Sneaker

(I really advise you to NOT play Sneaker unless you know game mechanics very well)
Sneak mechanics are consatntly changed. This Guide is updated as of 15.06.2022

Sneaking is a very viable class in AoP and can be played in multiple ways with the addition of multiple kind of Stealthboys, as well as a low-cost Camonetting alternative.

A sneaker benefits of decreased visibility on him. Staying close to a wall and being stationary will guarantee almost complete invisibility.
In order to Sneak successfully you have to use Walls. Nighttime. Warmode on your Stealthboy. Correct Positioning and RTS Tags correctly.

A short overview on the different Stealthboys:
- Recon Stealthboy - A Scouting Stealthboy, allowing you to carry the least amount of equipment (10kg limit), but with the added benefit of being in Sneak for as long as you don't get desneaked. Perfect to scout the enemy before a fight and for prolonged Core activities. An optional "Warmode" can be activated for 10 seconds on a 30 second cooldown which will increase its performance at the cost of 10x Charge drain.
- Infiltrator Stealthboy - Allows you to carry more (20kg limit) and sneak better - but only works for 10 seconds until it goes into cooldown for 30 seconds. Best used to infiltrate enemy positions in a fight and unleashing hell from an unexpected position.
- Ambush Stealthboy - As the name implies, perfect to setting up an Ambush. You are quite free in what you can carry around (30kg limit), but running will desneak you, and walking will put you onto high-visibility.
- Camonetting - A cheap alternative to the Recon Stealthboy (8kg Limit). It is less efficient in its sneak performance and has no Warmode to activate. It is also non-rechargable and breaks apart after full usage.
All up to date values on the Stealthboy will be found on the Online Planner, including weight limits, AP costs, and other data of interest like Warmode usage.
All modern Stealthboys (Aka. all but the Camonetting) make a sound when you get desneaked, alerting nearby enemies to your position.

What Stealthboy you use is of course up to you. All Stealthboys need a reasonably high, preferably maxed out Sneak skill to operate. At the start of the season or if lacking materials, the Camonetting will most likely be your go-to option.

First of all let's explain how Sneaking works.
All Stealthgear operates on the same principle: In order for them to be effective, you should stay close to a wall and minimize movement.
Sneaking with the Recon Stealthboy, Ambush Stealthboy or Camonetting, will lower your Sight-Range to 75%. Sneaking with an Infiltrator Stealthboy or using Warmode on a Recon-Stealthboy will lower your Sight-Range even further to 50%
The closer you are to a wall, the higher your Sneak. The less you move, the higher your sneak. Being stationary next to a wall can give you values of 6 Hexes visibility and less, while being out in the open and running will quickly put you on 50+ Hex visibility.
The visibility from which distance you are spotted can be turned on by pressing 'Q' until you see a blue line while in Sneak. This blue line determines how far someone else with 100 Hexes Sight Range can see you - and thus is the minimum distance someone has to be in to even see you.
Someone with less Sight Range, say, 75, needs to be 25% closer to you to spot you. (Aka. he spots you at 75% of the length from your character to the blue line).
Someone with 25 Sight Range, would have to be very close to you then the blue line to spot you. (25%)
Also, Sideview cuts off even more Sight Range for determining a sneaker, so if you approach from the sides, or even better, behind, you need to be even closer to them until they spot you. (Up to the point that in perfect, close-to-wall conditions, they won't see you until you hit them, though this is rare and hard to pull off usually).

When do you get desneaked?
You get desneaked if one of 3 things happen.
- Your Stealthboy runs out of charges. (This is easy to avoid, just check your charges constantly and recharge as needed)
- You get hit and get sufficient damage. (If for example, a burst only suppresses you, but does not damage you, you will not have your StealthValue lowered, and this is also why Armor Class is a very good stat on Sneaker.)
- Your Sneakvalue goes over 100 Hex visibility. (This happens when you shoot any bigger gun even once, or if you shoot smaller guns for prolonged time. Throwing Grenades for example also desneaks you. Healing however, does not. Being hit by damage also decreases your Sneakvalue)

I have lost some Sneakvalue due to running around / being away from a wall, how do I regain it?
Regaining is as simple as getting close to a wall and minimizing Movement. Standing will let you regain Sneak quicker then Walking, and Walking will do so quicker then Running. Turning on Warmode will give you a considerable boost, but care about its cooldown and increased charge drain!

What is Warmode and how to use it?
- Warmode is the default behaviour of the Infiltrator Stealthboy. 10 Second sneak on 30 second cooldown.
- Ambush Stealthboy and Camonetting have no Warmode.

