Elric Galad

That's indeed true. Coordinate positionning is a nice and fun ability, with a lot of potential uses. However, I still think it is quite situationnal. You have 2 effects at the same time ; this is an additional constraint ; 1 effect may be nice, but the other one may not be adapted to the situation. For example, if your wizard or priest is engaged, you may swap position with him. But then, you will just replace your squishy caster by a melee attacker who is quite squishy too. Not exactly that great. I am far from saying it's useless. But the very narrow range is an additional constraint that makes possible effective uses even more limited. I think this additional range constraint is a little bit too much, and in my opinion, it is an unecessary restriction. That's why I'm suggesting a scaling range. Base range of 5m would be another (more simple) solution by the way. And it will increase the fun without being OP. Also consider that wizard can do this too at level 7 (the same as coordinated positionning), with a far greater range and a stunning additional effect as a level 4 spell (except it doesnt' work on enemy... but wizard has a lot of other spells to use on this level that gives him at least equivalent versatility.)...

At level 13 monks got +15 Acc, not +16

The point is that Dexterity speed modifier is multiplicative with "recovery reduction damage multiplier". By cumulating the two, you'll get a really crazy attack speed. But for sure, you'll be dealing "enough" damage with your build idea.

They can do this only for limited time (which is critical in PotD) and all the items they carry are cancelled in Werebearcat form. It's powerful but not OP, also considering Druid spells are slightly less useful than Wizard's and priest's.

Thanks to PoE experience system, adding an arena would not be a threat for balance. It is even possible to let some backers design some encounters (Like a Fungal Cult, a Nalmissra-like evil women party, or a gang of barbarians with bears.)

It's really nice to have a review from an expert player I like the idea about evade ability. The only problem for me is that it would render Deflection useless. With the right stats (Dex and Per are usually already maxed on Rogues), talent and items, you could end up with a rogue even sturdier than a tank. Sounds like a bit OP. BUT if it worked only on ranged attack, I think it could be OK (or limited duration, or modal with attack debuff, or % chance to proc) Sounds like a "War Dancer" class concept. I think it is rather challenging to balance, so I wouldn't expect something like this before PoE2 by the way I have a stupid question : soul mirror, Aila Braccia, Godlen Scales and Durgan shield refinement works on ranged attack. But are spells considered as ranged attacks ? Or maybe only the ones that target Deflection like "Thaos' Deathstar airstrike on your face" ?

My own preference went to Durance, especially the very moment of his "revelation", but yeah... Chris Avellone. Torment's writing was excellent but Planescape Universe is far less reallistic. PoE world is much closer to a "real world", which leads us to another league of feelings. I found specially touching the moment when Sagani told me she has given birth to five childs. Not exactly a cliché for a (female) figure in a RPG. For some reasons she reminded me of a friend of mine. I told it to my girlfriend "I don't know why, Sagani made me feel that my friend is going to have a third child." A few minutes later, my friend's husband phoned me and told me she was pregnant

Maybe I should learn to write shorter post

You all fools. It's simply a woman's handbag.

I just realized that Pilferer's Grisp is useful when you wear Ryona's Breatsplate... as it is the only armor you can't durganize.

I thought it was +100% too, but the tooltip said +150% I suspect there were some minor changes in 3.0. For example, deep faith was changed from +2 Def/+5 Fort-Will-Ref to +2 Def/+3 Fort-Will-Ref.

