Fun Rogue multiclass builds folks have found so far

[jakl201]

Basically topic. I mained as a rogue in PoE 1, and had a blast with it. But I don't really want to go into the next game as a single classed rogue again, what with the 'been there, done that'. So I was wondering what other folks have found in their tinkerings of a multiclass build with rogues. This isn't so much as 'which is best' and more of 'what is fun?'. Although playing as a class that's both fun and useful is pretty important. So far the only two I've tried out is Mindstriker (rogue + Cipher) and...I want to say marauder (rogue + barbarian). With mindstriker, These were the first two combos I thought of right out the bat when Obsidian first announced the multiclass system. Marauder is...okay, seems like mindstriker might be my way to go. I was thinking of Trickster +...Gah, forgot the name at the moment, but the one that has soul annihilation. The lowered sneak attack bonus can be offset by Soul whip in that build. I also just in general enjoy any class that has a 'pool' of power, like ciphers, instead of skills that are more 'respawns per rest' (Soul annihilation should be especially good for me, since I rarely liked using Finishing blow for above reason). 

 

So yeah. Just curious what other fun combos of rogues everyone else has found.

[Madscientist]

I thought about playing an assassin/wizard. With a full party of companions.

 

Enter stealth, start combat with an empowered fireball or something similar, get invisible and repeat while your companions engage the enemies. When you run out of invisibility, stay in the back row, cast combusting wounds and dual wield blunderbuss. Just stay away from the enemy when you cannot get invisible.

 

I am not sure about stats, skills and talents, but tons of things will change anyway before I play it because my first char will be a kind wayfarer paladin, most likely multi classed with chanter.

[Vassilios]

There is several videos on youtube of players using multiclassed rogues:

 

swashbuckler:

 

shadowdancer:

 

and the most impressive the holy slayer:

Edited April 10, 2018 by Vassilios

[GamerSerg]

I really liked the Holy Slayer idea.  Best part of a Rogue is sneaking up to the biggest threat and unleashing a Backstab alpha strike but then what?  Once you reveal yourself, you end up swarmed.  The solution.... Holy Slayer.  Kill your first target and then easily tank the rest.

[DexGames]

I thought about Monk // Rogue, with another party member being a Cipher, casting the Reaping Knives spell on it.

 

[Rogue/Cipher doesn't work, (and that's a f**ckin bummer), because as a Cipher you can't cast spells on yourself.

Assassin // Soulblade sounds awesome, but not being able to cast Reaping Knives on yourself, is such a waste that I'm sad about it.]

 

Anyway, Pillars Of Eternity introduced that Monks are good with weapons, as good as any other character. So, Monk // Rogue might still be a great combination of Classes. [up to you for the Sub-Class]

• Reaping Knives Spell at 1:54 in Deadfire :

• Reaping Knives in Pillars I :
  ​

• I'd like them to go in favor of an Assassin / Soulblade concept, casting Reaping Knives on himself. The Concept is cool, & I'd totally do a Playthrough with that mindset.

Edit: Typos & Clarification. [Maybe a Mod can give access to this idea.]

Edited April 18, 2018 by DexGames

[Boeroer]

The point of Reaping Knives is that someone else can generate focus for you while you can still generate focus for yourself with your weapon attacks. THus, casting it on yourself would be... pointless?

[Ashen Rohk]

Holy hell that last one, man.

 

I can see the nerfhammer sweeping this game at launch.

[Aramintai]

Holy hell that last one, man.

 

I can see the nerfhammer sweeping this game at launch.

Backstabbing with two-handed weapons is what's broken, the rest is a cherry on top. And it just ruins the image of a rogue dual wielding small fast weapons - there is no point in that since the game only gives a **** about a single hit and two-handers can dish the highest damage out of that.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Aramintai

[Boeroer]

Backstab should give a flat dmg bonus like Soul Annihilation does, that would fix things. I always hated it that the worst weapon for Backstabs in PoE is a light one - like dagger or stiletto.

 

Even better: the bonus should be higher the lower the base damage of the weapon is (needs a special fix for blunderbuss though). Easy to implement.

[malchiorita]

Holy hell that last one, man.

 

I can see the nerfhammer sweeping this game at launch.

They already nerfed the assassin didnt they?

[dunehunter]

 

Holy hell that last one, man.

 

I can see the nerfhammer sweeping this game at launch.

They already nerfed the assassin didnt they?

 

 

Assassinate Critical Hit damage reduced from +100% damage to +50% damage

 

Deep Faith's base defensive bonus reduced from +15 to +12 (deity scaling unchanged)

 

Both can be found here https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/96551-backer-beta-update-3-patch-notes/

 

Edit: I also find it weird that they are balancing NPC only abilities like this... Steel Garrote Lay on Hands is now a 2 point cost ability.

