Good team comps/builds for dual rogue setup?

[TimoK]

I paused my first playthrough of the game with 4 damage dealers after I noticed the damage output of a dual wielding rogue (team of level 11-12).

 

Now nearing the end of act 2 of my second playthrough (hard mode) running a full custom team with this comp:

 

Paladin (main tank)

Chanter (off-tank)

Priest (buff/fire damage)

Wizard (pure support)

Rogue (dual wield sabres)

Rogue (tall grass pike)

 

But its feeling suboptimal in certain situations. Especially when its tight hallways or when there are too many enemies for the two tanks to handle. And if I mess up and lose a rogue, with only 2 members dealing damage, it can quite often be enough for the fight to end. So, that leaves me with a few questions:

 

What are "proven" comps that work well with one or more rogues?

What is the best way to keep the attention away from my rogues? Or more specifically, how do I start the fight with my tank for easy engages later?

Do I stealth my way to the backline when possible or just use a ranged weapon for the first free sneak attack?

[baldurs_gate_2]

I paused my first playthrough of the game with 4 damage dealers after I noticed the damage output of a dual wielding rogue (team of level 11-12).

 

Now nearing the end of act 2 of my second playthrough (hard mode) running a full custom team with this comp:

 

Paladin (main tank)

Chanter (off-tank)

Priest (buff/fire damage)

Wizard (pure support)

Rogue (dual wield sabres)

Rogue (tall grass pike)

 

But its feeling suboptimal in certain situations. Especially when its tight hallways or when there are too many enemies for the two tanks to handle. And if I mess up and lose a rogue, with only 2 members dealing damage, it can quite often be enough for the fight to end. So, that leaves me with a few questions:

 

What are "proven" comps that work well with one or more rogues?

What is the best way to keep the attention away from my rogues? Or more specifically, how do I start the fight with my tank for easy engages later?

Do I stealth my way to the backline when possible or just use a ranged weapon for the first free sneak attack?

Would switch one rogue out for a druid (Relentless storm is good) and give the other one the bow persistence (can be found on endless paths 4). That should definitly do it.

 

And stealth is in a party not so usefull. Some enemies like to attack your weaker backliners like trolls, shadows with teleport and pwgra. It's about your position. You can summon figurine to help you out.

 

Or you can play Paladin / Paladin or Chanter / Druid / Priest / Ranger and Rogue

Edited July 17, 2016 by baldurs_gate_2

[TimoK]

If its one class I definitely miss from my first playthough its the Druid, so far it seems like the strongest class in the game to me. However, Druid doesnt seem to mesh well with 2 rogues. Switching out 1 Rogue is an option I've thought about, but I prefer to try 2 for now (1 dual wield, the other can be ranged/melee).

 

If I were to switch out a Rogue, I would probably go: 

 

Paladin/2nd tank/Dmg mage/Druid/dw Rogue/Priest, im not liking the Ranger that much.

[Pax_Empyrean]

Two Rogues is definitely overkill, in my opinion. A Rogue isn't just extra DPS that you can throw into the enemy front line and expect to survive it. The AI is better than it used to be, so even if an enemy is already engaged, when you bring your Rogue around behind for flank attacks they'll just turn around and paste you. Throwing enough defensive buffs on the Rogue, and disables on the enemy, lets you get away with this but then you've got two or more characters dedicated to making one character work, and missing a disable means the enemy will eat your Rogue.

If you give your Rogue a bow, it will be outdamaged by a Ranger even before the pet gets factored in once the double shots start coming in, and the Ranger gets a pet, which is ridiculously useful. I don't mind starting off with an arbalest sneak attack, but I switch out for melee after that.

So what you need to do is focus on their backline. This is where Stealth comes in handy; if the enemy melee is already engaged when your stealth drops, you don't have to worry about getting mauled. Just keep your Rogue away from their front line and focus on eating spellcasters and archers. If you need to help out against tough melee opponents, either use a bunch of disables (Ciphers are great for that, by the way) or use Tall Grass from behind your own frontliners.

