[Class Build] TCS Speedrun Rogue - Stealth/Crit/Shadowing (+Video of my 2:18h run as a strategy guide)

I've just completed my TCS Speedrun (2:18h, No Glitches), so I thought I would share the build I have used.

It's reliable, but not without risks. If you want to reproduce the run, I would suggest studying my video.

There is also quite a bit of additional information on my strategies in the video description:

 

Pillars of Eternity - TCS Speedrun (2:18h, No Glitches, Solo, Highest Difficulty, Triple Crown)
https://youtu.be/ZtGppK4gWkE

 

(I've just realized that I got the Relative Pacifism achievement for the run, so fewer than 175 NPCs and Creatures are killed!)

 

 

Concept

Push for max. Stealth and compensate Mechanics with the Gloves of Manipulation. The Stealth allows for early completion of Heritage Hill and Cliaban Rilag, opening up high XP Quests in Twin Elms. The final char level is 10, and while Deathblows at level 11 would make the final battle so much easier, its just taking too much time to reach. If you want to make sure the final battle goes right 99% of the time, you can ditch the "Speedrun" part of the build, and just do a few more side-quests before facing Thaos.


Build
- Moon Godlike, Rogue, Old Vailia, Dissident
- Stat distribution: 18 3 18 3 17 18

Abilities
- Crippling Strike, Reckless Assault, Blinding Strike, Finishing Blow, Dirty Fighting

Talents
- Two-Weapon-Style, Shadowing Beyond, Quick Item Slots, Weapon Focus: Soldier, Savage Attack

Talent Rewards
- The Merciless Hand (+0.3 Crit Multiplier)
- Dungeon Delver (+0.1 Crit Multiplier)
- Blooded Hunter (+1 Stealth)

Skills
- Stealth 10, Mechanics 4, Lore 2, Survival 4

Endgame Items
- Godansthunyr (Stun on Crit, +Exceptional, +Vessel)
- We Toki (Prone on Crit, Exceptional, +Burning Lash, +Vessel)
- Aru-Brekr (Movement Speed Increase, +Exceptional, +Might 2, +Crush Proof)
- Shod in Faith (Endurance Healing Aura on getting critted)
- Rotfinger Gloves (AoE DoT's and Spells to enable Sneak Attacks)
- Blunting Belt (More Protection!)
- Amulet of Health (More Endurance!!)
- Ring of Searing Flames (Good damage buff in the early game, also useful for final battle)
- Ring of Unshackling (To negate debuffs in the final battle)

 

Feel free to ask questions or to leave suggestions for improvements.

Edited June 26, 2015 by AllanonTM

Does anybody know of another class that beats Thaos on max. difficulty, solo and at character level 10 (or preferably 9), somewhat reliably?

 

Don't think I can beat my time with another class, especially as there is still some room for improvement in this run, but I'm a bit bored by Rogue atm...

Edited July 5, 2015 by AllanonTM

Whats the reason for 17 Intel 18resolve?

Wizard. You have lower starting stealth and mechanics, which is the main issue for speedrun though.

 

Tbh the fight is not that tough if you split them (they really need to fix the aggro ranges there), and you don't really need SB for that, just pull them with 3x summons figurines, there are many vids how to do it. with that in mind, a lot of classes should be able to do it lvl 9-10 as beating them 1 by 1 is not that difficult.

 

Tbh I think skills make a bigger difference than anything else, mandatory combat is not that difficult.

Edited July 5, 2015 by MadDemiurg

Whats the reason for 17 Intel 18resolve?

 

Old Vailia gives +1 INT on top of that, I like the symmetry.

 

Also, there is actually a gameplay reason for resolve 18. Some quests require high resolve for quick completion, most notably a certain "leader poisoning" quest that requires resolve 20, and I can reach that by sleeping in the Twin Elms Inn.

Edited July 5, 2015 by AllanonTM

Great run! 

