what's a good way to build a Rogue?

[stronzolo]

Is it possible to build a good ranged rogue or is melee better? How's single class vs multiclass? I'm looking for a single target dps build

[Haplok]

Very possible and very easy. All rogue abilities work with ranged. There are one handed ranged weapons (pistols, blunderbusses) you can dual-wield for fast attack (and full attack ability spam).

You can even do great aoe damage and aoe afflictions using the two aoe blunderbuss mortars from Serafen (the one he starts with and one you get in his quest).

 

I think multiclasses tend to be a little stronger. I recommend Scout - Rogue/Ranger. Probably the strongest combination is Streetfighter/Sharpshooter. Streetfighter's mighty special is easily and constantly triggered on such a build using blunderbuss Powder Burns modal (distracts you and gives flanked status).

Edited September 2, 2018 by Haplok

[Katalmach]

There are 2 bows that have an upgrade called Weightless Draw, which gives a 50% chance to trigger an instant cooldown on a crit. Rogue's have dirty fighting, which gives them a 10% hit to crit conversion, and you can get more with fighter's Disciplined Barrage, or just by sheer accuracy bonus from the Ranger. Swashbucklers and Scouts have some dirty crit chance. I'm using both bows in my full party playthrough on a Scout (Sharpshooter/Rogue) and a Swashbuckler (Devoted (War Bow)/Rogue). I have seen both of them trigger this ability over 6 times in a row. If you trigger it on a target that has 2 afflictions and you're using Deathblows, plus the penetration modal for war bow, and you have Devoted penetration bonus, you do unbelievably high damage, very very quickly, even to super heavily armed targets 

 

The 2 bows with Weightless Draw are called Veilpiercer (obtained from the quest New Gods of the Deadfire), and Saint Omaku's Mercy, found in the underground sea lab for the Rauati Quest in Sayuka. 

 

Veilpiercer comes legendary, gives a usable ability called Disruptive Arrow that disallows the use of activated abilities for several seconds. It also grants a huge bonus againt spirits, deals 10% raw damage, and is a veil piercing attack (obviously) 

 

Saint Omaku's Mercy is geared more for support. It comes Superb. Heavy draw makes it fire 10% slower, but gives 5% bonus damage that scales with Survival (good for your Ranger/Rogue combo), and +1 penetration, which is made even better when used by a Devoted. You'll pierce just about every armor value in the game unless it gets up into the 20s like some of the bosses. One upgradable passives gives you 15% bonus action speed that increases as you lose health, which is great because you'll be squishy. It also heals nearby allies when you score a kill, which will be often 

 

So use Omaku's Mercy against normal enemies, use Veilpiercer against spirits and wizards 

 

Here's how I recommend you build these ranged rogues (general guidelines, I don't want to look up everything) 

 

Race: Hearth Orlan (for hit to crit bonus when attacking same target as an ally) 

Background: Any, but you could pick one with a bonus to survival for the increased damage 

Class: Sharpshooter (for Hit to Crit and Penetration options based on range), Rogue (no sublcass, though assassin could work, you'll be using a ton of your resources to go stealth a lot) 

 

Rogue abilities (in no particular order, just the most necessary) 

 

Dirty Fighting (hit to crit) 

Two handed style (bonus damage) 

 

Counfounding Blind (bonus accuracy, blind, damage over time is super useful) 

Arterial Strike (bonus damage, bleed damage over time as target moves, and hobbles) 

^ 

use these 2 together to proc your deathblows bonus

 

Devastating blow (200% bonus damage is always great) 

Deathblows (duh, always take)

Deep Wounds (just useful extra raw damage) 

 

Ranger abilities (again, no particular order) 

 

Driving Flight (makes a separate attack roll, good for that extra chance to score a crit) 

Marksman (bonus accuracy) 

Survival of the Fittest (bonus accuracy on targets bloodied or worse) 

Marked prey (bonus accuracy, take the one that spreads) 

Accurate wounding shot (+20 accuracy, wooo) 