Several martial classes have already been through ability polishing : I’m thinking about Fighter, Ranger and Paladin. That’s because they were a bit UP and drew a lot of complaints. Contrary to these classes, rogues were quite balanced since 1.0 and didn’t draw so much criticism. Therefore, there was never an ability rebalancing patch since release. As a result, I think that a lot of Rogue abilities are currently lacklusters. That doesn’t mean rogue are really lacklusters, They have enough nice abilities to make the class good enough. But most of their builds rely on the same abilities. Since 2.0, Rogue tends to be outclassed by Ranger as ranged (thanks to Twin arrows), therefore melee rogue is probably the best (powergaming) way of using rogues. (By the way, rogues are still good ranged characters. Melee rogues are very good at switching to ranged weapons when necessary, especially for alpha strike. Chuck Norris is not the only one to be able to backstab with an arquebus… ) Pretty much all melee Rogue builds look this way : 1 Blinding strike (or crippling strike, it is a matter of taste) 3 Reckless assault 5 Deep Wounds 7 Finishing blow before WMII, now I think it could be changed to the new Distraction ability. 9 Dirty Fighting 11 Deathblows 13 Sap 15 another stuff, maybe finishing blow if not taken previously, or maybe an evasion ability if one doesn’t like per rest stuff, I don’t really know about Feign Death. If you check at Steam guide http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=416939844 , all proposed builds rely mostly on the abilities above, as most builds on this forum. Improving the other Rogue abilities wouldn’t make the class more powerful, as it would require dropping some currently used abilities. It would just make the class more versatile. Riposte rogue, anyone ? Lot of current abilities are quite fun in theory, but lack a bit of raw power. So here are my Proposal to give Rogue’s abilities a bit more of “Wow” : (The purpose is not to change completely these abilities by the way. I’m not evaluating what rogue could have been. I’m trying to propose “reasonable changes”.) Blinding Strike : good as it is (for a level 1 ability) Crippling Strike : good as it is (for a level 1 ability) Reckless Assault : good as it is Escape : Mobility skills are not bad, but I think 1/encounter mobility skill does not worth spending one of your few ability point. We’re speaking about something that should be more or less comparable to an entire (low) spell level. Escape would be okay as a talent (By the way shadowing beyond would almost deserve to be an ability as it is almost the ultimate Panic Button skill, with some offensive potential…). My suggestion is simple : Escape could be refreshed on kill. There’s a lot of “on kill” effect since 3.0. I believe the “kill and run concept” would be cool, not OP. It is a bit circonstancial for the refresh part, but still better than 1/encounter. Overall, it would be enough for a level 3 ability. Dirty Fighting : not so powerful. 10% hit to crit sounds great only if you played too much Diablo 3. But this and related talent are interesting for some builds or weapons, like Tall Grass, Hour of St Rumbalt, various axes, etc… I don’t think a change is necessary. Riposte : 20% only on miss is basically too low, especially with Rogue’s poor deflection. You need a shield to make it work, which cripples full attack riposte and overall DPS. In my opinion, Riposte should work also on Graze (to keep the feint/counterattack feeling : “you scratched me but it was a trick”). 20% of graze or miss would lead around 10% Riposte with a few deflection buff (double hatchet hipster rogue, anyone ?). I believe it would be enough to make it valuable. It also means that the riposte rate would be still capped at 20% in the very best case, which prevents some abuse. Finishing Blow : I don’t like per rest abilities but I see the point of this one. I think it is ok as it is. Deep Wounds : good as it is Adept Evasion : Sure, Rogue has usually high Per and Dex, but this ability is still very very circonstancial. It works against 17,5% of a specific type attacks (Reflex itself is valued around 1/6 of “all defense”), wouhouh ! D&D equivalent is basically 100% graze to miss. The point is : with 100%, you can build around it, and that’s the most important thing about an ability, even if it’s not crazily powerful. With maxed Dex and Per and 100% adept evasion (and maybe +10 reflex talent), you may throw fireballs and slicken where your rogue stands. Rogue could even be used as decoy with shield (Devil of Caroc decoy, anyone ?). It also makes flanking less constraining for your damage dealing casters. 100% looks big ? Seriously, would a character be really so much tougher with 100% graze to miss reflex ? With only 50% you can’t really build anything around. So my suggestion : change it to 100% ! Coordinated Positioning : Nice ability but not very convenient to use due to really low distance. Distance could scale with level. Like +2m at level 10, 13 and 16. 8m Swap at max level would be cool to use. Even this won’t make this ability OP. Not realistic ? Come on ! Obsidian did add Shadow Step ! Persistant Distraction : good as it is. I like this one, fine debuff, and excellent synergy with deathblows. Withering Strike : Not crazily bad, but Weakness is a weaker status than blind overall, and just a bit better than hobbled. This is too weak for a level 9 ability, especially when compared to level 1 ones. 2/Encounter would be ok. Fearsome Strike : Wouhouhouh ! 2 rather weak status ! Once per rest ! as a level 9 ability ! 1/Encounter would be acceptable, and balanced compared to withering strike. This would be a mix of half of level 1 ability and half of level 9 ability, without the same DPS potential due to more limited full attack number. Still not that great. 15s duration would be my suggestion, in order to distinguish it a bit from withering and crippling strike. It won’t make it OP. Deathblows : Crazy enough as it is. Smoke Cloud : Distraction is a nice small effect, crazy accuracy +20 is nice. But duration and range are just bad, especially when combined. My solution : make it the “Rogue Immolation”, a debuffing cloud moving with the rogue, helping him evading blows. I can imagine that. 3s tick, tick during 15s, 5s debuff duration. No need to change AoE. Keep accuracy bonus as it is. Other solution : a big increase in range and duration. Less fun, but less development cost for Obsidian Shadow Step : Currently, You Shadowstep for a cryptic duration (around 8s), and suddenly come back to your initial position. Barbarian and Fighters do have teleport stuff too (charge and dragon leap) at this level that brings additional utility (AoE damage and/or debuff) to the table. Shadowstep is basically harder to control and less rewarding (no additional effect). Shadowstep comes from Guild wars. In Guild wars, it was a modal (targetable) that could be cancelled to come back to initial position. In POE, Return should be controllable too. Maximum Duration could be a bit more. 10s would be enough to kill a wizard. (By the way I don’t know if duration is affected by Intelligence.) In addition, as a high level ability, a bit more of raw power would be nice too. To reflect the “shadow” part of the Shadow Step, the rogue could receive a bit of “shadow-form defensive buff” for the duration. For example, they could receive 15% Graze to miss, 15% hit to graze, 15% crit to hit (spell-like, non-stackable) as the new Cipher spell. Note for Development : in my opinion, 10s duration and hit conversion would be enough to make the skill fun and good enough, if the development cost for activable return is too high (because it is a totally new effect to program). Sap : good as it is. Not awesome for a level 13, but still nice as CC and debuff. Feign Death : Not bad, but 10s of incapacitation on you damage dealer as its ultimate ability, seriously ? 5s duration for the “prone” part would be OK, I think. Voilà ! Note : there could be the same kind of thread about barbarian, but I think it’s good to have a thread only about rogues.

