Tips and tricks

[PZ]

Bonus: Armor of Brutus

Once you complete all six lair missions, you can get the Armor of Brutus, plus his dagger(s).  The armor is excellent - like the Armor of Altair - it does not degrade.  I didn't realize it at the time, but you can throw the daggers, and they will target 2-3 victims simultaneously.  For instance, there was a group of four guards standing close to each other, just chatting away.  I targeted the group, let loose, and three daggers flew out of my hands and into the bodies of the hapless victims.  The last one I finished off using the dagger in my hand.

[PZ]

Bonus: Auditore cape

Renovate Rome to 100% and you get the Auditory cape, which permanently renders you anonymous in all areas of Rome.  Now you can pick-pocket to your hearts content, or cause as much trouble as you want without suffering any consequences.

[PZ]

Tip: Throw heavy weapons

When you purchase a heavy weapon sheath, you can permanently carry heavy weapons.  Once you have that weapon, you can throw it - for example, the heavy ax.  Target your victim and then hold the "use weapon" button - Ezio will raise the weapon over his head and when you release it, the weapon will flip through the air (with great sound effect) until it cleaves the victim.  The only down side is that you need to retrieve the weapon from the victim's body.

[PZ]

Tip: Change the default weapons

You can change the default weapon that is equipped when you click the quick access buttons.  Go to the weapon wheel and select the weapon you want, then click the appropriate quick button.  It is useful to assign weapons dependent on the mission.

For example, I typically like to use the daggers of Brutus, the crossbow, the hidden blades, and the fists.  However, if I am on a mission where there is likely to be lots of fighting which might get me hurt, I'll assign the medicine to one of the buttons.

[PZ]

Tip: Kicking your opponent

When you are fighting a tough opponent, like the brute, they will often get the better of you.  You can click the kick button (X on the PS3) to kick your target - do that several times and he is disoriented enough for you to get in a few good strikes.

[PZ]

Tip: Rapidly advance your recruits

If you want to advance your assassin's guild recruits as fast as possible, here are a few methods:

   
• Send them on contracts as soon as you can, but make sure that they have at least a 90% chance of success (you see the success meter on the contracts page)
• If the chance of success is low, send more recruits - you can send up to 5.  For example, if a mission will yield lots of florins and experience points, but the chance of success is only 20% considering the experience of your recruits - send 5 and the success moves to 100%
• Have your recruits do your dirty w@&k for you.  Instead of entering into combat with a group of guards, send in your recruits - lots of fun to watch (when the last guard is defeated, the last recruit turns to you and bows).  This action also gains your recruits experience points, which makes subsequent missions easier on them.

Keep in mind that the experience they accumulate levels them up, which gains them new armor and weapons.  Using the methods above, I've not lost a single recruit, and all 12 are now at the assassino rank, which is the highest.

[PZ]

Tip: Use the arrow storm

When confronted by large numbers of opponents that need to be quickly dispatched, you can ask your guild to rain a hail of arrows upon your foes.  You need a minimum number of recruits available (not on a mission) - this is indicated by 3 assassin's signals in your HUD, which amounts to having 6 recruits available.  Just this morning there were two groups of four guards each, and within seconds all eight were dead on the ground.

[PZ]

Tip: Quickly level up up your assassin recruits

If you are conservatively playing the main missions, you'll find that some of the Borgia towers are not available, limiting the number of assassin recruits you have available.  Thus, you'll have recruits at many different levels (up to 9 official designations, 10 if you count the Assassino).  When trying to level up your raw recruits, send them on a mission with an Assassino and they will share the points - I did that general technique with a level 9 assassin and a new recruit - they came back from their mission with the level 1 now a level 5.

EDIT: I had 11 fully-leveled assassinos and a single new recruit (level 1).  I sent the raw recruit plus 4 assassinos on a large reward mission, and when they returned, she (the new recruit) was up to a level 7 assassin.  One more mission and she was promoted to assassino.

[Art Blade]

that is a valuable tip  :-X

[PZ]

 ;)

The assassin recruits become available once you complete Sequence 3 - the one where you rescue Catarina.  By the way spaceboy, I'm playing on my second play through and did the Catarina mission 100% - the use of the crossbow was necessary for me.  Exercise great care, and clear out an area entirely before you advance to the next flashing check point.

[PZ]

The last Borgia tower

The 12th and last Borgia tower area is unlocked at the conclusion of Sequence 6.  Igniting this tower also unlocks the 12th (last) assassin guild position.