 

There is an ability that I stupidly didn't take, I cannot remember the name of, but it adds 10 accuracy if you attack the same target as your animal companion. Definitely take this, and for increased animal companion effectiveness, give it the 3 damage boosting abilities (30% damage against sneak attack viable targets, 15% straight damage and bonus penetration, and 50% damage against targets who are taking damage over time, with those, your animal companion will wreck serious **** while you attack over, and over, and over again

 

Also, I believe your animal companion counts as a friendly character for the sake of triggering Minor Threat's hit to crit bonus (Hearth Orlan). Abuse that ****, you will crit with nearly every attack

 

As for items, any good light armor. Benwith's armor is great because it reduces the armor penalty. Gloves that give miss to graze, graze to miss or hit to crit work extremely well. 

 

For pets, take Trixie, she gives your party hit to crit conversion as well. I think it only works on companions and not the Watcher, but I could be wrong there. I'm not a huge number cruncher, I just do what I find works 

 

I will try to make a little video of this build in action sometime

[Mocker22]

As stated Ranger/rogue is very powerful. If you are dead set on focusing on single target, then the Red Hand aquebus is insane.

 

Personally I would dual wield  Hand Mortar and Fire in The Hole, both obtained very early through Serafen. With a high intel your AoE will be great, and you can apply many of the rogues debuffs and dots in an aoe. Throw in Sharpshooter's Garb, Acina's Tricorn, and Ring of the Marksman. Rogue gives you amazing active abilities and effects, while ranger will provide tons of accuracy bonuses and reduced reloading speeds.

 

In general, rogue is extremely powerful and works with almost any other class. Plenty of room to pick whatever you like and make it work.

[Metaturtle]

If you want to cheese everything, ranged gouging strike, hide and run away, come back half an hour later.  Joking aside, In a group pure rogue isn't too bad either with dualwield gambit though it becomes a bit boring and really restrictive not to mention late in the game.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Metaturtle

[Somnium_Meum]

Multiclass Streetfighter with Helwalker, go with Human.

Set up AI to spam Mortification of Soul until bloodied, proceed to destroy everything with mad dps. Character with build like this deals 90ish damage every 2 seconds before leaving Port Maje

[Haplok]

There are 2 bows that have an upgrade called Weightless Draw, which gives a 50% chance to trigger an instant cooldown on a crit. Rogue's have dirty fighting, which gives them a 10% hit to crit conversion, and you can get more with fighter's Disciplined Barrage, or just by sheer accuracy bonus from the Ranger. Swashbucklers and Scouts have some dirty crit chance. I'm using both bows in my full party playthrough on a Scout (Sharpshooter/Rogue) and a Swashbuckler (Devoted (War Bow)/Rogue). I have seen both of them trigger this ability over 6 times in a row. If you trigger it on a target that has 2 afflictions and you're using Deathblows, plus the penetration modal for war bow, and you have Devoted penetration bonus, you do unbelievably high damage, very very quickly, even to super heavily armed targets 

 

The 2 bows with Weightless Draw are called Veilpiercer (obtained from the quest New Gods of the Deadfire), and Saint Omaku's Mercy, found in the underground sea lab for the Rauati Quest in Sayuka. 

 

Veilpiercer comes legendary, gives a usable ability called Disruptive Arrow that disallows the use of activated abilities for several seconds. It also grants a huge bonus againt spirits, deals 10% raw damage, and is a veil piercing attack (obviously) 

 

Saint Omaku's Mercy is geared more for support. It comes Superb. Heavy draw makes it fire 10% slower, but gives 5% bonus damage that scales with Survival (good for your Ranger/Rogue combo), and +1 penetration, which is made even better when used by a Devoted. You'll pierce just about every armor value in the game unless it gets up into the 20s like some of the bosses. One upgradable passives gives you 15% bonus action speed that increases as you lose health, which is great because you'll be squishy. It also heals nearby allies when you score a kill, which will be often 

 

