Assassin's Creed 2 Walkthrough

As you take flight, immediately pause the game and check out your map. You can see the locations of all of the fires in the city, as well as the target to the far, far southeast. If you make a simple beeline for the target, the Palazzo Ducale, you won't get the updrafts you need to maintain your height and infiltrate the fortress. Instead, you need follow the trail of fires that lead you east and then north before finally turning south toward the Palazzo.

The game gives you instructions for kicking archers, but we suggest you ignore them completely to make completing this part easier. (Note: This is the only point in the game where you can earn the "Fly Swatter" Achievement / Trophy. If you don't kick a guard here, you won't be able to unless you start a new game.) There's no reason to confront the archers. At the start of the flight, there are two diverging trails of fires. Keep to the northernmost trail of fires and you'll be out of the archers' ranges. Try to get within the range of each updraft you pass—you may have enough height to completely fly over a fire without getting the updraft effect, but it's important that you get close enough to each fire to move higher.

There's a longish gap between fires at the northernmost portion of the trail and you'll lose a lot of altitude. The next set of fires is on the deck of a boat far, far below. Make sure you catch the updraft from the boats, otherwise you won't be able to continue. From here on, it's smooth sailing (or smooth gliding?). Just keep an eye on the map to make sure you find your way to the waypoint destination on the top of the Palazzo.

Now that you've made it onto the roof of the Palazzo, you've got to get inside and assassinate the target. From your landing spot, you can use eagle vision and spot the target to the north, on an open level just a couple of floors under you. To get to him, you'll want to actually run around the top of the building, going south before turning east to follow the roof closer to the target's location. But there are three archers to watch out for as you move around the rooftop. You can kill them all silently with a bit of patience.

Once you reach the northeast corner of the rooftop, start climbing along the white northern wall. You can completely avoid detection by climbing the wall, eventually bringing yourself down on the white wisp waypoint below. Hit the waypoint and a cut scene takes over.

After the cut scene, run out of the room through the doorway to the east and exit to a hall. From here you can safely jump over the ledge to reach the ground level of the Palazzo. Here you'll find the assassination target running around like a chicken sans head. Assassinate him quickly.

Your final task is to exit the Palazzo and ditch the guards chasing you. Run out of the building through the southern exit and jump into the river. You can dive underwater to escape the guards' watch and quickly lose 'em to complete the mission.