Drath

A little offtopic but sometimes I think if you wanna play this game for dialogue options, a tank PC might be a good idea. Go high on Resolve, a good deal of Perception, some Int as well. Don't really need Might or Dex that much for a tank. A good number of the Might choices just earn Aggressive rep and for physical stuff, you can probably get around it with a prybar/hammer and chisel/rope and grappling hook. Ok maybe I'm just feeling a little sad about killing those villagers. Don't really get that many extra dialogue options with Per 12, Int 12, Res 9 (yes I dumped Resolve on my rogue because it looked too much like Charisma ) P/S - Then again, can't reason my way through = fight = more loot. Maybe its not so bad

Have a look at http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/72272-combat-mechanics-attack-speed-recovery/?p=1627173 Thanks AlphaMagnum So in your case: Final damage = (Base (Pre-DR) Sword Damage - Slash DR ) + (Lash Damage (Fire) - modified Fire DR ) Where Lash Damage (Fire) is 25% of Base (Pre-DR) Sword Damage and modified Fire DR is 25% of the opponent's Fire DR As you can see from the equation, elemental type DR does matter and Flaming Lash is a good choice Vs mobs weak to fire (have low Fire DR) P/S - In your post above you used post DR values (should be pre DR) for Lash Damage and didn't factor in modified elemental DR

Just a quick note that personally I found the game a good deal easier once I had more party members. You can pick up Aloth and Eder in Gilded Vale and get an additional hireling (if desired) from the inn to beef up the party. You won't get another tank companion for some time so IMHO its a good idea to focus on Deflection for Eder and build up his defence via abilities and talents as much as you can (assuming your character isn't a tank and you didn't get a hireling tank from the inn). Put him in front with your best shield and armor to tie up opponents/get their attention while your other lightly armored party members do damage.

Yea, during my playthrough I didn't find many belts, helms and boots either during Act 1 and 2. Assuming you don't buy any from vendors, not every party member is going to be equipped with one. Didn't really bother me though, I'm fine with some slots being harder to find. The first really strong (pun not intended ) belt I got was As for helms, I picked up a few Stag Helms later on. Regarding blunderbusses, I'm also generally fine with firearms being rare, considering the general level of technology in Eora and Dyrwood, during that period. I believe I didn't pick up any at all until really late into Act 2. Might have been a random one from a crate.

Yea it could have been written a little better as you've stated. I also thought you were meant to use the affidavit as a bargaining chip, which would have made a little more sense. Didn't like the "hand over the affidavit meekly" part at all. But I guess from the dev's point of view, they wanted to make Penhelm attack the player in most cases. No bargains, just taking things by force. Tried to get out of it but was forced to kill them during my playthrough. Welp more loot for me and plate sells well No drop in reputation with the Knights as far as I could tell. I did see a Crucible Knight say something to the effect of "I can't believe Penhelm attacked you" in the duc's palace, when I tried talking to them. Other than that, didn't notice any changes. I tried handing over the affidavit on a replay and to be honest I would have picked the wrong choice and failed the quest if I didn't know better. P/S - During my playthrough I took the affidavit and never mentioned the breastplate to Penhelm. Didn't want to arouse his suspicions. Well he showed up all the same

Yea, I blame Drizzt and WoW Rogues. But mostly Drizzt :tongue: That's also why scimitars sabres are one of the most damaging weapons in-game. Also this thread needs a group hug... xD

I just did, few minutes ago. Worked pretty well, actually. Just murdered him inside the keep and the bad reputation was gone. Beautiful. Thank you for the inspiration. Nice to know and thanks for testing. I got Durance to escort some schmuck off the premises and he took 5 days to finish it. If I'd known the above was possible, I would have paid the guy a visit on my next trip back to the Stronghold and gotten some free loot off him

While Dual wield generally still works out to having a bit more dps, you can probably make a separate case for Spell Striking weapons. Getting Jolting Touch from Azureith's Stiletto to proc reliably once every encounter, requires a decent crit rate. So wielding only 1 single handed weapon for +12 Accuracy and having that weapon strike every time instead of alternating between 2 weapons in Dual Wield mode, helps considerably in improving the odds that the proc occurs, especially in shorter battles. As the damage from Jolting Touch is very significant, and weapons can be further enchanted to extend their usefulness in late game, I would not be surprised if one handed weapon builds with Spell Striking can be competitive in a good number of situations (assuming that's the only Spell Striking weapon you get).

