Loccke's Rogue Guide

[GuitarHero]

The first thing i have to state is this. This guide is intended for pure or mostly pure rogues. While i have nothing against splash rogues, there are far too many types for me to cover in this simple guide. And if you have any arguements, feel free to write your own. If you don't like my advice, don't use my advice.

Now, that being said, unlike most classes that have to focus in one direction, a rogue really can have it all! With a little hardwork and careful consideration, you can really reach your full potential.

Ability Scores
To start, we have to do the basics. Stats, or attribute scores, should be weighed carefully. There are no "dump stats" in the rogue profession.

Strength: This doesn't have to be sky high, but at least a 10. Face it, some times you aren't going to get your sneak attack, and you need SOMETHING for damage. Personally, i'd say 10 and rely on items if you want it further.
Dexterity: This can't be overstated. Likely you're going to be using finessable weapons, and taking the Weapon Finesse Feat, and every point of dexterity adds to your attack. This is especially true of halfling/elf/drow rogues and their racial enhancements. It also helps you dodge out of the way of some very painful circumstances sometimes
Constitution: A good solid con score is pretty important. More hitpoints and fort saves help shore up a couple of major weaknesses for rogues. With even a lowly 12 con, you can get an 18 by end game easily enough!
Intelligence: Skills Skills Skills!!! The more intelligent you are, the better your searching and disabling will be!
Wisdom: Ah yes, the other achilles heel of the rogue, the dreaded will save. With the upcoming Slippery Mind ability, your will save can now be useful. Try to shore this score up with items, especially if you don't put starting stats in it, though i recommend at least a 10 to start.
Charisma: Every self-sufficient rogue needs UMD (Use Magic Device). The more charismatic you are, the more self-sufficient you are!

Skills
Your skills are pretty much preordained, unfortunately. Every rogue needs some stealth and trapsmithing ability. Also, tumble and UMD are very important as well. Given the limited selection of skills, and the vast number of skill points you will recieve, this shouldn't be a problem. And though it is often overlooked, spot is a valuable addition to your abilities.

Gear
Equipment almost defines a rogue. You should strive to have the best skill boosting items you can find/loot/buy. If you are new, or just plain broke, find a fellow friendly rogue. We often have gear to pass down. On that note, it is common for rogues to wear RR (Race Required) gear, so make sure your UMD is up to snuff. The reason for this is simple. RR gear can be worn 2 levels earlier than normal, so your 11th level rogue can wear +13 search goggles, giving you an advantage to the 11th level rogue who is stuck wearing +11 search goggles that aren't RR. This holds true for many weapons and armor, as well.
On that note, a rogue should carry wands and scrolls. Personally, i find Raise Dead scrolls invaluable, though somewhat unweildy. However, Stoneskin scrolls are relatively cheap, easy to use, and give you effectively +70 HP! Wands of Remove _______ such as blindness, poison, curse, and disease are also good investments. In the heat of battle, its hard for a cleric to get rid of that mummy rot. When you can take care of it yourself, without much delay, you're strengthening the party as a whole. Also, a wand of Cure ______ Wounds is much cheaper than 50 Potions of Cure _______ Wounds! Keep a few potions handy for emergencies, since they are quicker, and don't fail, but for the bulk of your self healing, use your wands.

Enhancements
For the most part, enhancements will greatly vary. However, you should invest signfigantly in the search enhancements, and to a lesser degree the other trapsmithing enhancements. For further detail on specifics, feel free to direct any questions to me in a PM, email, or in-game.

Playstyle
Two of the biggest concerns you hear about rogues are: A) they are only good for traps, and nothing else; and B) they get too much aggro in combat, and die too quickly. This is chiefly due not to a weakness in the class, but a weakness in the player. You, as a rogue, must learn restraint. Why charge into battle ahead of everyone? So you can get first swing, and never get a sneak attack? Hold back a moment, and then unleash hell. Don't strike to hurt, make sure when you enter combat, nothing survives long enough to strike back. Don't attack every monster in a crowd. Hit one, but hit him well. And as always, stoneskin, blur, and self healing go a long way!
BUT, if you are only good for traps, then you might as well still be carrying your starter weapons. You chose that role, it is not forced upon you. While your standing in back waiting for the next trap, the real hero rogue is feeding some poor orc a taste of true steel!

