Chase breaker

The Courtesan running through a trap door.

Chase breakers were tools that allowed certain individuals an advantage during a chase, usually by delaying a pursuer or disallowing them from following.

In the Animi Training Program, chase breakers took three to five seconds to reset, and became open for use by a different Abstergo recruit afterwards. However, those in hidden locations became permanently locked after they were activated by Agile guards.

Types

Merchandise lifts

File:Lift.png

Ezio Auditore activating a lift.

Lifts consisted of a rope and pulley system, which allowed one to travel quickly from street level up to the rooftops.

Each lift was made up of a rope attached to a suspended weight, which stretched from ground level to the pulley at the top of a beam. The rope was held in place by a lever that dropped the weight upon release, and allowed one to grab onto the rope and be pulled to the top of a building.

Lifts could be found in Rome, and in Monteriggioni during the Renaissance or modern times. However, on using a lift, it caused the weight to fall and shatter and the lift to become unusable.

In Abstergo Industries' Animus training program, the lifts functioned in the same manner, however, the weight would not break upon being dropped, rising slowly back into position instead.

Trap doors

Trap doors consisted of one or more sets of gates that closed once a person ran through them, effectively stopping any other from following. After a few seconds, however, they would reopen.

Occasionally, if one was close enough to their target, they would still be able to assassinate them just as they entered the gates, with the doors closing behind both of them.

Also, certain trap doors came in sets of two or more, allowing a person to enter through one and exit in several possible directions. However, if two people entered each end of a trap door corridor at once, they would both be temporarily trapped; which could prove problematic, particularly if one was the hunter of the other.

Crumbling platforms

When an individual free-ran over crumbling beam or platforms, they would disintegrate, allowing whoever used them to gain an advantage over their pursuer. However, if they did not leave the beam or platform quickly enough, it would crumble underneath their feet.

Corner-mounted breakers

The Courtesan swinging from a corner-mounted chase breaker.

Corner-mounted lanterns or flowerpots were chase breakers that allowed whoever used them to disappear from any pursuing enemy's sight for a few seconds, as they swung on them to turn a corner.

When used in combination with the Hookblade, the device allowed its user to propel themselves forward, instead of swinging around the corner.

Chandeliers

As a chase breaker, chandeliers were only featured in the Animi Training Program map Castel Gandolfo, despite being installed within Alhambra. Chandeliers worked similarly to crumbling platforms, and would drop to the ground a moment after being used by an Abstergo recruit.

Snow drifts

Certain natural elements could also be used as chase breakers, with snow drifts blocking the route of any pursuers once they had been entered into by an individual. These types of chase breakers could be prominently seen in the Northwest Passage Animus location.

Trivia

• Aside from Animi Avatars, the corrupt cardinal in the memory "A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing," and the Papal Guard in the "Liquid Gold" Templar Lair were the only non-Assassins to use a merchandise lift.
• In The Da Vinci Disappearance, there was an achievement called "Going Up," which was given for dropping the weight of a merchandise lift onto a guard and killing them.
• In Assassin's Creed: Revelations, Ezio Auditore da Firenze was able to use variations of merchandise lifts, which started on ships or walls instead of on the ground.
• In the memory "Firing Line", Gaspar de la Croix used trap doors during an escape attempt from Ezio.
• In the Lair of Romulus memory "Thrown To The Wolves", trap doors were used to obstruct Ezio as he pursued his target on horseback.