I'm new & just got this game for XBOX 1 X

[champy]

Hey all: 

I bought this game way back when it was in beta (I think) for PC, but generally speaking, don't like gaming on PC. Really excited to play this now that it is on console. 

 

Any who! 

 

How are rogues in this game? They are my favorite class, but I'm seeing a lot of people say they are no good, or require too much maintenance. Divinity Original Sin had a very "meh" rogue, but A+ archer/ranger, so I just went with that. I saw in some builds that the rogues in this game open with guns; I prefer not to use guns for my rogue. Ideally, I'm dual wielding and killing opponents quickly. Dragon Age: Origin had A+ rogue options. 

 

Also, what is an ideal party setup for a first time player? I plan on having a tank, wizard and perhaps a healer to go with my rogue? 

 

And what difficulty should I roll with, easy or hard? I like a challenge, but I also see this game has an insane amount of mechanics, so I'm unsure. I hear easy is actually hard, but I play most games on difficult settings. I never played D&D proper. 

 

I know that I "should play the game however I feel is best," but just some insight would help. In Divinity, for example, I recommended to first time players that having two wizards, an archer and a tank was a great setup. Just looking for some advice, then I'll decide for myself. 

 

Thanks! 

 

 

[Mygaffer]

Rogues are super powerful and deal tons of damage. Start on normal, you can change the difficulty at anytime, except for Path of the Damned which must be selected at the start.

 

Just roll with the story companions for your first play through, they have their own personalities and goals in the area and add to the flavor the world as you explore. There are a lot of mechanics to learn so don't worry if you feel like you suck at first. There are lots of resources that will teach you online and a few hours in you'll start to grok all the basics, stuff like engagement, the four defenses, accuracy, and DR.

 

Good luck, it's an amazing game, in my humble opinion of course, one of my favorites of all time.

[Mangamina]

Are you new to PoE or to these kinds of CRPGs?  With this game you can do many run-throughs, I suggest doing what Mygaffer stated above, "Just roll with the story companions for your first play through."  The game is a blast, there's no one way to do things, it's fun to experiment and try different things.

[champy]

Are you new to PoE or to these kinds of CRPGs?  With this game you can do many run-throughs, I suggest doing what Mygaffer stated above, "Just roll with the story companions for your first play through."  The game is a blast, there's no one way to do things, it's fun to experiment and try different things.

 

I'm new to PoE, but not genre, assuming that DA:O and Divinity OS are like PoE. 

 

I likely won't do a 2nd playthrough for a long while after I beat game. 

 

Based on what I described, are there any builds that anyone could suggest? Just to check out. Thanks! Really excited. Game should be arriving soon... 

[Heijoushin]

Welcome to the forums.

 

As you may know, rogues are kind of fragile damage dealers in PoE. So ranged "sniper" rogues (with either guns or bows) work well since they can comfortably attack from the back, out of harms way, allowing you to focus on attributes that will improve your damage (might, dex for attack speed, and perception for accuracy) at the expense of defensive attributes (con and res).

But if that's not your cup of tea, an "up close and personal" dual wielding rogue is also very viable. It's just that a slight mistake can get you knocked out. For them, you really need to coordinate well with your other party members. (Example: Let the fighter engage first, the wizard cast a status debuff, and then jump in with the rogue).

 

One other idea might be to instead play a fighter but give him "apprentice sneak attack". The result is a slightly tougher character who can also get in a few dirty sneak shots.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Heijoushin

[Madscientist]

Some time ago I posted this dual wielding rogue: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/93566-class-build-the-fast-assassin-dual-wielding-rogue/

It became more of a general melee rogue guide than just a class build.

 

Some thoughts:

Right now I play the game on hard with a paladin and the story companions and most things are very easy.

When you use a rogue, you should have 2 tank characters in the frot line. No need for a classical tank, just somebody in heavier armor and some health.

You can skip backstab and let the rogue use a ranged weapon until it is save to go closer because the enemies attack your tanks.

I made this build to create an extreme char that uses the maximum possible speed and crits. You can take a few points from dex and per and put them to mig and con if you like a more balanced char.

Anyway, a dual wielding rogue will do lots of damage and get many crits, so you should use two melee weapons that cause on crit effects (stunn or prone) or are annihilating ( more crit damage)

 

In my current game I have Eder (fighter) use dual sabres and heavy armor. He does lots of damage while being able to take a lot of hits at the same time. So if your goal is a dual wielder who does good damage while being able to take many hits as well, a fighter is a good choice. The talent "apprentice sneak attack" should be taken by any char who attacks mostly with weapons, especially if you play with a full party ( enemies will be debuffed or flanked almost all of the time).

[champy]

Some time ago I posted this dual wielding rogue: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/93566-class-build-the-fast-assassin-dual-wielding-rogue/

It became more of a general melee rogue guide than just a class build.

 

Some thoughts:

Right now I play the game on hard with a paladin and the story companions and most things are very easy.

When you use a rogue, you should have 2 tank characters in the frot line. No need for a classical tank, just somebody in heavier armor and some health.

You can skip backstab and let the rogue use a ranged weapon until it is save to go closer because the enemies attack your tanks.

