Active and Passive abilities. (default ones present at game launch)

This guide will show you exactly which skills are "Active" and which are "Passive".

Introduction.

Hello and welcome to my second ever Steam guide which will again be in regards to the amazing masterpiece called:

The reason I decided to create this second guide (which is primarily intended to help beginners) is because when I first started playing and after a few good hours of gameplay, I would've liked to know which skill is "Active" and which is "Passive" since I was limited to only 4 skill slots and therefore could only use 4 "Active" skills at the time (as is the case with everyone in the beginning, before unlocking another extra 4 slots A.K.A. the "Melee Wheel") and neither the game, Google nor Steam could help me.

And to get this out of the way, as I'm sure most of you will have probably thought of it by now, I am and was aware of the fact that for a very small amount of drachmae, you can reset the whole "Ability Skill Tree" at any given time. But even so, for the better part of the first few tens of hours, I still found it a bit annoying to have to reset everything just because the game would not specify if a certain skill was "Active" or "Passive", therefore the drachmae was not the issue, but the lack of information was.

So here we go.

Abilities.

This time I'll be focusing solely on the "Abilities" section of the game, so this guide will be shorter (that's what she said) than my previous one.

The "Abilities" in "Assassin's Creed: Odyssey" are skills that help you throughout the game in different ways and can be unlocked by progressing through the story, leveling up your character and upgrading "The Spear of Leonidas".

It's also worth mentioning that they are split into three categories, namely "Hunter", "Warrior" and "Assassin", as you can see below:



Now then, as you may or may not already know, some of them are "Active", meaning that they will need to be assigned into an empty slot if you want to use them, while some of them are "Passive" and do not require a slot on the "Melee Wheel" or "Ranged Wheel" shown on the lower right part and lower left part of the screen respectively.

However, even though "Passive" skills will NOT occupy any slots, you should take note of the fact that SOME of them WILL require an action on your part (be it pressing a button or crafting a special arrow) in order for you to "activate" and properly use them.

Classification - which is which?

But which of them is "Active" and which is "Passive"?

Well, I've taken the liberty of editing a photo so as to show you exactly "what's what":

(EDIT and fun fact - upon modifying this photo today, I realized that a "smooth and simple" circle indicates a "Passive" skill, while the "circles with designs" indicate "Active" skills...lol...and to think that in one whole month of gameplay, I didn't notice it...so again, "LOL!")

There you go. ("A" is for "Active" and "P" is for "Passive")
Now, as you progress through the game, you will know exactly in what skills you want to invest "Ability Points" first, should you find yourself in a situation as described below:

At the beginning, when the game only allowed access to the first "Melee Wheel" and therefore granted me access to only 4 available skill slots, I could've used the information found here to invest some "Ability Points" in certain "Passive" skills INSTEAD of spending points on "Active" ones that I could NOT assign at the time because my 4 slots were already full...(or instead of just leaving the points for later)

Oh, and before I forget, if you haven't already, you'll see that all the skills in the "Main Skill Tree" have 3 levels (1/3, 2/3, 3/3) and I thought you should know that if you want to fully upgrade said skills to their maximum level, namely Level 3, you will first have to upgrade "The Spear of Leonidas" to Level 5. (using fragments looted from dead members of "The Cult of Kosmos")

As for the skills located in the section furthest down, they are given to you by the game as you progress and level up and therefore you have no control over unlocking them with "Ability Points".



And although the game explains them if you hover your mouse over their respective icon, I thought I should mention the requirements for the following three which I outlined (since they are the only upgradable ones in this section):

- the icon labeled 1 is called "Eyes of Ikaros" and even though the game gives you acces to the first level of this skill, you will need to unlock the next two levels by synchronizing "Viewpoints"
- the icon labeled 2 is called "Leap of Faith" and if you want to reach its highest level, namely Level 3, where falling from any height will not cause any damage, you will simply have to level up your character
- the icon labeled 3 is called "Man at Arms" and it will require "The Spear of Leonidas" to be upgraded to Level 3, after which it will give you the secondary "Melee Wheel" I mentioned earlier which consists of 4 extra skill slots

Also, DON'T FORGET that at any given time, you can switch between day and night by meditating which is activated by pressing and holding the "M" key. (only pressing the key brings up the map; be sure to hold down the key)

Recap.

So there you have it. Again, this is the "Main Skill Tree" consisting of "Active" and "Passive" skills:
(which, again, can also be identified by the "smooth and simple circles" as being "Passive" or by the "circles with designs" as being "Active")



And these are the "Abilities" that the game will reward you with as you progress further in the game:
(the ones you CANNOT unlock using "Ability Points")

Final note.

So, should any of you stumble upon the dilemma of which skill is "Active" and which is "Passive", I hope this guide will help you, as I'm sure it would've helped me when I first started playing this awesome game.

And now that you have the necessary knowledge at your disposal, go out there and send all your enemies to Hades!

Consider checking out my other guides.

If you've found this particular guide useful, then consider checking out my other guides as well.

[Valorieya]

Niceu niceu shiza chan

[The Spartan]

Yeah, it's awesome that everyone can use their own playstyle in this game without having to be completely stealthy.

[JustHF]

The best news for me, when I look at the skills, is that it is not mandatory to be a stealthy assassin which is so cool. I hate stealth. :D

[The Spartan]

You're more than welcome, Carol.

[carol.meghji]

thanks for doing this :) i have never played any of the assassins creed series before and i found it really hard to find out basics like - until, that is, i found these guides, also quite by accident :)

[The Spartan]

Hey, @WackyTabacy. If you go to the lower part of the "Abilities" section, you'll notice an eagle icon. Hover your mouse over it and it will tell you how many Viewpoints/Synchronizations are needed for his next level.

[WackyTabacy]

And yes,I'm a wee bit late in this game but I started with "Origins".
Like this more.

[WackyTabacy]

Hi Spartan. I'm at level 25 now and just started the "Cosmos" adventure. (I had been concentrating on getting my ship's crew in "Argonaut" mode, I'm hooked on those sea-battles!).
Very useful info regarding the fragments you need to upgrade your spear (Do it, she said...).
Do you happen to know how many viewpoints you need to synchronize to level up each "Eyes of Ikaros" level?
Again, thx for the info!
Game on.

[The Spartan]

Thank you so much for the positive feedback!

I said I'd update this guide back in January since a few more Abilities were added...but I never got around to it. Oops.

[Oaken Buckets]

Great guides for beginners! (After 250+ hours i still never noticed the "Simple circle vs. Designed circle LOL) But yeah both guides are fantastic and will be recommending them to my friend who is yet to play the game! Well done!