How the Scouting System Works in Assassin's Creed Shadows: Full Guide

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is the latest addition into the ever-expanding Assassin’s Creed series, bringing with it an exciting new feature: the Scouting System. This mechanic introduces up to nine scouts, who can help players by scouting objective locations, retrieving resources and even lowering wanted or regional alert status.

For long-time fans of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, the Scouting System may remind them of the ‘Recruits’ mechanic featured in Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Revelations and Assassin’s Creed III. However, while there are some similarities, the Scouting System in AC Shadows has its own unique features and may take some time to get familiar with, something players will want to do, to maximise its effect on gameplay.

In this guide, we’ll break down how the Scouting System in AC Shadows works and provide players with useful tips on how to best use the Scouting System, to make the most of the benefits it provides in-game.

Table of Content:

• Scouting System Explained
• What Can Scouts Do in AC Shadows & How to Use Them
• How to Replenish Scouts
• How to Recruit More Scouts
• How to Turn Off the Scouting System

Scouting System Explained

The Scouting System in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is introduced once players have unlocked the Hideout, during Naoe’s opening sequence (after the ‘From Spark to Flame’ quest). Once unlocked, Scouts offer three primary functions: finding objective locations, gathering resources and lowering wanted status.

Players can use Scouts once per season before having to either wait for the season to change or actively replenish them. The Scouting System begins with a limited number of Scouts, so it’s crucial for players to use available scouts effectively and increase their roster at every given opportunity to ensure they’re always available when players need them the most.

There are several ways in which players can expand and improve the effectiveness of their Scouting System, including learning how to correctly use, replenish and recruit Scouts.

Note: Some features of the Scouting System need to be unlocked through story progression before players can access them.

What Can Scouts Do in AC Shadows & How to Use Them

The three main ways scouts can be used in Assassin’s Creed Shadows offer significant benefits to players. However, to fully capitalise on these advantages, players must first understand how to use scouts effectively.

Scouting Objective Locations

Once players have unlocked the Hideout, they’ll have their first opportunity to use the Scouting System. Unlike previous installments of the Assassin’s Creed series, AC Shadows does not provide immediate markers for objective or target locations. Instead, players are given three clues and must use these to identify where to Scout on the map, in order to reveal the location of the objective or target.

To begin, the quest must be tracked in the menu, at which point the clues will show in the top left corner of the map. These clues consist of:

• Province
• Area within Province
• A landmark or specific location to narrow the search further

Once players have a good idea of where the clues are pointing to on the map, they can select the ‘Scout Objective’ button located below the clues in the top-left of the screen.

From here, players can select how many Scouts they’d like to use to search the area of the map for the objective. The more Scouts selected, the larger the search area will be, which is indicated by a glowing circle on the map.

When ready, players can hit the ‘Dispatch’ button (located at the centre-bottom of the screen).

If the correct area has been selected, and the objective falls within the highlighted search area, the objective marker will be revealed on the map. Even if the ‘Fog of War’ still obscures the map, players will still see the marker for the objective or target.

However, if the Scouting attempt is incorrect, a message will appear instructing the player to read the quest guidance carefully and try again.

Unsuccessful attempts will still result in Scout(s) being used, requiring replenishment before they can be used again. Therefore, players should consider this when selecting how many Scouts they use per attempt.

Note: Objectives can still be found without using Scouts. However, this will require the player to travel to the area identified in the clues and use their Observe ability, following the blue markers for areas of interest. This saves the use of a Scout but is more time-consuming, so it’s ultimately down to player preference as to which they prefer to do.

Top Tip: As players progress through the game, they can build and upgrade the Study at the Hideout. At level 1, the Study reduces the Scouting search zone by 25%, and at level 3 it reduces it by 60%. Additionally, for each level the Study is upgraded, an extra Scout will be provided, giving players more Scouts to use and reducing the need to increase the search radius with the smaller search zone.

Retrieving Resources

When infiltrating wealthy enemy camps, castles and temples in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, players will encounter stockpiles of resources that they can tag (while remaining anonymous) for Scouts to collect at the end of the current season. These stockpiles have different visual styles depending on their location but are all marked with a barrel symbol.

Once players have tagged the resources, the resources will then be added to the player’s inventory at the end of the current season. The amount of resources gained from these stockpiles will be extremely beneficial for upgrading the Hideout.

Initially, tagging stockpiles will require two Scouts per use. Given the limited number of Scouts available, players may find this challenging to manage, especially if they want to use Scouts for other tasks.

Top Tip: Players can upgrade the Stables at the Hideout, which will provide two key benefits for resource collection:

• Level 2 will reduce the number of Scouts needed to retrieve resources from two to one.
• Level 3 will increase the amount of resources Scouts can collect by 20%.

