Let's jump right in, malaka!

• Hold W/A/S/D (LS) to move. Hold SHIFT (A/✕) to climb/parkour and CTRL (B/O) to drop down.
  
• You'll stop running at any ledge that would cause damage. Hold SHIFT (A/✕) to jump anyway.
  
• When climbing, hold W/A/S/D (LS) and tap SHIFT (A/✕) to jump that direction.
  
• Jump at zip lines to ride them. Tap CTRL (B/O) to drop down from them.
  
• Hold X (D▼) to call your horse. If you're running, you'll mount automatically.
  
• To dismount boringly, hold E (B/O). To dismount stylishly, stand on your saddle by holding SPACE (LB/L1) and tap SHIFT (A/✕) to leap off.
  
• Tap Z to autorun (on foot or mounted). When mounted on a road, hold Z to follow the road; then tap SPACE to auto-navigate to your waypoint. This also allows you to shoot backwards.
  
• Spam E (Y/△) while riding off-road to collect more materials.
  
• Phobos can die from falls or predators. He'll return after a while. You don't need to load.
  
• Make sure you unlock every Synchronization Point (eagle icon) you discover before you leave the area, even if you have to go out of your way.
  
• You can fast-travel to unlocked Synchronization Points, docks, or the Adrestia if you're not in a restricted area. Go to the map, hover over the target, and hold RMB (X/⧠).

• Hold V (D▲) to scan for loot and enemies around you. A jingling sound indicates loot.
  
• Tap V (D▲) to scout with Ikaros. Hold RMB (RT/R2) to zoom in and mark enemies/loot.
  
• Aim and hover over elites (gold border) to see if they're worth recruiting. Potential recruits have the same color-coded quality as items. Hire gold ones.
  
• Knock out desired recruits with Sparta Kicks, paralyzing arrows, or unarmed attacks.
  
• To fight unarmed: Click the weapon slot in your inventory, then click on the current weapon.
  
• Don't kick recruits off ledges, into objects, or use non-kick abilities on them or they may die.

• LMB (RB/R1) to attack. Hold SHIFT + LMB (RT/R2) for Charged Heavy Attack (if you have it).
  
• Tap T (D►) to switch weapon slots (after they unlock) and hold it to pull out a torch.
  
• Hold RMB (LT/L2) to aim your bow. Tap LMB (RT/R2) to shoot or hold it to charge.
  
• Health bars show how much damage each shot's expected to do. Headshots hit harder.
  
• When aiming your bow, tap G (D◄) to switch arrow types.
  
• You can lean and fire around corners by aiming your bow while near the corner.
  
• When holding something (e.g. a torch or body), use the bow controls to throw it.
  
• Tap MMB (RS↓) to lock onto a target for easier one-on-one melee.
  
• The more attacks you mash in a row, the more likely the enemy will counterattack.
  
• Defending: when you see a white glint, tap Q (RB+LB/L1+R1) to parry or W/A/S/D + SPACE (LS + X/⧠) to dodge. Hold SPACE (X/⧠) to roll farther.
  
• Attacks with a red glow cannot be parried! Dodge or interrupt with an ability.
  
• If you time your defense perfectly, time will slow, opening your enemy to attacks.
  
• Tap 1/2/3/4 to use abilities in your skill bar. Tap U for the abilities screen to assign them.
  
• On controller, hold LB/L1 for the melee ability wheel and LT/LB for the ranged ability wheel. The ability binds are Y/△, B/O, A/✕, and X/⧠.
  
• Most abilities cost adrenaline (shown in yellow bars at the bottom of the screen), while most normal melee, ranged, and assassination attacks build it back up.
  
• Enemies will not damage you while you're in an ability animation.
  
• Some abilities can be chained, so watch for a prompt to do so.
  
• Some abilities vary based on the weapon. For instance, Overpower Attack performs a chainable enemy throw with heavy bladed weapons or a whirlwind attack with spears.
  
• Once a non-elite foe is knocked down, you can chain Charged Heavy Attack over and over before they manage to get up again. Elite foes will roll out of the way, so you're better off getting in a few cheap quick attacks instead.
  
• Sparta Kick people off precipices. It's satisfying and effective, especially against elites. Save up some adrenaline and camp the top of a ladder, for instance.
  
• Enemies that fall into water will drown as long as the water is too deep for wading.
  
• You can level up your Spear of Leonidas. Once it gets to Level 3, you unlock a second row of melee abilities. Use the backtick (to the left of the 1 button) to toggle.
  
• A red floating indicator near you indicates that someone is about to shoot you.
  
• When you're in a Conquest Battle, focus on captains, mercenaries, and other objectives.

• Tap C (B/O) to toggle crouch to sneak around. This makes you harder to detect (but not invisible). Entering bushes will hide you completely unless an enemy walks into you.
  
• Distract guards by tapping X (D▼), throwing torches, or releasing prisoners/animals from cages. Cage doors open when shot, but bound prisoners need to be released manually.
  
• When a guard sees you, a white bar will appear in the guard's direction and he'll become suspicious. If you remain in his vision, he'll become alerted when the bar turns yellow.
  
• Suspicious guards are marked with a question mark (?) and will investigate the area. If they find nothing of interest, they'll go back to their boring duties.
  
• Alerted guards will be marked with an exclamation point (!) and will chase you. They'll also alert other guards unless you can kill them within a few seconds. If you vanish, they'll continue to search for you for a while. They may also light braziers (campfire icon) in forts.
  
• Sabotage braziers before clearing any fort in earnest. Doing so will cause the brazier to explode when used, killing the guard. You can use this to kill elites. If the brazier isn't sabotaged, it will call in reinforcements.
  
• Guards remember where they last saw you, so you'll need to run around to break vision before trying to hide. Simply crouching into the closest bush will be laughably ineffective.
  
• Your screen will flash and you'll hear a whooshing noise when you've broken vision.
  
• Guards can be assassinated whenever they don't know where you are, even if they're searching, and even from the front.
  
• Dead bodies and fires can cause guards to alert. Hide bodies or use them as diversions.
  
• Guards have patrol patterns. After you kill a guard, another will often come to take his place.
  
• You generally cannot Sparta Kick guards off from ramparts with parapets (walls on the walls) even if it looks like the guard should trip over the parapet and fall. He won't.
  
• You can't save or fast-travel from a restricted area, but you can step outside for a moment to save without losing your progress.

• While rowing, tap W (A/✕) to increase rowing speed and tap S (B/O) to slow down.
  
• Tap SPACE (X/⧠) to toggle sailing mode. Sail whenever you're outside of combat.
  
• You do not have to sail back to a known location as long as it has a dock! Just go to the dock and hold E (Y/△) to call the Adrestia.
  
• You can also initiate a battle or run away under sail. However, you can't shoot while under sail, so don't use it in the middle of battle except to fix positioning.
  
• If you need to turn quickly, slow down by holding S (B/O) and then turn.
  
• Hold RMB (LT/L2) to aim arrows or javelins and tap LMB (RT/R2) to loose. If fire attacks are available, tap R (RB/R1) to unleash the fire.
  
• Parts of enemy ships will glow when they become vulnerable. Aim for those parts.
  
• If you're about to be rammed, hold Q (LB/L1) to brace for impact or row out of the way.
  
• Once a ship loses its health, it'll become a sitting duck that cannot attack. To finish it off, cleave it by ramming or board it by approaching and holding E (Y/△). You must defeat the enemy crew when boarding it, but you'll receive more rewards. While boarding, you will not be attacked by other ships.
  
• While coming alongside a ship to board, hide behind something solid to avoid arrows until the ship's in position. I recommend the taffrail (the wall on the quarterdeck).
  
• Knocking elites into the water is extremely effective, so Sparta Kick liberally.
  
• Remember to loot chests on boarded ships.
  
