Tracking down legendary gear can be an adventure inAssassin’s Creed Shadows, taking you to the farthest reaches of the map, down into Kofuns, up through Hidden Trails, and beyond. There are items you would never know existed if you didn’t know where to look, but there is a nifty trick to tracking down legendary gear if you’re willing to do a little sleuth work. First, you’ll need to unlock and build your forge in the hideout, and eventually, you will need to upgrade it to Rank 3 to get the clues for all the legendary items.
The reason you’re able to use the forge to findlegendary gear inAC Shadowsis because of how legendary engravings work.Engravings are additional effects that can be slotted into any Rare or higher-level gear.These engravings can be added to weapons from Heiji’s forge in yourAC Shadowshideout, and when you go to add them, you’ll see a massive list of locked engravings. As you navigate down the menu and hover over each one, a clue will pop up, giving you the location or clue about how to track down the associated engraving. These engravings are unlocked by acquiring the legendary weapons in the hinted-at locations.
How To Find Legendary Items Using The Forge
When you first build the forge in yourhideout inAC Shadows, you’ll be able to check outa massive list of engraving options for each weapon type, but 95% of them will be locked. You might feel like they’re trying to tease you, but if you hover over each locked engraving, you’ll get a hint about where to find the associated engraving. Many of these are found simply by traveling to a particular vendor or merchant and purchasing them outright, while others require completing certain side quests or even main campaign quests to unlock.
I Can’t Stand Exploring With Yasuke, But It Wouldn’t Be Hard To Fix
Yasuke’s mobility while exploring in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is clunkier than it should be and I can’t stand it, but it wouldn’t be so hard to fix.
You’ll also probably notice that there are gold-highlighted legendary engravings among these engraving choices. Based on how this is set up, engravings appear to have their unique locations, and it would seem that you could hunt down an engraving the way you would buy one at a vendor. However,most legendary engravings are unlockedby acquiring the weapon onto which it was originally engraved, meaning the clues in the forge direct you to legendary gear, not just legendary engravings.
How Legendary Engravings Work In AC Shadows
Legendary Items Often Unlock Their Engravings
As you probably noticed, when picking up a legendary weapon or piece ofarmor inAC Shadows,you also receive an engraving. It wasn’t immediately clear to me, but I eventually realized thatthe engraving description corresponded directly with the effect on the weaponI picked up.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Complete Choices Guide
Assassin’s Creed Shadows has several pivotal choices that change the outcome of its plot and the fate of its characters. Here’s how to resolve them.
For example, in tracking down theDemon ToothKusariagama from the Legendary Chest at Arima Onsen, I saw that the Kusarigama’s description is"+2 Health Segments removed on Rush Assassinate.“At the same time, the engraving unlocked was the"Greatly Improved Rush Assassinate Engraving,“and things finally started to click.
If you want to find the best legendary equipment, focus on the specific effect you’re after first, visible in the forge menu.
To put it simply, legendary engravings equal legendary gear. To find the best legendary equipment, first focus on the specific effect you’re after, which is visible in the forge menu. You can tell what type of legendary item it is by the corresponding engraving. If you are on the Tanto engraving menu, the locations are pointing you to legendary Tantos, Katanas to Katanas, etc. This is just one of the nuances inAssassin’s Creed Shadowsthat makes the game feel like a bit of a puzzle, and it will save you time in your hunt for better gear.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Set during Japan’s Sengoku period, two distinct protagonists—Naoe, a shinobi, and Yasuke, a historical African samurai—must navigate political intrigue and violent clashes between the Assassins and Templars. Players can switch between stealthy, shadow-based gameplay with Naoe and Yasuke’s direct combat approach, exploring the duality of their missions in a beautifully rendered open world.