Lowering Wanted/ Regional Alert status

Once players have progressed far enough into AC Shadows to play as Yasuke, the Wanted system will come into effect.

While infiltrating enemy castles, camps and temples, players risk being detected by guards. If detected, an alarm will be raised, resulting in a Wanted status being placed upon them. This will put the region on high alert, meaning they’ll have guards looking for them and be hunted down by Guardians.

This makes further exploration within the region difficult, and players will want to remove the Wanted status as soon as possible. Although the Wanted status will be cleared automatically at the start of a new season, players who don’t want to wait that long can once again look to the Scouts for help!

In order for players to use scouts to remove their Wanted status, the Kakurega will need to be built at the Hideout and upgraded to level 2. Once this is done, players will see a ‘Clear Regional Alert’ button in the bottom right-hand corner of the map when hovering over regions where they’re Wanted. Players can then select this button to use two Scouts to remove their Wanted status.

Note: Any unused Scouts at the end of the season will leave rewards in a stash box located in the Hideout Stables. These rewards can be improved by levelling up the Hideout:

• Level 2: Mon
• Level 4: Hideout resources
• Level 6: Crafting upgrade resources
• Level 8: Gear

Top Tip: Using Scouts for recon isn’t always needed. Players can search for the objectives themselves, saving Scouts for when they’re needed elsewhere. This way, players can either reserve them for other purposes or use them to gain rewards at the end of the season in the Stables.

How to Replenish Scouts in AC Shadows

Now that we’ve explained how the Scouts can be used in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, players will also need to know how to replenish Scouts. There are four ways to achieve this: Refilling Scouts in the Kakurega, Waiting for the season to change naturally, Changing the season manually and Helping civilians.

Refill Scouts in the Kakurega

Within the Kakurega at the Hideout, players can find a set of colourful sacks that can be used to refill Scouts for 200 Mon per Scout. This cost can be reduced to 140 Mon per Scout if players build the Nando at the Hideout.

While this is the most expensive option to replenish Scouts, it can be used as many times as needed. If players don’t have time to wait for season changes, this is the go-to method for quickly replenishing scouts.

Wait for Season to Change

At the end of each season, Scouts are replenished automatically without any cost. For players that don’t mind waiting, or those who’re near the end of the current season already, simply waiting for the season to change naturally is an easy option.

Note: The compass in the top-right corner of the map will show players how far through the current season they are.

Manually Change Season

For players who don’t have the Mon required to refill Scouts, or those who’re simply wanting to save their Mon, the ability to manually change seasons can be useful for replenishing Scouts.

Players are able to change the season once the season progression bar is at least half-full. However, caution should be taken not to waste this ability if the season is close to ending naturally.

For more details on manually changing seasons, check out our guide on How to Change Seasons in AC Shadows.

Help Civilians

While travelling between destinations or exploring regions in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, players will come across civilians in need of help. These civilians are typically found near roadsides and may be facing various predicaments, such as being attacked by enemies or struggling with a broken cart.

By assisting these civilians, players will be able to choose between ‘Scout Intel’ or ‘World Rumour’ as a reward. The Scout Intel option will replenish a Scout, so it’s worth stopping when coming across these civilians.

How to Recruit More Scouts

Starting with a very limited number of Scouts, players will quickly realise the need to recruit additional ones. Managing the Scouts in small numbers for all their various purposes can become quite challenging.

Fortunately, there are several ways to recruit more Scouts in AC Shadows and while some do require story progression, others can be achieved fairly quickly.

Below are all the ways to recruit more Scouts in Assassin’s Creed Shadows:

How to Turn the Scouting System Off (For Locating Objective Only)

For players who find the Scouting System in Assassin’s Creed Shadows tedious, particularly when it comes to locating objectives, there is an option to turn off this element of the mechanic. By selecting Options from the menu, then Gameplay, players will find the ‘Guided Exploration Mode’ setting. Switching this setting on will result in the game automatically providing the locations for objectives and targets, without players having to use Scouts or explore to find them.

While this is entirely a matter of player preference, there are two important points that players should be aware of before enabling Guided Exploration Mode:

• The Scouting system will still be used in game to tag resources and remove Wanted status, it will only be turned off for Scouting objective locations.
• The ‘Scouting Mission’ trophy will not be attainable if players have Guided Exploration Mode enabled for the entire game. Players must locate one objective or target with the Scouts to get this trophy.

Whether players enjoy the game fully immersed in the Scouting system or with Guided Exploration Mode enabled, Assassin’s Creed Shadows offers a fresh and exciting addition to the gameplay experience with this new mechanic.

For more information on the game, including trophy guides, quest walkthroughs, and useful gameplay advice, Method has them covered in the AC Shadows guides and articles.