Please post your Stealthy builds for the Stealth Guide

[Saekee]

As title: please post just some basics about your stealth builds. I am looking for level splits, feats, and what techniques you use to maximize your stealthiness. If you have a whole thread dedicated to the build, that would be very helpful (if not, i encourage you to make one).
We have a number of very good stealth builds centered around pure rogues, like those by Mellkor, Nokowi, CThrutheEgo et. al. I am curious if anyone has created something different than the pure assassin.

This is for Spencerian's Stealth guide (see my signature below). I had offered to help edit it here and there.


My current stealth build:
Human dex-based 6 monk/7 wizard/7 rogue
Feats: full TWF line, Power attack/Cleave/Great Cleave, Deflect arrows, Dodge, Shuriken Expertise, Fists of Light, extend/quicken. Master of forms.
AP basics: EK for permaTenser's, Monk: shadow veil, acrobat for Shadow Dodge, archmage for cheap invisi and displacement.
Am sitting on 48 Dex at level 18 without trying to buff it with Yugo Pots or anything extravagant. Also high AC (in 70s and also without pushing it much; I do not have protection or natural armor gear), 25% incorporeality, 50% displacement, 25 Dodge.

The idea of this build was to be an evasion toon with max dex and the ability to test a number of stealth mechanics, including minor summons, invisibility spamming, etc. I do not consider it optimal and when I do epic reincarnates I will probably do Precision over PA alongside some ranged boosts like PBS, quickdraw, rapid shot. I also switch my AP around quite a bit and would ideally grab a combination of venomed blades and Ninja sting; may go tier 5 in Assassin tree if I can get a second eMG. This class split can also be used with qstaffs, high wisdom stun/wraps, and a shurithrower.

[Firewall]

Depends what qualifies a build as a stealth build in your eyes. My Shuricannons (see my signature) can be easily made for sneaking due to max DEX. Simply maximize Hide and Move Silently skills. Also you can have Invisibility at will with Shadow Veil + high passive Ki regen and damage monsters at range with good DPS from shuriken. Other benefits are great defense, high Sneaking and running speed, Abundant Step and you can use things like Flashbang and Diversion to divert aggro from yourself.

What the builds do not have are trapskills (you simply run through traps with the high saves and Improved Evasion) and they work best in Epic content.

Most of the same is true for my Warcannon build except that it can have trap skills.

[Saekee]

Depends what qualifies a build as a stealth build in your eyes. My Shuricannons (see my signature) can be easily made for sneaking due to max DEX. Simply maximize Hide and Move Silently skills. Also you can have Invisibility at will with Shadow Veil + high passive Ki regen and damage monsters at range with good DPS from shuriken. Other benefits are great defense, high Sneaking and running speed, Abundant Step and you can use things like Flashbang and Diversion to divert aggro from yourself.

What the builds do not have are trapskills (you simply run through traps with the high saves and Improved Evasion) and they work best in Epic content.

Most of the same is true for my Warcannon build except that it can have trap skills.

Thanks Firewall. True, I think all the shuriken throwers can be stealthy by simply building out HS and MS, especially since they all max their dex.

[MalkavianX]

My favorite stealth build? Pure elven rogue. But only because rogue (or "thief" as it was called back in the day) was the first class I ever played in pnp. That being said, I love my elven 13 rogue/6 ranger/1 artificer. I mostly go with elven for stealthy builds due to the elven Dmark, something like 8 invisibility clicky lasting 1 min per character level.

I put enough points into the rogue mechanic tree to at least get the ability (name escapes me atm) that allows 100% of your DD skill to be the DC of the trap you create. Slap together a 100 stack of noise makers, a 100 stack of glitterdust traps and a 100 stack of web traps, then head into the quest. Once inside, sneak past anything you can without the quest requiring you to kill.

"Oh carp! There's some baddies blocking the door I need to get through!"
No problem. Lay a noise maker, take a few steps back, lay another, repeat as many times as you think is necessary to get the critters away from the door. Sneak past and open the door.

"Oh carp! There's a group of baddies I have to kill to fulfill a quest objective and I'm just a squishy rogue!"
Again, no problem. Sneak up as close as you dare and lay down a web trap. Then place a glitterdust trap as close as possible to the web trap. Take a few steps back and place a noise maker. When the clueless critters hear the noise maker, the head towards it and promptly get trapped in the web trap and set off the glitterdust trap. Slash, stab, poke those helpless, blind bad guys untill they stop squirming.

There are many other possibilities to combine traps, but imho noise makers are king.

[Saekee]

My favorite stealth build? Pure elven rogue. But only because rogue (or "thief" as it was called back in the day) was the first class I ever played in pnp. That being said, I love my elven 13 rogue/6 ranger/1 artificer. I mostly go with elven for stealthy builds due to the elven Dmark, something like 8 invisibility clicky lasting 1 min per character level.