[GuitarHero]

Basic Guide to the Mechanic Rogue
A rogue following the way of the mechanic has much to offer. There are no traps that they cannot undo. There are no secrets that they cannot reveal. (Hm, sidetrack. Why do reveal and unveal mean the same thing?) They are highly specialized in the trapsmithing arts, but suffer in other respects. Though this may seem to be tantalizing at first, I don't personally recommend this path. You can be a perfectly viable trapsmith without focusing so strictly on it. However, i will offer some advice for those gluttons for punishment.


Attributes
The mechanic focuses more on intellegence than other rogues. Dexterity is still important, as is constitution, since sometimes you have to move through or stand in a trap to disable it. Charisma is still important for self healing, but wisdom and strength are less so than normal.


Skills
Given the broad scope of rogue skills, this is relatively unchanged.


Gear
Your gear reflects upon you strongly. You must make great strives to have the best skill boosting gear available. Also, your weapons should be more statistic inducing or attribute reducing in nature, over standard damage dealing. As you are less focused on combat, and thus less able to manage and survive aggro, damage dealing weapons may not be in your best interest.


Enhancements
Of course, your enhancements should reflect your mechanic outlook. This leaves little room for much else, however. Your remaining skill points not devoted towards trapsmithing should be directed towards aggro management.


Playstyle
As you are less combat inclined, you must be very careful about selecting your targets. Make sure you select the softer targets, as these are less likely to return the attack after a good volly of sneak attacks. Avoid heavy hitters or fortified foes if at all possible, or at the very least, wait until their aggro is secured by a more capable combatant.

[GuitarHero]

A Guide to the Assassin Rogue
The assassin rogue is your thuggish heavy hitter. With the right choice of weapons, spells and enhancements, the assassin can expect to hit for almost 100 points of damage per hit regularly, and with the addition of two weapon fighting, can fell a foe is moments. This is a very powerful style of play, but it is not without its own risks.


Attributes
Assassins need a strong set of stats to survive. Strength, again, can be a 10 with little problem, as you are relying mainly on your sneak attack for damage. Dexterity and intelligence are important as well, otherwise the assassin is just a fighter with backstab. You must not forsake your trapsmithing, as it is still a viable option even for the non-trapmonkey. Wisdom is fairly important, to prevent you from being neutralized by enemy spellcasters easily, especially with the upcoming Slippery Mind ability. And of course, charisma adds to your independence and makes you less reliant, as well as making you less of a liability to your party members.


Skills
Again, skills are relatively unchanged, but attention should be placed on jump and tumble, as well as diplomacy/bluff. As always, UMD helps survivability.


Gear
Ah yes, the assassin's cloak, full of all sorts of knives and swords. You will probably be carrying more weapons that the fighter and barbarian combined, especially if you dual wield, which i highly recommend. You will have a weapon set for every enemy, in order to maximize the damage you deal in a short time. Remember, though, that you must have restraint, to prevent the enemy from realizing the true threat you are.


Enhancements
Of course, many of your enhancements are dictated by your path, but some attention should nominally be placed on trapsmithing enhancements. Subtle backstabber cannot be overstated. Every rank of it adds to your ability to sneak attack longer, and thus adds to your overall effectiveness.


Playstyle
Patience, young one. You are the elite, the special tactic. Allow the grunts to engage the enemy first. Let them have their few moments of glory. Then leap over the crowd, whirl around and unleash the torrent of hell in the form of your fury of metal on flesh. As you hear the first few bodies hit the floor, and your enemy turn to see what happened, leap back over the crowd to secure yourself against retort. Once they've forgotten their grievance against you, leap back into the fray again to remind them of their place in the world. And don't forget to self-heal/self-buff when applicable.

[GuitarHero]

I haven't played with the acrobat line, so i can't make a valid suggestion on these lines, but from the bonuses and whatnot, it doesn't seem to offer very much, other than the ability to jump higher (Jump caps out at 40 anyway) and tumble better (think its what, 35 that gives you frontflip, then after that no benefit?) Perhaps some day i shall try this line out, but until then, I can't offer any true insight on it.

[GuitarHero]

a few other notes:

Dual Wielding: Two Weapon fighting may seem enticing at first, but resist the urge. Pick up a magical light shield or buckler, or a mithril heavy shield. You'll suffer no penalties when using it. Once you get around level 6+, you can go ahead and dual wield. But for those first 6 levels, a shield is vital to your survivability.

Other Resources: So i don't have to parrot someone elses advice, here's a link to a great guide. http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=51829
http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=124401

[Mercules]

Magical (or even Masterwork) Light Shields have no penalty to skills.