 

 

Whats the reason for 17 Intel 18resolve?

 

Old Vailia gives +1 INT on top of that, I like the symmetry.

 

Also, there is actually a gameplay reason for resolve 18. Some quests require high resolve for quick completion, most notably a certain "leader poisoning" quest that requires resolve 20, and I can reach that by sleeping in the Twin Elms Inn.

 

(congrats on the run it's impressive! )

 

And why did you go with INT over PER ? 

Great run! 

 

(congrats on the run it's impressive! )

 

And why did you go with INT over PER ? 

 

Thank you.

 

Perception doesn't do anything for this build. Deflection is so low that additional deflection won't matter much, Interrupt is not very useful in general and in combination with my weapons, Reflex is nearly irrelevant.

 

Intelligence 18 on the other hand provides a crucial Duration increase of I think 75% over Intelligence 3. That means that all those skills like Blinding Strike, Hobble, Rotfinger Gloves, etc... that put Sneak Attack enabling Debuffs on targets, run for 75% longer. So in prolonged fights your Damage over Time is way higher. Especially noticable in the last fight.

 

A bigger Area of Effect is also somewhat useful with Rotfinger Gloves. Higher Will is okay to have, making you a bit more resistant against some nasty debuffs. It's better to avoid those entirely tho.

Edited July 9, 2015 by AllanonTM

Heya,

 

Nicely done. Stealth is the key here it seems and key combats avoided with invisibility after being sighted, and knowing which quests and where the hidden items are and stuff like that. But Stealth is overwhelmingly the reason it works to avoid specific combats that would otherwise be impossible, and that's not even unique to the Rogue (stealth), but the invisibility is. I'm wondering how it would work with another character type, with high stealth as well, like a Fighter, or Barbarian, just for fun. I thought about a Ranger, but the pet would actually be more of a problem than a help.

 

Very best,

Edited July 9, 2015 by MalVeauX

Heya,

 

Nicely done. Stealth is the key here it seems and key combats avoided with invisibility after being sighted, and knowing which quests and where the hidden items are and stuff like that. But Stealth is overwhelmingly the reason it works to avoid specific combats that would otherwise be impossible, and that's not even unique to the Rogue (stealth), but the invisibility is. I'm wondering how it would work with another character type, with high stealth as well, like a Fighter, or Barbarian, just for fun. I thought about a Ranger, but the pet would actually be more of a problem than a help.

 

Very best,

 

The stealth strategy is definately possible with every class. After optimizing my run some more, I am standing in front of Thaos with a level 8 Cipher and a better time. I just can't kill him! Cipher has +1 Stealth/Mechanics/Lore, so I was forced to substitute a missing stealth at level 6 for a +1 stealth bonus from one of the prostitutes in Ondra's Gift. Didn't even realize that they give boni until yesterday.

 

But like MadDemiurg has mentioned: With stealth and mechanics so powerful for speedruns, classes without any starting boni there probably won't be contenders for the best time. Unless you find class specific ways around the obstacles. If time is not that important, missing starting attributes just translate into "get another 1-2 character levels before proceeding". Trying to get by without mechanics should probably be an important goal with those classes, and something I will try in my next runs as well.

 

It might be beneficial to compile a list of key obstacles in the game and solo strategies to deal with them. The Cipher was really good at killing Maerwald at level 3 for example, alltho that encounter can always be made easier by employing the spiders.

 

Here is my list of the problems that need to be solved in order to get a good time, colors represent their general difficulty (in my experience). Sometimes I don't remember what min. Sneak requirements are, so I will put a (?) behind some values until they are confirmed. I will update the list in the future, feel free to make suggestions and to correct me. The list might deserve its own thread once it has a bit more meat on it.