I put enough points into the rogue mechanic tree to at least get the ability (name escapes me atm) that allows 100% of your DD skill to be the DC of the trap you create. Slap together a 100 stack of noise makers, a 100 stack of glitterdust traps and a 100 stack of web traps, then head into the quest. Once inside, sneak past anything you can without the quest requiring you to kill.

"Oh carp! There's some baddies blocking the door I need to get through!"
No problem. Lay a noise maker, take a few steps back, lay another, repeat as many times as you think is necessary to get the critters away from the door. Sneak past and open the door.

"Oh carp! There's a group of baddies I have to kill to fulfill a quest objective and I'm just a squishy rogue!"
Again, no problem. Sneak up as close as you dare and lay down a web trap. Then place a glitterdust trap as close as possible to the web trap. Take a few steps back and place a noise maker. When the clueless critters hear the noise maker, the head towards it and promptly get trapped in the web trap and set off the glitterdust trap. Slash, stab, poke those helpless, blind bad guys untill they stop squirming.

There are many other possibilities to combine traps, but imho noise makers are king.

hi Malkavian, thx for the post and funny narrative. That is a good combination between web and glitterdust. Nokowi posted his investigations about trap scaling and found also that even low-level web traps can snag EE mobs if the mechanic enhancement is taken.
Can you post your feats and stat level up? Do you go INT or DEX or STR? Seems like a ranged/melee hybrid, nice split

[Livmo]

I think there are lots of neato ways to build a stealth toon. You can even make a pure arty stealthy. I've never tried a thrower build before. I might try all the builds here on a future life on the toon below. My current stealthy toon is a Shadar Kai that I put an arty spin on.

I wanted a repeater build with Endless Fuselodge and Conjure Bolts (you will get + from the xbow, so don’t worry about the bolts being only +2. The + on the bolt and xbow do not stack), to go along with the Shadar Kai (race) features.

I kept my DEX (Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, and Tumble) and INT (Search and Disable Device) Skills maxed, plus UMD (CHA based) for Invisibility and Blur scrolls. I use wands to heal as well, and for some other trickery (fireball, etc.) I don’t always need 100% chance to activate to be successful, but I do strive for 90% on some items. Of course 100% is preferred, but not necessary.

Usually I don't splash my toons, but I wanted to start at L15 and solo with it for the most part and try something different. My first lifer with stock gear survives on stealth, sniper attacks (Endless Fuselodge) with xbow, scrolls and wands, etc. Tumble is good for old school damage avoidance (moving out of the way of a fireball or lightning bolt : ) but not necessary. You can still move out of the way of incoming attacks without it. Also, you can use terrain to your advantage in many ways as well.

Comparing the classes/feats on DDO Wiki (Shadar Kai (rouge) and Articifer) you will see why I took only the 1st four levels of arty and the rest rouge. The main thing that I wanted was access to both the arty, rouge, and Shadar Kai Enhancement trees. I want stealth, xbow, and self-sufficiency. I crawl dungeons sometimes. I want to be able to get all the chests and optionals (search, open lock and disable device) and live to tell about it.

The feats can vary and you may or may not have to make some difficult choices depending on your play style. On my current L15 Shadar Kai that I just started I consider these key feats to have based on what I plan to do:

• Dodge
• Improved Critical Ranged Weapons
• Improved Uncanny Dodge
• Point Blank Shot
• Power Critical
• Precise Shot
• Rapid Reload
• Rapid Shot
• Weapons Focus Ranged Weapons

As I level up I do plan to add Improved Precise Shot (line up baddies and stack them kills) and a few other key feats. Don’t fear the Fred. I swap feats on main toons all the time when my mood/playstyle preference changes. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the Shadar Kai race. You can fix mistakes at Fred for the most part regarding feats.

I do have Evasion and Improved Evasion. They are not listed, because I feel they are unessecary. Run a pure arty and you will learn why. Most trap boxes are on the other side of the trap. All you need is timing and good RL human reflexes at the keyboard. I took them here, because I plan to mostly solo and I typically don’t use hires, so I need to stay alive long enough to either heal myself or make it to a shrine.

More importantly, I feel it's how you play the toon that can matter most. I stealth run instead of stealth sneak, although I do allot of sneaking too. You can do more actions now in DDO without breaking your sneak/invis, like Jump and click on Explorers. I use invisibility allot. The Shadar Kai chain whips don’t break your invisibility Invis run to an area and then sneak in and unleash. The Shadar Kai Enhancement tree has these great features and many others to help you ninja quests:

• Shadow Phase : You become invisible and are able to move through monsters as if you were ethereal for six seconds. (Cooldown: 1 minute)
• Shadow Jaunt : You become invisible and charge forward. During the jaunt, you are able to move through monsters as if you were ethereal. These effects last for six seconds. (Cooldown: 1 minute)

Like MalkavianX I use traps allot. Also, you can lure the baddies thru dungeon traps and let the dungeon do the work for you. I use the repeater to draw the baddies to me thru the traps.