So use Omaku's Mercy against normal enemies, use Veilpiercer against spirits and wizards 

 

Here's how I recommend you build these ranged rogues (general guidelines, I don't want to look up everything) 

 

Race: Hearth Orlan (for hit to crit bonus when attacking same target as an ally) 

Background: Any, but you could pick one with a bonus to survival for the increased damage 

Class: Sharpshooter (for Hit to Crit and Penetration options based on range), Rogue (no sublcass, though assassin could work, you'll be using a ton of your resources to go stealth a lot) 

 

Rogue abilities (in no particular order, just the most necessary) 

 

Dirty Fighting (hit to crit) 

Two handed style (bonus damage) 

 

Counfounding Blind (bonus accuracy, blind, damage over time is super useful) 

Arterial Strike (bonus damage, bleed damage over time as target moves, and hobbles) 

^ 

use these 2 together to proc your deathblows bonus

 

Devastating blow (200% bonus damage is always great) 

Deathblows (duh, always take)

Deep Wounds (just useful extra raw damage) 

 

Ranger abilities (again, no particular order) 

 

Driving Flight (makes a separate attack roll, good for that extra chance to score a crit) 

Marksman (bonus accuracy) 

Survival of the Fittest (bonus accuracy on targets bloodied or worse) 

Marked prey (bonus accuracy, take the one that spreads) 

Accurate wounding shot (+20 accuracy, wooo) 

 

There is an ability that I stupidly didn't take, I cannot remember the name of, but it adds 10 accuracy if you attack the same target as your animal companion. Definitely take this, and for increased animal companion effectiveness, give it the 3 damage boosting abilities (30% damage against sneak attack viable targets, 15% straight damage and bonus penetration, and 50% damage against targets who are taking damage over time, with those, your animal companion will wreck serious **** while you attack over, and over, and over again

 

Also, I believe your animal companion counts as a friendly character for the sake of triggering Minor Threat's hit to crit bonus (Hearth Orlan). Abuse that ****, you will crit with nearly every attack

 

As for items, any good light armor. Benwith's armor is great because it reduces the armor penalty. Gloves that give miss to graze, graze to miss or hit to crit work extremely well. 

 

For pets, take Trixie, she gives your party hit to crit conversion as well. I think it only works on companions and not the Watcher, but I could be wrong there. I'm not a huge number cruncher, I just do what I find works 

 

I will try to make a little video of this build in action sometime

 

For soloing that might be good. But I prefer 2 attack rolls from two hands for double affliction chance, +50% Sneak damage and + 50% speed from Streetfighter always on with a Blunderbuss (with possible +100% crit damage) and aoe option with dual mortar blunderbusses (rogue afflictions and DoTs also work in aoe!). Mortars target Reflex defence rather then the usual Deflection, so are typically very good vs slow meatshield enemies. For high reflex rogues switch to regular dual blunderbusses or pistols. The gun equipment is also better. Acina's Tricorn for extra speed and damage. Peter the Cat for +15% aoe damage and increased aoe size.

 

Also you don't need both Crippling Strike and Confounding Blind for Deathblows. Blind is enough, as it also provides Flanked status = enough to trigger Deathblows. But don't worry about it, Deathblows is a level 19 ability for a multiclass, so game's mostly over by then. Streetfighter crazy bonuses with blunderbusses are active from level 1.

 

The companion ability to get +10 Accuracy vs target the companion is attacking is called Stalker's Link. Unfortunately you first need to pick its pre-requisite, Protective Companion. Still worth it. 

I don't think a typical multiclass build can afford all 3 companion boosting abilities, unless you want to focus on the companion side. IMO just pick 1 of them at Power Level II, when you still have some spare ability points.