And does it stack with backstab +150% damage bonus ?

No it wasn't. Passive talent added to active abilities count as passive for stacking purpose. The best known example is inspiring liberation which stacks with any accuracy buff. Greater frenzy mig and con stack with spell meanwhile frenzy mig and con don't. I've always heard that critical focus does stack.

There's a buckler called Sura Supper plate that provides Retaliation (different from riposte). It would fit your theme quite well. There is a cipher build called Backlash Beldam on this forum that relies on Cipher damage bonus and retaliation items. Rogue also have very high damage bonus, so it would work also on a rogue. Just be sure to pick a Rogue ability called "Deep wounds" that works nicely with retaliation. You need a bit of Resolve, and not too bad constitution for this build, but Dex, Mig and Per are always good for a rogue. Int is not so important. A bit of armor would help. If you don't like metal armor, it might not be too bad, but a leather armor would be better than padded. For race, as stated in Backlash Beldam guide, fire godlike would be nice but... are they allowed on a boat ??

I just realized that this build would be quite easy to adapt for a rogue, and should work very well on the Devil of Caroc. Let's call it "The Devil wears Supa" build.

Double post.

just a thought. you could make the weapon soulbound w/o actual having it improve. have soulbound exclusive to durance. this would allow durance, as a priest who is not particular effective with a staff, to actual make use o' his eponymous weapon. HA! Good Fun! The problem is that soulbound weapon can't be enchanted. So making it simply soulbound would actually make it potentially weaker. It is basically more simple to keep the balance by making it evolving soulbound.

Yup I know, but reducing it to zero when you use a 2hander without speed enchant, full plate and vulnerable attack would already be nice ) In addition, different speed increases from SPELLS (and active abilities) usually don't stack. That's the point. My hope comes from the the fact that cipher Steal Spells like body attunement do stack. So it may work. You're right by the way: not necessary to have more than 1 or maybe 2 parasites at a time.

Soulbound companion items would be the perfect way to make them unique. Eder's armor, Sagani's bow, Durance's staff, Pellagina's armor, Manhea's armor.... and devil's...well... body Companions miss unique features (except Pallegina and Devil). That would be awesome and that would compensate for their suboptimal stats, race, background and lvl 1 abilities. Hey, do you remember Dak'kon's blade ? The fabulous Dak'kon's blade ? The very answer of the question : what can change nature of a man ?

Mmmm not really. More about stacking it with alacrity or outlander's frenzy If I had a plan about stacking, it was more about stacking Acc until I can morph Thaos into a pig.

"Beep beep" I hear the school bus.

Brindle, the guy who thought the tooltip was contractual.

By the way I have NO idea about time parasite stacking because I never used it. Spell tongue stealing effect stacked isn't it ? So I won't be surprised if Time parasite stacked too. Close from OP in this case.

It's more about understanding general rules. As unconsistent as it may seem, stacking/non-stacking is almost always based on an underlying rule. Inspiring Liberating and Greater Frenzy stack with everything because they are "passive talents" even if applied to active skills. Body atunement stack because it is a "stealing effect", meanwhile borrowed instinct has been coded as a debuff AND a separate (conditional) buff. The other side-effect of "stealing" effect is that they end when the initial target dies. Borrowed instinct don't. But borrowed instinct don't stack with Devotion of the faithfull. They are not that much "true exception" : for exemple FoD accuracy bonus is the single effect which accuracy inherent bonus (like spell accuracy bonus) does not stack with various accuracy buff.