Firearm

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A Flintlock Pistol

Firearms are a class of long-ranged weapons that launch projectiles at a high velocity through the confined burning of propellants. They were used as early as the late Middle Ages.

History

Middle Ages

"The knowledge of projectile combat is not new to us, having been observed amongst our Eastern neighbors. But their weapons were much larger – and insufficient for our needs."

―Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad's Codex, page 28.

Altaïr aiming the Hidden Gun at Abbas Sofian

Though he knew of firearms being used in ancient China, the Levantine Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad took little interest in them, realizing that they were of no use to his Order in their current size. As such, upon obtaining the Apple of Eden, he successfully utilized the knowledge it held to condense the design, "embedding their fiery weapon into a form that can be worn on the wrist". Along with the formulation of a combustible powder that could be made from common ingredients, Altaïr kept the schematics for the Hidden Gun a secret, available to only the Brotherhood's most trusted allies. Sometime afterwards, he recorded all details of these in his personal journal.

Renaissance

In Italy during the Renaissance, another the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore, came into possession of Altaïr's Codex and showed the pages to Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo deciphered the instructions and, as a result, was able to construct the Hidden Gun for Ezio's use.

Papal arquebusiers

Though firearms were uncommon until the early 16th century, after Cesare Borgia forcibly recruited Leonardo into his employ around 1499, the engineer was made to design a wheel-lock firearm for use by the Borgia armies. Cesare's ally, the French baron Octavian de Valois, received a personal golden wheel-lock firearm from Leonardo, and kept it with him at all times. During the Siege of Monteriggioni, Cesare used this pistol to kill Mario Auditore.

A variety of firearms began to circulate among common guards as well, with arquebusiers wielding long muskets or arquebuses, and with several horsemen and Papal Guard using shorter pistols.

Ezio facing an Ottoman rifleman

During Ezio's travels to Constantinople, he encountered Ottoman soldiers using flintlock muskets, as well as Janissaries who used short pistols. The local Ottoman Assassins also made use of firearms to guard nearby dens, ranging from simple muskets to cannons.

Meanwhile, the Byzantine Templars had designed an early version of a flamethrower, which they used to deliver Greek fire. They also had a form of a machine gun, which was similar in construct to Leonardo da Vinci's prototype. Both of these were later adapted by the Assassins in order to aid them in defending their dens.

Age of Discovery

After the European powers learned about the Americas and entered an age of colonization, firearms became much more common. By the early 1700s, muskets with bayonets had become standard equipment for armies and navies, while high-ranking soldiers like officers and Jägers wielded flintlock pistols.

As it still took time to reload and clean firearms, pirates were usually accustomed to carrying multiple pistols at any one time. Edward Kenway and Edward Thatch, for example, carried up to four and six pistols on their person, respectively. Kenway also utilized a custom-made set of pistol swords, deadly blades with small, smoothbore pistols built into their hilts. These were fired by squeezing a trigger built into the sword's pommel, and could be used for finishing moves in combat.

Augustin giving Adéwalé a blunderbuss

Notably, the West Indies Assassin Adéwalé would use powerful blunderbusses during his alliance with the Maroon rebellion of Saint Domingue. These weapons used tightly-crowded packets of lead shot and featured a wide spread of fire, able to wound or kill up to five targets at once, as Adéwalé discovered while chasing the island's slave-trading governor, Pierre, Marquis de Fayet.

Age of Revolution

Shay aiming his air rifle

During the Seven Years' War, the Assassin-turned-Templar Shay Cormac used a prototype firearm known as an air rifle. Using compressed air, it functioned as a diversionary weapon, firing a variety of poisoned darts that could cause distractions. Shay later acquired a grenade launcher attachment from the inventor Benjamin Franklin, allowing him to fire various grenades to create larger distractions.

The French-African Assassin Aveline de Grandpré was able to wield muskets, as well as two Queen Anne pistols. Similar to the flintlock pistols, these were single shot weapons and took time to reload. Other firearms, some of which were capable of firing multiple times before reloading, could also be bought at weapon shops. Much like Aveline, the Colonial Assassin Connor could make use of various firearms. By the time of the American Revolutionary War, he too was able to purchase some pistols that were advanced enough to carry two or more shots at a time.