I also skipped the Marked for the Hunt upgrade to Marked Prey and Evasive Fire upgrade to Evasive Roll - not enough spare abilities, base abilities are good enough IMO.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Haplok

[Metaturtle]

There are 2 bows that have an upgrade called Weightless Draw, which gives a 50% chance to trigger an instant cooldown on a crit. Rogue's have dirty fighting, which gives them a 10% hit to crit conversion, and you can get more with fighter's Disciplined Barrage, or just by sheer accuracy bonus from the Ranger. Swashbucklers and Scouts have some dirty crit chance. I'm using both bows in my full party playthrough on a Scout (Sharpshooter/Rogue) and a Swashbuckler (Devoted (War Bow)/Rogue). I have seen both of them trigger this ability over 6 times in a row. If you trigger it on a target that has 2 afflictions and you're using Deathblows, plus the penetration modal for war bow, and you have Devoted penetration bonus, you do unbelievably high damage, very very quickly, even to super heavily armed targets 

 

The 2 bows with Weightless Draw are called Veilpiercer (obtained from the quest New Gods of the Deadfire), and Saint Omaku's Mercy, found in the underground sea lab for the Rauati Quest in Sayuka. 

 

Veilpiercer comes legendary, gives a usable ability called Disruptive Arrow that disallows the use of activated abilities for several seconds. It also grants a huge bonus againt spirits, deals 10% raw damage, and is a veil piercing attack (obviously) 

 

Saint Omaku's Mercy is geared more for support. It comes Superb. Heavy draw makes it fire 10% slower, but gives 5% bonus damage that scales with Survival (good for your Ranger/Rogue combo), and +1 penetration, which is made even better when used by a Devoted. You'll pierce just about every armor value in the game unless it gets up into the 20s like some of the bosses. One upgradable passives gives you 15% bonus action speed that increases as you lose health, which is great because you'll be squishy. It also heals nearby allies when you score a kill, which will be often 

 

So use Omaku's Mercy against normal enemies, use Veilpiercer against spirits and wizards 

 

Here's how I recommend you build these ranged rogues (general guidelines, I don't want to look up everything) 

 

Race: Hearth Orlan (for hit to crit bonus when attacking same target as an ally) 

Background: Any, but you could pick one with a bonus to survival for the increased damage 

Class: Sharpshooter (for Hit to Crit and Penetration options based on range), Rogue (no sublcass, though assassin could work, you'll be using a ton of your resources to go stealth a lot) 

 

Rogue abilities (in no particular order, just the most necessary) 

 

Dirty Fighting (hit to crit) 

Two handed style (bonus damage) 

 

Counfounding Blind (bonus accuracy, blind, damage over time is super useful) 

Arterial Strike (bonus damage, bleed damage over time as target moves, and hobbles) 

^ 

use these 2 together to proc your deathblows bonus

 

Devastating blow (200% bonus damage is always great) 

Deathblows (duh, always take)

Deep Wounds (just useful extra raw damage) 

 

Ranger abilities (again, no particular order) 

 

Driving Flight (makes a separate attack roll, good for that extra chance to score a crit) 

Marksman (bonus accuracy) 

Survival of the Fittest (bonus accuracy on targets bloodied or worse) 

Marked prey (bonus accuracy, take the one that spreads) 

Accurate wounding shot (+20 accuracy, wooo) 

 

There is an ability that I stupidly didn't take, I cannot remember the name of, but it adds 10 accuracy if you attack the same target as your animal companion. Definitely take this, and for increased animal companion effectiveness, give it the 3 damage boosting abilities (30% damage against sneak attack viable targets, 15% straight damage and bonus penetration, and 50% damage against targets who are taking damage over time, with those, your animal companion will wreck serious **** while you attack over, and over, and over again

 

Also, I believe your animal companion counts as a friendly character for the sake of triggering Minor Threat's hit to crit bonus (Hearth Orlan). Abuse that ****, you will crit with nearly every attack

 

As for items, any good light armor. Benwith's armor is great because it reduces the armor penalty. Gloves that give miss to graze, graze to miss or hit to crit work extremely well. 

