Improvised weapon

Ezio fighting with a rake.

Improvised weapons are devices that were originally not designed for use in combat but could still be put to good use as weapons.

During the Renaissance, such weapons could be wielded by the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze and made additional options for armed combat alongside the more conventional weapons including swords, maces, spears, halberds or heavy weapons.

All of the improvised weapons could be picked up in a similar fashion to other one-handed weapons. They were often carried and used by civilians, who would drop them once Ezio gently pushed or ran into them, when a fight commenced or if money was thrown near them.

These weapons could not normally be kept and were usually discarded as soon as a fight was finished or if Ezio began free running.

Possible Improvised weapons

15th century

• Hoes
• Rakes
• Brooms
• Pitchforks
• Fishing poles
• Violins (used by certain minstrels, only available during Carnevale)
• The halves of a broken spear

16th century

• Rakes
• Brooms
• Mallets
• Shovels
• Pickaxes
• Pitchforks
• Meat cleavers
• Fishing poles
• The halves of a broken spear
• Lutes (used by minstrels in Constantinople)

Trivia

Assassin's Creed II

• All improvised weapons in Assassin's Creed II acted and sounded as maces, aside from the upper, bladed end of a broken spear. Their attacks were usually nonsensical. For example, Ezio could slice an enemy's throat with a broom after a grab, exactly the way he did with a sword or with a sharp end of a mace.
• The violin had the sound effect of a sword, but acted like a mace.
• Some improvised weapons could be kept with a glitch, but were lost when traveling to another city or randomly during excessive combat. To keep an improvised weapon, the sword sheath must have been empty at the time, which could be achieved by letting a Brutes use their disarm smash ability.
  • An alternate way to empty the sword sheath was to go to the Monteriggioni Training Ring and practice "Picking Up Weapons". Ezio's sword would drop out of his scabbard automatically.
• Guards could also use improvised weapons, as long as they were disarmed and there was no other weapon available.
• Bartolomeo d'Alviano used a broom to fight during the memory "Caged Fighter", until picking up a proper weapon.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood

• In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, although shovels could be used as weaponry in-game, their coding was unfinished. In-game, Ezio wielded a shovel like an knife, with the blade pointing behind him instead of forward. Also, when the shovel was swung, the blade and staff clipped through Ezio's body, and it used combat animations of a mace.

• The "Spring Cleaning" achievement could be earned by killing a guard with a broom.
  • This achievement was also awarded when a guard was killed while using a pistol on one hand, and holding a broom on the other hand.
• Nearly all improvised weapons were found in use by civilians in the Delizia di Belriguardo, during the memory "The One Who Got Away".

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

• The minstrel's lute, which could be picked up and used at any time in Constantinople, was used as Ezio's weapon during a short cutscene when he saved Prince Suleiman from one of the Byzantine guards.
• In Revelations, the coding on most improvised weapons was improved enough to prevent issues like glitching through Ezio's body.

Assassin's Creed III

• While there were no improvised weapons available, Connor could pick up but not keep a musket.
• Unlike other Assassins, Connor would not drop a musket while free-running. The only way to unwillingly lose a musket was to grab a ledge or jump into water.