The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

Sequence 12 memory 3. During this part of the game the whole city is a restricted area, so the challenge of being unseen is even greater. Combined with that is being forced into detection, not once but twice! However that isn't a problem with some THB exploits to help make Edward a ghost throughout the whole mission.

Tainted Blood

You start out by tailing El Tiburon to the location of Torres. Along the way you'll have to deal with the city guards. I figured it was better to follow by rooftop, where agunmen were the only problem. By using the path taken in the video you only have to worry about a few of them. Just stay out of their sight until they face away to move.

Next you reach the fort holding "Torres". The most direct route is from the tree in the front. A guard is patrolling that part of the roof. This part is a bit tricky since there are two other guards who can see you when you're moving from the roof to the inside. Keep an eye on the minimap to see which way they're facing (playing in standard quality sucks because it's too blurry to tell, so had to rely on some luck).

Now for assassinating the fake Torres. I wanted his death to seem mysterious, so poison was used. Before I would have tried a chokehold knockout to leave no evidence of foul play, but in this case it wouldn't work with remaining unseen.

Sequence 2 memory 4.

A Man They Call the Sage

At the beginning of the memory you catch glimpses of assassins running around. So far I've seen five, which all can be killed in one take. They're everywhere, in the streets, on rooftops, even in haystacks. Some are scripted to appear at certain times, while others are affected by being within a certain area of them. And they disappear at a certain point, so killing them has no effect on the mission.

For the mission itself you protect Torres from assassin attacks. The rooftop archers are the only ones who can do damage to him, so if you take them out fast enough there are no worries about him losing any health.

Early Death

The last part of the mission has you chasing after the Sage. The game developers didn't want you to be able to kill him, and so desynched you if he was killed or incapacitated. However... there is an exception. A ground stomp, which actually seems to start the scene.

The way I did it was plant barrels from the nearby places (one in a restricted area and two in a building) and shot them after the scene to knock him down. It seems the barrels will kill him if he's too close when they blow up. A ground knockout with fists or hidden blades is recorded as an incapacitation in the stats, which is a way of assassinating targets, so I'd count it as an Early Death.

A ground kill with swords desynchs you. Also if you perform an air tackle you have time to perform a ground stomp (not enough time with a regular tackle), so using barrels isn't necessary, although it adds some THB flair. Since it's so easy I expect other people may have discovered this, although I have yet to see anyone else document it. Another thing to note is if he's knocked down and you get near him the scene starts even if he's already gotten back up.

About six months ago I found this route, then I've been waiting for someone to ask the possibility of Ghost Run in this task. Has anyone tried to it?

Since we've get some stealth videos recently, so maybe it's time to publish it.

http://youtu.be/0z6vGLx-jeA
[Front-paged. -stabguy]

I tried to do a ghost run, but I really don't see how such a thing could be possible. Anyway, here's what I ended up with. Enjoy!

- No detections Never seen
- No kills/takedowns (except "Torres" and El Tiburón)
- No special outfits
- No ranged weapons/tools

The article on Double Jump and Bump (DJ&B) is finally here!

Mechanics
It has been known for a very long time that you can get saved citizens and informers to shut up by bumping into them as they are talking. Stabguy decided to name this techique Jump and Bump, for obvious reasons. There were also some pickpocket scenes where you could "get in the huddle" of the scene.

DJ&B combines these two things. The goal is to bump all participants in the scene by using a well-aimed jump or fall. When all participants have been bumped, the scene ends like it does for regular Jump and Bump.

Techniques and Examples
In the video I have included a several examples of DJ&B-ing to illustrate the techniques used.

Setting up a DJ&B is fairly straightforward: you have to position yourself or jump fairly precisely in order to get the scene to end. That doesn't mean it's easy, but it's uncomplicated. Here are a few techniques to help you find and execute new DJ&B's.

Most times you'll want to first bump into the first NPC and then have him bump into the second NPC. However, there is also at least one case where you bump into both participants simultaneously to end the scene. You can view an example in the video at 1:08. It's the only case I know of currently.