Was going to give it 1/10 but since so many more people did actually bite reply, I'll upgrade it to 2/10 Bit of a necro at that too. On the unlikely off case that it isn't, well you guys have already taken the words out of my mouth, so I'm just gonna give the nod and thumbsup

Well I did say that a few additional unique items at the endgame stage would provide flavor. I'm not sure if adding unique and powerful items at L1 or an early stage of the game would serve balance well. So yea, I'm generally quite satisfied with current itemization. As for the Ring of Wizardry, you can pick up a fairly similar ring that gives you additional spells as well in PoE. Ring of the Selonan (+2 L1 spells, +2 L3 spells) is a fixed drop in Pearlwood Bluff. Admittedly you won't be getting there at L1. L7-8 is likely and doable though, which is where I think a ring of such power should be placed. Of course if you're willing to shell out some cash, you can also get Telda's Ring (+2 L2 spells, +1 L4 spells) from a vendor in Defiance Bay. Its fine that DnD gives out these rings sooner, but I don't think it necessary for PoE to adhere to DnD itemization patterns that slavishly. Ditto for items/spells which set Dex or Str to a certain figure (Strength of One comes to mind, when you mentioned the Gauntlets of Dexterity, which had the potential to be pretty imbalancing with a particular party setup). Once again I'd like to reiterate that I do feel a few more uniques with a distinct bonus/buff or even a malus would add some color to itemization but generally I don't see it as a big issue, nor do I think it should be done much at low levels as I would prefer not to upset the balance for earlier battles.

Indeed. As the to-hit roll is represented by a d100 roll in PoE rather than d20, we can multiply DnD figures by a factor of 5 in general, which would give added Accuracy/to-hit by 5, 10, 15 for +1, +2, +3 3.5e DnD weapons respectively. In PoE we have Fine, Exceptional and Superb adding 4, 8, 12 Accuracy, which is a bit less but fairly close. As compensation, damage from better quality PoE weapons stands at x1.15, x1.30, x1.45, which definitely looks better than DnDs corresponding +1 to +3 weapon damage bonus. Endurance in PoE is also noticeably higher than hps in DnD though so I think it probably works out to about the same in the end. If people were fine with loot in BG1 being +1s, +2s, ditto for ToEE, another fairly low level module, it stands to reason that weapons in PoE should be generally fine as well. When we get that expansion for PoE and if it features characters at L12-20, then loot comparisons with BG2 would be more apt. As for figurines, I think those are a different issue. They are tremendously powerful, though if you restrict yourself to fewer rests, they'd feel a little less out of place, power-wise. I'm not sure if I'd nerf them too much though, as people who want to solo the game might find it problematic then.

Another PoE review from RPG Codex is out, this time by Decado. Thoughts? Personally I prefer this one compared to the previous one by Darth Roxor. Not saying that the old one was garbage, it did make a good number of fair points and observations, but I felt that his conclusions were mostly hyperbole. The current review gives what I feel, more of a fair shake on various game aspects. I would have preferred that he finished the game on PotD as well for a more rounded feel of things. I agree with his observation that spells that affect attributes don't seem very useful compared to spells that inflict direct damage and disabling afflictions (Paralyze, Prone, etc). I don't think the loot needs to be too impressive for the sake of balance though. PoE is largely low-mid level if using DnD adventures/modules as a comparison and looking at the enchanting system, it is evident that the devs intended for higher level enchants to be spaced out evenly and available at later levels. A Monty Haul campaign would certainly disrupt this scheme. A few added weapons/armor with unique capabilities that no other item has could be nice to spice up the endgame, though.

