Bomb

"We have many different kinds of bombs here. Some are used tactically to stop chasing guards or manipulate a crowd. Others are used to create diversions, a good way to handle guards before they attack."

- Yusuf Tazim, introducing Ezio to bombs in Constantinople.

Bombs were explosive weapons used by Assassins from as early as the High Middle Ages. They could be used for a variety of tactics, including escape, assault, and distraction.

Smoke bombs
Smoke bombs were devices that were used more for distraction, rather than offensive purposes. They could be thrown from a distance or dropped on the spot. Using a powder technology from the Far East, the bomb released a thick, grayish smoke screen for a brief time when thrown.

With a smoke bomb device, an Assassin was able to halt any enemy or target, allowing for an easy assassination or escape. This also gave them the capability to strike specific targets, or take down larger groups of enemies without being seen or encountering resistance.

History
Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad had access to smoke bombs during his quest for the Chalice. He could carry up to five of them at a time, though evidently stopped using them after the events at Solomon's Temple.

Smoke bombs were the only type of bombs that were commonly available to Ezio Auditore up until the 16th century. However, upon traveling to Constantinople during his quest to open Altaïr's library, he gained access to a far more extensive variety of bombs, as the city's Assassin guid had recently taken a keen interest in crafting the explosives after the Chinese had introduced them to the weapons.

During the Renaissance, smoke bombs were disposable, and had to be purchased for 350 florins each. Ezio could carry a maximum of three at once, which he stored in a non-upgradeable pouch.

Ezio also made use of smoke bombs in the city of Rome, though the actual cloud itself was visually a lot smaller than during the previous century. Smoke bombs were also used by Assassin recruits to stun guards once they reached the rank of Veterano (Veteran).

Edward Kenway, Haytham Kenway, and Ratonhnhaké:ton all used smoke bombs during the 18th century. In Edward's and Connor's cases, they could both craft upgrades to their bomb pouches to increase their capacity.

French Assassins, such as Arno Dorian, utilized smoke bombs, money bombs, stun bombs, cherry bombs and poison bombs.

Hand-held bombs
"Quite little bombs, but effective enough to, say, wreck ships or disperse a camp."

- Leonardo da Vinci.

Hand-held bombs were small explosive devices designed and manufactured by Ezio's close friend, Leonardo da Vinci. Consisting of a small, steel ball filled with sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate, they also possessed a small fuse which required lighting before the device could be detonated.

History
These bombs were first used against Cesare Borgia's diehards, who had amassed a sizable military force in the city of Valencia.

During the attack on Valencia, Ezio and Niccolò Machiavelli, each equipped with ten hand-held bombs, brought chaos to Cesare's military forces. They destroyed twelve Borgia ships, and an entire military encampment.

As a young privateer and then naval sailor, Piri Reis also used a variety of bombs, having been introduced to them through his uncle Kemal.

The Colonial Assassin Connor used trip mines during the American Revolutionary War. He could use them in combat, countering soldiers by sticking a trip mine on them before throwing them, causing an explosion.

Crafting
"Crafting explosives is a new hobby, one we borrowed from the Chinese and have taken to with great passion."

- Yusuf Tazim, speaking of the Turkish Assassins' bomb-crafting.

Upon traveling to Constantinople, Ezio learned from his fellow Assassin Yusuf Tazim how to create a wide range of bombs, with up to 120 variations. In general, they could be divided into three categories: lethal, tactical and diversion. In order to craft bombs expeditiously whenever they acquired the needed ingredients, Assassins set up bomb-crafting stations throughout Constantinople and Cappadocia.

Ezio could also quickly craft additional bombs of the same type he was currently carrying, provided he had the required ingredients, but if he ran out of those ingredients or wished to make a different type of bomb, he would have to return to a bomb-crafting station.

The bombs could be customized based on their different components: casing, gunpowder layer, and effect layer. The casing affected the bomb's structure, while the gunpowder layer defined the properties of the explosion itself, along with the effect layer providing a further result on detonation, such as the scattering of caltrops being one example. Casing determined how the bomb was deployed, gunpowder type determined the strength of the explosion, and effects ingredients determined the effect that the bomb had on those within the blast radius.

Throughout his time in the city, Ezio was able to collect different ingredients for each of these bombs, and could craft up to a maximum of five bombs per pouch. He had three bomb pouches for lethal, tactical, and diversion. He could also buy bombs from black market dealers, or ingredients from Piri Reis's shop in the Grand Bazaar, doctors, and blacksmiths. He also received ingredients from other cities that were liberated from the Templars.

Trivia
Assassin's Creed II
 * The Smoke bomb pouch is labelled as "small", despite not having any upgrades available for it, where other pouches labelled the same way had medium and larger variants.
 * During one of the Carnevale challenges in Venice, the three guards and Dante Moro, whom Ezio fought, were immune to Smoke bombs' effects.
 * While looting Brutes, there was a high chance of obtaining Smoke bombs.
 * Smoke bombs are helpful for earning the achievements "No Hitter", "Messer Sandman," and "Sweeper."

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
 * The Smoke bomb appears as one of the multiplayer abilities.
 * The Apprentices would sometimes utilize the Smoke bombs when called to aid Ezio.
 * The Papal Guard were immune to the effects of Smoke bombs in combat. However, it was possible to stun them with it outside of combat.
 * Cesare Borgia and pickpockets were completely immune to Smoke bombs' effects.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations
 * The achievement "Pyromaniac" can be earned when a player completes all of Piri Reis' bomb missions.
 * Ezio can add an extra space for bombs in each of his pouches by completing Piri Reis' bomb challenges.
 * A fifth bomb in each pouch can only be acquired if the player pre-ordered the Signature Edition or Animus Edition of the game, or has purchased The Lost Archive DLC.
 * Byzantine and Ottoman Bombmen possessed an ability to use Thunder bombs.
 * Both Smoke bombs and Trip-wire bombs appear as Multiplayer abilities in Revelations.
 * All the bombs given to Ezio were always displayed as having impact shell, with the exception of the Piri Reis' Trip-wire bomb mission.

Others
 * In Assassin's Creed: Project Legacy, Smoke bombs required the reagents of gunpowder and sugar to be crafted.