The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

You all know by now that I'm a big fan of air to assassinate. Ubisoft must have rushed it in at the last minute because both they and Prima failed to document how to do it. Whenever someone on the internet asks for help, at least one well intentioned player comes to their aid with advice like, "Jump at your target and hit the attack button when you get close." That's what I call a "jump assassinate" (or "stunt assassinate" if the fall is high enough to cause partial desynchronization). Air to assassinate is actually easier and more reliable. The problem with jump assassinate is you have to judge where you will land and make sure it's close to the target. I usually end up jumping way over the target's head.

The advantage of jump/stunt assassinate is that you can do it from high roofs where air to assassinate is impossible. Over the course of a normal game, the only time I recommend using a jump assassinate is on Templar #3 in the Rich District of Jerusalem.

Just for fun, I like to do stunt assassinations on main targets. Remember, "stunt" is where you lose some bars of health from the fall. The more you lose, the better. Ideally, the fall should nearly kill you. It doesn't matter because you get all your bars back after a successful assassination.

Here are the steps to design your own stunt assassination:

1. Learn the exact route your target will walk during the assassination. I recommend watching them on YouTube to save time. My Stylish Assassination Guide has some rough maps. Timing is sometimes important. Pay attention to verbal cues and how they correspond to the target's position.
2. Scout the assassination area. Go there during your Investigation when it's lightly guarded. See where the target will walk and look for nearby tall structures.
3. Practice your jumps. Before you do this, pick up a flag or something that will cause a game save. The fall might kill you so you'll want to respawn in this vicinity. Climb the highest thing you can find and jump into the assassination area. If you die, try something a little lower. Now figure out how to land somewhere the target will be. Right behind him is ideal, but the front or side will work too.
4. Perform the stunt assassination. This is the real deal. Trigger the cutscene and move into position. Make sure that nearby archers are eliminated (they weren't here earlier) and that you have a full sync bar. Wait for the right moment and jump as you practiced. It's possible, but usually unnecessary, to Target Lock the victim on your way down. As you hit the ground, hold the Right Trigger and mash the attack button. High Profile looks cooler than Low when you've just dropped out of the sky. If you're slightly off target, use the Left Thumbstick to roll/run at the victim.
5. Try again. If you're way off target, don't kill your victim. Let him and his guards kill you so you can attempt the stunt assassination again.
6. Record it for posterity. Stunt assassinations look cool. If you have any way of recording your game play, now would be a good time to use it.

The video above demonstrates my five favorite stunt assassinations.

The hardest one was Sibrand because the lighthouse sits at an odd angle with respect to his ship. I rotated the camera so that the gangplank was at 12 o'clock, right at the top of the screen. Then I sat there in High Profile and waited for him to walk past one of the 5 rope riggings on either side of the gangplank. The hard part was pushing the Left Thumbstick straight up while hitting the Jump button. If my aim had been off a little to the left or right I would have landed in the drink. Finally, I used the Left Thumbstick to roll the last couple of meters to Sibrand. Note that I only lost four bars of synchronization. You could probably jump from higher on the lighthouse (but not the top ) and get a little more distance than I did.

I won't bore you with the details of the other ones in the video unless someone has specific questions. Here are some ideas for other targets:

• Garnier de Naplouse: Start on a catwalk, run up the wall and back kick off of it to land near Garnier.
• Talal: Let Vigilantes detain him while you climb a tall structure - maybe even his own guard tower!
• Majd Addin: No idea. You can't get on that wall behind him. I've tried standing on various levels to the north, running up the wall and side kicking but couldn't reach the stage.