Poison Blade

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The Poison Blade inventory icon in Assassin's Creed II.

"It's another blade design...for delivering poison!"

―Leonardo da Vinci

The Poison Blade is one of the expansions of the Hidden Blade invented by Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad using the Apple of Eden , essentially being a thin, hollow needle that can be filled with poison. Combined with a specially formulated poison also designed by Altaïr, the blade can be used to inconspicuously inject the target with said poison, causing the target to attack anyone a several foot radius with whatever weapon they have on hand, and then suddenly die, all within a time frame of under thirty seconds. Ezio can replenish his supply of poison by buying poison vials from Doctors.

File:Poisonblade.png

The poison blade in use

This is one of the best stealth weapons the player will acquire within the entire game, as it allows Ezio to silently assassinate someone without attracting any attention to himself. Besides dealing a direct kill to the intended assassination target, the Poison Blade can also be used as a cover for one, as anyone within the immediate area will stop to watch the poisoned victim, creating a stealth assassination opportunity if one of the spectators happens to be a target, since all other eyes will be on the poisoned victim. Additionally, one can poison someone as a distraction to cover an approach to a restricted area, since you can slip by while the guards watch the person you just previously poisoned. The Poison Blade is especially useful when playing Assassination Contract, as in many cases targets will either be followed by guards or be in a guarded area.

Poison vials can be bought from a Doctor at 175 florins each and up to five can be carried with the small poison vial provided, but this can be upgraded to ten or fifteen with the medium and large poison vials, purchasable from any Tailor .

Ways to use the Poison Blade efficiently:

The Poison Blade is the most discrete weapon in the game, and as such, has multiple uses that all pertain to stealth assassinations:

1. Silent Kill - Guards will not notice the poisoning process unless it is directly next to them and in their line of sight.
2. Attention - Distraction is an important tool to use during missions. If you are looking for a silent approach that smoke bombs cannot provide and cannot find thieves, mercenaries, or courtesans within the immediate area, the Poison Blade can be used as an effective substitute. Poisoning anyone within ten meters of a guard's position will cause him, as well as all other guards near him, to move away from their position to where the poisoned victim is standing. Once the victim has drawn their attention, the player has can either assassinate the guards and give away their position, or silently head on to their objective. It is important to leave the area before the poisoned victim has died, as the guards with start an investigation afterwards and become suspicious of the player if they are in the guards' line of sight.
3. Clean Kill - When doing an Assassination Contract mission, a single target may have at least one body guard. One can poison the guard and move away into hiding, while the aforementioned guard swings their weapon and kills the target for you, eliminating the need to ever come out of hiding after the first poisoning.