Who is stealth good for, aside from rogue?

[wspray87]

I made a custom rogue for a companion, with high stealth and mechanics.
Scouts areas really well, but Im wondering, is it worth skilling up a second character with high stealth to help them?
I created a cipher companion with some stealth, but she never gets as far as the rogue before getting seen, and besides the cipher abilities require you do a bit of damage first. By the way at level 8 so you know full story.
So i guess my question is: who really benefits from stealth aside from rogues? For the purposes of combat.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by wspray87:

I made a custom rogue for a companion, with high stealth and mechanics.

That won't work well, because high Stealth doesn't leave enough points to spend on high Mechanics. It's pretty much an "either or" with these two skills. There are traps with difficulty 13 and higher in the game or the expansion. You need one character with high Mechanics skill, and even if you use items that give a bonus, such as Stealth +2, the same character cannot raise other skills than Mechanics sufficiently.

Any character can skill high Mech. It's just that Rogue and Chanter get a bonus. I usually make my Priest the high Mech character.

Originally posted by wspray87:

Scouts areas really well, but Im wondering, is it worth skilling up a second character with high stealth to help them?

Scouting doesn't need any points in Stealth at all. Simply scout with the entire party on Stealth mode. If you prefer scouting ahead with a single character, then high Stealth makes it possible to sneak past enemies or guards, but the companions would be left behind. That's not too useful, except in a very few cases.

Originally posted by wspray87:

I created a cipher companion with some stealth, but she never gets as far as the rogue before getting seen, and besides the cipher abilities require you do a bit of damage first. By the way at level 8 so you know full story.
So i guess my question is: who really benefits from stealth aside from rogues? For the purposes of combat.

Rogue can do so-called "sneak attacks" without Stealth. Don't confuse them with eachother:
http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Sneak_Attack

[MonkeyEmperor]

Personally I have respecced Sagani with high stealth and use her to scout ahead then repecced Grieving mother with high mechanics to deal with any pesky locks. I have them both bound to Key 7 and just send them ahead to do any breaking and entering that is needed :)

[wspray87]

That's an interesting point about needing very high focus on mechanics to deal with late game traps, I'll keep that in mind. I understand that sneak attack doesn't require stealth that's not really what I'm asking...
I just wonder what classes people find it useful to put stealth points into to help put characters in useful spots before combat.
Thank you monkey emperor, a ranger with some stealth does actually make sense to me to pair with my rogue.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Originally posted by wspray87:

I just wonder what classes people find it useful to put stealth points into to help put characters in useful spots before combat.

Never found that to be necessary or helpful.

[hedgewitch]

I like to put 2-3 points into stealth on everyone, with an extra point from Lilith's cloak--but then I sneak into every battle. It may be just me, but I find I can get quite close to most mobs that way, and even do some positioning before the party as a whole is seen. More than 2-3 points on anyone seems unnecessary, tho. At level 10, I use Hivarius as my trap/unlock char, with nothing in any skills except 1 pt survival, 2 pts(+2 from equipment) in stealth and ten pts in mechanics; all future points will go into that for him. Seems to work.

[Blackout]

I level it along side mechanics, with mechanics being the main on my rogue, and i carry some stealth gear that i found. Stealth is pretty much useless most of the time, I havn't manage to really put myself in a advantagous position more than a few times where it wouldnt have really mattered anyway. I just use it to try to steal everything in towns. (I know the stuff i find is mostly useless). I just can't stop myself. It's what I do in every crpg.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Yep, for stealing some interesting items Mechanics - such as the Heart of White March or the Shadow summoning figurine - is much more important.

[wspray87]

Yeah common theme I'm finding is most people say stealth is borderline useless in this game, and finding the right positioning before combat isn't that important because no one can stealth in combat.
Anyway thanks for suggestions

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Stealth is useful for serious players doing a first run with careful exploration, scouting ahead and possibly giving several in the party sufficient Stealth.

And it is highly useful for solo runs when you want to sneak past some enemies and avoid a fight.

[Farsha]

Stealth is not super needed if you play with full party. Like other said I also put 2 points to stealth for every character, just so they are eble to use a bit of it, to set up before fights.
Othewise it's not needed.
How ever there are special players that use stealth mechanics to max.
Like this insane guy :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtAFiEuSiMk

so saying it is useless is not truth at all, you can do crazy stuff with it in this game :)

[wspray87]

2 points of stealth for every character? Do you find it helps get everyone into a good spot before a fight? How do you find it actually helps?

[Blackout]

You don't really need any points in stealth to still use sneak/search effectively to get real close before you engage.

[wspray87]

I notice the difference just between a character on 9 steals and one on 5 though; the one on 5 is always getting the yellow eye filled while the one on 9 stealth is still undetected for another metre it seems. And then their detection eye fills up slower.
It's a tricky question I know. Bit of a personal preference thing.

[Farsha]

Originally posted by wspray87:

2 points of stealth for every character? Do you find it helps get everyone into a good spot before a fight? How do you find it actually helps?

It helps cause this way if you position your tank in front he will get revealed first. If there is char with 0 he will get revealed first and get all agro.
with 2 points in stealth tank can pull with range attack from stealth. Honestly did not test it since 1.0, but there it was problem that with 0 stealth even that was impossible.

there is difference even between 0-2 actually. And 2 points is nothing
also there is difference how fast will you get revealed, with 0, it's almost instant in lot of cases and you can't react to your error, that can be deadly.
I did not say it's optimal, but in full party even on POTD you still don't have to be really optimal, specially with skills.

[hedgewitch]

2-3 points makes a definite difference in how close you can get to most mobs--if the whole party is in stealth mode.Whoever has the lowest stealth will be seen first, which as poster above has said, can start the battle much earlier, put your party in an unfavorable position, and make your squishies draw the agro--frankly, losing 2 points is not very significant over-all for the tactical advantage it gives, except perhaps on your player character, who can get it from items.

But some don't like to sneak at all, as it's slower, and for them it might be unnecessary. In that case I still think pumping stealth on one character to scout ahead is well worth it in many situations.