 

For pets, take Trixie, she gives your party hit to crit conversion as well. I think it only works on companions and not the Watcher, but I could be wrong there. I'm not a huge number cruncher, I just do what I find works 

 

I will try to make a little video of this build in action sometime

 

Veilpiercer and Omaku bow's crit till you miss is pretty good with their added utility, but when it comes to multiclass war bows I like to use a variant of this build https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103542-single-class-build-arcana-archer-ranger/ though it's not as strong without the twinned shot, but it's still pretty crazy.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Metaturtle

[Haplok]

The aoe from the Frostseeker is considered a separate attack and won't carry rogue affliction/DoT attacks. I'm also not sure if it will proc sneak attack bonuses.

 

So mortars still win IMO.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Haplok

[Somnium_Meum]

Veilpiercer and Omaku bow's crit till you miss is pretty good with their added utility, but when it comes to multiclass war bows I like to use a variant of this build https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103542-single-class-build-arcana-archer-ranger/ though it's not as strong without the twinned shot, but it's still pretty crazy.

Why these 2 bows when you can have Essence Interrupter with higher DPS and accuracy and with it's amazing lash and summon passive?

[Metaturtle]

The aoe from the Frostseeker is considered a separate attack and won't carry rogue affliction/DoT attacks. I'm also not sure if it will proc sneak attack bonuses.

 

So mortars still win IMO.

 

It does benefit from sneak attack and deathblows. I only suggested frostseeker since war bows came up.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Metaturtle

[Metaturtle]

 

Veilpiercer and Omaku bow's crit till you miss is pretty good with their added utility, but when it comes to multiclass war bows I like to use a variant of this build https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103542-single-class-build-arcana-archer-ranger/ though it's not as strong without the twinned shot, but it's still pretty crazy.

Why these 2 bows when you can have Essence Interrupter with higher DPS and accuracy and with it's amazing lash and summon passive?

 

 

Or even Aamina's legacy since that thing is a beast too.

[mant2si]

In summary Swashbuckler  - Devoted (Hunter Bows)/Assasin
Fighter stance and bow passive will negate modal accuracy lost
Disciplined Strikes + Confident Aim + Dirty Fighting + will rise your DPS even more ~70% graze to hit and 35% crit -> hit 
And Essence Interrupter give you 2 damage types and free summon
Don't forget to eat food that give you +2 pen 
Max alchemy and use Assassin accuracy + Fighter Stance to land poison effect on bosses from invise

Edited September 3, 2018 by mant2si

[Haplok]

Fur rogue utility IMO dual weapons are hard to beat. Dual pistols or blunderbuss Full Attack: Apply affliction with first shot, profit from it on second (and third and fourth with Driving Flight) to get: up to +60% Sneak, +50% Streetfighter bonus, eventually +50% Deathblows. Also if you fail to apply it on the first bullet, perhaps the second will do the trick.

Apply affliction/DoT to all enemies in sight in a single shot / ability use (+profit) vs waste rogue resources to have 1 chance to apply it to a single enemy.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Haplok

[mant2si]

Fur rogue utility IMO dual weapons are hard to beat. Dual pistols or blunderbuss Full Attack: Apply affliction with first shot, profit from it on second (and third and fourth with Driving Flight) to get: up to +60% Sneak, +50% Streetfighter bonus, eventually +50% Deathblows. Also if you fail to apply it on the first bullet, perhaps the second will do the trick.

Apply affliction/DoT to all enemies in sight in a single shot / ability use (+profit) vs waste rogue resources to have 1 chance to apply it to a single enemy.

Rogue/Ranger has maximum 13 PEN and you can't pen even magma dragon armor, even with Flanked status

For example Ukaizo has 130 reflexes and only 77 deflection and 50% crit -> hit conversion, don't get me wrong but blunderbuss build good only against group of low-level enemies 

Edited September 3, 2018 by mant2si

[Haplok]

So when you face a high reflex enemy, you simply use Xefa's + Kitchen Stove or Thundercrack + Scordeo's.

The build is also proficient (and deadly) with those weapons.

 

And funny to hear about trouble with Penetration from someone who just recommended a Hunting Bow Devoted.

