It just takes practice. You'll eventually learn the maps and spawn points for the treasurs. I've been able to get the best rewards on magika based characters.

When did you last do these?

Doesn't matter how fast you are if your can't go by the ones with the lanterns without ducking into the hiding places and losing a bunch of time. Plus the locations of the items are in places with a lantern holder in the way with no alternate route. If you are seen the time is cut so much you might as well not try.

lurkin777 wrote: »

When did you last do these?

Doesn't matter how fast you are if your can't go by the ones with the lanterns without ducking into the hiding places and losing a bunch of time. Plus the locations of the items are in places with a lantern holder in the way with no alternate route. If you are seen the time is cut so much you might as well not try.

I must admit, i stopped doing them after i had all the thieves guild motifs. but it's not like they have changed.
the speed gear makes it easy to make up the time you lose waiting for the light holders to move past.

just make sure you have the stealth cp (green tree) as well as the legerdemain passives to help with hiding and wear 5pc medium night silence. you can also get 3pc night terror from stormhaven overland for additional "you really can't see me".

there is nothing wrong with the content

It really does just take practice. Just like when someone starts soloing dungeons they tend to build heavier for survival but as they get more experience they can slowly convert to more DPS. In this though build for stealth. Khajiit night blade, med armor(there are a few that aid in stealth, and several guides for builds) cp for stealth/speed. You don't NEED all of that, it's just the "overkill" while you learn and you can trim what you need(my first character that did it was an argonian Magicka sorcerer. By the time I created and tried a nb I already knew what I was doing) just keep practicing, look up a stealth build, and good luck!

I have managed to get 100% on most of my thieves Guild heists. Probably about 1/7 times I don't get a perfect run. I also play a necro, so I don't get the fancy nightblade abilities to help. Here's what you need to do to make them stupid easy to do on any class. You dont even need to do all of this to get perfect heist runs, but if you do it will make them a breeze:

Level up your thieves Guild and Legerdman
-Improved Hiding from Legerdman reduces the stam needed to sneak, so you can be in sneak mode a lot longer.
-Veil of Shadow from Thieves Guild reduces your detection range by 10% which is quite a lot.

Put champ points into sneak things (GREEN tree)
-Out of Sight can reduce your radius you can be detected by up to 3 meters max. Which with the above passive can greatly reduce the chance of NPCs finding you.
-Fleet Phantom can remove the movement speed of sneak by 25% allowing you to sneak much, much faster. You can also use the vamp passive or the Nights Silence set for this too.
-Liquid Efficiency can give you a 10% chance not to use a potion when consuming it, which is important for the next thing.

Alchemy
-The BEST potion imo for the heists is Essence of Invisibility that grants 15.7 seconds of invisibility AND increases your movement speed by 30%. Combined with the above passives that increase your speed while sneaking and you are basically flying while sneaking. I would only use it seldomly, like for sticky situations. As there is the cooldown for potions.
-To make it you will need Blessed Thistle, Blue Entoloma, and Namira's Rot.
-Since it needs three ingredients, you might have to spend some time leveling up alchemy, or get a friend to make it for you.

As for the heists themselves, take your time. The timer is actually really long for them. But every time you get caught, it reduces the amount of time you have left. Meaning if you take your time and don't panic rush into it, you will have so much more time. When you rush into it, you are more likely to get caught, and more likely to reduce the time you have left. When there are people with blue circles there is either a place you can go around them (usually like a rock or wood wall that removes their line of sight from you. Even if you're forced out of sneak, as long as something is between you and them they cant find you). Or there is a basket you can jump in and hide, and wait for them to pass. Mind where the NPCs are, check the NPC pathways each time you enter a room. If an NPC is stepping away from the chest you need, go in and grab it quickly as the NPCs have a habit of returning and hovering over the mission items. Requiring you to waste time waiting for them to move their butts out of the way again.

LadyLethalla wrote: »

No one mentioned the blasted hard-to-see traps...

Traps are supposed to glow when you're crouched. It works for me and I can easily see the traps. If it does not glow while you're sneaking then it is bugged and you need to submit a ticket.

I think the last time I did one of these (or was it the DB Version? One of them, anyway), I got pissed off with it and slaughtered everybody I could. Easy way to do it is just go magblade and stealth your way through it.Except the guards that is...

I've not had too many issues completing these. It also help to know that what you see on the map isn't necessarily the whole map, there are side tunnels that don't show on the map and are hidden by vines etc. that are massive short cuts, one of the maps you can literally enter a hidden passage and be at the target in ten seconds and out again in ten more.

Secret to doing thieve's guild heists: Just kill everything in there and don't pay attention to the timer.

If you can’t see the circles, toggle you sneak in and out (while away from ennemies that can see you). If it’s too hard, try equipping sets, armor type and CP stars that increase your speed and reduce you detected range while sneaking. If you need invisibility and aren’t a nightblade, you can also buy potions. I will recommend investing in the locksmith passive of the ledgermain skill line to open chests faster. Finally, you can also quit the quest in your quest journal if you don’t think you will make it. That will teleport you back in the guild and you can start the quest over with a new timer.

I’ve been doing this quest for the last few weeks. It’s not hard with proper preparation.

Far from impossible. I do at least one every day since TG release (guaranteed motif). Most can be done in around 2 minutes. I messed up bad last night, got spotted twice and had to stop and fight one of them. Still finished with 4:19 left.

I've changed the way I do them a few times over the years. Originally I was doing them on a stam blade using three different sets in a front bar/back bar setup (Night's Silence could be activated on back bar and remain active after bar swap). Now I just mag blade with high recovery (Eye Bowl) and cloak through the whole thing.

There's only one spot in any of the maps where the blue circle is unavoidable (without backtracking a long way). It's the east-west hallway coming out of the west side of the northern-most room. There's some rocks you have to hide behind. It doesn't matter if you're revealed by the blue circle as long as the NPC doesn't see you.

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Just use stealth gear. You won't get caught.

I have a khajit named Zathras who has mastered all things stealth, the best stealth-gear and maxed sneaking CPs. Still have a hard time getting it done on time, and fail more often than not.

This is only a problem with the TG dailies, to be sure - DB daily goes without a hitch (unless I as a player botch something, which happens rarely).

Also, because you can pickpocket and steal in the DB daily, it is a far better thieving daily than the TG one is. No time limitation, just sneak around and pickpocket all you want to your heart's content, especially since there is only one NPC that is hard to pickpocket from (that is, doesn't have a 100% success rate the first two tries, and 95% at the third - when pickpocketing at non-green period).

Kinda odd that DB dailies are more thievy than TG.

After being unimpressed with trying to meet the time thing, I changed direction completely. I now treat them just like a normal delve - leisurely killing and looting everything inside them. With the big advantage that they are solo! They actually have quite a bit of nice loot if you take the time to look in all the nooks, crannies, containers. You still complete the quest, just don't get the speed 'bonus', whatever that is. That change in approach has really made them fun for me.

Khajiit + Vampire + Out Of Sight Champion Point Passive + Night Mother's Embrace & Darloc Brae sets (with medium passives) + Ring of the Wild Hunt

With that no one sees you, even if you step on his foot. If, in addition, you remember maps and locations, it is done in no time.