How to make the most of my rogue?

[Morte66]

So I have a rogue, whom I made without any research as such, picking stats that probably made sense in D&D. I'm playing normal mode, with the stock companions; I'm now level 6-7 and I'm not having any trouble. I basically made a "traditional" rogue, but I'm curious how a more optimised PoE build would look. So...

 

She's a wood elf from the Deadwoods Archipelago with the Drifter background.

 

Her stats, base and (with gear) are:

Mgt 14

Con 10

Dex 19 (20)

Per 14 (15)

Int 11

Res 10

 

Maxing Stealth and Mechanics, currently with +stealth/athletics/accuracy/deflection from items.

 

Talents are Backstab, Shadowing Beyond and Two Weapon Style. Chosen abilities are Sneak Attack, Escape, Deep Wounds, Coordinated Positioning, and Blinding Strike.

 

Currently wearing Fine Leather Armour and using a Rapier/Stiletto, with some other fast weapons to swap if I see high DR vs piercing. Exact gear changes as loot comes in.

 

Tactics... Before battle I use her to scout, deal with traps/locks, and maybe set a trap. Then she normally fires one shot with an arbalest to pull and scoots back, while Eder and the ranger pet set up a melee line (preferably on a corner or doorway). Once battle is going I normally switch to dual fast weapons and look for backstabs and sneak attacks, either with actual flanking or various debuffs from the rest of the party. I always seem to have more than enough CC in the party.

 

I enjoy this mobile tactical melee. I''ve hear rogue archers can be good but that's not what I want to do as my main thing.

 

A couple of things occur to me as room for improvement:

- Would she do more damage if I swapped might and dex?

- I kind of assumed perception is needed for finding traps before you step on them, but is it?

- I wonder if I should use a two hander for high DR? If so how do I know when to change?

- Because I scout, I can swap weapons outside combat. But this gets old fast, and some fights have a mix of enemy DR. So if I went for more swapping I might spend a talent to get a third weapon set on hot swap.

- Do heavier weapons with slower attacks in any way imply that heavier armour with slower recovery makes sense?

- Something faster than the arbalest might get an extra shot in before melee starts, I often discard it when it's halfway through the epic reload process. But It would cost alpha strike.

- Most ranged weapons are two handed, but does the Two Handed talent apply to them or just to melee gear?

 

I'd appreciate any feedback on the issues above, or anything else you feel like adding.

[Morte66]

Bonus question: which NPC classes synergise well with rogue, and why?

 

Obviously:

- Anybody who spams the debuffs that enable sneak attack

- Anybody who tanks and holds aggro

 

I'm finding the cypher quite nice, with the ability that makes enemies flanked. That's big AoE and long duration, even with Grieving Mother's stats, and foes only.

[Akimbo]

So I have a rogue, whom I made without any research as such, picking stats that probably made sense in D&D. I'm playing normal mode, with the stock companions; I'm now level 6-7 and I'm not having any trouble. I basically made a "traditional" rogue, but I'm curious how a more optimised PoE build would look. So...

 

She's a wood elf from the Deadwoods Archipelago with the Drifter background.

 

Her stats, base and (with gear) are:

Mgt 14

Con 10

Dex 19 (20)

Per 14 (15)

Int 11

Res 10

 

Maxing Stealth and Mechanics, currently with +stealth/athletics/accuracy/deflection from items.

 

Talents are Backstab, Shadowing Beyond and Two Weapon Style. Chosen abilities are Sneak Attack, Escape, Deep Wounds, Coordinated Positioning, and Blinding Strike.

 

Currently wearing Fine Leather Armour and using a Rapier/Stiletto, with some other fast weapons to swap if I see high DR vs piercing. Exact gear changes as loot comes in.

 

Tactics... Before battle I use her to scout, deal with traps/locks, and maybe set a trap. Then she normally fires one shot with an arbalest to pull and scoots back, while Eder and the ranger pet set up a melee line (preferably on a corner or doorway). Once battle is going I normally switch to dual fast weapons and look for backstabs and sneak attacks, either with actual flanking or various debuffs from the rest of the party. I always seem to have more than enough CC in the party.

 

I enjoy this mobile tactical melee. I''ve hear rogue archers can be good but that's not what I want to do as my main thing.

 

A couple of things occur to me as room for improvement:

- Would she do more damage if I swapped might and dex?

- I kind of assumed perception is needed for finding traps before you step on them, but is it?

- I wonder if I should use a two hander for high DR? If so how do I know when to change?

- Because I scout, I can swap weapons outside combat. But this gets old fast, and some fights have a mix of enemy DR. So if I went for more swapping I might spend a talent to get a third weapon set on hot swap.

- Do heavier weapons with slower attacks in any way imply that heavier armour with slower recovery makes sense?

- Something faster than the arbalest might get an extra shot in before melee starts, I often discard it when it's halfway through the epic reload process. But It would cost alpha strike.

- Most ranged weapons are two handed, but does the Two Handed talent apply to them or just to melee gear?

 

I'd appreciate any feedback on the issues above, or anything else you feel like adding.

 

Starting with your top question:

 

- Might directly affects damage dealt by a %, Dexterity affects "delay" between skill / attack use. Ideally you want both of those stats as high as possible.

 

- Perception does nothing for finding traps. That falls under the "Mechanics" skill.

 

- If you melee, people tend to use a pike or estoc for their rogue. Pikes have reach allowing the rogue to attack from behind a tank. Estocs have DR penetration (5 points). A lot of people get stuck on the dual-wield stereotype for rogues, which with a certain set up can work fine, but isn't always "best". You'll have audio cues if your rogue is getting resisted due to DR, but better to just deal with that problem beforehand.

 

- No need. Use a good weapon like an Arbalest to initiate combat. (Hobbling shot & sneak attack initiation = yay). Either use a pike or if you're confident with micro, an Estoc. No need to worry about DR that way.

 

- No, if you use a slow weapon with heavy armour, you'll attack even slower!

 

- The initial strike is what is important. As is having a high enough amount of damage to make DR not such an issue in general. It's why Arbalests were so good. No with their damage nerf, they're still good, just not "Use Arbalest or nothing". The bows imo are still terrible, though I think they are viable with penetrating shot and constant sneak attacks.

 

- The two-handed talent is melee only.

 

Bonus question: which NPC classes synergise well with rogue, and why?

 

Obviously:

- Anybody who spams the debuffs that enable sneak attack

 

 

That's the most important part and many (all?) classes can provide this benefit. Otherwise I can't think of anything special that stands out.

Edited April 5, 2015 by Akimbo

[jones092201]

i just finished a playthrough on normal with a high defense rogue and i loved it. i was 15/10/12/14/10/14, i think, and i dual wielded in aloths leather jacket and then with scale mail. it was awesome. I still hit hard, but i could take a little punishment, which was nice. i grabbed the modal cautious attack and threw it on when i got into trouble. otherwise, one shot of the blunderbuss then hacking away with my double sabers. ---main thing i liked was that i wasn't totally dependent on the tank. with my per encounter attacks, i could stiil outhit most everyone

 

also, best companion for a rogue is grieving mother with for the eye strike and lvl1 knock down. you'll tear through all but the toughest fights. 

Edited April 5, 2015 by jones092201

[Katarack21]

There's a cipher ability whose name I can't remember right now...basically you target an ally, and it deals pierce damage to an enemy that is engaged with that ally and pushes the enemy back.

It's really excellent for those occassions where an enemy starts wailing on your rogue--it pushes the guy off and deals it damage, and proves time for your your fighter to use into the fray and force engagement so your rogue can safely wale on it's backside.