The recent update forAssassin’s Creed Shadowsintroduces a brand-new Nightmare gameplay mode that ramps up the difficulty level to the extreme, and it’s definitely not for the faint of heart. Nightmare Mode introduces a few different difficulty modifiers to various aspects of gameplay, and if you have them all dialed up to 11, the game is finally legitimately challenging to complete. You’re going to have to actually strategize an approach to things and carefully plan where, when, and how you enter into particular areas, and combat requires precise parrying and dodging skills.
In terms of character builds and playstyle, it’s a whole new experience for bothNaoe and Yasuke, and your gear choices are now incredibly important compared to the previous highest difficulty settings. Before, you could annihilate enemies at the highest difficulty as long as you had a pretty solid understanding of the gameplay mechanics, even if you decided to go in without thebest legendary weaponsand armor. This is definitely no longer the case with the Nightmare difficulty combat modifiers enabled, and if you find yourself struggling to take down enemies effectively, I’d highly recommend an affliction-based build.
Best Poison & Bleed Builds For Naoe In Nightmare Mode
Use Stone Heart Or Bloodletter For Optimal Affliction Buildup
There’s no messing around inAC Shadows’Nightmare difficulty, and easily your best bet is to focus in on an affliction build such as poison or bleed. In particular,Naoe’s poison buildwith theStone Heart Kusarigama and Mamushi Snake Armor Setare extremely effective, with poison damage being one of the top damage-dealing afflictions. You’ll benefit from Stone Heart’s inherent effect, which spreads poison affliction buildup to nearby enemies once you complete a combo, and you can enhance this further with the effect from the Bloodletter, which will trigger Poison on entanglement when slotted on Stone Heart.
The Scarlet Fate Tanto is your best option for aNaoe Bleed buildin Nightmare mode, and is even better when combined with the Yukimitsu’s Revenge engraving, which will cause all afflicted enemies to automatically become vulnerable. These two effects are ideal for single-target bleed damage, which is going to be crucial in the new Nightmare difficulty. Alternatively, you’re able to use a similar combination as the above Poison build, but with Bleed as the affliction focus by using Bloodletter with the Stone Heart engraving. This will trigger Bleed on entanglement and spread Bleed buildup to nearby enemies.
Best Build For Yasuke In Nightmare Mode
The Shade Of Blight Poison Naginata Build Is Yasuke’s Best Nightmare Option
For Yasuke, I’d highly recommend apoison-based Naginata build, but you’ll need to make sure you have a sound understanding of the Naginata combo mechanics to make full use of the Shade of Blight Naginata and its poison effects. This build incorporatesall the top poison-based effects from various top-choice gearand engravings, though there are other viable approaches to a poison build for Yasuke as well that don’t require Helix Credits to unlock. The most important item in this build is the Shade of Blight, which is acquired after eliminating The Messenger from theKurai Eikyou tree.
+100% of an Adrenaline Chunk on Affliction Trigger
+50% damage from Poison on afflicted enemies
Kabuto of the Undead
Instantly charge Posture attacks when poisoned
Armor of the Undead
Create a poison cloud on parry
+20% Poison Affliction duration
Trigger Poison buildup with posture attacks
15% to stats with only a Naginata equipped
Nightmare Mode will require much more precision on Yasuke’s part, and my favorite previous strategy of running in and swinging for the fences with a legendary Kanabo isn’t going to be as viable.One slip-up and you’re going to find yourself in dire straitswith Nightmare combat, so mastering the Naginata’s unique combos and utilizing Poison buildup is easily the best strategy if you ask me.
Basic Strategies Aren’t Going To Get You Very Far In Nightmare
AC Shadows Nightmare Is Legitimately Difficult, & Strategy Matters Now
Even if you decide to go at Nightmare Mode without affliction builds such as those mentioned above, you are definitely going to need to develop a sound strategy or you’ll end up dying constantly. The old days of easily wiping out massive groups of enemies with zero effort are gone in Nightmare, and old methods such as using strictlystealth and Guaranteed Assassinationto clear entire castles isn’t going to work if you have Nightmare’s various modifiers enabled.
Overall, Nightmare Mode is the version ofAssassin’s Creed Shadowsthat I think we should have had as an option from the very beginning. The vanilla game, even at its highest difficulty setting, was not very challenging by any stretch of the imagination, especially after mastering various mechanics and tracking down the best gear. Nightmare Mode is definitely not for the faint of heart, and anyone who complained about lack of a challenge before will need to change their tune after trying Nightmare Mode for the first time.