My toon is not uber and stock for the most part. I swapped out the stock Shadar Kai armor for Light Blue Dragonhide to help with my spells. The Artificer spells that I’m running are:

• Conjure Bolt (most important for ease in having ammo to fire the xbow with)
• Enchant Weapon (Increases the Enhancement Bonus of your target's currently equipped weapons or shields by 1.)
• Curative Admixture (Cure Moderate Wounds) ~ can be thrown at other players and NPCs to heal them.
• Lucky Cape (+1 luck bonus to saving throws)

You won’t have allot of spell options on this build, since it only has 4 levels of arty. Keep in mind you have Inscribe Scroll from the arty class. You can change your mind and learn another spell. Same deal as Wizards spells. Spells can be swapped easily in taverns based on quest or set-up.

Lastly there are some cons that you have to realize ,or adapt to, like any build. For example, your arty dog will only be level 4 on this class split, and thus can only wear level 4 docents and collars. Basically relegating your do to just a distractor (ninja/stealth technique) and level puller.

[Saekee]

I think there are lots of neato ways to build a stealth toon. You can even make a pure arty stealthy. I've never tried a thrower build before. I might try all the builds here on a future life on the toon below. My current stealthy toon is a Shadar Kai that I put an arty spin on.

I wanted a repeater build with Endless Fuselodge and Conjure Bolts (you will get + from the xbow, so don’t worry about the bolts being only +2. The + on the bolt and xbow do not stack), to go along with the Shadar Kai (race) features.

I kept my DEX (Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, and Tumble) and INT (Search and Disable Device) Skills maxed, plus UMD (CHA based) for Invisibility and Blur scrolls. I use wands to heal as well, and for some other trickery (fireball, etc.) I don’t always need 100% chance to activate to be successful, but I do strive for 90% on some items. Of course 100% is preferred, but not necessary.

Usually I don't splash my toons, but I wanted to start at L15 and solo with it for the most part and try something different. My first lifer with stock gear survives on stealth, sniper attacks (Endless Fuselodge) with xbow, scrolls and wands, etc. Tumble is good for old school damage avoidance (moving out of the way of a fireball or lightning bolt : ) but not necessary. You can still move out of the way of incoming attacks without it. Also, you can use terrain to your advantage in many ways as well.

Comparing the classes/feats on DDO Wiki (Shadar Kai (rouge) and Articifer) you will see why I took only the 1st four levels of arty and the rest rouge. The main thing that I wanted was access to both the arty, rouge, and Shadar Kai Enhancement trees. I want stealth, xbow, and self-sufficiency. I crawl dungeons sometimes. I want to be able to get all the chests and optionals (search, open lock and disable device) and live to tell about it.

The feats can vary and you may or may not have to make some difficult choices depending on your play style. On my current L15 Shadar Kai that I just started I consider these key feats to have based on what I plan to do:

• Dodge
• Improved Critical Ranged Weapons
• Improved Uncanny Dodge
• Point Blank Shot
• Power Critical, Precise Shot
• Rapid Reload
• Rapid Shot
• Weapons Focus Ranged Weapons

As I level up I do plan to add Improved Precise Shot (line up baddies and stack them kills) and a few other key feats. Don’t fear the Fred. I swap feats on main toons all the time when my mood/playstyle preference changes. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the Shadar Kai race. You can fix mistakes at Fred for the most part regarding feats.

I do have Evasion and Improved Evasion. They are not listed, because I feel they are unessecary. Run a pure arty and you will learn why. Most trap boxes are on the other side of the trap. All you need is timing and good RL human reflexes at the keyboard. I took them here, because I plan to mostly solo and I typically don’t use hires, so I need to stay alive long enough to either heal myself or make it to a shrine.

More importantly, I feel it's how you play the toon that can matter most. I stealth run instead of stealth sneak, although I do allot of sneaking too. You can do more actions now in DDO without breaking your sneak/invis, like Jump and click on Explorers. I use invisibility allot. The Shadar Kai chain whips don’t break your invisibility Invis run to an area and then sneak in and unleash. The Shadar Kai Enhancement tree has these great features and many others to help you ninja quests:

• Shadow Phase : You become invisible and are able to move through monsters as if you were ethereal for six seconds. (Cooldown: 1 minute)
• Shadow Jaunt : You become invisible and charge forward. During the jaunt, you are able to move through monsters as if you were ethereal. These effects last for six seconds. (Cooldown: 1 minute)

Like MalkavianX I use traps allot. Also, you can lure the baddies thru dungeon traps and let the dungeon do the work for you. I use the repeater to draw the baddies to me thru the traps.

