Back Stab - Television Tropes & Idioms

Surprise!

Rogues do it from behind.

Found usually in RPGs and Stealth Based Games. A type of attack that gives you a chance to use stealth and surprise your ~~victim~~ target dealing massive damage (often lethal) with a single hit. Usually requires the player character to be positioned physically right behind the target. Often this is the only way to dispatch an enemy undetected. This is a staple of assassins, spies and other similar characters or character classes.

As with One Hit Kill, some enemies can be immune to this. The opposite of this is typically the Finishing Move.

Compare In The Back. Not to be confused with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, though the two may overlap.

Examples

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Card Games

Tabletop Games

Thieves in 1st and 2nd edition Dungeons And Dragons had this ability. Assassins, who were playable characters before 2nd edition, got this as well, and also had an "assassinate" ability that could One Hit Kill anyone if they succeeded on the roll against a surprised opponent and dealt damage even if they missed.
- Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition renamed the ability from "backstab" to "sneak attack". The main reason for using "Sneak Attack" instead of "Backstab" in later editions of Dungeons And Dragons was because it was no longer required to be 'behind' the enemy to use it; you simply had to catch the enemy off guard (signified by any situation where the enemy doesn't get a DEX bonus to AC). In 4th edition, this is called gaining "combat advantage." Also, the early backstab had to be performed with a dagger or shortsword, weapons one could easily stab someone in the back with, while later editions removed the weapon restriction.
  - AD&D Complete Thief's Handbook clarified that "A backstab is not always literally a stab in the back!" - but word wasn't chosen too aptly, of course.
  - You can also set up a flank on the enemy (have your rogue and another PC adjacent to the enemy and positioned so that a line going between them goes through the enemy). "Rear or Flank Attacks" overlapping with thief's backstab first appeared in PO: Combat & Tactics.
  - This can get rather silly if you multiclass, since you can also sneak attack with any spell that requires a roll to hit. Sneak attack with a twinned Scorching Ray, anyone?
  - As of Complete Scoundrel at least, there's a prestige class that requires this level of multiclassing and strengthens it.
- Blackguards (anti paladins) also get sneak attacks (significantly less then Rogues and Assassins as well as non core sneak attackers), but given that they are heavy armor wearers, they will only activate on a flanked or disabled foe.
- Sneak Attack appears as a common special ability in D&D Minis; the only requirement is that you have another of your minis on the other side of the target. It increases the attacker's damage by a set amount.
In GURPS sneaking up behind a person is very effective because you can make an All-Out Attack (better accuracy or damage) without fear of reprisal.
- There's also an attack enhancement that causes it to suddenly appear behind the target.
If you can successfully sneak up on someone using Intrusion in Feng Shui or otherwise catch them unawares, your opponent's Dodge Value is zero for the purpose of your first attack on him, meaning you will be dealing some pretty nasty damage. Beware the "unaware" opponent with the Hair Trigger Neck Hairs gun schtick, though, lest you get caught by an Offhand Backhand...
An "unexpected attack" in Exalted cannot be defended against, which is a huge deal because the combat system is balanced on the assumption that every attack that gets through will be dulled at least a bit by defense. There are several Charms specifically designed to let the user make an unexpected attack. On the other hand, some Charms will also permit the user to defend against unexpected attacks.
Sneak Attack is one of the standard abilities in Mage Knight miniatures. Since MK minis have defined 'front' and 'back' areas, all that's required is to be adjacent to the target's back area. It doubles the attacker's damage.

