All Samurai Skills for Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows, and how to unlock them

Yasuke is one of the two main characters in Assassin's Creed Shadows, and his Samurai skills define his combat style. After progressing through enough Shinbakufu assassinations with Naoe, you’ll unlock Yasuke and gain access to his mastery abilities. Yasuke’s Samurai style revolves around his Long Katana, giving him access to powerful attacks, defensive abilities, and high-damage combos.

This guide breaks down all of Yasuke’s Samurai skills, explaining how to unlock them and which ones are the most effective for early and late-game combat.

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All Samurai Skills for Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows

Yasuke unlocks skills through Mastery Points (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Ubisoft)

1) Knowledge Rank 1

The first set of Samurai skills lays the foundation for Yasuke’s combat style, focusing on health regeneration, combo extension, and crowd control.

Title	Type	Description	Mastery
Regeneration	Global Passive	Restores 1% of Yasuke's maximum health when killing an enemy. Scales up to 6%.	Increases over time
Brutal Assassination	Passive	Allows Yasuke to perform a powerful assassination that removes enemy health segments.	N/A
Link Attack	Passive	Swap weapons during a combo to perform a quick attack with your alternate weapon, extending the combo.	N/A
War Kick	Ability	Performs a powerful kick, dealing 20% ability damage and pushing the enemy away. Less effective on larger enemies.	N/A
Bull Rush	Passive	While sprinting, regular enemies are knocked back, and some doors will break upon impact. Less effective on larger enemies.	N/A

Regeneration gives Yasuke a valuable self-healing option, allowing him to stay in the fight longer. War Kick and Bull Rush are useful for crowd control, allowing you to knock back enemies and create openings in combat.

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2) Knowledge Rank 2

At Knowledge Rank 2, Yasuke’s abilities become more effective against tougher enemies and increase his overall stamina and damage output.

Title	Type	Description	Mastery
Improved Brutal Assassination	Passive	Yasuke can now use Brutal Assassination on large enemies.	N/A
Heavy Impact	Passive	War Kick now has full effect on large enemies and increases War Kick damage by 40%.	N/A
Crash Collision	Passive	Bull Rush now deals 15% ability damage on impact and increases Bull Rush damage by 40%.	N/A
Vigor 1	Passive	Increases Yasuke's Adrenaline Chunks by 1.	N/A

Improved Brutal Assassination lets Yasuke take down larger enemies with his assassination move, making it more versatile. Crash Collision turns Bull Rush into an offensive tool by adding direct damage on impact. Vigor 1 increases Yasuke's Adrenaline pool, allowing him to use more special abilities during combat.

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3) Knowledge Rank 3

Rank 3 skills improve Yasuke’s cooldown times, assassination power, and defensive capabilities.

Title	Type	Description	Mastery
Stronger, Smarter...	Global Passive	Reduces ability cooldowns by 3%, scaling up to 15%.	Increases over time
Assassination Damage 1	Passive	Yasuke removes two additional health segments with assassinations.	N/A
Impenetrable Defense	Ability	Yasuke automatically counters every attack for 20 seconds (up to five hits).	N/A
Battle Cry	Ability	Staggers all enemies within 10 meters of Yasuke.	N/A
Big Impact	Passive	Bull Rush now works fully on large enemies and increases damage by 60%.	N/A
Vigor 2	Passive	Increases Yasuke’s Adrenaline Chunks by 1.	N/A

Stronger, Smarter... reduces the cooldown on Yasuke’s abilities, allowing you to use his powerful attacks more frequently. Assassination Damage 1 increases the damage from stealth attacks, making them even more lethal. Impenetrable Defense is a powerful defensive tool, allowing Yasuke to counter multiple enemy attacks automatically.

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4) Knowledge Rank 4

Rank 4 skills enhance Yasuke’s defensive abilities and boost his offensive power when surrounded by enemies.

Title	Type	Description	Mastery
Unbreachable Guard	Passive	Impenetrable Defense now makes attackers Vulnerable and increases its damage by 40%.	N/A
Defensive Breach	Passive	Increases damage from enemy collisions by 100%.	N/A
Outnumbered	Passive	Increases Yasuke’s damage by 4% for every enemy affected by Battle Cry (lasts 10 seconds).	N/A
Samurai Stand	Ability	Yasuke enters a frenzy, turning all his attacks into Posture attacks for 10 seconds.	N/A

Unbreachable Guard makes Impenetrable Defense more powerful by weakening attackers and increasing counter damage. Defensive Breach boosts the damage enemies take when knocked into each other or into walls.

Outnumbered rewards Yasuke for facing multiple enemies by increasing his damage. Samurai Stand creates an aggressive combat stance, allowing him to focus on posture-breaking attacks.

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5) Knowledge Rank 5

Rank 5 focuses on increasing Yasuke’s damage, extending the duration of his skills, and improving healing.

Title	Type	Description	Mastery
Strength Builder	Global Passive	Increases Yasuke’s damage by 1% per filled Adrenaline Chunk (up to 6%).	Increases over time
Assassination Damage 2	Passive	Yasuke removes two additional health segments with assassinations.	N/A
Healing Shout	Passive	Battle Cry restores 50% of Yasuke's maximum health over 10 seconds and increases damage reduction by 10%.	N/A
Samurai Frenzy	Passive	Killing an enemy increases Samurai Stand’s duration by three seconds.	N/A
Vigor 3	Passive	Increases Yasuke's Adrenaline Chunks by 1.	N/A

Strength Builder boosts Yasuke’s overall damage when his Adrenaline pool is full. Assassination Damage 2 enhances his assassination capability. Healing Shout provides valuable health recovery during combat, while Samurai Frenzy lets you keep Samurai Stand active longer with each kill.

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6) Knowledge Rank 6

Rank 6 unlocks Yasuke’s most powerful defensive and offensive abilities.

Title	Type	Description	Mastery
Absolute Protection	Passive	Impenetrable Defense now works against almost all unstoppable attacks, except grabs.	N/A
Eternal Samurai	Passive	While in Samurai Stance, Yasuke’s health is locked at 10%, making enemy attacks non-lethal.	N/A

Early in the game, Regeneration and Brutal Assassination provide Yasuke with better survivability and assassination power. War Kick and Bull Rush are useful for controlling enemy groups, while Improved Brutal Assassination and Heavy Impact increase effectiveness against larger enemies.

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Unlocking Yasuke’s Samurai Skills in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

In Assassin's Creed Shadows, unlocking skills works differently than in previous games. You must increase your Knowledge Rank to gain new abilities. For Yasuke’s Samurai Skills, you’ll have to raise his KR by engaging in various activities, including

• Kata training

• Exploring locations like Temples, Shrines, and Kofun
• Completing quests (both main and side missions)
• Kuji-Kiri and Hidden Paths

When achieving a necessary KR level, Mastery Points can now be utilized to unlock skills. These points can be earned by completing objectives and gaining XP; however, some advanced skills might require additional points for unlocking.

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Yasuke’s Samurai skills provide a versatile blend of attack power, defensive posture, and area damage control. Maximizing and focusing on health regeneration, defensive skills, and damage from assassination will make Yasuke unmatchable in battle. Make sure to unlock and combine certain skills to adapt to varying combat conditions, thus fully utilizing Yasuke's potential.

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Check out our other Assassin's Creed Shadows guide:

• Scouts in AC Shadows: How to refill and increase the maximum count
• Assassin's Creed Shadows vs Ghost of Tsushima: Similarities and differences explored
• How to change gear apperance in Assassin's Creed Shadows