Heist Difficulty Undoable

TheDarkRuler

The Thieves Guild heists are pretty much UNDOABLE except if you don't run a specific Nightblade build just for this.
This is pretty annoying that every other class like Templar, Sorcerer and Dragon Knight is supposed to fail here.

Why?
In almost every heist almost 50% of every NPC is a guard with a "detection" circle (at least it feels like that).
You can either oneshot them with stealth kills and loose 1 Minute of time or take the gambit to wait or search for another way and find another guard blocking one entrance. Also there are some caches perma-guaded by regular NPCs looking on them 24/7. See here. For testing purpose i waited for 3 minutes to see if he goes away. HE DOES NOT, so its another "wait an waste time".

Suggestion (one of the changes below)
- Make the time the double you have now
- Remove the time lost by kills or reduce it from 1 minute to 30 seconds ot 15 seconds (if a stealth kill).

BUT, there is one heist type that is pretty good.
See the "Daedric Glyphs"-heist. There is only 1/3 or less a guard but more traps.
You can evade the "detectors" and go in well. Have a look at it for reference how heists should be.

Ffastyl

As a Templar, I don't have any issues with heists. Been perfect or near perfect clears every time. I wear Night's Silence so I can move quickly and if I run into a cache like the one pictured, I look for another. There's more caches than needed in each heist.

Vipstaakki

I can do a thieves guild heists perfectly on my dragonknight. You just got to learn how to sneak. I suggest you make use of the rogue potions too.

Otherwise this seems like a L2P issue.

Abeille

After you get used to the layout and the npc patterns on each heist, it gets much easier. It is a matter of practice more than a matter of having a certain build or playing a certain class.

UltimaJoe777

Heists are supposed to be tough. Not much to the perfect runs otherwise. Also you're not supposed to kill the NPCs anyway...

Abeille

UltimaJoe777 wrote: »

Heists are supposed to be tough. Not much to the perfect runs otherwise. Also you're not supposed to kill the NPCs anyway...

Oh yes, I almost forgot. Good thing you remembered this.
The Thieves Guild (usually) doesn't kill.

UltimaJoe777

Abeille wrote: »

UltimaJoe777 wrote: »

Heists are supposed to be tough. Not much to the perfect runs otherwise. Also you're not supposed to kill the NPCs anyway...

Oh yes, I almost forgot. Good thing you remembered this.
The Thieves Guild (usually) doesn't kill.

Indeed so even if what you kill isn't a lantern NPC you'll still get time shaved off and forfeit your perfect run.

Stovahkiin

anitajoneb17_ESO

If heists are undoable, how come I can make any of them perfectly, on 3 different classes ?

I use sneaking gear and invisibility potions, but some guildies of mine even achieve perfect without pots, so it looks like a learn-to-sneak issue.

I agree some chests are unusable if you're looking for perfect score, though, because the NPCs around them don't ever move.

Darkheart

They not hard, you just need to learn how they walk and have patience. Can do it most of the time within time.

Necrelios

They're definitely doable. The trick is memorizing the paths for all the NPC's and the spawn locations for the objectives. Certain objectives can be avoided as they are traps and there will be another objective within reach elsewhere. Make sure you complete the heist before the boss spawns at a minute left on the timer. Otherwise, carry some invisibility potions and hope it isn't a boss with a blue circle. I've been meaning to do a video walkthrough of each one, so I'll probably be doing that soon. I'll keep you posted.

AntMan100673

I'm a DK and found them really difficult at first but once you learn the layout and guard movements they become much easier. I use a 5 piece set so I can sneak at normal speed (I also have invisibility potions to get past any non-lantern guards if I'm running out of time but haven't even used those for a while). The last couple of times I've done them I've been seen 3 times so lost 3 minutes out of the time and still completed them with plenty of time left. Depending on the map and cache positions the other bit of advice I have is if there is a cache near the start leave it and collect it last on your way out as that way you don't have to worry about the boss slowing your exit down

bebynnag

i can run them on all 11 of my characters, only 2 of them are NB. how? a set of nights silence (2 traits so easily accessible even for brand new players) and invisibility potions.
the potions can be expensive if you buy them, or buy the supplies but there are also the potions of rogish escape you can find in thieve troves or from the bequeather (if you have DB)

if you are on xbox EU send me a message and i will make you a set of night silence if you give me the mats.

