Would like opinions about sneak builds

I just finished my first play-through with a mage build. I just spammed fireballs day and night. Fun at first, not so fun 10 hours in.

I want to start a sneak build. From what I would imagine, it would seem rather difficult to sneak behind monsters in dungeons to get backstabs...

I'm guessing archery is a must when it comes to sneak builds, but what are dagger and 1-handed backstab perks for, aside from killing npcs in town for no reason. I can't imagine killing any falmers in dungeons with that.

And then there are dragons...

Well, I definitely don't doubt the damage of the strikes.

But it's the before and after I'm wondering about. Does anyone have first hand experience on exactly how easy it is to actually sneak up on monsters in those narrow corridors and such in certain dungeons.

Or what if the room is filled with mobs. What do you do after you take out one of them. Run for you life?

quote NoobsArePplToo

Well, I definitely don't doubt the damage of the strikes.

But it's the before and after I'm wondering about. Does anyone have first hand experience on exactly how easy it is to actually sneak up on monsters in those narrow corridors and such in certain dungeons.

Or what if the room is filled with mobs. What do you do after you take out one of them. Run for you life?

Spoiler:

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Also, I don't know if anyone remembers from the Thieve's Guild quest line. In one of the dungeons you stand at the way top of a giant room and you see Mercer Frey sneak up behind two falmers and take them out 1 at a time. I thought that was hilarious. I want to do that.. -_-

Sneaking up on monsters is no different that people, it all depends on your skill. I can sneak attack from behind an entire room of mobs without being seen. You just need the appropriate skills/perks.

With the 30x sneak damage most kills are 1 hit.

Basically I cut throte mob 1, roll out of site and continue. Sometimes I'll start off with a few range kills first then move in with the dagers.

Very important to watch the sneak eye, after a kill hide and wait for it to show you hidden again, or kill all mobs before anyone sees you.

Sneak is very broken. I would say that it would be tedious to do a true dagger thief unlike most people are saying. The way sneaking works is when you hit from afar they won't see you. If you keep coming as they come closer they will spot you. Usually though, if you shoot, then stop and move slightly they will run past you without spotting you with any decent sneak level. Sneaking up to the target is different though. Often they have jerky movements would make a dagger thief interesting, particularly in falmer ruins. Especially since they are enemies which you may not be able to sneak up on, such as Dwarven Spheres.

I think if you play a true dagger thief it will be fun and interesting(a build I thought of trying eventually). If you go with archery it will become incredibly easy(I'm breezing through Master with a conjuration-Sneak-Archer). Just be aware that playing the dagger thief will be quite tedious at first and eventually you will run into severe frustration if you play above adept, particularly with dwarven spheres.

I used bows quite a bit early on until I got my sneak level to 50 and took all of the perks up the right side, culminating with assassin's blade. Obviously the most beneficial choice after that is to join up with the Dark Brotherhood for the shrouded boots (you make no noise), and the Dark Brotherhood gauntlets which double backstab damage, resulting in X12 damage attacks with swords, axes etc...and a X30 bonus with daggers.

You could always just cheat a bit and during the Helgen Escape, as soon as you come up on the bear in the cave and your companion (Ralof or Hadvar) enters sneak mode, lead him back into the room with the frostbite spiders you killed and crouch behind him and repeatedly slash him with the dagger to level sneak ridiculously fast.

Gotta be careful doing this though, as when you level, your enemies will level as well, all the while youre still sitting on level 1 armor and combat skills. But, if you want to see what sneak has to offer without wasting 20 hours to do it, this is the way.

quote Squidibcus

The trick to good sneaking is simply boosting one-handed and dagger damage as much as possible. Those who say sneaking is broken obviously haven't killed a slumbering Elder Dragon in one hit on master difficulty, and I'm assuming never will try. The trick to be successful sneaking early on is to train it fast by killing sleeping Draugr and by sneaking on larger targets (or attacking no hostile npcs). Believe me, once you max out sneaking, killing everything will be a piece of cake. And if you keep getting noticed, just get some invisibility potions and kill them while invisible. It is also useful to boost enchanting, especially to get the two-enchantment perk, as then you can get the black star (daedric item) and give your items nice enchantments and soul trap, so when you instant kill, you will always get a new soul to refill the enchantments. Anyway, just remember that with daggers the more damage you can do the better, because that 30x modifier really boosts the damage. Hope you enjoy being an amazing sneak thief.

Problem is, Sneak is so horribly broken, you can use it to one shot the most powerful enemies in the game on the hardest difficulty without too much effort. The people who are calling it broken, do so because it is. It works, so it's not broken in a sense that it is incapable of doing what it is supposed to do, or is pointless. It is broken in the sense that there is no balance when you Sneak.

I didn't bother to read most of the comments here, but Sneaking is OP. I can sneak up to someone and poke them and not move and they still won't see me. It's not hard at all to sneak up to people and get OHKO's.

Sneak is really broken. I have my sneak level at 100, and it's so easy to get back stabs. Most creatures won't even see you if you walk straight passed them in Sneak mode. I 2HKOed a Dragon Priest because he couldn't find where I was!