Edited April 19, 2018 by dunehunter

[Ascaloth]

For the Watcher of my very first playthrough (which I'm going to take the 3 returning Companions + Priestess Xoti for), I'm thinking of going with a Trickster/Skald Harbinger with a single one-handed weapon. The concept here is that with the ACC bonus from wielding a single weapon and other Rogue abilities, the Harbinger will farm crits not for damage, but for the Skald's phrases to spend on CC Invocations; basically acting as melee-range CC. The Wizard Illusion spells that Trickster learns (assuming they are what I think they will be) will be used for defense boosts + further CC, and maybe to complement Riposte.

 

The question is; which one-handed weapon should this Harbinger use? A Dagger for the Parrying Blade modal, for improved defenses and (maybe) more Riposte chances? Rapier for the option of increased Penetration from the modal? Or Sabre just purely for the increased damage?

[Boeroer]

Read this post again and I'm not quite done with it.

Rogue/Cipher doesn't work, (and that's a f**ckin bummer), because as a Cipher you can't cast spells on yourself.

Assassin // Soulblade sounds awesome, but not being able to cast Reaping Knives on yourself, is such a waste that I'm sad about it.

Besides the Reaping Knives (which make no sense when cast on oneself anyway in my opinion) Rogue + Cipher is actually pretty awesome.

 

That's because you start the game with a +70% dmg bonus and can go to +90% in a few levels. That's pretty cool.

 

Especially Assassin/Soulblade is pretty spectacular if you combine it with Backstab. You can one-shot the first victim out of stealth pretty easily and get a ton of focus for your Soul Annihilation - which usually one-shots the next enemy, then use Smoke Cloud and repeat. Perfect Assassin in my opinion. 

 

Detonate works with Assassination by the way.

Edited April 19, 2018 by Boeroer

[malchiorita]

Wouldn't an assassin /cipher be too much a glass cannon though? I'm trying to figure out how to build an assassin that wouldn't get oneshotted after the first attack from stealth (oh btw can anyone tell me what's exactly the bonus you get from the assassin class? ) but i'm still not convinced(multiclassing with a soulblade was one of the first choice cause i really love the concept aswell, but it looks way too fragile, at least on paper).

 

From what i'm seeing from the wiki, the best bet is the wizard, since there are quite a bit of defensive spells (even though the offensive buffs seems a bit underwhelimg...with the exception of citzal martial power near the level cap)

 

The shattered pillars looks quite cool aswell, since if i'm not getting it wrong you should be able to pop a blade turning just after the assassination (and you'd get other cool monk skills amd synergies) , but you'd still get ganked by casters i guess?

 

I know that maybe the paladin would be the best bet to add sturdyness but it looks so boring (same with fighter) to me, and i dont like the dialogues restrictions...

 

Oh btw while i'm at it... How long does it take to switch weapon sets? Cause looks like the best weapon to use from stealth is a big 2 hander, but then all the rogue skills are full attacks, that should be far superior if used while dual wielding, so i was thinking about going with 2 weapon sets, but dont know if it's worth switching right after the assassination.

 

Thanks in advance for the answers :S

[Madscientist]

Read this post again and I'm not quite done with it.

Rogue/Cipher doesn't work, (and that's a f**ckin bummer), because as a Cipher you can't cast spells on yourself.

Assassin // Soulblade sounds awesome, but not being able to cast Reaping Knives on yourself, is such a waste that I'm sad about it.

Besides the Reaping Knives (which make no sense when cast on oneself anyway in my opinion) Rogue + Cipher is actually pretty awesome.

 

That's because you start the game with a +70% dmg bonus and can go to +90% in a few levels. That's pretty cool.

 

Especially Assassin/Soulblade is pretty spectacular if you combine it with Backstab. You can one-shot the first victim out of stealth pretty easily and get a ton of focus for your Soul Annihilation - which usually one-shots the next enemy, then use Smoke Cloud and repeat. Perfect Assassin in my opinion. 

 

Detonate works with Assassination by the way.

 

Does the damage of soul annihilation depend only on your focus or does it also depend on your base damage?

 

You said you fight like this: stealth -> backstab -> soul annihilation -> invisibility -> backstab

 

Would it be useful to use soul annihilation from invisibility or is this just overkill and using both things ( backstab and SA ) after another is better?

[Boeroer]

An Assassin has much higher crit damage, penetration (which leads to overpenetration most of the time which does +30% damage) accuracy when doing Assassination (automatically done from stealth or invisibility). He suffers from +15% damage received "only". You can feel it but it's not that you get one-shotted all the time. Just don't drop CON to 3 because you want the ultimate glass cannon. Rogues start with 40 health and gain +10 per level. Fighters start with 42 and gain +12 per level. Ciphers start with 38 and gain +8 per level.

