Order of Syncletica: Stealth Team Six

[TeacherSyn]

Tired of playing through a quest (or some raids) with the usual hack-this and hack-that and HEEJZ MEH parties?

Want to test your gameplay style in such a way that a U.S. Navy SEAL might respect?

Care to kill a quest boss while most of his minions are left behind, completely oblivious?

Want to improve your personal stealth skills as a group?

>>>Then the "Stealth Team Six" option is for you. Read more on this team-based challenge.

[Saekee]

great ideas. We need more stealth lovers!

[Maelodic]

I've actually soloed a lot of quests on my pure Ranger using stealth- if a quest is stealth compatible and you know what you're doing, then you can actually complete it faster than you would if you were zerging.

Stealth speed+50% is required- they used to all stack so you could move mindblowingly fast- much faster than a 20 Monk at full speed. I had a character based on that but they fixed it.

The biggest kicker to being in stealth is the need to kill. Shadar-Kai pure Rogue assassin with Shadow Jaunt has actually been my favorite kill-based stealther. Gloomstalker makes assassinate proc if you're sneaking regardless of whether or not the enemy sees you, and Shadow Jaunt helps you dodge encounters that you would otherwise be forced to go through. Assassinate allows you to stay stealthed so disengage isn't an option, and your chain is a great hail mary if you get caught.

My favorite stealther overall is a pure Monk. With just contemplation, stealthy III, and wisdom stance you can get enough ki generation to keep shadow fade constantly up for constant invisibility. With Shadow Double, you can easily take down targets. Abundant Step is a godsend- but you'll want to get your jump way up so you can effectively bypass mobs. If you don't go Ninja Spy, Kukan-Do is the only ability in the game other than bluff that will pull a mob without alerting it's comrades.

60-80 jump for endgame stealth is preferred, and if you're planning on stealthing EEs, going DEX based with +15-20 skill items would be really helpful.
If you need to kill a mob, or a group of mobs, start on the outskirts, unstealth, and then kill one without moving. Stealth again, and if you did it right and quickly enough, most of the time the rest won't detect you. Single target damage is extremely important to get super high. You cannot move when unstealthed or everybody will swarm on you.

[Saekee]

I've actually soloed a lot of quests on my pure Ranger using stealth- if a quest is stealth compatible and you know what you're doing, then you can actually complete it faster than you would if you were zerging.

Stealth speed+50% is required- they used to all stack so you could move mindblowingly fast- much faster than a 20 Monk at full speed. I had a character based on that but they fixed it.

The biggest kicker to being in stealth is the need to kill. Shadar-Kai pure Rogue assassin with Shadow Jaunt has actually been my favorite kill-based stealther. Gloomstalker makes assassinate proc if you're sneaking regardless of whether or not the enemy sees you, and Shadow Jaunt helps you dodge encounters that you would otherwise be forced to go through. Assassinate allows you to stay stealthed so disengage isn't an option, and your chain is a great hail mary if you get caught.

My favorite stealther overall is a pure Monk. With just contemplation, stealthy III, and wisdom stance you can get enough ki generation to keep shadow fade constantly up for constant invisibility. With Shadow Double, you can easily take down targets. Abundant Step is a godsend- but you'll want to get your jump way up so you can effectively bypass mobs. If you don't go Ninja Spy, Kukan-Do is the only ability in the game other than bluff that will pull a mob without alerting it's comrades.

60-80 jump for endgame stealth is preferred, and if you're planning on stealthing EEs, going DEX based with +15-20 skill items would be really helpful.
If you need to kill a mob, or a group of mobs, start on the outskirts, unstealth, and then kill one without moving. Stealth again, and if you did it right and quickly enough, most of the time the rest won't detect you. Single target damage is extremely important to get super high. You cannot move when unstealthed or everybody will swarm on you.

Totally agree re pure ninja--actually posted something similar on The Book of Syn and elsewhere! Abundant step and shadow veil are huge.

[TeacherSyn]

I've actually soloed a lot of quests on my pure Ranger using stealth- if a quest is stealth compatible and you know what you're doing, then you can actually complete it faster than you would if you were zerging.

Stealth speed+50% is required- they used to all stack so you could move mindblowingly fast- much faster than a 20 Monk at full speed. I had a character based on that but they fixed it.

The biggest kicker to being in stealth is the need to kill. Shadar-Kai pure Rogue assassin with Shadow Jaunt has actually been my favorite kill-based stealther. Gloomstalker makes assassinate proc if you're sneaking regardless of whether or not the enemy sees you, and Shadow Jaunt helps you dodge encounters that you would otherwise be forced to go through. Assassinate allows you to stay stealthed so disengage isn't an option, and your chain is a great hail mary if you get caught.

My favorite stealther overall is a pure Monk. With just contemplation, stealthy III, and wisdom stance you can get enough ki generation to keep shadow fade constantly up for constant invisibility. With Shadow Double, you can easily take down targets. Abundant Step is a godsend- but you'll want to get your jump way up so you can effectively bypass mobs. If you don't go Ninja Spy, Kukan-Do is the only ability in the game other than bluff that will pull a mob without alerting it's comrades.

60-80 jump for endgame stealth is preferred, and if you're planning on stealthing EEs, going DEX based with +15-20 skill items would be really helpful.
If you need to kill a mob, or a group of mobs, start on the outskirts, unstealth, and then kill one without moving. Stealth again, and if you did it right and quickly enough, most of the time the rest won't detect you. Single target damage is extremely important to get super high. You cannot move when unstealthed or everybody will swarm on you.

Excellent notes, M. All of that fits my experience, especially as a Ninja Spy. Quivering Palm is great, but so are the Freezing the Lifeblood and Pain Touch finishers to paralyze or mute. Add Shadowdancer powers on Epic to such builds and even the devs can't spot you inside their own game. I'm looking forward to re-visiting a Rogue Assassin to continue what can and can't be done.

Now imagine six of us in one quest at once doing all of this. Glorious.

I have a surprise coming in the next week or two on this topic. Stay tuned.

[ArcaneArcher52689]

Tired of playing through a quest (or some raids) with the usual hack-this and hack-that and HEEJZ MEH parties?

Want to test your gameplay style in such a way that a U.S. Navy SEAL might respect?

Care to kill a quest boss while most of his minions are left behind, completely oblivious?

Want to improve your personal stealth skills as a group?

>>>Then the "Stealth Team Six" option is for you. Read more on this team-based challenge.

This makes me want to try a stealth character again... Elf dark monk, here I come!

[Maelodic]

Now imagine six of us in one quest at once doing all of this. Glorious.

That'd be like a competition. He who gets caught must take care of what spotted him.

[TeacherSyn]

That'd be like a competition. He who gets caught must take care of what spotted him.

Perhaps so. And they'll get the Dunce hat for that. But if they survive, lesson learned.