Sometimes you'll need a little extra distance, like in the last clip (2:08). In that case, you can use the trick first used by MAGLX to find an easy way to Garnier's Early Death to gain that extra distance. It's not surprising that the last DJ&B is the hardest to get. I've spent considerable time on finding a good setup, but still am not consistent with this skip.

It's also helpful to use the environment to line up a fall (you can still drop from hanging during a scene) to achieve bumpage. This is demonstrated in the first and third clips.

The clip at 1:30 is a bit odd, in that bumping these characters will spook them. I suspect this happens because they are bumped twice. After becoming anonymous, you're able to perform the pickpocket as if the scene still has happened.

Likewise, I'm not sure what was going on at 1:18. Sometimes you zip through the invisible wall that goes up (this happens in the clip at 1:30), but that didn't happen here.

Applications and Further Research-type-stuff
DJ&B is primarily useful in speedruns. It allows you to skip cutscenes, some of which can take up to 40 seconds. All the setups in the video are the fastest I could find and I will include them, along with some others in my AC1 Speedrun, should I ever finish that.

The list of DJ&B's in the video is not exhaustive. I know at least one more DJ&B in the Sibrand Investigation, and have not bothered with a lot of the other pickpockets. I do think there are pickpockets where DJ&B isn't possible (there's one with three characters in the Jubair investigation).

I hope you enjoyed watching the video and reading the article. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

Surprise, everyone! I finally got to playing Black Flags.

Early Death

Shortly before the assassination you tail the target on an eavesdropping mission. Right before the scene at the end you have a chance of killing both Prins and Torres (who I believe to also be a target in the game, although I haven't gotten that far yet) in a double air assassination.

It's a bit tricky since there are a couple of brutes right there, plus you don't want to do anything that would interrupt the conversation or the scene might start before the end of the conversation which would make predicting the time the scene starts impossible. Sleep darts help in keeping them at bay, but don't use beserk darts since that would draw their attention (in the video I used a beserk dart to lower a brute's health to kill him with one shot of the pistol).

It seems Ubisoft tried to make it impossible for an Early Death because shortly before the scene the targets are invincible to attacks, although there aren't for a split second before the scene starts (during that split second they change from yellow to red in eagle vision).

You don't actually see the kill, but you hear the sound of the blades. further proof is the glitched scene!

Completely Stealthy Pacifist Run

The goal is to be as stealthy as possible, the closest thing to a mysterious death. This means no yellow or red social status indicators. Start off by entering the place from the right. Sometimes I've gotten seen; it might have been because I wasn't fast enough or there might be some luck involved. After climbing the mansion stay to the left of the archer. There are two guards patrolling the backyard area. Move when their backs are turned and you won't have any trouble.

Now for the assassination. I chose a low profile fist kill because it was non lethal and matched the "mysterious" description. I may not be an expert on strangling, but I'd be willing to bet it can be done without leaving any marks.

"Employee of the Month"

For the fun of it I wanted to try killing the target with a beserked guard. the closest guard patrolling the backyard area is the best option, but it will take luring to get him to directly go after the target. When he comes from one side of the patrol he temporarily stops by the alarm bell. From the stalking zone you are close enough to attract him with a whistle. I took out the other guard by the back of the house because the beserked guard might go after him instead, depending on whether he or the target is closer.

When in combat with the poisoned guard the target gets in a battle stance but makes no attempt to attack (also if you poison the target to fight you he won't attack either.) Now for a surprise. By doing this I managed to complete an Abstergo challenge and got the Employee of the Month achievement for completing twenty five Abstergo challenges.

Killing the brutes in the Sistine Chapel is tricky because if they are in sight of other brutes when they die you desynch (with the exception of poison). Here are two old methods of emptying out the place.
http://thehiddenblade.com/silent-worship-using-papal-staff
http://thehiddenblade.com/silent-worship-shortcut

Now while playing around in there I happened upon a glitch. You can get away with regular kills on the guards if done right. Also you can do it without even being seen (no yellow bars).

