How To Be A Stone Cold Killer In Assassin’s Creed Multiplayer

These ten tips and strategies for Brotherhood's multiplayer game will have you winning matches in no time.

We’ve been exploring Brotherhood’s multiplayer for a while now, and we’ve seen some awesome players and some terrible ones. If you’d rather be in the former camp than the latter, consider enacting a few of these ideas into your approach to the game.

Stop With the Running Already!

There are several instances where running in AC multiplayer is worthwhile, but it’s much less frequent than most players seem to realize. Unless you’re really, really good, it’s very hard to garner enough kills while running around to match your opponents who are making careful, silent kills. You’d have to kill at least three times as many targets, and in many cases, far more.

So take a deep breath, and slow down. Running attracts the attention of your pursuer, alerts your target to your presence, and lowers your kill value if you actually manage to catch him/her. If you must speed your movement, try holding down the Fast Walk button to gain a little boost.

Now that you're walking, take time to observe your location and the likely location of your target. How can you choreograph the coolest kill between where you are and they are? If you think it's cool, there are likely bonuses attached to it. Try to get that incredibly sweet, silent, discreet kill, and you'll be well rewarded.

Run! Yes, Now!

So, when should you run? Well, there are exceptions to every rule, but here are some good times to start sprinting.

1. Your target has spotted you, and is definitely on your tail. Start running. Turn corners as much as possible to break line of sight, and thereby lower the chase meter. Change elevations if you see a fast way to do so. Drop smoke bombs in narrow passages. Move through chase breakers, like gates that lock behind you.

2. Your target is really far away. If your target cone is a tiny little sliver, it might be worth it to risk a quick run to cross the level faster. But once that cone starts to widen significantly, stop running and start stalking.

3. You’re on the rooftops. You’re already out of place and extremely visible on the rooftops. If you’re going to run, now is a good time to do it.

4. Your target won’t stop running. Sometimes, you’re just not going to catch your target by walking, because the opposing player is moving around the board so fast. You can’t drop your target for another, so you’ll have to finish him/her off before a new target is assigned, even if it’s not going to get you a lot of points. You may have to run for a while, just to keep up. If you see where he’s headed, try to get ahead of him/her (or above him/her) rather than chase, and you might still garner a nice point total.

Quality Over Quantity

This one ties back into the no running thing, but it bears repeating. This is not Call of Duty or Halo. Kill count means next to nothing by itself, and deaths don’t really penalize you, except that they give your opponents more points, and take you out of the match for a few seconds.

Instead of shooting for a bunch of kills, get a few awesome kills. Stab a target while sitting on a bench. Leap down on them from a roof. Stab them while they’re running straight at you without beginning to run yourself. A really excellent kill will, on average, get you three to eight times the value of a chase kill. String a few of those together and you’re looking at a top three finish and a lot of points to go towards level progression.

Oh, and if you’re wise you’ll take a few minutes to peruse the bonus list in the main multiplayer menu. You may not realize the things you could be doing to get those extra points. Memorize a few of them, and shoot for those bonuses during a match.

Know Your Cone

The cone that indicates your target’s distance can offer a lot of clues, if you know what to look for. When you acquire a new target, stop moving for just a few seconds, and look at the cone. If it’s widening, that means your prey is coming towards you. Consider finding a hiding spot, and seeing if they’ll come right to you. Hidden kill bonuses can be huge.

If they’re going away from you, or parallel to you, what direction are they going? If you know the map, try to think about where their path will eventually lead, rather than where they’re standing at any one moment. Move to a bottleneck along their path and wait for them to fall onto your blade.

Build a Better Profile Set

If you’re not using your abilities at least once or twice per round, you’re probably doing something wrong, or at least equipping an ability that doesn’t match your playstyle. Once you unlock a couple of profile sets, consider the following setup.

Set one profile as your default approach for playing Wanted/Alliance mode, and get good at deploying those abilities on a regular basis during a match. You’ll probably want one primarily defensive ability (like Morph, Smoke Bomb, or Disguise) and one good offensive ability (like Firecrackers, Hidden Gun, or Throwing Knives).

Set your second profile for use in Manhunt, and apply only defensive abilities. Your third profile should be offensive abilities. You’ll switch between these two sets between Manhunt rounds. Remember that if you’re on Team 1 you’ll start on offense.

