AC4: Disarm and kill 3 agile guards with their own weapon

If you are not aware of what's going on, the "disarm and kill 3 agile guards with their own weapon" challenge can be one of the most frustrating Abstergo Challenges in Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag.

Agile guards are the guards that have no hats, wear powdered wigs and fight with a dagger.  They are most commonly found on rooftops acting as lookouts for the guards with bayonetted muskets.  Disarming them is simple: go into unarmed mode (hand icon), wait for the guard to attack, counter the attack and hit the Disarm button.  On the Xbox One and Xbox 360 this involves countering with the [B] button and disarming with the [A] button.  The problem most people will have at this point is that the weapon will drop to the ground and you won't be able to pick it up, making it impossible to kill the guard with his own weapon.

The fact that the weapon drops to the ground is your clue.  This happens with any weapon that you are already armed with.  If it happens to you, then it means you are currently carrying a throwing knife.

I can hear many of you groaning already.

So here's the simple answer: discard your throwing knife before trying to battle an agile guard.  You can do this by selecting the throwing knife (left three times on the D-pad for Xbox and PlayStation), and then throwing it at somebody ([Y] button on Xbox) or by throwing it away -- zoom in with the left trigger on Xbox/PlayStation and throw it with the right trigger.

Now that you are not holding a throwing knife, switch to being unarmed, antagonize an agile guard, wait for his attack, counter ([B] button), disarm ([A] button) and then throw his own knife at his throat ([Y] button).  When you successfully disarm the guard while unarmed, the knife is automatically selected as your projectile weapon for the remainder of the fight.

There you go!  Now go take revenge on those English and Spanish brigands!


NOTE FOR PC USERS:

It seems there is a problem selecting the throwing knife on the PC that hasn't been patched yet.  Fortunately, there is an easy fix for the problem.  You can view it here.

Assassin's Creed: Dealing with Templars

By far, the most difficult enemies you will regularly encounter while playing Assassin's Creed are the Templars. There are 60 of them spread through out the game -- about ten in each of the major cities (Acre, Damascus and Jerusalem) and another thirty or so in the Kingdom area. They are easily identified by their white robes with a red cross on their chest and silly-looking, canister-shaped helmets.

These guys are tough. By comparison, I can drop any guard in the game with a single thrown knife, yet these guys will still come running at you after sinking four knives into their chests. There are really only two ways to deal with these guys:

• Stealth -- Fortunately for you, if you can catch a Templar unaware, you can slip your hidden dagger into his back and be done with him. Templars always are found with a chest* behind them, which can sometimes make a stealth approach difficult, but not impossible.
  
  If the Templar has his back to a wall, you can often hang from the wall, equip your hidden blade and then select the "Assassiate" option by hitting the X button. It's one of the coolest kills in the game.
  
  I've also found that if the Templar is looking straight ahead with his back to a corner, that I can sneak up on him by hugging a wall to either side of him without him noticing. Once you are behind him, show him the purpose of your blade.
  
  
• Brute Force -- When stealth fails (or isn't possible) you are going to have to fight these guys. The fights are ugly. You can't combo-kill them, they break through your defense posture, and they throw you around like a rag doll at every opportunity. My best approach to taking these guys down in this situation is:
  
  
• Only slash once with your sword and immediately block. (Combo kills fail, because the Templar will almost always counter your second strike.)
  
• Try to get a counter in using RT or RT+X
  
• Jump away using RT+A
  
• Do your best to grab him after his first hit and throw him to the ground! If you can get him to fall, then run to him and stab like a madman.
  
Hitting him when he's down is the only way I've been able to consistently kill these guys in a fight. But getting the grab is risky and difficult. Try it enough times, though, and you'll eventually get him -- and without getting killed if your sync bar is reasonably well developed.

One bonus to dropping a Templar is that your sync bar will immediately refill, which can be a welcome event if you encounter a Templar accidentally while fighting off (or running from) a group of guards.

Another benefit is that the Templar is permanently retired from the game and you are one step closer to getting the Personal Vendetta achievement.

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* The chest is the game's recognition of the Templar's creation of modern banking. They were the first to allow you to deposit money or gold in one place and withdraw it from another after presenting a draft or check. The system was initially put in place as a way of protecting pilgrims during the Crusades. Highwaymen would have nothing to steal if travellers deposited funds with the Templars before beginning their pilgrimage.

Assassin's Creed -- Achievement Tips

EAGLE'S FLIGHT (20G)

This achievement requires that you stay in battle for at least 10 minutes. There are three fairly simple ways to do this:

1. THE CHEATER'S WAY
   
   Go into the Kingdom and run to your nearest lookout point (any of the towers where you synchronize your area memory will do.) Simply pick a fight with a guard to attract his attention (don't kill him) and then quickly climb up the tower, avoiding any rocks that might get thrown at you. Once you are at the top of the tower, you will be safe, but the guard and his nearby buddies will continue to search for you indefinitely. Just take a bathroom break and grab a sandwich. 10 minutes later, voila! You have the achievement. You can now do a leap of faith from the tower and dispel all of the guards' pent-up rage as you slip away quietly.
   
   
2. THE COWARD'S WAY
   
   Okay, so it's not as cowardly as #1, but it's still pretty cowardly. Again, go into the Kingdom and grab a horse. Get the guard's attention and then get on the horse. The trick here is to avoid the guards without getting too far away from them -- if you do, your suspicion level will go to zero and you'll have to restart the process. Try to stay in a fairly confined area that doesn't have any archers. (The entrance from Masayaf is perfect.) After ten minutes of displaying your fine horsemanship, you should have this one in the bag.
   
   
3. THE HERO'S WAY
   
   If you have decent fighting skills and are fully in sync with Altaïr (all 20 bars in the DNA sync meter) you can get this achievement at the same time you complete the Eagle's Challenge achievement. (See below.) Killing 25 guards in a sane manner will take about ten minutes, so you can do both of these at the same time.

EAGLE'S CHALLENGE (20G)

While you can certainly try to Rambo this achievement, I've found that a more conservative approach, invloving a lot of running, works well here.

I recommend doing this in the Kingdom, starting in the cluster of villages in the North-central area. There are PLENTY of guards around, which you will need to accomplish this.

First off, realize that you can't kill every guard around you or you will end the fight, so always leave somebody alive and start running when the battle gets down to one or two guards.

Secondly, don't bite off more than you can chew. If you are surrounded by more than six guards -- RUN! You will eventually lose most of them.

Thirdly, be an opportunist: if you have a good lead on the pack and see a new guard who doesn't see you, switch to your hidden blade and jump him! You can then decide whether or not to switch back to your short blade or keep running.

So, with the above in mind, the plan is to pick a fight, get noticed, fight when the odds are in your favor (5 or fewer guards) and run when they aren't or when your synchronization (health) is low. If things get too crazy, find a tower and heal -- just don't do the leap of faith into a hay bale or you'll end the fight prematurely.

Also, Templars can be your ally here if you are gettin glow on synchronization. Killing a Templar will always refill your sync bar! And most guards will back off and watch a Templar fight. (Note that I said "most", not "all".) So if you are low on health and you have an uncaptured Templar nearby, take him on! I did just that after taking out 15 guards during my attempt at this achievement and it worked great.

Remember, when you are down to one or two guards, run away and try to attract the attention of more guards. This will also give you a chance to regain some sync.

Happy Hunting!