Assassin's Creed Shadows is a pretty unique entry in the series in terms of gameplay, as it features a somewhat clear split between the stealth playstyle of classic entries in the series and the more combat-oriented style of recent games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla with its two protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke. While both are pretty competent at what they do right from when they are introduced in the story, Yasuke, in particular, doesn't feel that good to play, even in combat. With some choice abilities, however, he becomes much more fun to play, so you should be looking into unlocking these abilities as soon as possible.
If you're into fighting enemies head-on, there's no better choice of protagonist than Yasuke in Assassin's Creed Shadows, but you will often find yourself surrounded by multiple enemies. To fight multiple enemies effectively, you will want to equip a Naginata and learn the Crescent Strike ability. This Adrenaline ability is perfect to use when surrounded, as, by swinging the Naginata in a very wide arc, Yasuke knocks enemies down while also pushing them away, giving you some breathing room.
The second Naginata ability to learn as quickly as possible to make fights more fun and prevent things from dragging out too much is Impale. This ability can be used not only to reposition Yasuke but also to impale enemies on walls. If the enemy is still alive after the ability has been used, they will be knocked down and open for a grounded attack that is often fatal. Augmenting these abilities is the Combat Expert ability on the Long Katana Mastery skill tree, which increases damage with all melee weapons by a certain percentage each level, and the Increased Armor Damage on the Teppo Mastery skill tree, which increases armor damage by a certain percentage each level. Vigor abilities in the Samurai Mastery tree are also great skills to learn to get additional Adrenaline chunks and use these abilities more often.
If the Naginata is not the melee weapon you want to use in Assassin's Creed Shadows, there are some Long Katana and Kanabo abilities you can learn to make them more effective and fun to use as well. The Sheathed Attack and the Sheated Posture are essential abilities to learn for the samurai's signature weapon, as a charged sheathed heavy attack on a guarding enemy has the chance to knock them down, opening them for a potentially lethal grounded attack. Even if it doesn't knock them down, a sheated posture attack is generally very strong and can kill weaker enemies if they are in a vulnerable state with a single hit.
The powerful Kanabo is also made better and more fun to use by two abilities, Devastation and Forward Momentum. The first unleashes a second combo ender when using a different type of attack after performing the first finisher, which is often a deadly combination against any sort of enemy. The second makes attacking much faster by pressing the next button in a combo with perfect timing, allowing Yasuke to deliver more devastating attacks more often. These two abilities synergize well with each other as well as with the Combo Ender Damage, making the Kanabo one of the strongest weapon types in the game in terms of sheer damage.