Mithral Heavy Shields do not either but something most people don't realize is that Darkwood also has this effect. Darkwood shields can often be bought inexpensively off the Auction House or from a vendor since people don't think about this aspect of it.

Thieves Tools can be found with various bonuses. If you can't find a better DD or OL item you can often make up for it with better tools. You can gain access to better tools you can purchase with Free Agent favor. The first level gives you access to +2s and the second +4s. You can also find them in chests(this is where I get most of mine) or buy a few from the AH to get you started.

Mithral Breastplate. If you decided to not go with Heavy Dexterity(there are a few nice builds that don't) a Mithral Breastplate can offer solid AC without removing your Evasion ability. They are not cheap(well, the lower level ones sometimes are, but not +5 ones)

Potions:
Barkskin - AC bonus to make you less squishy that time you do attract attention
Shield of Faith - See Barkskin, it stacks
Heroism - Lifesaver when you can't seem to find a trap
REMOVE CURSE - Um... -4 to all your skills is very bad for a Rogue

Wands:
Anything you can UMD and have room for. Seriously. I've helped back up heal, kept WF alive by my lonesome, thrown down a handy Melf's to deal with something our melee crew was having problems hitting. You name it. CxW wands are very hand but Resist wands can be useful, especially the higher level ones. Lesser Restoration can be a godsend.

Scrolls:
They were mentioned but if you have issues with Search the Divine 2nd level spell, Find Traps, can add a +1 that stacks with most things.

Clickies:
My Rogue uses two over and over.
Heroism - Cheaper than potions and arcane might be out of SPs
Divine Power - Full BAB and +6 to Str. If you don't have a +6 Str item(or a spare slot for it) this helps out a lot in combat.

[GuitarHero]

Originally Posted by Mercules

Mithral Heavy Shields do not either but something most people don't realize is that Darkwood also has this effect. Darkwood shields can often be bought inexpensively off the Auction House or from a vendor since people don't think about this aspect of it.

aye, i mentioned mithral heavy though for that nifty bound one at the end of WW. For a rogue, that one is keen and will serve for quite a while before needing an upgrade.

[CSFurious]

way of acrobat lets you have additonal uses of your uncanny dodge which helps out a lot during big fights

Originally Posted by GuitarHero

I haven't played with the acrobat line, so i can't make a valid suggestion on these lines, but from the bonuses and whatnot, it doesn't seem to offer very much, other than the ability to jump higher (Jump caps out at 40 anyway) and tumble better (think its what, 35 that gives you frontflip, then after that no benefit?) Perhaps some day i shall try this line out, but until then, I can't offer any true insight on it.

[tenga]

in any rogue i ever make, and i'm sure theres going to be alot of people against this, i usually put a couple lvls of ranger into it. with only 2 lvl of rng, you get twf, favored enemy bonus, rapid shot, and can use up to cure ser. wands without und usage (also remove disease, and neutralize poison wands). rangers also get a good amount of skillups at lvl (second only to rogue) so you won't really fall far from capping skills.

[Shyver]

Originally Posted by GuitarHero

Skills
Also, tumble and UMD are very important as well. Given the limited selection of skills, and the vast number of skill points you will recieve, this shouldn't be a problem. And though it is often overlooked, spot is a valuable addition to your abilities.

Tumble is only useful if you have the mobility feat. You only recieve the +4 AC with the feat. Other than that it's helpful in the Reaver raid. Personaly, depending on how many skill points per level, your better off putting the points into something else.

Other than that it's a pretty decent little guide. However, it should be stated that the guide is geared more towards Dex based builds and a lot of the advice wouldn't hold true for a Str. based rogue build. Investing heavily into skills with your attributes and enhancements is a double edged sword. There is a "dead" zone between the cabal trap and everything else. If your going for the skills to get that then go all the way. If your not going to be able to hit it or don't care about hitting it then be careful not to waste points into skills that will be caught in the void in between.

[Hvymetal]

Originally Posted by Shyver

Tumble is only useful if you have the mobility feat. You only recieve the +4 AC with the feat. Other than that it's helpful in the Reaver raid. Personaly, depending on how many skill points per level, your better off putting the points into something else.

Personally seeing as skill points usually aren't an issue with my Rogues I like having a highish tumble, of course I also enjoy running around sans a FF item to save space also.....

[bandyman1]

Originally Posted by Shyver

Tumble is only useful if you have the mobility feat. You only recieve the +4 AC with the feat. Other than that it's helpful in the Reaver raid. Personaly, depending on how many skill points per level, your better off putting the points into something else.

