Can you miss on a Sneak Attack?

[midnilux]

Some guy is arguing with me that if you stack Sneak with a WS, you can never miss, ever.

I'm not talking about missing because of positioning, but just plain old missing the target. I could swear I've seen thfs perfectly lined up and just miss on the WS they use Sneak Attack with.

Am I wrong?

[Fire]

cant miss a crit ;o but SA only ensures 1st hit will crit so u could miss all the rest of the hits, but you wont miss the first one.

[gh32]

I am also of the belief that, if everything is lined up correctly, a sneak attack, with or without WS will never miss. I've heard some stories to the contrary, but I tend to think something else happened in those senarios, like the mob turned, but the animation on the screen never happened. For what it's worth, from levels 15 to 60, I have yet to have a single properly lined-up SA fail. Ever.

-George

[Ixaera]

No. Sneak Attack is a guaranteed critical hit on the next swing, be it WS or not.

If they missed the WS, Sneak Attack may not have been the correct positioning. But other than missing line-up, it's not possible. As Fira said, you can miss the rest of the hits in the WS, but not the first one. Ever.

You can, however, miss a Trick Attack. And easily.

[Theiry]

I agree with all the other posters on this, Sneak Attack can't miss. If you are behind the monster when you swing your weapon, you will hit.

Originally posted by gh32
I've heard some stories to the contrary, but I tend to think something else happened in those senarios, like the mob turned, but the animation on the screen never happened.

I have, quite a few times (I think), seen that happen though. Every time I play FFXI, my brother is playing the game on the computer right behind me. Being able to watch the action from two connections at a time has shown me how off our view really is. Player characters are delayed quite a bit, so they aren’t really where they seem to be. I can /wave on my game, watch the animation, then turn around and watch it again on my brothers game. If we are both running and we seem to be side by side on my screen, that means that on his screen I’m way behind him. An interesting fact though, once you draw your weapons to fight, the server synchronizes everyone in the party. So once in battle, you see everything almost exactly like everyone else in the party.

Anyway, I brought up all of that because it plays into how monsters work as well. Monsters aren’t really where you see them. In fact, you aren’t where you see you. I’ve seen many cases where a monster hits me a few times, without ever ‘turning around’. It’s still facing my brother, even though I have the top hate and are being hit. This means that the monster is ‘facing’ me, even though I can’t see it. If I do a Sneak Attack while the monster is like that, it misses. So if you ever see a ‘perfectly lined up’ Sneak Attack miss, it’s because it wasn’t perfectly lined up. Keep in mind, it seems like it’s quite a bit closer to real when you are in a fight. You see your party members in near real time, and monsters seem to be closer to where they really are. But there is still a split second delay, which is just enough to let the monster spin around and back without you seeing it.

An interesting, off topic note about that. If you want to Steal (or something else close range) to a monster you aren’t fighting, you have to lead the target a bit. Figure out where it will be in a few seconds, and go steal there. Other wise the server counts the monster as a second forward, and you a second back, which means you are too far away to steal. So moving ahead of where the monster is going will set you up to steal. (Just as long as the monster doesn’t turn or stop before he gets there.)

Anyway, sorry for the long and pointless post. I hope this helps explain why people can miss Sneak Attacks that look lined up. And more than that, I hope I’m right about all this =) If anyone cares, I can experiment with this some more and make a topic about it. To see just how much delay there is in and out of battle. But I doubt anyone would be interested, so I’ll just leave it at this for now.

[John Doe III]

Um, I think you can still miss Sneak Attack..>.>

[Omena]

Originally posted by John Doe III
Um, I think you can still miss Sneak Attack..>.>

No, you can't.
I have never, ever missed a sneak attack from 15-62. The only way it is possible is if the mob turns around and you don't know about it because of latency or it is in the middle of casting a spell or using an ability.

Try doing sneak attack as L15 on some really high level mob and it will connect if you don't screw it up.

[Theiry]

I've played Thief from 1 - 30 twice now (well, I'm only at 22 now.. but close), and I've never seen it miss without reason. So much so that if ever I 'miss' a Sneak Attack I just say "Shoot, the monster turned to me and I didn't see it". Since I'm sure that's what happened.

Anyway, one question I have about it. Can Blink (or shadows) make a Thief miss a Sneak Attack? In other words, if a Thief attacks a Ninja who still has shadows up with Sneak Attack, does it still hit? I can't say for sure, but my guess is it still hits. I could swear that I hit Eyy Mon the Ironbreaker when he still had Utsusemi up. But I could be wrong (That's why I'm asking =) )

[Kastel]

SA will never missed if you are behind. There are some instances though where the monster turns, but you dont actually see it turn and that causes SA to miss.

As for blink shadows. If you ready sneak attack. And hit them in the back with it. You will hit. and its funny as well because if you are a /nin your next swing with the other dagger connects as well. If you hit the SA then do a triple attack on the next dagger you still hit all those as well too. It's funny because your next swings will start to erase the shadows.

Here's a tip, ever going 1vs1 on a NINJA in ballista. SA+HIDE+ WS and you'll go through his blink

[Ixaera]

Just seconding what Kastel just said.

If you charge sneak attack and hit a blinked (utsusemi OR whm blink) mob in the back, sneak attack will connect for full damage, and if you are dual wielding, your second hit goes through as well.

And no, sneak attack cannot miss unless you aren't in the back. If it misses, you weren't in the back. Period.

It is a guaranteed hit if done correctly.

[InuTrunks]

Just to also say this once more.

No, sneak attack can not miss, as long as you are behind the monster.

[Narru]

Just verifying that Sneak Attack cannot miss (WS or regular hit) if you have your alignment correct.

This is compounded to such an extreme that I believe if you're THF is level 15, and you find yourself fighting Kirin for instance, you're SA + hit will still land on him if you have the positioning correct. You might do zero damage, but you won't miss.

The only time I have ever seen my SA not connect is when the mob has Stoneskin up. I would still hit, but do 0 damage on it, thereby nullifying my SA.