Finally, for each profile, consider the streak bonuses and when they trigger. Choose streak bonuses that match your style of play.

Next up:When to use Stun, and how to read minds

Stun Isn’t Worth It…Most of the Time

Stun isn’t meant to regularly counter your pursuer. The advantage almost always goes to the assassin, not the prey. If you see your hunter, get away. Don’t try to fight them. Here are the two most common circumstances we’ve found that stun can be valuable. Both presume you’ve managed to surprise your hunter.

1. You somehow spot your hunter before he spots you. This is rare, and even when it happens it’s hard to pull off a stun. But it can be worth it, and it’s absurdly satisfying to box some guy’s ears and trot away.

2. Your hunter is incapacitated. If your hunter is powerless, go ahead and stun him. The most common time this occurs? You throw down a smoke bomb just as your hunter nears your position. He/she starts coughing and wheezing. Step close and tap the stun button, get the points, and then make a hasty exit, especially if other pursuers are on your tail.

Rotate the Camera

This one is easy. You’re in a third-person view, so take advantage of it. Get in the habit of constantly checking in front, to both sides, and behind you. Are you being paranoid? No! Someone out there is trying to kill you!

Watch for characters that are moving strangely, even if they’re not running. In particular watch out for any character that seems to be heading directly towards you. If you see that, try subtly changing your walking direction. If the figure you’re watching adjusts their heading, then they’re almost certainly hunting you. Consider running for it.

If your response to this tip is that it is too hard to rotate the camera when you’re running so fast, then you haven’t been paying attention. Go back to our first tip, and start again.

Variety is the Spice of Staying Alive

Change up your strategy and location multiple times in a single round. While you rarely know exactly where your pursuer is, you do know that he’s zeroing in on you. So keep him guessing. If you’ve been slowly moving around the left side of the map for the last two minutes of the round, then switch it up. Climb to a nearby roof and run across the building tops to the other side of the map. Your pursuer, who has likely been carefully stalking you, will be forced to start all over. He/she may eventually get frustrated and start running after you. Once they do this, the advantage is yours, and you can probably get away. This approach is especially valuable if you just killed a target, and your new target is far away.

Read Minds

There are two things you know for sure. One (or more) people are out to kill you, and you have one person who is trying to avoid you. They probably know many of the same tricks you do. So you need to be smarter. Get inside their heads. Here’s how.

On defense, the more pursuers are after you, the more you want to avoid easy to access areas. For instance, if you have three pursuers, one of them is going to get close and stab you on a common thoroughfare. This is a good time to go to the rooftops. From there you can spot for your target, and maybe get a quality aerial kill. And, if one of those pursuers comes close, you’ll see them coming from your high vantage point, and you might have a chance to escape.

Also, think about the situation if you were in your pursuer’s shoes. How long has he/she had you as a target? If it’s been a long time, he/she may be getting desperate, and start running. Take advantage of their desperation to see them from afar.

On offense, figure out your target’s playstyle as early as you can. Is he a runner? Is he staying totally still? Is he consistently up high on the rooftops? Not only will this help you hunt him this time around, but it may give you a clue as to how to track him the next time he is your target. There are usually only six to eight players in a match, so it pays to try and remember your target’s tricks, since you very well might be after them again later in the match.

These are only examples. In general, always try to think like your opponent, and picture your actions through their eyes. If it would be easy for you to get away from a hunter that had run at you across an open market square, then that is probably a bad way for you to hunt your target as well.

Low Time Is No Excuse for Sloppy Kills

Brotherhood multiplayer gives the one-minute warning, and everybody starts to go crazy. They want that last kill as fast as they can get it. Stupid move. Take advantage of their mistake.

One minute is often plenty of time to pull off an excellent kill on most maps. It will help that about half your opponents are going to be running around like crazy people. Keep a low profile, and see if you can get that last good kill.  100 points from a chase kill aren’t going to turn the tide of a match. But 600 might.


So, there you go. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood has a multiplayer system that is quite different from others on the market these days. Once you get the controls down, the fun emerges out of the mind games you play with your fellow players. Dig into that psychological component of the game, and you’ll double your enjoyment, guaranteed.

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