[CLASS BUILD] The Mad Hornet (dps ranged rogue)

[Boeroer]

Matt Reed was the irresponsible, 28-year-old slacker son of widower Lames Reed, a famous town crier in Narfnarfjörður (Living Lands) known as the "Daily Sentinel". Matt's attitude changed when Lames was found dead from an allergic reaction to a wasp sting. After the funeral, Matt fired the staff aside from his maid, but later re-hired Fulmineo, Lames's fencing teacher and a skilled martial artist.

Matt and Fulmineo got drunk together and, upon agreeing that they both hated Lames, visit the graveyard to cut the head off Lames's memorial statue. After they succeed, they rescue a nearby couple being mugged. When bailiffs mistake Matt and Fulmineo for criminals, Fulmineo evades ad distracts them with his blinding speed and he and Matt return to the mansion.

Matt convinces Fulmineo they should become crime-fighters who pose as criminals in order to infiltrate real criminals, and to prevent enemies from using innocents against them. Fulmineo develops a carriage outfitted with several gadgets and weapons, which they call the Blatant Ugliness. Matt plans to capture Benjin Shudnof, a mobster uniting the criminal families of Narfnarfjörður under his command, and whom his father was trying to expose. To get Shudnof's attention, Matt uses a job as town crier as a vehicle to publish news about the "high-profile criminal" the Mad Hornet. Meanwhile, he learns how to shoot a bow from his orlan lavatory attendant who's name he just can't remember since the guy is so small and unimportant - besides the fact that he can teach Matt how to shoot the bow and stuff.

Then Matt met a nice young and round cipher lady who slapped him in the face when he tried to touch her inappropriately. When she left for Gilded Vale in the Dyrwood in order to get some land from a total loonatic named Raedric Matt and Fulmineo decide to follow her... because Narfnarfjörður is a boring place anyway and the name of the town itself is a nightmare.

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The Mad Hornet
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Difficulty: PotD
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Class: Rogue
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Race: Wood Elf
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Background: Living Lands - Merchant
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Stats:

MIG: 19
CON: 3
DEX: 19
PER: 16
INT: 18
RES: 3
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Skills: Lore 4(!), Athl. 4, Mechanic max
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Talents (a=auto, r=recommended, !=important)
Envenomed Strike (!)
Weapon Focus Peasant ®
Vicious Fighting ®
Penetrating Shot ®
Marksman
Outlander's Frenzy
Runner's Wounding Shot

Abilities
Distant Advantage (a)
Sneak Attack (a)
Deep Wounds (!)
Deathblows ®
Sap ®
Blinding Strike
Crippling Strike
Withering Strike
Dirty Fighting ®

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Items (*=additional echantments by me; !=important, r=recommended):

Weapon set 1: Persistence (Durgan Refined*, Exceptional*, Corrosive Lash*, Beast-Slaying*)

Boots: Boots of Speed® or Glanfathan Boots

Head: Footpad's Hood or Crested Hat

Armor: Aedyre Clothing in gold/black (Pierce Proofed*, Exceptional*, INT+2)

