How does stealth work in Torn attacks, and how can you defend against a stealthed attacker?

TornLife researched this question and found the points below; each one is taken from the sources cited. TornLife could not write them up as a full answer.

How does stealth interact with mugging, ranked wars and faction chains?

• The Attacking 2.1 patch list entry of 2017-12-19 lists more changes than the earlier findings covered: the targeting system was changed to work with the new models, and chances to hit some body parts were changed for balance. It also added a vertical stealth bar showing stealth level and chance during an attack, and a visible opponent model on mobile and tablet views.^[1]
• Stealthing means attacking so the victim does not know who attacked them; the log shows 'Someone hospitalized you'. Stealth is checked turn by turn and only the lowest achieved stealth turn counts. Attacking 2.1 added a stealth meter showing the chance.^[2][3]
• A player who is actively traveling (Traveling to/Returning from) cannot be attacked. Players in the same country can attack each other, unless the target's last action is over 168 hours ago, making them 'Hiding out' and absent from the People list. Hiding players can still be attacked if they are a mission target.^[4]
• The Stealth merit upgrade raises stealth level by +0.2 per upgrade. A stealthed attacker is listed as 'Someone'. The wiki notes it is unclear how much this determines the ability to stealth.^[5]
• The Distracted effect is applied to the defender but the level is personalised to each attacker. If one player has made an aggressive action within the last 30 seconds, every other attacker sees level one. Two players give level two to everyone else, and so on.^[6][7]
• Simplified mechanics per the wiki: attacking someone with roughly 75% of your total battle stats or higher gives FF 3x. The lower the target's stats relative to yours, the closer FF tends toward 1x.^[8]
• Distraction is the group-attack mechanic in Torn combat. It governs what happens to a defender attacked by multiple players, applying debuffs under a 'Distracted' status effect that weaken the defender's effective battle stats. It is not a Crimes 2.0 mechanic.^[6]
• The wiki says Strength raises damage per hit, Defense reduces damage taken, Speed raises hit chance and lowers the opponent's chance to escape, and Dexterity raises dodge and stealth chance and helps escaping.^[9]
• Aggression debuff: the defender's chance to take a turn against each attacker's turn is 1/(D+1), where D is the Distraction level and D+1 equals N, the number of players who acted aggressively in the last 30 seconds. With two attackers the chance is 50%.^[10]
• The wiki says players level hold so enemies underestimate them and lose when attacking. Some holders have friends bounty them for more free wins. Benefits include defend merits and cheaper jail bail-outs.^[11][12][13]
• A 2021 guide says you almost never can identify who attacked or mugged you ('Someone'). A friend waiting on your attack landing page can see the attacker, unless the attacker one-hit you or used a Theatre job point for guaranteed stealth. (one player's report)^[14]
• Kayla advises attacking higher-level targets only once total stats are above 1k. Target level does not indicate stats, and their stats cannot be seen. She also warns against attacking in New Players Chat, which gives low exp and a bad reputation. (one player's report)^[15]

How to defend: avoiding attacks, armour, life, hospital, mug protection, retaliation limits

