Skyrim Sneak Sploit

[AppleShrapnel]

Alliteration ftw? /:|

Anyhoo, at the end of the tutorial dungeon, when you and Hadvar/Rolof come across the snoozing bear, they'll drop into stealth and not move until you go a certain distance ahead. While he crouches there, you can stay crouched behind him and get easy, consistent sneak attacks every few seconds; he never turns against you (narrative just won't allow it ), and if his health bottoms out, they regen pretty quickly, so even if you're spamming attacks like there's no tomorrow (for the same reasons the sneak sploit works, you can pad your one or two handed skills a bit, as well) there's very little downtime between strikes.

Within ~15mins of this, my sneak was a little over 50 and my character level was 8. I felt kinda bad, but it was nice having such a boost right after Helgen. I've put in several hours since, and haven't noticed anything being broken, as far as the scaling and whatnot goes, so... yay?

As for its overall effectiveness, I was getting a sneak skill point per sneak attack through level 40 or so (level 40 of sneak, not my character level ). If anyone feels bored, see how long it takes to get sneak up to 100 this way... I'm curious, but not motivated. XD

 

[StraightToHeck]

you can also do this with the monks at High Hrothgar when they're kneeling and praying; at around 90 sneak skill it takes about 12 or so hits with a melee weapon to level it

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Technically speaking, Elder Scrolls games are not difficult in the slightest to exploit/blow the difficulty curve on. If anything, it's a much more rigorous challenge NOT blowing the difficulty curve and avoiding the many, many, many loopholes.

If you're playing an Elder Scrolls title and expecting rigorous game balancing, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Instant K4rma]

Sneak attacking your ally in the tutorial that can't die until your sneak is through the roof? Sounds fun and immersive.

Wait, actually no, it doesn't. I lied.

I've never been a fan of these little exploitations. I feel it really defeats the purpose of the skill you are advancing and really takes away from the game in general.

But meh. To each his own, I suppose.

 

[Jaloopa]

A friend of mine has been spamming his smithing and pickpocketing by paying for training then immediately stealing the money back. Wash, rinse repeat. You can only train 5 times per level but he was gaining a level of pickpocket each time so levelling up before he ran out.

 

[godofallu]

Yeah the only problem is going to be when you come across a leveled boss who spawns knowing where you are. You can't sneak and you have no other damage since you are pure sneak.

I have to ask though, if you're going to cheat why spend so long doing it? Just type in the console command and set your levels to whatever you wish.

 

[DEAD34345]

It's a single-player game, being stronger doesn't actually make the game any more fun at all, so this kind of exploit is kind of pointless in my opinion. All you've done is wasted some of your time, as far as I can tell. Wouldn't it have been easier and faster to just turn the difficulty down, or use console commands to increase your skills? (if you're on PC)

Of course don't let me put you off from doing what you want to enjoy a game, I just don't get it.

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

I generally find that sneak is an exploitative enough skill as it is.

I haven't abused anything like that, yet I'm sneak 75? Not particularly impressive for level 24, but I can sneak right up to a guy, even in his field of vision, and execute him like I just don't care.

 

[googooplex]

Alliteration ftw? /:|

Anyhoo, at the end of the tutorial dungeon, when you and Hadvar/Rolof come across the snoozing bear, they'll drop into stealth and not move until you go a certain distance ahead. While he crouches there, you can stay crouched behind him and get easy, consistent sneak attacks every few seconds; he never turns against you (narrative just won't allow it ), and if his health bottoms out, they regen pretty quickly, so even if you're spamming attacks like there's no tomorrow (for the same reasons the sneak sploit works, you can pad your one or two handed skills a bit, as well) there's very little downtime between strikes.

Within ~15mins of this, my sneak was a little over 50 and my character level was 8. I felt kinda bad, but it was nice having such a boost right after Helgen. I've put in several hours since, and haven't noticed anything being broken, as far as the scaling and whatnot goes, so... yay?

As for its overall effectiveness, I was getting a sneak skill point per sneak attack through level 40 or so (level 40 of sneak, not my character level ). If anyone feels bored, see how long it takes to get sneak up to 100 this way... I'm curious, but not motivated. XD

Then you go into your first ruin and have to face a Draugr Deathlord and cant beat him... besides what do you do once your fully leveled up? Its the journey thats fun not the destination.

 

[AppleShrapnel]

I agree with most posts thus far. I just kinda stumbled on this particular exploit and felt I should share.

What lead me to it was a mix of boredom and frustration; I dunno how many characters I've started and ran through the tutorial with, but this time I was closely following Hadvar and starting slinging my dagger about shouting "Mush! MUSH!", and then I got the percussion-laden notification of my one handed skill increasing. This turned into more dagger slinging and the eventual bear sneaking scenario-bit.

I've gotten further, and there have been more bandit outlaws than I'd used to, but my sneak (generally) allows me to get in a sneak attack prior to a proper face to blade exchange.