My toon is not uber and stock for the most part. I swapped out the stock Shadar Kai armor for Light Blue Dragonhide to help with my spells. The Artificer spells that I’m running are:

• Conjure Bolt (most important for ease in having ammo to fire the xbow with)
• Enchant Weapon (Increases the Enhancement Bonus of your target's currently equipped weapons or shields by 1.)
• Curative Admixture (Cure Moderate Wounds) ~ can be thrown at other players and NPCs to heal them.
• Lucky Cape (+1 luck bonus to saving throws)

You won’t have allot of spell options on this build, since it only has 4 levels of arty. Keep in mind you have Inscribe Scroll from the arty class. You can change your mind and learn another spell. Same deal as Wizards spells. Spells can be swapped easily in taverns based on quest or set-up.

Lastly there are some cons that you have to realize ,or adapt to, like any build. For example, your arty dog will only be level 4 on this class split, and thus can only wear level 4 docents and collars. Basically relegating your do to just a distractor (ninja/stealth technique) and level puller.

Hi Livmo, thx for sharing your thoughts. I imagined a sniper-style stealth toon using 6 ranger for the deepwood line, maybe even taking the tier 5 there--6 ranger, 4 arti, 10 rogue--but the AP would be stretched. Why did you take power critical? Seems like an underwhelming feat to take given the other options.
I bought the shadar-kai with the recent sale and have wanted to try them. I think their stealth tactics may be the best.
I found grouping monsters to be easy with flaming sphere and noisemakers. I can imagine using a chain on them that way.

I wonder if it draws aggro even if it does not break stealth?
Also, as someone else mentioned in a different thread, Shadow phase allows one to operate levers in plain sight. Gloom stalker seems excellent as well. I am really curious--perhaps from a stealth perspective, they are the best race to use.
I ran a heroic elite Through a Mirror Darkly on stealth, no kills before final room--awesome challenge when you are level 18, I encourage it!

[Hobgoblin]

12monk/6rang/2 pally aa

fun fun.

wis based, but still have a decent dex for ca and ips.

based off (ie carbon copy other then skills) of sestras aa

[Saekee]

12monk/6rang/2 pally aa

fun fun.

wis based, but still have a decent dex for ca and ips.

based off (ie carbon copy other then skills) of sestras aa

Yeah I figure the basic Monkcher is a good carbon plan for stealth. But you would even make it dex based if you went shuriken (giving up a lot, of course), and perhaps use two levels of rogue instead of pally for trapping?

[Livmo]

Why did you take power critical? Seems like an underwhelming feat to take given the other options.

Seeker/crits

Power Critical Passive Provides a +2 bonus to confirm critical hits and +2 bonus to critical hit damage (before multipliers are applied).

Weapon Focus: Any
Base Attack Bonus 4

Repeaters are a bit different than bows and I need all I can get.

Seeker

Prefix
Base price modifier: +1 per +2 bonus, Maximum of +5

Effect: This property provides an enhancement bonus to confirm critical hits and critical hit damage. A +10 Seeker item adds +10 to your confirm critical roll and +10 damage to your critical damage (before multipliers).

The additional damage only applies if you actually score critical damage. If your target negates the critical hit, for example by fortification, extra seeker damage does not apply.

Multiple sources of Seeker don't stack.

Seeker affects all your attacks (single weapon melee, dual weapon melee, and ranged). For example, if you are using two weapons, only one needs to have seeker but both benefit from it. If you are using thrown weapons, you can hold seeker weapon/shield in your off-hand. The same is true of Backstabbing, Doublestrike, and Stunning.

On randomly generated weapons, seeker is available only in +2, +4, +6, +8 and +10 forms. On random accessories, up to +6 is available in heroic levels. +2 through +8 can be crafted with Cannith Crafting.

The Exceptional Seeker enchantment grants insight bonus and stacks with regular seeker (enhancement bonus). It is found on rare items. Exceptional Seeker is currently available up to +5.

With Endless Fuselodge you drill the target down to nothing. Even better use EF after you snuck in and got rid of the trash with chain whip while invis. Then drill the boss.

The chain whip is very effective if you can get baddies to cluster or group up in a spot. Then you sneak in and remain invis as you unleash with the whip. Use EF to spray down anything still standing.

If you find the need, use Fred. Fred is just another tool to use in-game to get desired results. Just like swapping around EDs and/or Enhancements to get a leg up on the bad guys.

If Power Critical doesn't give you the result that you want you can change it. I sometimes swap it in and out based on a particular quest/raid (timers) for another feat. I pay plat for the swaps and try not do it often to keep the price low. The more you use Fred, the more he costs. However, the cost goes back down over time.

[FAQ]

My stealth life was a variation on Hassan's Assassin build. Here are a few things that might be useful:

1) Eternal potions break stealth: this one caught me by surprise

2) Shadow jaunt is your friend: I modified the build and went Shadar-kai. Shadow jaunt is great to get by tight spots or to get away from those mobs that are chasing you.

3) Noisemakers: always carry them. They allow you to control the field of battle. Move mobs to your advantage.

4) Camouflage: circumstance bonus stacks with all your other bonuses. Use scrolls for more sneak power.

