Engraving gear in Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a must, as it boosts weapon proficiency in addition to bestowing perks on them.

Like most modern RPGs, Assassin’s Creed Shadows also comes with a host of customization features, which extend down to individual gear pieces.

This includes upgrade paths, as well as engravings – which allow players to further enhance existing equipment (different from your regular upgrade).

Shadows has a lot of gear to upgrade | Image Credits: Ubisoft

In particular, engravings help players select from a variety of perks that augment these weapons, making them a lot more serviceable, and at times – even superior when compared to higher-level loot. More on these engravings below.

How to use engravings on weapons and armor in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Accessing the Forge for engravings with Yasuke | Image Credits: Ubisoft

To use engravings on both weapons and armor in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, players will have to use the Forge. However, this is not available at the start of the game, as players will have to progress through a fair bit of the early campaign in order to be able to unlock the same.

For starters, one must enlist the services of Heiji the Blacksmith via the hideout. Heiji can be located past the prologue chapter, and must first be rescued from his assailants during ‘The Way of the Blacksmith’ quest.

Once recruited, Heiji will join players at their hideout, and will request access to the Forge, which must be built first. After building the Forge, upgrade it to Level 2, and the ability to add engravings should now be unlocked.

This is unrelated to customizing weapons though, for which we have a separate guide here.

To access it, talk to Heiji and make your way to the second tab, known as ‘Engrave’. Once within the Engrave menu, select your weapon and/or armor that you wish to augment, from the equipment section.

A list of all available perks for that particular piece of gear should now be generated – browse, and select the ones that strike you fancy. Select up to two perks per gear and add them in to enhance them greatly, for both stealth and offense.

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Keep in mind that Legendary Engravings require a Level 3 Forge, and cannot be accessed at lower levels. It is also possible to equip up to two Legendary Engravings on a piece of gear, past this upgrade.

Additionally, note that not all perks will be unlocked from the get-go in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. These locked engravings must be unlocked, either by completing the campaign or locating them in secret, guarded areas.

Making use of Heiji’s services | Image Credits: Ubisoft

Assassin’s Creed Shadows does thankfully mention the location of these locked engravings, which can be found within the Forge menu (right-hand side of the user interface – below the description of said perk).

Simply make your way to the indicated location, and search for the perk. Once collected, it is possible to head back to the Forge and craft the engraving for further use.

Thankfully, perks are not time-limited and can be applied and re-applied freely, assuming one can pay the engraving fee.