Hunting Bows only get to 10 Penetration, same as blunderbuss (and less then pistols). Devoted gets +2, but a Sharpshooter also gets +1 vs near targets. Marksman Ring +1 Pen.

Can eat the same foods for +2. Can have the Priest cast Champion's Boon for another +2.

 

Plus Crippling strike +2 PEN and Strike the Bell +5 PEN. Of course ability spam is difficult to sustain in a boss fight, like Magma Dragon.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Haplok

[mant2si]

So when you face a high reflex enemy, you simply use Xefa's + Kitchen Stove or Thundercrack + Scordeo's.

The build is also proficient (and deadly) with those weapons.

 

And funny to hear about trouble with Penetration from someone who just recommended a Hunting Bow Devoted.

Hunting Bows only get to 10 Penetration, same as blunderbuss (and less then pistols). Devoted gets +2, but a Sharpshooter also gets +1 vs near targets. Marksman Ring +1 Pen.

Can eat the same foods for +2. Can have the Priest cast Champion's Boon for another +2.

 

Plus Crippling strike +2 PEN,  and Strike the Bell +5 PEN. Of course ability spam is difficult to sustain in a boss fight, like Magma Dragon.

> You simply use Xefa's + Kitchen Stove or Thundercrack + Scordeo's.

 

Do you understand that your setup has -10 acc from blunderbuss, -5  acc from distracted and can't use aware, which usually mean that you can't get all street-fighter and devoted crit bonuses with such low acc ? 

 

> Hunting Bows only get to 10 Penetration

 

But Essence Interrupter has 2 damage type

 

> Hunting Bows only get to 10 Penetration, same as blunderbuss (and less then pistols). Devoted gets +2, but a Sharpshooter also gets +1 vs near targets. Marksman Ring +1 Pen.

 

Ranger/Streetfighter -> +2 pen from Potion or Food or Champion boon and +1 from ring, +1 possible from Sharpshooter, so you will have 14 maximum, but Sharpshooter can't abuse his pet for Stalker Link bonus because pet usually die immediately, so you will usually get only +10 acc (vs marked enemies), because with such short range enemies will aggro on you very often and you will get go under hurt status very fast 

 

> Plus Crippling strike +2 PEN,  and Strike the Bell +5 PEN. Of course ability spam is difficult to sustain in a boss fight, like Magma Dragon.

 

Yeah but both Ukaizo and BoW dragon have 17 AR vs Pierce / Slash, with latest DW full attack nerf and -25% damage from armor you will do ~-100% damage

 

 

 

 

[Haplok]

With pistols that's 15 PEN (+abilities). You can also use Eccea's Blaster for raw damage.

 

And with dual mortar aoe fire + Driving Flight you might not impress the dragon, but you can do short work of adds, like the magma oozes, at the same time DoT-ing the boss.

 

I haven't really experienced trouble keeping a Scout alive, barring the first few boarding fights and concentrated firepower. He has excellent mobility. And a Streetfighter kinda likes to be blooded. Yeah, against a boss doing point blank aoe, like the Magma Dragon, the companion might have trouble staying in melee. In most regular combats that's not an issue if you're reasonably careful and don't try to use him as a tank.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Haplok

[Somnium_Meum]

Hunting bows are fine, even on PotD.

They have low base penetration, however they have 2 damage types (pierce/slash) and there are many ways to increase PEN or decrease Armor.

 

HB's penetration is good enough for trash mobs, and for boss mobs you can just give Edér Warhammer, turn on modal and enjoy -3 AR. If that's not enough there's Marksman Ring, food that gives +2 PEN etc.

 

I belive HB that penetrates outdamages War Bow that overpens (+30% damage) due to higher base damage, bonus accuracy and faster action time.

Edited September 3, 2018 by Somnium_Meum

[mant2si]

With pistols that's 15 PEN (+abilities). You can also use Eccea's Blaster for raw damage.

