Airwalk to Air Assassinate
[Front-paged. -stabguy]
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.
Here are the observations. Remember when Francesco starts talking right before the scene prior to his assassination?
"Oh, the boy thinks himself a master swordsman? Death shall be your reward!"
This is triggered when or before you reach the roof Francesco is on. If you climb the building from the front and to the clock tower that's the closest you get before triggering the dialogue. Looking at Francesco you will notice he is moving around weirdly (there is also an archer on the building with the same behavior). This stops when the dialogue is triggered. I've tested this out to see if anything interesting can be done, but with no results.
The other observation is you can send a hired group of thieves after Francesco. Even during the scene they try to lure him, although his AI isn't to chase after them. I've tried using this for an Early Death in two ways. One is pushing him off the roof when he climbs onto it during the scene. I haven't been successful so far, perhaps the timing needs to be perfect. Too soon and he falls back on the roof. Too late and the thieves can't push him. The other way is continually hiring thieves to push him away from the corner and to a place I can get to him without starting the scene. That seemed to be going well until I realized I can't move him past a certain point. Whenever I move him past a certain spot and came back with another group of hired thieves the target was moved back a little. If I moved him past that spot again and again he would still be moved back whenever I came back. I still have hope an Early Death is still possible, but I've already spent hours trying things out. So I hope you enjoy these extras.
If I recall correctly, this idea was how Aurel and I first met. He commented on my Airwalk to Assassinate video (which only demonstrated jump/stunt assassinations) that "you could of air assassinated the guy if you pushed the attack button right after you selected the hidden blades". Aurel failed to mention using the weapon wheel, so I didn't know what he was talking about.
I assume that if the "falling" assassination were a thing, it would have been discovered by now. Someone would have been in freefall, rage hit button, assassinated a random dude and posted it on youtube.
Whether you free fall from a building or from falling out of the air it shouldn't matter once you've triggered the fall.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Ian and I spent a long time investigating reports of falling assassinations. On both AC1 and AC2 there were a handful of people who would say, "I was falling to my death and there happened to be a guard there. I must have hit the assassinate button at exactly the right time because it saved my life." I interviewed a few of them to find out what caused them to fall, how the kill animation looked, etc. Our results were inconclusive. If it is a glitch, it's so rare that nobody on THB has experienced it and it hasn't been caught on video.
Ian and I spent a long time investigating reports of falling assassinations. On both AC1 and AC2 there were a handful of people who would say, "I was falling to my death and there happened to be a guard there. I must have hit the assassinate button at exactly the right time because it saved my life." I interviewed a few of them to find out what caused them to fall, how the kill animation looked, etc. Our results were inconclusive. If it is a glitch, it's so rare that nobody on THB has experienced it and it hasn't been caught on video.
It's the bigfoot of THB!
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Strange, I never heard of people experiencing fall assassinations except for in the Assassinations Challenges video. Originally I would have thought falling air assassinations wouldn't have worked in AC2 because Ezio isn't standing near the edge of a roof with the option to drop off, but this very exploit proves there's more to the mechanic.
Now about the more pressing matter. I would rather believe people when they say this happened to them. Why you ask? Remember the story behind Robert's death in memory block one? When someone first posted on Gamefaqs about this he couldn't prove it since it was based on a once in a lifetime glitch. One person called him a liar, another said it was just wishful thinking. I try not to be gullible, but I also like to give people the benefit of the doubt if it's not too crazy.
Another thing that convinces me. In one of Ian's videos he shows a "real leap of faith" by jumping off a high place and bumping into a tree right before hitting the ground.
http://thehiddenblade.com/eagle-strike-cathedral-holy-cross
Now if the game doesn't think you were falling through the air because you bump into something it's more than likely bumping into a character the right way can for a split second allow you to air to assassinate. I guess I have myself a new challenge. 
I would rather believe people when they say this happened to them.
I do believe them. At first I thought it was an undiscovered game mechanic (just as air to assassinate was undiscovered to many of us at one time). Then I thought they were mistaken about it being a fatal fall and were "accidentally" doing an air to assassinate, stunt assassination, or perhaps even an eagle strike. Now I suspect it's a rare glitch.
The last person I interviewed told a compelling story. He fell from the top of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Acre's Rich District. Instead of falling all the way to the ground, he fell north toward the missing spire. He says he survived by assassinating Templar #3 on the roof of the cathedral. When I said you can't jump that far (horizontally) from the spire to the Templar's location, he said that the Templar had been aggravated during the climb and was still waiting for him near the base of the spire. I tried to replicate this scenario but failed. As I recall, the Templar lost interest and returned to his post. Also, I couldn't hold a Target Lock all the way to the top of the spire.
