I do not understand combat

[Azyle17]

I want to love the game and so far ( maybe an hour  in..) I am intrigued. But.. I get don't get combat.

 

Ok, like maybe I can't do what I'm trying to do. I made a Moon God like Assassination Rogue. (This may not be ideal, but because I'm new to CRPGs... I have the difficultly toned down so I figured it would be OK). Anywho, I have a dagger in my main hand a pistol in my off hand. I just thought that would be fun. 

 

1 - IS that remotely viable?

 

2 - Why do I only attack with my pistol? How do I run up and attack with a daggeR?

 

3 - I can use most skills with a pistol too, right?

 

4-  How do I stealth attack?  I tried it and I shot with a pistol but I'm not sure it worked?

[Logos]

1. It is viable but not optimal.

 

2. If you are outside of melee range (a very short distance from the character you are targeting), you will only use your pistol. If you are in melee range, you will only use your dagger.

 

3. Yes.

 

4. You enter stealth before entering combat. You do this by pressing left alt. You can only do stealth attacks with a ranged weapon if you are within 2 meters of the enemy you're attacking, which on your screen corresponds to maybe 4 centimeters/2 inches. 

[mrscojangles]

1. Yes, its viable but probably not the most ideal option. No reason you can't play like that though

 

2. If you have a ranged weapon in one hand and a melee weapon in the other, and you're not in melee range of the enemy, the game is going to assume you intend to use the ranged weapon. If you want to attack with your dagger, move your char up to the mob you want to attack and then attack it once you're in melee range

 

3. Yes, unless it specifies melee or needing to be in melee range

 

4. If you're in stealth and do an attack from stealth, thats a stealth attack, Visually, it isn't going to look drastically different or anything, and as poster above mentioned, the guidelines are a little different for ranged weapons.

Edited May 12, 2018 by mrscojangles

[Azyle17]

Ok cool.

 

Now then, next thing...

 

What is a more optimal set up for rogue then? I may still do what I'm doing, but what are some ideas?

 

Also, note that I am only playing with no multi class, because the game warned me that if I am new, not to go that route. 

[Sarakash]

1. Viable, but not optimal. To eleborate: Most Rogue skills are full attacks, meaning you are using both weapons. If you are using a skill on range, you miss out the damage from your dagger.

 

2. See previous posters

 

3. All Rogue active skills are melee and range as far as I am aware.

 

4.  You can do stealth attacks from range, assassination passive doesn´t require you to be in melee range. However, if you are going to skill backstab and want to utilize it, you have to be in melee range for it to work with a ranged weapon basically.

Edited May 12, 2018 by Sarakash

[mrscojangles]

Ok cool.

 

Now then, next thing...

 

What is a more optimal set up for rogue then? I may still do what I'm doing, but what are some ideas?

 

Also, note that I am only playing with no multi class, because the game warned me that if I am new, not to go that route. 

 

If you want to play ranged, you can dual wield two of any of the 1handed ranged weapons (pistol, blunderbuss, wand, scepter), and from a distance that will be a better damage output than 1 melee, 1 ranged weapon as rogue has a lot of full attack skills, which means they will attack with both of your equipped weapons. Put melee weapons in your second weapon set and can swap over when you want to go melee.

 

Realistically though, there isn't any one "right" way to do things. There are certainly options that may be more effective or more ideal, but theres a million ways you can build and play your character and if you're enjoying yourself and are able to progress through the game, then I wouldn't sweat "finding the perfect build" too much, especially if you're new to these type of games. One thing that is worth mentioning that you may not have seen yet, is you are able to re-spec your character at most any vendor. On the left side of the vendor window, there is a icon with some dice, and that will give you the option to reassign your characters points. The cost increases the higher level you are, and your level 0 choices are locked in, but you can change any of your talents/points you spent on subsequent level ups. 

Edited May 12, 2018 by mrscojangles

[Logos]

Ok cool.

 

Now then, next thing...

 

What is a more optimal set up for rogue then? I may still do what I'm doing, but what are some ideas?

 

Also, note that I am only playing with no multi class, because the game warned me that if I am new, not to go that route. 

 

As a rogue, what you're going to run into most in combat is that enemies will target you even though you've sent your high hit point tank in to target them and stick to him. As the game goes on, you may want to invest in skills that turn you invisible to combat this. Rogues have an excess of those skills to invest in. 

 

It is also more optimal to use either two ranged weapons or two melee weapons. While it's cool to have a dagger and a gun, it's not very useful combat mechanics-wise.

[Sarakash]

Rogues are kind off squishy, especially assassin as they take 15% more damage. You will be fine with your original idea and I encourage you to try it, if you are in for the appeal or class fantasy. There is no point in going "min-max optimised" and ruin the fantasy of your choice by doing so. But you should consider defensive options later in the game.

 

I am playing assassin myself, but I picked a multiclass(assassin/devoted) kind off gimmick build, so I cannot speak for how a pure assassin plays later in the game.

 

Some things to consider though: Your opener from stealth will always use your main hand weapon, even if you are dual-wielding. This is true for a pure auto-attack and any skill you might want to use. The offhand attack doesn´t benefit from assassination or backstab. This leaves two-handed weapons as most optimal if you want to get the most out of your stealth attack. However, almost all active skills a rogue has are so called full attacks, those use both weapons, which means they are benefitting from dualwielding.

 

If you want to utilize assassination often, you might want to settle for a skill which lets you restealth in combat. The cheapest skill guile-wise is smokebomb.

Edited May 12, 2018 by Sarakash