 

So as an Assassin/Cipher you are basically as sturdy/fragile as a single class cipher. You get more health because of the rogue part but also suffer a bit more damage because of Assassin. Give yourself a bit more CON and you won't feel a difference.

 

If you are afraid that enemies insta-kill you after unstealthing then pick Defensive Roll: it makes you immune to engagement after you receive a crit. Because of that you can just walk away once an enemy swing his weapon. Unlike PoE he will miss you when you are out of reach. It's quite effective. Just step a bit out of reach when he swings, let his swing hit the air, await his recovery phase and then step back in and kill him. Because of this mechanic in Deadfire suddenly the defensive bonuses against disengagement attacks (Fast Runner, Graceful Retreat...) are more powerful than in PoE.

 

You also will want to use Smoke Cloud all the time. Diring that period you can't get attacked anyway.

[Boeroer]

 

Read this post again and I'm not quite done with it.

Rogue/Cipher doesn't work, (and that's a f**ckin bummer), because as a Cipher you can't cast spells on yourself.

Assassin // Soulblade sounds awesome, but not being able to cast Reaping Knives on yourself, is such a waste that I'm sad about it.

Besides the Reaping Knives (which make no sense when cast on oneself anyway in my opinion) Rogue + Cipher is actually pretty awesome.

 

That's because you start the game with a +70% dmg bonus and can go to +90% in a few levels. That's pretty cool.

 

Especially Assassin/Soulblade is pretty spectacular if you combine it with Backstab. You can one-shot the first victim out of stealth pretty easily and get a ton of focus for your Soul Annihilation - which usually one-shots the next enemy, then use Smoke Cloud and repeat. Perfect Assassin in my opinion. 

 

Detonate works with Assassination by the way.

 

Does the damage of soul annihilation depend only on your focus or does it also depend on your base damage?

 

You said you fight like this: stealth -> backstab -> soul annihilation -> invisibility -> backstab

 

Would it be useful to use soul annihilation from invisibility or is this just overkill and using both things ( backstab and SA ) after another is better?

 

Using SA from invisibility is not really useful because using Assassination + Backstab already kills most enemies and generates a lot of focus for your SA. If you'd use SA from stealth you would also kill the enemy but be left with 0 focus. Alternating between Assassination+Backstab and SA is a lot better.

 

SA's dmg bonus is a flat one that is only calculated based on the focus you have. Weapon base damage is not involved. BUT: SA works like this: you hit the target with the normal attack and do damage (and generate focus for that hit like with any other hit) and then all your focus is converted into raw damage. So it is acutally benefical to use a heavy hitter because then the damage roll is higher, the focus gain from the initial SA-attack is also higher and overall you'll do more damage with the SA strike.

 

Because of this it's also not good to wait for max focus when doing SA. Since it's generating its own focus before dumping the raw damage it's better to execute it with half focus or so.

 

SA + Assassination does more damage than Assassination alone (Assassination will generate a lot of focus which is then immediately dumped into raw damage). But most of the time this is total overkill. Maybe it's a good strategy against bosses though.

 

What's also benefical with SA: Greater Focus. Because you tend to generate too much focus with Assassination (and the focus is overflown and wasted PLUS you'll lose Soul Whip's damage bonus) it's good to have higher MAX focus. Also lets you start combat with more focus which you then can immediately use for SA if you can't stealth (scripted scene or whatever).

Edited April 20, 2018 by Boeroer

[Ascaloth]

Boeroer-sempai is ignoring me. So sad. 

[Boeroer]

Lol - I overlooked that. Wait a minute...

 

Edit:

 

So, a rpier actually has a modal that gives you bonus accuracy, not more PEN. Seems to be perfect for your character. Although it's debateable if you can crit more often in a given time because it also prolongs your recovery pretty much. Maybe a dw rapier setup + modal ("+/-0% recovery with +20 ACC) instead of a single one (+50% recovery with +32 ACC and 15% hit-to-crit)? Because with Killers Froze Stiff you'll already get plenty of crits (will give you a 50% hit-to-crit chance against paralyzed enemies). Can't say without testing or doing lots of math... which I didn't plan for today.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Boeroer

[Ascaloth]

Lol - I overlooked that. Wait a minute...

 

Edit:

 

So, a rpier actually has a modal that gives you bonus accuracy, not more PEN. Seems to be perfect for your character. Although it's debateable if you can crit more often in a given time because it also prolongs your recovery pretty much. Maybe a dw rapier setup + modal ("+/-0% recovery with +20 ACC) instead of a single one (+50% recovery with +32 ACC and 15% hit-to-crit)? Because with Killers Froze Stiff you'll already get plenty of crits (will give you a 50% hit-to-crit chance against paralyzed enemies). Can't say without testing or doing lots of math... which I didn't plan for today.

