Detecton Radius

Treemagnet · August 2016

I have noticed some perks (Khajiit, medium armor, etc) reduce your detection area when in stealth mode. My question is how do I tell if these perks are actually working? Do I see a smaller detection radius on guards, etc? I have not done the thief or brotherhood DLC's yet. Is that where I am most likely to see the effect?

MrTarkanian48 · August 2016

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/74079/stealth-detection-distance

This is an older post but I think the information is in the ballpark.

Detection radius is not obvious, and you will never see an indicator or a line on the ground that marks the boundary between being detected and not being detected. (Only exception are roaming bosses in Imperial City).

If you are in sneak, there is a small "eye" icon in the middle of the screen. While hidden the eye will be closed. As you near the enemies detect radius, the eye will start to open. If you continue to approach the target, the eye will completely open and there is an audio indicator that you are exposed. If you are a bosmer or Khajiit, wearing medium armor, you can get closer before the eye starts to open.

It really becomes a "feel" sort of thing after awhile, but takes some getting used to.

I will say that the khajiit passive with medium armor is very effective at staying stealthed, and often times enemies need to get right on top of me to be exposed. It seems like a world of difference when I compare it to some of my Magicka builds.

Nestor · August 2016

On my Medium Armor guy, he can be real close to an NPC and not be detected, much closer than my Light Armored characters can be. I have not used a special set that further reduces this, but I have seen other players be almost next to an NPC and steal and not get detected.

I don't think those rings around the sentries in the TG content are affected by this, but only my MA guy has done those quests. Those suppress Stealth anyway, not detect, so reduction of the detection radius would not really apply there. They are not detecting you per say, they are pulling you out of Stealth and then detecting you when you are unstealthed.