Sneak | Skyrim Wiki

The Sneak increases player's efficiency to escape detection through reducing visibility and noise. Perks in the Sneak tree increase your chances of escaping detection, increase the damage you inflict with sneak attacks, and allow you to avoid setting off traps using pressure plate triggers. Sneak skill perks grant player to perform a forward roll while sneaking and even briefly disappear from sight in the middle of combat. The Sneak tree has a total of 9 perks and it requires requiring a total of 13 perk points to complete. Sneaking is the art of moving unseen and unheard. Highly skilled sneaks can even hide in plain sight.

Sneak in Skyrim

Skills Homepage

Sneaking Guide

Sneaking Weapons

Sneaking Perks

Skyrim Sneak Guide

How Sneaking Works in Skyrim

After hitting the sneak button the player will enter sneak mode. Levels in sneaking affects how well enemies detect the player while spells such as Invisibility and Muffle can make your character invisible or make little to no sound to effectively become undetectable by any enemies.

While sneaking the player's crosshair will turn into an eye that displays information about being detected by characters around them.

If the eye is open enemies know where you are and the words 'Detected' may start to flash to indicate that the player has been spotted.
If the eye is half-opened, an enemy is actively searching for the player while a slightly open eye lets the player know that an enemy thinks the player is near.
A flat line is displayed when the player is fully hidden.
The word 'Hidden' will be displayed when enemies have lost your trail

Players are advised to stay quiet and out of sight to remain undetected. Moving slowly will reduce the amount of noise produced while swapping armors to a light armor set or otherwise reducing the equipped armor weight will help make your character difficult to detect.

Skyrim Sneak Attacks

While undetected and sneaking players can get around characters to avoid combat or get into position and range to execute powerful sneak attacks that have damage bonuses to kill enemies in one hit. The damage bonus is 2 times for two-handed weapons fists and bows without perks and 3 times for One-handed weapons without perks.

All melee weapons outside of the dagger will make a noise when attacking which can make enemies detect the player before the weapon connects, negating the stealth and removing the sneak attack damage bonus.

With the Deadly Aim perk bows can get a 3 times bonus instead while One-handed weapons can go to 6 times with Backstab, daggers have an additional perk Assassin's Blade that increases their multiplier to 15 times killing many in a single strike.

When dual-wielding and using the three combo power attack, the sneak attack damage bonus will apply to all three hits and grant skill experience for each hit that strikes, enemies are not expected to live through all 3 hits unless the level difference is large.

With the Silent Roll perk unlocked players can execute a fast stealthy movement to close the final gap before being detected to kill their target before they turn around.

Tips for leveling Sneak in Skyrim

Sneaking levels will only increase when the player is sneaking in range of an entity that can detect them, sneaking in a place without anyone will not increase skill level. Movement and actions while sneaking will increase the chance of becoming detected but also increase the skill gained. Sneak killing with melee gives the most skill gain, more than stealth killing with bows.

Look for sleeping enemies to sneak up more easily and kill
Hiding from hostile enemies increases stealth skill gain more, thus causing an event in town then hiding from the guards can be a good way to gain some sneak levels
Hitting the enemy with a Calm spell after hitting a sneak attack will end the combat and hostilities making it possible to quickly gain experience as long as the target is affected by the spell and stays alive through the sneak attacks
Players can find boots with a muffle enchantment that will reduce the noise they make, helping greatly with remaining undetected

Skyrim Sneaking Weapons

Included here are all weapons that benefit from sneak attack damage bonus increases in the Perks list; all One-handed weapons and Bows and Crossbows.

Quick Search of All Sneak Weapons

Click the header to sort the table.

