Improvised weapon

Improvised weapons are devices that were originally not designed for use in combat but could still be put to good use as weapons.

During the Renaissance, such weapons could be wielded by the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze and made additional options for armed combat alongside the more conventional weapons including swords, maces, spears, halberds or heavy weapons.

All of the improvised weapons could be picked up in a similar fashion to other one-handed weapons. They were often carried and used by civilians, who would drop them once Ezio gently pushed or ran into them, when a fight commenced or if money was thrown near them.

These weapons could not normally be kept and were usually discarded as soon as a fight was finished or if Ezio began free running.

15th century

 * Hoes
 * Rakes
 * Brooms
 * Pitchforks
 * Fishing poles
 * Violins (used by certain minstrels, only available during Carnevale)
 * The halves of a broken spear

16th century

 * Rakes
 * Brooms
 * Mallets
 * Shovels
 * Pickaxes
 * Pitchforks
 * Meat cleavers
 * Fishing poles
 * The halves of a broken spear
 * Lutes (used by minstrels in Constantinople)

Trivia
Assassin's Creed II
 * All improvised weapons in Assassin's Creed II act and sound as maces, aside from the upper, bladed end of a broken spear. Their attacks are usually nonsensical. For example, Ezio can slice an enemy's throat with a broom after a grab, exactly the way he does with a sword or with a sharp end of a mace.
 * The violin has the sound effect of a sword, but acts like a mace.
 * Some improvised weapons can be kept with a glitch, but will be lost when traveling to another city or randomly during excessive combat. To keep an improvised weapon, you must have an empty sword sheath, which can be achieved by letting a Brute smash your sword or mace away. Afterwards, simply pick up one of the objects listed above and you may be able to keep them.
 * An alternate way to empty your sword sheath is to go to the Monteriggioni Training Ring and practice "Picking Up Weapons". Ezio's sword will drop out of his scabbard automatically.
 * Guards can also use improvised weapons, as long as you disarm them and there is no other weapon available. It's easier to make guards use them during DNA Sequence 1, as guards do not yet have weapons.
 * When you rescue Bartolomeo d'Alviano in the memory "Caged Fighter", he uses a broom to fight until he picks up a proper weapon from a fallen guard.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
 * In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, although shovels can be used as weaponry in-game, their coding is unfinished. In-game, Ezio wields a shovel like an knife, with the blade pointing behind him instead of forward. Also, when the shovel is swung, the blade and staff clip through Ezio's body, and it's used like a mace.


 * The "Spring Cleaning" achievement can be earned by killing a guard with a broom.
 * This achievement is also awarded when you kill a guard with your dual-wielded pistol, while holding a broom in the other hand.
 * Nearly all improvised weapons can be found in use by civilians in the Delizia di Belriguardo, during the memory "The One Who Got Away".

Assassin's Creed: Revelations
 * The minstrel's lute, which can be picked up and used at any time in Constantinople, is used as Ezio's weapon during a short cutscene when he saves Prince Suleiman from one of the Templar assassins.
 * In Revelations, the coding on most improvised weapons has been improved enough to prevent issues like glitching through Ezio's body etc.