Best weapons in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

The best weapons in AC Shadows for both Naoe and Yasuke

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/IGN/Ubisoft

Wondering what the best weapons are in Assassin’s Creed Shadows? There are eight different weapon types for twin protagonists Naoe and Yasuke in Assassin’s Creed Shadows , and they all have their own brand of deadly. Whether you like the reliable katana, enjoy the swings of the chain-linked kusarigama, or simply hope to blast your foes in the face with a flintlock rifle, you’re bound to be thrilled with the tools on display.

The best weapons in the game all have legendary status, and can only be acquired by completing quests and tackling some tough enemies. This guide presents our picks for the best weapons in Assassin’s Creed Shadows , with one major armament picked for all of the eight weapon groups.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Best weapons

The following are the best weapons for Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows:

• Best katana: Bloodshade
• Best kusarigama: Ocean’s Grip
• Best tanto: Yukimitsu’s Revenge

The following are the best weapons for Yasuke in Assassin’s Creed Shadows:

• Best long katana: Crimson’s Edge
• Best naginata: Vengeful Foe
• Best kanabo: Rage of Red Mist
• Best bow: Dragon’s Wrath
• Best teppo: Patient Harbinger

Below, we’ll delve into these weapons in greater detail, as well as how to obtain them.

Best katana: Bloodshade

Impart constant conditions on your foes. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Bloodshade boasts excellent DPS as well as 18% Bleed Buildup. Its main claim to fame, however, is that Affliction Buildup won’t go down over time while using it. This means that you can inflict all sort of conditions on tough and heavily armoured foes - for instance Bleed and Poison - without fear of the status effects disappearing.

You can find the Bloodshade in Osaka , hidden in a chest on the top floor of a castle boat west of the Burnt Village of Nakajima.

Best kusarigama: Ocean’s Grip

As ferocious as the ocean’s waves. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Ocean’s Grip deals +60% damage to enemies who are over 3 metres away. Since the kusarigama is the one weapon in Naoe’s arsenal with extensive range, wielding Ocean’s Grip is an excellent way to dispatch enemies without letting them come close. Pair it with Cyclone Blast - one of Naoe’s best Mastery skills - to truly specialise in the art of crowd control.

Ocean’s Grip can only be found after killing the Fox, one of the main Shinbakufu targets. This unlocks the side quest Pirate’s Alliance , which has you hunting pirates in Wakasa. Once you kill Lopo Cruz , you’ll get Ocean’s Grip as a reward.

Best tanto: Yukimitsu’s Revenge

Go from katana to tanto with swift interplay. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Yukimitsu’s Revenge is a wonderfully stabby tanto, but I’ve highlighted it as the best option here due to its perk, which makes Afflicted enemies Vulnerable. This offers nice synergy with the Bloodshade katana listed above - once your opponent is bloodied, switch to Yukimitsu’s Revenge for a quick slice to the guts.

To find Yukimitsu’s Revenge, you need to use Naoe to loot the legendary chest hidden within the Ancient Tomb of Nanjo Kofun . Refer to our guide on all of the Kofuns in Assassin’s Creed Shadows for tips on these deadly mini-dungeons.

Best long katana: Crimson’s Edge

Bleed enemies and be the last samurai standing. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Crimson’s Edge is another weapon that specialises in inflicting Bleed. (If you haven’t guessed it yet, I like applying this condition!) It makes Bleed insta-kill enemies below 2 Health Segments, which is obscenely useful. This will immediately slaughter regular opponents and deal hefty, consistent damage on bosses.

Crimson’s Edge can be acquired after completing the side quest Nobutsuna’s Students . This quest requires you to face off against all of the others who studied under Nobutsuna, the teacher who helped transform Yasuke into a samurai. Once you finish off Sanada Masatoyo , the last opponent, this jagged blade is yours.

Best naginata: Vengeful Foe

Inflict deep cuts from a safe distance. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Vengeful Foe is a true naginata - nicely balanced at dealing damage and poking enemies from afar, and guess what, it too inflicts Bleed. Specifically, you’re looking at +35% Bleed buildup on a successful parry. You can combine this with Deep Cut, one of Yasuke’s best Mastery skills , to knock enemies backwards while inflicting copious amounts of damage.

You’ll get Vengeful Foe as a reward for completing The Tournament side quest, which only becomes available late in the game after you’ve killed 9 of the 12 Shinbakufu. Speak with Gyoji in Yamato to start this quest, which requires beating six opponents in one-on-one fights.

Best kanabo: Rage of Red Mist

Break apart your opposition with great ease. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Rage of Red Mist is a hefty kanabo that does what kanabos do best, busting apart armor with extreme gusto. You’ll generate +100% of an Adrenaline Chunk after a successful Armor Break with this weapon, letting you switch into bigger and better attacks and pulverise all oncomers into a pulp.

You can find the Rage of Red Mist by visiting the Grave of Buried Hopes which is northwest of Hanazono Castle . Explore the area until you see three tombstones. To the right of the tombstones is a path with a red tree; a legendary chest containing the Rage of Red Mist lies under it.

Best bow: Dragon’s Wrath

Charge your bow in a split second. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Dragon’s Wrath helps make up for the bow’s lack of power, which can only be fixed by charging your arrows - normally a very slow process. With this legendary bow, you can instantly charge arrows, delivering an impact similar to a teppo but without the massive boom and reloading faff.

Dragon’s Wrath is a reward for killing the Tsutsui Agent , an enemy in Koriyama Castle and one of the targets of the Kurai Eikyou assassination sidequest. You don’t need to start the actual side quest to kill the agent and get the bow.

Best teppo: Patient Harbinger

Blow ’em away with two shots. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Parient Harbinger lets you load two bullets at once, meaning you can fire twice before having to reload. Since the teppo is such a slow (but powerful) weapon, two shots can make all the difference in taking out an enemy from afar or killing them in the midst of a battle.

It’s pretty easy to locate the Patient Harbinger - it’s located in a legendary chest near Kamikoga’s Ippon Sugi in Wakasa .

That concludes our list of the best weapons in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. For more intel on this expansive adventure across 1500s Japan, see our quest list , which reveals the best order to tackle AC Shadows’ missions. Our guides on how to change characters and the differences between Naoe and Yasuke will also come in handy as you learn the ins and outs of these two very different protagonists.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC , Mac , Nintendo Switch 2

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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