Best Assassin’s Creed Shadows Engravings for all weapons and armor

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How to add Engravings
Best Naoe Engravings
Best Yasuke Engravings

Finding the best Assassin’s Creed Shadows engravings and applying them to weapons and armor will make both Naoe and Yasuke substantially more powerful. Some engravings are small buffs while others add substantial changes and improvements to particular weapons and attacks in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. However, there are many to choose from, so this guide will help you discover the best engravings in the game for Naoe and Yasuke and how to apply them using the Forge.

How to add Assassin’s Creed Shadows Engravings to gear

Assassin's Creed Shadows legendary naoe headgear engraving — (Image credit: Ubisoft)

You can apply standard (white) Assassin’s Creed Shadows engravings to your gear at the Forge in your Hideout, provided your Forge is at level 2. However, you can only apply superior legendary-tier engravings (gold) once you’ve upgraded the Forge to level three, which requires quite a lot of Assassin’s Creed Shadows Hideout resources.

To engrave your weapons and gear in AC Shadows, you’ll need to view the blacksmith’s shop in the Assassin’s Creed Shadows Hideout and then press RB/R1 to reach the engravings tab. As a PSA, if it says there’s no suitable item to engrave, it just means you don’t have a weapon or piece of armour of a high enough tier, as not every weapon has an engraving slot to use: only rare weapons or better do.

Best Assassin’s Creed Shadows Engravings for Naoe

Assassin's Creed Shadows legendary katana engraving — (Image credit: Ubisoft)

Naoe’s strengths lie in her deadly assassination abilities and speed, so any Assassin’s Creed Shadows engravings that help increase her lethality and maneuverability are a huge boon, but there are a few options that minimize her weaknesses too:

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Katana Engravings

I’ve got two engraving picks for Naoe’s Katana, the first of which you can get by assassinating The Fox. It allows you to instantly charge posture attacks after using a tool. This allows you to easily chip away at health, then smash your enemy with a posture attack. Another great option ensures that your posture attacks remain charged after dodging.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Tanto Engravings

The Tanto is one of the best Assassin’s Creed Shadows weapons for Naoe. It’s essential for double assassinations, so the engraving that gives +2 health segments removed with double assassinate is a clear winner. You can find this in Nochiseyama Castle, Wakasa.

Additionally, the engraving that causes weakpoint attacks to make enemies vulnerable a second time is hugely powerful if you’re good at parrying. This comes on the Shinobi’s Fury Tanto awarded after assassinating the Golden Teppo - you’ll find out their identity with the Assassin’s Creed Shadows confront Otama or Wakasa choice.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Kusarigama Engravings

While it may be our least favourite of Naoe’s armaments, the kusarigama is fantastic for crowd control. Therefore, I recommend that you add the AC Shadows engraving that lets you instantly charge posture attacks when hitting multiple enemies. You can find this engraving in a chest at Kashiwabara Fortress, Omi. Another strong choice is the engraving that gives +60% damage on enemies over 3 meters away.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe headgear Engravings

With Naoe so focused on sneaking and assassinations, I have one clear winner for this engraving category. The engraving that gives +2 health segments removed on assassinations in shadows is fantastic. You can find this one at Yamazaki Castle, Yamashiro. An honorable mention goes to ground attacks now remove two health segments on hit, but this can’t be obtained until you’ve defeated the Shinbakufu.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe armor Engravings

Naoe’s light armor has a ton of really useful engravings, but the following are my favourites. The first makes it so that enemies are less efficient at detecting sound, which can be found at Shoryuji Castle in Yamashiro. The second makes it so that dead bodies release a poison cloud when investigated and can be found in Nagahama Castle, Omi.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe trinket Engravings

one of Naoe’s trinket engravings in Assassin’s Creed Shadows are particularly stellar, although I recommend going for the one offering +1% health per mastery point in Shinobi. You’ll likely be spending a lot of points on this tree anyway, so it’s a logical get. You can find this engraving in a pit at Koriyama Camp in Izumi Settsu, where you’ll also find Otakemaru’s Battlecry, which gives the same buff.

Best Assassin’s Creed Shadows Engravings for Yasuke

Assassin's Creed Shadows legendary bow engraving — (Image credit: Ubisoft)

With Yasuke being more of a brawler, I want to look for engravings that can give him an edge in combat. Here are the best engravings for his gear.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Long Katana Engravings

The best Long Katana engraving gives 1 health segment removed after armor break, which can make combat encounters a lot faster when playing as Yasuke. If you’ve got a potent bleed katana, the engraving that makes bleed kill enemies below two health segments is also a good pick.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Naginata Engravings

If you want to make the Naginata even better, one strong engraving is the one that makes blocks automatically parry incoming regular attacks. This engraving can be found by defeating Yuki no Kata, one of Nobutsuna’s students. Another great option gives the following buff: first strike makes enemies vulnerable every 8 seconds.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Kanabo Engravings

There is one absolutely top-tier engraving for the Kanabo. It’s the one that makes it so attacks cannot be interrupted, which perfectly complements the Kanabo’s slow speed. With this engraving, nothing’s going to stop you from wrecking enemies.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Bow Engravings

One amazing bow engraving is the one that allows you to instantly charge arrows. Another superb option, locked behind a quite annoying fetch quest, allows you to fire multiple arrows in a single shot. Become the bow-based machine gunner you’ve always wanted to be.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Teppo Engravings

What lets the Teppo down is its long reload time, however there’s an engraving that provides drastically reduced reload time, and you can find it at the Takagi Kofun in Harima. Another strong option is the engraving that makes bullets ricochet to nearby enemies, which is at the Hikidanjo Castle Ruins in Wakasa.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Yasuke helmet Engravings

There are a lot of excellent helmet engravings for Yasuke, but these two are the best. The first allows you to reflect projectiles towards enemies on parry, and is in Azuchi Castle in Omi. The second automatically performs a weakpoint attack on a successful parry, and is in Miki Castle, Harima.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Yasuke armor Engravings

Both of my favourite engravings for Yasuke’s armor are all about lethality, both to you and the enemy. Our first pick grants a 3% chance to instantly kill with posture attacks. The second engraving of choice gives you a 50% chance to negate projectiles. These are both fantastic, with the latter particularly making large combat encounters a lot less frustrating.

Best Assassin's Creed Shadows Yasuke amulet Engravings

Unfortunately, as with Naoe’s trinket engravings, none of these are particularly stellar. Most require you to negate some other aspect of the character, for instance by not spending mastery points or leaving armor slots empty. My top pick for this one, then, is the engraving that gives you 15% to stats with a ranged weapon equipped, which can be found at Aokura Shrine in Tamba.