How to recruit Yaya in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

While on Naoe’s quest for revenge, you’ll have the chance to add powerful allies to your journey. Yaya will be one of the first ones you’ll encounter, but you must make the right decisions to get her to join your group. Find out how to recruit Yaya in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

How do you recruit Yaya in AC: Shadows?

You can meet up with Yaya during the Fatherless Monk quest, which is a part of Wada Koretake’s storyline (The Onryo section). After eliminating this boss in the Heads Will Roll mission, you must choose specific dialogue points when Yaya is involved. These instances will occur three times, and it’s essential to get them right at least twice (it’s fine if you make a mistake once). Here are the dialogue options you need to select for Yaya’s recruitment in AC: Shadows (shown in bold):

• Heads Will Roll Quest (Wada Koretake assassination) Choice:
  • Killing them isn’t justice
  • Justice must be served
• Stray Dog Quest Choice:
  • We forgive him
  • We punish him
• Stray Dog Quest Choice #2:
  • You need to forgive each other
  • You need to take responsibility

Yaya is all about keeping the peace, so it’s best to take the non-violent route. If you choose to spare the people in Heads Will Roll, she will ultimately respect this decision, positively influencing her relationship with you. However, you’ll need to continue on this peaceful path in the following quest: Stray Dog.

Track the Stray Dog mission on the League Objectives board, which will take you to Osaka in the Izumi Settsu region. Travel south of Osaka Temple and help Yaya take down some foes. You’ll encounter a similar choice to Heads Will Roll, where you must decide the fate of an enemy. Choose to forgive him, and Yaya will be more pleased with your answer.

After selecting this choice, follow Yaya and retrieve the Kanzashi at the Church of Takatsuki. Speak to Tetsuo to progress further in this quest. Although he’ll run away from you, Yaya will help you out and chase him down. Stick to the path of forgiveness, and you’ll finally get to ask Yaya to join your group.

If you’ve chosen two of the three dialogue choices mentioned above, she’ll be added to your Hideout, letting you call on her to tackle and knock out opponents. Otherwise, she will flat-out refuse your proposal, restricting you from using her in battle. I tried to see if there was a way to recruit her after her rejection, and there seemed to be no way to change. You may need to use a previous save file before you make those decisions.