Other than that it's a pretty decent little guide. However, it should be stated that the guide is geared more towards Dex based builds and a lot of the advice wouldn't hold true for a Str. based rogue build. Investing heavily into skills with your attributes and enhancements is a double edged sword. There is a "dead" zone between the cabal trap and everything else. If your going for the skills to get that then go all the way. If your not going to be able to hit it or don't care about hitting it then be careful not to waste points into skills that will be caught in the void in between.

Tumble is also an excellent means to dodge spell rays. It's faster than straffing ( assuming your skilled with it ), and once you are at the level where you somersault, it gets faster.

[GuitarHero]

Also, to end any controversy on the subject, when I refer to the rogue specialties, and how they affect your character, i do not mean the specialties themselves, but the style that they lend themselves to. True, a mechanic rogue can take enhancements that would increase their DPS and whatnot, and an assassin can take enhancements to improve their acrobatics, etc. I mearly reference the archtypes, and simplify them by calling them by the specialty name.

To explain:

Assassin: Any rogue specializing in DPS, with a minor focus on mobility and traps.
Mechanic: Any rogue specializing in traps, with a minor focus on DPS and mobility.
Acrobat: Any rogue specializing in mobility, with a minor focus in DPS and traps.

Any of these specializations can mix and match their abilities to meet their needs, but i simply refer to them as such for gross simplification. Neither myself nor anyone of reason could possibly write a guide that addresses every possible combination, and still have it readable to the common player.

[GuitarHero]

Well, my friends, it seems my time here in Stormreach is drawing to a close. My ship sets sail for new horizons at the end of this month, but its not because anyone has done any wrong. I simply desire adventure in new forms. But in that, I will be unable to maintain my work here at the rogue acadamy. I've asked my fellow instructor, Rameses, to take up my work, and he has agreed. So as far as this guide is concerned, his is now the official word, and i thank you for your support on the subject one and all. It was a fun time, and I hope you learned a lot about being a rogue, or at least learned a little something that you didn't know before.

[Hvymetal]

Take care and safe adventures, and may your mark never catch your hand on his purse

[Rameses]

I can't begin to explain the honor that it is to be asked to continue the work of another.
I will try my best to do Guitarhero's work proud.

-Rameses!

[Rkik_Dnec]

What about feats?

What are good level 1 feats for a Rogue? I want to make a dwarf, so I was thinking Toughness, but I don't know if it would be worth it. If I splash Ranger, then I really don't need to be taking the TWF feat at the beginning. Is Nimble Fingers worth it if I want to better my trap disabling skill? What other ones are worth taking? I'm having a tough time finding something worthwhile.

[GuitarHero]

Toughness is definately worth a go for the melee rogue, and even more so for the dwarven melee rogue. The rogue i just got to level 6 took toughness at 1, weapon finesse at 3, and two weapon fighting at 6. As usual, i recommend waiting until at least level 6 before taking TWF, because before then, you don't have enough aggro management tools to really have the survivablity. Obviously if you are STR based, you'd skip the weapon finesse, but if that were the case, perhaps a weapon focus in whatever type of weapon you plan on specializing in. But though my rogues aren't dwarves, they all still have the toughness feat.

Of course, its worth mentioning again, the +2 mithril heavy shield that is sometimes offered as a WW reward is a good shield for a rogue. It has no armor check penalty, and its a total +4 shield bonus. If you don't already have several mithril heavy shields, this will serve you for quite some time, long after you've picked up TWF. Of course, if you use a light shield or buckler, as long as it is at least masterwork, it has no penalties either.

[Vyctor]

At 1st level I took Skill Focus: UMD and have not regretted it one bit. The lack of UMD boosting items makes this feat invaluable for self-sufficiency.

[Lewcipher]

Originally Posted by GuitarHero

Basic Guide to the Mechanic Rogue
A rogue following the way of the mechanic has much to offer. There are no traps that they cannot undo. There are no secrets that they cannot reveal. (Hm, sidetrack. Why do reveal and unveal mean the same thing?) They are highly specialized in the trapsmithing arts, but suffer in other respects. Though this may seem to be tantalizing at first, I don't personally recommend this path. You can be a perfectly viable trapsmith without focusing so strictly on it. However, i will offer some advice for those gluttons for punishment.

LOL FYI Guitar, it's unveil. Like a veil of secrecy.