• Caed Nua Throne Room
• Maerwald
• Escaping the Sanitarium alive
• Heritage Hill - Entering the Tower
• Heritage Hill - Road to Icantha
• Heritage Hill - Tower
• Cliaban Rilag L1 - Room with the Menpwgra
• Cliaban Rilag L1 - Sporeling Room
• Cliaban Rilag L2 - Reaching the stairs up
• Cliaban Rilag - Getting out again
• Burial Isles
• Breith Eaman - Reaching Iovara
• Sun in Shadow L1 - Passing the first Shadow Drake + Minions
• Sun in Shadow L2 - Thaos

Caed Nua Throne Room

• General (Peaceful): Sneak 5 to reach the door, Summon sacrificial minion to avoid combat
• Rogue: Sneak 5 to reach the door, Shadowing Beyond to avoid combat
• Wizard: High enough deflection (Shield, Wizards Doubles, Hardened Veil) to avoid getting hit + Spells (Ray of Fire, Fan of Flames, Chill Fog, etc...)

Maerwald

• General: Get spidery help, Boost elemental resistances with Bulwark Potion
• Cipher: Antipathetic Field

Escaping the Sanitarium alive

• General (Peaceful): Summon sacrificial minions into the mob and hide in cell, Sneak 9 (?, with +1 Speed) to get out
• General (Combat): Use the door as funnel, Group targeting Spells/Skills
• Rogue: Shadowing Beyond to avoid combat, Sneak 9 (?, with +1 Speed) to get out

Heritage Hill - Entering the Tower

• General (Peaceful): Sneak 9 (?, with +1 Speed)
• General (Combat): Use the ramp and minions as a funnel, Rotfinger Gloves are very good, Beware of the paralyzing Darguls

Heritage Hill - Road to Icantha

• General (Peaceful): Sneak 12 (with +1 Speed), Even with lower Sneak much can be avoided (The hardest do sneak past is the Dargul right in front of Icantha's house, but that fight only has one Dargul total, when the patroling Dargul is away). If you need to shake off the group after leaving the house, they stop following once you get some distance along the top road leading east.
• Rogue: Shadowing Beyond to avoid combat

Heritage Hill - Tower

• General (Peaceful): Not sure that can be done? Sneaking past anti-clockwise on level 1 was possible, but very unreliable with Sneak 12. Additionally you get un-stealthed on using the stairs on the top of the tower, so you either have to fight on level 2 or 1 when going down again. I prefer clearing the left side of level 1 (beware of those Necrotic Lance spewing Skeleton Mages) and sneaking past stuff on level 2 with Sneak 9 (?, with +1 Speed)
• General (Combat): So many Darguls...

Cliaban Rilag L1 - Room with the Menpwgra

• General (Peaceful): Not sure how high Sneak has to be, 12 is not enough. You can however initiate a fight, summon sacrificial minions and run past. Might lead to problems getting back out again.
• General (Combat): The first druid can be pulled without triggering something else. Druid and Pwgra next, you have to run away a bit to make the Menpwgra go away again. The Menpwgra can then be pulled on her own. After that, sneaking is not that hard anymore, or you can just kill the rest.
• Rogue: Shadowing Beyond to avoid combat

Cliaban Rilag L1 - Sporeling Room (**** that room, know where the traps are)

• General (Peaceful): Sneak 12 (with +1 Speed), Run into the stone in the center, Circle around anti-clockwise while hugging it, Avoid the traps and click on stairs down from some distance off
• General (Combat): Pull the bottom left Sporelings away and deal with them, Kill the first Dank Spore on the bottom, preferably from a distance. Sneak anti-clockwise while hugging the outer wall, Run into the Swamp Spore from an angle that makes it unlikely to run to the right while dominated and kill it, or do it from a distance. Now it's possible to sneak past with much lower Stealth
• Cipher: Antipathetic Field is really nice to kill the Spores if positioned correctly