Only encounter with draugr thus far has been Bleak Falls Barrow, and even at lvl10 or so, I had no problems. There was a wight or two about, but they didn't last very long after a sneaking power attack with my orcish waraxe with x6 damage.

And just so we're clear, I entered the world at lvl8. My sneak was 50-ish, not my actual level, so I don't think I'll be meeting a deathlord before I can realistically fell him.

And to further deflect the trace amounts of rage and disappoint I'm detecting, my first character has maxed sneak and two handed skills, is level 45 and a scary, daedric armor-clad kitty... all legit, I assure you. /=D

 

[Spy_Guy]

The people commenting on Deathlords have a point...

...I main Sneak and I constantly get my posterior handed to me in case of fisticuffs (or similar).
Completely legit, though.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

I heard you can soul trap corpses for easy conjuration exp.

 

[Rhaff]

I generally find that sneak is an exploitative enough skill as it is.

I haven't abused anything like that, yet I'm sneak 75? Not particularly impressive for level 24, but I can sneak right up to a guy, even in his field of vision, and execute him like I just don't care.

imagine how it is with sneak 100? baddies spot you? no problem, just crouch and roll away, then sneak up to them and execute them again. Or if you want an even more absurd way, just crouch and slash in front of them, viola, sneak attack a la instant form.

 

[AppleShrapnel]

Hm... well there's already a webcomic, so I guess this might be old news. D:/

Still, a fin line between exploiting and cheating, huh? XD

EDIT... *stares at comic for a few moments* I've seen enough hentai to know where that's going. :3

 

[Jasper Jeffs]

Sneak levels quite passively anyway without exploitation, I'm almost lv100 Sneak on my lv30 just by playing the game.

It's pretty retarded that everything is such a low level upon entry to Skryim anyway, aren't you captured alongside Ulfric? You have a past, surely you have knowledge of combat prior to your capture. I know Bethesda felt that it was silly making the player chose their primary talents before knowing what they even were, but it wasn't gamebreaking. I find myself using the console to alter those kinda things, I'd like to think my Orc had a past of 2 handed badassery, with Skryim being a chapter of such badassery, not the beginning.

 

[Spy_Guy]

Hm... well there's already a webcomic, so I guess this might be old news. D:/

Still, a fin line between exploiting and cheating, huh? XD

EDIT... *stares at comic for a few moments* I've seen enough hentai to know where that's going. :3

Have you now? >=3

The way I see it is that you really can't cheat in SP games. You can take various shortcuts, but cheating is when you get an unfair advantage (and for a game trying to entertain you, as long as the advantage has you entertained, it's hardly unfair)...

...try to use similar shortcuts in Multiplayer, though, and I vote for you to be drawn and quartered. =P

 

[Shirastro]

Can you level your destruction magic and 1h/2h weapons on him as well? Or does hitting a friendly target not count as a proper hit?

 

[Tamrin]

I heard you can soul trap corpses for easy conjuration exp.

It's true. Casting Soul Trap on a corpse gives Conj exp. Tested and worked. I only did it for one level of Conj to just see if it works as it was just short of a level up anyway.

 

[Smeggs]

Alliteration ftw? /:|

Anyhoo, at the end of the tutorial dungeon, when you and Hadvar/Rolof come across the snoozing bear, they'll drop into stealth and not move until you go a certain distance ahead. While he crouches there, you can stay crouched behind him and get easy, consistent sneak attacks every few seconds; he never turns against you (narrative just won't allow it ), and if his health bottoms out, they regen pretty quickly, so even if you're spamming attacks like there's no tomorrow (for the same reasons the sneak sploit works, you can pad your one or two handed skills a bit, as well) there's very little downtime between strikes.

Within ~15mins of this, my sneak was a little over 50 and my character level was 8. I felt kinda bad, but it was nice having such a boost right after Helgen. I've put in several hours since, and haven't noticed anything being broken, as far as the scaling and whatnot goes, so... yay?

As for its overall effectiveness, I was getting a sneak skill point per sneak attack through level 40 or so (level 40 of sneak, not my character level ). If anyone feels bored, see how long it takes to get sneak up to 100 this way... I'm curious, but not motivated. XD

I raised my Conjuration and Archery by summoning a Frost Atrinoch, summoning a bound bow, then killing the atrinoch with the bound bow. Rinse, repeat, expert level skill in both in about an hour or less.

 

[Souplex]

Technically speaking, Elder Scrolls games are not difficult in the slightest to exploit/blow the difficulty curve on. If anything, it's a much more rigorous challenge NOT blowing the difficulty curve and avoiding the many, many, many loopholes.

If you're playing an Elder Scrolls title and expecting rigorous game balancing, you're doing it wrong.

To be fair Skyrim seems more balanced/functional than it's predecessors.