• Attack settings for defence are relative weights, not percentages. Staff confirmed that with Primary 80, Secondary 40, Melee 60 and Temporary 100, the chance of using a Temporary each turn is 100/(80+40+60+100) = 35.71%.^[16][17]
• Attacking 2.1 (19/12/17) changed the targeting system to work with new male and female models, changed damage modifiers and hit chances for some body parts, and made armour effective only if the hit visibly lands on it.^[18]
• Distraction can carry over from a previous fight. An attack received within 30 seconds of another player's aggressive action is treated as a group attack, so the defender may miss a hit.^[6]
• FF depends solely on the battle stats of attacker and defender. JTS (Journal of Torn Science) derived the formulas, which use each player's battle stat score to form the FF ratio. The captured text does not include the formula itself.^[8]
• The wiki (captured 2026-02-19) says attacking and leaving another player is the baseline (100% XP). Mugging gives 55-60% of that and hospitalising gives 40%. A higher-level victim yields more experience.^[19]
• A fight allows 25 turns or five minutes. A turn can be using a weapon or temporary item, reloading, or attempting to escape. There is a one second cooldown between turns. Neither side winning after 25 turns is a Stalemate; five minutes elapsing before 25 turns is a timeout, equal to an attacker loss.^[4]
• A defeated player stays at zero life until the attacker chooses Leave, Mug or Hospitalise. At zero life they cannot travel, attack or be attacked.^[20]
• Riot, Assault, Dune and EOD armour apply their bonuses only when the covered area is hit. Delta, Marauder, Sentinel and Vanguard apply them regardless. A full set adds extra effectiveness to the bonus.^[21]
• Light mods defend against stealth by reducing the opponent's accuracy and stealth: Small Light -3.00 accuracy/-2 stealth; Precision Light -4.00/-2.5; Tactical Illuminator -5.00/-3. Available for Pistols, Rifles, Shotguns, SMGs and the Taser.^[22][23]
• Defence attack settings are weights that shrink as slots empty. With a temp of 20, primary 18, secondary 1 and melee 1, the odds are 20/39, 18/39 and 1/39 once the secondary is empty. Setting a slot to 0 removes it. (players' tests)^[24]

What does the defender see or not see (attacker name, events, logs) when stealthed?

• Staff said in 2025 that in the API attack log a stealthed attacker's 'attacker' object is null, because the attacker is stealthed. Staff planned a new optional field 'attacker_temporary_item' for temporary weapons.^[25]
• An attacker can try to escape the turn after the defender misses; it succeeds if the defender misses again. Zero damage or a non-damaging temporary counts as a miss.^[26]

How can you identify a stealthed attacker (tools, bounties, faction, retaliation)?

• Fair fight was introduced with Attacking respect and Chaining 2.0 on 10/11/17: successful attacks by faction members generate respect, and similarity in stats between attacker and target can yield a bonus of up to x3.^[27]
• In March 2026 a player reported that a Discord bot using the API showed the real name of a stealth mugger while the in-game UI showed 'Mugged by someone'. Staff replied that the attacker had mugged the defender several times, some stealthed and some not, so the bot may have shown a name from an earlier unstealthed hit. Staff asked for the actual API response as proof.^[28][29]
• Known XP sources besides attacking are committing crimes, gym training, working at a job/gaining work stats, and company specials that trade Job Points for Experience (Clothing Store, Nightclub, Hair Salon, Theater). Busting, gambling, flying and racing are not known to give experience.^[19]
• A bounty is claimed by hospitalising the target, via the Attack button on their profile or Claim on the Newspaper Bounties page, whether in Torn or abroad. You can no longer claim a bounty you set yourself. The 2017 patch made claiming stealthable.^[30][31][32]
• NPC looting gives special NPC items to several attackers by lottery. Some missions offer options like Kiss or Interrogate, which give the same experience as leaving.^[33]
• A 2020 thread describes the known method of identifying a stealther. Click attack on one of the attacker's usual targets while below 25 energy, then wait on a friend's attack page until the stealther attacks again. It can take hours. (one player's report)^[34]