5) Mobs with tremorsense: they can ruin your day. Watch out for spiders and oozes. And wraiths have some type of life sense IIRC.

6) Don't underestimate the importance of bluff pulling individual mobs. It can really help.

That's all I remember for now. I'll post again if something pops up in my mind.

[Saekee]

My stealth life was a variation on Hassan's Assassin build. Here are a few things that might be useful:

1) Eternal potions break stealth: this one caught me by surprise

2) Shadow jaunt is your friend: I modified the build and went Shadar-kai. Shadow jaunt is great to get by tight spots or to get away from those mobs that are chasing you.

3) Noisemakers: always carry them. They allow you to control the field of battle. Move mobs to your advantage.

4) Camouflage: circumstance bonus stacks with all your other bonuses. Use scrolls for more sneak power.

5) Mobs with tremorsense: they can ruin your day. Watch out for spiders and oozes. And wraiths have some type of life sense IIRC.

6) Don't underestimate the importance of bluff pulling individual mobs. It can really help.

That's all I remember for now. I'll post again if something pops up in my mind.

hi FAQ, thanks for the post. I think many pure rogues often went human because of the damage boost, or perhaps drow in order to max INT. For stealth, shadar kai might just be the best fit.
We discuss camouflage in our guide; have you had a chance to check it out (it is in my sig). Feedback is appreciated.
I have used flaming spheres to pull mobs also. They just need to be cast out-of-sight.

[Saekee]

As a minor aside, stealth play just got a huge boost with the introduction of champions. I did Through a Mirror Darkly, heroic elite at level (18) and just snuck past them, arriving at the end fight without a single kill.

[Livmo]

Also, as someone else mentioned in a different thread, Shadow phase allows one to operate levers in plain sight. Gloom stalker seems excellent as well. I am really curious--perhaps from a stealth perspective, they are the best race to use.

All of the new Shadow armors come with and nice Shadow Phase clickie in case folks don't want to go Shadar. My Morninglords heavy plate has it and I use it sometimes.

[Livmo]

As a minor aside, stealth play just got a huge boost with the introduction of champions. I did Through a Mirror Darkly, heroic elite at level (18) and just snuck past them, arriving at the end fight without a single kill.

Another fun quest to try is the last one in the High Road chain, The End of the Road.

[phillymiket]

I use a monk/pally/rogue split mostly.

12 monk/4 rogue/4 pally sometimes.

Right now I'm 10 rogue/6 monk/4 pally for odd reasons and i miss the Abundant Step a lot.

i won't post my build because I use oddball builds but it's centered around Defense/Survivability/Self-Heal/Cleaving and Blitzing.

Instead, I'll just post an unbelievably long list of unbelievably obvious stealth tips that you definitely already know about or totally disagree with.

:-)

(by the way, these are tips for "classic' stealthing - that is, sneaking past as much as can be sneaked without being noticed and going for as few kills as posible- not for "invis zerging" or other stealth-based activities that I would not call "true" stealthing)

First, I don't feel the need to go Max Dex.
Max skill points in Hide/MS, Max gear, yes of course - but I think you can be just fine as a STR or INT based toon. I often have WIS as highest stat (but again I'm an oddball)
IMO a super-high Hide/MS isn't needed as much as a great reflex/dodge/AC combo so mobs that can't be stealthed, like oozes or spiders, don't take you out of stealth with a hit while you zip past.
But do wear your Hide/MS item. It is worthy of the spot on your gear set if you want to sneak for a living.

The Pally levels help with the defense plus gives me Empower Healing for Cocoons and what-not.
Monk levels help there too and also give me Fast Movement which i highly value in stealthing and Abundant Step which greatly frees up movement options.

Also Monk allows me GM Earth stance and the PRR bonus which when combo'ed with reflex/dodge/AC/Shadow Fade/Displacement makes face-to-face combat pretty safe even with tough mobs.
You will fail sometimes with your stealth and alert a mob.
You need to be able to bring the single mob back to a corner and quickly and quietly kill them in a confined space.
Stuns/Trips etc are excellent for taking down that one guy you messed up and bumped into.
You can't kite or jump around in these cases without alerting other mobs so having some toughness and close-in combat skills are important for me.
i do not prefer range characters for stealth builds for this reason although another person could use range very well, as it opens a whole different set of options for pulling and distance killing- it's just not my personal way.
Also, ranged mobs have some of the best Spot skills, but luckily tend to not give chase, so good defenses are helpful for getting through an area even with an archer wise to your presence and shooting at you.

I feel a "Bag of Tricks" is useful for Stealth.
Be it Bluff/Traps/Charms/Spells/Good skills with a Throwiing Weapon - You must have some way to draw the mobs off their post w/o breaking stealth.
Mobs won't always stand in a way that you can get by with out brushing against them and sometime they are flat-out facing a lever you need to pull or w/e.
Trickery is your only option.
If you are going to distract the mob away, distract them in the right direction!
It does no good to move the mob if they simply start swinging their weapon at the air around the lever you need to pull.
You want them to move away from the lever while swinging their little weapon with the big red ? Question Mark over their head like the big ole' dummy they are.

