Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag Advanced Combat Guide

The combat in this game is very easy, but if you’ve ever wondered “おい, why did that happen?” or wanted to know how to do that neat double-kill you saw on Reddit, this might be the guide for you.

序章

Before getting into it, I’m going to make a couple of things clear.

初め, I use a mouse and keyboard to play, and will mainly use that to define what actions I am talking about, but I’ll note controller presses where I think necessary.

2番, I am going to define and name all the non-unique enemies you can find in this game in bulk, so you can know which type I’m talking about for the rest of the guide.

Normal guards
They use swords, and are the most common enemy you will find all over the place.

Agile guards
Somewhat less common than normal guards, these use daggers, and if you disarm them, Edward uses it as a Throw Knife.

Gunners
Musket users. Have their own special icon on the minimap, to tell them apart from all other enemies. They will almost always stand back, and not come into melee range. Usually situated on roofs or their own special towers when on land, and on the masts of ships.

Brutes
Large axe-wielding enemies. Edward will almost always roll out of the way of their swings, as opposed to parrying them with whatever weapon you have equipped, as with all other enemy classes. About as common as agile guards.

キャプテン
The least common enemy type, also using swords, these are the toughest to deal with, as they will damage you attempt to Break Defense with Spacebar (A or X with Xbox and PlayStation controller, それぞれ). Edward will kick them in the groin after parrying an attack, which will cause them to double over for about ten seconds.

三番目, if you don’t know how the combat works in this game, I’ll give you a quick breakdown.
After getting a melee kill in any way, be it countering an enemy with E (B or Circle) and killing them by Left Clicking (X or Square), or by killing an enemy whose defense you’ve broken, be it once, which will make them face away from you, or twice, which will knock them over, you will enter a state that I will call Chain Kill for the remainder of this guide. I will go more in-depth momentarily.

兵器

If you’ve ever wanted to know what the best sword and/or pistol set is, good news! It’s complicated.

剣

Swords have three stats: スピード, コンボ, and Damage.

Speed designates how fast they swing, Combo defines how many hits it will take to build up to a finisher, which will kill the enemy you’re attacking, and Damage dictates how much damage you deal per sword hit.

You might think that your swords’ stats are important, but they’re really not. The only stat to really impact gameplay is combo, because with five it takes two uninterrupted attacks to build to a finisher, with four it takes three, with three it takes four, and with two it takes five.

There’s two (technically three) real choices for the best sword set: The Officer’s Rapiers (they are identical to Pistol Swords in almost every way), or the Scottish Broadswords. The Officer’s Rapiers have the stats 5 スピード, 4 コンボ, と 3 ダメージ, and the Scottish Broadswords have the stats 3 スピード, 5 コンボ, と 3 ダメージ.

The Officer’s Rapiers first swing faster than the Scottish Broadswords, and deal the same damage per swing, but take one more hit to activate a finisher, which will almost always happen before killing an enemy just by hitting them with basic attacks: to my knowledge, I have never had it happen in more than 200 時間.

If you are a more aggressive player, and attack enemies whenever you’re not being attacked, the Scottish Broadswords are probably better. If you just wait for an enemy to attack, and then counter-kill them, and then continue from there, the Officer’s Rapiers are probably better. Despite falling into the former category, I almost always use the Officer’s Rapiers, literally the only reason being I think they look better.

The Officer’s Rapiers can be purchased from any General Store, the Scottish Broadswords are acquired by finding two Social Treasures (the blue chests), and the Pistol Swords are acquired by completing all Assassin Contracts.

ピストル

Pistols are much simpler. They have three stats: ダメージ, 気絶させる, and Range.

Damage is how much damage they deal, Stun is for how long they stun enemies, and Range is the range at which they will hit enemies.

The Golden Flintlock Pistols, with stats of 5 ダメージ, 5 気絶させる, と 3 範囲, are the best, with only the Standard Wheellock Pistols, 1 ダメージ, 1 気絶させる, と 5 範囲, having the ability to outperform them in a very specific use case: if an enemy is far enough so that the Golden Flintlocks can’t hit, but the Standard Wheellock can.

The Standard Wheellock Pistols can be purchased from any General Store, and The Golden Flintlock Pistols are acquired by completing all Naval Contracts. Because you likely won’t do that immediately, so I would use the Cannon-Barrel Pistols (3/5/3) which you can purchase from any general store before getting them, as they’re only slightly less good.

Most Effective Way To Deal With Each Enemy Type

From Neutral

Normal Guards: Either attack until you do a finisher, break their defense once or twice, or wait for them to attack and counter kill them by pressing E, Left Click (B, X or Circle, 四角).

Agile Guards: Break their defense once or wait for them to attack and counter kill them.

Gunners: Same as Normal Guards, しかし, if you’re boarding a ship and one of your objectives is ‘kill enemy scouts’, I like disarming them with E, スペースバー (B, A or Circle, クロス) as to not have to run over or use my gun to shoot the other one, which takes more time and uses a bullet, それぞれ.

Brutes: Break their defense once or twice, or roll behind them with E while moving in their direction and attack them.

キャプテン: 前述したように, they will damage you if you try to Break their Defense, それで, 残念ながら, you have to wait for them to attack you, or use a tool. After parrying an attack, you can just attack them to death, or press Spacebar (A or Cross) to get behind them, which will allow you do the same animation you would to other enemies after breaking their defense or attacking from behind.

While in Chain Kill

Normal Guards, Agile Guards, and Gunners: Literally just move toward them and attack. If they’re near enough, you will immediately kill them.

Brutes and Captains: These will damage you if you attack them while in Chain Kill, which will also 取り除く you from Chain Kill, so either use a tool, ignore them unless they’re attacking you, or wait until you’re back in neutral, and kill them from there.

Double Kills

There are quite a few neat animations that also kill multiple enemies at a time, and the game only tells you how to do some of them, so I’ll do my very best to rectify that.

You can perform a double kill with Swords, 隠し刃, ピストル, or Rope Darts.

Sword and Hidden Blade double kills are performed in the same way, but have different animations, and Pistol and Rope Dart double kills are performed in the same way, but have different animations, so I’m going to divide them into two sections: 兵器, と ツール, それぞれ.

兵器

There are five forms of double kills with weapons: assassinations from above, sprinting assassinations, walking assassinations, standing assassinations, and double counter kills.

Assassinations must be performed from stealth with the weapon you want to perform them with, and all except the walking assassinations are pretty self-explanatory: assassinations from above are performed when you’re above two enemies, sprinting assassinations are performed when you’re sprinting towards two enemies, and standing assassinations are performed when you’re standing near two enemies.

Walking assassinations is a bit of a misnomer, but it’s just what I call them in my brain, and they are performed by moving in the direction of two enemies, そして正しい 前に Left Clicking (X or Square), you start to run by holding Shift (Right Trigger or R2).

Double Counter kills are special, because you can’t trigger them without help, あなたも できる do them with Fists. They are performed when you counter two enemies as they attack you at the same time with E (B or Circle).
私の知る限りでは, this can only happen when you’re fighting three or more enemies (if you’re fighting more, they will stand back and let three surround you in a rough triangle until you kill one or more of them, and then they will replace the fallen ones).

ツール

Tools only have one form of double kill, and I haven’t named them in my brain, or found out if they have a name from the community.
They are performed by, while you’re in Chain Kill and have either Pistols or Rope Darts equipped, moving in the direction of an enemy, while having a second enemy near by, and pressing F (X or Square).