PotD Rogue PC - Worth it?

[Odd Hermit]

I never finished White March Pt. 2 and I've never played a Rogue aside from briefly using Devil of Caroc. Rogues seem like the hands down weakest class in PoE 1, and it's even more noticeable after Deadfire in which ... while currently much easier and imbalanced ... Rogue multiclasses were amazing for me.

 

I want to take a Rogue / Paladin build in Deadfire, continuing from a Rogue in PoE, but am tempted to just do another Paladin for PoE.

 

Another Paladin sounds boring though(unless I can find something weird to do with one), so I'm trying to figure out what the hell to do with Rogue class in PoE 1. They do good damage, but so do much sturdier classes. They don't seem best at anything, but at the same time aren't versatile either. ???

 

They can go invisible, which seems really great... for solo play. I could find some utility for this in a party but mostly for making easy fights easier - which having any class that has AoE instead of a Rogue would do better anyway.

 

All I can think of is item usage, since some of their talents affect scrolls and such and seem potentially cheesy. But it seems a Chanter is still more suited to this role(you can chant while doing item stuff) while being a stronger class overall. I think I might rather have 2x Chanters than 1 Chanter and 1 Rogue in a party.

 

A case can be made that the Rogue is a more "for fun" class than a powerhouse, but I'm not sure it has enough active abilities to really offer that either.

 

Can anyone sell me on the rogue's potential or is this class just pointless masochism?

 

 

 

 

[gkathellar]

Rogues are great mixed debuffers/damagers, in general, and dual-saber rogues can hit phenomenally hard. Deathblows in particular turns stacked debuffs into a uh ... death sentence. With deathblows. Of death.

 

That said, they don't fit fantastically with my playstyle, either, due to my predilection for melee off-tanks ... and then there's the Yellow Flash (which I incidentally used a variation of for DoC on my most recent playthrough).

 

Tank rogue is love. Tank rogue is life. (Yellow Flash incidentally has really high Int/Per/Res, making a good MC for conversation reasons.)

Edited June 23, 2018 by gkathellar

[Blovski]

I'm running a melee rogue in POE POTD at the moment. The niche is single target damage, really (disclaimer, I do not understand monks very well largely because I just think they're silly). It's a lot of fun if you can get him onto the backline and you can run some weapons that you wouldn't otherwise bother with. Undeniably a bit squishy and does need support but I think that's made the game more rather than less interesting for me. Personally I tried the shadowing beyond stuff at first then retrained out of it as I just wasn't really getting any value from it and would rather have more passives. As with rangers spellbinds and scrolls are very good due to the innate accuracy and being able to put  an initial debuff onto high defence targets (e.g. Adra Dragon) is great.

I'm having a lot of fun with it and it's a bit different for me from what I run usually, would recommend if you've already done the whole Paladin thing and you don't have a particular style you want to try.

Edited June 23, 2018 by Blovski

[Boeroer]

Yes, on PotD they are the weakest class overall if you don't want to use spell bindigs with them - but a rogue "behind the lines" can still be effective and fun. I like to dive behind enemy lines and take out casters and archers before the enemy can even react and vanish once he does. I combine movement skills like Escape with Boots of Speed and other movement bonuses (Fast Runner).

[Elric Galad]

The key ability for Rogue is obviously Deathblows. Deathblows apply to Melee attack, ranged attack and scrolls/item spells.

To maximize the rogue, you probably have to use the three of them.

 

Even if you don't go Sorcerer's apprentice build, scroll use mostly need high lore. Which isn't very convenient because as a rogue you'd probably want to max mechanics and spare a bit of skill points for Athelic, Survival (items can help since you only need it when resting) and Stealth.

As a PC Rogue, you'll get Talents (Dungeon Delver for example) that boosts skills, which help immensely.

 

Speaking about PC talents, Merciless Hand and Dungeon Delver are awesome for Rogue who can get a lots of crit.

 

Melee DPS is higher than ranged and I honnestly don't have much troubles at keeping my PC Rogue alive as long I use him as a flanker.

 

Ranged weapons, on the other hand, offer very high Damage Spike by using Quickswitch and Firearms/Arbalest.

I have invested in Quickswitch, Island Aumaua and Arm Bearers, even if my character is mostly a melee rogue.

Runner's wounding shot can be awesome too. I think Deathblow + Runner's Wounding Shot is the strongest Alpha Strike in the game, plus you get an addition Condition inflicting attack for sneak attack.

 

WF Ruffian gives acces to Sabers (including fireball ones for more Deathblow spells), backup melee crushing/piercing weapons and Pistols/Blunderbusses (depending on DR) as firearms. 

Bittercut is of course an excellent choice. Don't forget its per rest spells which gives you a bit of AoE.

 

A lot of the above is therorycrafing so it still needs to be fully checked. For now, it is going fine for me, but I'm only level 10.