Movement is everything for stealth and I feel Speed is super important hence Monk and fast sneak enhancements for me.
I usually spend a few seconds observing the mobs then zip through the area as fast as possible.
Lingering is what gets you arrested.
Even if you zip through a room and then turn around and come back in for the trap, it's better then just hanging there in mob's LOS waiting for the them to roll 20 on Spot/Listen or wander into you.

And on that subject, Spot and/or Listen are good for you to have trained as well.
Maybe most everyone will think Listen is over-kill - and it probably is - but i find knowing exactly where every single mob is located is essential for picking "The Path".
When a stealthed mob is in the shadows sometimes they are hard to spot even when you "spot" them because the outline is subtle and easy to miss in dark places. The red "footprints" of listen are unmistakeable. But again, most would say I'm wasting skill points and i probably am.
Pathing is super important and running smack into a Mob you didn't know was there is not the road to proper pathing in stealth, in my view, so however you do it, know where everyone is always.

Have your Hot bar set up in such a way that you can hit stealth very fast. It is in a Primary Spot on your set up.
Often you have just a split second to pop out of stealth, hit a lever, and pop back in the shadows. Fumbling with buttons will not do.

Moving through mobs in stealth is very easy.
"Making A Move", like opening a door or using a device in a crowded room without being spotted, is very hard.
Take a second to observe movement patterns of the enemy, but don't linger too long! You must diagnose the room quickly and accurately.
Where are the mobs facing?
Who stands still and who paces or turns around periodically?
Who is most likely to notice me, who is least?
Who can't get at me if they see me pulling the lever, like a perched archer, who will pound on my face in a split-second and break my stealth?

After "Making A Move" and popping back into stealth immediately move away along a path you already picked before you "Made The Move",
Mobs may have heard something and will swing at the air unexpectedly or move toward you. Don't be there when that happens.
Sometimes mobs are keyed to automatically become active when an event happens, like a rune is used.
They may become alert and charge where you were but won't be able to pinpoint your location to target you if you are already ten feet away and in stealth.
Also, if a mob turns unexpectedly and sees you pulling the lever, or the mob just won't turn away and you are sick of waiting because your pizza is getting cold so you pull the lever in plain view of someone, you will need to jump into stealth and exit the area ASAP in stealth before the alert mob giving chase hits you and breaks your stealth thereby alerting the 15 other mobs in the room.
If you have your path planned and you are already in motion you can get away and kill the one trouble-maker in a corner somewhere.
Try to avoid having objects like boxes, steps, mobs, in your "escape path" after you make your move.
Be on the "right side" of the lever or w/e when you pull it - you want your "Oops I got spotted!" path to be easiest, not your "Hehe, no one saw me" path.
You don't want to bump into something or have to climb over something in case the alert mob charges at you or they'll get that single deadly stealth-breaking hit that calls down a thousand more blows from everyone else in the room.
Side note: Opening chests breaks your Stealth but looting a chest does not, so I tend to Open>Stealth>Loot.

Plan "The Move" (I will move behind the posted mob, wait for the pacing mob to turn away, hit lever, jump back in stealth, if they see me - move back to hallway, if they don't - go forward through the now open door).
Don't wait for the moment to decide what to do if you fail.
Know your "bumper space", or, how close you can be without alerting a mob.

Take note of "safe spots".
This is where you will run back to if you screw up really big and alert many mobs.
You may need to fight a bunch of mobs at once and don't want to bring the rest of the house down on you so an area to retreat to may be of help.
In any case, blindly running forward in these times = death, better to fight in place or as close to 'in place" as you can when poo hits fan.
If you are fast enough with good defenses (and get lucky) you can stealth through a dozen mobs with 6 alert mobs on your tail to make it back to a location where open combat won't alert more.
If you get hit, however, even once...the gig is up... so fighting in place is usually the best way to go.
Remember, if you are stealthing, you are always totally surrounded with alive mobs in front and behind you coupled by the fact that you are probably playing a stealth build because you want to solo super difficult content.
Massive free-for-all battles when surrounded and soloing super difficult content on a lightly armored character are not optimal.

You can't sneak the Boss.
No matter how great and slippery you are you must face the big guy and everyone else in that room.
The cases where you can pull a Boss away or avoid him, her or it are very rare.
So your build must be combat-capable or all your super quick zipping past the quest was for nothing.

Lastly, wait at least a half hour after eating to stealth.

That's about all i have except to say that Stealth is one of the few things in DDO that can't be bought.
There is no Enhancement or Feat that allows you to Stealth well.
There is no build that magically let's you be a good trickster.
You can't muscle your way through stealth with OP gear.
Stealth isn't about the highest numbers of any one Stat.

