Assassin's Creed Shadows: Should You Sell Or Break Down Unwanted Gear?

Assassin's Creed Shadows: Should You Sell Or Dismantle Unwanted Gear?

Published Mar 19, 2025

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Custom image by Katarina Cimbaljevic

There certainly isn't a shortage of gear and weapons in Assassin's Creed Shadows, with loot boxes around every corner, rewards for clearing castles, greater and lesser enemy item drops, rewards from the main campaign and side quests, etc. Unfortunately, a large percentage of this gear is common quality and/or won't be nearly as good as your other legendary options. While you could just let these lesser items take up space in your inventory/storage, it's a much better idea to either break them down for crafting materials to use at the forge, or sell them outright for a little extra mon.

Gear can be dismantled for crafting materials at Heigi's Forge in your AC Shadows Hideout, and the crafting materials awarded will vary depending on the item broken down. Alternatively, you can opt to sell your gear to any vendor or shop, with the item values increasing the higher their levels are. Whether you should sell or break down your gear will largely depend on what you've been focusing on in of gameplay. In my experience, however, it makes more sense to sell your unwanted gear as opposed to breaking it down.

Why It's Better To Sell Unwanted Gear In Assassin's Creed Shadows

AC Shadows Has Plenty Of Crafting Materials Without Breaking Down Gear

While extra crafting materials are certainly useful and essential if you want to continue upgrading weapons and equipment, there are so many different ways to acquire these throughout the game that you'll benefit more from the mon you gain by selling things. There are six main material types: hemp cloth, leather, silk, tamahagane, oakwood, and ironsand. You can find these materials all over the place, typically in common chests, but they can also be gained through completing contracts.

You cannot break down or sell Legendary gear in Assassin's Creed Shadows, as it is too rare and valuable.

You'll also benefit from the extra mon. Mon isn't particularly sparse, but will come in handy for nearly everything you do in of upgrades, cosmetics, Kakurega unlocks, etc. Cash is useful in many different situations, including upgrading your gear, so you'll generally benefit more from selling things as opposed to breaking them down. Further, you can break down items on a case-by-case basis depending on what you want/need upgraded, and since you'll constantly be picking up new items, there's no real need to stockpile them.

When You Should Dismantle Weapons & Armor In Assassin's Creed Shadows

If You Aren't Exploring Much, You Might Be Short On Materials

There will definitely be situations where dismantling your gear makes more sense than selling it, particularly if you are upgrading various weapons and armor. If you aren't exploring much or opening a lot of the common chests scattered about each area, it's likely you'll start running short on supplies.

Crafting Material	Dismantle/Upgrade
Hemp Cloth	Naoe's Armor
Leather	Yasuke's Armor
Silk	Trinkets/Amulets
Tamahagane	Yasuke's Melee Weapons
Oakwood	Yasuke's Ranged Weapons
Ironsand	Naoe's Weapons

If you're out of the crafting materials you need and happen to have a ton of unwanted gear sitting in your inventory or storage, it makes sense to dismantle your gear based on what you need at the moment. The materials needed to upgrade Naoe and Yasuke's items can be acquired by dismantling their corresponding pieces of equipment.

Naoe looking sad while covered in blood in Assassin's Creed Shadows.

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While it's generally a better idea to just sell your gear and have the extra mon available, it's an equally viable strategy to stockpile your unwanted gear in case you need the materials later down the road. The decision should be based on whichever resource (mon vs. materials) you need most at the time. You'll always have the option to sell it, and maybe having it in your storage will give you peace of mind. Personally, I don't like having a ton of clutter in my inventory or storage, so selling unwanted common weapons and gear in Assassin's Creed Shadows makes the most sense.