Not sure how I feel about Reinforcing Exhortation being +25 Deflection instead of +15. +25 is a ton of defence for a considerable time frame. Feels a little overpowered to be honest. Lay on Hands from once to twice per encounter with increased base healing per tick, would make a Ranger's Animal Companion capable of solo tanking most encounters provided you have a small enough chokepoint. The idea is to have a Paladin with some support capabilities, not be better at per encounter healing compared to the Priest. The Paladin is already a decent tank with good initial burst from Flames of Devotion so IMHO this buff for Lay on Hands feels excessive. Would probably also tone down the Flames of Devotion Accuracy bonus to +10. The other stuff like adding a bit of bonus Graze to Hit to Zealous Focus, having all Exhortations recover immediately and aura size modifications are all fair tweaks. I'd like to see enemies pursuing the party as a group and the "walking back slowly" part once they are outdistanced really needs to go. As it is, the game is not terribly hard (as long the horrible pathfinding doesn't do a number on you). I don't think we need more class buffs to trivialize things further.

You can get it from regular Animats (not Adra Animat), which you can find in Ondra's Gift (Defiance Bay) and the 2nd level of Cliaban Rilag amongst other places. I didn't have much Binding Copper before doing either of those places and had a good deal after I finished Cliaban Rilag.

Honestly, I think that one needs to take at least one accuracy enhancing talent, whether it's a weapon focus or marksman. I agree and have suggested the same thing, i.e. taking Marksman over a WF for a character that's going to be almost entirely focused on ranged combat, because it wouldn't feel like you've been limited to a single WF group's weapons. And regarding ciphers, since you need to get hits to generate focus points, you need accuracy to get those hits, so IMO picking Marksman or a WF seems rather necessary to me. I also like taking the in-class talent that increases the amount of focus you get from the damage you do, since that increases the speed that you gain focus. I would like to think there should be room enough for both. Biting Whip and Draining Whip are standard picks for dps and focus. Greater Focus is also almost a must have in 1.05 as well. Incidentally that's what Grieving Mother starts off with as well, so no wasted talents there. And yes I know you can change the skills, abilities and talents of companions manually in 1.05 by not ticking autolevel. I started my first playthrough back in 1.04 though and generally felt I would try to make do with what the devs intended in terms of abilities/talents (within reason of course, wouldn't want something too gimped, yes that refers to Bear's Fortitude for Durance lol; I guess that's one reason why I don't play him much ). Anyway the other Cipher specific talents are a lot more situational. That leaves 3 more talents. I've made Grieving Mother more or less ranged focussed, and Ciphers should be offensively specced (more so if ranged, as there's less chance to get hit by the enemy), so one could go with Marksman and [Weapon Focus of choice] and still have an extra slot for something else, maybe Penetrating Shot or Gunner (if using firearms) or some Slayer talent.

Damn I'll have to replay that part again then just to hear Eder say it, maybe give him a brofist when he says that Too bad I subbed Durance out for Pallegina just before the tower. Wanted another tank, not dead weight once spells expended. P/S - But seriously its nice to revisit scenes with different characters if only to hear what they have to say. At the animancy hearing, Aloth and Pallegina were fairly vocal, followed by Grieving Mother. The rest not so much. Its nice to see where they stand on things even if it has no real impact in the game. Oh yea Durance didn't say a thing then, but he did make some sarcastic remarks about the Watcher in the aftermath of it. Typical, wouldn't expect any different from him.

