How To Find and Defeat The Wise in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

In this guide, we shall go over how to find and defeat The Wise as part of the main story in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows starts off strong, presenting a prologue with a strong personal hook. Naoe’s father is surrounded and brutally murdered by 11 masked assailants, setting Naoe off on a path of justice. Through the course of the story, you complete various objectives that help you locate the targets and eliminate the murderers. Each target killed gets Naoe one step closer to the truth, and The Wise is just one target in the way. 

Finding The Wise is like looking for a needle in a haystack. You need to complete various objectives and run through several leads before you can find and defeat The Wise. If you’re having a tough time finding this mysterious figure or have difficulty defeating him, we’re here to help. In this guide, we shall go over how to find and defeat The Wise in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. 

Related: How To Beat Takahashi Jiro (The Twisted Tree) in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

How To Find The Wise in Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

A Chance Encounter

The hunt for The Wise begins by finding and talking to Fuyu in the Omiwa Shrine south of the Naya Heartland. The priestess mentions shrine attacks that have been plaguing the area and asks her to join you in praying tribute. Follow her along and follow through with the shrine rituals, and do the same for the other two shrines. 

While performing your rituals at the final shrine, you will be interrupted by Kojiro. Kojiro will infer that you are after someone and will direct you to Tsutsui Junkei, a daimyo. Junkei is in a tea master’s house in a town near Koriyama Castle. 

Yasuke and Naoe then head together to meet Junkei, who is accompanied by Joken Hokkyo, the caretaker of Todaji. After a much heated discussion, Junkei advises the duo to watch over his envoys and protect them from the Akiyama. But first, the spirits need to be dealt with to calm the people. 

Restless Spirits

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Pick to play as Naoe or Yasuke, and then head to the shrine in Katsuragi to talk to the priests. Spirits in the village have allegedly been stealing relics from the shrines. The Gokenin, who were supposed to protect the shrines, have abandoned their duty. 

Head to the Gokenin Manor southwest of town and enter the compound from the eastern end. Explore the buildings close to the eastern border to find clues that incriminate outlaws as the real culprits over the spirits. These bandits are conjuring some scheme up at the Hachiman Shrine. Head to the shrine, and you will find Kojiro by the staircase. He will reveal the location of the bandit camp, sending you off to kill the chief of the outlaws. 

Head over to the Takatori Castle Ruins, where the bandits are holed up. Enter the ruins from the southwestern end and scale up the walls. Scale deeper into the ruins to find the chief. Kill the chief, secure the area, and inspect the bandit board for clues. 

Temple Stories

With the “Spirits” dealt with, it is time to visit Joken Hokkyo at Todaiji Temple. Follow the priest along for a small tour of the temple, after which he will leave you at the Temple guest house. Suddenly, you will find Kojiro within the temple premises, who will call out to you. Follow Kojiro and then inspect the relics he leads you to. The Hokkyo have been collecting tons of “un-monkly” things. 

You’ll be caught red-handed by Joken Hokkyo, who will then tell you how Yamato was first promised to the monks but ended up with Junkei. You’ll then have to follow Joken along for a walk. Along your walk, you are ambushed by masked attackers. Dispose of the attacks and protect Joken Hokkyo in the process. Amidst the chaos, the peace scroll will disappear from the temple. Kojiro directs you towards the thieves in the Megalithic Vault, west of Todaji. 

Head to the thieves outpost and retrieve the scroll. Bring the scroll back to Lord Junkei and resurrect the chances of peace talks between Junkei and the Akiyama Clan. 

The Lost Envoys

Next, we need to investigate the missing envoys. Head to Mitsue, where the envoys were last spotted. Explore the area and question the witnesses for information till you run into Kojiro. Your conversation with Kojiro will spark a fight with an Akiyama Soldier nearby. Fight the soldier, and before you can defeat him, you will be stopped by Lady Ayako. Ayako was shadowing the soldier. The soldier confesses to sending the envoys away to a site at the order of a masked warrior. 

Head to the site of the envoys in Utano and approach with caution. Sneak about the site and eliminate guards to make your movement easier. Find the lone envoy and secure the area to set him free. The envoy will inform you of a stolen peace talk invitation and needs you to retrieve it to restore peace talks. 

The invitation sits in the Daimyo Residence in Uda Matsuyama Castle. Enter the castle from the eastern scaffolding and scale up the walls to head deeper. Sneak into the Daimyo Residence and retrieve the invitation. Take the invitation and give it to Lady Ayako at the Kasugataisha Shrine to complete the quest. 

Darkness Falls

The final stretch of your hunt for The Wise sees you overlooking the peace talks in Kofukuji Temple. Choose to go inside as Yasuke or lurk outside as Naoe. We went with Naoe for the true AC experience.

As Naoe, head inside the temple grounds and find a vantage point to look for suspicious activity. You will then notice a few monks and teppo-armed Akiyama warriors acting suspiciously. Search the area near them to uncover plans of an assassination. The sharpshooter assassin is on a tower southeast of your location. Sneak up to the tower and kill him to foil the assassination plans. 

A cutscene will then play out, where the two rival parties, along with Joken Hokkyo, bicker and accuse each other. Yasuke will then come in to stop the scuffle, and you then have to accuse one of the three as the conspirator behind the assassination attempt.

If you haven’t figured it out already, The Wise could be none other than Joken, incriminated by the various relics found at his shrine as well as his natural hatred towards Junkei for hoarding the territory promised to the monks. 

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How To Defeat The Wise in Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

As you accuse Joken of being The Wise, Yasuke will throw a blade at him, which the priest will promptly stop in a display of skill. Joken will then order his men to slay everyone in the compound, starting with Yasuke. You will switch over to Yasuke and have to fend off all of Joken’s men with the help of Akiyama and Junkei soldiers at your side. 

As you slay down your attackers, you will then get the choice to pick between Yasuke and Naoe once again. We picked Naoe, who immediately chases after The Wise. Keep heading straight north and vault over the temple walls to find Joken outside, kicking off a boss fight. 

Joken is a monk, after all, and poses no threat if you’re quick on your toes. His attacks are telegraphed and can be dodged easily. He uses poison to make up for his technique and can easily stack up damage if you’re not careful. Dodge through his attacks and chip away at his HP to defeat The Wise and complete the hunt.

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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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