• Guide

How to guard break in Assassin's Creed Shadows

Fearsome foes will give you all manner of trouble in Assassin's Creed Shadows unless you learn how to break down their guard.

Aidan O'Brien

March 19, 2025 9:15 AM

Shacknews

1

Combat in Assassin's Creed Shadows is quick and deadly. You will find yourself endlessly betting the steel of your blade against that of your enemies, and sometimes, you might find that their defenses are tough to get through. When this happens, you'll need to break their guard, leaving them open to vicious attacks.

How to guard break in Assassin's Creed Shadows

To break an enemy's guard in Assassin's Creed Shadows, you will need to perform what is called a Posture Attack. These can be done by holding the right shoulder or right trigger button on your controller or the left mouse button and the left mouse button + the Shift key if you are playing on mouse and keyboard.

These posture attacks are risky, as you draw your sword back a great distance, adopt a high or low posture, and swing hard at the enemy. The trick is to release your hold right as your weapon flashes at the tip, and you hear the audio cue that accompanies it to ensure the shortest time spent charging an effective attack. When the weapon flashes, this means the attack is ready. If you release too quickly, you will just perform a normal attack that will simply bounce off your enemy's sword as they are guarding.

When the charged attack connects, it will knock your enemy's posture a bit, moving their sword aside and allowing you to follow up with quick, damaging attacks that whittle away their armor or health. You do need to be very careful, as enemies can strike while you are charging your attack, so be prepared to parry or dodge.

For more Assassin's Creed guides and news, be sure to check out our Assassin's Creed Shadows page.

Aidan O'Brien

Contributing Guides Editor

Hailing from Ireland, Aidan has been conditioned by local weather conditions to survive hours at his PC grinding through whatever game is offering the lowest possible drop rates for loot. He thinks the easiest way to figure out what fans of games want to read is to just be a fan of games. You can normally find him logged into Warframe, Destiny, or a gacha game. You can reach out to him on X @scannerbarkly.