Assassin's Creed 2 (Xbox 360)

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Abilities

Complete the indicated task to unlock the corresponding ability.

Climb Leap
Complete Rosa's mission "Monkey See, Monkey Do" in Sequence 7. Use this ability to make longer jumps while climbing and get hand holds that would normally be out of reach.

Disarm
Complete Mario's "Evasive Maneuvers" mission in Sequence 5. Use this ability to counter incoming attacks from weapons that are normally too heavy to counter (for example, axes).

Achievements

Complete the following achievements to unlock Xbox Live Gamerscore points.

AchievementHow to unlock
A Piece of the Puzzle ( 10 points )Unlock a piece of Subject 16's video.
An Old Friend Returns ( 100 points )Escape the hideout.
An Unexpected Journey ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 6.
Arrivederci Abstergo ( 20 points )Break out of Abstergo.
Art Connoisseur ( 10 points )Buy a Painting from Florence and Venice.
Assassin For Hire ( 10 points )Complete your first assassination mission for Lorenzo Il Magnifico.
Bianca's Man ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 10.
Bleeding Effect ( 30 points )Complete training and reenter the Animus.
Bloody Sunday ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 4.
Choir Boy ( 20 points )Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside Santa Maria del Fiore ( The Duomo).
Doctor ( 20 points )Perform an Air Assassination on a Poisoned NPC.
Exit the Son ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 3.
Fly Swatter ( 5 points )Kick a Guard while using the Flying Machine.
Hallowed be thy name ( 20 points )Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside the Basilica di San Marco.
Handy Man ( 10 points )Upgrade a building in the Stronghold.
High Dive ( 10 points )Perform a Leap of Faith from the Top of Florence's Giotto's Campanile.
I can see your house from here! ( 20 points )Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside the Torre Grossa.
I like the view ( 10 points )Synchronize 10 View Points.
In Memory of Petruccio ( 30 points )Collect all the Feathers.
Kleptomaniac ( 10 points )Pickpocket 1000 Florins.
Lightning Strike ( 10 points )Sprint for 100 meters.
Macho Man ( 10 points )Defend a woman's honor.
Mailman ( 10 points )Intercept a Borgia Courrier.
Man of the People ( 10 points )Toss more than 300 florins on the ground.
Masquerade ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 9.
Messer Sandman ( 10 points )Stun 4 guards at once by throwing sand in their face.
Myth Maker ( 5 points )Find the 8 statuettes in Monteriggioni.
No-hitter ( 20 points )Kill 10 enemies while remaining in conflict without being hit.
Perfect Harmony ( 10 points )Tint your clothes with those colors: Wetland Ebony and Wetland Ivory.
Podestà of Monteriggioni ( 30 points )Reach 80% of your stronghold's total value.
Prison Escape ( 20 points )Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside the Rocca di Ravaldino fortress.
Red Light Addict ( 10 points )Spend 5000 florins on Courtesans.
Show your Colors ( 10 points )Wear the Auditore cape in each city.
Steal Home ( 10 points )Win a race against thieves!
Street Cleaner ( 10 points )Hide 5 dead bodies in a Bale of Hay.
Sweeper ( 10 points )Sweep 5 guards at once by using a Long Weapon.
The Birth of an Assassin ( 20 points )Be reborn as Ezio Auditore Da Firenze.
The Conspirators ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 5.
The Impenetrable Palazzo ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 8.
The Merchant of Venice ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 7.
The Pain of Betrayal ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 1.
The Prophet ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 11.
The Vault ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 14.
Tip of the Iceberg ( 10 points )Use your Eagle Vision to scan a Glyph in the environment.
Undertaker ( 20 points )Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside the catacombs under Santa Maria Novella.
Venetian Gladiator ( 20 points )Discover the Assassin's Tomb inside Santa Maria della Visitazione.
Vengeance ( 30 points )Complete DNA Sequence 2.
Victory lies in preparation ( 10 points )Get all Hidden Blades, Item Pouches and Armor upgrades for Ezio.
Vitruvian Man ( 20 points )Unlock all 20 pieces of Subject 16's video.
Welcome to the Animus 2.0 ( 20 points )Enter the Animus 2.0.

Blunt weapon broom

When you knock into a person with a broom or mop, pick it up. When you enter combat with it, the broom or mop will act as a mace, hammer, or other blunt weapon. It makes it seem as though you are cleaning up the trash. Note: This can also be done with farmer's garden hoes.