Now Recon Stealthboy has the benefit of having Warmode as an optional Side-effect. In order to activate Warmode, you have to be already in Sneak and have the Stealthboy in your Utility slot.
When activating Warmode, your Sight Range is lowered by an additional 25%. (75% -> 50%) However, your Sneak performance is increased for 10 seconds by lowering your sneak-decay speed by 1 Hex/s and quickening the regain by 2 Hex/s.
While the Warmode is active, your Stealthboy drains charges 10 times faster. You can disable Warmode preemtively if you know you don't need it anymore and want to save on charges.
Afterwards it goes into a 30 second cooldown.

Why is Armor Class a good Sneaker stat?
As a Sneaker you run around a lot - this means that Armor Class more often then not will have 100% Effectiveness. In addition to that, a Sneakers biggest threat is being desneaked, but if a random Burst will miss you completely - even if it suppresses you, you will not get desneaked.
Every 5 Armor Class, the chance to hit you is lowered by 1%.
It is also a very good counter to Snipers, as every 5 Armor Class, the chance that an Aimed Sniper Shot will turn into a Torsoshot is 2% more, paired with the less Hit-Chance, a Sniper already has bad cards against you.

Remember. Both Players and NPCs have lower sight range around the back (Yes! Even NPCs!). So try to stay behind their back to avoid beng spotted. There is also no 3 hex always visible mechanic like in FO2. You can be 2 hexes away from low Perception enemy at their back and they STILL won't be able to see you. Especially at night.

Talking about Night. During darker hours the Perception of everyone will lower. The deeper into the night it is, the harsher the malus (1 o'clock being the biggest malus of around 40%.)

You are very safe at night, meaning you can get close to enemy or simply have a much easier time doing ANY of your Sneak shenanigans.

Some more advanced techniques you can do as Sneaker:
If you are taking a zone, the color of the flag and its size represents how many of you are inside. You can fool the enemy by turning Sneak off/on depenging on if you want the flag to be bigger or smaller. This only works on turningpoints of where the flag changes. So for example if you are 15 + you. (Since 8-15 people is yellow color, 16-31 is red color).
Usually you want Sneak to be on so enemy expect less enemies. HOWEVER! Being in Sneak Mode during taking Zones will not give you any ZCpoints during the time you are in sneak! (Less XP and less Money).
If you know enemies know there are more then 2 teams (3 or 4). By turning off Sneak, increasing the size of the flag, they might think another faction is currently attacking you! (Which is obv. not the case).

Armors you can take
- Leather Jackets. The Jacket-Line is prefered due to their low weight, especially when using the Recon Stealthboy. It also has a lot of "Stealthy" traits, making you very effective. The downside is their low Resistance, which is offset by their high Armor Class.
- Leather Armor. While not preferred, this Armor can work in a pinch, especially with other Stealthboys. It has less "Stealthy" traits, and less Armor Class, but usually has other bonuses that may proove effective.

Weapons you can use
- Low Weight Snipers - Okey. Can be hard to use since even low weight Snipers weight a lot. Shooting will desneak you entirely. Being in Sneak also cuts your Perception.
- Pistols, Submachine Guns - Good. Low Weight, Low Range. Shooting without a Silencer, especially Burst, will add quite a bit of Sneak Malus however.
- Laser Variant of above weapons. - Less Good as Non-Energy Counterparts, as they add more Sneakdecay per shot.
- Silenced Pistols, Silenced Submachine Guns - Very Good, shooting almost gives no Malus to Sneak Value. You can keep shooting and stay pretty much invisible.
- Melee - If you are skilled in Melee, and learn the ways of Sneaking, as well as position yourself correctly, you will be a force to be reckoned with. Very hard to play though.
- Everything else - Usable with Infiltrator / Ambush Stealthboys, but the usage will be limited due to the functionality of the Stealthboys.
(If you use SMGs and you start getting low on ammo, just switch to single shot mode to keep fighting!)

Traits you can take
- Fast Metabolism - Good. You will have low Bleed Resistance anyway, and almost no healing Items due to weight.
- Small Frame - Good. You will almost never catch aimed Sniper Shot anyway due to high Armor Class and Invisibility.
- Finesse - Good if going for Single Shot Weapons route
- Skilled - Good. Sneakers don't need a lot of Perks anyway, and you really need the additional Skill Points in order to get 250 Gun Skill, 200 Sneak, and maybe even 200 First Aid (Or Leadership if you want to be the Implant guy!)
- Four Eyes - Can be good if you know how to use. Allows you to scout enemies much easier, but people can surprise you much easier as well, especially enemy sneakers.
- Kamikaze - Good AND Bad. Suppression is one of your biggest enemies. When you can't run you are very much dead. However. Armor Class is also a very strong thing to have on Sneaker, and this Trait will remove it completely. I don't recommend.
- Dead Man Walking - Bad if Recon. Good if Infiltrator / Ambush. In most cases you will die far away from Teammates as a Recon guy.