Neck: Cloak of the Frozen Hunt or Torc of Falcon's Eyes

Belt: Sentinel's Girdle

Rings: Ring of Thorns, Ring of Overseeing or Ring of Searing Flames

Hands: Ryona's Vambraces or Archer's Gloves

Quick slots: summons, scrolls of Insect Swarm (needs 4 Lore)
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The idea behind this build is to stack a lot of DoT effects. Since most of these effects don't stack on themselves, you also have to attack fast so that you can hit one enemy after the other until the DoT effect expires and you can reapply it again. The best way for that (in my opinon) is a hunting bow since it's fast and has a long range. Rogues have the raw DoT-ability "Deep Wounds" and can dish out lots of single target damage, even with a hunting bow - so I figured that a ranged rogue would be the perfect class to do this. The hunting bow "Persistence" has a DoT enchantment named "Wounding" which does 25% of the caused damage as raw damage over time - and again this speaks for the rogue because his hits/crits do a lot of damage because of sneak attack and deathblows. So the 25% are a really nice bonus if you look at the flat numbers. On top of that comes Envenomed Strike. This awesome ability is only usable three times a rest, but it's really helpful against these nasty high DR bosses because it does a lot of raw damage. As a little bonus I took Runner's Wounding Shot, which does not only hobble the target, but again adds another DoT effect. This whole arrow/venom/dot thing reminded my of a wasp - hence the name. From Outlander's Frenzy comes some madness . It boosts your attack speed a lot and as soon as the frenzy will be buffed to 1/encouter usage it will be more than just a flavour thing. Speaking of Madness: I also wanted to put on some baggy trousers, but there aren't any in the game - so I went for the Aedyrian Clothing. It has nice stripes that can look wasp-ish if you choose gold and black as colors.

The scroll of Insect Swarm fits nicely into this wasp-pattern and can be used to add another AoE-DoT effect (that's why I had the Ring of Overseeing. Together with high int the AoE was huge). In theory now we can stack 5 different DoT effects (Deep Wounds+Persistence+Envenomed Str.+Runner's+Swarm) on our targets, which is pretty awesome. When you start the encounter you just do the shift+click thing to chain the commands to attack one enemy after the other without too much micromanagement. Since you will shot with good speed, it won't take long and all enemies suffer from some serious DoT. You can repeat this until all enemies are dead. From time to time a foe will die and you will have to pause and update your command chain, but that's ok. If you want, you can use scrolls to apply Deep Wounds in an AoE: use Minoletta's Concussive Missiles (8 lore) for that. As far as I know it's the only way to apply crush damage in an AoE with a scroll (besides Twin Stones and that's meh). It works with Deep Wounds because that applies to ALL direct pierce/slash/crush damage the rogue does. So Insect Swarm does not cause Deep Wounds - it's pierce damage, but it's also DoT and not direct damage. I did not use Concussive Missiles because I needed a high mechanics skill on this rogue and therefore only put 4 points into lore for Insect Swarm.

Where was I? Deep Wounds: to get the most out of it, you need both high might and high intelligence. If you have 20 points of intelligence, Deep Wounds will last for 15 seconds. With a might score of 22 (I think) you will deal 4 raw damage per tick (3 sec). So overall you will cause 20 points of raw damage with this stats - awesome! This also works if you hit enemies that are immune to pierce damage by the way. There's no immunity to raw damage. Same for Envenomed Strike (=raw damage): you need high might and lots of int to make it really awesome. Persistence's Wounding and Runner's Wounding Shot will fail to do any damage if the target is immune to pierce damage though. But it's great that you can still harm immune enemies despite their annoying immunities - I'm looking at you, silly blights!
If you can manage to debuff mobs and do deathblows, the damage from the bow itself is also nice. Together with all the raw DoT and Penetrating Shot is gets really nasty. This way you can do kind of AoE damage. You just have to hit every foe once and then let him bleed out - or let the poison do it's job. On top of that you have all the nice afflictions that rogues can cause: Blind, Stun, Hobbled, you name it. It adds some nice CC to this build as well.

The icing on the cake is the usage of Combusting Wounds. You can either use a Ring of Searing Flames yourself or ask a wizard to cast that. All DoT effects add 5 burn damage per tick then. So with 5 different DoT ticks you get +25 damage from Combusting Wounds every 3 seconds. I had two other chars that also made use of Combust. Wounds (The Backlash Beldam and The Engineer - build incoming) so I didn't have to cast it with this rogue. Mobs will melt - but it's also good against the fat ones like dragons. Against a single enemy the dps drops a bit because the DoT effects don't stack with themselves (as I said before), but the good thing is that the DoT-durations get updated all the time so the effect never stops. And you can run away a bit if you need shelter and the ticks will still cause some good damage.

With this build and a paladin tank (who did nothing except staying alive) I did the Nalrend-the-Wise-bounty. Would have worked in solo mode with summons I guess - but I was to lazy for that.

Dokey - hope this wasn't too long. Thanks for reading and bye bye!