Video Games

In Arcanum Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura there's a Backstab skill that gives you a good damage bonus if you attack an enemy from behind, and a HUGE damage bonus if you attack from behind and the enemy is also unaware of your presence.
Assassins Creed had two different versions of these; the discreet Low Profile Kills you could do within two feet of a guard and walk away from without attracting attention, and the flashy High Profile Kills that scared the crap out of everyone but could be initiated while running and from a greater distance.
- In the sequel, Ezio can not only use the styles of kill described above, but in a straight-up fight if you work your way around behind somebody who is fighting someone else, and hit the attack button, Ezio will (unless they're not a mook) do an instant kill move with his current weapon. With the long sword and hidden blade, it's an honest-to-god back stab. With the short blade, he actually grabs the enemy with his free arm and plunges the blade into their chest. And with a hammer he, well....what happens is very....crunchy.
It's a spell Lars can use in Aveyond if he chooses to join the the Elite Mage guild.
The Battlefield Series. Getting knifed in the back is a humiliating way to go in multiplayer.
- Varies by the game. In 2142 every hit with a knife is lethal.
The Thief classes and the Ranger subclass Stalker in the Baldur's Gate series can backstab.
- And the Assassin class appears in the second game as a Thief kit (subclass, basically). Along with a couple other benefits, their backstab multiplier tops out at x7 (at level 21) instead of x5 (at level 13) for other Thief classes. Someone on Bioware's forums twinked out an assassin as much as the game's rules would allow and got 1064 damage out of one backstab—easily more than enough to one-shot anything not immune to backstabs.
  - ...Which would be basically everything it would be really useful to backstab, rendering said multiplier a nice case of Awesome But Impractical since it only appears about halfway through the expansion pack, at which point everything you'd really like to one-shot this way can't be, and everything else dies within two rounds of making melee contact anyway.
Similar to the flanking maneuver in D&D, Battle For Wesnoth gives some attacks the "backstab" trait, which causes double damage when flanking a target.
In Beyond Good And Evil, the enemy soldiers are nearly impossible to defeat in normal combat, but have a weak spot in the breathing tanks they wear, which you can hit if you sneak up behind them or shoot them with a gyrodisk. One hit there leaves them stumbling around helpless, a second one makes them fly into the air and explode.
Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain has almost the same implementation of the idea as Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, but did it first.
In the original Castle Wolfenstein Apple ][ game, you did double damage to opponents if you attacked them from behind, and your character could backstab and kill any Nazi soldier in one hit if you had the dagger equipped.
- The instant-kill dagger backstab was brought back for RtCW.
In Chrono Trigger, sneaking up behind a guard during the prison break-out scene allows you to 1-hit them to make them 'Pass out' without an actual fight scene.
The Stealth Assassin from Defense of the Ancients: All-Stars has a Backstab skill that allows him to deal additional damage based on his Agility when attacking from behind.
In City Of Villains, the "Assassin's Strike" and "Hide" abilities are the entire point of the Stalker class, which is otherwise a somewhat weaker version of City Of Heroes' Scrapper.
- Were. The Assassin's Strike itself was changed so it lands a To Hit Debuff on everything within 30 feet and has a 25% chance of making everything within 30 feet quake in fear. Furthermore, their overall damage was raised, and they now possess a chance to land critical hits outside of Hidden status, a higher chance than that of Scrappers! In addition to this, each teammate within a certain distance of them grants a +3% addition to their critical hit chance. On a tightly grouped team, a Stalker can have up to 31% chance to land a critical! Scrappers are still better head on combatants, but Stalkers hold their own in a fight.
  - A Stalker attack always has a chance to crit. If performed from stealth, it's a 100% chance to crit, thanks to their class ability "Assassination". Using the special "assassin's strike" attack allows them to Backstab the opponent For Massive Damage. Toss Placate in, and they can get a free crit or even another Backstab in while in the middle of a fight. The Arachnos Epic Archetypes also possess this ability (with the sole exception of the Crab Spider).
Dark Messiah of Might And Magic, backstabbing your way through the game was a legitimate tactic. Most enemies would die instantly and quietly by a dagger through the top of the spine. Even better their fellows would come to check the body often with their backs to the shadows. Another tactic is to use the staff's special attack to knock an opponent onto their back then rapidly switch to daggers to deliver a finishing blow.
In Deus Ex, attacking from behind is generally an effective tactic. Moreover, the description of the "riot prod" weapon implies it works better when used in this manner.
- It does: zapping someone who isn't aware of you knocks them out instantly, while attacking them from the front might take a couple of zaps.
In The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, you generally need to be behind your enemy to deliver a Sneak Attack (dealing a basic 4x damage, but increasing with your Sneak-skill). But if you're good enough at sneaking, the enemy bad enough at detection, and the shadows deep enough, you CAN actually sneak-attack somebody in the face. You can also sneak attack at range with a bow.
