While it’s completely viable to cut down your foes solely via stealthy assassinations and brute-force katana strikes as either Naoe or Yasuke, leveling up and investing in additional abilities makes combat far more enticing. You can Spartan kick your enemies as Yasuke and lurch forward in a lightning-quick strike as Naoe. But such skills require you to spend time earning XP to invest Mastery Points. But how can you do so in the most efficient, and quickest, ways?
Let’s go over the various ways to earn XP in Assassin’s Creed Shadows to zero in on the best ways to spend your time.
Follow along with the main story
This is an easy one: following along with the main story is a must to progress. But if you pay close attention, you’ll find that completing a story mission often provides you with 1,000 XP or more, in some cases, along with other rewards. Each is lucrative, often enough to level you up completely in one go.
While you may not wish to streamline the campaign immediately, doing the occasional story mission is an excellent way to level up.
Complete contracts in each area
Assassin’s Creed Shadows offers plenty of side content: exploration-based points of interest, genuine side quests, and contracts that provide XP, Mon (currency), and resources necessary for building up your hideout and upgrading weapons and armor.
Contracts prove the most lucrative. Most offer you 1,000 to 1,500 XP upon completion. These tasks include anything from destroying a resource cache to executing a high-value target using Naoe’s stealth assassination mechanics.
As it turns out, undertaking contracts also provides an excellent opportunity to explore more of the world, unlock additional fast-travel points, and find new side content to tackle!
Clear castles of all enemies and loot
Alongside contracts, taking control of a castle is yet another lucrative endeavor. These major activities earn you a Mastery Point upon defeating the Samurai Daisho, but there’s also a Legendary Chest at the end of the run and tons of loot and resources along the way.
Oh, and it’s a castle! You’ll encounter copious amounts of guards, all of whom provide XP upon their untimely demise. It’s a buffet of XP!
Construct a Tera for an XP boost
As you delve deeper into the game, acquiring additional resources and money, you’ll expand your hideout with new buildings, some of which offer buffs. The Tera is the most important, especially if you want to level fast in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
A Tera is a Buddhist altar providing a ten percent passive experience gain buff. Ten percent may not seem significant, but it’s not trivial either. But it’s an expensive addition to your hideout:
- x740 Crops
- x550 Wood
- x180 Minerals
- x1930 Mon
Crops will likely prove the most challenging to acquire in this case.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.
