Stealthy units can move without being seen on the strategic map. This allows them to try to infiltrate hostile territories. Patrolling units and the inherent patrol effect from province defense can however discover them. This happens after movement in the Turn Order Sequence, so a hidden commander cannot be caught by patrols in a province they are leaving, but could be caught by patrols in the province they are moving to. If they are caught by patrollers in the province they are moving into, a battle ensues immediately.

This means, in practice, that stealthy units moving around in friendly territory, in battle zones, or on top of sieged forts are safe.

The Hotkey for moving stealthy commanders without sneaking is ctrl + click on a province.

Patrol/stealth calculations

A stealthy commander has a number of interesting uses:

1. Scouting and witnessing battles their nation isn't involved in.
   • Spies can reveal additional information, cause unrest or infiltrate capitals.
2. Ferrying and carrying gems and items for an army. Keeps spare gems safe for later. This is generally cheaper than moving items/gems with magical rituals.
3. Avoiding fights.
   • A commander set to perform a stealthy order does so before other orders such as rituals or assassinations, which can make them very difficult to catch, and rather effective at raiding. Using rituals such as Teleport or Cloud Trapeze will not prevent an enemy raider from hiding or sneaking away.
4. Starting fights.
   • They can attack provinces the enemy thought were safe. When done on a massive scale, this is the infamous "elfing".
   • This can be done by sneaking even through friendly lands so that enemy scouts do not see their approach.
   • Using rituals such as Teleport or Cloud Trapeze on top of a friendly stealthy unit that has switched orders to attack their current province (without moving) will have the stealthy unit join the fight in the Magic Phase.
5. Moving into or out of forts that are under siege.
   • Sneaking into a fort does not allow defending against a storming attacker on the same turn, but sneaking out of a fort can be done as an attack.
6. Priests, if stealthy, can hide and preach in an enemy province.

Commanders set on stealthy orders (hide or sneak) are unaffected by:

• Independents, who will never patrol them out
• Armies on top of a fort under siege since they can't patrol or have province defense
• Conventional assassination by units with the assassin ability
• Remote assassination spells such as Earth Attack or Manifestation
• Seeking Arrow

Commanders set on stealthy orders are still affected by:

• Mind Hunt, both as a valid target and protecting astral mage
• Vengeful Water
• Vengeance of the Dead
• Murdering Winter