Buy Assassin’s Creed III on Amazon

The bulk of your ranged weaponry will no doubt be comprised largely of pistols and a bow, and their respective munitions. However a true assassin never stops just there, as there is a multitude of individual items at your disposal that utilise special effects beyond brute force in combat.

Poison Darts:

Nearly every foe in the entire game is susceptible to poison darts. While some characters are granted immunity due to the plot, just about any other foe is incapacitated with a single, thrown dart. On a successful hit, your target immediately loses interest in your character, even if they had an SSI metre, after which they stumble for a bit (attracting the attention of those nearby) before falling over.

In open combat, the darts are highly effective, allowing you to instantly disable a target to get out of a jam in a pinch, along with their Special Counter that has you stab the target at the same time, tossing them aside.

By default, you can only carry three poison darts at a time, however you can craft a pouch upgrade to carry 4, and get a UPlay reward to carry 5.

Rope Darts:

These require a bit more discipline, as their employment is not as straightforward as with poison darts. In total, there are five techniques to using rope darts:

• From a tree or beam above your target, hold ‘Triangle’/Y to strangle the target below you.
• Also from a tree or beam, hold ‘Triangle’/Y and press L in the correct direction to hang your target.
• On the ground, target an enemy and hold ‘Triangle’/Y to pull your enemy to you and perform a finishing move.
• In combat, pull them to the ground, and finish them if they are close enough to you.
• Using a rope dart for a Special Counter instantly kills your enemy.

Rope darts have the same carrying limitations as poison darts (default of 3, with two upgrades to carry an additional one each), and the final upgrade is still a UPlay exclusive.

Smoke Bombs:

Smoke bombs can pull double duty for Connor: on the one hand, they can be used to flee a hairy situation, of course, though on the other, when in combat, they can be used to confuse or paralyze your nearby enemies, allowing for quick, easy kills. Aside from Connor and his allies, the only people affected by the smoke bombs are those in its cloud.

Like the previous two items, smoke bombs have a default carrying capacity of 3, with two upgrades to carry an additional one each, and the final upgrade is still a UPlay exclusive.

Trip Mines:

Last but far from least are trip mines. Mines take a bit of time to actually plant, as you have to hold ‘Triangle’/Y until a bar fills, which gives guards an opportunity to notice the act and inspect it, so make sure to do it out of sight. Obviously mines are meant to kill people, and do so without you having to leave a trace. And of course they’re rather loud tools of trade, meaning they can double as an effective distraction when infiltrating an area.

Note that you can lay multiple traps, but things are bound to get out of hand if you do. Like it or not, civilians can activate trip mines, and killing too many will cause immediate desynchronization. Inversely, you and your allies cannot activate these devices at all, though if the mission ends and not all the mines are set off, you can interact with unused mines to pick them back up.

Believe it or not, you can also Special Counter with mines by sticking one onto an enemy’s chest and pushing them away before it explodes. This especially comes in handy when fighting large groups of enemies, as the local explosion will stun nearby foes, but not you.

Buy Assassin’s Creed III on Amazon