Name	Weapon Type	Weight	Damage	Effects
Mehrunes' Razor	Daedric Artifacts	3	11	Hits have a small chance to instantly kill.
Alessandra's Dagger	Daggers	1	5	Same damage as a Steel Dagger but lighter
Blade of Woe	Daggers	7	12	Absorbs 10 Points of Health Fortify Destruction effects will reduce the cost of the Enchantment effect
Blade of Sacrifice	Daggers	4	10	Will automatically kill the sacrificed follower during the Quest Boethiah's Calling
Bloodthorn	Daggers	2.5	5	If the target dies within 3 seconds, it fills a soul gem Absorbs 10 points of Health
Borvir's Dagger	Daggers	4	8	Same as an Elven Dagger but with a different name and price value
Daedric Dagger	Daggers	6	11	Can be made with the Daedric Smithing perk and Smithing level 90
Dragonbone Dagger	Daggers	6.5	12	Can be made with the Dragon Armor perk and Smithing level 100
Dragon Priest Dagger	Daggers	5	6	Can be found mostly in the ancient Nordic Tombs and specific places
Dwarven Dagger	Daggers	3.5	7	Can be forged with Dwarven Smithing perk and Smithing level 30
Ebony Dagger	Daggers	5	10	Can be made with the Ebony Smithing perk and Smithing level 90
Elven Dagger	Daggers	4	8	Can be made with the Elven Smithing perk and Smithing level 30
Glass Dagger	Daggers	4.5	9	Can be made with the Glass Smithing perk and Smithing level 70
Iron Dagger	Daggers	2	4	Can be made without Smithing perk
Kahvozein's Fang	Daggers	5	6	Allows players to collect dragon heartscales
Keening	Daggers	4	8	Absorb 10 Points of Health, Magicka, and Stamina on strike.
Nettlebane	Daggers	10	6	Can be obtained during the Quest The blessings of Nature
Nordic Dagger	Daggers	3.5	8	Can be made with the Advanced Armors perk and Smithing level 50
Orcish Dagger	Daggers	3	6	Can be made with the Orcish Smithing perk and Smithing level 50
Rundi's Dagger	Daggers	2.5	5	Same as a Steel Dagger but with a different name and price value
Shiv	Daggers	2	5	Found on most prisoners in Cidhna Mine
Skyforge Steel Dagger	Daggers	2.5	8	Can be found on several characters
Stalhrim Dagger	Daggers	4.5	10	The Frost Damage enchantment is 25% stronger on this weapon.
Steel Dagger	Daggers	2.5	5	Can be made with the Steel Smithing perk
Valdr's Lucky Dagger	Daggers	2.5	5	25% chance of a critical hit
Mace of Molag Bal	Daedric Artifacts	18	16	Comes with 25 points of Magicka and Stamina damage enchantments dealing extra damage per hit. Also enchanted with Soul Trap, casts Soul Trap for 3 seconds allowing players to fill their soul gems from killing foes.
Daedric Mace	Maces	20	16	Can be made with the Daedric Smithing perk and Smithing level 90
Dragonbone Mace	Maces	22	17	Can be made with the Dragon Armor perk and Smithing level 100
Dwarven Mace	Maces	16	12	Can be made with the Dwarven Smithing perk and Smithing level 30
Ebony Mace	Maces	19	15	Can be made with the Ebony Smithing perk and Smithing level 80
Elven Mace	Maces	17	13	Can be made with the Elven Smithing perk and Smithing level 30
Glass Mace	Maces	18	14	Can be made with the Glass Smithing perk and Smithing level 70
Horksbane	Maces	14	10	Deals 20 more damage to horkers
Iron Mace	Maces	13	9	Can be made without any Smithing perk
Lunar Iron Mace	Maces	13	9	While the moons are out, burns the target for 10-20 points.
Lunar Steel Mace	Maces	14	10	While the moons are out, burns the target for 10-20 points.
Nordic Mace	Maces	16	13	Can be made with the Advanced Armor perk and Smithing level 50
Orcish Mace	Maces	15	11	Can be made with the Orcish Smithing perk and Smithing level 50
Prelate's Mace	Maces	7	13	Cannot be obtained, Cannot be used even when added with console commands
Rusty Mace	Maces	13	7	Placed at the Altar of Molag Bal to become the Mace of Molag Bal
Stalhrim Mace	Maces	18	16	The Frost Damage enchantment is 25% stronger on this weapon.
Steel Mace	Maces	14	10	Can be made with the Steel Smithing perk
Dawnbreaker	Daedric Artifacts	10	12	Burns for 10 points, and if killing undead, a chance to cause a firey explosion that turns or destroys nearby undead.
Akaviri Sword	Swords	10	11	Can be pickpocketed from Dexion Evicus with the Misdirection perk
Amren's Family Sword	Swords	9	7	Can be obtained during the Quest Amren's Sword