I made this build to create an extreme char that uses the maximum possible speed and crits. You can take a few points from dex and per and put them to mig and con if you like a more balanced char.

Anyway, a dual wielding rogue will do lots of damage and get many crits, so you should use two melee weapons that cause on crit effects (stunn or prone) or are annihilating ( more crit damage)

 

In my current game I have Eder (fighter) use dual sabres and heavy armor. He does lots of damage while being able to take a lot of hits at the same time. So if your goal is a dual wielder who does good damage while being able to take many hits as well, a fighter is a good choice. The talent "apprentice sneak attack" should be taken by any char who attacks mostly with weapons, especially if you play with a full party ( enemies will be debuffed or flanked almost all of the time).

 

I gotta admit, I really like the build you shared. I don't know much about the game, but based on what I do know it fits my play style. 

 

Going to use it as a guide for my toon. Thx everyone. 

[Boeroer]

The setup that gets you the best dps curve troughtout the game (if you want to stick to one "style" and types of weapons and don't like to retrain) is to use a dual wielding approach with rapier + dagger (Weapon Focus Noble) and get the Sword of Daenysis (Defiance Bay, Ondra's Gift, Salty Mast, Club of Ref. and Prest. Gentlemen, merchant Vincent Dwellier) and the March Steel Dagger (Defiance Bay, Copperlane, quest item if you don't give the dagger to Gordy but instead keep it during the quest "Something Secret", it's a supereasy quest).

 

That is because you will reach 0 recovery very early and fast, light weapons are the best dps option for rogues. Those weapons have the highest dps by far against 0 DR because they are so fast (speed is a multiplicative damage influence instead of MIG which is only additive) but have trouble to punch through DR. This can be solved with any form of DR bypass and also with lots of dmg bonuses. Rogues have great dmg bonuses and that helps with overcoming DR. Also, you can use Vulnerable Attack without speed loss at some point because those weapons I mentioned are not only fast because they are light, but also because they both have the speed enchantment. Try out the speed calc with the PoE Attack Speed Calculator by MaxQuest. If you choose rapier + dagger and click "Has Speed" for both and also add Two Weapon Style you can play around with different armors and stuff to see how and when you can reach 0 recovery.

 

Later you can replace March Steel Dagger with Drawn in Spring because that is the weapon with the highest dps in the game - and it's a dagger, too. Sword of Daenysis will remain the best dps option until the nd if you enchant it EXCEPT if you duplicate Drawn in Spring with the Helwax Mold (item from a stronghold quest which lets you clone one non-soulbound item).

 

This is true for auto-attacks.

 

If you pile a lot of Full-Attack strike abilities (Crippling Strike, Blinding Strike and so on) so that you seldomly do auto-attacks then sabres (here: Bittercut is the most potent choice) might be the best weapon for your rogue.

 

The advantages of both variants is that it's not only powerful but totally fits rogues when it comes to style.

 

I personally prefer war hammers on rogues, but I have to admit it doesn't feel very rogueish.

 

If you want to make your rogue more sturdy you can raise CON, MIG and INT and pick Veteran's recovery as first talent. Also use a thick(er) armor at the start of the game This makes a huge difference. Knocked out rogues can't do dps, so...

Edited December 28, 2017 by Boeroer

[champy]

The setup that gets you the best dps curve troughtout the game (if you want to stick to one "style" and types of weapons and don't like to retrain) is to use a dual wielding approach with rapier + dagger (Weapon Focus Noble) and get the Sword of Daenysis (Defiance Bay, Ondra's Gift, Salty Mast, Club of Ref. and Prest. Gentlemen, merchant Vincent Dwellier) and the March Steel Dagger (Defiance Bay, Copperlane, quest item if you don't give the dagger to Gordy but instead keep it during the quest "Something Secret", it's a supereasy quest).

 

That is because you will reach 0 recovery very early and fast, light weapons are the best dps option for rogues. Those weapons have the highest dps by far against 0 DR because they are so fast (speed is a multiplicative damage influence instead of MIG which is only additive) but have trouble to punch through DR. This can be solved with any form of DR bypass and also with lots of dmg bonuses. Rogues have great dmg bonuses and that helps with overcoming DR. Also, you can use Vulnerable Attack without speed loss at some point because those weapons I mentioned are not only fast because they are light, but also because they both have the speed enchantment. Try out the speed calc with the PoE Attack Speed Calculator by MaxQuest. If you choose rapier + dagger and click "Has Speed" for both and also add Two Weapon Style you can play around with different armors and stuff to see how and when you can reach 0 recovery.

 

Later you can replace March Steel Dagger with Drawn in Spring because that is the weapon with the highest dps in the game - and it's a dagger, too. Sword of Daenysis will remain the best dps option until the nd if you enchant it EXCEPT if you duplicate Drawn in Spring with the Helwax Mold (item from a stronghold quest which lets you clone one non-soulbound item).

 

This is true for auto-attacks.

 

If you pile a lot of Full-Attack strike abilities (Crippling Strike, Blinding Strike and so on) so that you seldomly do auto-attacks then sabres (here: Bittercut is the most potent choice) might be the best weapon for your rogue.

