Weapon Skills + Sneak Attack

[Deodorant]

So anyway I've been fooling around with sneak attack. Couple of questions:

According to that thief faq on gamefaqs, sneak attack stacks with certain weapon skills. I have tried doing sneak attack -> fast blade immediately, but the damage doesn't seem to be any greater; if it really stacks then (since fast blade is 2x dmg) shouldn't I be doing twice my normal sneak attack damage? Or does it work differently?

Another question ... does sneak attack stack with weapon skills in skillchains? For example, if I were to finish off a combo -> red lotus blade -> fast blade skillchain, timing my sneak attack so it coincides with fast blade. Is this possible at all? I've been trying it, but the timing is rather hard, and with skillchains there are so many effects flying around I can't tell if it succeeded or not :D

[Icemage]

Sneak attack works fine for any weapon skill that deals Physical Damage. So it works fine for Fast Blade, but not Burning Blade. Keep in mind that you still have to follow the rules for Sneak attack - the monster can not be facing you, or the Sneak Attack fails.

To answer your second question, using Red Lotus Blade -> Sneak Attack/Fast Blade produces a more powerful Scission, which will deal extra damage (again, as long as the Sneak Attack is triggered properly). Making it happen, however, is tricky because your entire party really has to know what they're doing to get the timing right.

I've seen high level thieves use Sneak Attack/Trick Attack/Viper Bite as part of a skill chain and the damage is simply astounding (500-800+ ) if you get it working properly.


Icemage

[CHRISTAPHER]

HEY guys how do u set up the macro for sneak attack/fastblade

[lunar]

/ja "Sneak Attack" <me>
/wait 2
/ws "Fast Blade" <t>

[ninvampire]

One thing that I haven't really seen clarified is how exactly sneak attack is executed. Is it similar to a monk's boost where your very next attack will be the one boosted?

Unfortunately my thief is still decently away from level 15 and don't have first-hand experience with it.

[InuTrunks]

Yes, it's on your next swing.

[SanJiYan-NoS]

Here's what i've found to work best with the sneak attack so far. In terms of making sure it combos with your weapon skill, the trick is to initiate the sneak attack right after you do a normal attack. This way, your assured of having the sneak attack bonus damage getting used with the Fast Blade WS. When i first hit 15 and got sneak attack, i found that by not initiating it after an attack, you run the chance of doing a normal auto attack prior to your weapon skill initiating. So do sneak attack after a standard attack and you should be ok. Btw, i'm only lvl 20 and am in the dunes, but i do about 150-197 (most i've done so far) sneak attack damage when i simply combo it with a Fast Blade with over 200% TP. So its pretty cool to be able to unleash like that whenever you can.