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I noticed that you don't get better at sneaking by simply sneaking around anymore (maybe I'm wrong and it just goes really slowly?).
The only way to get better that I discovered was to successfully attack enemies while hidden.
Are there other ways to increase your sneaking skill and what are they?
I've had sneaking increase simply by staying in one place while I waited for enemies to move for me to get a better shot. It seems that you can increase sneaking simply by being crouched near hostile enemies.
You gain sneak xp if you have the flat line and are moving close enough to someone who potentially could see you.
The eye means that you are seen. With or without the text detected. Makes no difference. The line mean you are hidden. The short duration of the text hidden I believe is nothing but a service statement.
What I do to get easy sneak, is completely undress the character (armor and boots makes noise), walk up in a corner behind a sleeping person. And then keep walking into the corner, so that i stay in the same place but is moving while sneaking. The line just has to be flat. No "hidden" necessarry. I get no xp while not moving. Auto-walking in the corner seems to not work this time. Maybe they did not want us to get xp while not in front of the screen.
My character is currently a level 13 Khajit assassin, at the beginning of the game!
Here's how I did it:
Simple, really.
Go to High Hrothgar, wait for the Graybeards to pray, then crouch behind them and attack. Attack them three times, then switch to another Greybeard. As long as you don't hit them four times in succession, you will not cause them to attack you.
Sneak attacks are the best way to increase your sneak skill. If you have Muffle and Invisibility, this can be really easy and also boost your Illusion skills.
Whenever enemies are near:
1. Enter sneak mode, preferably before being spotted
2. Cast Muffle, this allows you to move faster without being noticed
3. Cast Invisibility
4. Go for the kill!
This works best if you are using one handed weapons because you can recast Invisibility with your free hand and usually sneak attack another target even if they are trying to attack you.
To get better you need to look at every part of a quest in a sneak only manner. Look out for opportunities to sneak as there are millions throughout the game.
When sneaking, archery is your best friend as it lets you attack from afar whithout being seen. Another tip is the firing an arrow at a wall near an enemy will draw his attention to the spot and opens your oppotunity for an attack. Note that at the begining of the game you should chose the warrior stone over the theives stone as sneak attacking will be a lot more important than sneaking around somebody.
It is also important that you use light armor over heavy as it lets you move quicker whilst sneaking. Remember to take your time whilst sneaking as going to fast whilst near an enemy will alert it.
The best idea for a newcomer to skyrim is to head straight to the thieves guild. This is located in riften aand once your trigger their quest line you will receive the theives armour(light) after running a few errands for the leaders. Note that a certain degree of combat skill is required to reach the theives guild as some enemies are around that area.
Whilst attacking forts, camps and other locastions you should remember, as a theif, NOT to charge through the front gate. Instead, approach the location from hilltops and inconspicuous areas. Water is your friend and hiding beneath it is very benefitial. The best tip is to get up on a hilltop and rain down arrows.
The most important thing you need to know abotut sneaking is that when an enemy is looking for you (half eye open) they will go towards the spot from which you got their attention! There fore you should get away from the place that you fired a shot until you are hidden and then repeat your process.
Forget about daggers and two-handed weapons; sneaking is all about archery!
The 'Eye' is just a grade-based indicator of your Sneaking state.
Fully open eye means you are spotted and enemy knows your location, somewhat open eye means enemies are aware of someone sneaking and are cautious, but not aware of your exact location, flat line means you're unnoticed.
As for the leveling, as some people suggested, you can level up as long as you pass a stealth check (i.e.: sneaking behind/near a hostile enemy unnoticed) but you can also level it up by successfully connecting sneak attacks (you'll know since the game lets you know with a message on the top-left corner).
While successfully remaining undetected does slowly build sneak xp. There are two more adventurous ways...
When you resume sneaking (making the hidden text appear) against an opponent that previously detected you, you get a nice chunk of sneak experience.
When you sneak attack an opponent, you get sneak experience based on damage done.
You will always gain experience by sneaking around, no matter what level, (with the exception of level 100, when it just can't go up any further) provided there is something that 'could' detect you.
Attacking things (while sneaking, 'hidden') helps to level up sneaking faster. Depending on what your sneaking level is, it will take longer to increase your level, same goes for all skills.
If you want to level up faster, I suggest you take a weapon of any kind and just stealth attack creatures.
If you are playing on Xbox/PS3 all you need to do is pick any character you want and play through till you get to the caves where the bear is. Sneak along the right side of the cave until you reach the rock that is right next to the sleeping bear. On top of the rock, there is a crease in the wall that you can sneak into, and you will not slide off the wall to either side, and you are still "hidden" from the bear. Get a toothpick or something, run into the wall, and sick the toothpick into the controller. It takes a bunch of hours to get to 100 this way but you can max out your sneak before even finishing the first quest in the game.
Another option is in one of the first dungeons, there's a portion called "Bleak Falls," and there's a waterfall overlooking a bridge that has a draugar patrolling it. Go into sneak mode, and park yourself on the ledge. The draugaur will detect you at first, but its pathing will cause it to run in such a fashion that if it detects you, it'll loose sight of you quickly enough and thus drop aggro. Just park yourself on the waterfall until you think you've leveled enough.
In bleak falls barrow, I crouch behind a rock, and use destruction magic against the rock. The bandits will come searching for you, but won't be able to find you. As long as you are sneaking, sneak will level.
I was following Gaius Maro when he stopped at an outlet South of the Dainty Sload and North of the Blue Palace. He wouldn't move, so I sat at and outcrop of rocks above him. When I stayed still, there was no noticable advancement, but when I used the W,A,S and D keys, I saw progress and leveled up as well. Trouble was getting him to move again.
one good way improve your sneak skill without any danger is to have Breezehome in Whiterun with the housecarl. when you have the upstairs of Breezehome furnished she will tend to walk back and forth. She will sweep her upstairs bedroom, then she goes and sits in your bedroom, eats sweet roll and whatnot. While she sits there, you crouch, get the 'seen' eye, and sneak out of the room quick. Rinse. Repeat. You can do it while she's sweeping the room, but it's trickier. Get seen at the door, then strafe down the stairs.
Its really good at early skill levels. It'll pump a 7 to a 17 in no time. As I write this, I'm playing. My character had a 28 sneak. It took about 4 minutes to pump it to 30, so, still do-able, with patience. Hope this helps.
if on pc press ~ then use the advskill sneak 9999999 command.sneak skill goes right to 100.
Sneaking near falmer helps as they are blind and therefore cant see you directly
Kill an enemy, then walk around a corner. Set your controller upside down once you're hidden while sneaking, and the dead enemy can't see you, keep your controller upside down with your guy walking into a corner and the analog pushed up. Then sit back and watch a movie while your level goes from 15 to 100.
