Best Tanto Build Guide in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

This guide explores the best Tanto build that you can use on Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows to easily become a lethal force in the game.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows has a wide variety of weapons that you can choose from for both Naoe and Yasuke. While there is no class as such, your choice of primary and secondary weapons will drastically affect your playstyle.

For Naoe, weapons like the Kusarigama offer decent crowd-control abilities, which can help during mob fights. However, the Tanto weapon is an interesting addition that is reminiscent of a certain Florentine Assassin’s double hidden blade style.

The Tanto is a short sword, but Naoe essentially uses it as a second hidden blade. The gameplay style is short-ranged melee attacks, but it complements the Assassin skill tree beautifully. Moreover, the Tanto is a must-have if you want to unlock the double assassinate skill in AC Shadows.

This build guide will explore the best Tanto build that you can use on Naoe for either her primary or secondary weapon choice in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Best Tanto Build

Tanto might seem underwhelming right off the bat since you need to get close and personal with the enemy to hit your attacks. If you prefer roll-dodge gameplay, then the Tanto is not going to be a weapon for you. On the other hand, it also embodies the true “Assassin” style gameplay, with stealth attacks and double assassinations. As you level up the skill tree for Tanto, it becomes a lethal choice that can one-shot even the toughest of enemies.

Here are the basic pros and cons of the Tanto in Assassin’s Creed Shadows:

Pros	Cons
Functions as a second hidden blade Embodies the Assassin gameplay style Lethal in close-range Best choice for assassination skills	Less damage in lower levels Close-range weapon, not effective at long ranges Needs some mastery with the combat Relies on perfect dodges

Best Tanto Build in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Here are the details for the best Tanto build in Assassin’s Creed Shadows:

• Weapon: Bloody Tanto of Stealth
  • Rarity: Epic Tanto
  • Weapon Special Skill: Bleed Buildup
  • Default Engrave: +1% Affliction Buildup per Adrenaline Chunk filled
  • Secondary Engrave: Afflicted enemies are Vulnerable
• Headgear: Hidden Servant Hat
  • Rarity: Legendary Headgear
  • Default Engraving: Double Adrenaline Gain on Assassinations
  • Secondary Engraving: +60% Adrenaline Gain when hitting vulnerable enemies
• Armor: Legendary Onna-musha Kosode
  • Rarity: Legendary Light Armor
  • Default Engraving: Knock Down enemies by sliding into them
  • Secondary Engraving: Restore 4% health when hitting vulnerable enemies
• Trinket: Soaring Tatsu
  • Rarity: Legendary Trinket
  • Default Engraving: +1% Armor Piercing per Mastery Point in Tanto
  • Secondary Engraving: +10% to stats equipped on Tanto
• Tools:
  • Kunai
  • Shuriken
  • Smoke Bomb

You can select any other weapon to pair with this build since the overall armor and charm are designed to maximize the damage output with the Tanto specifically. Both the Katana and Kusarigama fit well in this build.

Skill Tree for Best Tanto Build in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Tanto

Knowledge Rank 1	Knowledge Rank 2	Knowledge Rank 3	Knowledge Rank 4	Knowledge Rank 5	Knowledge Rank 6
Gap Seeker	Back Stabber	Blood Rush	Shadow Reach	Critical Thinker	Healthy Sting
Leap Strike	Escape Strike	Invigorating Kill	Endless Barrage	Contemplation	–
Shadow Piercer	Shadow Barrage	Back Breaker	–	–	–
–	Backstab	–	–	–	–

Shinobi

Knowledge Rank 1	Knowledge Rank 2	Knowledge Rank 3	Knowledge Rank 4	Knowledge Rank 5	Knowledge Rank 6
Prodigy	Ascension Boost	Evasive	Immobilized	Efficient	Sweep The Leg
Grappling Hook	Vault	Lightning Kicks	Ninja Fall	High Vault	–
Shallow Water Breathing	Igan Roll	Destabilizing Vault	–	–	–

Assassin

Knowledge Rank 1	Knowledge Rank 2	Knowledge Rank 3	Knowledge Rank 4	Knowledge Rank 5	Knowledge Rank 6
Executor	Night Crawler	Vigor 1	Frontrunner	Hand of The Creed	Vigor 3
Ground Assassinate	Improved Ground Assassinate	Reinforced Blade	Vigor 2	–	Assassination Damage 3
Shoji Door Assassination	Double Assassinate	Improved Sense	Assassination Damage 2	–	–
Hidden Blade	Assassination Damage 1	–	–	–	–
Eagle Vision	–	–	–	–	–

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Best Tanto Build Explained

Since the Tanto requires you to be close and personal, our build in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is designed to give you some breathing room after a flurry of attacks. Here are the aspects this build focuses on:

• Build maximum Bleed Affliction.
• Make afflicted enemies Vulnerable.
• Maximum damage output with the Tanto in general.
• Maximize Assassin build damage.

Here is an explanation of each of these pointers:

1) Maximum Bleed Affliction

The Bloody Tanto of Stealth is an Epic-tier weapon and is not of the highest class. However, this epic weapon shines because of its passive ability which makes your opponent bleed. With this effect, you keep on inflicting build damage to your enemy, and after every 4-5 hits, you will be able to deal an attack that will do massive bleed damage. Enemies will also be staggered for a split second once you deal bleed damage to them, which will also give you some breathing room.

2) Make Afflicted Enemies Vulnerable

With the secondary engraving on the Tanto, afflicted enemies will also be vulnerable. This will allow you to deal two types of attacks with this best Tanto build for Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. First, you will deal normal bleed damage. Then, you can keep hitting the enemies with your other weapon while they are vulnerable to further increase your damage output. This loop of bleed-vulnerable will continue till you completely finish them.

3) Maximum Tanto Damage

The Soaring Tatsu is a Legendary Trinket that is specifically designed for the Tanto. Its default engraving gives you more armor-piercing damage for each mastery point used on the Tanto. With the skills mentioned above, you should get an easy 20% additional armor piercing damage. Finally, the secondary engraving will boost your Tanto stats by another 10%, making it a very deadly weapon to use.

4) Maximize Assassin Build Damage

This Tanto weapon build automatically complements the Assassin build for Naoe in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. First off, the double assassination is only available with the Tanto weapon. Next, with the engraving that knocks down enemies with a slide, you will get more chances to execute Ground Attacks on enemies. This does a huge amount of damage and will often one-shot enemies with even three-fourths of their health remaining.

How to Use This Best Tanto Build in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Tanto is an easy weapon to pick, but you need to be close to your opponent to deal damage with it. Here is the gameplay loop that you should look to achieve with this best Tanto build in Assassin’s Creed Shadows:

• Initiate a fight with single or double assassinations. Once you are spotted, it is time to bring out the big guns to play.
• Activate the Shadow Barrage and keep dealing damage. You will automatically dodge attacks. Use this time to build bleed and make enemies vulnerable.
• Keep mixing between light attacks and Posture Attacks. Since you do not need to worry about incoming attacks while Shadow Barrage is on, focus on the Posture Attack as much as possible.
• Once vulnerable, swap out the Tanto and use your other weapon and its abilities. After a full cycle, go back to the Tanto.
• You should already have at least one adrenaline chunk. Immediately activate Shadow Barrage again and keep hitting.
• Use the Shadow Piercer skill for brute enemies, since it will completely remove their armor in most cases. The armor piercing damage boost also helps in this.
• When the enemy is grounded, use your Tanto to deal ground attacks since this will deal more damage.

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Thank you for reading our guide on the best Tanto build in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. 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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