Arno firing the Guillotine Gun at raiders

In Arno Dorian's quest during the French Revolution to redeem his failure to stop his adoptive father François de la Serre's murder, the French Assassin utilized many guns, ranging from multi-barreled flintlock repeater pistols to long-range rifles. While on sabbatical in Franciade after the Revolution, he acquired a set of Guillotine Guns, specialized weapons combining a miniature mortar launcher with an axehead attached to the end of the barrel.

With the technological advancements of the Industrial Revolution in Victorian London, the revolver pistol was equipped by the twin British Assassins Jacob and Evie Frye in their efforts to free the city from the century-long rule by the British Templars, and later stop Jack the Ripper's reign of terror during the 1888 murders in Whitechapel. Revolvers continued to be used until at least World War I, with the design being unchanged by the time Lydia Frye saw action in the home front.

Modern times

Nikolai aiming his rifle

During the late-19th and early-20th century, in the Russian Revolution, the Russian Assassin Nikolai Orelov wielded a modern bolt-action Berdan rifle, alongside the usual weaponry of his time. Custom-made by his old friend Fedor Tokarev, Orelov's rifle featured a fire suppressor as well as the ability to fire the cartridges typically used by the Russian army. British soldiers were using SMLE rifles as their standard issue weapon during World War I, and by World War II, German soldiers had taken to using both rifles and MG34 machine guns.

In 2012, Assassins continued to wield firearms in combat, and once used them on a direct assault on Abstergo Industries in an attempt to rescue Desmond Miles; though Desmond overheard exchanged automatic gunfire through the facility's intercom, Dr. Warren Vidic eventually told him that the rescue attempt had failed, and that most of the team had been killed. Firearms were also, at this point, standard equipment for Abstergo Industries' guards in the Rome facility.

Daniel Cross aiming a Mark 23 pistol at Desmond Miles

Once during a night-time infiltration of a Manhattan office building, Desmond Miles came across a power source for the Grand Temple and aimed to retrieve it from its case. Despite his acquisition of the battery, Daniel Cross surprised and threatened Desmond with a pistol; undeterred, Desmond knocked Cross unconscious with the power source and left. When Desmond later searched for the second source at a mixed martial arts tournament in Brazil, Cross killed its owner and proceeded to shoot after Desmond, with Abstergo guards also doing so. However, this did not prevent Desmond from fighting Cross and taking the second power source.

In December of that year, once Desmond had assassinated Cross at Abstergo's Rome facility in his attempts to rescue his father William, Warren Vidic authorized security to use deadly force on contact with Desmond. However, he took Cross' MK 23 pistol with a suppressor attachment and used it in the latter half of his assault. The following year, when the Sage John Standish attempted to kill the Helix research analyst "Noob" working with Abstergo Entertainment, the facility's guards shot through the Bunker's glass door and killed John when he produced a handgun of his own.

Violet attempting to shoot Galina

In 2016, Shaun Hastings, Rebecca Crane, and Galina Voronina attacked the Templars Isabelle Ardant, Juhani Otso Berg, Violet da Costa, and the task force Sigma Team in the vault beneath Buckingham Palace. In the fight to take the Shroud of Eden which had been locked away, Violet drew her pistol and shot at Shaun, only for Rebecca to jump in front and take the bullet. As the Templars escaped with the Shroud, Shaun called for extraction, prompting Galina to throw a smoke canister and singly-handedly eliminate Sigma Team, who could only fire blindly in the thick smoke.

In late 2017, a new Sigma Team raided the hotel where Abstergo doctor Deanna Geary had been staying while her research partner Layla Hassan investigated the Qattara Depression in Egypt. When Hassan had failed to provide regular updates, Abstergo dispatched the strike team to eliminate the scientists and prevent the data from leaving the company, but only found Geary mid-phone conversation with Hassan. To Layla's horror, Geary's earpiece transmitted the sounds of Sigma Team as they fired at Geary, killing her.

