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Sneak Analysis

–Mechanics –

Unperked your odds of being detected are tripled, and therefore you are guaranteed to be detected.

Wearing Heavy armor is the equivalent of trying to sneak up on someone while dragging a sack of cans behind you - Noisy and not going to happen.

Lighting is much more important for staying hidden - Standing in front of / Near a fire in direct Line of sight to a enemy will cause you to be detected 100% of the time, regardless of skill, as will wearing a lantern.

The most important thing in the beginning is - walk sneak instead of run sneak (toggle caps lock). That way with one perk and some light armor, you can sneak up on most bandits from behind.

After a sneak kill, and where there are other enemies around, wait for about 4-5 seconds before moving. If you don’t do that, you’ll get instantly detected. I think it has something to do with their alerted state. Same with doors - wait after opening, or you might get detected. This whole magical detection after sneak kill / opening a door is so bad in my opinion… it makes sneaking much harder and way more random, since this detection isn’t consistent - sometimes you get away with it, sometimes you don’t.

If you want to be a truly efficient assassin, invest in invisibility potions - Why? After you sneak kill, you can pop a potion immediately after you kill the enemy, and 20-40s is plenty of time to wait those stupid 4.5 seconds and then go for a next kill. It might be exploit-y, but If you’re lucky you can even pop an enemy which is observed, but you won’t get detected if you do drinking fast enough ;)

What about illusion spells? They are good, so by all means use muffle and potions for invisibility -> later on you get shadow stride, which is muffle + invisibility combined. But the downside, it’s loud to cast, so you need Rune of Dampening. But sustaining stride in combat is very taxing on magicka (you regenerate 0.33 of your normal regen in combat, so even if enemies didn’t detect you yet).. Muffled boots + perk + spell should allow you to sneak behind Falmers even in front of them, and Vampires.

Finally - When enemies are looking for you, try to move when they are not looking in your direction. Even in the shadows, their meter will go up if you do that. So, wait till they turn their backs on you - it shouldn’t make the sneak metre open. Of course, if you play without UI at all, it’s much more challenging, but definitely doable.

Sleeping Targets

You deal 100x more damage to a sleeping target.

Sneak detection

Some enemies will detect you regardless of your sneak skill due to a specific perk they have “better than X-ray vision”

  • “Boss” Vampires
  • “Boss” Warlocks
  • Hagravens
  • Lu’ah Al-Skaven

Sneak Attack Immune

Some endgame creatures in Requiem are immune to sneak attacks, while you will still have ‘sneak attack was successful’ notification, you will only deal normal damage.

Here is a list of creatures which are immune.

  • Storm Atronach
  • Flame Atronach
  • Frost Atronach
  • Ash Guardians
  • Ash Spawn
  • Death Hounds
  • Everything found in Soul Cairn
  • Dragon Priests
  • Dwarven Centurions
  • Dwarven Spiders
  • Dwarven Spheres
  • Ice Wraiths
  • All variants of Draugr
  • All variants of Skeletons
  • All variants of Spriggans
  • Wisps & their mothers

Notice almost all of these creatures are either undead, mechanical or otherwise lacking in physical organs.

–Perk Analysis–

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Mastery Branch

This branch improves your sneaking ability and grants you additional stealth capabilities.

Stealth

Your sneaking ability is 15/35% more effective. Heavy armor nullifies this bonus.

Level Required : 0/20

Perk Required : None/Stealth (Rank I)

Effects:

Rank 1: Removes the penalty for sneaking, and adjusts your skill to behave as if you had 15 extra points in it.

Rank 2: Adjusts your skill to behave as if you had 35 extra points in it.

Removes the penalty even if you are wearing heavy armor, but the increased odds to not become detected only apply if you are not wearing heavy armor. Higher ranks overwrite the lower ones.

Muffled Movement

Your newfound finesse allows you to move 15% more quietly, provided you are not wearing any heavy armor.

Level Required : 25

Perk Required : Stealth (Rank I)

Effects:

While not wearing any Heavy Armor, adjusts your skill to behave as if you had an extra 15 points in it. Stacks with similar effects.

Does nothing to change your audible noise when spell casting or running.

Light Steps

Your careful movement prevents you from triggering pressure plates and other traps.

Level Required : 50

Perk Required : Muffled Movement

Effects:

You personally will not trigger any traps, however your followers still can.

Acrobatics

You can perform a silent forward roll to avoid most physical knockdowns. Your sneaking ability is 10% more effective. Heavy armor nullifies these effects.

Level Required : 75

Perk Required : Light Steps

Note: To perform the roll, tap the sprint key while sneaking.

Effects:

While not wearing Heavy Armor, adjusts your skill to behave as if you had an extra 10 points in it. Stacks with similar effects. Adds a passive roll that prevents you from being being knocked over by a lot of spells/abilities that would normally knock you over, see the list below. This makes fighting many creatures a lot more manageable. I believe an animation is played when Roll is triggered (needs verification).

Roll Triggering Abilities: Werewolf Howl, Shield Bash Disarm, Spell Impacts, Dragon Tail attacks, Mammoth Attacks, Giant Frostbite Spider attacks, certain unique Troll NPC attacks.

Shadowrunner

You are 15% harder to detect, your movement is 10% less audible, and you take 25% less damage from falling. Heavy armor nullifies these bonuses.

Level Required : 100

Perk Required : Acrobatics

Effects:

While not wearing Heavy Armor, decreases your overall chance to be detected by 10%, adds another bonus to your Sneak skill as if you had an extra 10 points in it, and reduces fall damage by 25%.

Sneak Attack Branch

This branch makes your sneak attacks more effective.

Deft Strike

Sneak attacks with daggers, swords, or ranged weapons bypass 50% of the target’s armor.

Level Required : 25

Perk Required : Stealth (Rank I)

Effects:

Sneak attacks with Crossbows, Bows, Daggers, and Swords will gain 50% Armor penetration.

Anatomical Lore

Your knowledge of vital organs improves sneak attacks against men and mer. Melee strikes against humanoids deal 5x damage, while ranged attacks are 2x stronger.

Level Required : 50

Perk Required : Deft Strike

Effects:

Against humanoid targets, Crossbows and Bows will deal 200% more damage in sneak attacks, while everything else will deal 500% more damage.

Advanced Anatomical Lore

Your knowledge of anatomy allows you to perform devastating sneak attacks on almost any target. Melee strikes against non-immune creatures deal 5x damage, and ranged attacks are 2x stronger.

Level Required : 50

Perk Required : Anatomical Lore

Effects:

Against all targets, Crossbows and Bows will deal 200% more damage in sneak attacks, while everything else will deal 500% more damage.

This overwrites the previous perk Anatomical Lore, an odd behavior considering most perks in requiem only normally do that when they are ranks in the same perk.