SKALD: Against the Black Priory – Backstabs Explained

Backstabs Explanatory Guide

So there are 3 main ways to get backstabs:

1. Your thief character is unseen. Via hiding/stealth or invisibility magic. An unseen thief can backstab anyone.
2. Flanking. “Flanked” is a kind of condition put on any creatures that have opponents on directly opposite sides. Flanked is shown with a red >|< symbol over the flanked creature.
3. The target being “Defenceless”. “DEFENCELESS” is shown in yellow text in the lower right hand box when targeting a particular creature, and is shorthand for a number of conditions/tags that leave a creature vulnerable to backstabs. The following status tags all give Defenceless: Panicked, Flat-Footed, Blindness, Stun, Paralyzed, Immobilized.

A monster that is immune to crits is also immune to backstabs, even if backstabs are not identical to crits.

The damage of backstab is calculated as follows: base damage (the range shown on your inventory screen) + (backstab bonus * crit multiplier of the used weapon). The maximum backstab bonus is 30. So a weapon with 3.7 crit multiplier will at max backstab bonus do (30 * (3,7)) = 111 extra backstab damage on a backstab hit.

In the combat log, this is shown a bit oddly as base damage + backstab bonus + weapon backstab mod (which is the extra backstab damage from high crit multiplier) = final damage, but the result is correct.

Backstabs can crit, but only the base damage is multiplied. So the formula for a backstab crit is (base damage x crit multiplier) + (backstab bonus x crit multiplier).

You can backstab with melee and ranged weapons. However, melee weapons generally have higher crit multipliers, giving them higher backstab damage. As an “endgame” example, a Masterwork Dagger of the Grand-Master does 5-6 damage and has 3.7 crit mult for a total max backstab damage of 117 plus modifiers. A Masterwork Shortbow of the Grand-Master does 5-12 dmg and has 2.2 crit mult for a total max of 78 plus mods.

You can not backstab with any Maneuvers available to the Thief (Precise Strike, Hamstring, Vein Strike, Thrust and Parry, Pierce Armor).