Cliaban Rilag L2 - Reaching the stairs up

• General (Peaceful): Sneak 12 (with +1 Speed) & Mechanics 5 allow you to get the key
• General (Peaceful): Sneak 10 (?, with +1 Speed) & Mechanics 8 (+ 9 Lockpicks) allow you to get ahead without the key
• General (Combat): Don't think its wise to try and get they key with combat, so it's Mechanics 8 (+ 9 Lockpicks) and killing 2 Animats, and then 2 Small + 2 Normal Rain Blights
• Rogue: Shadowing Beyond to avoid combat

Cliaban Rilag - Getting out again

• Backtracking: Well, you made it there, make it back again
• Swimming (Peaceful): Sneak 10 (?, with +1 Speed) to avoid the Dweller Group, Sneak 13 (?, with +1 Speed) to avoid the Oozes and Troll, If you get detected by them, running to the exit will shake off the Oozes
• Swimming (Combat): Sacrificial minions for the Dweller Group (not tested). With them being so slow, it might just be possible to run towards the exit and only having to fight some Trolls in the end
• Rogue: Shadowing Beyond to avoid combat

Burial Isles

• General (Peaceful): Sneak 15 allows you to skip everything, even going up all the stairs
• General (Peaceful): Sneak 14 + Prybar allows you to sneak past the big group at the hole, coming from the right, after sneaking past the 2 Pwgra and 2 Menpwgra that guard the tunnel leading up there
• General (Semi-Peaceful): Sneak 13 + Prybar allows you to sneak past the big group at the hole, coming from the right, after killing the 2 Pwgra and 2 Menpwgra that guard the tunnel leading up there. This will not work in case the Cean Gwla does not move away again, after stepping a bit closer when come out of the tunnel.
• General (Combat): Good luck. I'd advise using the tunnel and spamming Paralyze and Maelstrom Scrolls onto the group in front of the hole.
• Rogue: Shadowing Beyond to avoid combat

Breith Eaman - Reaching Iovara

• General (Semi-Peaceful): I'm not satisfied with any of my strategies here tbh... With Sneak 15 you can get past the ghost room on the left side of the dungeon. Continuing that way, you will eventually have to fight the two Animats in front of the door leading to Iovara. After the ghost room, wait for the patroling Animat (with its hugely unfair sneak detection radius) to go away, then cross the Animat room hugging the bottom. The door Animats will spot you late enough to not trigger the other Animats.
• Rogue: Shadowing Beyond to avoid combat

Sun in Shadow L1 - Passing the first Shadow Drake + Minions

• General (Peaceful): Sneak 13 (?) + Boots of Speed. Probably works with sacrificial minions (not tested) as well.
• Rogue: Shadowing Beyond to avoid combat

Sun in Shadow L2 - Thaos

• General: Split them with minions
• Rogue: Shadowing Beyond to split, See this for a Level 10 strategy (https://youtu.be/ZtGppK4gWkE)

Edited July 9, 2015 by AllanonTM

You can use mind control tactics for Thaos: 

 

although it becomes less reliable at lower levels, as it's harder to get guaranteed hits.

 

For level 8 cipher, you're missing out on a lot of power without level 5 and 6 powers. I guess if you manage to hit level 9 you can use CC on crit weapons + summons + tactical meld for pretty high chance crit against statues(competitive with rogue I'd say) as their deflection is really low or alternatively your best bet from level 1-4 powers is ectopsychic echo as it deals a ton of damage. Use carrow golan before battle for +4 focus on hit, better yet use both carrow golan and blasconn. You'll need multiple figurines because you'll need 1 for splitting and 1-2 for combat, so deep pockets are a must.

You can use mind control tactics for Thaos

 

although it becomes less reliable at lower levels, as it's harder to get guaranteed hits.

 

For level 8 cipher, you're missing out on a lot of power without level 5 and 6 powers. I guess if you manage to hit level 9 you can use CC on crit weapons + summons + tactical meld for pretty high chance crit against statues(competitive with rogue I'd say) as their deflection is really low or alternatively your best bet from level 1-4 powers is ectopsychic echo as it deals a ton of damage. Use carrow golan before battle for +4 focus on hit, better yet use both carrow golan and blasconn. You'll need multiple figurines because you'll need 1 for splitting and 1-2 for combat, so deep pockets are a must.

