Mack

What a relief to learn that sneak attack scales with power level. I think I will keep the build I had planned after all.

You won't know exact damage numbers until you start playing the game, mate. Try the game before you give up on your character, at the very least. I haven't given up on it, I'm thinking through adjustments. This is a big change with a number of implications. For instance, I was planning to use a fast, accurate weapon, but now it looks like backstabbing is king and good backstabbing wants high base damage. Without the additional accuracy from the weapon I have to think about raising perception, etc. Have you considered using a ranged weapon (The backstab passive also works with them if you’re close enough) with high base damage and switching wep sets once the fight starts. Or perhaps you can just ignore that passive like me and deal the majority of your damage another way. I plan to make a rogue/ranger (scout) and use the many damage DoTs to cause a lot of raw damage. That’s one extra perk I can use toward a less risky perk imo. Weapon switching is out because I'm dead set on multi-classing with Devoted. My original plan was, a bit like you, to ignore backstabbing, and get my dps from frequent crits, sneak attacks, and DoTs like deep wounds. Like I said earlier though the nerf to disciplined strikes and now sneak attack puts a massive dent in that approach. I think at the very least I need to invest in backstab and shadowing beyond, and also seriously think about taking the Assassin subclass.

Keep in mind that many of the active attacks like Crippling Strike are full attacks, which is still great for dual-wielders.

yeah thats what i kind of thought....... The only viable rogue build i see now is one that takes alot of talents like escape, shadow beyond, invis, smoke cloud and then come in and backstab.............. im not really seeing any other alternative route anyone no more on the interrupt thing?? They made most rogue actives interrupt on hit in beta 4. It's a nice perk, though by mid-game I expect many or most enemies to have at least one layer of concentration.

You won't know exact damage numbers until you start playing the game, mate. Try the game before you give up on your character, at the very least. I haven't given up on it, I'm thinking through adjustments. This is a big change with a number of implications. For instance, I was planning to use a fast, accurate weapon, but now it looks like backstabbing is king and good backstabbing wants high base damage. Without the additional accuracy from the weapon I have to think about raising perception, etc.

For starters if sneak attack is this much worse worse then the actives that cause status effects are correspondingly less meaningful (most of which already were not game-changing, to put it lightly). Backstab is now the key to everything, so assassins suddenly become even more attractive. Finishing/Devastating Blow are also must-haves. If you want crits, consider single wield and Hearth Orlan, especially if you aren't multiclassing.

It seems like Obsidian is pushing rogues into one-size-fits-all backstabbing mold. I had planned a non-backstabbing Swashbuckler but since they nerfed Disciplined Strikes and Sneak Attack I will have to adapt him into more of a backstabbing build, otherwise he just wont be causing much damage. Sad because that wasn't how I thought of the character at all.

tfw they massively nerf the build you've been planning for weeks

If they modify Riposte so it procs more often I can see it being an interesting experiment, but till then I wouldn't bother building around it. On the other hand you could just build a very solid, tanky swashbuckler (Streetfighter/Unbroken jumps to mind), give him Riposte, and see what happens.

I don't think any of us know all of the specifics and I don't think more than a small handful of people will rage quit over something like that.

It was a mediocre build even in POE when riposte was stronger.

Just for perspective, I ran POE okay on a laptop that did not meet the minimum reqs.

Ouch, massive nerf.

Could someone please explain how finishing blow works? I can't understand it from the tool tip.

Isn't that a feature of godlikes? It was like that in PoE 1 too. That could be. If so my bad. I've never played a godlike so I'm not up to speed.