Sneak (Skyrim)

''Sneaking is the art of moving unseen and unheard. Highly skilled sneaks can often hide in plain sight.''

Sneak is one of the eighteen skills in Skyrim. This skill falls under The Thief play-style.


 * Governing Guardian Stone: The Thief

Skill Books and Quests
The following books raise your Sneak Skill: The following Miscellaneous Quest increases the Sneak Skill:
 * 2920, Last Seed, v8
 * Legend of Krately House
 * Sacred Witness
 * The Red Kitchen Reader
 * Three Thieves
 * Return helmet to Noster Eagle-Eye in Solitude
 * Retreive bottle of double distilled skooma for Stands in Shallows in the Argonian Assemblage in Windhelm
 * Retreive Finn's Lute for Inge Six Fingers at the Bard's College in Solitude (note: also increases the Light Armor, Alchemy, Lockpicking, Pickpocket, and Speech skills)

Trainers

 * Khayla (Adept): Khajiit Caravans
 * Garvey (Expert): Markarth
 * Delvin Mallory (Master): Thieves Guild, Riften

Changes from Previous Games
The Sneak system in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is slightly different than that of previous games. For instance, your visibility is depicted through use of an eye that remains closed while you are undetected, but opens more and more as your likelihood of being detected increases. If the word 'Detected' appears on the screen then they are completely aware of your presence and your exact location, if the word 'Hidden' appears on the screen, you are unseen to NPCs. People around you will also change "modes" depending on whether they view you sneaking. For instance, they will be passive if they are unaware, or cautious if they are aware of you sneaking. Their ability to notice you is dependent on your Sneak skill, the level of light on your current position, how heavy your character's armor is, whether this armor is Heavy or Light, if your weapons are drawn, how fast you are moving, and the effects of various perks that you've obtained.

Perks
{C}The following are the perks that become available to select as the skill is leveled up

Not-Quite-Hidden Theft
Despite being hidden, certain NPCs may still know the player has stolen something. They do not call the guards, so there is no bounty at all. Rather, they pay three Hired Thugs (one of which will have a Contract in their inventory) to 'teach a lesson' to your character. It is also possible to have hired thugs encounter the player even if the contract giver is dead or murdered, so the player should not be surprised when pursued even after the 'victim' is not around anymore. The complete details/conditions are not yet known, but listed below are the possibilities, and most likely reason for the attack. These encounters can happen in public, for example in Whiterun, College of Winterhold and Dawnstar. Hired Thugs also are known to not be attacked by guards when attacking the player for reasons still unknown, even if the encounter happens within town walls, although it is possible for them to be attacked by the guards.
 * Stealing from an inn. At least in the Winking Skeever, no one seems to follow the player if he goes to basements or upstairs in the inn, but it seems like the thugs can be sent by innkeepers.
 * It is also possible that getting caught stealing would mean the innkeepers will let the guards get the player rather than hire thugs, but it is not known for sure.
 * Stealing from a merchant. Several different merchants can send the Hired Thugs after the player.
 * Pickpocketing town guards . There are instances where town guards have sent the Hired Thugs after characters.

It is also possible that one of your 'victims' will hire Dark Brotherhood to kill you. This may or may not share the same triggers with Hired Thugs.
 * See Random encounters