Ancient Nord Sword	Swords	12	8	Can be found on Draugr and Skeletons within ancient Nordic Tombs
Blades Sword	Swords	10	11	Can be found in Sky Haven Temple during the Quest Alduin's Wall
Bloodscythe	Swords	10	13	When wielded with Soulrender, absorbs 15 Health and has a chance to lower the target's armor
Bolar's Oathblade	Swords	10	11	Does 25 points of Stamina Damage. Creatures and people up to level 12 flee from combat for 30 seconds.
Ceremonial Sword	Swords	12	8	Used with the Ceremonial Axe to open the crypt during the Quest Silenced Tongues
Chillrend	Swords	11-16	10-15	Target takes 5-30 points of Frost damage. Chance to paralyze for 2 seconds.
Daedric Sword	Swords	16	14	Can be made with the Daedric Smithing perk and Smithing level 90
Dragonbane	Swords	10-14	10-14	20-40 points of extra damage to dragons. 10 points of shock damage to others, with no damage to Magicka
Dragonbone Sword	Swords	19	15	Can be made with the Dragon Armor perk and Smithing level 100
Drainheart Sword	Swords	3	11	Absorb 15 points of Stamina.
Dwarven Sword	Swords	12	10	Can be made with the Dwarven Smithing perk and Smithing level 30
Ebony Sword	Swords	15	13	Can be made with the Ebony Smithing perk and Smithing level 80.
Eduj	Swords	9	11	Target takes 10 points of frost damage to Health and Stamina
Elven Sword	Swords	13	11	Can be made with the Elven Smithing perk and Smithing level 30
Falmer Sword	Swords	18	10	Can be found on Falmer
Forsworn Sword	Swords	13	10	Can be found on Forsworn
Gauldur Blackblade	Swords	12-15	8-11	Absorbs 25 points of health
Ghostblade	Swords	1	8	Does 3 points of extra damage, ignoring armor.
Glass Sword	Swords	14	12	Can be made with the Glass Smithing perk and Smithing level 70
Grimsever	Swords	14	12	Target takes 15 points of Frost Damage to Health and Stamina
Harkon's Sword	Swords	9	8	Absorbs 15 points of Health, Magicka, and Stamina if wielded by a vampire
Herebane's Courage	Swords	13	11	Cannot be obtained without using console commands Burns the target for 25 points. Targets on fire take extra damage.
Hjalti's Sword	Swords	12	8	Can be obtained during the Quest The Ghost of Old Hroldan
Honed Ancient Nord Sword	Swords	15	11	Can be found on Draugrs and Skeletons within Ancient Nordic Tombs and burial grounds
Honed Falmer Sword	Swords	18	12	Can be found on Falmer
Imperial Sword	Swords	10	8	Same as a Steel Sword in damage and weight
Iron Sword	Swords	9	7	Can be made without any Smithing perk.
Lunar Iron Sword	Swords	9	7	While the moons are out, burns the target for 10-20 points.
Lunar Steel Sword	Swords	10	8	While the moons are out, burns the target for 10-20 points.
Miraak's Sword	Swords	3	12-16	Absorb 15 points of Stamina.
Nightingale Blade	Swords	11-15	10-14	Absorb 5-25 points of Health and Stamina.
Nord Hero Sword	Swords	9	11	Can only be crafted at the Skyforge after completing the Companions questline
Nordic Sword	Swords	12	11	Can be made with the Advance Armors perk and Smithing level 50
Orcish Sword	Swords	11	9	Can be made with the Orcish Smithing perk and Smithing level 50.
Queen Freydis's Sword	Swords	10	8	Can be obtained as part of a Quest from Oengul War-Anvil in Windhelm
Red Eagle's Bane	Swords	15	11	Undead up to level 13 are set on fire and flee for 30 seconds
Red Eagle's Fury	Swords	12	8	Burns the target for 5 points. Targets on fire take extra damage. Turns into Red Eagle's Bane at the end of the Quest The Legend of Red Eagle
Scimitar	Swords	10	11	Can be found on certain NPCs or in several locations
Silver Sword	Swords	7	8	Damage increased by 20 points against Undead enemies and werewolves and werebears
Skyforge Steel Sword	Swords	10	11	Can be bought from Eorlund Gray-Mane
Stalhrim Sword	Swords	14	13	The Frost Damage enchantment is 25% stronger on this weapon.
Steel Sword	Swords	10	8	Can be made with the Steel Smithing perk
Soulrender	Swords	10	13	When wielded with Bloodscythe, absorbs 15 Magicka and has a chance to lower the target's magical defenses.
The Pale Blade	Swords	12-15	8-11	Targets take 25 points of frost damage. Creatures and people up to level 16 flee from combat for 30 seconds
