It is one of the first skills i worked towards, have been having it for hours now, but it almost never does anything. Maybe twice i saw the XB bonus applied. I have read that it can take a while until it applies but i'm specifically checking what it says in the upper right corner. For instance, while killing all guards in a camp with stealth i got the kill 10 guards without being seen achievement but i never got the XP bonus for the kill streak. When reading that some people get like 200 XP with one kill streak... that's a lot of XP i'm missing out on...
I do have the hidden blade. Like i said, in most cases i see no XP bonus being applied even after several minutes after the last kill / being detected. Unless it's happening in the background but then they should patch that to make it visible. Why does it need several minutes to apply, anyway? This whole system is not very transparent to the player imho...
I guess no one ever bothered to answer this? I wouldn't have wasted AP on this skill had I known it hardly ever worked. Not sure on number of enemies required to kill, if only works with hidden blade & not bows (in which case does a bow kill stop streak, meaning I should get the bonus for the past 5 guys killed with blade in stealth?), when it is applied, when it is shown to the user, on & on. Frustrating that no one knows anything, or they seem to answer their own questions in other forums then disappear never to share the revelations (I would assume they gave up, but they usually post something signaling they have the hang of it, but for all I know they are at end game. I don't want to wait that long). I hate you can't have multiple saves on Xbox for this very type of issue. In any other game, I'd reload a save & not buy that skill. Since Ubi has to protect progress to increase probability of micro transaction purchases, the hardcore gamers get screwed.
It works, but as mentioned it takes several minutes for the game to verify and give you the xp bonus since it's impossible for the game to know when you've "stopped" infiltrating or attacking forts and enemies in an open world environment. If you fast travel, interact with an NPC for a quest, or exit to title screen, the game will know you've "stopped" and it will immediately give you the exp; you can tell by the audio cue and the xp meter glow just before the screen fades.
Ability: Stealth Kill Streak, costs 2 Ability Points to gain access to its feature
Requirement: Hidden Blade, if you're early game you'll get it later when you progress in the story more [Incapacitating your enemy does not count]
When do you get awarded: 3 minutes after your last Assassination [Exploit: pausing the game by pressing ESC or opening the character menu DOES keep track of the time, say I entered the ability screen and waited for 3+ minutes, when exiting the menu and entering the live game, you will be awarded your bonus for however many assassination kills you got without being detected]
Dawn and Dusk Ability: meditate and change the time of day, does NOT skip time to award your experience immediatey
DO NOT Fast Travel: fast traveling actually resets your kill streak and does not award you any experience for the kills you have obtained towards a kill streak
Tested when being spotted with a yellow bar, instantly paused the game waited 3 minutes exactly and unpaused, was awarded my experience before being spotted afterwards
Award Restrictions: must gain 2 or more [Hidden Blade] kills without being spotted, using anything other than the hidden blade WILL continue your streak but will not count towards the streak [Ex. getting 2 hidden blade kills then using a bow to kill the next enemy then another hidden blade kill, will only consist of 3 kill streak, since bow isn't a hidden blade but your streak still continues]
Exception to being spotted: if you're in a hidden location and the enemy you're assassinating responds to your attempt with a "red indicator" it becomes null indicator, your streak WILL remain in tact [Assassination Chain Kill has a flaw, it will nullify your streak if spotted by the second enemy right as you use it, if the red indicator shows up]
Animals and risk of losing your streak: don't do it, if you're on a ship even a large one with no enemies on board, during testing I was clearly hidden but a crocodile spotted me even though I wasn't in sight for them to see, take care of your surroundings if you risk waiting it out
What everyone wants to know mostly, [Is There A Limit of Kill Streak]: NO, there is actually no limit, at first the first few kills are inevitably small in terms of experience outcomes but the more you get, the more you are rewarded
Experience, very few tested but promising [bonuses given on 6th and 11th kill streaks only]
Experience Explanation: 1-5 kills 15xp accumulative 5th being 75xp, 6th becomes 120 and the increments become 20xp each until the 11th kill which becomes 330xp after which all experience gained afterwards is a max of 30 each kill for the streak, so if you got a 30 kill streak you'll end up with 900xp gained (19 kills x 30 = 570 + 330 from 11th = 900xp)
(added note: yes I know this is extremely late, but I got the game when it was on sale recently, and it's bugged me as much as it's bugged users on several different forums that I've tried to find info on, well I've saved a bunch of you some time and effort, even though late, at least it's explained as best as I could test it)
This was originally posted on the Steam Forums for the game, thought I'd post it here also so it can spread like wildfire