In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, you can decide if you want to play as Naoe, the stealthy Shinobi, or Yasuke, the strong Samurai. However, sometimes it is nice to have some outside help as well. In Shadows, you can call Allies for help! They will jump into the fight, and give you a hand against powerful enemies!
Recruiting Allies
You will encounter a variety of clever, righteous, or even flirty characters that you can recruit to your cause and invite to your hideout. Once you have recruited them, you can call upon them during open fights. Depending on the character, they will do different things to help you out. Each one has one skill and two passives.
Each Ally will be part of some specific side quests, and you will have to answer correctly and earn their trust in order to be able to recruit them! You will start with only one Ally that you can bring along, but once you upgrade your Dojo, you can equip two.
It is important to know that if you have enabled Canon Mode, this prevents you from accessing the dialogue choices, which will make you miss out on some allies. Some of them can also die before you are able to recruit them, if you are not careful.
Tomiko and Junjiro are technically considered your allies as well, however, they will only stay at the hideout. Sadly, you can not send Junjiro out on a fight (and no one wants him to get hurt anyway!). Both naturally unlock with the main story.
The third ally you encounter, and who will also stay at the Hideout is the Blacksmith, Heiji. He unlocks once you complete the quest the Way of the Blacksmith from Tomiko, and build the Forge. He is very useful, as it is through him that you will be able to upgrade and engrave your equipment.
Yaya
Yaya is the first ally you encounter:
- First appearance: The Wounded Main Quest.
- Side Quest to complete: The Stray Dogs.
- Impactful Dialogue Option: You have to pick the options that always go towards forgiveness:
- Killing them isn’t justice.
- We forgive him.
- You have to forgive each other.
- Romance options: None.
- Ability:
- Joins the fight and performs pushback attacks.
- Knocks enemies down.
- Sends enemies flying with a kick.
Gennojo
Gennojo appears soon after recruiting Yasuke and eliminating The Fool. After that, you get access to Gennojo’s side quest:
- First appearance: The Fool Main Quest.
- Side Quest to complete: The Godless Harvest.
- Impactful Dialogue Option: You have to pick the following options during the dialogues:
- I’m keeping it then.
- Soothe Gennojo.
- We make a good team.
- Romance options: Yes. Note that you do not have to romance him in order to recruit him. Both dialogues are not linked.
- Ability:
- Throws a startling explosive projectile.
- Draws the attention of an enemy that is about to attack you.
- Servants inside Castles no longer inform guards when they see you.
Katsuhime
For Katsuhime, you do not need to pick between dialogue options. However, if you mess up during a certain moment, she can die, and then you will not be able to recruit her. We recommend you make a manual save before taking on this quest:
- First appearance: The Naginata.
- Side Quest to complete: The Diary of Lady Rokkaku.
- Impactful Action:
- Kill as quickly as possible a Samurai named Isono Kazumasa and all the nearby guards. If you are not fast enough, Katsuhime will die.
- Once you rescued her, you still have to carry her out of the Castle. Kill every Guard so you can carry her out safely. If she is still alive, she should be recruitable right after that.
- Romance options: Yes.
- Ability:
- Uses her Teppo to daze.
- Throws dazing bombs.
- Bullets that hit dazed targets ricochet to another target.
Oni-Yuri
In order to recruit her, you need to take on a set of side quests in the Wakasa region at the Sotomo Gate:
- Side Quest to complete: Sweet Lies and Sweet Revenge.
- Impactful Action:
- Pick Naoe and defend Oni-Yuri when possible.
- No matter if it is for dialogue or fights, always pick Naoe, as Oni-Yuri feels more comfortable with her than with Yasuke.
- Romance options: None.
- Ability:
- Puts enemies to sleep.
- Uses Toxic clouds that poison enemies.
- Delays reinforcements in case guards ring an alarm in a Castle.
Ibuki
Ibuki is also only part of a chain of Side Quests. You have to be very careful with your answers with him:
- Side Quest to complete: Ambush Interrupted + Homecoming
- Impactful Actions and Dialogues:
- Use Yasuke for this mission, he makes it easier.
- I have changed.
- If you make sure at least 5 people survive the fight, you get a bonus for the recruitment.
- Fight with us, Kyobei!
- Kyobei has to survive against Nakatomi.
- Solitude is not a fatality.
- Romance options: Yes.
- Ability:
- Attacks.
- Shatters enemy armor.
- His second passive allows him to shatter more often.
Yagoro
Yagoro is most likely the one that will take the most time to recruit, as you need to complete multiple quests:
- Side Quest to complete: You first have to complete multiple personal side quests from both Naoe and Yasuke, until you get access to the inner chambers of the Old Kofun. After that, you get access to the quest called A Blade in the Dark.
- Impactful Actions:
- Win both fights against him. If you lose, reload a save.
- Romance options: None.
- Ability:
- Instantly kills an enemy that has maximum three health segments.
- Can kill an extra enemy.
- His second passive allows him to kill enemies with a maximum five health segments.
For more details on the Allies, you can take a look at the in-depth video from the official Ubisoft account:
