➤ Assassin's Creed Valhalla, our tips for facing the new Ubisoft title 🕹

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is finally available. All lovers of the saga, but also of Nordic culture, can venture into the new, vast world created by Ubisoft.
During the first few hours of the game, it may not be easy to navigate between the different activities and game mechanics. For this we want to share some with you tips to help you face Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

Don't just focus on the main missions

The first piece of advice we want to give you is to don't focus solely on the main story. Such behavior will make you miss several interesting opportunities that may arise during your travels, including strange characters, hidden places and, above all, rare and peculiar equipment.
Take your time and explore the world around you, starting from the areas surrounding your settlement and then expanding more and more, following the regions proposed by Randvi at the alliance table.

Avoid fast travel

Assassin's Creed Valhalla, our tips for facing the new Ubisoft title

If to go from one point on the map to another you have to pass through unexplored or, perhaps, previously neglected territories, avoid using fast travel. Rather, put yourself in command of your drakkar and let yourself be guided by the waterways, stopping as many times as you can to gain Wealth, uncover the Mysteries or find the Artifacts of the places you pass through.
Remember also synchronize observation points closer and, above all, of raid the places indicated on the minimap by the crossed axes symbol. In this way you will not only be able to complete various secondary objectives, but also to obtain useful resources for the settlement, to upgrade the equipment and quickly level up.

Unlock the Seer's Hut as soon as possible

During the first few hours of the game we have the pleasure of meeting Valka, the seer of the village of Eivor.
Once you arrive in England and raise the level of the settlement by building buildings or completing specific story missions, the woman will once again return to the narrative. However, before you can follow her quests, you'll need to build her a hut. Once this is done, you will have the opportunity to visit two new game areas, Asgard and Jotunheim (the latter not immediately accessible).

Complete Reda's contracts in exchange for opal

In the hours following your arrival in England and the construction of your settlement, you will have the opportunity to meet Return, a merchant who will allow you to buy unique items or items available in the game shop in exchange for opal, a precious stone that you can find by traveling around the game world or completing the daily contracts offered by the latter.

Usually these contracts involve killing someone or something before the available time runs out. These are not extremely difficult tasks, although sometimes a high level is required just to venture into mission territory without being killed by a gust of wind. So, you take all available contracts anyway and then decide which ones to finish and which ones to expire.

Unlock upgrades for your mount

An important element of Assassin's Creed Valhalla is displacement. Since your ship cannot also plow the land, you will have a mount that will come to meet you every time you call it (if you hold this button, you will automatically mount on it).
This is definitely the fastest way to get out of the water, but it has some limitations initially. For example, your steed cannot swim and loses vigor when you gallop it over terrain other than a road or, at least, a path.
However, these limits can soon be eased. Like? Going to a stable boy and asking him to train yourself to ride. For a good bit of silver, you can unlock the handful of upgrades for your horse, including the ability to swim and increased stamina.

Recharge your stamina by hitting enemies

Assassin's Creed Valhalla introduced a new mechanic to the series: the force. This is not consumed by attacking or running, but only by dodging, parrying and missing the target with melee attacks.
Once depleted, you won't be able to dodge, parry or counter until the gauge has fully recharged, so it's something to keep an eye on.
Fortunately, we can speed up that process by attacking enemies. Each hit will reload that bar, whether it is partially or completely empty.

Take on enemies without haste

One of the most common mistakes that are made when you are in contact with a large number of enemies is to rage on them, trying not to give them even a moment of respite. This strategy, we assure you, does not pay off.
Our advice is to take aside one, maximum two enemies at a time and fight in a calculated and calm way, waiting for the enemy to strike or make some mistake.
Take advantage of the parade with the weapon you have in your left hand as much as possible (each weapon is capable of parrying) and study the movements of the enemies. Remember that the moves indicated by a yellow spark can be parried, while those with a red halo and a rune must necessarily be dodged.
If the enemies start to be too many, get out of the fight and hit them from a distance.

The weapon in the left hand has a special attack

The game allows you to create different combinations of weapons (which can be associated with one hand or the other) and, even, to swap them on the fly thanks to an unlockable move in the talent tree (obviously, if the weapon requires two hands, you will not be able to combine it with others).
The shield is usually the weapon of choice for the left hand, as it can provide greater protection from enemy damage, especially arrows.

To activate continuous defense is necessary press and hold the appropriate button (usually the left bumper if you are playing with a controller). That prolonged pressure, which is associated from the very first moments with the defense of the shield, could make you desist even just from thinking that that key could have another function in combat. And, instead, if we have another weapon in our hands, such as a second ax or a pike, we can hold down the same key to activate the special move of the latter.
A Danish ax will allow you to sweep away enemies thanks to large and consecutive circular movements, while a flail can be swung over the head and then be thrown at enemies with devastating effect. Experiment with the various combinations of weapons and see which one best suits your combat system.

These are the tips we came up with to help you during the first few hours of playing on Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
Surely there are other small things that, perhaps, we have not yet noticed or that do not come to mind at the moment. Therefore, we invite you to share with us and other users any tips you think will help players during their raids in XNUMXth century England.