- If your sneak is high enough, you can even hit the enemy with another sneak attack, and then another, and another, and so on and so forth.
- This is also possible in Elderscrolls III: Morrowind, if you train your sneak, strength, and skill in what ever your choice of weapon is. At night, one can literally walk straight past a guards line of sight and punch him in the face. If one is so inclined.
- In Daggerfall, if you manage to get behind an enemy you can backstab them for a damage bonus.
Fallout 3 includes backstabbing, along with stealth chainsaw kills.
- Earlier titles have the Silent Death perk, which grants double damage for melee attacks from behind while sneaking.
RagnarokOnline had this as Rogues' signature attack, until it got nerfed to hell and back.
Final Fantasy XI has the Thief class have two different abilities: Sneak Attack, which deals large damage when behind an enemy, and Trick Attack, which, at first, deals somewhat more damage than a normal attack when behind a party member, and passing the hate from that attack to that party member. Both are normally combined, normally called SATA, to ensure the tank has good hate, but this changes at level 60, when the Assassin trait allows Trick Attack to have the same massive damage effect as Sneak Attack, and thusly both abilities are used separately, normally using a Weapon Skill with Trick Attack.
- In addition, the Ninja class gains the Innin ability at level 40, which, while not a "true" Back Stab, gives them a decent size bonus to accuracy and critical hit chance when attacking from behind (at the expense of lowering their own evasion) for a short time.
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance has comparable abilities to Dark Messiah of Might And Magic, they don't need to be executed from behind, but with all other skills, doing so significantly increases their chance of success.
- The sequel replaces the accuracy boost with more damage. The Sneak Attack skill is the closest to an actual Back Stab as it deals a whole lot more damage.
- And in the original Tactics, while attacking from behind usually didn't boost damage, it did guarantee a hit with physical attacks, ignoring dodge or block bonuses from shields. The Sword Grasp ability still worked fine, though.
  - More specifically, there 3 categories of "dodging." Class evasion works only from the front and depends on your class (Thieves and Ninjas dodge more, for example). Shield evasion works from both the front and the sides, although only a few classes can equip shields. Accessory evasion (granted by capes) works regardless of which direction the attack is coming from, although not everyone wears capes because the accessory slot is pretty valuable. Tactically, attacking from the side is usually just as good as from behind, except against knights with shields. The aforementioned Sword Grasp ability just ignores all this and blocks everything.
- In fact, all games based on the Tactics Ogre formula grant some form of attack bonus when you attack from behind (and a slightly diminished one when attacking from the side). Disgaea does it too.
In Final Fantasy X-2 if your target is facing away from you when you attack it, you will deal double damage. Especially effective against Tonberries.
- Also seen in Crisis Core, where attacking enemies from behind gives you Critical Hits every time.
Let's not forget 'stealth kills' from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Of course, civilians (and cops) don't really pay attention if CJ is running around with a minigun, so him having a knife works fine. Move up behind victim, target, attack, giggle maniacally. Oddly, though, this tends to increase the wanted meter more than when you just go up and hack them up with a katana and stealth be damned, but hey.
If you sneak up behind Combine soldiers in Half-Life 2, you can dispatch 'em with a single bullet to the back of the head.
In Halo, you can hit someone with your gun. Normally this is pretty ineffective, but from behind it's a one-hit kill. Flood, naturally, are immune to this (it's pretty damn hard to get behind them in the first place anyway) but Hunters will drop. This was fixed for the sequels, as was one-shotting them from behind with anything but a sniper rifle.
- Less ineffective within later games, as melee attacks practically half-kill someone, making it an important move at close-range with weapons less suited for it.
- When Bungie said that Halo: ODST would feature "tactical stealth gameplay", this is pretty much what they meant. Being a normal (if exceptionally trained) human, your best bet for surviving in New Mombasa is attacking patrols from behind, "silently" taking out the enemies in the back with melee attacks. Straight up firefights are also possible, but much riskier.
In the Hitman series, 47 has special attacks (garrote, syringe or chloroform, along with some special attacks) that automatically kill or disable an unaware target. These attacks are almost always much easier to perform from behind (the garrote specifically only works from behind).
The Assassin's class in Hexen II acquires this skill once she reaches a certain level. It only multiplies damage instead of killing instantly, otherwise it pretty much fits to a T. Down to the name of the skill.
In Jagged Alliance 2, a successful hit with a throwing knife is a One Hit Kill, unless the target has spotted the thrower (in which case it does a pitiful amount of damage instead).
Left 4 Dead has an achievement for killing Infected in a single melee hit, and backstabbing is the way to go.
In The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, the dangerous Phantoms can only be defeated from behind (and only if you have the proper weapon to do so).
- In Twilight Princess, Helm Splitter (an optional Hidden Skill) involves literally flipping over your enemy and stabbing them in the back.