 

And with dual mortar aoe fire + Driving Flight you might not impress the dragon, but you can do short work of adds, like the magma oozes, at the same time DoT-ing the boss.

 

I haven't really experienced trouble keeping a Scout alive, barring the first few boarding fights and concentrated firepower. He has excellent mobility. And a Streetfighter kinda likes to be blooded. Yeah, against a boss doing point blank aoe, like the Magma Dragon, the companion might have trouble staying in melee. In most regular combats that's not an issue if you're reasonably careful and don't try to use him as a tank.

Yeah, you can change on pistols, but you will loose +1 sharpshooter pen (or you will need to stay near boss) which required a lot of micro management to save your and your pet bodies, because of that you will loose 20 accuracy from ranger class.

 

+You can't get +15 accuracy (without penetration lost and blunderbuss modal lost) 

+35% DW nerf mean that you will do same damage as 2H weapon hit 

​

In summary if you like comfort and  lazy gameplay with good DPS Bow is your choice ;D

[Haplok]

You can leave the pet behind and he'll survive.

I'd put it differently.

If you like to lazily auto-attack and often rely on others for afflictions and DoTs, then a bow is your choice.

 

If you prefer yo actively use rogue abilities, duals are much better.

[Verde]

Rogues are very versatile and deadly so it depends on single or multi and your preferred style of play.

 

But I'd say a given is to take the first two skills, Dirty Fighting, and Deathblows. And Persistant Distraction if you melee. The latter two are especially OP...I mean reasonable.

Edited September 4, 2018 by Verde

[Lampros]

 

There are 2 bows that have an upgrade called Weightless Draw, which gives a 50% chance to trigger an instant cooldown on a crit. Rogue's have dirty fighting, which gives them a 10% hit to crit conversion, and you can get more with fighter's Disciplined Barrage, or just by sheer accuracy bonus from the Ranger. Swashbucklers and Scouts have some dirty crit chance. I'm using both bows in my full party playthrough on a Scout (Sharpshooter/Rogue) and a Swashbuckler (Devoted (War Bow)/Rogue). I have seen both of them trigger this ability over 6 times in a row. If you trigger it on a target that has 2 afflictions and you're using Deathblows, plus the penetration modal for war bow, and you have Devoted penetration bonus, you do unbelievably high damage, very very quickly, even to super heavily armed targets 

 

The 2 bows with Weightless Draw are called Veilpiercer (obtained from the quest New Gods of the Deadfire), and Saint Omaku's Mercy, found in the underground sea lab for the Rauati Quest in Sayuka. 

 

Veilpiercer comes legendary, gives a usable ability called Disruptive Arrow that disallows the use of activated abilities for several seconds. It also grants a huge bonus againt spirits, deals 10% raw damage, and is a veil piercing attack (obviously) 

 

Saint Omaku's Mercy is geared more for support. It comes Superb. Heavy draw makes it fire 10% slower, but gives 5% bonus damage that scales with Survival (good for your Ranger/Rogue combo), and +1 penetration, which is made even better when used by a Devoted. You'll pierce just about every armor value in the game unless it gets up into the 20s like some of the bosses. One upgradable passives gives you 15% bonus action speed that increases as you lose health, which is great because you'll be squishy. It also heals nearby allies when you score a kill, which will be often 

 

So use Omaku's Mercy against normal enemies, use Veilpiercer against spirits and wizards 

 

Here's how I recommend you build these ranged rogues (general guidelines, I don't want to look up everything) 

 

Race: Hearth Orlan (for hit to crit bonus when attacking same target as an ally) 

Background: Any, but you could pick one with a bonus to survival for the increased damage 

Class: Sharpshooter (for Hit to Crit and Penetration options based on range), Rogue (no sublcass, though assassin could work, you'll be using a ton of your resources to go stealth a lot) 

 

Rogue abilities (in no particular order, just the most necessary) 

 

Dirty Fighting (hit to crit) 

Two handed style (bonus damage) 

 

Counfounding Blind (bonus accuracy, blind, damage over time is super useful) 

