Playable rogue

[Onyxia2016]

Reaper viability comes with a lot of conditions.
Is it a 1st life character.
Does it have any tomes.
Does it have any armor and/or weapon sets.
Does it have any reaper point.
etc...

I would think a 1st life rouge with basic RNG gear, solo'ing R1 could be seen as not viable.
Now take that same level character and build with dozens of past lives, armor sets with max reaper bonuses and +8 supreme tome and a bunch of reaper point would be a completely different story.

Point is without known what all the build in question has going for it could very well not be viable.

 

[DDO Gaming]

Reaper viability comes with a lot of conditions.
Is it a 1st life character.
Does it have any tomes.
Does it have any armor and/or weapon sets.
Does it have any reaper point.
etc...

I would think a 1st life rouge with basic RNG gear, solo'ing R1 could be seen as not viable.
Now take that same level character and build with dozens of past lives, armor sets with max reaper bonuses and +8 supreme tome and a bunch of reaper point would be a completely different story.

Point is without known what all the build in question has going for it could very well not be viable.

All my characters are 1st life. I refuse to TR until I have a reaper-viable build. Harsh gaming experiences have taught me the vast gulf between elite and reaper means I need to create a reaper-build to have a viable character. And its a generic build with a +2 CHA tome so I gain access to scrolls slightly faster

 

[Archest]

I think its not your regular playing style until level 14 rather than if its playable before level 14. a bad build to play style or a lack of understanding the variance in enhancements for the rogue.

 

[Drunken.dx]

Color me surprised...

Word of advice: you're making a mistake refusing to TR.

Main advantage for reaper viable build are RP.

You're literally gimping your attempts at reaper builds.

You mentioned con issue, just few RP in certain reaper tree offsets that

 

[DDO Gaming]

Color me surprised...

Word of advice: you're making a mistake refusing to TR.

Main advantage for reaper viable build are RP.

You're literally gimping your attempts at reaper builds.

You mentioned con issue, just few RP in certain reaper tree offsets that

The CON issue resulted in me deciding on a gnome rogue on TR since that has +2 INT, +2 UMD and no CON issues. My deep gnome iconic wiz/rogue 3/12 is a more effective build

 

[Selvera]

It's been a while, but, is that insane CON limitation -2 which at level 12 is ... 12 hit points?

Yep that's the thing. Given any self respecting melee would have +25% HP at level 12, so it's 15 hit points, but reapers at that level hit for hundreds and high power melees have minimum 400 HP around level 12, that 15 HP is not that much.

 

[Cheeps]

Not sure what you have to do to make a rogue unplayable.

Take it up a notch and try death house on r4.

I've soloed death house on r8 using ranged rogue with stealth, just mind the reapers that can spawn and make sure you kill the required 10 mobs.

(yes, I've forgotten to kill the 10 mobs before and forfeit the reaper exp)

 

[kylstrem]

it's right in the description of Reaper level quests as "EXTREME CHALLENGE", but OP makes claim Rogue is unplayable with a 1st life rogue that based on other posts show he doesn't really understand how to play rogue.

People need to stop engaging with OP as there is not an argument or debate you will be able to win since OP is obviously not here to listen to advice, only to proclaim his own truth.

 

[Drunken.dx]

The CON issue resulted in me deciding on a gnome rogue on TR since that has +2 INT, +2 UMD and no CON issues. My deep gnome iconic wiz/rogue 3/12 is a more effective build

Gnome is fine choice.

UMD is great skill and best part about gnome is that first gnome racial gives +1 stacking UMD.

That's 5% higher chance to cast from scroll when you don't have enough UMD to no fail cast.

My barb has resurrected people with scrolls.

Barb with charisma as dump stat

 

[Coffey]

Not sure what you have to do to make a rogue unplayable.

Take it up a notch and try death house on r4.

I've soloed death house on r8 using ranged rogue with stealth, just mind the reapers that can spawn and make sure you kill the required 10 mobs.

(yes, I've forgotten to kill the 10 mobs before and forfeit the reaper exp)

Was that a 1st life character? That would be impressive.

 

[Cheeps]

Was that a 1st life character? That would be impressive.

It's knowing the game mechanics and stealth.

Basically what you can and cannot do in stealth and how the mobs act when you drop into and out of stealth.

And a reaper in the wrong place can ruin it all in that quest, of course.

 

[FaceDancer]

My very first DDO character was a rogue. Getting close to finally doing a second life for them (not in a hurry). I've been super happy with their capabilities. There are plenty of things I could/would probably go back and change (I have changed a few) in hindsight, but it has been an awesome character & class to play and learn with!

 

[DBZ]

Its a catch 22 you want the reaper power but you need the power to get the power you want the gear but you have to have to gear

Over and over and over again you either need a very specialized 1 trick pony build or you need to start grinding wheels

epls are the best bang for the buck destiny points are mandatory for all end game builds and epls all stack at level 1 making reaper a cake walk

 

[DBZ]

You can probably roll a first life warlock that can r5 heroics if thats all you want at level 12

 

[saekee]

It is true that assassins really don't come into their own until level 12. They are a glass cannon without the cannon until tier 5. Acrobats are much better off for leveling a melee rogue, especially if you have Elemental Bloom. Unless someone has good gear, it is better to go Mechanic or acrobat until level 12 (I go assassin all the way, just saying).
The change to Rapid Slash has given assassins a nice AoE attack.

The big change to playing an assassin for me comes in late epics in which I can use adrenaline strikes on isolated mobs, or in the midst of a party where everyone else is pulling aggro. Combine adrenaline with rapid slash or the other one from Fury while stealthed; it is like a second assassinate.

 

[owl]

The CON issue resulted in me deciding on a gnome rogue on TR since that has +2 INT, +2 UMD and no CON issues. My deep gnome iconic wiz/rogue 3/12 is a more effective build

One of the easiest leveling builds I ever had was an int-based gnome 20 rogue assassin using the racial greater color spray for cc to boost dps and reduce incoming damage. Just slot a cannith crafted illusion focus goggles (w/ insightful illusion at higher levels) and a spell point item and it will work amazing. High martial dps with cc is really nice. GCS works well for leveling but not so well at level cap, but at level cap assassins have great dps.

Alot of old school rogue techniques like setting traps, noisemakers, etc. are hardly used any more because it's not the fastest way to level. However, greater color spray gives a solution that won't slow you down.

I think the big power bumps for assassins come at 3 (goldcursed dagger), 7 (assassin's kiss weapon), 12 (tier 5 enh w/better crit profile) and 18 (2nd to last core for even a better crit profile). Staff builds and inquisitive type builds work well also.

As you go up in skulls rogue scales well due to dodge and the improved uncanny dodge which aren't penalized by skull like other forms of defense.

If you want to go iconic consider Shadar-Kai which has some really nice synergies with epic/legendary goldcursed dagger, although I personally think gnome is the best int based assassin.

 

[LurkingVeteran]

Is it rogue or just assassin that is weak at low levels though?

All sneak-attack builds are basically terrible solo until you can reliably trigger them, it's always been like this in D&D 3.5/DDO. Assassin in particular has little else until L12 at least. TA, Mech, Vistani, or Inq trees are stronger early on, just need to make sure you have some other source of healing.

That said, I suspect you could build a main assassin that is decent at low levels as well, but it will take a very specialized build / gear. Maybe Assassin's trick could have lower CD or something to make this easier. I'm not really up to date on rogue. I guess Rogue in 4th and 5th ed are a bit more solo friendly, so DDO could also move in that direction as it has started incorporating some elements from both.