It's about practice.

That's the only way you will hit that lever, open that door, loot the chest, and be gone in a room full of enemies.

[MalkavianX]

hi Malkavian, thx for the post and funny narrative. That is a good combination between web and glitterdust. Nokowi posted his investigations about trap scaling and found also that even low-level web traps can snag EE mobs if the mechanic enhancement is taken.
Can you post your feats and stat level up? Do you go INT or DEX or STR? Seems like a ranged/melee hybrid, nice split

Can't remember feats and stats off hand, but it is about 80% ranged and maybe 20% melee. Heavy repeater with all the DWS goodies, my PBS range is enormous. Works best with shadowdancer ED. I'm not in front of my computer at the moment, I've been playing a LOT of D3:RoS lately. But when I get a chance I'll post the build. Btw, the only real reason I have for the one level of arty is laziness. I like the convenience of not having to scroll conjure bolts. I'm sure it would work just as good, or even better, with a level of fighter or even something else.

Iirc, my INT and DEX are almost the same value. I just wish I had access to a few more AP's so I could dip into the assassin tree for the kukri goodies.
,

[Saekee]

I use a monk/pally/rogue split mostly.

12 monk/4 rogue/4 pally sometimes.

Right now I'm 10 rogue/6 monk/4 pally for odd reasons and i miss the Abundant Step a lot.

i won't post my build because I use oddball builds but it's centered around Defense/Survivability/Self-Heal/Cleaving and Blitzing.

Instead, I'll just post an unbelievably long list of unbelievably obvious stealth tips that you definitely already know about or totally disagree with.

:-)

(by the way, these are tips for "classic' stealthing - that is, sneaking past as much as can be sneaked without being noticed and going for as few kills as posible- not for "invis zerging" or other stealth-based activities that I would not call "true" stealthing)

First, I don't feel the need to go Max Dex.
Max skill points in Hide/MS, Max gear, yes of course - but I think you can be just fine as a STR or INT based toon. I often have WIS as highest stat (but again I'm an oddball)
IMO a super-high Hide/MS isn't needed as much as a great reflex/dodge/AC combo so mobs that can't be stealthed, like oozes or spiders, don't take you out of stealth with a hit while you zip past.
But do wear your Hide/MS item. It is worthy of the spot on your gear set if you want to sneak for a living.

The Pally levels help with the defense plus gives me Empower Healing for Cocoons and what-not.
Monk levels help there too and also give me Fast Movement which i highly value in stealthing and Abundant Step which greatly frees up movement options.

Also it allows me GM Earth stance and the PRR bonus which when comboed with reflex/dodge/AC/Shadow Fade/Displacement makes face-to-face combat pretty safe even with tough mobs.
You will fail sometimes with your stealth and alert a mob.
You need to be able to bring the single mob back to a corner and quickly and quietly kill them in a confined space.
Stuns/Trips etc are excellent for taking down that one guy you messed up and bumped into.
You can't kite or jump around in these cases without alerting other mobs so having some tougness and close-in combat skills are important for me.
i do not prefer range characters for stealth builds for this reason although another person could use range very well, as it opens a whole different set of options for pulling and distance killing- it's just not my personal way.
Also, ranged mobs have some of the best Spot skills, but luckily tend to not give chase, so good defenses are helpful for getting through an area even with an archer wise to your presence and shooting at you.

I feel a "Bag of Tricks" is useful for Stealth.
Be it Bluff/Traps/Charms/Spells/Good skills with a Throwiing Weapon - You must have some way to draw the mobs off their post w/o breaking stealth.
Mobs won't always stand in a way that you can get by with out brushing against them and sometime they are flat-out facing a lever you need to pull or w/e.
Trickery is your only option.

Movement is everything for stealth and I feel Speed is super important hence Monk and fast sneak enhancements for me.
I usually spend a few seconds observing the mobs then zip through the area as fast as possible.
Lingering is what gets you arrested.
Even if you zip through a room and then turn around and come back in for the trap, it's better then just hanging there in mob's LOS waiting for the them to roll 20 on Spot/Listen or wander into you.

And on that subject, Spot and/or Listen are good for you to have trained as well.
Maybe most everyone will think Listen is over-kill - and it probably is - but i find knowing exactly where every single mob is located is essential for picking "The Path".
When a stealthed mob is in the shadows sometimes they are hard to spot even when you "spot" them because the outlne is subtle and easy to miss in dark places. The red "footprints" of listen are unmistakeable. But again, most would say I'm wasting skill points and i probably am.
Pathing is super important and running smack into a Mob you didn't know was there is not the road to proper pathing in stealth, in my view, so however you do it, know where everyone is always.

Have your Hot bar set up in such a way that you can hit stealth very fast. It is in a Primary Spot on your set up.
Often you have just a split second to pop out of stealth, hit a lever, and pop back in the shadows. Fumbling with buttons will not do.