Edited December 7, 2015 by Boeroer

[AndreaColombo]

Subscribing

[JerekKruger]

Is there enough enchantment space on the bow to put exceptional, corrosive lash and beast slaying on as well?

[Boeroer]

I'm pretty sure but will look it up again. It had 12/12 in the end.

[rheingold]

Seem to recall seeing on a recent thread, someone suggested Rogues are the weakest class.

Which is slightly odd, they are squishy, yes. But hell, a dual wield sabre rogue is bat**** insane. Take withering strike, crippling strike and blinding strike. Insane damage. Never played a ranged rogue though, always taken a Ranger. May have to give it a go sometime.

[JerekKruger]

I'm pretty sure but will look it up again. It had 12/12 in the end.

 

Oh I'm willing to believe you, I am just surprised persistence gets all its default enchants for so few points.

 

By the way, have you got plans to write builds for every class in the game? I love your guides.

 

Seem to recall seeing on a recent thread, someone suggested Rogues are the weakest class.

 

To be fair given any class someone has probably suggested they are the weakest. Also the strongest.

[Boeroer]

Hi - I made a screenshot - that way you can also see how the char looks:

 

 

 

I had a shocking lash because of a Stormcaller ranger in the party but figured a corrosive lash would make more sense because of the whole hornet theme. 

 

Yes! I want to do a build for every class - and then I will take a break from this game I think until WM part II comes out. Because Christmas is coming and so on...

Barbarian is almost finished and one of a kind I have to say. But I'm really struggeling with the Wizard and Druid because it's difficult to find a build that is somewhat unique or "special", fun to play and yet viable (or better: overpowered ) for PotD. So : next is barb and then fighter I think. The fighter is quite good but only shines from lvl 13 on and that'S bad. Trying to change it a bit so it's also good on low levels.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Boeroer

[Boeroer]

Honestly, I think rogue is one of the most limited classes - at least for char builders - because he lacks any AoE abilities (Smokebomb *cough*) and isn't universally usable like most other classes are. He's just good at single target damage/CC most of the time and at the same time he's rather squishy. You have to micro him a lot if he's not ranged.

 

But at the same time it's so much fun to see him hit for this absurdly high numbers - even with a pew-pew bow. I tried to break up this singele-target-thing with the DoT effects and I think I somewhat succeeded. He was pretty useful I have to say. And if you already have a lot of CC capability a rogue is really great for quickly finishing off the helpless foes.

[Boeroer]

Oh, forgot: thanks for the love!

[Raven Darkholme]

Dat backstory tho.

[AndreaColombo]

Now I'm really torn between this and the monkish rogue I wanted to build. Love the black and gold looks, by the way!

[Boeroer]

Thanks - it's the only time I used Aedyrian Clothing. I think it looks rather stupid on most chars because of the stripes - but this time it really fits.

 

Dat backstory tho.

It's just a variant of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Green_Hornet_(2011_film)

[JerekKruger]

Now I'm really torn between this and the monkish rogue I wanted to build. Love the black and gold looks, by the way!

 

I ran Zahua in the Fulmineo build, though rather foolishly I had already given the White March dagger to that kid (I never realised how good it was) so I did a "Zahua does fencing wrong" with him wielding two rapiers, wearing the Diseased Yak hat but still wearing his starting monk's outfit. I thought it looked quite funny and fitted his personality pretty well.

 

Any idea what your Paladin build will be like yet Boeroer?

[Boeroer]

Huh? What do you mean Jerek? It's out for a couple of days now. Search for "[CLASS BUILD] The Dull Runner". It should still be on the first page.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Boeroer

[Abbzug]

Honestly, I think rogue is one of the most limited classes - at least for char builders - because he lacks any AoE abilities (Smokebomb *cough*) and isn't universally usable like most other classes are. He's just good at single target damage/CC most of the time and at the same time he's rather squishy. You have to micro him a lot if he's not ranged.

 

 

Idk, I've had good luck with my melee rogue by tanking might and intellect and maxing con. Sneak attack + reckless + superb + whatever else seems to offset the might penalty just fine. Doesn't make the meanest rogue, but I only really use him as a mechanics bot and to take out high priority targets (don't really micro him otherwise).