Members of Doom Eagle firing on the Abstergo car

In 2023, the Abstergo agent Yuki carried a concealed assault rifle within a briefcase while accompanying Doctor Shimazu Sei and Animus test subject Noa Kim to Cebu to search for leads to a Piece of Eden found by Edward Kenway. She used it to fight off members of the Doom Eagle criminal organization, led by Nathan Zhang, who ambushed the group in an attempt to rescue Noa. After Yuki was injured in a car crash, Noa and Sei fled into a shopping mall, where Nathan and his men followed them. Upon entering the mall, Nathan ordered his men to drop their guns and switch to non-lethal melee weapons, as to avoid civilian casualties.

Later, Nathan and his men, aided by Yuki, engaged in another shootout against Abstergo, this time at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, where they sought to buy Noa and Sei enough time to retrieve a Piece of Eden from the temple. While his men wielded assault rifles, Nathan preferred to utilize pistols, which he equipped with silencers to maintain a low profile.

Weapon statistics

Golden Age of Piracy

Pistols

{{#section:AC:CST/Weapons|"Black Flag Pistols"}}

Name	Damage	Stun	Range	Cost	Availability

Blunderbusses

{{#section:AC:CST/Weapons|"Freedom Cry Blunderbuss"}}

Name	Damage	Spread	Range	Cost	Availability

Seven Years' War

{{#section:AC:CST/Weapons|"Rogue Firearm"}}

Name	Damage	Stun	Range	Cost	Availability

Colonial Louisiana

{{#section:AC:CST/Weapons|"Liberation Firearm"}}

Name	Magazine	Short range damage	Long range damage	Cost	Persona

American Revolution

{{#section:AC:CST/Weapons|"III Pistol"}}

Name	Rate of fire	Short range	Long range	Cost	Availability

French Revolution

Pistols

{{#section:AC:CST/Weapons|"Unity Pistols"}}

Name	Level	Damage	Parry	Speed	Range	Clip Size	Cost	Modifiers	Requirements

Rifles

{{#section:AC:CST/Weapons|"Unity Rifle"}}

Name	Level	Damage	Parry	Speed	Range	Cost	Modifiers	Requirements

Guillotine Guns

{{#section:AC:CST/Weapons|"Unity Guillotine Gun"}}

Name	Level	Damage	Parry	Speed	Range	Cost	Modifiers	Availability

Victorian London

{{#section:AC:CST/Weapons|"Syndicate Pistol"}}

Name	Level	Damage	Speed	Accuracy	Clip Size	Upgrade	Availability

*Only available after downloading Jack the Ripper.

Behind the scenes

A number of firearms were available in Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, including the arquebus, .303 SMLE, and M1917 Revolver. Owning two M1917 revolvers in Project Legacy granted the Akimbo achievement.

In several pieces of promotional media for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Edward Kenway makes use of what seem to be the Flintlock Pistols from Assassin's Creed III. However, no pistols matching their appearance can be used in the final game. Similarly, several cutscenes in Assassin's Creed: Unity show characters wielding the standard Flintlock Pistol from Assassin's Creed III, even though it never appears in gameplay.

Historical firearms look more accurate in the games than they really were. Players always fire at the spot they aim at and guards hit more often than miss. Real firearms were very inaccurate, with slim odds of hitting any target(s) beyond a distance of a few meters. This was reflected in military formations. Accuracy improved when smoothbore barrels were replaced by rifled barrels in the mid-19th century and after other advances in armament. Given that Altaïr's Hidden Gun was invented with the knowledge of an Apple of Eden, it would have been incredibly ahead of its time if it was as reliable as depicted in Assassin's Creed II and the subsequent titles.

Gallery

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  Octavian de Valois' personal wheel-lock firearm
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  Concept art for a Scottish Flintlock pistol
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  Muskets as seen in Assassin's Creed III
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  Concept art of pistols seen in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
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  Concept art of Arno's pistol
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  Promotional art of the Frye twins' revolver pistol
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  Cesare Borgia holding the wheel-lock gun
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  Edward Kenway and Edward Thatch carrying multiple pistols
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  Charles Vane aiming at Edward Kenway
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  George Washington aiming at Haytham's horse
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  Connor firing a pistol at Charles Lee
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  Aveline de Grandpré holding Patience Gibbs at gunpoint
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  Élise de la Serre pointing a pistol at Arno Dorian
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  Jacob and Evie Frye aiming their pistols
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  Galina Voronina using a sniper rifle
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  Yuki readying her rifle
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  Nathan Zhang shooting a Sigma Team operative