Arterial Strike (bonus damage, bleed damage over time as target moves, and hobbles) 

^ 

use these 2 together to proc your deathblows bonus

 

Devastating blow (200% bonus damage is always great) 

Deathblows (duh, always take)

Deep Wounds (just useful extra raw damage) 

 

Ranger abilities (again, no particular order) 

 

Driving Flight (makes a separate attack roll, good for that extra chance to score a crit) 

Marksman (bonus accuracy) 

Survival of the Fittest (bonus accuracy on targets bloodied or worse) 

Marked prey (bonus accuracy, take the one that spreads) 

Accurate wounding shot (+20 accuracy, wooo) 

 

There is an ability that I stupidly didn't take, I cannot remember the name of, but it adds 10 accuracy if you attack the same target as your animal companion. Definitely take this, and for increased animal companion effectiveness, give it the 3 damage boosting abilities (30% damage against sneak attack viable targets, 15% straight damage and bonus penetration, and 50% damage against targets who are taking damage over time, with those, your animal companion will wreck serious **** while you attack over, and over, and over again

 

Also, I believe your animal companion counts as a friendly character for the sake of triggering Minor Threat's hit to crit bonus (Hearth Orlan). Abuse that ****, you will crit with nearly every attack

 

As for items, any good light armor. Benwith's armor is great because it reduces the armor penalty. Gloves that give miss to graze, graze to miss or hit to crit work extremely well. 

 

For pets, take Trixie, she gives your party hit to crit conversion as well. I think it only works on companions and not the Watcher, but I could be wrong there. I'm not a huge number cruncher, I just do what I find works 

 

I will try to make a little video of this build in action sometime

 

Veilpiercer and Omaku bow's crit till you miss is pretty good with their added utility, but when it comes to multiclass war bows I like to use a variant of this build https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/103542-single-class-build-arcana-archer-ranger/ though it's not as strong without the twinned shot, but it's still pretty crazy.

 

 

All the war bows seem excellent in this game!

 

I am a bit miffed that certain weapons have a variety of good choices (for instance, swords, sabres, and war bows), but certain weapons have like 1 legitimate options. I hope future DLCs and updates address this problem somewhat.

[Lampros]

Fur rogue utility IMO dual weapons are hard to beat. Dual pistols or blunderbuss Full Attack: Apply affliction with first shot, profit from it on second (and third and fourth with Driving Flight) to get: up to +60% Sneak, +50% Streetfighter bonus, eventually +50% Deathblows. Also if you fail to apply it on the first bullet, perhaps the second will do the trick.

Apply affliction/DoT to all enemies in sight in a single shot / ability use (+profit) vs waste rogue resources to have 1 chance to apply it to a single enemy.

 

How do dual gunpowder weapons work? I recall that in PoE 1 I avoided them because of hearing about massive reload times. Is that no longer the case in PoE 2? It's a bit jarring that so many folks recommend gunpowder weapons in PoE 2 when they were shunned in PoE 1 - except as a alpha strike tool in some weapons switch scheme.

[Lampros]

So when you face a high reflex enemy, you simply use Xefa's + Kitchen Stove or Thundercrack + Scordeo's.

The build is also proficient (and deadly) with those weapons.

 

And funny to hear about trouble with Penetration from someone who just recommended a Hunting Bow Devoted.

Hunting Bows only get to 10 Penetration, same as blunderbuss (and less then pistols). Devoted gets +2, but a Sharpshooter also gets +1 vs near targets. Marksman Ring +1 Pen.

Can eat the same foods for +2. Can have the Priest cast Champion's Boon for another +2.

 

Plus Crippling strike +2 PEN and Strike the Bell +5 PEN. Of course ability spam is difficult to sustain in a boss fight, like Magma Dragon.

 

Hmm, what do you need to penetrate bosses at PotD? So 12 Penetration from purely class/gear without buffs is not enough? Sheet, I hate having to run around to get inn, whore, food buffs, etc.