Vilkas's Sword	Swords	10	11	Can be obtained from Vilkas and given to Eorlund Gray-Mane, as part of the Companions questline.
Windshear	Swords	10	11	Bash attacks made with this weapon have a chance of knocking enemies down.
Wooden Sword	Swords	3	2	When given to an adopted child The Gift of Charity ability is granted
Ancient Nord War Axe	War Axes	14	9	Can be found on most Draugrs and Skeletons, within ancient Nordic tombs.
Ancient Nordic Pickaxe	War Axes	10	5	Allows players to mine Stalhrim
Ceremonial Axe	War Axes	14	9	Does not provide any additional effects Used with the Ceremonial Sword to open the crypt during the Quest Silenced Tongues
Daedric War Axe	War Axes	18	15	Can be made with the Daedric Smithing perk and Smithing level 90
Dawnguard Rune Axe	War Axes	13	11	Does 10-100 sun damage to undead based on the number of undead killed with the axe since the last sunrise.
Dawnguard War Axe	War Axes	13	11	Does additional damage to Vampires
Dragonbone War Axe	War Axes	21	16	Can be made with the Dragon Armor perk and Smithing level 100
Dwarven War Axe	War Axes	14	11	Can be made with the Dwarven Smithing perk and Smithing level 30
Ebony War Axe	War Axes	17	15	Can be made with the Ebony Smithing perk and Smithing level 80
Elven War Axe	War Axes	15	12	Can be made with the Elven Smithing perk and Smithing level 30
Falmer War Axe	War Axes	21	11	Can be found on Falmers
Forsworn War Axe	War Axes	15	11	Can be found on Forsworn
Ghorbash's Ancestral Axe	War Axes	11	8	Not Obtainable without console commands
Glass War Axe	War Axes	16	13	Can be made with the Glass Smithing perk and Smithing level 70
Hoarfrost	War Axes	10	5	Target take 15 points of frost damage to Health and Stamina, and have a small chance of being frozen solid. Allows players to mine Stalhrim
Honed Draugr War Axe	War Axes	16	12	Can be found on Draugr and Skeletons in ancient Nordic Tombs
Honed Falmer War Axe	War Axes	21	13	Can be found on Falmers
Illusory War Axe	War Axes	14	1	Can only be obtained through console commands
Iron War Axe	War Axes	11	8	Can be found throughout Skyrim starting from level 1. Can be made without any Smithing perk
Lunar Iron War Axe	War Axes	11	8	While the moons are out, burns the target for 10-20 points.
Lunar Steel War Axe	War Axes	12	9	While the moons are out, burns the target for 10-20 points.
Nord Hero War Axe	War Axes	11	12	Can only be crafted at the Skyforge after completing the Companions questline
Nordic War Axe	War Axes	14	12	Can be made with the Advanced Armors perk and Smithing level 50
Notched Pickaxe	War Axes	10	5	Raises the wielder's Smithing abilities by 5 Does 5 shock damage to enemies on hit
Okin	War Axes	11	12	Target takes 10 points of frost damage to Health and Stamina
Orcish War Axe	War Axes	13	10	Can be made with the Orcish Smithing perk and Smithing level 50
Pickaxe	War Axes	10	5	Can be used for Mining
Poacher's Axe	War Axes	10	5	Does 3 extra damage to Animals
Skyforge Steel War Axe	War Axes	12	12	Can acquire one for free when joining the Companions
Stalhrim War Axe	War Axes	16	15	The Frost Damage enchantment is 25% stronger on this weapon.
Steel War Axe	War Axes	12	9	Can be made with the Steel Smithing perk and Smithing level 20
Ulfric's War Axe	War Axes	12	10	Can be pickpocketed Ulfric Stormcloak with the Misdirection perk
Woodcutter's Axe	War Axes	10	5	Can be found in most settlements
Ancient Nord Bow	Bows	12	8	Can be found on Draugr and Skeletons in ancient Nordic Tombs
Angi's Bow	Bows	7	7	Can be obtained from the Quest Composure, Speed and Precision
Auriel's Bow	Bows	11	13	20 points of sun damage. Undead targets take triple damage Can block out the sun until the next morning by firing the Bloodcursed Elven Arrows at the sun
Bow of the Hunt	Bows	7	10	Deals 20 extra damage to Animals
Daedric Bow	Bows	18	19	Can be made with the Daedric Smithing perk and Smithing level 90
Dragonbone Bow	Bows	20	20	Can be made with the Dragon Armor perk and Smithing level 100
Drainspell Bow	Bows	6	14	Absorb Magicka 15 points.
Dravin's Bow	Bows	7	7	Can be obtained during the quest Bow to the Master
Dwarven Bow	Bows	10	12	Can be made with the Dwarven Smithing perk and Smithing level 30
