Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Nobutsuna’s Students Walkthrough

You must duel and learn from the various students of Yasuke’s sensei, Kamiizumi Nobutsuna. This guide will show you where to find his students and provide tips for beating them.

How to start Nobutsuna’s Students quest

This quest is one of Yasuke’s greatest challenges in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. To get this quest, you’ll need to complete Yasuke’s personal quest, An Education.

During that quest, you’ll get a list of students you’ll have to defeat one day. Nobutsuna is no longer in his previous home, so you’ll have to find him in his new home in Azuchi, Omi.

He will tell you that it’s time to open the scroll naming his best students. Your next objective is to duel Nobutsuna’s students.

Each of these students specialize in a weapon Yasuke can use, and you can only use their related weapon when you duel them. To make this task harder, any ability weapon ability Yasuke can use, they can use. You’re going to get a taste of your own medicine.

Asari Nobutane

You can get a lead on Asari Nobutane south of Negoroji in Kii. Talk to and defend the teppo merchant and save him from the soldiers to learn Nobutane’s location.

To duel Asari Nobutane, you can find him in Negoroji, Kii. He’s in a bamboo garden east of the Gato Guard Post.

This is one of the hardest duels in this quest. Nobutane’s weapon of choice is the Teppo, so you’ll be caught in a guerilla warfare battle with him. Go for headshots and never stop dodging to avoid his shots.

Be sure to dodge when he uses his smoke bomb as he’ll throw something at you as he disappears to reposition. If you run out of ammo, use the ammo box to refill your ammunition.

When you defeat Asari Nobutane, you’ll gain the following rewards:

Dark Burst

Hozoin In’ei

To get a lead on Hozoin In’ei, go southwest of Asuka Rocks Basin in Yamato to defend the civilians from bandits.

After rescuing the civilians, they’ll tell you Hozoin In’ei is up the hill. Go north and you’ll find him chiseling a Buddha statue. Talk to him to start the duel. Don’t let his small statue deceive you, his specialty is the kanabo.

You will need spend a lot of time dodging in this fight as the majority of his attacks are unblockable. This fight is simple even if you don’t have any mastery points in the kanabo due to how much damage it does.

When you defeat Hozoin In’ei, you’ll gain the following rewards:

Phantom Fist

Marume Nagayoshi

Marume Nagayoshi is in need of a challenge and has set up notice boards in Azuchi, Omi that challenges any duelists. Find Nagayoshi’s Duel Notices.

Nagayoshi will be northeast of the Trade Harbor in Azuchi. Challenge him to a duel for a one on one fight using the Long Katana.

This fight is basic but letting your guard down can mean failure. His sword builds up bleed affliction on you and will have quick combo attacks. So long as you can parry well, you’ll do fine. Dodge when he pulls his sword back parallel to the ground as he’s about to use Payback on you.

When you defeat Marume Nagayoshi, you’ll get the following rewards:

Heartseeker

Nagano Saemon

To get a lead on Nagao Saemon, help the ashigaru soldier in northwestern Wakasa at Sotomo Gate. Once you help him, he’ll tell you about an archer to the north.

Reach the other side of the beach to find a body riddled with arrows. Interact with it to start your duel with Nagano Saemon.

Like the teppo fight, you’ll need to spend a lot of time dodging ranged attacks. Saemon will use smoke bombs between attacks to reposition and shoot something at you as he does.

It can be hard to apply afflictions on him due to how quickly he repositions. So long as you dodge, aim after he repositions, and shoot his head, you should be able to easily find and defeat him. If you run out of arrows, look for the arrow stockpiles to refill.

After you defeat Nagano Saemon, you’ll gain the following rewards:

Blood Rain

Yagyu Munetoshi

You can find Yagyu Munetoshi on Mount Miwa in Yamato. This is north of Takatori and is right next to the Mount Miwa viewpoint.

Yagyu uses a long katana like Marume Nagayoshi, but he has a more defensive approach to it and can tank more damage when he has his red aura. Keep dodging and parrying his attacks and you’ll whittle him down eventually.

Once you beat him, he’ll become an additional scout for you and you’ll gain the following rewards:

Rat Tail Finisher

Yuki no Kata

Yuki no Kata is found at Ishinohoden Shrine, northwest of Kakogawa Estuary, Harima. She specializes with the Naginata and has recently defeated a spearman. Talk to her to begin your duel.

