5 Best Long Katana Skill Tree Upgrades for Yasuke in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Unlock the maximum potential for Yasuke’s Long Katana with these 5 Skill Tree Upgrades in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Yasuke is a powerful playable samurai in Assassin’s Creed Shadows who specializes in frontal combat. He generally wields large weapons and can chain Posture Attacks to easily break enemies’ guards and deal heavy damage. One of his melee weapon types is the Long Katana. It is a versatile sword that can make short work of weaker enemies, crack an elite’s defense, and regain a ton of health and adrenaline.

Best Long Katana Skill Tree Upgrades in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

To upgrade Yasuke’s Long Katana Skill Tree, you will need to gather Mastery points by progressing the story and completing side quests. You must complete special side activities to collect Knowledge Points to unlock higher Knowledge Ranks within the tree. Once you unleash the full power of these 5 Long Katana Skills, there is very little in the game that can stand against Yasuke head-on.

1) Power Dash

Power Dash is Yasuke’s signature ability which allows the samurai to blaze through a single enemy in a stylistic move. The lightning-fast ability is available at Knowledge Rank 1 and deals a staggering 70% ability damage.

The move can be upgraded further with the Armor Avoidance (rank 4) passive which increases armor piercing to 100%, making it incredibly effective against the armored enemies you will face later in the game. At Knowledge Rank 6, Power Dash can help Yasuke embrace his inner anime protagonist with Chained Power Dash, allowing two of the unstoppable armor-piercing strikes to be performed in a row.

2) Riposte

Riposte is a must-have ability to become the duelist Yasuke is meant to be. Pressing L1 right after blocking a hit makes Yasuke riposte and counterattack the aggressor. Enemy attack prompts are relatively easy to spot and a successful riposte can be chained into a devastating combo.

However, the true power of Riposte is unlocked with further upgrades. Energizing Defense (rank 2) increases its damage by 50% while healing Yasuke for 5% of his maximum HP. Defensive Strike (Rank 4) adds 60% damage while ensuring a 100% Critical chance against a Flurry Attack.

3) Payback

As you progress into the late game with Yasuke, Payback (rank 3) will become your trump card. It deals 49% ability damage with 3 strikes and restores 10% Health. Payback’s potential is unlocked with Overrun (rank 4), which increases payback damage by 1% for every 1% of Health missing.

This potential 99% increase in damage is on top of a flat 40% Payback damage boost. The final upgrade, Unstoppable (rank 5), lives up to its name and makes Payback unblockable, guaranteeing tremendous damage.

4) Sheathed Attack

Yasuke sheathes his sword before launching a powerful strike that breaks an enemy’s guard. The stylized attack is available from Knowledge Rank 1 and is a valuable tool in a duelist’s arsenal. With further upgrades at Rank 3 and Rank 5, Sheathed Attack becomes a Posture Attack, does 20% more damage, and generates 50% of an Adrenaline Chunk.

5) Adrenaline Builder

Available at Knowledge Rank 3, Adrenaline Builder is a global passive that increases Adrenaline gain by 15%. With active abilities becoming crucial for overcoming late-game enemies, increasing Adrenaline gain by 15% can be game-changing. This standalone skill has three upgrade stages and, together with upgraded Sheathed Attack, makes the Katana an overclocked Adrenaline generator.

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We provide the latest news and create guides for Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Meanwhile, you can check out the following AC Shadows articles or catch us playing games on Twitch and YouTube:

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