Leveling Tips

 * At the beginning of the game when escaping the dragon the player must sneak past a sleeping bear. By sneaking into a wall near the bear with auto walk ('c' key on PC) or putting a rubber band on the controller, it is possible to level up the Sneak skill away from the game. Alternatively, sneaking behind Hadvar and repeatedly sneak attacking him will level up one's Sneak skill very quickly as well. Hadvar will never die nor turn aggresive, as when he is lowered to no health he will recover and not attack the player. Hadvar will however, have a chance to turn aggresive after leaving the cave and attacking him. This method levels up one's Sneak skill more quickly, as sneak attacks grant faster leveling in comparison to just sneaking. Leveling up Sneak to a very high level, however, is not recommended early in the game. Enemies' levels are scaled to that of the players, and without sufficient combat skills (ex. Light/Heavy Armor, any magic) the player may have difficulty facing enemies throughout the game.
 * During the Saarthal excavation quest, find Arniel in the mine and equip a dagger. Then sneak up on him and you can continue to do sneak attacks on him until your sneak skill increases to 100. His life replenishes automatically over time. The entire process can take less than an hour to max out your sneak skill.
 * If the player is in a dungeon with sleeping Draugr, it is possible to sneak up to them and kill them, as they will not detect even low-level sneak. Alternatively, one can raise dead the same Draugr, and attack them while sneaking. They will not attack the player because of the spell effects.
 * Go to any tavern and find the barman or barmaid. Crouch into a sneak. Find a corner behind the barman and walk backwards while still crouched. Continue walking backwards as the sneak progress bar climbs progressively higher. You can even leave a rubber band on your controllers thumbstick to keep the progress climbing while you step away for an hour. 1 hour of this should increase your sneak at least 30-40 levels minimum. The taverns and inns are the best place to do this as there's always at least 2-3 people within distance of you and if you stand behind the barman most will not have line of sight making it next to impossible to fail the skill check.
 * Purchase a horse (1,000 gold) and move it near a wall or in a corner, then proceed to sneak attack it with a weak dagger repeatedly.
 * In the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary you will usually find Astrid standing in front of a table in the first room you enter. You can repeatedly perform sneak attacks on her and she will not retaliate, provided that you are hidden when you perform the attack. When she staggers from low health, just wait for her to get back up and go back to her spot at the table before you make another attack, as attacking her during this time will usually cause you to be detected.
 * Conjured Familiars and Atronachs can be backstabbed to level sneak.
 * In the Quest 'The Horn of Jurgen Wind Caller' there's a dungeon with a portcullis in it. If you trap a Draugr behind it, you can sneak and never be hurt until you reach level 100.
 * The secluded courtyard outside of Dragonsreach in Whiterun is patrolled by a single guard who walks the front half of the perimeter. Other NPCs walk up to that area on occasion, but otherwise you'll be free to shadow this guard on his patrol route and rack up nearly continuous sneaking experience.
 * Another rather easy way to level Sneak is to travel to High Hrothgar and continually sneak attack the Greybeards, they will not fight back. It is also beneficial to use the "Healing Hands" spell on your chosen Greybeard as this not only allows for faster attacks (without retaliation) but is also a good way to level up your Restoration skill. Do not, however, let their health get too low, as they are totally unbeatable once provoked!
 * Another great way is to sneak onto a rock above an incampment and use throw voice to cause the bandits below you to look for you throw voice will cause them to look in a different direction the where you are and if you have all 3 words the cool down is low enough to do this almost continuously.
 * Yet another easy way is to travel to the Aretino Residence in Windhelm after triggering the start of the Dark Brotherhood questline. The kid inside the house, Aventus, never looks up or looks around while performing his "ritual". Ever. So as long as you don't try to talk to him / continue the quest, you can sneak around the main room without being detected. Personally, I just ran into the wall near the fireplace.
 * Another great leveling method is in the beginning of the game when you encounter the torture room, after you complete everything there and everyone moves on walk down the hall a little bit until you hear the Torturer speak about there being no exit ahead. Once he says that he will not focus on you 100% of the time, take out either an iron sword or dagger get behind him in sneak mode wait for him to stop detecting and attack him (Just don't attack him too much or he will become aggressive). He recovers health at an extremely fast rate and at low levels you can gain one sneak level per hit most times. In about 10 - 20 minutes you should hit level 40 Sneak.
 * Another way to level up sneak: After entering Geirmund's Tomb and dropping through the hole to access the rest of the cave, you land in a room filled with water with a closed door. On the other side you'll find several Frostbite Spiders. While crouching, hit the door with a weapon to alert them of your presence. Since the door is closed, the spiders cannot reach you so you can generally level up your sneak skill pretty quickly. If it seems your detected status is not fading, make sure you're not crouching directly in front of the door and try moving behind one of the rock walls on either side.
 * Also if you finished the main quest without killing Partaruux, when he is on the wall you can go to his right wing, sneak, and when it says your hidden sneak attack him. Since it is a dragon you get ALOT of exp.
 * In Jorrvaskr Living Quarters, go to Farkas's room and wait for him to go to sleep, if you've got a good weapon (I use a refined Mace of Molag Bal) and maybe the backstab perk, you can hit him and defeat him instantly and he won't retaliate. (Note: It must be an instant defeat, if it doesn't, he'll attack so the Back Stab perk is recommended)
 * Stated in the first leveling tip above. In order to raise sneak, one must be hidden and the follower(Hadvar or Ralof) must be at full health, when their health is full you make attack and get sneak attack damage, thus repeating, this is a bit time consuming if one wishes to get 100 sneak

Bugs

 * The Shadow Warrior perk conflicts with Shadowcloak of Nocturnal . This occurs because of the way the Shadow Warrior perk works. (Shadow Warrior causes you to go invisible briefly, causing enemies to pick a different target) With Shadowcloak of Nocturnal active, crouching when enemies see you will cause both Shadowcloak of Nocturnal and Shadow Warrior to make you go invisible, but after about half of a second, Shadow Warrior removes the invisibility.
 * (Untested) In the aforementioned bug, if players are playing the PC version of the game and encounter it, they can attempt to remove the Shadow Warrior perk using the console command "player.removeperk 00058214". Then use the Shadowcloak of Nocturnal and it will behave normally. Once the skill is finished, re-add the perk with "player.addperk 00058214". By doing this once, it appears that this bug is resolved. Shadowcloak of Nocturnal will override Shadow Warrior when it is active from this point forward and players will not have to remove/re-add in future instances of using the skill.
 * Similar to the pickpocket bug, wearing equipment with Fortify Sneak enchantment will actually lower your sneaking success when you are at or near the cap for this skill.
 * It has been confirmed that even without the Silent Roll perk, if you jump while sneaking and hold the sprint button, your player will have executed a successful Silent Roll. (Xbox 360 and PC and PS3)
 * However, if you do have the Silent Roll perk, you can go into 3rd person mode and hold sprint, allowing you to continue rolling as long as you want, or until you run out of stamina (Xbox 360)
 * Sometimes people know you're in their house...two floors down and in stealth mode. You'll hear a disembodied voice chime in, telling you it's time for you to leave. You can be alone in a basement, in stealth mode, with the crosshairs indicating you've been hidden the entire time, and they will still know you are there. It appears random, I've encountered it in three different houses now, and one place of business. [PC]
 * A similar bug to the above is that if you pop out of stealth mode....again, you're alone on that floor and several rooms from any upstairs/downstairs access, with a disembodied voice ringing out around you....and then steal something, they go into the 'You'll pay for that!" mode and a guard will appear at the door to charge you with stealing.
 * Sometimes when using a ranged sneak attack, an enemy searching for you(if still sneaking) will be literally right in front (as in practically 2in away)of you and still not notice you unless you attack or move.