• NPC looting (from 23/04/19): loot goes at random to participants, with more damage or effort raising the odds. You need not be in the attack at defeat. NPCs are looted immediately, with no Mug or Hospitalize option. Loot level rises from 1 to 5 over time and resets on defeat; higher levels raise rare-loot chance and the number of looters.^[35]
• In the attacking period each successful attack swaps one ticket from the losing team to the winner, with no permanent consequence for lives. Players can opt out during this period.^[36]
• Warlord does not apply to bonus hits on a chain. Two bonuses can proc on the same turn if one buffs the attacker and one debuffs the target (Wither and Motivation). Two enemy-affecting bonuses have been confirmed together in some combinations (Weaken and Cripple).^[37]
• Stat-bonus books last 31 days: Fight Like An Asshole gives a passive 25% bonus to all stats; Mind Over Matter, No Shame No Pain, Run Like The Wind and Weaseling Out Of Trouble each give a passive 100% bonus to Strength, Defense, Speed and Dexterity respectively. Get Hard Or Go Home gives +20% all gym gains.^[38]
• After 25 turns without a winner the fight is a stalemate: no respect, kill streak kept. A fight ends after five minutes, counting as an attacker loss with a kill streak break. A losing attacker goes to hospital for 15 - 30 minutes.^[26]
• The wiki says the fair fight (FF) multiplier ranges between 1x and 3x and applies when attacking a target with battle stats similar to your own.^[8]
• Hitting anyone with a battle stat score higher than the player with the 1000th-highest battle stats gives a full FF of 3x. This follows the 16/01/18 patch that added a default maximum fair fight bonus for attacks between very high-stat players and reduced the requirements for maximum FF.^[8][27]
• The wiki (2021 capture) says attacking another player costs 25 energy, except attacks under Love Juice during the Valentines Event, which cost 15.^[4]
• The Torn Wiki says attacking another player costs 25 energy. Gym trains cost 5 - 50 energy each depending on the gym; reviving costs 25 - 75 energy.^[39]
• Attacking honors include Finale (defeat someone on the 25th turn), Devastation (5,000 damage in a single hit), Obliteration (10,000), Annihilation (15,000) and Kapow! (over 100,000,000 total damage).^[40]
• Possible outcomes after winning: Leave gives the most level experience and 15 - 30 minutes hospital time. Mug steals 5 - 15% of the defender's cash on hand, base hospital 30 - 45 minutes, with reduced respect and experience. Hospitalise gives base 3 - 3.5 hours hospital time and the least experience. Arrest needs a Detective Agency of at least 3 stars.^[33]
• Proxima's guide gives TOT_DAMAGE = DAMAGE_STR * (1 - DEF_MIT) * (1 - ARMOR_MIT) * TOT_DMG_PASSIVES * EVIS_PCT * (WEAPON_DMG / 10). Damage passives are summed then applied as one multiplier. (players' tests)^[41]

What is a stealth attack in Torn and how is stealth achieved (items, effects, mechanics)?

• Per the wiki (2023), all weapons have stealth levels between 0.0 and 10.0. Most guns are low, melee generally higher. Scores were set by committee members rating noise, commotion, barrel length, ammo, range, visibility, concealability, size, weight and similar, then averaging. Scores show in weapon info.^[42]
• The stealthing capabilities of kicking and punching are unknown per the wiki (2023).^[42]
• Weapon stealth rating is one of many factors in whether a successful attack is anonymous. The exact formula is unknown, but a higher rating makes anonymity more likely.^[43]
• Highest-stealth weapons (above 8) are listed: Scalpel 8.7, Poison Umbrella 8.5, Pen Knife 8.5, Swiss Army Knife 8.4, Butterfly Knife 8.3, Fine Chisel 8.^[44]
• Suppressor mods (Pistols, Rifles, SMGs) raise stealth and cut damage: Small +3 Stealth, Standard +4, Large +5, each -5% Damage.^[45][23]
• Brake mods (Machine Guns, Pistols, Rifles, SMGs) add accuracy at a cost of -3 Stealth: Standard +1.00, Heavy Duty +1.25, Tactical +1.50.^[46]
• Dual 92G Berettas have stealth 3.2, the lowest of any Pistol, and get only half the effect from equipped mods.^[47]
• A player reported in 2023 that Dexterity increases stealth. On a Dexterity-led account they had a stealth rate of about 97% and often won fights without being hit. (one player's report)^[48]
• A 2021 thread asked whether weapon mods that affect an opponent's stealth work while defending. The excerpt gives no answer, so weapon mods exist that affect stealth. (unconfirmed)^[49]