Den Defense

Ezio overseeing the defense of a den

Whenever the Byzantine Templars attacked an Assassins Den in 16th century Constantinople, the Ottoman Assassins would engage in a Den Defense in order to maintain their control over it. Several such defenses were successfully carried out by the Italian Mentor, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, during his stay in the city.

The Ottoman Assassins also helped the guilds in other Mediterranean cities to defend against Templar attacks.

The process

During a Den Defense, Ezio had the ability to command and deploy Assassin units to defend the den from approaching Templar troops. Positioning themselves on rooftops and behind barricades, the Assassin forces would wait for the impending waves of Templars. Each Assassin had a combat specialty, ranging from crossbowmen to bombers, and barricades could also be placed to halt Templar progression. In order to call in assistance, morale was used to deploy Assassins and build barricades, which was gained automatically over time and sometimes from looting Templar corpses. Occasionally, deployed Assassins could be killed and barricades destroyed, which would prompt Ezio to call in replacement troops and construct new blockades.

He could also participate in the defense more directly, by firing his Hidden Gun at approaching soldiers, which would signal his troops to attack that squadron, or, periodically, command a cannon to be fired at a group of soldiers or a war machine.

The Templars would attack in several waves, leaving little time between each for the Assassins to prepare. From there, they would advance up the street, pausing only once encountering a barricade. On their death, Templar soldiers could be looted for akçe, bomb ingredients or morale points. However, once the soldiers reached the Assassin Den, they would begin attacking it, and would not stop until they forced the Assassins out or were killed.

List of Assassin units

• Assassin Leader: Leaders would not attack the Byzantine soldiers, but they were vital, as other Assassins weren't allowed onto the rooftops unless there was a leader there. Leaders would also increase morale over time.
• Barricade: Barricades would be placed in the streets to slow the Templars' progression to the Den. Assassins could also be deployed to barricades to help defend them. Typically, one barricade would be placed in front of the Den, as a precaution at the start of the battle.
  • Greek Fire Barricade: A barricade mounting a flamethrower, with high damage and short range.
  • Machine Gun Barricade: A barricade mounting a repeating gun with average range, low damage, and high rate of fire.
  • Cannon Barricade: A barricade mounting a small cannon with long range and high damage, but had a very low rate of fire.
• Crossbowman: An Assassin wielding a crossbow. Possessed a high rate of fire, but dealt relatively low damage.
• Rifleman: An Assassin wielding a rifle. Dealt large amounts of damage, but had a lower rate of fire than crossbowmen.
• Air Assassin: An Assassin wielding a Hidden Blade. These Assassins would air assassinate Byzantine troops, though they couldn't attack again quickly, as they would have to climb back up to the rooftops.
• Bruiser: An Assassin wielding a medium weapon. Highly adept at melee, but had no ranged capability.
• Caltrop Bomber: An Assassin wielding caltrop bombs. While not dealing much damage, they would slow down Templars caught in its effect.
• Shrapnel Bomber: An Assassin wielding splinter bombs. They would deal damage in a large radius, but couldn't throw the bombs often.

List of Templar units

• Militia: Weak and poorly armored, their primary danger was in their numbers.
• Almogavars: Well-armored brutes carrying heavy weapons, though they would move slowly, making them easy targets.
• Riflemen: Equipped with a rifle, these Templars could return fire at rooftop Assassins, but had a low rate of fire and weak armor.
• Bombmen: Slow and poorly armored, but were equipped with bombs that would make short work of barricades.
• Scouts: Poorly armored, but were fast and could climb over barricades to attack defenders behind them.
• Infiltrators: Like scouts, they were poorly armored, but fast. However, they evaded defenders and would go straight towards the den.
• Stalkers: Highly dangerous in melee, they attacked Assassins on the rooftops instead of in the streets.
• War Machines: Heavily armored and slow, these were usually brought in at the very end of an assault.
  • Ram: A heavily armored battering ram. It was limited to melee attacks, but dealt high amounts of damage.
  • Greek Fire: A heavily armored platform with a flamethrower mounted on it. It dealt large amounts of damage near-constantly, but was limited to close range.
  • Machine Gun: A heavily armored platform that fired projectiles over a long distance, dealing average damage. It was, however, ineffective against barricades.
  • Cannon: A heavily armored platform with a mounted cannon. It had a very low rate of fire, but dealt extraordinary amounts of damage and had a long range.

Trivia

• Successful Den Defenses counted toward the experience gained by recruits not currently away on contracts.
• Den Defenses noticeably got harder each time it happened, or when there were fewer dens immune to further attacks. Therefore it was advisable to keep Den Defenses to a minimum until all Den Leaders were Master Assassins.
• Its advised to try unlock the Iron Curtain achievement, for completing a den defence without using a Cannon, on the 1st Den defence, there's moments the templar will not attack, allowing you to amass Morale Points,
• The 1st den defence consists of 125 templar, 67 Militia , 54 Almogavars and 4 Ram templar,
• the 1st wave  consists of 8 Militia, 2nd wave  12 Militia , 3rd wave  8 Militia 8 Almogavars, 4th wave  39 Militia 6 Almogavars , 6th wave  20 Militia 20 Almogavars  7th wave  1 Ram machine consisting of 4 Militia,
• Killing Militia rewards you with 1 morale, Almogavars reward you with 3 morale. 
• If a assassin kills a Militia Templar it is worth 1 Morale point, however on rare occasion will be worth 3,  has been noted occuring in close range near the den, 
• Destroying the ram will not add to your kill count in statistics if you do not fire final shot
• If you do not use the Cannon it is worth 15% synchronization 
• Losing a barricade counts as a Assassin death, you can lose 2 and still gain the full 20% synchronization
•  On the end game scorecard morale will cap at 150 and add a max 15% to full synchronization
• Den health will cap at 50% synchronization
•  Assassin leaders will reward you with 2 morale each every 10 seconds
  • You can place all 4 Assassin leaders on all 4 roofs from the beggining, if you do so as fast as possible at the beggining, before a notication about placing a Crossbowman occur's 
  • You can amass as many Morale points as you want rom the beggining if you dont place a crossbowman, the Templar will not begin attacking, until you have placed 2 Crossbowman,
  •    This will occur again after the 1st wave of templar, once you receive a notication about placing a Barricade, and again after the 2nd wave once You receive a notication about placing a Rifleman,
• If templars find themselves outnumbered by your Assassin's they will flee, from as few as 2
• You can place 5 Barricade's at once and place 3 Assassin's by each of them, totalling in 15 Assassin's
• You can place 4 Assassin leaders on a roof each and place 9 Assassin's by them, totalling in 40 Assassin's
• There are 2 Assassin's stationed permanently on  the Assassin den roof's
• Removing all barricades and placing the maximum amount of rifleman on the roof will destroy the Ram before it gets halfway to the Assassin Den, they must be placed ASAP, preferably closest to the Ram entrance  
• Assassin's will only shoot within 5 or so metres from where they are placed   

Gallery

• 
  Several Assassins defending a Den
• 
  Den Defense concept art

References

• Assassin's Creed: Revelations