Cipher Vs Rogue Vs Hunter All Ranged (and another quick question)

[hackwalker]

So far its pretty early to judge which one is better since the game just came out but maybe some of you guys already tried a few of them, Im trying to figure which one of these classes can deal the most punishing damage at ranged and which of those are more fun to play.

another question I wanted to ask is, should I go melee or ranged cipher?

[falchen]

Rangers are pretty underwhelming all around, ranged cyphers are great but you'll mostly cast spells, the ranged weapon is there to build focus. If you want a straightforward shoot things till they die kind of character rogue is probably your best bet, though a chanter with the fast reload phrase might also be interesting.

[termokanden]

I would think rogue does the most damage from what I've seen so far, but I haven't really thought about it much. Ciphers do deal quite heavy damage with Soul Whip + Biting Whip, but you want to be casting those spells, many of which do not deal damage.

 

Cipher is a really cool class and my favorite in fact. I went with a ranged cipher because ciphers are so squishy.

[hackwalker]

And if I do infact go melee cipher, what weapons should I wield?

[termokanden]

Pike lets you attack from a bit of a distance so that's one good choice. However, dual-wielding seems like it would generate a lot of focus together with Draining Whip. Stilettos can bypass DR, and they're in the same weapon category as the blunderbuss (which is also excellent for focus gain).

[gnoster]

And if I do infact go melee cipher, what weapons should I wield?

 

My cipher (first character) dualwields a longsword and a lifedraining stiletto for melee while he wears enchanted plate armor. With 10 Constitution of course he shouldn't go toe to toe with an ogre boss, but he can easily offtank a troll while the main dps focuses it down. I normally start with him ranged with a warbow and then switch to melee to pluck any opening in my fighter/paladin + ranger pet tank line, of course casting appropriate spells accordingly.

[lord_wc]

A rogue will do 150% damage with SA.

A cipher will do 140% with soul whip+biting whip.

 

That's only 6,6% damage difference and for this a cipher gets a plethora of A+ CC spells and a few which deal really heavy damage. So cipher is definitely more useful for a little less damage.

 

I would go ranged with cipher, blunderbusses deal okay damage and they fill focus much better (with drainig whip it's a free 12 focus). You are too squishy to go in melee and due to your extremley low deflection everyone will just crit you to death.

[Kilrach]

A rogue will do 150% damage with SA.

A cipher will do 140% with soul whip+biting whip.

 

That's only 6,6% damage difference and for this a cipher gets a plethora of A+ CC spells and a few which deal really heavy damage. So cipher is definitely more useful for a little less damage.

 

I would go ranged with cipher, blunderbusses deal okay damage and they fill focus much better (with drainig whip it's a free 12 focus). You are too squishy to go in melee and due to your extremley low deflection everyone will just crit you to death.

 

Rogues still have crits too right?

[hackwalker]

arent there like many skills which make a cipher a better melee character? and should i really run cloth armor with him?

[lord_wc]

 

A rogue will do 150% damage with SA.

A cipher will do 140% with soul whip+biting whip.

 

That's only 6,6% damage difference and for this a cipher gets a plethora of A+ CC spells and a few which deal really heavy damage. So cipher is definitely more useful for a little less damage.

 

I would go ranged with cipher, blunderbusses deal okay damage and they fill focus much better (with drainig whip it's a free 12 focus). You are too squishy to go in melee and due to your extremley low deflection everyone will just crit you to death.

 

Rogues still have crits too right?

Yes, but +10% hits upgraded to crits is not so hot. Considering a fairly common scenario that your accuracy is 18 more than the enemy deflection (same level you have +acc perks and enchantment) the total damage should be:

 

Cipher: 0,32*0,5 (graze) + 0,5 * 1 (hit) + 0,18 * 1,5 (crit) = 0,93

Rogue 0,32*0,5 + 0,45*1 + 0,23*1,5 = 0,955

 

That's 3% difference or so, and the higher your accuracy becomes the less this difference gets. Pumping accuracy is way better in this game (and people do that) as spending talent slot on +crit.

 

And this is obviously only true for trash mobs. Against bosses cipher dps is superior due to the -40 deflection with paralyze. That will mean a cipher will always hit and have crit 58% of the time.

 

 

arent there like many skills which make a cipher a better melee character? and should i really run cloth armor with him?

 

I found melee horribly underwhelming in this game due to the dumb aggro mechanics. I don't think going melee is extremely viable and it will require lots of microing. For not too much gain honestly as firearms deal great damage (and you can have a chanter sing the 'I will pwn you with my machine gun' song at lvl2).

And yeah, cloth/no armor is the way to go for any class that wants to deal damage.

Edited March 30, 2015 by lord_wc

[hackwalker]

kinda off topic but are there any good looking cloth amors later on? the reason i went medium before is for a more badass look