Codex Pages

If you already finished Sequence 13 and don't have all the Decrypted Codex Pages (5 pages obtained or so), you will be given a map to locate all missing Codex Pages. Once you have them all, give it to Leonardo to decrypt it. He is staying at the Villa. If you have almost all the pages, then you won't have to waste your time looking all of them. Try to be prepared if you have almost all the pages before Sequence 13 and place it at the Codex Wall and put them all to the correct positions by rotating the pages to look like a map. Making the Codex Pages into a map will be confusing if not puzzling it out before all the Codex Pages have been obtained before beginning Sequence 14 (Going to Rome).

Condottiero War Hammer

Collect 50 feathers in the box in your villa then talk to your mother. The Condottiero War Hammer will become available in the blacksmith's shop at Villa Monteriggioni.

Defeating Archers

Usually Archers are a little threat and more of a nuisance, but in some areas there are a lot of them scattered around. If you find yourself in a fight and at the same time there are archers shooting at you, try to break off the fight and run to an archer. This makes them drop their bow and draw their sword. The more fun approach is to position the soldiers in the archer's line of fire and have them do your dirty work and hurt the solders attacking you.

Defeating Brutes

Brutes are the big armored soldiers. They are armed with two handed weapons such as axes and claymores. The trick to Brutes is to disarm them. Trying to reverse their moves will just result in you getting hurt if you have a weapon ready. You can take their weapons away from them and then kill them easily.

Defeating groups of enemies

When fighting a large group it is best to keep moving about so they do not surround you and attack from more than one side at once. The trick to fighting the group then is to keep your guard up and wait for one of them to attack and counter it. If there are Brutes or Seekers in the group, it gets a bit tougher but the other tips listed here will help. Try to avoid Brutes or Seekers at first and focus on the others.

Use the following trick when you are in a situation where you will have to take on multiple guards, attack with a group (thieves or mercenaries). While your friends are attacking someone, come from behind with your hidden blade and make the kill. Note: This also works with the final battle where many Ezios battle the final Boss, though instead of your hidden blade (because it is never successful), you will need to use your main weapon.

Defeating larger or harder enemies

Note: This can only be done after learning the Disarm move. Sometimes you will run into the big "Golden Knights" or the men who just fight better than normal soldiers. These opponents usually have unique weapons such as lances or big axes. They can also deflect attacks and counter more often, resulting in you being killed. To take them out more easily, simply disarm yourself. Put your weapon away by pressing Down. When they attack, press X to counter and disarm them. This usually works in one attempt. Quickly press press X again to kill the unarmed man.

Defeating Rodrigo Borgia (The Spaniard)

There are a few things you should get before you go to Rome: The Armor of Altair, The Sword of Altair (or whichever weapon you prefer), Notched Cinquedea, Metal Cestus, both knife belt upgrades (as many as possible), medium and large medicine pouches (buy as much medicine as possible), and full smoke bombs. The battle is divided into three stages. In the first stage you must assassinate him. Go down the ladder quietly. Do not jump down. Then begin blending in with everyone immediately. Go to the front, select your pistol, and lock on to Rodrigo. Hold [Action] until the thin beam appears and fire. In the second stage you must fight him. You sit back and wait for your four Dopplegangers to finish or at least weaken him, but you can also join in the fight which is much more exciting. He attacks just like a brute; just tackle him as you would a normal villain. In the third stage you must finish the job. After the cinematic, use Eagle Vision to find the switches to the vault. Follow the road down. Another cinematic starts, after which it is a fistfight from here on out. Just keep attacking him. The Metal Cestus will stay equipped and will kill him faster. Follow the onscreen prompt to finish the fight.

Defeating Seekers

Seekers are soldiers with spears. The trick to Seekers is grappling them. Try to grab them first and kill them to remove that threat quickly.

Fast travel

You will start the game with only being able to go between cities or other locations via a horse. This becomes difficult once more locations are unlocked and you have to go back and forth between them frequently. You will be able to unlock and use fast travel stations in the game. These also appear on the map to make finding them easy. Using this option does have a cost of 100 Florins, but it is worth that amount to transport to your destination instead of a long horse ride.

Guards killing civilians

Poison a few guards, then throw coins around them. People will run up to pick up the coins, but the guards will hit them with their weapons. This works best with brutes.

Locating missing feathers

To find the last few feathers, pause game play and go to the DNA strand. There is a section at the end of the strand that shows you where the feathers are located. Then, go to the feather section and it will show you in what districts the missing feathers are located.