 

Huh, rapiers having a Penetration modal was what was stated on the Gamepressure guide to weapon proficiencies. Guess I can't expect an accurate resource to exist until after the game launches. 

 

DW seems to be the way to go, but I have some concerns about this build's squishiness in the front lines. To that effect, what if I opt for a Dagger in the off-hand instead, with its Parrying Blade modal? That should still retain the DW speed bonus and rapier ACC bonus, while giving some measure of defense from the dagger modal. What sort of bonuses does the dagger modal actually give, and would it work with Riposte?

[malchiorita]

An Assassin has much higher crit damage, penetration (which leads to overpenetration most of the time which does +30% damage) accuracy when doing Assassination (automatically done from stealth or invisibility). He suffers from +15% damage received "only". You can feel it but it's not that you get one-shotted all the time. Just don't drop CON to 3 because you want the ultimate glass cannon. Rogues start with 40 health and gain +10 per level. Fighters start with 42 and gain +12 per level. Ciphers start with 38 and gain +8 per level.

 

So as an Assassin/Cipher you are basically as sturdy/fragile as a single class cipher. You get more health because of the rogue part but also suffer a bit more damage because of Assassin. Give yourself a bit more CON and you won't feel a difference.

 

If you are afraid that enemies insta-kill you after unstealthing then pick Defensive Roll: it makes you immune to engagement after you receive a crit. Because of that you can just walk away once an enemy swing his weapon. Unlike PoE he will miss you when you are out of reach. It's quite effective. Just step a bit out of reach when he swings, let his swing hit the air, await his recovery phase and then step back in and kill him. Because of this mechanic in Deadfire suddenly the defensive bonuses against disengagement attacks (Fast Runner, Graceful Retreat...) are more powerful than in PoE.

 

You also will want to use Smoke Cloud all the time. Diring that period you can't get attacked anyway.

Thanks for the answer! Now i really cant decide between cipher, monk or wizard for my second class :S

 

What about weapon switching though? So you know exactly how it works kind sir?

[Boeroer]

 

Lol - I overlooked that. Wait a minute...

 

Edit:

 

So, a rpier actually has a modal that gives you bonus accuracy, not more PEN. Seems to be perfect for your character. Although it's debateable if you can crit more often in a given time because it also prolongs your recovery pretty much. Maybe a dw rapier setup + modal ("+/-0% recovery with +20 ACC) instead of a single one (+50% recovery with +32 ACC and 15% hit-to-crit)? Because with Killers Froze Stiff you'll already get plenty of crits (will give you a 50% hit-to-crit chance against paralyzed enemies). Can't say without testing or doing lots of math... which I didn't plan for today.

Huh, rapiers having a Penetration modal was what was stated on the Gamepressure guide to weapon proficiencies. Guess I can't expect an accurate resource to exist until after the game launches.

 

DW seems to be the way to go, but I have some concerns about this build's squishiness in the front lines. To that effect, what if I opt for a Dagger in the off-hand instead, with its Parrying Blade modal? That should still retain the DW speed bonus and rapier ACC bonus, while giving some measure of defense from the dagger modal. What sort of bonuses does the dagger modal actually give, and would it work with Riposte?

The dagger modal will give you +10 deflection against melee attacks (and -25% damage with the dagger - main weapon's dmg is unchanged) and it works with Riposte, yes.

[Boeroer]

What about weapon switching though? So you know exactly how it works kind sir?

You switch to a different weapon set and will get an additional recovery time for that that comes on top of your normal recovery. If I 'm not mistaken the "penalty" for switching is 2 secs - and unlike PoE you can't skip weapon/spell recovery with switching - it comes on top in Deadfire.

With Quick Switch you will have -1.5 sec switching time - so 0.5 sec is left if I'm right. A Black Jacket automatically has -1 sec switching recovery. A Black Jacket with Quick Switch can switch without additional recovery. Guns have no recovery but only reload - so quick switching as a Black Jacket means instant switching and *blam*.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Boeroer

[malchiorita]

Alright, guess it's not worth to assassinate with a 2h and then switching to dual wield then... Thanks again man!

[dunehunter]

Alright, guess it's not worth to assassinate with a 2h and then switching to dual wield then... Thanks again man!

Unless u like to have 4-6 second recovery time after backstabbing. People here all claim that wow backstabbing with 2h sword is so OP but well imo your damage is usually overflowed and backstabbing with Sabre is enough but with much less recovery time thx to dual wielding.

Edited April 21, 2018 by dunehunter