She uses the most blue combo attacks, so as long as you’re good at parrying this should be an easy fight. If you’re not, well… best of luck to you because she’ll hurt.

Once you defeat Yuki no Kata, you’ll gain the following rewards:

Celestial Blade

Natural Shinto Shrine

The Natural Shinto Shrine can be placed as an exterior decoration at your hideout.

Return to Nobutsuna and Kill Sanada Masatoyo

Once all the students are defeated, return to Nobutsuna’s house in Azuchi. Some plot happens that I won’t spoil here, but now you need to kill Sanada Masatoyo. He’s in his estate in northwestern Suzuka Foothills, Omi.

This fight is very simple compared to the previous fights, so it shouldn’t be too hard to defeat him. Show no mercy and take advantage of any and every opening to make him pay.

When Sanada Masatoyo is defeated, you’ll gain the following rewards:

Crimson’s Edge

Tips for winning the duels

Here are some tips for beating Nobutsuna’s Students. You’re going up against the best of the best and you need to be prepared.

Keep your armor and weapons upgraded

This one should go without saying, but it’s easy to forget to upgrade your armor. You won’t be any good in a duel if you’re dying too fast or dealing too little damage, so keep that armor updated.

Farm up on Knowledge Points

If you want to keep up with the best of the best, I recommend unlocking Knowledge Rank 6 so you have access to the entirety of your mastery trees. You can gain them from the following activities:

	Temples
	Shrines
	Kuji-kiri (for Naoe only)
	Kata (for Yasuke only)
	Horse Archery (for Yasuke only)
	Kofun
	Hidden Trail (for Naoe only)

Use the Protector’s Armor or its Engravings

Get the Protector’s Helmet and Protector’s Armor from Hanazono Castle and Nijo Palace respectively. So long as you use these armors or their engravings in your preferred set, you’ll make the duels so much easier.

Protector’s Armor

Protector’s Helmet

The Protector’s Armor engraving in particular is very important as you’ll be able to parry all the red unblockable attacks. Pair this with the Protector’s helmet’s engraving to deal damage on parry, you’ll always be on the offensive even when being defensive.

It can be expensive to upgrade your gear and place new engravings, but there are many good ways to make mon.

What to select from your Mastery Trees

Each opponent listed above uses a specific weapon and you’ll use the same weapon in the duels. Prepare ahead of time by resetting masteries of one weapon then filling out the one you’re going to use in the duel.

This will allow you to keep up with your opponent as you’ll have access to the weapon’s abilities and keep up with them. This is especially important in the teppo and bow fights so you have more ammunition on hand.

I would recommend the following active abilities for each weapon. Be sure to get :

Long Katana

• Power Dash
• Payback

Power Dash is on-demand vulnerability on your target, allowing you to deal significant damage with three light attacks followed by a light or heavy posture attack. Payback should be used to finish off an opponent as its damage can increase with the target’s missing health.

Naginata

• Impale
• Onslaught

Impale is great to prevent movement while making the target vulnerable. While they’re vulnerable, you can use normal attacks or use Onslaught to show them what a real naginata combo looks like.

Kanabo

• Crushing Shockwave
• Spine Crusher

Crowd control and burst damage go together like chocolate and peanut butter, so be a peanut butter cup and take advantage of your target being knocked down and hit them when they’re defenseless.

Teppo

• Larger Pouch I, II, III
• Armor Buster
• Explosive Surprise

In the teppo duel, you’re going to have a hard time closing the gap due to how quickly he repositions. These to abilities should help provide some extra damage at a distance. With the Larger Pouch upgrades, you’ll spend less time looking for more ammo and more time shooting.

Bow

• Larger Quiver I, II, III
• Clear Mind
• Retreating Shot

Use Retreating Shot when Nagano Saemon is close, and Clear Mind when he’s far away. With all the Larger Quiver upgrades, it’s very unlikely you’ll be out of arrows throughout the duel.

Samurai

• Impenetrable Defense

I cannot stress enough how great this ability is during this quest. On-demand invulnerability and counters is too good to pass up. Given how fast the students attack, it’d be dumb not to take this ability. Pair this with the Protector’s Armor and Helmet, you can use this if you need some breathing room to recover.