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 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 of The Thieves Guild (Master): Thieves Guild, Riften

Changes from Previous Games
The Sneak system is slightly different in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to 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 you become more detected. If it is fully open then they are completely aware of your presence and your exact location. 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 much armor your character is wearing, whether this armor is heavy or light, if your weapons are drawn and how fast you are moving.

Sneak Perks
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.
 * 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

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.

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 there is a place where you are supposed to sneak past a sleeping bear. Sneak into a wall near the bear using 'c' to auto walk or a rubber band on the controller, go to the movies, get back to see you now have a 60 in sneak. With enough patience you can max out sneak here. Even better, sneak behind Hadvar and sneak attack him. He will never attack you, and his health constantly regenerates. If he "dies" he'll come back up, often with full health. The sneak attack gives you a lot more experience than walking does. Video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0GZi7wzU2E&feature=g-upl. I got to level 18/sneak 100 in about 15 minutes this way. This method should be used sparingly at the start of the game otherwise you'll find yourself up against some VERY tough enemies because your character development is skewed.
 * If you are in a dungeon with sleeping Draugr, sneak up to them and kill them. You will one-shot them and they will not detect low-level sneaking because they are asleep. Alternatively, you can raise dead the same Draugr, and attack them while sneaking. They will not attack you because of the spell effects and you'll get the benefit of leveling as if sneak attacking a hostile enemy.
 * 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.

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.