Winning the Impossible Fight
Winning the Impossible Fight
After the execution of Ezio's father and brothers, Ezio rushes forward, and Uberto Alberti calls for the gaurds to arrest him and "abbattetelo". Then, two brutes and several other guards encircle Ezio, and one of the brutes disarms Ezio, leaving him unarmed, unskilled, and sorely outnumbered. The developers tried to make it so that the only course of action was to run, but since when has that ever stopped us?
(Not Necessarily New) Observations, Discoveries, and Tips
Ubisoft tried to make it impossible to fight off the numerous guards that swarm you by surrounding you with very strong brutes and infinitely respawning captains (and some Pazzi, but they're already supposed to be easy enough). As you supposedly do not know yet how to disarm, things should be very difficult. However, the brutes, as you will see later, and very easy to dispatch, and if you do things right, you can complete the mission before the captains respawn.
Now, first, of course, you deal with the unarmed Pazzi, because they're the least frustrated and the easiest to counter. Just punch and counter them, it's not too hard. Now, here is the weird part. You aren't supposed to be able to disarm until Memory Sequence 5, right? Well, if I remember correctly, this mission is in Memory Sequence 1. So we can't disarm, right? Well, try disarming a brute, see what happens. Well, what happens is that he gets disarmed. Apparently when making it so that a brute could be disarmed without you needing to whittle down his health, Ubi mistakenly made it so that brutes could be disarmed at any point in the game, including in the first Memory Sequence. So, now that we've disarmed our brute, go ahead and kill him. If you're trying to go weaponless, drop the weapon (mind, you can't pick it up again, Ezio doesn't learn that ability until MS3) and knock him out anyway you see fit. If you don't mind using weapons, kill him, and use it to battle the rest of the guards as you would at any point later in the game. Make sure not to counter, otherwise you lose the weapon.
However, using a brutes weapon is the easy way. In the video, I do it the considerably harder way. Getting rid of the two brutes without using weapons is simple enough, but what about the infinitely respawning captains? You have two options:
1. Lead the rest of the guards to somewhere else where they won't respawn
2. Lower each of the guards' health down to 1, but don't knock any out, or he'll respawn. Then, knock them all out in quick succession. If you wait too long, the KO'd guards will come back, and you'll be back at square one.
In the video, I use option 1, but upon reconsideration, I would prefer option 2. Feels more like you achieved the impossible, doesn't it?
Special thanks to Fly Like an Eagle for the idea, as well as some helpful tips about hand-to-hand combat in Assassin's Creed 
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."- Winston Churchhill
"Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you
Can I at least get some credit? Or a special thanks? Feeling kind of left out here...
nice job exploring this, esp the disarming of the brutes! where is ulberto during all this? which pazzi do you manage to kill? just pazzi thugs? its the thugs that respawn, right? it seems that the first thing you should do is take the fight elsewhere.
i think id prefer option 2 with disarming the brute and fighting. maybe i'll try that sometime.
Can I at least get some credit? Or a special thanks? Feeling kind of left out here...
Sorry FLAE I did this in kind of a hurry becaus I would have no computer access for a while and I was about to leave (I'm posting this from my iPod) I'll make sure to give you props when I next get computer access, which is hopefully soon.
nice job exploring this, esp the disarming of the brutes! where is ulberto during all this? which pazzi do you manage to kill? just pazzi thugs? its the thugs that respawn, right? it seems that the first thing you should do is take the fight elsewhere.i think id prefer option 2 with disarming the brute and fighting. maybe i'll try that sometime.
Uberto and Borgia magically disappear upon the end of the cutscene. I meant the Pazzi thugs, not any actual pazzi, they're not present. The captains (skilled guards) respawn quickly but the thugs seem to respawn only half as fast. However, it needs more investigating.
I would have moved earlier but I was demonstrating the infinite respawn and seeing if it was possible to not move (it is according to FLAE). I'm planning to make a part 2 and maybe a part 3 with part2 using the disarmed brutes' weapons and part 3 without moving the fight.
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."- Winston Churchhill
"Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you
Finding a work around to the respawn is really easy, though. I believe it kicks in when you get down to about two or three guards (I remember getting down to a captain when it happened), so the best way to do it is to leave 3-4 left alive with one health block remaining to the point where it takes only one punch. Knock them all out in a span of 10 seconds (I made sure the two were basic guards) and knocked them out quickly. If you wanted to make it REALLY easy, you could just leave the Pazzi thugs alive. After that the fight ends, and the deconstruction occurs. You could easily do it red.