A priest who can't heal Health and says crap every time someone goes down is about as jarring as a doctor who didn't manage to treat someone effectively in his/her care and makes a sarcastic joke about it. Another equivalent would be when asked to go to battle, instead of moving to the frontlines, Eder stays put and says "Welp that's a lot of spiders there, and you know how I feel about poison. Tell you what, send the priest instead while I go make myself a sandwich. Pretty sure you guys can handle it " ...except of course that doesn't happen. Honestly I'm surprised Durance doesn't get a 2/3rds majority of the vote. P/S - I'll take hot, steaming mind-love over rabid insanity anytime

Least liked was Durance for me. Couldn't stand his horrible acerbic personality. He might be pretty well written dialogue wise (I found the amount of text, a tad heavy though) but saying dumb things about party members when they're knocked out from a hit is pretty much a no-no for me. Gameplay wise, I never felt like I needed a priest in the game. I got him early on hoping that he would be able to provide some healing for the party (1st playthrough, starting off blind with no idea of health/endurance mechanics) and was rather disappointed when I found out he could only heal endurance and not health. Didn't really need that as Eder has Constant Recovery to help keep himself up. Generally I felt that if the other party members were getting hit consistently enough, there was probably something I could have done better in that fight anyhow, or should come back to it at a later date. As I try to minimize my rests, a class needing them doesn't suit my playstyle. His early spells are nice to have, but nothing game changing and in most cases I couldn't really tell if I would have gotten out of a battle in significantly better shape if he had expended a few of them. Aside from Priests having both bad base Deflection and Accuracy, Durance is also saddled with horrible Dex on top of that, so he wasn't impressive at low levels as a heavy armor offtank, a 2nd line reach weapon user or even a ranged combatant. His functionality certainly improved at L9 but by then I had enough of his prattling that I didn't really care. A Paladin or Chanter could provide needed support in his place. My favorite was Eder. Happy-go-lucky, humorous, can-do attitude. I liked his party banter: stroking Itumaak, buying a drink for Iselmyr, etc. Gameplay wise, you'll be needing some sort of tank in-game and Eder's a solid one, make no mistake, while still doing a reasonable amount of damage. I think it's not that people dislike Kana. I also thought that he was generally likeable. However, I think the biggest flaw about Kana is that rarely anyone ever picks him up to have in the party. Because Chanters more or less only matter in PotD (and only few people play at this difficulty setting) - and even then, their contribution is up to debate. So he suffers from bad mechanics just aswell as Pallegina. Same here. I didn't dislike him. I thought his comments rather amusing at times. I can't say his portrait or his character model appeals to me though. Shades of the Na'vi race from Avatar (movie) but rendered in a way that didn't strike me. I brought him along as a party member for a good while too and he was pulling his own weight, especially in longer battles where invocations came into play. But I needed to make way for a cipher in Grieving Mother (best class to pair up with a Rogue main IMHO), needed Aloth for AoE, Eder was mandatory for tanking, Sagani was solid for dps while also providing a pet to tank with, and I had just picked up Pallegina... so someone had to go

