Assassin’s Creed Shadows has taken the franchise to feudal Japan, allowing us to step into the shadows as Naoe the shinobi or Yasuke the samurai. Just like previous Assassin’s Creed titles, you will have a lot of trophies to unlock, and the Giant Slayer trophy is one of them. It includes an exciting challenge that tests your assassination skills. Unlike other trophies that rely on combat abilities or lengthy exploration, you need stealth, strategy, and precise execution to complete this achievement.
If you want 100% completion of the game and are after the Platinum Trophy, you must have to unlock Giant Slayer like other trophies along the way. This guide tells everything you need to know—from preparing for the assassination to executing it nicely.
Giant Slayer Trophy Explained
The Giant Slayer trophy in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is received when you assassinate a powerful Guardian enemy in a single stealth attack. This enemy is shown when an alarm bell is rung at a base when you get a Wanted status, and a high-ranking warrior spawns and chases you down. Since these Guardians are heavily armored and more resistant to regular assassinations, you’ll need a good strategy, upgrades, and the right way to take them down in one go. Since the tricky part is to kill the enemy in one hit, you need to be skilled enough to do that with a powerful weapon in hand.
Unlike some other trophies, this one is not linked to any specific mission or quest—you can attempt it at various locations in the game. Although both Naoe and Yasuke can earn this trophy, Naoe is the better choice due to her stealth-focused abilities, as stealth matters in this fight. Yasuke is more combat-oriented so he won’t be much better than Naoe at killing the Guardian.
How to Unlock the Giant Slayer Trophy in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
One of the easiest ways to do a successful Guardian assist is to enable the Guaranteed Assassination option in the game’s settings. You may find it hard to kill him in one strike in most cases. So, this setting helps you to assassinate any enemy regardless of their health bar. While not must, it simplifies the process. Here’s how to turn it on:
- Go to Options > Gameplay > Difficulty Tuning and turn on Guaranteed Assassinations.
When Guaranteed Assassinations is disabled, you should focus on these factors to increase your assassination damage:
- Assassination Damage III Perk (Unlocked in the Assassin Mastery Tree)
- Hidden Blade Skill (Important for one-shot assassinations)
- Reinforced Blade Skill (Reduces enemy health segments)
- Equip legendary gear that levels up assassination damage
For a Guardian to spawn, first trigger an alarm in any base or castle with a bell tower, where enemies can sound an alert. A good location to earn the Giant Slayer achievement is Katano Castle in the Izumi Settsu region – a Guardian encounter is easy there. Further, many bases can work throughout the map, but smaller forts are good where rooftops are easy to access.
So, enter the base and allow an enemy to spot you to let them ring the alarm bell. Once the bell is rung, the Wanted Status will activate, and a Guardian will appear around the spot. But if the base has been sabotaged before (the bell won’t work then), you might need to head to another location.
When the Guardian appears, you must break the enemy’s line of sight to perform the first and final assassination. Immediately escape by hopping over a wall or using a smoke bomb. Hide on rooftops, ledges, or in tall grass and wait for the enemy to lose track of you. If you’re spotted, you need to repeat the process of escaping and hiding because the elimination must be performed while undetected.
Once the Guardian and guards lose you and continue their patrolling, find a vantage point above them. Wherever you hide, such as on a rooftop, ledge, or high wall, position exactly over the Guardian from above. Wait till the enemy stands still and jump down to attack him. If executed correctly, the Guardian will be eliminated in one hit, and the Giant Slayer trophy and achievement will unlock in AC Shadows.
