How to use and get more scouts in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Scouts are an important asset in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. You’ll be able to start using them after unlocking the Hideout; they allow you to both narrow down quest locations and retrieve resources (the ones on pallets) from castles, camps, and other enemy outposts.

Our Assassin’s Creed Shadows guide will tell you how to use scouts, how to refill your scouts, how to get more scouts, and how make them more efficient.

How to use scouts in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Scouts have three main purposes in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

• You can use them to help you find objectives
• They can smuggle resources
• You can spend scouts to clear your wanted level

Whenever you have a vague objective, you can use scouts to help you find it. With an objective tracked, head to your map. There will be a prompt underneath the objective clues on the left to Scout Objective. This has a relatively small search area, so you’ll have to be close. You can increase the search area with the right trigger and upgrading your Study at the Hideout. The level 1 and level 3 upgrade both affect the search area.

While you’re raiding a castle, camp, or one of the enemy-controlled temples, you might come across stockpiles. These are pallets of resources that you can flag to be smuggled out at the end of the season. You’ll assign scouts to smuggle resources, and then they’ll show up in your inventory the next time the season changes.

If you pick up a wanted level while raiding castles or just by being a menace, you can use scouts to clear it. You’ll need to upgrade the Kakurega at your Hideout to unlock this ability. Head to the map and hover over the region where you’re wanted. There will be a new prompt in the lower right to Clear Regional Alert along with the cost in scouts. (You can immediately refill your scouts at a kakurega, so this is really just a bribe with extra steps.)

How to refill scouts in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

Scouts refill automatically at the end of every season, so if you just wait a while, they’ll come back on their own. If you want, you can also (sometimes) manually change the season from the Map screen.

If you don’t feel like waiting, though, you can defeat bandits out in the world or spend money at a kakurega.

When you’re riding around, watch for bandits harassing a local. When you jump in and stab all the bandits, head over and talk to the person you saved.

You can ask them for a world rumor or scout intel. World rumors adds points of interest to your map. Scout intel refills one scout. Just note that, if you are already full up on scouts, it’ll automatically default to a world rumor.

The other solution is to throw mon(ey) at the problem. At any kakurega — like the ones you unlock in towns or the Kakurega room at your Hideout — you can refill scouts at a rate of 200 mon each.

How to get more scouts

Scouts are tied to your Hideout, so upgrading your Hideout will get you more.

• You’ll get your first scouts for building the Kakurega.
• You’ll get one scout when you build the Study (60 crops, 40 wood, 10 mineral).
• Each upgrade to the Study gets you one extra scout.

Upgrading your Stable affects your scouts, too. Each level of Stable upgrade means you need fewer scouts each time you tag a pallet of resources — which basically works out to having more scouts to work with.

For more Assassin’s Creed Shadows explainers, here’s how to get more knowledge points and mastery points, how to get more rations, and how to get all companions and romance options. Plus, see our all weapons and all armor lists.