The Rogue

You are flashing daggers and a snarl out of the shadows, savagery and subtlety, the jack-of-all trades for the party. A rogue slips into battle unseen and lethal, able to deal deadly damage from behind and escape harm when enemies take notice. When combat is over, the rogue is the only one who can penetrate locked doors and claim extra treasure from almost every dungeon.

The rogue sits between the warrior and the mage in terms of gear access. They can gain almost any suit of armor or weapon that a warrior gets; however, to do that would cost a ton of attribute points in strength and forgo points in dexterity and cunning that enhance most rogue talents. They certainly have higher DPS weapons and sturdier armor than mages.

Talents for a rogue fall into three main categories: Rogue, Dual Weapon, and Archery. The Rogue talents increase damage from backstabs and critical hits, teach you how to evade the enemy’s mightiest blows, enable you to lockpick doors and chests, deactivate traps, and hide invisibly in the shadows through stealth. Dual Weapons gives the rogue a weapon in each hand for double the fun, and once they erase the penalties for wielding two weapons, rogues deal tremendous melee damage. If you don’t want to go with melee, the rogue can lean toward Archery, where a single shot can stun multiple targets or split a hurlock skull in two.

Rogue specializations delve into a wide array of abilities. Assassin and Duelist give the melee DPSer more combat talents, with Assassin concentrating on pure damage-dealing and Duelist aiding defense as well. Bard is all about crowd control and party buffs. You can stun a single target or hold an entire group fixated on your song, or you can boost all your companions’ stats. Ranger allows you to summon animal allies into a fight, adding a pet wolf, bear, or spider to your side. Legionnaire Scout turns your rogue into a tank, beefing up his or her defensive abilities. Shadow allows the rogue to further blend in with the darkness for defensive and offensive purposes.

If you like to play it a bit sinister and secret, yet go ruthlessly offensive once you dive into combat, the rogue class is for you. Outside of combat, your lockpicking and stealth abilities prove useful in innumerable situations. You will be the party’s favorite companion just for the extra loot you find.

Strengths and Weaknesses

When an enemy has locked onto a tank and the rogue is free to backstab, you can deal out massive single target damage and kill things very quickly. A rogue should get into backstab position whenever possible. Out of combat, you can gain extra experience and loot from opening locked doors and chests. Enemies sometimes defend their lair with traps; the rogue not only detects them but also disarms them to avoid the brutal conse- quences from one misstep. Stealth aids a rogue in almost any situation; in combat, you can slip into the perfect position unseen by enemies, and out of combat, you can recon areas or bypass enemies with high enough skill. And rogues get a skill point every two levels, rather than every three.

Rogue defense is rather weak, because it’s difficult, if not impossible, to wear heavier armor. Being hit by several mobs or a large boss will take you out pretty fast. This makes using AoE attacks difficult because they usually pull threat and get you killed fast unless your party includes an excellent tank. To be most effective, a rogue needs to be behind his target, which isn’t always easy to do and may get you into a combat hotspot. You also don’t have much defense against magic, other than going into stealth mode and trying to sneak up on enemy casters.

Attributes

Rogue-specific talents focus mostly on the dexterity and cunning attributes, and the weapon talents focus on dexterity and the Combat Training skill, so spend most of your points on dexterity. Early on, devote as many points as you need to dexterity to unlock the talents you wish to obtain; you can always fill in the other attributes later after you have your core talents well underway.

As for the other attributes, spend the required points in dexterity and spread the remainder of the points among cunning (requirement for many other rogue abilities), constitution (for resilience), willpower (for higher stamina), and strength (for power and armor requirements). Don’t leave magic too far behind because spending points here will make potions more effective. Make sure to build strength to at least 20 so the character can use Tier 7 armor, and be in easy range of the higher tiers if need be, and dexterity to at least 36 if you plan on getting Dual-Weapon Mastery.

During character creation, feel free to choose a race based on the corresponding background you would like to play as a rogue. However, if maximizing your rogue stats appeals to you, choose a dwarf or human. A human rogue gives you a starting 15 dexterity and 15 cunning. Dwarves are only one point behind in cunning. The elven rogue is the third choice, because elves start with only 14 dexterity and 14 cunning.

Rogue Starting Attributes

Once you choose your rogue’s race, you begin with 62 points to add to your attributes. If you want a combat-oriented rogue, focus on dexterity and a little strength. If you want a rogue who concentrates on lockpicking and stealth, spend points on cunning and dexterity. See the model rogue templates at the end of the chapter for specific attribute/talent suggestions.

Skills

All rogues need to pick up Combat Training as soon as they can. Combat Training opens up the higher tier weapon talents, which you can’t live without. Spend your first skill point here to vault up to at least Improved Combat Training. You need to reach Expert Combat Training by level 6 and Expert Combat Training by level 9 if you want to focus on combat talents.

Poison-Making can help improve your damage totals, so it’s probably the second best rogue skill. Buy beyond the first rank to access stronger poisons and different special effects. You could also go the Trap-Making route and branch out a little more into AoE damage.

If you want more options during dialogue, especially to sway people’s opinions or avoid certain fights, invest in Coercion. It’s an incredibly useful skill in dialogue; it gives you story options that you won’t get otherwise. Cunning opens up the Coercion skills, which fits in with many rogue talents.