 

Thank you for your great input. I was thinking along similar lines for my future attempts vs Thaos with the Cipher. Level 9 is okay, I think it only adds a few minutes to the run. Getting good weapons might be more of a problem, because money gain is really low for that particular run. Do you suggest dual wielding? Blunderbuss was not the best of choices because of the high DR on the statues, so focus generation is too low. With a high focus generation it would be way easier. Does the focus gain really stack with Carow and Blacsonn?

 

Ectopsychic echo was one of the first things I've tried and it works pretty well. Deep pockets I have, and 3 statues. Splitting with the statues seems okay, but a little bit unreliable sometimes. Unless I'm not doing it 100% correctly. I'm blocking the upper statue with one Beetle, then I position the other two somewhere to the left, a bit apart, so that Thaos follows after the first Bettle is dead, and then "chain kills" them. But sometimes the statue follows there, sometimes both, sometimes they follow me after all the Beetles are dead, etc... I will experiment more with that.

Edited July 9, 2015 by AllanonTM

Blacsonn was changed in the last patch to give +20% focus instead of a flat bonus, so now it stacks with Carrow, which gives a flat bonus, since these are different buffs now. Carrow is more important in any case. Blunderbuss with Carrow is good for focus anyway, but you also want weapon dps apart from focus generation, and dual wield wins here. You can combine by opening with a blunderbuss and switching to dw though. Reload it in between fights. Generally sabers and stilettos are the best for dps, sabers will probably win vs statues due to high DR. You can also use status effect weapons you used for rogue, you can crit pretty often with a cipher too.

 

Splitting with summons requires some practice, it's quite reliable if you get a hang of it.

Edited July 9, 2015 by MadDemiurg

Thanks for the great guide. I'll try this myself, shadowing what you need, for that juicy TCS achievement

 

Do you think this is doable with a Monk ?

I would not recommend Monk for this particular run strategy. At least the unarmed version feels really weak compared to Rogue or Cipher. Getting to Iovara at level 8 was hell with the Monk. Didn't even try beating Thaos in earnest. I'm finishing preperations for a Speedrun video with a Cipher at the moment, will probably do voice commentary on it. I have it below 2h, but not sure how far.

Edited July 17, 2015 by AllanonTM

This Speedrun is almost perfect.

But, the Items you use in the special List from http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/80015-all-poe-random-item-day-checklist/page-2
would be nice, if you make a short brake on showing us their abilitys. Escpezialy if you have random itims like the boots of stealth. I didnt found them and now this game is a litle bit harder for me. I dont want to restart, because i played it allready 6 hours ( i know, you needed only 2 hours, but i look at the video and thats alone 2h of playing )
 

I think you mist the part where you got the 10.000 Gold from Doemenel. 
You put the item of the Doemenel in the chest at 1:16:37, but you never got the 10.000 Gold?

 

The scene in 1:31:43 is not possible anymore in version 2.0 with stealth 11. I dont know how to get more stealth. I got the boots cat wispers, because the stealth both were not possible to get. But they should be the same.
 

Sorry for so many qustions, but i tried to replay your start and i dont get it. How do you got those items?

With the help of this list http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/80015-all-poe-random-item-day-checklist/ and your youtube video i tried to make some screenshots.

 

But the days of getting these items are not the same as the video shows us.

1) Why didnt you show us the real way to get these items?

2) Why dont you say anything in this video? Some help would be fine.

Loved this speedrun and have been trying the build and strategy myself.

 

However there are few issues with replicating this in Version 2.01/White March:

 

  - Several of the chest locations seem to have been updated in the patch (for ex. upper level Eothas temple has Amulet of Health on day 2 of the month not day 1 which gives the Spellward Amulet). Hopefully Adaxe will update his table of chest contents for Version 2.x.

