How many times will you get to use that ability?
In the online multiplayer mode of Assassin's Creed: Revelations, you get to choose two abilities, from a selection of about a dozen, to have on hand at any given time. After you use an ability, you have to wait for a "cooldown" period to expire before using it again. There is also a "crafting" system that lets you adjust the effectiveness of each ability, either by reducing its cooldown period, or by improving its effects in some other way.
This table is intended to help you decide whether it's worth it to spend your crafting points on shortening cooldowns. The idea is that, while the game expresses cooldowns as a number of seconds, that can be converted to a more useful number, namely how many times you'll get to use the ability in a round. Having an ability ready five or ten seconds sooner is not often critical, but if that means getting to use it one or two extra times in a session, that might be a big deal.
| |
Length of cooldown (in seconds) |
Uses in a 10-minute game |
Uses in a 5-minute round |
Uses in a 4-minute round |
| Without Overall Cooldowns |
With Overall Cooldowns |
Without Overall Cooldowns |
With Overall Cooldowns |
Without Overall Cooldowns |
With Overall Cooldowns |
Without Overall Cooldowns |
With Overall Cooldowns |
| With 0 points |
With 1 point |
With 2 points |
With 0 points |
With 1 point |
With 2 points |
With 0 points |
With 1 point |
With 2 points |
With 0 points |
With 1 point |
With 2 points |
With 0 points |
With 1 point |
With 2 points |
With 0 points |
With 1 point |
With 2 points |
With 0 points |
With 1 point |
With 2 points |
With 0 points |
With 1 point |
With 2 points |
| Teleport |
92.5 |
82.5 |
77.5 |
82.5 |
72.5 |
67.5 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
8 |
8 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
| Charge |
92 |
82 |
77 |
82 |
72 |
67 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
8 |
8 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
| Mute |
91.5 |
81.5 |
76.5 |
81.5 |
71.5 |
66.5 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
| Hidden Gun, Poison, Tripwire Bomb |
90 |
80 |
75 |
80 |
70 |
65 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
| Templar Vision |
78 |
73 |
63 |
68 |
63 |
53 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
8 |
9 |
11 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
| Disguise, Firecrackers |
75 |
70 |
60 |
65 |
60 |
50 |
8 |
8 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
12 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
| Morph, Smoke Bomb |
60 |
55 |
45 |
50 |
45 |
35 |
10 |
10 |
13 |
12 |
13 |
17 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
8 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
| Bodyguard |
58 |
53 |
48 |
48 |
43 |
38 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
12 |
13 |
15 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
| Closure, Decoy |
55 |
50 |
45 |
45 |
40 |
35 |
10 |
12 |
13 |
13 |
15 |
17 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
| Throwing Knives |
50 |
45 |
40 |
40 |
35 |
30 |
12 |
13 |
15 |
15 |
17 |
20 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
8 |
10 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
8 |
Notes
- For some abilities, the cooldown period begins as soon as you press the button, but for others, it begins only after the effect ends. In this table, the effect duration is included as part of the cooldown period when appropriate. In the interest of simplicity, we assume that no points have been spent on adjusting the duration.
- This table shows the maximum number of times you could possibly use an ability during a game/round. Given the reality of having to find an appropriate time to use it, the likelihood is that in most games you will use your abilities less often than this table suggests.
- Games of Wanted, Deathmatch, Assassinate, Steal the Artifact, and Artifact Assault all last ten minutes and aren't divided into rounds.
- Games of Manhunt, Chest Capture, and Escort all have two rounds lasting five minutes each; each team plays offense in one round and defense in the other. Your cooldowns are reset at the start of the second round.
- Corruption has three rounds that each last no more than four minutes (but can be much shorter, if all of the Uncorrupted are killed quickly). Your cooldowns are reset at the start of each round, but not when you become corrupted during a round.
- "Overall Cooldowns" is a perk that reduces the length of all your cooldowns by ten seconds.
- This table does not take the "Boost Cooldowns" loss streak into account. How many extra uses you get out of that depends too much on how soon and how often you die in any given game, which is too variable to calculate. But, for reference: starting with your fifth death, Boost Cooldowns resets your cooldowns each time you die, and halves their duration. Note that the effect is not cumulative with Overall Cooldowns: when both could apply, only Boost Cooldowns does.
- This table also does not account for the possibility that you'll switch to a different ability profile during a round, again because there are too many variables to consider.
- The corresponding table for Assassin's Creed III is now available.
Thoughts
- The most interesting finding, I think, is that putting one point in Smoke Bomb (perhaps the most popular ability in the game) confers almost no benefit, while adding the second point confers a significant benefit. If there's one thing to be learned from this table, I think it's that you should spend either zero or two points on reducing Smoke Bomb's cooldown.
- Some quick calculations about Poison; adjust for your own circumstances:
- 8 uses × 200 points = 1600 extra points
- 7 uses × 250 points = 1750 extra points
- 6 uses × 300 points = 1800 extra points