Setup
When you get in the room climb along the wall and lock onto one of the brutes in the middle. Now keep that lock and get back to the entrance of the room. Throw a knife. The brute reacts by searching a nearby group of civilians. After throwing the second knife immediately leave the room. If you get far enough away you won't desynch. You'll know the exact boundary line because it's when you can't hear Rodrigo. Now if you enter the room with the dead body in there you'll desynch. To remedy that get far enough away to make the body disappear (thanks to IanXO4 for explaining that in his video).

Now when you enter the place you can get away with killing the guards in front of each other, even with the hidden gun. Just remember that if you get detected you will still desynch.

Observation
With throwing knives you can kill Rodrigo and quickly pick up his body. However he still respawns after the memory corridor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbVrHQJWSJU

--- front paged by IanXO4 ---

I knew a same theme on this forums, but I always unable to watch it, and I don't know what's differences between my video and that one. So I decided to make this.
http://www.thehiddenblade.com/honor-lost-and-won-tarik-assassination-var...

In addition, I have tried many times Long Shot, which has a very close, but I messed up because I forgot to taken his health to a minimum, so that shot is not enough to kill him.

Until recently it was thought greaves were the one piece of armor that had to be carried around. Here is how to remove them.

This was inspired by the same concept of removing armor by MAGLX n ACB.

Setup

The trick is Skipping, discovered by Hit468 which as far as we know only works on Xbox 360.
http://thehiddenblade.com/assassins-creed-2-temporarily-skip-far-game
How Skipping works is you replay a memory on a save file, then sign out of your Xbox account and back in. This gets you out of the game. If you go on to a different save, when you start the game up you are in the replay of the same memory. What's more is when you are in that replay the game thinks you are as far in the game as the other save file. Replaying a memory from a save early in the game removes armor because the game knows you shouldn't have any armor at that time. Here are a few things to keep in mind to make it work right.

1. Equip a different pair of greaves other than the leather ones. This is because if you have the leather ones equipped you still see them after the replayed memory, even though the game says you have none equipped.
2. The memory you replay from has to be early in the game, before you have to buy the greaves, but also after you get the assassin outfit. This is because if you do a replay from before you get the outfit, after the replay it will reequip the assassin outfit along with anything else you had equipped beforehand, including the greaves.
3. The save from which you choose to remove the greaves can't be too far in the game. I think the reason for this is some of the upgrades might change your appearance, such as the second hidden blade. Therefore when you leave the replay it will change your appearance back to how it was, reequipping anything you had beforehand. The save I used in this video for replaying is sometime after getting the assassin outfit; and the save I removed the greaves from is right after assassinating Vieri.

You also have to complete the replayed memory. Exiting the replay won't remove the greaves.

Another thing to keep in mind is this also removes throwing knives from the weapon wheel permanently. I'm not sure if there is a way to get them back (perhaps removing the greaves before getting throwing knives from Mario might do the trick).

Airwalk to air assassinate is made possible by the throwing knife glitch (it has been patched, so you would have to delete the update to still use it). Basically start airwalking and when an enemy is in range (locking on isn't required) switch to your hidden blade(s) using the weapon wheel and mash the attack button to air assassinate when getting out of the weapon wheel.

This is demonstrated on some targets. First the Pazzi conspirators, excluding Stephano da Bagnone who was a challenge to air assassinate since he walked under a building roof throughout his entire travel route.

Bernardo Baroncelli is simple enough. Airwalk from a nearby roof into his path.

The setup for Francesco Salviati is about the same as for the stunt IanXO4 did a while back.
http://thehiddenblade.com/francesco-salviati-assassination-variety-pack

For Antonio Maffei I use the airwalk glitch as a shortcut reaching the tower the target's on. At the start of the mission climb up the nearby tower and airwalk in the direction of the target. Now this causes an inconsistency in the game because the mercenary tells Ezio that Antonio Maffei is on the city's tallest structure, and yet the tower you airwalk from is a little higher. The actual assassination doesn't end in an air assassination because you get seen before reaching the target, causing him to jump to the railing where he can't be assassinated while in a crouching position.

Francesco de' Pazzi is used as an example of air tackling since he can't be air assassinated. And speaking of which I had some stuff recorded I put in this video since that was the only way it would see the light of day. I had investigated a possible Early Death on Francesco right before the assassination, but it failed.