Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is largely what you’d expect from an Assassin’s Creed game, especially after Origins, but there’s still some things in this new game that might have you feeling confused both as a newcomer or a series veteran especially given Odyssey’s RPG sensibilities.
As such, I’ve been thinking about the stuff that I kind of wish I’d known when I first start the game a week or so go and compiled them in a handy tip guide. In the interest of spoilers, I won’t be giving any tips on the choices you can make and their potential outcomes (barring one) as the story is one of the best parts of Odyssey.
You could totally play Odyssey without even reading this guide and still have fun, but just having the slightest bit of a heads up but help you to enjoy the game so much more, so much quicker and not have to resort to spending real money.
YOU’LL FIND MUCH MORE OLIVE WOOD OUT AT SEA
Throughout Odyssey you’ll notice that you can harvest all kinds of things which can be used to craft upgrades for your ship as well as upgrades to your existing weapons too. One of the components you’ll probably find yourself pining for (pun intended) is Olive Wood, which can be collected from growing trees found throughout the isles of Greece. Often though, you’ll have much less than you’ll actually need.
Enter naval battles! I was getting more and more frustrated with not having enough wood to do almost anything but I noticed one thing – sinking ships yielded a lot more wood than any other activity or mindless grinding could. So if you’re ever running low on wood, head out to the high seas and sink as many ships as you can. I might be imagining it too but cleaving a ship (ie. Ramming it with enough force to split it in half) will yield the highest amount of wood.
IF YOU’RE OVER COLLECTING WOOD, KILL SOME MERCS
Of course, there are ways to reduce your need for wood all together by correctly “gaming” the Mercenary system. New to Odyssey, you’ll notice that other mercenaries will be tracking you the more infamous you become (think of it as a wanted system, like in Grand Theft Auto). Successfully defeating mercenaries of a higher level will improve your rank in the mercenary community, granting you certain benefits and buffs.
Once you get to one of the higher tiers, you’ll automatically be given a carpenter on board your ship, which reduces the wood requirements for your ship upgrades by about 25%. It sounds like a small reduction, but it means you’ll have to, overall, collect a lot less wood than if you never did. So if you’re really struggling to find the wood you need, head off the main quest path and take down some wandering mercenaries to improve your ranking.
DON’T BE SHY WITH YOUR ABILITY POINTS – NOTHING IS PERMANENT, EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED
This is perhaps the most important tip that I wish I knew about before I played! To be fair, the game does tell you that this is possible but for some reason I missed it – and could’ve missed a lot of worry and debate about whether spent points would be useful. My advice is to spend your ability points however you want to in the early levels of your journey. Try out some abilities and work out which ones complement your play style best.
Once you hit Level 20 or so, realistically assess which abilities you find useful in battle or when infiltrating and then you can reset your abilities using the Left Stick, just hold it for a few seconds on the Abilities tab.
You’ll be given back all your ability points to spend as you see fit. At my midway point, at about Level 27, it only cost me 900ish Drachmae to reset, so it’s definitely worth it to make your merc the way you want them to be.
As a bonus tip, the skills highlighted in the screenshot above are probably the best to put your ability points into first if you want a more “traditional” Assassin’s Creed experience. They’ll dramatically improve your Assassin Damage and Hunter Damage to allow you to be the best stealth player you can be. You also don’t need to save points for the baseline abilities located on the bottom of your ability screen – they’ll unlock naturally without the need for points as you level up yourself, your spear and Ikaros.
SELL OR DISMANTLE YOUR OLD STUFF, UPGRADE YOUR LEGENDARIES
This one is straight forward and was pretty much the same as it was in Assassin’s Creed Origins. Odyssey will throw heaps and heaps of weapons and equipment at you as you finish quests and explore the world of Greece. When you equip a new item, make sure to visit a merchant and sell off any old stuff you have as you’ll probably (read: definitely) won’t need it in the future.
The only exception to this is for your legendary items, which are framed with a gold hue on your inventory screen. These can’t be dismantled, and for good reason, and should instead be upgraded at any blacksmith. Don’t waste resources upgrading anything less than your legendary weapons. Similarly, if you need to prioritize crafting materials over money, just dismantle your old equipment instead of selling it.
ACCEPT ALL THE BOUNTIES AND CONTRACTS WHENEVER YOU CAN
This one might mess with your OCD if you’re a militant completionist like me but hear me out. When you get to a town or on your ship you’ll notice a message board that can be used to accept bounties and contracts that typically refresh daily if you’re connected to the network. You’ll earn minor experience compared to the main quests, but also the previous metal Oricalchum which can be exchanged with a certain merchant for unique items and equipment.
The reason I say to accept everything all the time is that these quests are without a doubt the simplest in Odyssey, and usually require you to take out a group of enemies, a specific target or just speak to someone. Accepting these quests makes them appear on your map, obviously, and often you’ll find yourself right next to one of them while you complete your main quests, which makes them much less of a slog to complete. Some of them may expire with this method, but they’ll expire regardless of whether you accept them or not so you’ve really got nothing to lose!
USE AND ABUSE YOUR ENGRAVINGS CONSTANTLY
Engravings are completely new to Odyssey and were something I didn’t really take advantage of until the late game, but I implore you to do so as soon as you can! Engravings are basically buffs that can be unlocked through all kinds of milestones in-game, like getting kills with certain weapons or simply finding them in unique locations throughout the island. Some of them are even legendary status, which can improve the damage of some of your abilities by up to 20%, making you a force to be reckoned with. 
As seen above, you can see the list of engravings you can unlock in your inventory screen, and their unlock conditions too. The key with engravings is to be really liberal with them – you visit a blacksmith to apply them to your weapons and equipment but can continue to do it pretty much as many times as you want. After equipping a new weapon with awesome stats that you’ve picked up in a quest, be sure to visit a blacksmith to apply your favourite engravings to that weapon too. They even stack!
There’s heaps more I could tell you about Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – the game is absolutely massive with so much to discover, but I think I’ve given you enough for now. Go now, be free and explore!