Loyal steed

The horses in the game can be very useful. Other than the obvious use for travel, they can be ridden into a potential fight and dismounted. Lure your enemy to the rear of the horse and it will kick them, doing good damage. They also will follow you after you dismount them until you enter a city, making them easier to relocate.

Mario series reference

When Sequence 3 starts and you are escorting Maria and Claudia to the villa, you will get ambushed by Pazzi and his men. You will be rescued by your Uncle Mario. When you first talk to him, he says "Don't you recognize me? Its-a me, Mario!"

Medicines and throwing knives

Loot bodies to find free medicines or throwing knives.

Notoriety

Notoriety is essentially your wanted level. The higher it is, the closer to notorious you are. Notorious is the state where guards take one look at you and say "Get him!". You want to keep the symbol of a head inside the gauge white. Gaining notoriety is easy; just do criminal activities, assassinate in front of people, kill guards in general, run across rooftops, and even just bumping into some guards by accident. Losing notoriety is also easy. The game tells you the three methods of losing it: rip down posters, bribe heralds, and kill officials. The first is the easiest because those are most abundant. However, because of that, they also give the smallest returns (up to 25% of your notoriety bar per poster, or four posters if you are notorious). If you are that bad off, four posters can seem next to impossible. However, you will be jumping about a lot anyways and will be bound to find a couple of them. The second method, heralds, is your middle ground, but it comes at a price: 500 Florins for up to 50% of the notoriety bar. The cost is 1,000 Florins if you are notorious. Do not be deterred by the cost. That cost turns into a very slight profit. The last method, the officials, give the best return, but are also difficult. Like the thieves and couriers that you chase down for cash, they run everywhere once they see you (up buildings, across beams, through crowds, and most especially towards guards). The reward is 75% of the bar for an official, but the time spent could have been better used ripping down posters and bribing heralds.

If you accidentally kill someone in front of some guards, kill an archer and his body falls to the ground, or do something else that gains notoriety, this trick will allow you to get rid of up to half of it and gain some money, all without having to hunt down posters or officials. First, find a herald. He will be noisy and talking about you. Bribe the herald. He will take 500 Florins and you will lose up to 50% of maximum notoriety. If you have under that, there will be no notoriety remaining for you. Here is where this expense can be turned into a very slight profit. Pickpocket the Herald. You will gain about 3 to 5 notoriety back, maximum. This is handled easily by a poster. Most heralds have at least 3 to 5 Florins, and the money you gave them goes into their pocket, so you will gain your bribe back plus whatever they already had. It is not much, but it gets rid of the bulk of your notoriety. The useful part is, if you have anything over halfway along the first diagonal of the notoriety gauge, just use this trick and find a poster afterwards.

Reuse spears and axes

If you lose a spear or axe inside an enemy while countering him, pick up your opponent's corpse then immediately drop it. You can now collect that weapon again and reuse it.

Run through the air

Equip the throwing knives and hold down RT + X while running off any roof. Ezio will continue running in a straight line off the roof in the air. When you want to get down release the buttons or switch to another weapon. If you drop down you won't throw the knife but if you rech another roof you will waste ammo so switch to another weapon instead to conserve your knives.

Santa Maria della Visitazione: Giant squid

Go to assassin's tomb. Find the large water filled room before the room where you get one of the seals required for the Armor of Altair. This room has an obstacle course. Activate the lever before going through the course and stand on the edge of the floor and look at the water. Remain idle until a large shape swims across the water. Use the lever again after the timer resets and stand on at same location. After awhile, a giant tentacle will appear.

Shop renovations

You will increase the Villa's value and receive special discounts by renovating any of the five shops located in the Villa. Each shop has three renovation levels. The blacksmith and doctor are available at the beginning of the game. The following is how much each of the three renovation levels cost for each shop.

Ant Merchant: 1,000, 5,000, 8,000 Florins.
Bank: 1,500, 5,000, 9,000 Florins.
Blacksmith: First renovation already available, 7,000, 12,000 Florins.
Doctor: First renovation already available, 3,000, 5,000 Florins.
Tailor: 1,000, 2,500, 5,000 Florins.

Smoke bombs

When you unlock the smoke bombs, you can use them to kill guards quicker. Equip the smoke bomb, then throw it. Once the guards are coughing, switch to your hidden blade for quicker kills.

Viewing the dead family members of Ezio

There is an Easter egg that can only be seen with Eagle Vision in the 'Bonfire of the Vanities' DLC, and only at a certain time. After meeting up with Niccolo, go to the Palazzo Auditore and enter the building. Engage Eagle Vision and you will see the dead family members of Ezio.