The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

Blitz

This assassination is much like the Blitz of Al-Ghul that aurllcooljay and I independently discovered. Again you must lure the target out. There are two places in the shipyard to get a hint on how to do that. Both of them say the same thing: burn his ship. Getting a hint is optional so here I proceed directly to Al-A'eshma's hiding place and climb onto the railing across from his door.

Surprisingly, it's possible to throw a knife at the explosives on the ship from this distance. The key is to enable the "Light Blade" enhancement in Tier Two. Then hold to charge your throw until the knife glows. Finally, aim and release.

Quickly turn around and wait for Al-A'eshma to emerge. Do not press as soon as you see him because this will cause Basim to swing his sword. Instead, wait for the "Assassinate" prompt and do a mini air assassination.

I'm using the word "blitz" here to describe the time between the door opens and the assassination (approximately 630 milliseconds). While the events leading up to this were direct, they were far from what I'd call a speed run.

In this video I kill the target of the main story mission "Den of the Beast" before the game intends you to.

The door I am teleporting through using Assassin's focus is locked during this moment in the mission. For the Blowdart I think it is vital to have the cloud impact uogrsde active in order to do this.

If you kill him during this stage of the mission he will become semi-inactive (as he is near he end of the video), not respond to anything but his detection meter will still be active.

Although this was fun to do, this is sadly once again a main assassination mission where the target is kept in a random small room, allowing for almost zero creativity.

In this video I do a (blitz) ghost run of the "The State Official" contract.

Although it seems quite simple, it is a bit harder than it looks. You have to get the angle of the knife throw just right or one of the surrounding guards will start investigating the body.

The assassination mission Gilded Butterflies takes place at The Bazaar.

Early Infiltration

The room where the assassination takes place is normally not accessible before the mission, but here is how you can access it. From the place shown in the video at 0:35, Basim can throw a knife to unbar one of the doors. I found it easier to use eagle vision and aim right above the red glow. Note: If you have already started the mission you won't be able to do this because weapons are not allowed in The Bazaar at that time. The room is empty except for one guard.

Early Death

Ning doesn't appear until after the auction scene. Problem is she is immune to damage. Once you have obtained the brooch needed for the mission the game spawns all the guards in the room and Ning in her target form.

Now here is what happens if you kill her at this point: The game recognizes you have eliminated the target, but the memory corridor scene won't play (and her two bodyguards cannot engage you in combat; their detection arrows go back down). So we'll talk to the guard at the door to progress the story, and the memory corridor now starts.

Blooper

Normally you lose the opportunity for a unique kill if Ning gets spooked, but if you scare her before the last checkpoint you can still perform the cinematic death. The scene starts with glitched camera angles.