I'll admit it, I underestimated Assassin's Creed Shadows' hideout base-building system. It's much more intricate and entertaining than I thought it would be. From constructing a forge to building a zoo of cute creatures, you've got a lot of options at your fingertips. You won't have enough materials to build it all at first, though, so what should you prioritise?
Once you unlock the hideout after meeting Tomiko, you'll be thrown right into base-building. You can construct various rooms, upgrade them, place decorations, paths, animals, and more by interacting with the desk in your hiroma, or by entering build mode when walking around your base. You'll earn most of the more decorative items by completing quests and looting chests in castles, so explore the map and get decorating.
After spending hours exploring feudal Japan to collect fluffy animals and decorations, and then tinkering with my hideout, here's my advice for how it all works. I'll go over all the buildings and their upgrades, and what you should prioritise.
Best hideout buildings in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Even if you're not all that interested in building the perfect assassin headquarters, you'll still need to dip your toes in because key mechanics are locked behind certain rooms. If you're only after function and not form, these are the best hideout buildings that you should get first:
- Forge: The forge is required to upgrade weapons and armour, as well as apply engravings. It's essential to keep your favourite gear powerful as you level up, so you should upgrade this building to level three as soon as you can.
- Study: Gives you an additional scout with each upgrade and improves their efficiency.
- Stable: Upgrade the stables to reduce the cost of smuggling stockpiles.
- Nando: This reduces the cost of refreshing scouts at kakurega by 30%.
- Zashiki or Tea Room: Both of these buildings increase ration healing by 20%, which is a must-have early on.
Assassin's Creed Shadows hideout: All buildings and upgrades
To build new buildings, you'll need various hideout resources, which you can get by smuggling resources from castles, though it'll quickly eat away at your scout charges until you get more scouts and increase their efficiency.
Here are all the structures you can build at your hideout and the services they provide:
Building | Level 1 upgrade | Level 2 upgrade | Level 3 upgrade |
|---|---|---|---|
Stables | Stockpiles can be tagged at the cost of two scouts, providing a batch of resources at the end of the season | Stockpiles can now be tagged at the cost of just one scout | Scouts smuggle 20% more resources from stockpiles |
Kakurega | Gain an extra scout. You can manage contracts and supplies here | Kakurega offer seasonal provincial rumours that reveal the locations of collectables, unique items, and more. Scouts can now be assigned to clear Regional Alerts | Adds additional kakurega locations across the map and reduces their construction cost by 30% |
Study | Gain an extra scout. Reduce the search zone for quests by 25% | Gain an extra scout | Gain an extra scout. Reduces the search zone for quests by a further 60% |
Forge | Weapons and armour can be upgraded to level 20 and dismantled | Weapons and armour can be upgraded to level 40 and non-legendary engravings can be applied | Weapons and armour can be upgraded to level 60 and Legendary engravings can be applied |
Dojo | Allies can be trained up to Initiate rank | You can equip two allies | Allies can be trained up to Veteran rank |
There are also themed rooms, which can't be upgraded. Only some of these rooms actually provide gameplay benefits:
Room | Effect |
|---|---|
Tera | Experience gained is increased by 10% |
Jinja | Praying here grants a boon for the next 15 minutes. All effects of shrine boosts are increased by 20% |
Nando | The cost to replenish scouts at kakurega is reduced by 30% |
Zashiki | Ration efficiency is increased by 20% |
Tea Room | Ration efficiency is increased by 20% |
Gallery | Let's you create and switch between equipment loadouts |
Small, medium, and large rooms | An unfurnished room for you to decorate |
Engawa | Outdoor walkways to connect buildings |
Other than these buildings, you can also edit the path style, place interior, and exterior decorations, as well as plant trees, and place your collected animals.
Once you've constructed a building, you can select it again in build mode to move, upgrade, and customise it further.
All hideout level upgrades in Assassin's Creed Shadows
As you construct new buildings and upgrade them, you'll slowly increase your hideout level. At each milestone, you'll gain a permanent buff:
Hideout Level | Upgrade |
|---|---|
2 | Available scouts can bring back Mon at the end of a season |
3 | Shrine buff duration is increased by 15 minutes |
4 | Available scouts can bring back hideout resources at the end of a season |
5 | Engraving costs are reduced by 20% |
6 | Available scouts can bring back crafting materials at the end of a season |
7 | Refill health and adrenaline in kakurega safehouses and the hideout |
8 | Available scouts can bring gear at the end of a season |
9 | Gear upgrade costs are reduced by 20% |
10 | Stockpiles also reward crafting materials |
Most of these buffs tie into the scouts system (which includes smuggling more hideout resources), so you'll find that building up your hideout actually speeds up as you progress, despite upgrades costing more and more to purchase.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
