Assassin’s Creed Shadows is getting another large free update on June 16, with Title Update 1.1.11 going live at 7:00 AM Pacific (10:00 AM Eastern). The headline addition is a new free story quest called Black Tides, but the update also brings a new end-game mode, two crossover projects, a fresh Animus Rift, and a long list of balance and bug fixes.
Black Tides is the new free story quest, and it sends two elite Templars known as the Black Cross to Japan to hunt down Naoe and Yasuke. As tends to happen with the Templar Order, the Black Cross are likely chasing their own agenda on the side, and it’s on the two protagonists to figure out what they’re after and stop them. To access it, you’ll need to finish Naoe and Yasuke’s main story along with the “A Critical Encounter” and “A Puzzlement” post-launch quests.
Two new crossover Projects, Riptides and Undertow, are also landing in the Animus HUB, where you unlock themed outfits, weapons, trinkets, and more by completing Anomalies and working through the rewards like earlier Projects. The catch is that these tie into Black Flag Resynced, with rewards for both games and progress that carries across Anomalies from each. Because of that crossover, they won’t be available on Nintendo Switch 2, since Black Flag Resynced isn’t coming to Nintendo.
The big new end-game feature is Domains, which unlocks once you hit level 30. It’s a new Animus activity built around five gameplay simulations spread across 10 challenge levels, with more gameplay modifiers stacking on as the difficulty climbs. The point is to push you out of your comfort zone, since a build that clears one Domain might fall apart in the next. There’s an exclusive shop run by an Assassin hacker called MOD, complete with its own in-game currency, end-game gear sets, powerful engravings, and a progression tree, and the rewards are Domain-exclusive that will never show up in the store or the exchange. They’re for bragging rights and showing off.
A new Animus Rift called Horizon opens up as well, continuing the storyline around the Guide, though you’ll need to clear the two previous Rifts before you can reach it. On the quality-of-life side, the Animus HUB’s System menu is now only accessible through the Shadows’ Memory page, bringing the main menu in line with how you reach those features during gameplay.
Bug Fixes and Improvements
Gameplay
- Increased damage for Shurikens fired from the Bank Shot and Triple Threat tools mastery upgrade.
- All abilities that destroy enemy armor are now half as effective against bosses.
- Fixed the “weak point attacks from making enemies vulnerable a second time” engraving not unlocking correctly.
- Fixed Yasuke’s knowledge bonus that granted damage reduction against melee or ranged attacks having no effect.
- Enemies now take fall damage from shorter heights, so they take more fall damage overall.
- Reduced damage from enemy-thrown Poison Kunai.
- Reduced damage from enemy-thrown Explosive Grenades.
- Up to six Corrupted Castles are now available each season.
- Fixed Naoe’s Katana Sheath being stuck to her.
UI
- Forge engraving lists have been reordered, with a new Critical Category added.
- Fixed some perks showing in the wrong forge category engraving list.
- Fixed some perks and knowledge skills displaying the wrong icons.
- Fixed the “Damage when Hitting Vulnerable Enemies” perk missing from the stat sheet.
- Naoe’s Peasant Hat Headgear perk now notes in the stat sheet that it only triggers when below 1 adrenaline.
- Fixed Yasuke’s “Damage with Combo Enders” knowledge bonus showing a value 10 times higher than intended on the stat sheet.
- Pins and world markers now save through travels in Japan and Awaji.
Gears and Perks
- The following adrenaline perks have been reworked to a percentage of an adrenaline chunk and rebalanced to a lower value: Adrenaline Tools, Adrenaline on Headshot, Adrenaline on Critical Hit, Adrenaline over half health, Adrenaline under half health, Adrenaline on afflicted enemies, Adrenaline on posture attack, and Adrenaline on vulnerable enemies.
- The perk on the Whisper of Gold Long Katana now increases ability damage by 100 percent, up from 50 percent.
- Fixed Naoe’s Kusarigama “Affliction on Entangled Enemy” perk dealing lower damage than intended when triggering bleed with entanglement.
- Fixed Blade of Yumminess missing from inventory in some cases.
- Teppo and Bow weapons can now be engraved with armor damage and armor piercing perks.
- Fixed the Arrownomics Bow perk being engravable on amulets.
- Fixed the Golden Chamber Teppo perk being engravable on amulets.
- Naoe’s Ethereal Cloth Headgear perk now triggers when health is below 15 percent, up from 10 percent.
- Naoe’s Pink Petal Kosode Light Armour and Yasuke’s Sakura Bloom Armour now convert adrenaline to 20 percent health on death, up from 10 percent.
- Fixed Yasuke’s Riddle Scroll Beacon Trinket perk reverting to its default perk.
- Fixed the “Consecutive Enemy Kills” perk not resetting when combat ended.
- Fixed the “Consecutive Enemy Kills” perk resetting when damaged.
- Perks with the “with backstab” condition can now only be engraved on Tanto weapons.
- Perks with conditions like “with ranged weapons,” “with headshots,” and “while stationary” can no longer be engraved on melee weapons, where they had no effect.
- Perks with conditions like “with melee weapons,” “with posture,” “with combo ender,” and “when hitting multiple enemies” can no longer be engraved on ranged weapons, where they had no effect.
- Fixed some perks affecting affliction duration or granting adrenaline not having their effect increased when engraved on enhanced items.
- Fixed the “Critical Chance with Melee Weapons” perk being engravable on armor instead of helmets.
Quests (spoilers ahead)
- “Gather Mon”: Fixed the Anomaly Quest progression issue.
- “Way of the Blacksmith”: Fixed an issue where Heji and the forge were removed from the hideout and his quest was unavailable.
- “Lost and Found”: Fixed Sentinel B-Ser.0197 being teleported out of bounds.
Nintendo Switch 2
- GPU performance improvements in handheld mode.
Patch Sizes
- PlayStation 5: 10.01GB
- XBOX Series X|S: 26.1GB
- Nintendo Switch 2: 9.5GB
- PC: 21.69GB
- Steam: 10GB
- Mac: 9GB
Title Update 1.1.11 rolls out across all platforms on June 16. And it’s free.