Dwarven Black Bow of Fate	Bows	10	13	50% chance for each attribute to absorb 25 pts. of Health, Stamina, and/or Magicka.
Ebony Bow	Bows	16	17	Can be made with the Ebony Smithing perk and Smithing level 80
Elven Bow	Bows	12	13	Can be made with the Elven Smithing perk and Smithing level 30
Falmer Bow	Bows	15	12	Can be found on most Falmer.
Falmer Supple Bow	Bows	20	15	Can be found on boss type Falmer like Falmer Shadowmasters and Falmer Gloomlurkers
Firiniel's End	Bows	12	13	Target takes 20 points of frost damage to Magicka Health and Stamina.
Forsworn Bow	Bows	11	12	Can be found on most types of Forsworn.
Froki's Bow	Bows	5	5	Does 10 points of Stamina damage.
Gauldur Blackbow	Bows	12-18	8-14	Absorbs 10-30 points of Magicka damage.
Glass Bow	Bows	14	15	Can be made with the Glass Smithing perk and Smithing level 70
Glass Bow of the Stag Prince	Bows	14	16	Wielder receives an increasingly powerful blessing for every 20 animals killed by the bow.. The blessing grants an additional 5 points of Health and Stamina at start and increases by 5 for each 20 animals kills. Maxes out at 25
Hunting Bow	Bows	7	7	Can be found throughout Skyrim starting level 1.
Imperial Bow	Bows	8	9	Can be found on Imperial Soldiers Can be found in locations all over Skyrim
Karliah's Bow	Bows	9	25	Can only be obtained through console commands
Long Bow	Bows	5	6	Can be found in bandit camps Commonly sold by merchants and blacksmiths
Nord Hero Bow	Bows	7	11	Can only be crafted at the Skyforge after completing the Companions questline
Nordic Bow	Bows	11	13	Can be made with the Advanced Armors perk and a Smithing level of 50
Orcish Bow	Bows	9	10	Can be made with the Orcish Smithing perk and Smithing level 50
Stalhrim Bow	Bows	15	17	The Frost Damage enchantment is 25% stronger on this weapon.
Supple Ancient Nord Bow	Bows	18	14	Can be found Draugrs and Skeletons in ancient Nordic Tombs
Nightingale Bow	Bows	9-18	12-19	Nightingale Storm: Freezes the target for 10-30 points and shocks the target for 5-15 points.
Zephyr	Bows	10	14	Fires 30% faster than a standard bow.
Crossbow	Crossbows	14	19	All Crossbows have a 50% chance to Stagger targets
Dwarven Crossbow	Crossbows	20	22	All Crossbows have a 50% chance to Stagger targets
Enhanced Crossbow	Crossbows	15	19	All Crossbows have a 50% chance to Stagger targets
Enhanced Dwarven Crossbow	Crossbows	21	22	All Crossbows have a 50% chance to Stagger targets

Skyrim Sneak Skill Perks

Perk Points in Skyrim

Players gain 1 perk point every time they level up their character. A player will need 251 perk points to get every perk to the maximum level which is achieved at level 252.

Before spending perk points to get the bonuses from the perk, the player must first unlock the perk. Perks can be unlocked on their respective skill trees by having enough levels in the skill as well as the prerequisite perks leading to the perk. All skills have their base perks unlocked with perks further into the tree being unlocked as points are invested and levels gained.

Perks can have multiple levels to them giving increasing bonuses with more perk points invested in them. Different skill trees will need different number of perk points to fully unlock all the perks in each tree. Players may want to check and consider the number of perk points they need for their builds and at what level they will need to be to unlock everything they want to have.

Reclaiming Perk Points in Skyrim

There are 2 ways that players can reclaim the spent perk points in Skyrim that are quite difficult to get to so players do still want to be careful with their perk points. At level 100 players can set the skill to be Legendary. This will refund all perks invested into that tree as well as set the skill back to level 15. This will also allows players to increase the skill experience once again and gain new levels and more perk points.

Alternatively players who have completed the Dragonborn main questline will be able to reclaim points repeatedly by using the Black Book: Waking Dreams. This will require them to have a dragon's soul from hunting a dragon.