Items

A collectible in Rogue rarely pays out where you picked it up. Relics, artifacts and outfits each carry two addresses, the one they hide at and the one that redeems them, and the two are often on different maps, which is why the travelling is most of the work. The two sets that settle on the spot are the exceptions that make the point: a reward weapon is yours the moment its condition is met, and the broken machines are repaired where they stand, inside a building you cannot get back into once the story is over.

Half the Templar maps bury their relic in another region

The Templar relics guide pairs twenty four maps with twenty four dig sites, and counting the pairs by region is what tells you how to route the hunt. Nine maps are lying in the North Atlantic, nine in the River Valley and six in New York, but twelve of the twenty four burials are in the North Atlantic, ten in the River Valley and only two in New York. Twelve pairs keep you inside one region and the other twelve send you out of the region you found them in, drawing in hand.

New York is where that stings. Six maps are found in the city and exactly one of them buries its relic there, at King's Farm; the rest point out to Gros Morne, Pearl Island, Twin Snake Path, an island west of Aarushi and Black Ridge. The city's second dig site, at East Village, is set by a map picked up at Sept Iles in the North Atlantic. Every entry gives coordinates for both halves, so a custom waypoint on the world map is the tool for the job, and the payment is at one fixed counter: bring all twenty four to the Sapphire and the Templar 11th Century Armor, which soaks projectile and firearm damage, is yours.

Seven artifacts, and not one of them in New York

The totem shrines guide puts four of the seven shrines in the River Valley, at Dekanawida, Otetiani, Genessee and Aarushi, and the other three out in the North Atlantic at Fogo, Gros Morne and Terra Nova. The city is skipped entirely. These are the hardest of the collectibles to stumble across because they sit in caves and up cliffs rather than in settlements, and each shrine ends in a small puzzle before the artifact comes loose. There are other treasures hidden around the artifacts as well, good for blueprints or coin. All seven go to the village near Orenda in the River Valley, and the Native Armor that comes back cuts the damage Shay takes in a melee.

Twenty machines the eighteenth century cannot reach

The broken computers sit on a layer of their own, in Abstergo's office in the present day, where you are out of the Animus and playing as somebody other than Shay. Twenty machines are scattered over four floors and the split is lopsided: ten of them are on the Second Floor, four in the Lobby, three in the Basement and two on the 15th Floor, with the last one waiting past the elevator hallway. Repairing one is a sphere puzzle where every section has to receive a single point of power, moved around with the outer rings, and the awkward ones run their beams through gates that split or bend them.

This is the one set with a deadline. Some repairs are required for the story, the rest are optional, and most of the machines sit behind security doors that only open as the plot moves; finish the game and the office closes to you with whatever is left unfixed still broken. The reward is reading material rather than gear, and it is good reading: five of the files are Inspirations, covering Al Mualim, Haytham Kenway, Daniel Cross, Duncan Walpole and Baptiste, four parts of Sigma Team's Most Wanted, and one on the Koh-i-Noor.

Exactly half the weapon list is for sale

Our weapons unlock guide lists eighteen melee weapons and ten pistols, and fourteen of those twenty eight can simply be bought. Where the other fourteen come from matters more than their numbers, since the page is clear that a comfortable weapon beats a statistically better one. The shop ladder runs from the Pirate Scimitars at 1,200 up to the Bastard Sword at 18,000, which also wants the Armour and Sword mission finished first, while the pistol shelf tops out at Queen Anne's Pistol for 8,000. Speed and combo do more work than raw damage on a blade, and stun matters more than range on a pistol.

The interesting half is not for sale. Finishing every renovation hands over the Governor's Sword, clearing the hunting quests gives the Hunting Sabre, and the Viking Sword quest gives the blade it is named after. The fleet screen pays in weapons too, handing over the Admiral's Lion Sword at Gothenburg, the Spanish Sword at Gibraltar, the Indian Flintlock Pistol at Yanaon and Altair's Sword once every route is done, which puts fleet missions on the critical path for a completionist. Land activity pays too: all the forts, gang headquarters and settlements together unlock the Scottish Flintlock Pistol, and the Abstergo tablets lead to the English Percussion Flintlock. Two more, the Katana and Edward's Pistol, are Uplay redemptions, paid for in points rather than found.

Outfits: the receipt for every other list

Twenty outfits are catalogued in the outfits guide, and they are the clearest map of what this game rewards. Four arrive by simply playing the story, five are bought with coin from the Raider at 5,000 to the Dark Assassin at 15,000, and four are crafted from pelts in our crafting guide. That leaves seven, six of them a receipt for a finished set and one a Uplay redemption.

Wardrobe changes happen in the Captain's Quarters aboard the Morrigan, and since the outfits that carry a bonus arrive late, most of the game is spent in whatever the story handed you. The Hunter coat is the one worth crafting early if you hunt a lot, since animals notice Shay less while he is wearing it, which feeds straight back into the hunting and crafting loop described in the systems guide. For the order to tackle all of this in, and what each region is holding, start at the Assassin's Creed Rogue guide hub.