Do you HAVE to be locked onto your target to get it to work though?
I assume it's not possible to airwalk like 50m above a guy from a tower to the ground, switch weapons, free fall and mash it until you're within range... but what if you free fall, lock then mash? can you do it? hmm...
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Like I state in the description, locking on isn't required. I have no idea if it's possible to do a falling assassination in AC2, although I heard rumors of people doing just that in AC1.
http://thehiddenblade.com/assassination-challenges
But as far as I know it's hasn't been proven. Locking on may be what was missing if it is indeed possible. Hmmm. Anyone want to start up AC1 and try?
I forgot one more thing. I mentioned before using temporarily skipping through the game and the fast travel glitch to collect all the feathers. I tried that and obtained all the feathers and deposited them in the box in a save file near the beginning of the game. But when I went back into free roam mode...
the cape didn't show up in the outfits menu (not a big surprise because the regular cape doesn't show up either until you get the assassin outfit) and the hammer wasn't available for sale. But if I played a bit more maybe the Auditore cape will be available after getting the assassin outfit.
Like I state in the description, locking on isn't required. I have no idea if it's possible to do a falling assassination in AC2, although I heard rumors of people doing just that in AC1.
http://thehiddenblade.com/assassination-challenges
But as far as I know it's hasn't been proven. Locking on may be what was missing if it is indeed possible. Hmmm. Anyone want to start up AC1 and try?I forgot one more thing. I mentioned before using temporarily skipping through the game and the fast travel glitch to collect all the feathers. I tried that and obtained all the feathers and deposited them in the box in a save file near the beginning of the game. But when I went back into free roam mode...
the cape didn't show up in the outfits menu (not a big surprise because the regular cape doesn't show up either until you get the assassin outfit) and the hammer wasn't available for sale. But if I played a bit more maybe the Auditore cape will be available after getting the assassin outfit.
I've tried the falling assassination, but I never accomplish this. As far as I know, even the trainer can't do it. So, if anyone can do it, that would be appalling.
About your cape, the worst case is that you can never get it, I guess. 
Ha ha! That was fun. 
this was enjoyable to watch. can you refresh my memory on the airwalk? do you have to throw a knife and hold the button to airwalk? was that it?
also, how high above your target can you be?
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
this was enjoyable to watch. can you refresh my memory on the airwalk? do you have to throw a knife and hold the button to airwalk? was that it?also, how high above your target can you be?
The throwing knife glitch is made possible after you purchase the special attack from the fighting ring (ironically the name of the special attack is "flying knife"). Just hold down the attack button while walking or running and having throwing knives equipped. This was patched some time ago, but luckily someone deleted updates for the Xbox 360. I had to make a new game though, because the save games wouldn't load due to the updates being deleted.
If you are directly above your target and able to lock on that guarantees an air assassination. The maximum lock on distance is fifteen meters, but if you're already locked on it can be extended to thirty meters. When extended far enough it causes a spring loaded air assassination. I guess a spring loaded airwalk to air assassinate is possible by locking on and climbing, then airwalking above your target. After that we can try air walk to eagle strike, airwalk to TINS, etc.
The airwalks didn't take long, but some other stuff did. I spent hours investigating a possible slightly Early Death with Francesco. 
I also tried an idea for Vieri. It seemed possible to get the airwalk glitch during Vieri's assassination. Since you don't obtain throwing knives until that memory you would think it's impossible to get the special attack beforehand, but... there is a trick, temporarily skipping through the game.
http://thehiddenblade.com/assassins-creed-2-temporarily-skip-far-game
Pretty much the concept is replay a memory, sign out of your Xbox account, sign back in under another save file, and the game will load into that memory, thinking you are that far in the game. how does this help? With the help of the fast travel glitch.
http://thehiddenblade.com/mark-and-execute-assassination-variety-pack
The concept of this is right when you complete a replayed memory you can fast travel. I used this to get to the fighting ring on a save file where I was on the memory with Vieri's assassination. So I purchased the throwing knife special attack, exited the memory, and... the throwing knife glitch didn't work. I thought maybe it didn't save the ability, but when I replayed the memory the glitch worked. So it seems the game knows you aren't supposed to have certain abilities until certain parts of the game. I made a new game just for that. That's two more hours wasted. 