Skyrim: Is It Possible To Perform Sneak Attacks While Dual-Wielding?

Dual-wielding was just one of many new mechanics introduced in Skyrim. The mechanic allows you to wield two one-handed weapons, staffs, or spells simultaneously, dealing damage with bows. Some things are disabled by default as soon as you equip the other weapon, and players are worried that dual-wielding might affect their capacity to deal “stealth attacks’ that significantly multiply the damage to enemy NPCs. In today’s guide, we’re going to clear up whether you can perform sneak attacks while you’re dual-wielding. 

You can perform a sneak attack while dual-wielding, but your success depends on your Sneak level

Dual-wielding allows you to utilize both one-handed weapons, staffs, or spells in combat, and generally, the only function off-limit to you combat-wise is blocking. You can technically block with a weapon, but those weapons need to be two-handers, or your other hand, while wielding a single-hand weapon needs to be empty.

If you fail a sneak attack while dual-wielding, it has nothing to do with the weapons you’re using. It most likely means that you were spotted before you initiated the attack. 

Sneak attacks can be performed, and a damage bonus can be applied only as long as you remain undetected by your targeted enemy, which means that the higher your sneak skill is and the less noise you’re creating, the higher the chances are that your sneak attack will be successful.  

Can you perform a sneak attack with spells? 

You can technically perform sneak attacks with spells as nothing stops you from casting your spells while hidden, but if you’re planning on getting a damage bonus, forget about it, as the sneak attack damage bonus doesn’t apply to spells. 

Besides, there is a massive reason why spellcasters usually don’t rely on stealth too much, as casting spells, especially in a quiet, dark dungeon, is pretty much impossible to do and remains undetected at the same time. The fact that you would stay hidden from the enemy depends on your sneak skill, the noise you make, and how much light you emit. 

Spellcasting tends to be extremely loud, and it tends to emit an extreme amount of light (especially flame-based spells). Spells generally give away your position instantly and pinpoint your location to everyone in a detectable radius. 

Those risks can be somewhat alleviated with the use of the Quite Casting Illusion perk that makes your spells silent and with the use of muffle spells that make your movements quiet, but there’s really no need to go that far to remain undetected as, once again, you can’t benefit from the damage bonus. 

Quiet Casting and Muffle are useful, however, if that’s your specific playstyle or if you’re cornered in a dungeon that might be difficult to complete at first glance, and you’ve come unprepared. 

Luckily, if you truly want to play as a spell-slinging rogue, there’s a mod that allows you to enable sneak attacks with a damage multiplier when you use spells. The multiplier can be modified. The default value is 4x normal damage. 

Can you perform sneak attacks with bows?

Bows are probably the best weapons to perform sneak attacks with since your positioning is much more liberal. When performing sneak attacks with bows and arrows, both bow and arrow damage will be multiplied, meaning that you can clear up a large area of mid-level enemies with nothing but sneak attacks rather quickly, depending on your own gear and preparation, as well as your capacity to stay hidden. 

You can theoretically perform several sneak attacks in continuity as long as you successfully remain hidden and relocate yourself quickly to avoid detection. Always aim to position yourself in the shadows, and always be prepared to be discovered soon after taking down your first target. 

Sneak attacks with bows can be devastating, but watch out not to get cornered with nothing but a ranged weapon. 

How to maximize your chances of a successful sneak attack 

The primary factor in performing a successful sneak attack is high sneak skill, but high sneak skill alone won’t allow you to remain hidden forever and in extreme situations. This is where it becomes obvious that you need to actually invest in Sneak perks in order to make sneak attacks a part of your regular gameplay. Sneak 1,2,3,4,5 Perks significantly improve your chances of remaining undetected, with Sneak 5 bringing those chances to 40 %.

Backstab is a legendary perk that makes your sneak attacks with one-handed weapons six times more lethal, multiplying the damage dealt. 

Deadly Aim perk also affects your damage output, and it’s a must if you’re planning on taking down difficult enemies from afar as it increases your damage dealt with bow and arrows by three times. 

Muffled movement makes you extremely silent, even while wearing armor. It’s great to combine this perk with the Muffle spell, but the Muffle spell and even the Miffle Movement perk are redundant once you unlock “Silence” perk that allows you to remain undetected even while walking and running, but you can be discovered by while sprinting however. 

Basically, almost all Sneak perks are extremely valuable when it comes to performing sneak attacks, but once again, if you’re planning on playing as a stealth mage, don’t count on that damage multiplier since it’s not applicable to spells. 

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