  - This actually doesn't work, because you vault over the enemy and stab them in the head to get all the way over. The Back Stab comes after, while they're recovering. Another Hidden Skill that works all the way is the Back Slice, which involves jumping all the way around the enemy du jour and slicing into their back, while they're figuring out where you are.
You can execute a variety of one-hit kill attacks (depending on armament) from behind in Lugaru: The Rabbit's Foot while your victim is startled or if you sneak up unnoticed. Thrown knives are also a one-hit kill on unarmored mooks, but are almost always dodged by wary targets.
The Mario RPGs (although its usually a pre-emptive attack rather than starting the battle from behind).
In the Metal Gear Solid games, the player can sneak up on an enemy and point the gun at the back or side of the their head. This makes them drop their gun and, in Metal Gear Solid 2, lets you steal their Dog Tag.
- In Metal Gear Solid 4, when the player does this they can now execute a 'body search' feature, which will usually make for gaining better items then found normally from enemies.
- In Solid 3 onwards, it's difficult to perform the CQC Grab (and follow up with a chokehold or throat slit) unless you approach your target from behind.
The Mother series has this (you got a free hit at the start of the battle, or an instant kill if you were overleveled), but you also could be attacked from behind yourself.
- Somewhat awesomely, Duster the thief has the ability to potentially make the enemy's preemptive attack effort blow up in their faces by either hitting them with a spinning back kick, still getting the first attack in the round, or by jumping behind them, where the battle begins as if *you* were the one to sneak up on them.
In Neverwinter Nights (3rd edition D&D) the assassin has a chance to not only do massive damage but also paralyze an opponent on a successful "death attack" as long as the opponent is unaware of their presence (stealth mode). This is partially subverted by the primarily fighter based feat "devastating critical" where a noisy, clanking, plate mail wearing powerhouse actually does a one shot critical hit kill without any sneaking or flat-footing of the foe.
- Again, doing it wrong, the fighter sets up a flank, and the Rogue/Assassin unleashes his sneak attack for massive damage, every 3 turns using his save or die death attack, not to mention the rarity of a critical hit in the first place.
- For posterity, that's a fighter/weapon master. Typically uses a rapier or scimitar, has a keened weapon, improved critical, and ki critical. That brings the rapier/scimitar's already-wicked 18-20 threat range to 10-20. That's right. They threat for a critical HALF THE TIME. Throw the DC >43 instant death devistating critical in there for good measure. This procs two or three times per turn.
Nexus War give bonus damage for attacking from hiding, at the cost of some accuracy. What makes it slightly absurd is that with the right class and skill choices, it's possible to sneak attack somebody with a fire truck.
Prince of Persia : The Two Thrones gave the Prince the ability to do something called "Speed Kills" where if the enemy didn't know you were there you could basically jump on their back and kill them instantly.
- These become pretty important late in the game, when failing to use Speed Kills will result in being outnumbered in the ensuing battle very quickly. Against enemies that love to counter your every attack. And those Quicktime Events were the ONLY way to finish off certain bosses. If you kept failing the speed kill, the boss just would not die.
Prototype allows you to do a stealth kill from behind, which allows you to kill someone and immediately take their place without alerting anyone, as opposed to simply killing them with gore all around.
- Inverted in the trailer, which had a move not in the game where blades came out of Mercer's back into a guy who had grabbed him from behind.
The "Mortal Rising" skill that Dhan assassins get in the MMORPG Rohan Online allows a chance for a crit on the first attack that you make out of stealth mode, which goes up to 100% when maxed-out (pretty much guaranteeing a crit on the first attack), and is especially nasty when used with "Deadly Blow," a buff which increases your crit damage based on how much Agility you have. "Sudden Attack" is another skill that allows you to attack for high damage while still in stealth mode before coming out of it for combat.
In the second and third Sly Cooper games Sly can OHKO enemies if he gets right behind them without being detected. Otherwise he has to brawl and they usual alert other guards that way.
- Bentley gets this ability in the third game, even if you omit the sleep dart. By slipping a BOMB into the back pocket. Sneaky, yes; stealthy, doubtful. Sly's backstab is noisy as well, until he upgrades to 'Silent Obliteration'.
Flece from Summoner had a backstab ability that could get completely of hand. Not only could a number of items giving stackable bonuses to backstab raise it to absurd levels about half way through the game, but Flece had a bunch of abilities that could knock an enemy prone in the heat of combat (virtually unopposed with a chain attack.) Since you get huge bonuses when attacking prone enemies, this means Flece could repeatedly deal well over 3000HP of damage in a couple of attacks, vastly outclassing the rest of the party.
Maybe the chief modus operandi of the Spy class in Team Fortress Classic and Team Fortress 2.
- The Pyro class has recently received a new toy suited for this tactic, the Backburner, which, while not a guaranteed instant kill, triples the already high flamethrower damage when used from behind (and even if the enemy gets away, there is a good chance that he'll die from the burn damage).