I like the idea of balanced parties as well myself. On PotD, my picks for tanks are Fighters and Paladins. Tanks for me need to be Deflection oriented characters as in able to make a good number incoming blows misses or grazes. The classes that have abilities and talents which improve Deflection are Fighters and Paladins, with Fighters being better at holding multiple enemies at once and Paladin having some support capabilities. If the definition of a tank/offtank is someone who can take a few blows, then I guess Chanters qualify as well, and so would a Ranger's pet, but IMHO, no where near the effectiveness of a Fighter/Paladin. Agree that on open ground fights, it would be nice to have 2 tanks. Agreed on Priests and Chanters as support. I would add Paladin to this as well. Liberating Exhortation is useful to get out of debuffs temporarily, getting a squishier party member unstuck can mean moving away in time. Reinforcing Exhortation is great on tanks for +15 Deflection. Flames of Devotion can make for good initial burst damage when coupled with a high damage ranged weapon, though admittedly their damage tends to fall off soon after and they're probably more effective in a tanking role. Lastly Paladins can supply significant heals to tanks and tanking pets via Lay on Hands, once every encounter. The Paladin doesn't really have spells, but his/her abilities and customizable auras (ie Zealous Focus + Critical Focus - is a nice dps support aura for the whole party) make for a constant, reliable support class in addition to tanking roles. A good number of classes can supply debuffs and disabling afflictions for crowd control. The Wizard probably has the widest selection, from early game favorites like Slicken and Chill Fog to a late game petrifying spell, but needs rest to renew his arsenal. The Cipher's Mental Binding is a signature disabling power spammable every encounter and great for many battles. Even the Fighter (Knockdown, Clear Out), Cleric (Halt, Pillar of Faith) can chip in to lessen incoming damage and while the Rogue doesn't have a disabling affliction, Blinding Strike is still a good debuffing move to have on hand, usable every encounter. For dps, Wizards and Druids are great for those big fights where you're making use of a good number of spells to turn the tide. I think they really come into their own at L9 and above, though they're reasonable dpsers at any level. If you're not resting often, I find Rogues (single target dps) and Ciphers (flexible multiple target dps and crowd control) the workhorses which take care of most mid-sized encounters without expending resources. The Barbarian's Carnage is a blast to use on massed enemies.

For me it's not just about how good a weapon is. It's also about where it is placed in the game or when it is generally available and to a lesser extent, how easy/costly it is to get it. In that regard, I also do feel Ravenwing is strong as you can get it by just doing the main quests in Defiance Bay and exploring the relevant areas, without too much trouble. Good enough to take a weapon focus for it is debatable, but it is a good weapon nonetheless, especially for mid level characters. Implements are meh for the rest of the classes, but a pretty reasonable weapon for Wizards with Blast+Penetrating Blast, against massed mobs with DR, tanked/held in place at chokepoints. Tack on Kalakoth's Minor Blights and really go to town with damage. Aloth comes from a Noble background, so it wouldn't be terribly odd to see him take up an associated weapon focus. Agreed on Fighter. Unfortunately, Eder comes with Weapon Focus: Ruffian. Which is a little odd, considering his background is Farmer. Also agreed on Rogue. I'm curious as to what you would give a Cipher. Grieving Mother doesn't come with a Weapon Focus when picked up at L6 and Blunderbuss cheese is gone in 1.05. I only dressed her in robes/clothes for fast casting and so put a Warbow on her to keep her out of harms way. I'm also already having quite a few meleers (Rogue, Eder, Pallegina/Kana, Itumaak) so went ranged to reduce crowding. But at times, I wonder if I would be better off making her melee or pairing her with another weapon with appropriate weapon focus for more dps output.

Well yes if you are looking for survivability, a ranger with a tanking pet isn't a bad choice. Depends on how much you're willing to tolerate, risk-wise IMHO (for Ironman plays, I would agree that this should be very low). If you are willing to shell out some cash to get a good weapon, you can pick up Tall Grass (pike) at Dyrford's armory. It prones opponents on crits and converts some hits to crits. Might not be the very best weapon type dps-wise but it's certainly a safer option and 2-handers are good against opponents with high DR. If you are willing to sacrifice a few dps abilities for safety, you can further improve survivability by say using Escape and/or Coordinated Positioning to get out of engagement. You'll quite probably be going with Reckless Assault, Dirty Fighting, Deathblows and both Blinding Strike and Crippling are nice to have so that still leaves 1 ability to muck around with. Assuming you're not taking Deep Wounds (not really that much dps) or another strike, you can take a defensive ability. Same thing goes with talents, Shadowing Beyond is a good panic button to hit if the rogue finds himself targetted. Popular talents would likely be Two Weapon Style (or whatever weapon style of your choice), Savage Attack, Vicious Fighting, [a weapon focus of your choice]. That still leaves 2 talents. Offensively, this could be something like Envenomed Strike and Vulnerable Attack. Defensively this could instead be Shadowing Beyond and Interrupting Blows (not particularly reliable but better than nothing). It also depends on how often you rest. If you are resting very rarely, pushing the party into Critical Fatigue and low health, its risky to put the rogue out there. But with full health even in the case where the rogue is temporarily knocked out, he's probably done enough damage that the other party members can finish off the battle fairly easily. As a final safety net, if you have a Priest in the party like Durance, for those panic situations, you can use Withdraw on the rogue to get him out of trouble. Ranger might be a more prudent choice for Ironman plays but I still think that there are many ways to play a rogue more safely and at least for me is a fun class for a main character.

