Backstab

{{Skill Keywords are: 'thief skill backstab bstab stab'
 * image=Knife-thrust.png
 * class=Thief
 * level=8
 * prereqs=Bloodletting Stab
 * achievements=yes
 * group=Thief melee fighting skills
 * lag=yes
 * weapon=pierce or stab type weapons
 * syntax={{Icode|bstab OR backstab }}
 * helppage=

Skill: backstab                Lvl  8 Thie  (17%) Requires: bloodletting stab

Format: bstab backstab

Backstab is a thief skill where you sneak up on your opponent and stab them in the back with a dagger or other piercing weapon. After backstabbing, the attacker is lagged for a short time.

Note that backstab is not totally effective on many creatures. Skeletal creatures are nearly immune, while creatures that are injured are generally much more aware and harder to sneak up on.

Dexterity will help you to make your backstab more often, and low dexterity can hinder your backstab considerably.

Only one-handed weapons with a purely penetrating damage type, such as pierce, stab or sting, can be used for backstabbing.


 * summary=Backstab is a thief skill where you sneak up on your opponent and stab them in the back with a dagger or other piercing weapon. After backstabbing, the attacker is lagged for a short time.

Note that backstab is not totally effective on many creatures. Skeletal creatures are nearly immune, while creatures that are injured (HP at 30% to 90%) are generally much more aware and harder to sneak up on. Creatures who hav 0-29% hp, or 91-100% hp, are far more likely to be successfully stabbed. In PK, injured targets (30-90% HP) have about a 50% chance of being backstabbed as compared to a far lower (About 6%) for mobs.


 * other=

Things that affect stabs

 * Dexterity: High dexterity will help you to make your backstab land more often, and low dexterity can hinder your backstab considerably.
 * Thief skill level: Thief skill level increases the damage multiplier of your backstab. A higher damage multiplier, as a side note, does not increase or decrease the chance of landing a freak backstab.
 * Damroll: damroll ups the initial damage of a successful stab.
 * Weapon speed: a weapon with a faster speed will recover from backstabbing far more quickly than a slower one. This is very important as backstab lag causes a player to take a lot of damage.
 * Hiding: Hiding will slightly increase backstab damage, though be aware that you will instantly be revealed once the stab is initiated.

Avoiding backstabs
There is no surefire way to avoid backstabs however it may be possible to reduce the chances of been hit and the damage impact by:-
 * increasing armor/hp
 * casting sense life
 * creating extra targets like skeleton spider minions
 * increasing dex
 * sneaking and hiding
 * casting crystal coat

Freak backstab
Some of the most exciting moments in the life of a backstabber is when he or she gets a freak stab. Freak stabs take the damage that would normally have been dealt, and multiply it by a random power of 2 between 1 and 7. Any backstab multiplied by 8 or higher will be broadcast to the entire mud. Freak stabs on the higher end of the scale (32) are fairly rare, while freak 8 and freak 16 happen once or twice a day. For stabs above freak 32, the lucky thief will receive a practice. For any freak stab, he will also gain a higher-than-normal amount of xp. Many previous freak backstabs can be seen on board 10, the hall of trophies.

}}
 * see_also=
 * guide to backstabbing article
 * Darklord's backstabbing video demo]