- In an inversion of this trope, the Sniper (a class most susceptible to this trope) actually guts the Spy from behind with his Kukri in "Meet the Sniper".
- The Sniper can unlock a passive weapon which protects him from one Spy backstab, and disables the Spy for several seconds afterward.
The Tenchu series was practically built around these, as a ninja kills without being seen. If you can get into striking range of your target without being spotted by him or anybody else, your attack instantly kills him - in a rather flashy way - without so much as rousing the guards. Tenchu 3 has a separate one for every possible way you could approach a target and a special one that's triggered when your target is standing on an incline.
In the Thief series, Garrett can knock out guards with a single hit from his blackjack on the noggin.
- He can also kill most unalerted enemies with a single blow from his weapon (a short sword in Dark Project and Metal Age; a dagger in Deadly Shadows), or (versus human enemies) with a broadhead arrow to the head. However, the resultant noise and blood stains, and mission requirements that discourage or even ban killing on higher difficulty levels, make blackjacking the more practical method of enemy elimination. Thief: Deadly Shadows plays this trope the straightest, as you must be directly behind the target to score a blackjack or backstab.
The Thunder Dome II and Thunder Dome X MUDs have the greatest variety of sneak attacks. Rogues could backstab to initiate combat and later circle to get multiple backstabs in the same combat. Assassins could also disembowel, a surprise attack to the guts. Spies could interdict for massive damage at the start of a fight, and attempt again in midfight. A ninja could neck-break, often an instant kill performed barehanded. Pirates could throat-stab. Barbarians and wrestlers could suicide roll, grappling an enemy from behind and spinning backward, smashing the enemy's head into the ground.
While it's not exactly a game, this is how the Nanaya clan in Tsukihime operates. As they're almost entirely normal humans going up against demons and vampires, the only way to win is to get close to them before they notice you and cut them to bits. Kiri, Shiki's father, actually used a mace to crush skulls, throats and internal organs. Shiki can mostly avoid this one because his eyes cheat, though he does take out at least one DAA like this in supplementary material.
In Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, you can Sneak behind most anthropomorphic enemies (i.e. humans and vampires but not monsters) and perform a "stealth kill".
- To elaborate, the "stealth kills" include:
  - Neck Snap with your bare hands (also the default animation if you carry a ranged weapon).
  - Slashed Throat with a knife.
  - Chest Impalement with a katana or anything similar.
  - Swinging your sledgehammer above your head and smashing your enemy's head into tiny little pieces. No kidding.
Rogues in World Of Warcraft get several moves which are only effective from behind:
- Backstab (self explanatory), which requires a dagger in the main hand.
- Garrote (does damage over time)
- Ambush (a more powerful version of Backstab which can only be used while stealthed)
- Shadowstep (instantly teleports the rogue behind their target and increases their movement speed and the damage of their next attack (absolutely lethal when its combined with one of the above. It can easily deal 3000 damage with no twinking).
- And there's Cheap Shot, a move that stuns the target and gives two combo points (other skills give one). It's as cheap as it sounds.
- Druids can change into catform to imitate Rogues, having several moves that can only be used from behind as well: Shred and Ravage (roughly equal to Backstab and Ambush, respectively). Pounce on the other hand (which stuns and has a similiar effect to Garrote) only requires stealth but can be used frontal aswell (although doing so is riskier).
- Furthermore, all melee attacks benefit from the attacker being behind the target. Attacks made in this manner cannot be parried or blocked.
Knights of the Old Republic - the Scoundrel class gets a "Sneak attack" feat that does extra damage to an opponent that is facing away from the attacker or otherwise incapacitated (stun, stasis, horror). A particularly fun and nasty trick against Mandalorian raiders or Dark Jedi is to have your PC and one character draw their fire while you have Mission a little ways away in stealth mode, armed with the nastiest melee weapons you have on hand. Have her sneak up on the biggest mook and engage critical strike. Takes a little work, but the result is worth it.
Dragon Age Rogue class are capable of the same thing. Park Leliana or Zevran behind an enemy For Massive Damage.
Batman Arkham Asylum gives the eponymous hero a few low-profile KO moves like the Silent Takedown (performed from behind) or the appropriately named Corner Takedown. In Predator stages, these moves can be pretty important since most enemies are packing heat and you can't take sustained fire for very long.
In The Godfather game you can garrote an enemy if you manage to sneak up behind him unnoticed. It's not particularly powerful, though; its only real use is to take out the victim without alerting people not in line of sight, and since standard strangulation from the front is equally silent, the only real advantage is the extra Respect.
If you attack an enemy from behind in Demon´s Souls this is what will happen. Especially useful for the Thief class and pretty much any dagger user because daggers are the only weapon that get an extra bonus (even more than others weapons) doing so, and fatal daggers pretty much do Massive Damage in these situations.
in free MMORPG lunia, tia has the backstab attack which damage it tripled if she uses it against the enemies back.