Recremen

They designed them to make sure that you can finish it even running around in heavy armor, within the time limit and everything. You don't need to be a Nightblade for it. I did them all on my DK, in fact! That said, if you're having trouble there is one easily-crafted armor set that will let you do it super fast. Look for the Night's Silence set. Only requires 2 traits to craft, and since you're not supposed to be fighting anything in a Heist you can make it at any level and be fine. It lets you walk at full speed even while crouched (no sprinting, though). If you combine that and Rapid Maneuver skill from the Alliance War you can finish these easily as long as you're careful about where you step and you plan your routes properly. Just keep 5 pieces of Night's SIlence with you in your inventory and you'll be golden whenever you decide to do a heist!

Ackwalan

Get yourself a 5 set of night silence gear. It adds a speed bonus when in stealth and helps a lot. Bring invis potions. Also, if you know you aren't going to be able to finish the quest in time, just abandon the quest and try again.

Lettigall

Doing heists on my templar mule- no problem. Often I even kill NPCs, if waiting for them to move gets to annoying, and still get perfect run.

Integral1900

I tried these things 3 times when the DLC dropped, by the third attempt I was so angry and frustrated that I forced myself to go for a walk, I haven't had to do that in years. Something about the difficulty of a successful completion made my blood boil, now I just treat them as another dungeon. The way I see it if the guild didn't want a massacre they shouldn't have given the job to a six and a half foot Nord Valkyrie with a massive hammer

paulsimonps

I am on a DK Tank and with a nice set of Night Mothers Embrace and Night Silence I do the heist with about a 99% success rate and usually finish with more than 4min left. The trick is the sets and get used to what you can run past and where things usually are.

PE_Bagatur

Shadow dancer and 3xNightshade + Legerdemain 19 to force chest locks. Any class can do it.

susmitds

Nightblades have them easy mode and DKs too can easily do it.

Aeladiir

Magicka sorcerer here. No problems doing it every day. Feel free to stop making this game even more casual than it already is. Thanks.

thawks

Magicka templar here. I don't use any stealth sets and I used to get perfect scores pretty consistently.

UrQuan

With the proper gear they're dead easy on any class.

What you want (note that the level of this gear isn't really important, because if everything goes well you won't be fighting in it anyway - you just want it to help you be a better sneak-thief):

1. Gear that lets you sneak at high speed (this typically means crafted 5-piece Night's Silence, which only requires 2 traits)*
2. Gear that reduces the radius at which you can be detected (this typically means 3-piece Nightshade, or 5-piece Night Mother's Embrace - Nightshade is better though, because it's medium so you can decrease your detection range through the passive as well)

I put those in that order for a reason. Your top priority is to be able to move quickly without popping out of stealth. Rapid Maneuvers can also help with this, but unless you're a stamina build, make sure to only use this when it's going to be the most useful, because otherwise you'll quickly drain your stamina pool and you might be in danger of running out and popping out of stealth.

Your second priority is being able to sneak closer to them without being detected. If you've got your medium armour skill line leveled enough and you have the skill points, get the passive that makes you sneakier and use some pieces of medium. Don't forget that you can also use hiding spots and hide behind pieces of terrain to accomplish this! Those guards with the anti-stealth aura can sometimes be impossible to completely avoid, but if you just slightly get inside their aura to hop into a basket, you won't get detected. Also, if you hop behind a stalagmite or whatever (as long as it's big enough) to stay out of their line of sight, then even if you pop out of stealth you won't be detected. There's one place in one heist (I can't remember the names of the heist locations - the one where you're looting 3 daedric chests - Deadhollow Halls maybe?) where I always go on one side of a stalagmite to avoid one particular guard, who always pops me out of stealth, but never sees me.

