Stealth Slam

The Stealth Slam, also known as Finishing Slam, is a move that Sly Cooper and Murray can use to stealthily take down enemies without alerting them. It was introduced in Sly 2: Band of Thieves, and has since appeared in Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. All playable members of the Cooper Clan in Thieves in Time have their own variation of the stealth slam.

To perform a stealth slam, the player must be near a guard's backside and press to juggle the guard and then press  while the opponent is still airborne for the actual slam. This defeats the guard instantly, but only works if the user has not been detected by the guard.

Uses
In the transition from Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus to Sly 2, the endurance of guards became much more resilient to the point that they can now take more hits before falling; guards were previously eliminated with one basic cane swipe. This necessitates the need for a stealth takedown move in order to efficiently eliminate enemies without alerting them. With this in mind, the Stealth Slam is highly recommended during jobs where getting spotted would lead to failure or when one wishes to avoid a fight. When encountering flashlight guards, it is preferable to perform Stealth Slams on them rather than fighting them head-on, due to them having generally high health and attack power, being capable of taking down Sly and his comrades in a short amount of time.

Variants
Note that these variants are performed with the same button combination.

Sly
Sly Cooper knocks a guard into the air with his cane, then uses the cane to slam them down to the ground behind him. This can draw the attention of any guards within earshot. This is his default Stealth Slam at the beginning of every game since Sly 2, and it will stay that way until he buys the Silent Obliteration move from ThiefNet. During Silent Obliteration, Sly will spin around the target to take them out quietly, thus ensuring no other guards will be alerted.

Murray
Murray's version is called the Roundhouse Punch. Murray knocks a guard into the air with an uppercut, spins once, and then punches them while they're still airborne, knocking them out instantly. This can draw the attention of any guards within earshot. Unlike Sly, Murray's Stealth Slam can be performed while in the middle of combat; however, he cannot do this while fighting flashlight guards or bosses (the former requires Murray to stealthily approach from behind). In Sly 3, flashlight guards are no longer knocked out instantly from the Roundhouse Punch, requiring three consecutive uses in order for them to be defeated. Murray cannot use the Roundhouse Punch in Thieves in Time.

Rioichi Cooper
Rioichi's version is called the Ninja Slam. Rioichi knocks a guard into the air with his cane, leaps into the air as the guard lands, splits his cane into two smaller canes with multiple shuriken attached and hurls the shuriken into their back with his twin canes.

"Tennessee Kid" Cooper
Tennessee's version is called the Quick Draw Slam. Tennessee knocks a guard into the air with his cane-gun, leaps into the air as the guard lands, and shoots them with his cane-gun.

Bob Cooper
Bob's version is called the Bonecrusher Slam. Bob pops a guard into the air with his bone club, waits for them to fall back to the ground, and then pounces on them with the club.

Sir Galleth Cooper
Galleth's version is called the Flesh Wound Slam. Galleth pops a guard into the air with his cane-lance, leaps into the air as the guard lands and then throws the cane-lance hook-first into their back.

Salim al-Kupar
Salim's version is called the Oh Snap Slam. Salim pops a guard into the air with his hand, levitates as the guard falls to the ground and snaps his fingers, which summons his magic lamp to dispatch them.

Equivalents
The following attacks are not Stealth Slams, but they can be used to the same effect. This section covers the characters that can use their other abilities to stealthily defeat enemies.

Bentley
Bentley has several ways he can defeat enemies stealthily.


 * From Sly 2 onward, Bentley's standard method of taking out enemies stealthily is by shooting them with his sleep darts, then dropping a bomb on them to take them out. Firing the dart can draw the attention of any guards near the point of impact even before Bentley can drop a bomb, making it risky to use when multiple guards are nearby. Unlike other stealth slams however, Bentley can perform this stealth attack when a guard is facing towards him, making it useful when there is no immediate or possible way to sneak around to a guard's backside.
 * In Thieves in Time, guards put to sleep using the Sleep Ammo power-up from ThiefNet (either via sleep darts or sleep bombs) can be defeated in one hit with any attack, eliminating the need to drop a bomb on them.
 * A second method in Sly 3 and Thieves in Time is to sneak up behind a guard, and hold to place a bomb in their pocket and have it explode (in the latter game, Bentley requires the power-up Bomb Blast v2.0 in order for this method to instantly defeat flashlight guards). Unlike when using sleep darts, this method will only attract the attention of guards upon the explosion of the bomb, allowing Bentley enough time to flee before any guards investigate. This makes it more in line with a "traditional" stealth attack.