• Buy 1 ship hull upgrade and 1 fire brazier first. Then, keep upgrading your hull until at least level 4 so you get all 4 lieutenants. All other upgrades are incremental.

Positioning is everything in naval battles. Never allow more than one ship to be in firing range of you; keep that ship to your 5-o'clock or 7-o'clock so you can fire on them. Save your rowing to avoid them when they ram. And make sure to check your location so you don't run into shore. The shore cannot damage your ship, but it can put you in a bad position.

Shooting is generally a better strategy than ramming, but feel free to ram if there's an opening.

• Most side quests are worthwhile, but you can safely ignore any quests with a timer (or hourglass icon). Those are fillers that are procedurally generated by the game.
  
• Don't fret about XP, because you may level up faster than you'd like. Enemies and quests scale with your level. When you level quickly, your gear becomes obsolete quickly as well.
  
• Ancient Tablets are the rarest resource. Loot every ruin you come across.
  
• Explore tombs to earn extra ability points.
  
• Fight all the mercenaries you can. Want more? Do some crime and await a brutey call.
  
• If your bounty level is too high, you can pay it off by holding E (Y/△) on the map or kill the sponsor (red heart icon on the map).
  
• (IMO) Don't bother engraving gear until you're at least level 30. There's too much turnover.
  
• Disassemble most of your gear. Generally, only purple or gold gear is worth saving/selling.
  
• Fight for both Athens and Sparta. The only penalty is having to carry more drachmae.
  
• You have to reduce Nation Power before you can force a Conquest Battle. Kill soldiers, burn war supplies, loot Nation Chests, and then kill leaders.
  
• Make sure to loot war supplies before you put them to the torch.
  
• Completing all objectives in a location gives you more XP (and satisfaction).
  
• Hold M (View/TPad) to meditate and skip between day and night. Oddly, this doesn't change the weather.

• Sparta Kick: Madness?
  
• Second Wind: Great ability, but don't get it if you like being forced to load saves all the time.
  
• Hero Strike: A high-damage adrenaline dump, especially early on.
  
• Battlecry of Ares: Become a god for zero adrenaline.

• Critical Assassination: Assassinate beefcakes (but costs a bar).
  
• Rush Assassination: No one is safe from your spear.
  
• Death Veil: I don't feel so good, misthios...
  
• Sixth Sense: Useful for when you mess up.

• Fury of the Bloodline + Overpower Attacks: Your bread-and-butter combo.
  
• Slow Time: Activate anime combat mode.
  
• Multi-Shot: Great for softening up groups. Or against ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boars.
  
• Overpower Bow Strike: Puts all other bow abilities to shame. Costs 3 bars, though.
  
• Shield Breaker: Just for QOL because you can just parry/dodge past shields otherwise.

• Arrow Master: For getting paralyzing arrows so you can send recruitment messages Monty Python-style. (Message for you, sir!) You can loot a ton of these from arrow racks in camps.
  
• Archery Mastery: For QOL so you use fewer arrows.
  
• Ghost Arrow of Artemis: For lulz.
  
• Devastating Shot and/or Predator Shot: Filler abilities for the rest of the slots.
  
• Gear/Weapons Master: These seem solid, but why not save the points and just go into the settings and turn down the difficulty? All the other abilities add more tools to your belt to give you more options. These just make the game easier. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

• Pick Kassandra! ♥♥♥♥
  
• Tap F5 to quick-save. Tap ESC to use manual save or load. Manual save often!
  
• There are no difficulty-related achievements, so don't be afeared to turn down the difficulty, especially when facing ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boars.
  
• Don't fret about romance. Smooch 'em if you've got 'em, but this isn't The Witcher 3.
  
• You can change the appearance of any equipped item by right-clicking its slot.
  
• Tap F3 to pause the game in screenshot mode. Tap SPACE to take an in-game screenshot. You'll need to tap F12 to take a separate one for Steam. Tap MMB to hide the UI.
  
• If you have any mouse issues, disconnect any controllers (especially joysticks).
  
• If you stand idle for a while, Ikaros will come down to chill.