This isn’t Skyrim, so why do so many of us want to play the same build—a one-hit stealth archer—in Avowed? Well, because it’s downright fun! Who doesn’t want to slink through the tall grass, line up the perfect bow shot, and wipe the floor with a Xaurip or Sparrowhawk after letting loose a single arrow? Here’s the thing, though: The stealth mechanics in Avowed leave something to be desired, but we have a few tips that should help you one-up the competition and leave enemies wondering where you went if you haven’t murdered them already.
Avowed gives you an absolutely broken stealth attack
Most of the enemies you encounter in Avowed prove to be pushovers—unless you’re playing on the “Path of the Damned” difficulty. If you are, well, good luck in finding any sort of fun from the experience (Editor’s Note: I’ve been playing on Path of the Damned and it’s been a friggin’ blast).
You can walk right over most of the game’s enemies as long as you’re wielding a solid sword or whipping out a magic spellbook to toasting them to death with Fan of Flames. But they have something you don’t, and that’s numbers. To whittle away at the crowd, stealth!
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Thanks to your godlike powers, you can sneak up behind unaware enemies in the game and usually one-hit kill them with Divine Thorn, or take their health down substantially at the very least.
Divine Thorn is a unique spell-like melee attack that summons a blue-and-purple blade around your fist that looks wildly similar to the energy sword in Halo. In a swift animation, you thrust the blade into the enemy’s back, launching them forward in a burst of magical…powder? Well whatever this spectral blade does to them, they’re done and gone, leaving you with one less enemy to fight.
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This power has its limits though. Don’t try to stealth kill one-hit bosses or some of the more powerful enemies in Avowed, and they’re less likely to fall and more likely to turn around and right-hook you.
Stealth tips and tricks for the sneakiest of players
There are a lot of ways to combine different class abilities and equipment to create a cool stealth build in Avowed. Stick to these tips to make the most out of your sneaky character.
- Don’t try to stealth-kill a bear or other large beast; it doesn’t appear to work the same way as with smaller creatures. You can one-hit stealth-kill a bipedal, humanoid-ish enemy using Divine Thorn, so long as they’re weak enough for your attack to wipe their health bar entirely.
- Invest in Dexterity and Perception; Dex will make you speedier while Perception will up your Critical Hit Chance as well as your Maximum Range for ranged weapons.
- Grab Shadowing Beyond from the Ranger class at Level 5; this will let you vanish into thin air and is a perfect combo with Divine Thorn.
- Snag the game’s best bow from Dawnshore: The Long Touch.
- While you can use the tall grass to hide your approach, it’s not a requirement. So long as you remain crouched and behind enemies, you’ll remain in stealth until you alert an enemy guard. I was wearing heavy armor and could still stealth-kill Xaurips with relative ease.
- No one is watching you play (unless you’re streaming to the masses). Don’t hesitate to lower the game’s difficulty to Story or Easy to deal additional damage, especially when stealth-attacking enemies, to help clear zones quickly and efficiently.
- Don’t be afraid to fall back if you get spotted;it’s called a tactical retreat, not running away.
Avowed is available now on Xbox Series X/S and Windows PCs. And you can play it on Xbox Game Pass if you’re an active subscriber and don’t feel like dropping $70 on another RPG this year!