The 10 HARDEST Assassination Targets in Assassin's Creed Shadows

10 Hardest Assassination Targets in Assassin’s Creed

Caitlin Johnson

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at the hardest assassination targets and bosses in “Assassin’s Creed Shadows”.

There will be spoilers ahead for the ENTIRE game; you’ve been warned.

Oda Nobunaga

The bombastic first act of “Shadows” culminates in Naoe finally tracking down Oda Nobunaga, whom she’s been led to believe is the Horseman, the leader of the Shinbakufu. She’s wrong, but she doesn’t learn this until after already defeating Nobunaga in a duel – no small feat for a peasant girl from Iga. Because this boss fight is always played with Naoe, you’re going to be at a disadvantage since she deals less damage and takes more than Yasuke, which makes it challenging. It’s also an early game fight, so you won’t have as many abilities unlocked to help you. In the end, though, Yasuke intervenes and Naoe fails, leaving Nobunaga to commit seppuku.

Akechi Mitsuhide

This is the moment we were waiting for since the trailers: a Naoe/Yasuke tag team boss battle. After defeating Nobunaga, he reveals that he has no idea what the Shinbakufu is, and that Naoe has been tricked by his traitorous retainer, Akechi Mitsuhide. The entire second act of the game is spent picking off Mitsuhide’s allies to draw him out. He’s forced out of the tenshu and, sensing that the end is nigh, finally stops to fight them for real, and we get easily the coolest fight in the game. Yasuke begins and, after whittling Mitsuhide down to half health, the action pauses for a second for Naoe to jump in and deliver the killing blow.

Bessho Harumasa

Another of the Shinbakufu, Bessho is nicknamed “the Ox”. You’ll find him Harima where he’s been building an army, ostensibly to defend his people but, in reality, using conscription to force them to serve and die for his own ambitions. His most brainwashed lieutenant, the Tsuno, stands in your way first and needs to be defeated by Yasuke, before you get the choice of who to go after Bessho himself with once the Tsuno is dead. This is one instance where the game lets you go after a boss via stealth all the way, as Naoe can sneak around the tricky arena and air assassinate Bessho from above. The cutscene afterwards still implies that she beat him in combat, though.

Lord Unkai

Eventually, you’ll be invited to participate in the Tournament in Yamato, with the goal of defeating its reigning champion and freeing its organizer, Gyoji, from doing his bidding. That champion is the violent and formidable Lord Unkai, but to get to him, you have to fight four other champions, each of whom has their own gimmick. Powerful attacks, poison affliction, you name it. Either Yasuke, Naoe, or a mix of both can take them down. Unkai has the highest health of all of them, but with enough upgrades and abilities, you can trap him in a juggle. When you win, you get his naganita as a reward, and some new abilities to unlock in the mastery menu.

Ao Andon

One of the best side missions is tracking down the Yokai, as seasoned paranormal investigator Mamushi asks for help solving the various reports he’s received. None of the yokai are actually supernatural, with some being deluded and dangerous individuals, and others children playing harmless pranks. But then, you reach the end of the quest, where Naoe returns to Mamushi and finds that he’s been scared to death by the only genuine yokai in the game. “Shadows” is significantly more grounded than its predecessors, so we really weren’t expecting to meet an actual monster. Once defeated, she disappears in a cloud of smoke, though is perhaps an easier foe to best than the vengeful Yuki Onna you meet first.

Asari Nobutane

Of all of Nobutsana’s students, Asari Nobutane is the hardest. Each student is master of a different weapon, meaning you can’t rely on whichever weapon is your favorite or the most heavily upgraded: you have to use the same one as them. Nobutane is easily the most difficult because he’s the teppo master, though he does give you some sage advice about watching and waiting to fire. The fight is made more challenging, though, by the presence of explosive jars around the bamboo grove, which can easily kill you in one hit if they get detonated. Equally, though, if you place your shots well, they can wipe a huge chunk from Nobutane’s health bar very quickly.

Sanada Masatoyo

You THOUGHT that battling all of Nobutsana’s students would end in a triumphant rematch with the man himself, but that’s not what happens. Yasuke returns to find that Nobutsana has been murdered by Sanada Masatoyo, still reeling from his defeat at Yasuke’s hand before the beginning of the game. On higher difficulties, Masatoyo can easily kill you if you make just one mistake and don’t manage to dodge an unblockable attack, dealing a large amount of damage sometimes too quickly for you to heal with a ration. Stay on your toes and you’ll eventually beat him, unlocking one of the best swords in the game, Crimson’s Edge, for your trouble.

Kimura Kei

Eventually, Yasuke learns that the men who first enslaved him were Templars, and we finally start to uncover what the Templar Order has been doing in Japan. They’re attempting to raise an army of their own to conquer the country and have enlisted Kimura Kei to help recruit, building a legion of dangerous ronin. Yasuke tracks him down and cuts through the ronin to finally reach him in a burning, abandoned pagoda for a boss battle. He’s got a big health bar and this is another rare fight with multiple phases, as he kicks Yasuke from the pagoda to fight him outside halfway through. After all that, you’ve eradicated a huge chapter of Templars, and you get his unique armor.

Takeda Motoaki

You head north to Wakasa to find out why this member of the Shinbakufu, nicknamed “the Fox”, has been aligning himself with violent pirates. Eventually, you learn that he’s been hunting the pirates and ultimately only wants what’s best for his home, but he still tries to kill whichever assassin arrives to hunt him down. With Naoe, you’d better remember to dodge and dodge a LOT, because she can’t take the damage he deals out and he’s a very fast swordsman. He can wipe out her whole health bar with one swing and uses unblockable attacks exclusively. This is a fight where it’s hard to recover if you get hit even once.

Nuno Caro

The final boss of the game and one of the franchise’s most detestable villains since Cesare Borgia, Nuno Caro is waiting for Yasuke in Tamba. After dealing with the other three Templars active in Japan, Caro knows that Yasuke is coming for him, but is so arrogant he thinks he’ll survive the encounter. Of course, he won’t, and tries to delay fighting Yasuke as much as possible, sending footsoldiers to try and deal with him while he runs away shouting taunts like a coward. It’s very classic “Assassin’s Creed” to have an obnoxious villain and an extended chase sequence, culminating in a genuine boss fight and a very satisfying death.

Let us know in the comments if any of these boss fights gave you trouble.