A look at our picks for three of the best builds for Naoe to take your gameplay to the next level.
Assassin's Creed Shadows offers an extensive array of weapons, armour, trinkets, and talents, allowing you to craft a build centered on ranged combat, area of effect (AOE), affliction buildup, or sheer damage output. There are numerous gameplay styles available.
Having invested considerable time in AC Shadows, we have compiled three builds that we believe highlight Naoe's strengths.
Best Builds for Naoe
Pro tip: You can create loadouts for Yasuke and Naoe. This feature is unlocked once you unlock Yasuke and add the Gallery building to your hideout.
Working with Epic's Naoe Build
| Item name | Slot | Effect | Best Engraving | Why's it good? |
| Bloodshade Katana | Weapon 1 | Affliction buildup is not lost over time | Increase bleed damage | The bleed effect is easy to land, and the Bloodshade Katana builds up fast. This, plus the rest of the build, makes it deadly |
| Any non-Legendary weapon of your choice | Weapon 2 | N/A | See best engraving | Go for any item you like as an alternative. The point of the build is to lean on the Katana regardless |
| Find an epic Headgear with an effect in the 3rd column | Headguard | +25% damage from Bleed on afflicted enemies or +14% damage on hitting afflicted enemies | The other effect from colum 3 | Again, we want any epic here that also improves our bleed buildup. The assassination segment damage is also good, as it gives us a strong opener |
| We want an EPIC armor here with the spread affliction buildup on kill | Armor | Epic with the spread affliction buildup on kill |
Attacks have 3% chance to remove 1 Health Segment on hit |
As with many of these, you can swap around the armor and engraving if it's easier, but the affliction buildup spread is important |
| Oni's Fury | Trinket | 15% damage per non-Legendary | 60% adrenaline gain when hitting vulnerable enemies or 10% stats to weapon/armor (these are separate, so take your pick) | The most important item/engraving on the list. To make this build work, we must have this trinket. Without it, we just have a middling bleed build |
Build Highlight
Oni's Fury and Epic Items
The key item to the build. Without this item, the build doesn't work, and thankfully, it's really easy to get. We have the details below, but many people will likely get it just by playing. This is a fairly unique build that uses Epic items over Legendary ones. Obviously, legendary items have higher stats; however, if you use this trinket alongside two Epic armor items, the damage gain is amazing.
How to get Oni's Fury
Head to the Izumi Settsu region in the Kawachi Heights and inside the Teratsutsuki Den you'll find the trinket.
Bleed Build for Naoe
| Item name | Slot | Effect | Best Engraving | Why's it good? |
| Bloodshade Katana | Weapon 1 | Affliction buildup is not lost over time | Increase bleed damage | The bleed effect is easy to land, and the Bloodshade Katana builds up fast. The build will focus on this effect, so it's key that we have a good weapon for it |
| No item in this slot | Weapon 2 | N/A | N/A | To get the benefit of our Trinket, we only want to have our main weapon |
| Peasant Headgear | Headgear | +100% of an Adrenaline Chunk when entering combat | +25% damage from bleed on afflicted enemies | The free adrenaline chunk, in addition to the bleed damage, is important for us here |
| Peasant Clothes | Armor | Attacks have a 3% chance to remove 1 Health Segment on hit | +10% affliction buildup on critical hit | The armor options are not great here, but the chance to remove 1 entire Health Segment with the Peasant Clothes is good. You can take almost any affliction buildup as the engraving |
| Dragonfly's Cunning | Trinket | +15% to Stats with only a Katana equipped | +24% damage on next hit after parry | This trinket is great, as it leans into the Bloodshade Katana, which is what we want to do. The engraving us up to you. |
Build highlight
Bloodshade Katana
A key part of the build. Not only is the affliction buildup not being lost key, but the item has a really high Bleed Buildup %. The Bloodshade Katana is also amazing if you want to complete the Final Hearing Trophy, which is one of the easier trophies to get.
Pro tip: Upgrade items like weapons every few levels to keep them competitive.
How to get the Bloodshade katana
We've done a separate guide for where to find the Bloodshade Katana. As a TLDR: Izumi Settsu - Osaka - look for a boat out to see - climb up it and loot the chest at the top.
AOE Kusarigama Naoe Build
| Item name | Slot | Effect | Best Engraving | Why's it good? |
| Demon Tooth | Weapon 1 | +2 Health Segment Removal on Rush Assassinate |
+72% Armor Damage when hitting multiple opponents |
Other Legendary Kusarigama work here; the weapon itself is the key, rather than the specific item. |
| Any weapon of your choice | Weapon 2 | N/A | See best engraving | Use whatever you like here. A Tanto would be a good alternative just because it's so different from the Kusarigama. |
| Yurei-Walker Hood | Headgear | +2 Health Segments removed on Assassination from the shadows | +1 Health Segment removed on Assassinations | This item, plus Demon Tooth, gives us a near-guaranteed assassination opener |
| Peasant Clothes | Armor | Attacks have a 3% chance to remove 1 Health Segment on hit | Avoid death and gain immunity for 8 seconds one time | Peasant Clothes are really good here, though the second engraving isn't as easy to nail down. We've taken the avoid death engraving, but a plus damage engraving also works |
| Flight of the Ubagabi | Trinket | +1% adrenaline gain per Mastery Point in kusarigami | +2% Critical Damage per Mastery Point in Katana | The trinket acts as a nice passive boost to the rest of the build and helps bring even more overall damage. |
Build Highlights
Demon Tooth
As we mentioned in the brief above, no one item really makes this build work. However, a Kusarigama of some sort is required. Demon Tooth is a good option as it's fairly easy to get, and one of the earlier Legendary items you can get easily.
How to get Demon Tooth
Found in a Legendary Chest at Arima Onsen in Harima.
Best Mastery Builds for Naoe
None of these builds strictly requires any specific talents to work so that you can use the builds regardless of level. However, we recommend some key Naoe abilities. Obviously, for the Kusarigama build, focus on talents there, for the bleed and AOE build, focus on the weapons used and Shinobi talents there.