Also, once you get some practice and become familiar with the heist locations it becomes way easier, because you know the guard routes, you know the possible spawn points for the loot, and in some cases you know which loot spawn points to simply not bother with (there's one I can think of where a chest spawns right by a target an archer is shooting at - never ever go for that chest because you will always be detected if you try).

I've got 9 different characters I do heists and sacraments** on - when I was farming the motifs that you get from them I was doing 9 heists and 9 sacraments a day, and getting the max rewards on all of them. Those characters include:

• A magicka DK
• A magicka vampire DK
• A magicka Templar
• A stamina Templar
• A magicka Sorcerer
• A magicka vampire Sorcerer
• 2 stamina Nightblades
• A magicka Nightblade

*If you're a stage IV vampire you don't need this category of gear, so you can double up on the second category if you like.
**Sacraments are in many ways easier than heists because you're much more in control of the timer, and you can sneak up to Blade of Woe people to death in order to clear an easy escape route for you - if you're doing both heists and sacraments, don't forget that those tactics that work well in sacraments don't work in heists, because using the Blade of Woe in a heist still results in you being detected by your target and losing time from the timer.

ADarklore

Just run a build with a Khajiit or Bosmer and run Night's Silence... you get the stealth speed and detection radius reduction with racial passive.

purple-magicb16_ESO

I am an advocate for char specialization, so I agree with exclusive quests. I never agreed with chars being able to join Fighters Guild and Mages at the same time.

Recremen

purple-magicb16_ESO wrote: »

I am an advocate for char specialization, so I agree with exclusive quests. I never agreed with chars being able to join Fighters Guild and Mages at the same time.

That's been a staple of the Elder Scrolls games since absolutely forever, why would you suddenly want to force people to choose between them for ESO? It's nonsense.

Mettaricana

My only gripe is bladr of woe works on guards etc but I lose time and get detected even if he's the only witness and killed frim stealth

UltimaJoe777

Mettaricana wrote: »

My only gripe is bladr of woe works on guards etc but I lose time and get detected even if he's the only witness and killed frim stealth

Like I said it's because you're not supposed to kill them. If this is true...

Lettigall wrote: »

Often I even kill NPCs, if waiting for them to move gets to annoying, and still get perfect run.

...it needs fixed so simply killing any NPC ruins the perfect run.

Dragonnord

They're are easily doable, and I'm being honest. I easily do them with my DK, no invisibility potions nor anything else to help.

You just need to lose that fear of being caught and so you run the heist very slowly. No, you need to use rapids (if possible), move, and keep moving. You can sneak close to enemies, very close, and they won't see you, unless they are facing you.

Believe me it's that; lose the fear to be seen, since it's very difficult for enemies to see you too.

Learn the maps and after some tries, heists will be a walk in the park.

Doctordarkspawn

I've done successfully runing of heists day after day for a while.Templar, full heavy, full theives guild passives. A few tips.

One. Memorize the map layout. It's one of the best ways to know how screwed you are before a run begins.

Two. Memorize the points on the map where you -will- be spotted. There are places in these heists where you are guarenteed to be spotted taking an objective. It's a tradeoff to be managed around.

Three. Buy invisibility potions. Buy invisibility potions en mass from a guildtrader. Trust me, it pays for itself in spades when you need to guarentee that you will not be spotted at a key moment. (These do not work on lantern bearers.)

Thymos

The biggest factor I learned from doing the heists is to not sneak unless it is necessary. You get around a lot quicker, and saves sooo much time.

I find the dark brotherhood dailies to be very difficult to manage with full secondary objectives. However, that doesn't stop me from trying