Assassin's Creed: Origins Hidden Blade and Upgrade Guide

The hidden blade is a staple in the Assassin’s Creed franchise and as expected it makes a return in Assassin’s Creed: Origins. While you are not given the hidden blade immediately upon starting the game, it is instead unlocked through story progression. Once you make it past the first initial chapter of the game and find your way to Alexandria and progress the story you will quickly acquire this essential part of any assassin’s arsenal.

However, keep in mind that you will need to upgrade your blade in order to take down more powerful enemies with stealth attacks. Due to the new leveling system and weapon upgrading system this will become essential during the later section of the game. I’ll outline below how to acquire upgrade materials and what you’ll need to not only have the best hidden blade possible but to have the best accessories and weapons as well.

The Hidden Blade and Accessories

In conjunction with Assassin’s Creed: Origin’s new leveling system another new mechanic has been introduced. Your hidden blade and a handful of other accessories will now require upgrades to keep your damage consistent throughout your playthrough. While you can play the game without upgrading these items, it is not highly recommended to proceed this way, even on the easiest difficulty.

Items have been added to Bayek’s Gear tab in order to supplement damage produced by ranged, stealth, or melee combat. These are separated into the Hidden Blade, Stabilizer Glove, and Bracer. Upgrading your hidden blade will increase your stealth attack damage, the stabilizer glove will increase your ranged damage, and lastly, the bracer will increase your melee damage. Each of these items will impact your cumulative damage with stealth based, ranged, or melee attacks.

The Quiver, while not an essential upgrade, allows you to increase your max arrow capacity. If you favor using the bow then I highly advise upgrading your quiver in conjunction with the stabilizer glove. The last item, the Breastplate increases your total health. If you feel as though you are taking too much damage or would like to feel a bit sturdier in combat the breastplate is something you should consider investing in.

Upgrade Materials

Upgrade materials are an essential part of keeping your melee and ranged damage on even playing grounds with your enemies. Bracers have been added to Bayek’s equipment and their level will factor into how much damage you will do with either your bow or whatever melee weapon you have equipped at the time. Not only this but upgrade materials can be used to strengthen your attacks with your hidden blade, making it possible to instantly assassinate enemies with ease. If you find yourself struggling to take down your foes or unable to incapacitate guards or targets, you will want to look into upgrading these accessories.

These materials come in several forms such as animal goods, like leather and hard leather, or with wood and metals, like cedarwood, bronze, and iron. Animal goods can be acquired through hunting animals on the open world map. The other upgrade materials such as cedarwood, bronze, and iron, can be found by locating wandering guard convoys that you’ll need to apprehend in order to acquire these goods.

Senu is will become your best friend when searching the map for materials. Simply tap up on the D-pad to enter eagle mode and you’ll be able to scan the area for crafting materials on your map. When hunting for specific materials make sure you go into your Gear tab and select the item you want to upgrade, this will pin the materials to your tracker and will make it infinitely easier to keep track of the resources you’ll be looking for.

Higher quality crafting materials can be found in higher level regions on the map. That being said, legendary materials like carbon crystal or silica cannot be acquired through animals or guard convoys. You will need to acquire them through the exploration of tombs or through raiding forts or bandit camps. There is also the option to purchase these materials through the nomad vendor, which is marked by a turquoise camel icon on your map, but it is incredibly costly and comes with a daily inventory limit.

You can also break down equipment for upgrade materials. It is highly suggested that you break down any Rare or Regular items - Rare items will have purple backgrounds and Regular items will carry blue backgrounds. These weapons or shields will not have as many attributes or be as powerful as Legendary items, these are indicated with their golden background, when fully upgraded and are better used as fodder for accessories and equipment.

Alternatively you can also acquire a talent from the skill tree that will allow you to purchase upgrade materials from merchants. However, they only have a finite source and these materials will cost you more than your fair share of drachmae. In general, it is better to simply search these materials out and save your drachmae for upgrading your weapons as it begins to get very costly as you increase your level.

Upgrading weapons is much more simplified. You can simply go to any blacksmith on the map and spend drachmae to upgrade your weapon to your current level. I ended up saving most of my drachmae for this purpose. I invested in a Legendary sword and shield to get me through a chunk of encounters that could not otherwise be avoided with stealth. While this strategy served me well, do not be afraid to experiment with other weapons and see what combination work best for you.