What's more, this ability doesn't require adrenaline to be activated.
3. Active ability Overpower Attacks from the Warrior tree - This is another very useful skill, which is not limited to warrior characters. You can use it as well with your trusty assassin daggers, for example. Just remember that each activation of this ability requires you to use up three segments of adrenaline.

Assassin's gear

The ideal weapon for an assassin is the dagger. All such weapons deal assassin damage by default. In addition, there is a high probability that some bonuses coming from assassin armor or engravings for this type of build will guarantee increased damage dealt by daggers.

In the case of armor, it is advisable to make sure that all the pieces of armor contribute to the increase of assassin damage. You can also try to gain possession of the legendary set of armor. In the picture above we present an example of a legendary pilgrim set - you can get it by reaching five different chests described in the Legendary chests chapter of our guide. Elements of this armor provide additional bonuses, e.g. in the form of fast accumulation of adrenaline through stealth kills, faster movement while crouched or increased damage inflicted by daggers.

An essential part of constructing this build is to select the right engravings, so that you can deal as much stealth kill damage as possible. The most interesting engravings for the assassin are:

1. +x% assassin damage
2. +x% all damage
3. +x% critical hit chance while full health - use engravings that are efficient at full (and not low) health, because in most situations, an assassin will attack enemies while at 100% health
4. +x% critical damage
5. +x% dagger damage
6. +x% backstab damage
7. +x% critical assassination damage (and all the other assassin-related active skills)

If you want to poison your enemies with your attacks, consider the following engravings:

1. damage inflicted by weapons become poison damage
2. +x% poison damage

Note! To unlock "weapon damage becomes poison damage" engraving, you must defeat a mercenary - Meleagros the Weaver (find him on the list in the mercenary tab). This will give you the legendary daggers Arachne's Stingers, which unlock the ability to place engravings on other weapons.

How to play as an assassin?

1. Shortly before approaching enemies it is worth activating Battlecry of Ares, which will allow you to deal more damage with all types of attacks.
2. Whenever you have the opportunity to do so, try attack the enemies from behind or land on them. Perform standard assassination attacks or rely on the Critical Assassination skill (it consumes one segment of the adrenaline bar) if you notice that your opponent refuses to die from a "normal" backstab.
3. Use Rush Assassination to eliminate groups of enemies. Initially, you can only attack two targets, but eventually the number will increase to as much as four. Before attacking, make sure that your enemies are weak enough to die immediately. As a last resort, you can also "return" to a stronger opponent within the same series (e.g. attack a strong enemy, jump on the weaker one and return to the stronger one).
4. If you have Sixth Sense, the game will allow you to "protect yourself" from being detected when the protagonist is spotted by an enemy. As soon as the time slows down, find this enemy quickly and use Rush Assassination to "teleport" to him.
5. It is worth relying on Hero's Strike, Overpower Attacks and poisoned weapons (either through engraving or the Venomous Attack skill) in situations where open conflict is mandatory. In addition to the aforementioned Battlecry of Ares, This will allow you to deprive each opponent of all health points faster.
6. If you find yourself on the verge of death, run away from your opponents and hide in bushes, for example. This will allow the hero to return to full strength and you will be able to return to hiding, or, for example, use the Rush Assassination skill on the enemies.
7. Try to explore all hostile locations at night. This will limit your opponents' field of vision. In addition, some of the enemies will go to rest and can be easily taken out in their sleep.