  -  Perception now affects Accuracy not Deflection so my Rogue ends up with -7 accuracy so I get a lot of misses. 

  -  Possibly as a result of that I have a lot of issues with the Maerwald fight and the Fan of Flames scroll has little effect on the enemies. I get killed a lot (all!) of the time

 

Have you (re-)tried this run in the lates patch?  I would be grateful for any suggestions as to how to best adjust the build for this run and any alternative approaches for the Maerwald fight.

Well i did the run till

 

The scene in 1:31:43 is not possible anymore in version 2.0 with stealth 11. I dont know how to get more stealth. I got the boots cat wispers, because the stealth both were not possible to get. But they should be the same.
 

 

But all the chests of the random items i missed all spezials. For example the fire ring and the stealth boots.

At 1:13:43 there is now way thru with stealth 11. So you must level up. There is no stealth item +3 or other ways for +3?

I will do my next run on sunday and hope i will come thru with another char. But first i thin of the 18-18-3-18-3-18-18 skill system.

I went back to Gilded Vale and re-rolled my character with more Per and Con and a bit less Int and Dex. This means a bit less action speed and AoE/duration but only -2 Accuracy penalty and the same endurance (Con gives 5% penalty per point now instead of 3%).

 

Passed Maerwald with some spidery help and currently doing Defiance Bay. Stealth working well but Mecanics seem to have changed a bit and you need the rest bonus to Mechanics from the inn to loot the catacombs and disarm some of the traps now. There do seem to have been a few updates to areas and patrolling enemies since the video as well which complicate things.

 

In view of this I am doing a PoTD Solo run rather than trying for TCS straight off so I can survive any surprises without having to redo everything. I wonder if the OP or anyone has suggestions of an updated attribute spread for V2.x?

Is this still a viable build for 2.0? If not, what are some of the alterations made?

I am still in testing mode on PoTD but my impression so far is that a stealth focus is still viable but you will need at least 12 stealth plus a speed boost to get by the most critical areas using items, food and/or rest bonuses.

 

My main concerns are that it is an extreme glass cannon build when min/maxed like this (18-3-18-3-18-18) - the Con penalty is -35% and Acc penalty is -7. The aim of the build is crit damage and AoE/DoT as well as conditions but you need to hit to apply them and you miss a lot with that penalty (at least in the early/mid game).

 

My current attribute spread is 18-3-16-8-15-18 which corrects most of the Acc deficiency at the cost of a little AoE/Duration and action speed. Still feels very fragile and I might want to sacrifice a point or two of Might damage for a bit more Con and survivability.

 

I love the concept of a sneaky rogue that bypasses all unnecessary fights and still prevails but you do have to fight sometimes and summons can only do so much to help - you still have to be able to do enough damage to finish them off and be able to survive the inevitable hits. That said, I am really enjoying the character and this approach to the game.

The scene in 1:31:43 is not possible anymore in version 2.0 with stealth 11. I dont know how to get more stealth. I got the boots cat wispers, because the stealth both were not possible to get. But they should be the same.

 

 

Still no chance with patch 2.01 and stealth 11. No chance to get thru

Did you get the stealth rest at copperlane beforehand?

 

Should give 12 stealth and Aru Brekr gives +1 speed. I am about to try this in my playthrough next time I get a chance to play. 

Did you get the stealth rest at copperlane beforehand?

 

Should give 12 stealth and Aru Brekr gives +1 speed. I am about to try this in my playthrough next time I get a chance to play. 

 

I have the speed +1 and stealth +2 from the boots. I dont think that resting will give me more the +2

 

YEEEEAAAAAHHHHH

 

You need stealth 13!!!

9+2 by boots and +2 by Hedge Maze = 13 !!!

Edited September 5, 2015 by brabe