Like any open-world game, it can take a second to get your bearings in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. After the game’s opening act, your first line of business is to find Tomiko and establish your hideout. This is your base of operations where you’ll accrue allies and build facilities, though you’ll quickly find one of the most valuable ones is locked off: the Forge. You’ll see that this building has the prerequisite “Recruit a Blacksmith,” so naturally, you’ll want to knock that off your to-do list.
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To get your own blacksmith, look for the quest “Way Of The Blacksmith” in the Objectives tab of your main menu under Tomiko’s icon. You might recall that Tomiko mentions recruiting a blacksmith named Heiji in the cutscene where she and Naoe discuss the first two Onryo to hunt, so you’ll almost certainly have access to this quest if you’re reading this. Of course, assuming you’re playing on the game’s default settings, you’ll have to do a tiny bit of legwork to track Heiji down, so you can check out his location below if you just want to get to him right away.
’The Way Of The Blacksmith’ quest location
As the game’s hints directly indicate, Heiji is located in Sekai. You’ll find this area directly southwest of the hideout. Sekai is also where you’ll begin your hunt for the Golden Teppo, so you can kill two birds with one stone by going there first. Well, technically you kill one bird and recruit another bird, but you get the picture.
Once you arrive, you’ll find Heiji under attack by a group of bandits. They’re common foes, so dispatch them however you please; you can easily complete this battle even if you’ve not bothered to level up or grab new equipment. Talk with Hieji after the battle and you’ll learn about the circumstances that have broken his spirit. Pick whichever dialogue option feels best to you, and Heiji will make his way to Tomiko’s hideout. Once you gather enough resources, you’ll finally be able to build a forge at your hideout.
How to best use the Blacksmith
With the Forge now built, run to wherever you parked your shiny new building and look for Heiji. Upon talking with him, you’ll have access to the following options:
Upgrade: Invest resources into any piece of equipment to increase its level. Equipment cannot be higher than your character’s level (level equivalent gear simply won’t appear). You can use Gold to immediately upgrade a piece of equipment to your current level, but Gold is a rare resource that should not be confused with normal currency (Mon). Save your Gold for bigger upgrades down the road; don’t use it by accident in the early game!
Engrave: Apply one of your found Engravings to an applicable piece of gear (it will say “Visit the Hideout’s blacksmith to engrave a perk” under its stats). Engravings are not consumed upon use and can be overridden, though note this process will consume Mon every time.
Salvage: Break down a piece of gear into upgrade materials.
In short, if you find a great piece of gear that proves essential to your build, come here to refine it as you play to keep its stats relevant. And if you’re just beginning your journey in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, be sure to keep some resources on hand for when Yasuke joins your party!
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