 

The advantages of both variants is that it's not only powerful but totally fits rogues when it comes to style.

 

I personally prefer war hammers on rogues, but I have to admit it doesn't feel very rogueish.

 

If you want to make your rogue more sturdy you can raise CON, MIG and INT and pick Veteran's recovery as first talent. Also use a thick(er) armor at the start of the game This makes a huge difference. Knocked out rogues can't do dps, so...

 

Thx a lot for this. My rogue is currently dishing out most damage of my group, but he isn't nearly as optimized as he could be. Using a sword + dagger at the moment. Only problem is he draws so much aggro. Still learning, but this should help. 

[champy]

So here is an update from me ... 

 

• Played this game for about 8 hours last night. Not many games capture my attention like that. 
• I was having the most fun doing Endless Path; got my butt kicked by Drake at lvl 5, but came back later with better gear and kicked his butt at lvl 5
• Made it all the way the 9th floor (or 8?), but was stonewalled by a lock my Rogue can't pick! Which is nuts because I have him at Mechanics lvl 11 w/ +2 Stronghold bonus. 
• My party is currently lvl 7. I'm playing on Normal and enjoy the tougher mobs in Endless Path
• This is what I feared ... early game it was tough taking down enemies the same level as me, but once I got gear, skills I began destroying them with ease. Should have started on hard... 
• I've spent money and skills on other players so Aloth and my rogue can better survive, but, they are now very deadly as a result. 
• A lot of text ... and loading and glitches. Some weapons disappeared when unequipping them and having stash box open, quest NPCs would disappear. Mostly fixable with a reload, but pretty unacceptable considering this is a re release. Playing on the XBOX 1 X Scorpio Ultimate Supreme Limited Collector Edition PLUS, which has 5,698 GIGA flops of power. Or something. 
• It'd be great if I could get a quest marker from time to time ... Or a "show on map"

 

Overall, though, A+ game. Pretty much serves the itch I've had for a Dragon Age: Origins game, which I haven't been able to find in years. 

 

 

 

EDIT: Dear God, this game REALLY needs a "Hold Position" icon/button. I like to ambush my enemies, but my dumb companions like to blindly run into large mobs instead of waiting. How did they not add this option in? It's a monster strategy tactic. 

Edited December 30, 2017 by champy

[Tigranes]

Rogues are very powerful.

 

POE is a lot tougher early on than later, but you should be able to just bump the difficulty to hard whenever you want. 

 

It's a design decision not to have quest markers. Obviously you do lose the convenience & sometimes you get frustrated, but I've noticed that with markers, I end up playing in this kind of tunnel vision way, beelining for the marker without really checking out the scenery or paying attention to the dialogue.

 

You're not supposed to be able to do the whole megadungeon in one go - you'll come back every once in a while and do a bit more, and ultimately finish it with a late® game party.

 

DA:O was consciously made as a callback to the great RPGs made around the turn of the century, because as you say they scratch an itch, they provide something unique. Other games to check out include Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 (originals, not the crappy enhanced editions), the upcoming Pathfinder game. But this does require you to play on PCs - this is really a PC genre.

 

I thought you can turn the AI off so they don't move around? I might be wrong, it's been a while.

Edited December 31, 2017 by Tigranes

[Aiglos78]

So here is an update from me ... 

 

• Played this game for about 8 hours last night. Not many games capture my attention like that. 
• I was having the most fun doing Endless Path; got my butt kicked by Drake at lvl 5, but came back later with better gear and kicked his butt at lvl 5
• Made it all the way the 9th floor (or 8?), but was stonewalled by a lock my Rogue can't pick! Which is nuts because I have him at Mechanics lvl 11 w/ +2 Stronghold bonus. 
• My party is currently lvl 7. I'm playing on Normal and enjoy the tougher mobs in Endless Path
• This is what I feared ... early game it was tough taking down enemies the same level as me, but once I got gear, skills I began destroying them with ease. Should have started on hard... 
• I've spent money and skills on other players so Aloth and my rogue can better survive, but, they are now very deadly as a result. 
• A lot of text ... and loading and glitches. Some weapons disappeared when unequipping them and having stash box open, quest NPCs would disappear. Mostly fixable with a reload, but pretty unacceptable considering this is a re release. Playing on the XBOX 1 X Scorpio Ultimate Supreme Limited Collector Edition PLUS, which has 5,698 GIGA flops of power. Or something. 
• It'd be great if I could get a quest marker from time to time ... Or a "show on map"

 

Overall, though, A+ game. Pretty much serves the itch I've had for a Dragon Age: Origins game, which I haven't been able to find in years. 

 

 

 

EDIT: Dear God, this game REALLY needs a "Hold Position" icon/button. I like to ambush my enemies, but my dumb companions like to blindly run into large mobs instead of waiting. How did they not add this option in? It's a monster strategy tactic. 

You'll need to set each companions tactics in order to have them 'hold position' -- you can determine when they choose to engage when you do not have direct control through these options.

 

You can select the 'character' tab in the radial, or go to your inventory, scroll to the bottom of the left pane -- there is a 'head' icon there that represents this option.