One of the reasons that two Rogues is overkill is because the targets that you want to engage with a Rogue, you can murder in seconds with just one of them, and there are a lot of targets you don't want your Rogue getting anywhere near. They also tend to be pretty micro intensive and reliant upon disables, so juggling two of them is a hassle. Also, I don't think that Rogues and Chanters synergize well at all. Chanters need to build up a bit to be effective, while Rogues are glass cannons. By the time your Chanter is doing much worthwhile, either your Rogues are dead or the fight is over.

[Boeroer]

Using a ranged rogue is inferior to a ranger in terms of dps - but not that much. So going ranged with Persistence and Deep Wounds and so on can be good. To prevent swarming you can either raise the deflection and DR of you rogues (enemies' AI looks for this) or you use you wizard to confuse or use Binding Web while the rogues wear stag helmets. The latter also helps with Sneak Attacks and Deathblows. Proven comps with a rogue is everything that sets up Sneak Attack and disables so the enemies can't attack the rogue. For example your Priest can cast Painful Interdiction (=weaken) and the wizard can cast Binding Web and you will have deathblow-able foes in a wide area.

 

More than one rogue is not the best option (in my opinion). I know a lot of people love rogues because they do a lot of single target damage. And they can be useful for tanking out tough single enemies pretty fast. But the more rogues you add the more difficult your playthrough will be. But that's only my experience. I had PoTD playthroughs with one rogue, two rogues and even six rogues. The last one was the least pleasant playthrough I ever did and also the most difficult one (with a party). So I would say thinking that adding more rogues makes a party stronger is a rookie mistake - without wanting to offend anybody, I did it myself.

 

However - to make two rogues work the same applies as for one rogue: AoE afflictions and disables. And maybe a thicker frontline. But stag helmets + Binding Web is a pretty solid way to get them going. One stag helmet you can get from VIsceris in Copperlane by the way (backer nps druid who stands left of the inn).

 

Two rogues can be great alpha-strikers and take out the most dangerous foes at the start of the fight with Backstabs + Sneak (or even Deathblows) from arquebuses or blunderbusses/pistols. But you have to be at 2m range max to deliver Backstabs. So make sure you have either Fast Runner or Boots of Speed on them so that they can retreat behind the front line pretty fast. In my experience Escape is too slow (maybe they changed that). YOur paladin can join the team alpha strike with FoD from a gun. That way three enemies will be dead pretty soon.

 

If two tanks are not enough to keep the enemy away from your rogues, your wizard can be build into a good offtank as well without loosing a lot of usefullness for CC. Put him into heavy armor and give him a shield to which he will switch when enemies reach him. He has awesome self buffs which should do the tanking job pretty well. Same with the priest. Give him a shield. He has great defensive buffs which will not only enhance the tankyness of your paladin and chanter but also for him. You would have 4 guys to guard two rogues - that should be enough.

Edited July 17, 2016 by Boeroer

[mosspit]

Or maybe convert 1 of the rogues to a riposte offtank? It is slightly suboptimal than the more traditional offtank choices but it is off the beaten path which can be fun. Only shortcoming is it needs that bash shield from Durgan Battery to have a noticeable performance boost. Until then it will be like playing a poor man's version of a rogue.

 

When using a melee dps rogue, I don't find that it is often that enemies turn away from the tank to hit my rogue that often. My rogue also doesn't dump RES so that might be a reason too. If things get hairy, escape and shadowing beyond to drop aggro are good options.

[Boeroer]

Island Aumaua backstabbing arquebus (or blunderbuss) Arms Bearer Quick Switch rogue for the win! Lots of micro, but lots of one-shot kills, too.  Add Deep Wounds Prestidigitator's Missiles, Ryona's Vembraces (when using blunderbusses), Cloak of Minor Missiles and Missile Scrolls, too. Powerful and is not getting in the way of all the melee guys.

Edited July 18, 2016 by Boeroer