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How to backstab?

LeaderBeeLeaderBee Member Posts: 27
in Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
Easy enough when your thief has a bow but I don't think that counts as backstab does it? My thief has the dagger you get in the first town for killing the wolf in the skrimshaw shop but even with hide in shadows I'm spotted long before I get close enough to initiate melee combat...does this become easier as I level up or is there something I'm missing? (Thief/assassin btw if that matters)

Comments

  • ArtonaArtona Member Posts: 1,077
    The higher your HiS and MS is, the better your chances are. To backstab successfully, you need to position your character behind the victim while being stealthed (or invisible). As low-level thief it's hard to land backstab, because your THACO is low.
  • SirBatinceSirBatince Member Posts: 882
    edited December 2018
    if you get spotted during HiS then it didn't actually work

    read the text box and listen for the whoosh
  • LeaderBeeLeaderBee Member Posts: 27
    So if I am not spotted using HIS I should always be able to get within melee range?
  • SirBatinceSirBatince Member Posts: 882
    you will never be able to hide if an enemy is in your screen during the attempt
  • LeaderBeeLeaderBee Member Posts: 27
    SirBatince said:

    you will never be able to hide if an enemy is in your screen during the attempt

    Is it possible to hide if you have initiated combat, then retreat off screen, then attempt to hide?
  • jsavingjsaving Member Posts: 1,083
    If you retreat out of battle, then yes. But, if you have some other means of hiding during a fight, such as casting the invisibility spell, you'll count as hidden without needing to use your stealth skills (one of many reasons why MTs and FMTs are so strong in this game).
  • ZaxaresZaxares Member Posts: 1,330
    Is it absolutely necessary to be behind the target for a backstab to be successful? Because I'm fairly certain that (in the EE, at least), I've landed some successful backstabs attacking from the sides. I'm also not sure if Sneak Attacks require you to be behind the opponent, since if it's drawing on 3.X rules, you simply need to be flanking a target for it to work.

    In any case, if you're playing a melee backstabbing Thief, I highly suggest going with the Shadowdancer kit since you can HiS even while being directly observed by your opponent. So you can simply waltz up to an enemy, backstab, HiS again, backstab etc.
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