Perks you can take
- Ghost - While not a "Must" have, it still helps out immensively. Not taking this means you are either VERY experienced or you REALLY know what you are doing.
- Dodger - Very Good. Gives you even more Armor Class.
- Watchtower - Good. Helps Scouting and Detecting enemy Sneakers by improving your Side-Forward Sight to the same amount as Forward sight.
- Hawk Eyes - Good. Gives you more Sight Range
- Educated - Probably necessary since Sneakers need a LOT of Skillpoints. Unless you have Skilled Trait and high Intelligence.
- Quick Recovery - Okey/Good - KOs and negative Effects like Winded and Suppressed can mean your death. Lowering its time is good. However, chances are you will be dead anyway.

Example Load Out as Sneaker
1x Tier 1 Leather Jacket Armor (2250 grams)
1x Recon Stealth Boy (1200 grams)
1x Uzi Silenced with 32 red 9x19 loaded (3700 + 288 grams)
122x Red 9x19 (1098 grams)
Total of 8536 grams.
You can exchange some of red ammo for blue ammo, to instead have more bleed damage and much more damage against low armor characters like Snibbers. Blue Ammo weights 12 gram instead of 9! So you have to take less ammo. However, this Ammo will SHRED through Snipers.

You can still take up to 2kg more Items if you want. I suggest the following things:
1x Vodoo (200 grams) - (This drug is a lifesaver. It increases Movement Speed by 20% for 2 Minutes. However, after it wears off you can only walk for a while)
5x Stimpak (720 grams) - (50 HP heal for 80 AP if you have high bandage levels)
1x Healing Powder (500 grams) - (1000 HP heal for 50 AP if you have high bandage levels)
More Ammo.
A few Energy Cells if you don't want to run to a teammate and get them after 30 Minutes.
1x Energy Cell (25 grams) restores 45 seconds of your Stealthboy.
For full 30 Minutes restoration you need ~37 Energy Cells which are 925 grams. But you can simply take less. Like 20 Energy Cells for 15 Minutes.

Example Build as Sneaker
This is the only Class I will actually provide example Builds because I have a lot of experience on it. However. Don't forget golden rule! There are no builds on this Server. Make your own!

This is a Build hopefully good for more or less new Sneakers.

Special
3-5 Strength to wield all SMGs. (Take exact Strength your Weapon needs)
8 Perception for decent View Range
7 Endurance actually makes us have decent HP.
1 Charisma. While not perfect, let's assume you don't have a Leader giving you the buffs you want. If you do have a leader, you can lower Endurance or Perception by 1 or 2 and put into Charisma.
8 Intelligence to have 250 200 200 Skills
10 Agility to shoot a LOT with SMG.
1-3 Luck - Try to get a bit of Luck for Critical Resitance

Traits
Skilled - Necessary to have 250 Gun Skill, 200 Sneak Skill, and 200 First Aid.

Fast Metabolism - Having no Healing Items on you, this perk will make sure you can come back from damage a lot quicker.

Perks
First of all. Ghost is a non-negotiable perk on new Sneakers. One of the only almost-must-have Perks for a specific class this game has.

Dodger is a super useful Perk giving us over 100 Armor Class when running (which as stated above, is -20% hit chance on you and 40% chance aimed shot from sniper will go to Torso)

Watchtower is a very nice perk for new Sneakers, as it will make sure you keep situational awareness by improving your Sight Range onto your Forward-Sides. As well as detect enemy sneakers easier.

Hawk Eyes. Adds Sight Range. Allows you to Scout easier and avoid danger easier.

2 remaining Perks take what you want. Here are some suggestions:
Faith Healer if you want to heal a lot.
Man of Steel for Crit Resist.
Living Anatomy to see how your team is doing.
Quick Recovery to try to get out of sticky situations.
Lifegiver for a bit more tankiness.
Do or Die if you want to go all in in fights.
Fearless to counter Suppression.
Action Boy to shoot even more with SMG.
BRoF or Action Boy for even more shooting
Lazer Rifling for a bit more DPS.