Murray
In Thieves in Time, Murray cannot perform the Roundhouse Punch, and his uppercut attack has been replaced with a Spin Attack. However, he has an equivalent to compensate. While carrying guards (now done by pressing to stomp near them), Murray can slam them down to the ground by pressing, defeating them in one hit. Much like his previous Stealth Slam, he is required to approach stealthily from behind in order to perform this on flashlight guards.

Panda King
The Panda King's melee attack in Sly 3 (a fire-infused karate chop by pressing ) will burn and disintegrate opponents in one hit, similarly to Murray's Fists of Flame power-up. Like Murray, he can use this in the middle of combat.

Trivia

 * Prior to Sly 3, the Stealth Slam was never referred to by its official name.
 * In Sly 2, the Controls menu on the Pause Screen refers to the Stealth Slam as Juggle Slam.
 * Bentley called the Stealth Slam the "Sneak Attack Slam Move" during the job "Breaking and Entering."
 * The Stealth Slam was referred to by its official name in the instruction manual and the in-game Controls menu in Sly 3. None of the characters call the Stealth Slam by its name however.
 * In the job "I Smell a Rat" in Thieves in Time, Bentley referred to the Stealth Slam by its official name, making it the first time characters in-game referring to the technique by its original name.
 * Sly 2 is the only game that Sly can freely perform the initial hit of the Stealth Slam (an upward cane swing referred to as Juggle by pressing ) at any time, even while in combat or if there are no enemies nearby.
 * Some power-ups in Sly 2 and Sly 3 that can defeat guards in one hit can be used as rudimentary alternatives to Stealth Slams.
 * In Sly 2, Sly can use Voltage Attack or Lightning Spin to eliminate guards instantly. Compared to his default Stealth Slam, it draws attention to nearby guards from a much shorter range and is significantly faster. This can serve as a faster and "silent" alternative to his Stealth Slam prior to acquiring Silent Obliteration.
 * In Sly 3, he can use the Jump Attack instead. However, it is much more tedious since pressing to charge Sly's cane cannot be performed while in a stealth stance.
 * All rooftop guards can be defeated in one hit with a level 2 or 3 Jump Attack. Strangely, a level 1 Jump Attack can instantly defeat flashlight guards in Yuendumu, Kinderdijk, and Blood Bath Bay, while the flashlight guards in Venice and China will take normal damage. For reasons unknown, Jump Attack levels 2 and 3 have no effect against any flashlight guards.
 * Bentley can use Health Extractor to dispatch guards from a safe distance, an alternative to firing his sleep darts, which could draw attention towards him when fired. Throwing the Reduction Bomb into enemy pockets in Sly 3 will have the same effect as a regular bomb, with the added bonus of shrinking nearby guards caught in the blast radius. In Sly 3, the Trigger Bomb is now strong enough to defeat any guard in one hit.
 * Murray can use Fists of Flame, Raging Inferno Flop, or Diablo Fire Slam on unaware opponents, causing them to burn and disintegrate instantly. Similarly to Sly, it draws attention from a shorter range than his standard Stealth Slam. It can be useful against flashlight guards in Sly 3 since they cannot be instantly defeated with a single Roundhouse Punch.
 * In Sly 2 and 3, the Stealth Slam can be performed on a dazed guard. This is no longer possible as of Thieves in Time.
 * Whenever a Cooper ancestor performs the Stealth Slam, there is a slow-motion effect between the preparation for the final blow and the final blow itself. Also, unlike other Stealth Slams, nearby guards don't appear to hear the finishing attack.
 * Salim is the only Cooper whose Stealth Slam does not involve the use of his cane, including the initial pop-up attack.
 * Sly performs this move on one of the mutant elephant guards in the intro of Sly 3.