Just wanted to add that if you don't trust the comments above you can also check with the dps spreadsheet kindly made by some of the forumers here (Myrten, Baki, Daemonjax, AlphaMagnum, MaximKat, Matt516, et al). Key in your favored stat modifiers/abilities/talents/weapons and you'll have a good idea of where things stand. I'm not saying its 100% accurate but the formulas there are based on a good number of actual tests and are supported by observations from others, so it should be pretty close. The main problem with the Hunting Bow is enemy DR. At DR 0, it's actually one of the best weapons, just pipping War Bow. However there just aren't very many enemies with DR 0. Guls, Wichts and Will O Wisp come to mind, but I think that's about it. Add on even a few points of DR and Warbow does better on the spreadsheet, as stated by MadDemiurg. From in game experience I feel much the same about things. As a good number of enemies tend to have DR around 5-10, Warbow is pretty much a standard choice, all other things being equal (weapon quality, weapon focus, etc). By DR 15, Arquebus is probably one of the better choices and you will reach this point sooner (at lower DR) if you have Gunner as a talent and/or using Chanter's "Sure-Handed Ila Nocked Her Arrows with Speed". Its more or less the same case with melee IMHO. At low DR (0-5), fast accurate weapons and stilettos can be strong contenders for dps. As nothing changes base weapon damage and virtually all the other modifiers are added together then multiplied, by virtue of having higher base damage, sabres put out better damage per strike and eventually take over at the range where you find where most enemies DR are. Hence the recommendation for them. It is possible that two handed weapons with damage reduction like Estoc coupled with proper talents would be best at DR 20+, but that's not where the vast majority of enemy DR lies. As for the different weapon focus types, Adventurer gives Estoc and Warbow, which are great options for damage dealers and Flail is decent as well for dual wielders. Ruffian gives Sabre, Stiletto, Club (all good for dual wielders) and Pistol can be a viable option with the appropriate talents. Soldier gives Pike, Arbalest and Arquebus for a character wanting to hit from a safe distance or do heavy ranged damage per shot. I think you can make a case for each, depending on what weapons are available to you, so I don't think there is a worst weapon/ weapon specialization type overall, just that at different enemy DRs, some weapons tend to do better or worse.

The 1.04 cipher was certainly a little overpowered. Spamming Mind Blades/Mental Binding at mid levels reduced most mid-sized encounters to trivialities. But it seems in 1.05 with vastly reduced initial Focus and Blunderbuss/Draining Whip abuse gone, most people seem to think that Ciphers are in a good place. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/79244-are-ciphers-garbage-after-105/?mode=show I'm not saying its perfect and I do agree with a good number of your suggestions, especially slightly buffing some of the less used Cipher powers. The Mental Binding nerf that you're suggesting, I find rather harsh though. If you're making Silent Scream more like Mental Binding as a replacement (faster cast, AoE Stuck with Stun/AoE Stun, needs 25 focus instead of 15) then it could work.

