I think the backstab skill is bugged, to be specific，the Apprentice training. In its description，it says " a successful rear attack upon an unaware opponent will bypass his armor ",but that is not true,you donnot get to bypass your unaware foe's armor at all!!!!!!! Try it yourself, just get your follower's DR up to 95 and then stab him in all possible way then you will see. I donnot know why did not any body notice it before,maybe because backstabing an unaware opponent will gain an additional 100 damage when you have 5 cp put in backstab, the huge damage may let one think he has bypassed the enemy's armor, but he didn't, btw this bonus doesn't need any training. I'm playing the latest UAP of course.
For the opponent to be unaware, you need to be sneaking behind him and be good enough at it for him to not know you're there.
It's backstab, are you sure you're using stabbing weapons? The skill and its properties work, but only for daggers (plus swords and axes if you have expert training).
of course, i can get the additional 100 damage, that means i am doing it right, but i can never bypass the opponent's armor.
Well, this is rather puzzling. Checked it earlier today just to be sure and bypassing DR works fine for me. Not sure why it isn't for you.
Thanks man, it's good to know that it works fine in other player's game, i will keep exploring why it's not for me.
As far as i can tell after some testing on tarant guards, backstab works in 2 ways. 1) If opponent is aware, then you will deal double damage with apropriate weapons, daggers in addition of swords + axes if expert, 2-handed weaps included. It will work even in turn based mode if you will run to opponents back and hit. All hits in this turn will deal 2x damage. Then he will face you aaaand... you repeat. Run around. Dumbest approach to very backstab itself in games, but what the hell. The game has no balance anyways. If you use some mod that allows you to control followers leveling - it will be nice to boost their backstab skill. Didnt test this part yet, but it should be nice. Need to find out what causes most aggro, if it even exists. This approach makes Educator background way more useful. Overall - very high damage output for entire party. 2)And another way, if you sneaking and if target is unaware of your presence - a lot of damage is possible in this case. You can kill many of their types with one hit if master of skills + 20 strength + good weapon. Axes, even simple ones, look very good choice if your skills-stats are high.
Actually, backstab adds the number equal to your backstab skill (20 is the max) to each hit dealt to the enemy's back. 5x your backstab skill if the opponent is unaware during the attack. With a high enough skill and when attacking an unaware opponent, the damage of the weapon itself becomes nearly negligible, instead making speed the weapon's most important stat, enabling you to get that backstab bonus as many times during a round as possible.
