Stealth mechanics are a staple in Bethesda games and the feature returns in Starfield. While stealth is good for avoiding detection and stealing, sneak attacks are perhaps the most useful tool in your arsenal.
How to use stealth and sneak attacks is not readily apparent in the game, and it requires you to unlock a specific skill. The effectiveness of your sneak attacks will also vary depending on your stealth level. If you are looking to unlock, upgrade, or perform stealth attacks in Starfield, here is what you need to do.
How to unlock and upgrade stealth in Starfield
Stealth is a specific skill that you will need to unlock in Starfield. The ability can be found under the first tier of the Physical skills tree in the skills menu. You will need to invest one skill point into the Stealth skill to unlock the stealth bar.
While you can crouch and avoid facing enemies to avoid detection, the stealth bar provides a better means of remaining hidden. The stealth bar will also show you how close you might be to getting caught at any particular moment.
If you find yourself attempting to sneak through danger often in Starfield, I highly recommend putting points into the Stealth tree early on. Not only does this perk increase your ability to steal and sneak around, but it also drastically upgrades your sneak attack. Below are all tiers of the Stealth skill in order:
- Tier One: Adds a Stealth Meter, 25 percent more difficult to detect while sneaking, and suppressed weapons deal five percent more sneak attack damage
- Tier Two: Upgrades your Stealth Meter, 50 percent more difficult to detect while sneaking, and suppressed weapons deal 10 percent more sneak attack damage
- Tier Three: You are 75 percent more difficult to detect while sneaking and suppressed weapons deal 15 percent more sneak attack damage
- Tier Four: You are 100 percent more difficult to detect while sneaking and suppressed weapons do 20 percent more sneak attack damage. Doors no longer alert enemies.
Like all other skills in Starfield, you will need to perform an action an allotted number of times before you can invest further points into Stealth. For this skill, you will need to routinely hit sneak attacks to unlock the option.
How to sneak attack in Starfield
To perform a sneak attack in Starfield, you will need to attack an enemy while hidden. Your hidden status will appear at the top of your screen whenever you are crouched so long as you have unlocked the first tier of your Stealth skill. It’s a finicky feature, though, and there’s plenty of confusion among players about what exact conditions constitute a sneak attack. For the most part, focusing on staying hidden will be your best bet.
Sneak attacks deal bonus damage and are a great way to start off challenging combat sections. Using suppressed weapons will increase this bonus damage and will also help you stay undetected even after firing. If you tend to use stealth as a means of getting the jump on your enemies, then I suggest that you outfit your loadout with plenty of suppressed and melee weapons.
Can you do a sneak attack if you’re in the ‘Caution’ state?
After you’ve launched a sneak attack against an unsuspecting victim, your stealth bar will likely stop saying ‘Hidden’ and move to either ‘Caution’ or ‘Danger’. In our experience, landing a sneak attack while in the ‘Danger’ zone is seemingly impossible. However, we’ve had success in delivering sneak attacks while the stealth bar says ‘Caution’.
Again, sneak attacks are finicky, and your best bet is to keep that stealth bar at ‘Hidden.’
Do your weapons need to be silenced?
Yes. Kind of. You can pull off a sneak attack without a suppressed weapon, but suppressed weapons will make it easier for you to pull off subsequent sneak attacks when you’re up against a large group of enemies.
Sound travels in Starfield, and foes will come looking for you if they hear you picking off their comrades. Additionally, the more you upgrade your Stealth skill, the more damage your suppressed weapons will do when you land a successful sneak attack.
How do you increase your stealth attack multiplier?
In addition to leveling up your Stealth skill to make suppressed weapons do more damage, one of the best ways you can make a sneak attack do even more damage is by leveling up your Concealment skill.
Each level of the Concealment skill will boost your sneak attack damage for ranged and melee weapons. To make things even better, each rank also gives you some useful perks to increase your stealth combat prowess.
Here’s what leveling up the Concealment skill will get you:
| Challenge | Skills |
| Spend 12 Skill Points anywhere within the Physical Skill Tree | You no longer set off enemy mines. Ranged sneak attacks do 2.5x normal damage and your melee sneak attacks do 4x normal damage. |
| Perform 10 melee/unarmed sneak attacks. | Running while sneaking doesn’t affect stealth. Ranged sneak attacks do 3x normal damage and your melee sneak attacks do 5x normal damage. |
| Perform 30 melee/unarmed sneak attacks. | You gain a Chameleon-like ability when completely still and sneaking. Ranged sneak attacks do 3.5x normal damage and your melee sneak attacks do 8x normal damage. |
| Perform 75 melee/unarmed sneak attacks. | Engaging stealth causes distant enemies to lose you. Ranged sneak attacks do 4x normal damage and your melee sneak attacks do 10x normal damage |
It can take a lot of work to level up that Concealment skill, but if you level it up all the way, that final upgrade is a big one. Not only for the damage multipliers but being able to lose distant enemies simply by crouching will make landing sneak attacks much easier.
