In Assassin’s Creed Shadows, smuggling resources isn’t just about stealth-it’s a strategic operation that can transform your Hideout into a fortress of power. Venture into enemy castles, unlock hidden stockpiles, and deploy your scouts wisely to covertly transport vital crops, wood, and minerals. Mastering this shadowy trade means balancing risk, timing, and resource management to upgrade your base and dominate the season.
Our Assassin’s Creed Shadows guide will tell you how to smuggle resources, and help you figure out why you might not be able to smuggle any resources.
How to smuggle resources in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
To smuggle resources in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, first locate resource stockpiles marked by a barrel icon, often found behind locked doors in castles or enemy camps. You’ll need to infiltrate these areas stealthily, find the key to access the stockpiles, and then approach the resources to activate the “Smuggle Resources” prompt, which requires a certain number of free Scouts. Tag the resources for your Scouts to smuggle, then leave the area undetected. The smuggled resources will be delivered to your Hideout at the end of the current season. Upgrading your Hideout’s Stable can reduce the number of Scouts needed and increase the amount of resources gathered. If the smuggle option is greyed out, it means you lack enough available Scouts, so you must replenish them at a Kakurega or wait for the season to change.
While you’re raiding a castle, camp, or one of the enemy-controlled temples, you might come across stockpiles. Stockpiles are marked with a barrel icon on your HUD. These are pallets of resources that you can flag to be smuggled out by your scouts at the end of the season.
The resources you get from stockpiles are crops, wood, and minerals – the same resources you need to upgrade your Hideout. Stockpiles refresh and respawn at the beginning of each season. You can see what the resource you’ll get will be just by looking at the stockpiles.
- Wood will be planks and maybe some bamboo
- Crops will be bushels and bundles of plants (presumably rushes?)
- Minerals are large blocks of stone
The scouts you assign can’t be used for anything else unless you refill them (below). If you have used up your scouts for the season, the option to smuggle will be grayed out. To smuggle any more, you’ll have to wait for a season change to refill your scouts or head to a kakurega to refill scouts yourself.
The resources your scouts collect will just show up in your inventory the next time the season changes and you head back to your Hideout.
How to increase smuggled resources in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
To increase smuggled resources in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, focus on upgrading the Stables at your Hideout. At Rank 1, smuggling a stockpile requires 2 Scouts, but upgrading to Rank 2 reduces this to just 1 Scout per stockpile, allowing you to tag and smuggle more stockpiles each season. Further, at Stables Rank 3, your Scouts will smuggle 20% more resources from each stockpile, significantly boosting your haul. Additionally, ensure you have enough Scouts available by replenishing them at Kakurega safehouses or waiting for the season to end. Clearing enemy areas stealthily and tagging multiple resource stockpiles during your raids will also maximize the total resources smuggled back to your Hideout.
When you first start out, smuggling a single stockpile will require two scouts. Upgrading the Stable at your Hideout reduces the number of scouts required to smuggle stockpiles – down to one scout at level 2 – and increases the amount of resources you get from stockpiles by 20% at level 3.
The other way to get more resources is just to have more scouts to work with. You can read about how to get more scouts here.
What hidden tricks can I use to maximize resource smuggling in Assassin’s Creed Shadows
To maximize resource smuggling in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, focus on upgrading your Stables at the Hideout. At Rank 1, smuggling a stockpile requires 2 Scouts, but upgrading to Rank 2 reduces this to just 1 Scout, allowing you to tag and smuggle more stockpiles per season. Further upgrading to Rank 3 boosts the amount of resources smuggled by 20%, significantly increasing your haul.
When smuggling, always ensure you are undetected and have cleared enemies from the area, as you cannot tag stockpiles while in combat or being watched. Target resource stockpiles behind locked doors in castles or enemy camps-these are marked by a barrel icon and yield far more resources than smaller bundles. You’ll need to assassinate guards to get keys to these locked areas.
Additionally, raising your Hideout level unlocks bonuses that allow any available Scouts to bring back Hideout resources at season’s end, further supplementing your gains.
In summary, the hidden tricks are:
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Upgrade Stables to reduce Scout cost and increase resource yield.
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Prioritize high-wealth castles and secure keys to access large stockpiles.
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Always tag stockpiles while undetected and clear the area first.
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Manage your Scout count carefully, replenishing them at safehouses if needed.
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Level up your Hideout to unlock additional resource bonuses.
How can I upgrade my Stables to smuggle more resources per season
To upgrade your Stables in Assassin’s Creed Shadows and smuggle more resources per season, follow these steps:
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Access your Hideout and interact with the Stable building, which is already constructed when you unlock the Hideout.
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Upgrade the Stable from Rank 1 to Rank 2 by spending 70 Crops, 50 Wood, and 20 Minerals. This upgrade reduces the number of Scouts needed to smuggle a resource stockpile from 2 to 1, allowing you to tag and smuggle more stockpiles in a single season.
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Further upgrade the Stable to Rank 3 by investing 350 Crops, 260 Wood, and 90 Minerals. This increases the amount of resources your Scouts bring back by 20%, boosting your overall haul.
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Upgrading the Stable doesn’t increase the number of Scouts you have but makes each Scout more efficient, enabling you to smuggle more resources with fewer Scouts.
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Remember to replenish your Scouts either by waiting for a season change or visiting a Kakurega to continue smuggling effectively.
By prioritizing Stable upgrades early, you maximize your resource gains and improve your Hideout’s development potential.