 

I feel like any other class that took two attributes as dump stats would either have the defenses of a wet paper bag, or the offenses of one but maybe I'm wrong.

[JerekKruger]

Huh? What do you mean Jerek? It's out for a couple of days now. Search for "[CLASS BUILD] The Dull Runner". It should still be on the first page.

 

Yeah sorry, I am just dumb

[Boeroer]

 

Huh? What do you mean Jerek? It's out for a couple of days now. Search for "[CLASS BUILD] The Dull Runner". It should still be on the first page.

 

Yeah sorry, I am just dumb

 

Na, don't say that. Sometimes I put an empty milk bottle back into the fridge - THAT is dumb.

[Blades of Vanatar]

 

 

 

 

Huh? What do you mean Jerek? It's out for a couple of days now. Search for "[CLASS BUILD] The Dull Runner". It should still be on the first page.

Yeah sorry, I am just dumb

Na, don't say that. Sometimes I put an empty milk bottle back into the fridge - THAT is dumb.

My father would call that "Just plain old lazy..."

[Boeroer]

Sounds like the motto of this build.

[Harpagornis]

Very cool and intriguing guide series - keep on this great work!

 

An idea for Druid: "The Beast within - A Shapeshifter Guide"

 

Or something like this - i am curious!

[phreax9802]

Tried searching the forum for answers but to no avail. For queuing the attack, shift click + multiple target does not change the target. It keeps attacking the first target. Or am I doing it wrong?

 

Thanks, just bought this game and it already consumed my nights..

[Boeroer]

I didn't try it in the last few weeks, but normally it should work like this:

 

Shift (hold it) + click target no. 1 then click target no. 2 and so on - then release shift.

 

If it doesn't work OBS may have changed the queuing.

 

The processing of the queue also stops if one of the targets you clicked on dies or changes sides (charmed or dominated for example).

 

If this all doesn't work and queuing is broken then you could retrain for low micro: dump INT to 3 and don't take Envenomed Strike. You can then wear the Hat of the Diseased Yak (RES+2, INT -1) or the Ultimate Hat of Alluring Perfection (MIG and CON +2, RES and INT -2). This will leave you with 2 or 3 INT. You can put the points from INT where you want.

 

Low INT is perfect for wounding damage and also Runner's Wounding Shot. It applies the same damage than with high INT, but in much shorter time. If you keep firing at one target, Deep Wounds with low INT is no problem because it gets refreshed after every hit. Unfortunately Envenomed Strike is bad with low INT (damage increases with INT) so we skip it.

 

Such you would turn the multiple target Mad Hornet into a single target Dumb Hornet. Micro would be near zero if you don't get attacked and if others provide afflictions for your Sneak Attack and Deathblows.

 

Persistence also works against pierce immune targets: pierce damage will be blocked but wounding still happens.

[phreax9802]

Thanks for replying! I did do shift + multiple clicks but it doesn't change targets. I suppose the queuing waits until 1st target is dead? I can queue moves and spells no problem.

 

Love your guides by the way

[QuiteGoneJin]

Yes a limitation is you cannot queue just one attack, a shift click on a target means "hit this till its no longer a target" where an ability shift click just means "use this ability one this target". Also if your first target is not a click (without shift) things can get messed up sometimes. Anything that makes the target disappear or change its targeting to green cancels any queue as stated above too. 

 

I've ALSO noticed that you cannot use hotkeys, you must click the ability. This was fixed in Tyranny but not updated in PoE. 

[Lampros]

I am a total newb trying to make a ranged Rogue class, and this looks promising. Two immediate questions:
 

1. Is a DoT ranged Rogue better than a pure burst damage ranged counterpart? If so, can you explain a bit as to the "why"?

 

2. If I am sinking virtually every Skill point into the Mechanic Skill, then do you presume that this build will be accompanied by another Rogue or Ranger who is sinking points into Stealth? Or is Stealth not needed in a party?