Would be good to have more details. Its difficult to comment on things otherwise. For example, doing Raedric's Keep at L4 is going to be rather tough at higher difficulties. I used Eder as tank early in my game. Yes a fighter can be configured as dps but if you're playing with mostly companions, you won't have another good tank for some time. With Eder I got Defender, Vigorous Defense for early abilities and Wary Defender, Weapon and Shield Style for talents. Together with a good large shield (Fine or better if possible) and some minor deflection item, you should have enough Deflection to get quite a few attacks to miss. As mentioned by other forumers, another tank or tankish character can be good too, especially in open ground fights where your less durable party members can get swarmed. Kana can be a bit of an offtank, I suppose, though truth be told, I didn't like his tanking one bit on PotD, compared to say Eder. The other viable tank companion is Pallegina which you won't be getting so early on, so if you don't like Kana, perhaps get a mercenary tank. Itumaak or a ranger's bear companion can make a good fast tank as well for picking up runners. Yea so either beef up the fighter tank so that he takes less damage and/or get an offtank to share the damage. If your fighter is still going down, you probably need more damage output or more disabling spells. For single target damage, I've found Rogue the best class. For AoE damage, you already have 2 druids and 1 wizard so you should be well covered. However if you hate resting and still want spammable AoE damage for every encounter, I would suggest getting a Cipher. If you have passed Caed Nua, you can get Grieving Mother in Dyrford.

Rogues ARE flimsy! At least that's been my experience with them as well. My main is a dual wielding Rogue so I build/plan the rest of my party around him as he does the most damage in the party by far, even if not necessarily min-maxed in terms of race/stats (Wood Elf, Mig17 Con10 Dex18 Per12 Int12 Res9). For me, disabling afflictions are the best. That means using Eder's Knockdown or Itumaak's Takedown (Sagani's animal companion) to inflict Prone. Assuming you have both, you're up to at least 4 of those per encounter and should work if the opponent's Fort isn't too high. You can also get Aloth to supply Prone by using Slicken but unless you're at L9, it won't be on a per encounter basis. Grieving Mother can also supply Prone using Mind Wave but the duration is rather short and requires her to be properly place to get the cone to hit the intended target(s). Paralysis is probably the best disabling affliction you can get fairly early with Grieving Mother's Mental Binding (fast cast for a reasonable 15 Focus), which is incidentally also one of her best powers. It tends to work vast majority of the time as well (or at least has a better success rate than Knockdown/Takedown) because a lot of enemies, including your typical melee grunt, have lower Will saves than Fort Saves. Failing that Grieving Mother's Silent Scream (slow to cast) for Stun has its merits as well for AoE damage. You can further boost the duration by giving her items with Int, like Kana's Turban or Rundl's Finery. In 1.05 onwards, her Perception and Intelligence are swapped so it should be a non-issue anyway. Most of the time, I find that a graze provides enough time for the Rogue to safely finish off an injured opponent and a hit/crit gives enough time to kill off an uninjured one. I've also tried using Kana's "At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff" and "The Thunder Rolled like Waves on Black Seas" for Paralysis and Stun but I find they tend to miss on PotD and you can only use those after a fairly long period of chanting and don't have them on demand. If you don't have disabling afflictions at hand (all used up), engage with a tank (Eder/Pallegina/Itumaak in my case) and try to focus fire to kill off the enemy as fast you can, before it turns on the Rogue. Just after a strike on the tank is a good time to go in. Crippling Strike and Blinding Strike provides additional 1.25x burst damage on both dual wield strikes when activated. That being said, I'm not a 100% dual wield purist. I do recognize that at times, closing in exposes the Rogue to unnecessary danger and trauma so I do opt for using pikes at times (while hitting from behind the tank) for improved safety, or using a ranged weapon when the enemy has a lot of ranged combatants or casters that cannot be crowd controlled adequately. Melee rogues require a good deal of micromanagement in terms of positioning and timing to get the best out of them. They also require other party members to supply needed disabling afflictions (the key word here is disabling, Hobbled/Dazed/Weakened are no where near good enough and even Blinded still results in grazes for the Rogue). That being said, I've found no other class that can dish out as much single target damage.