Moving through mobs in stealth is very easy.
"Making A Move", like opening a door or using a device in a crowded room without being spotted, is very hard.
Take a second to observe movement patterns of the enemy, but don't linger too long! You must diagnose the room quickly and accurately.
Where are the mobs facing?
Who stands still and who paces or turns around periodically?
Who is most likely to notice me, who is least?
Who can't get at me if they see me pulling the lever, like a perched archer, who will pound on my face in a split-second and break my stealth?

After "Making A Move" and popping back into stealth immediately move away along a path you already picked before you "Made The Move",
Mobs may have heard something and will swing at the air unexpectedly or move toward you. Don't be there when that happens.
Sometimes mobs are keyed to automatically become active when an event happens, like a rune is used.
They may become alert and charge where you were but won't be able to pinpoint your location to target you if you are already ten feet away and in stealth.
Also, if a mob turns unexpectedly and sees you pulling the lever, or the mob just won't turn away and you are sick of waiting because your pizza is getting cold so you pull the lever in plain view of someone, you will need to jump into stealth and exit the area ASAP in stealth before the alert mob giving chase hits you and breaks your stealth thereby alerting the 15 other mobs in the room.
If you have your path planned and you are already in motion you can get away and kill the one trouble-maker in a corner somewhere.
Try to avoid having objects like boxes, steps, mobs, in your "escape path" after you make your move.
Be on the "right side" of the lever or w/e when you pull it.
You don't want to bump into something or have to climb over something in case some mob spots you and charges at you or they'll get that single deadly stealth-breaking hit that calls down a thousand more blows from everyone in the room.

Plan "The Move" (I will move behind the posted mob, wait for the pacing mob to turn away, hit lever, jump back in stealth, if they see me - move back to hallway, if they don't - go forward through the now open door).
Don't wait for the moment to decide what to do if you fail.
Know your "bumper space", or, how close you can be without alerting a mob.

Take note of "safe spots".
This is where you will run back to if you screw up really big and alert many mobs.
You may need to fight a bunch of mobs at once and don't want to bring the rest of the house down on you so an area to retreat to may be of help.
In any case, blindly running forward in these times = death, better to fight in place or as close to 'in place" as you can when poo hits fan.
Remember, if you are stealthing, you are always totally surrounded with alive mobs in front and behind you coupled by the fact that you are probably playing a stealth build because you want to solo super difficult content.
Massive free-for-all battles when surrounded and soloing super difficult content on a lightly armored character are not optimal.

You can't sneak the Boss.
No matter how great and slippery you are you must face the big guy and everyone else in that room.
The cases where you can pull a Boss away or avoid him, her or it are very rare.
So your build must be combat-capable or all your super quick zipping past the quest was for nothing.

Lastly, wait at least a half hour after eating to stealth.

That's about all i have.

Hah too true on that end point. I remember the early days when I would stealth Claw while the party pikes. Very nerve-wracking.
Great points you make--is this a stunning fist build that you use? With champions being stunnable, it may be the way to go.
I agree that maximizing Dex is not necessary--it just makes it easier to stealth and boosts reflex saves. Adding pally levels is a smart way around that.

[Saekee]

Can't remember feats and stats off hand, but it is about 80% ranged and maybe 20% melee. Heavy repeater with all the DWS goodies, my PBS range is enormous. Works best with shadowdancer ED. I'm not in front of my computer at the moment, I've been playing a LOT of D3:RoS lately. But when I get a chance I'll post the build. Btw, the only real reason I have for the one level of arty is laziness. I like the convenience of not having to scroll conjure bolts. I'm sure it would work just as good, or even better, with a level of fighter or even something else.

Iirc, my INT and DEX are almost the same value. I just wish I had access to a few more AP's so I could dip into the assassin tree for the kukri goodies.
,

thx! I look forward to seeing it.

[phillymiket]

Hah too true on that end point. I remember the early days when I would stealth Claw while the party pikes. Very nerve-wracking.
Great points you make--is this a stunning fist build that you use? With champions being stunnable, it may be the way to go.
I agree that maximizing Dex is not necessary--it just makes it easier to stealth and boosts reflex saves. Adding pally levels is a smart way around that.

I don't use Stun Fist at the moment (Stunning Blow) but Stunning fist is better for my prefered 12 monk/4 Rog/4 Pally split and I sorely miss it.

I tried Trip as well, but Trip has too long an animation and the animation makes tripping moving targets a bit wonky.

Stunning Fist is fast, reliable, effective, and has a short animation and cool-down. It allows helpless damage and sneak damage plus when coupled with Sense Weakness makes a fast kill, so i really like it.

When cornering and killing a single alert enemy what i don't want to happen is for the mob to back up to try to range me or in some other way move from behind the box or wall I pulled them to, thereby alerting the area.

I want them to die in place quickly and silently so I can get back in stealth like I should be.

Ninja Kill! <poof> (I'm gone)