Morale

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Morale is a hidden mechanic introduced in Assassin's Creed II which tracks guards' motivation to fight in open combat. Note that the values given below only apply once you enter open combat - assassinating two Brutes will not cause an Agile to run at the initiation of combat, since Morale only applies once enemies become hostile to you.

Assassin's Creed II

Morale in Assassin's Creed II is handled on a specialty-basis, to wit:

• Archers have 30 Morale points
• Agiles have 40
• Seekers have 80

The Prima guide lists Brutes as having 1000 Morale points, though that may be only a way of stating that Brutes never flee unless disarmed. All Guards without specialties have 20 Morale points, regardless of whether they're basic guards or Captains.

Morale for each guard in combat decreases by 5 whenever an Archer, Agile or basic guard is killed, as well as when a Counter Kill, Disarm, or ground-assassination is performed. Disarming an opponent and killing them with their own weapon decreases Morale by 10, killing Seekers and performing pistol assassinations knock off 20 points apiece, and a Brute's death is worth 30 points of lost morale. Conversely, each time Ezio is hit (regardless of the damage he takes), all guards gain 10 Morale, with an extra 25 if he enters Critical State. Lastly, guards in evasion mode (so that the edge of your mini-map goes from red to yellow) adds 20 points to the Morale of all guards. There are exceptions to the above system, however. An enemy who is disarmed will, under most circumstances, run immediately. This can be treated as a Morale penalty for being empty-handed. Along with disarming, in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, If a Brute/Heavy Weapon (Requiring the heavy weapon sheathe) is thrown at an enemy, it can also be treated as a Morale penalty. Enemies will drop their weapons and surrender/flee when this happens. Aiming a pistol at an enemy greatly reduces their morale, if this skill is learned from the Villa training grounds.

Subsequent games

In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the morale system applies exactly the same for the recurring guards as it did in its prequel. Two new enemy types are introduced into the game: the Papal Guard and the Borgia Captain, both of which will never escape from combat. The death of either type of guard will result in a massive blow to the morale of surrounding enemies, more often than not leading to them fleeing from the fight.

In Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Janissaries and Templar Den Captains replace the previous guard archetypes. Like the Borgia Captains, some Templar Den Captains may flee on sight and are specifically noted by the Animus tutorial.

In Brotherhood, the Dagger of Brutus, when equipped, will cause enemies to flee from combat quicker than they normally would. This is because of the fact that the Dagger has an inherent -20 Morale bonus, and because of its brutal finisher animations. The armor of Ishak Pasha has a similar effect.