The first time I did this, the only guards that respawned were captains. I never had the Pazzi respawn and I don't believe the brutes respawn at all.
Brutes don't respawn, and Pazzi respawn regardless of the number of captains, and vice versa. Also, the captains always respawned when I got down to two. So basically, if I use a brute weapon, it'll be really easy, but unarmed, it might take a few tries to get them all very quickly, especially since captains counter your punches about 66% of the time, it seems.
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."- Winston Churchhill
"Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you
That's the beauty of throwing sand, they have no way of fighting back, especially when their health is so low. The same applies for brutes, though they're even more susceptible than captains are.
But don't you have to learn the throw sand ability at the training ring?
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."- Winston Churchhill
"Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you
But don't you have to learn the throw sand ability at the training ring?
Nope. Allow me to direct you to the FAQ. 
http://www.thehiddenblade.com/assassins-creed-ii-faq#abilitiescombat
i tried to do this a few minutes ago, but it so damn frustrating to try and get them with my fists since they counter it so much, i wasn't hitting anything.
so i was eventually forced to get the Brutes weapons and slash the rest.
i tried to do this a few minutes ago, but it so damn frustrating to try and get them with my fists since they counter it so much, i wasn't hitting anything.
so i was eventually forced to get the Brutes weapons and slash the rest.
It's easier if you strafe behind them when they attack. That allows you to start a combo and they can't block or counter it if you time it right.
Strafing is harder than it sounds when you run the risk of getting surrounded. And if you get surrounded, you're guaranteed to lose at least 1 health block.
"When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite."- Winston Churchhill
"Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you
Strafing is harder than it sounds when you run the risk of getting surrounded. And if you get surrounded, you're guaranteed to lose at least 1 health block.
I disagree. Strafing can be used quite effectively by an experienced player, allowing him/her to maintain control over the battlefield. It's fairly simple to position the enemies where you want them prior to making your attack. You can block everything (but the Brutes' smash), so it's a matter of patience and timing.
For anyone wanting to pratice strategies for moves like strafing, I recommend playing around in Forli. You can almost be in a perpetual state of combat there and the guards come in all varieties. It's a great place to practice combat as the guards respawn at a shorter distance than in Venice. In Venice, after clearing the San Marco area you have to go pretty far away to make the main guards respawn. In Forli, just circle around the block.
I've spent hours and hours fighting in Forli and I became much better at combat in AC2. I recommend it to anyone looking to improve their skills.
Ah! I still havent got no hitter, so do you think its easier for me to get it in Forli than in Venice?
Thanks to SBIzokronus for the fantastic sig!
It's easier to get it in Rome, honestly. It's kind of like you're forced to get the achievement there.
Or you can "cheat" and use smoke bombs virtually anywhere. 
Honestly, the only times I've ever used smokebombs, I've felt like a dumbass afterwards.
Honestly, the only times I've ever used smokebombs, I've felt like a dumbass afterwards.
During serious gameplay I've seen no real need for them. However, I use them frequently during mechanics testing. When I want to try something against just a Brute or just an Agile or just something one-on-one and I get like 10 guys on me, I smoke'em and quickly kill off the ones I don't want around. Really makes me wish I could carry more than the default amount.
I hope we will in the DLC, seeing how at the moment it is specifically stated as being a small smoke bomb pouch, that kinda implies that you will be able to upgrade it.
Thanks to SBIzokronus for the fantastic sig!
I cant wait for the DLC I get so bored with killing people in Venice.... I mean Hugging Them
I just did this part of the game and didnt know you could end the respawning guards. My goal was to kill the two Brutes. Im not sure why this hasnt been brought up but this could be a fourth method of doing it. You can grab them and throw them into the block of wood like in AC1. The thugs are easy to grab, what i did was move the battle to the wood and then threw a thug into it, it wiped out both Brutes and most of the captains
Maybe if you climb on top of it you could lure more to it easier
Are you also able to disarm long weapons, or just heavy weapons?
That is a pretty cool alternative SBIsocronus. I always wanted that part to go another way, and now it always will!