Don’t forget about Stealing. It focuses on a high cunning score, something rogues should have. Use the Stealing skill to grab gear not normally dropped by foes.

If you aren’t directly playing your rogue companions and want one of them to run around independently, invest in Combat Tactics for extra tactics slots. The more tactic slots you open, the more you can shape how your companion behaves in battle. Inevitably, even if you plan on controlling your rogue during fights, there will be moments when you don’t program your rogue’s every move (or something more important is going on) and tactics come into play. One or two points should be good, or max it out if you want the character to go on autopilot.

Once you reach level 20, look for the three new Awakening skills: Runecrafting, Vitality, and Clarity. Runecrafting creates— you guessed it—runes, which can be added to certain magic weapons and armor to boost abilities. Vitality increases your health by 25 points for every skill point you spend on it. Clarity does the same for you on stamina. Depending on whether you take lots of damage in combat or use up your stamina quickly, you should invest at least a few skill points in Vitality, Clarity, or both.

Talents

Rogues have many areas to spend their points, but not enough points to develop them all (never mind the special- izations). So what do you choose? Rogue-specific active and passive talents? Lockpicking and disarming traps? Stealth? The Dual Weapon talent school? The Archer talent school? A specialization or two? If you decide to let your focus slide on the weapon talent chains, you can still use dual weapons and bows, but you won’t be nearly as efficient at it. You will be a master at stealth, lockpicking and disarming traps, and your other rogue-specific talents. In addition, you can spend fewer of your skill points on Combat Training and more on Poison-Making, Herbalism, Survival, Coercion, and Stealing. If you choose to focus on one of the weapon talent chains, some of your rogue-specific talents will suffer.

So what kind of rogue do you want to be? Does passing up locked treasure and rooms drive you nuts? Do you love being able to stealth through places and situations? Would you prefer to have a deadly combat rogue? Whatever you choose, make sure it complements the rest of your party. For example, a rogue who is adept in lockpicking, stealth, and rogue-specific talents should be paired with a solid melee rogue or warrior (someone who can take the threat and deal the damage). It also wouldn’t hurt to have a good ranged attacker in this party too. You won’t be the best one-on-one melee opponent, but you’ll be able to:

- Drop your threat

- Evade many incoming attacks

- Stun opponents

- Move deftly in combat

- Gain bonuses to critical chance on all attacks

- Backstab stunned and paralyzed foes

- Deliver penalties to your foes’ armor, movement speed, and defense

It’s not the most sportsmanlike character, but you’ll have a solid advantage in many situations. In addition to your below- the-belt style of dealing with things, you can steal, sneak, and pick your way into many interesting places and treasure chests.

All rogues should familiarize themselves with the cooldown component of each talent. The worst situation is to have plenty of stamina and no available talents to use. Branch out into different chains to avoid the cooldown problem.

Your talents drain stamina from your pool. Watch how much stamina you’re using in a fight and act accordingly. If you run short without a mage’s Restoration spell to replenish you, it could cost your party a victory. Gauge what you have to do to help the team. There’s little sense running off a series of moves that drains three quarters of your stamina on the first opponent when there are three more to go. Save your stamina. You never know when the next fight will start, or how long the current fight will go if you have unexpected ambushers, and you’ll be grateful you didn’t waste stamina.

Rogue School

In your first chain, Dirty Fighting stuns a target for a short duration. Combat Movement is a passive ability that allows rogues move more swiftly in combat, allowing them a greater chance to flank or get behind their foes (for backstabs and such). Considering that it’s sometimes difficult to get directly behind foes in the flow of combat, this one really comes in handy.

Coup de Grace is a passive ability that allows your rogue to automatically backstab stunned or paralyzed foes (combos with Dirty Fighting or Dual Strike, warrior’s Shield Pummel and Stunning Blows, mage’s Mind Blast, to name a few). Feign Death is like the warrior’s Disengage: it greatly reduces your threat, making enemies seek other targets.

The second chain holds Below the Belt, an attack that deals normal damage and gives the target penalties to defense and movement speed. Deadly Strike gives you a bonus to armor penetration. Use this on heavily armored foes. Lethality is a passive ability that gains the rogue a bonus on critical chance for all attacks. In addition, if the rogue’s cunning score is higher than his strength score, the cunning score affects the attack damage in place of the strength score.

If your rogue is high on cunning and low on strength, this is an excellent ability to have. So with this passive ability in the background, use Dirty Fighting to stun a heavily armored foe, sneak around behind it for an automatic backstab and critical hit (courtesy of Coup de Grace), and then use Deadly Strike to get in another attack with a bonus to armor penetration.

Pair this with Mark of Death, Exploit Weakness, Lacerate, and Feast of the Fallen in the Assassin specialty talents, and you’ll mark this guy’s weak spots for other party members, gain a bonus to your backstab with Coup de Grace, deal damage over time with your Lacerate passive ability, and restore some stamina when your target falls to the ground.

If you’ve had enough offense, Evasion is a passive ability that gives the rogue a 20 percent chance to dodge physical attacks, including attacks used to stun or knock down the rogue. The Deft Hands chain improves your ability to pick locks and disarm traps; it’s a must for rogues who aren’t just into combat.

One chain down, the more you develop your Stealth talents, the more you can do while stealthed (use potions and other items such as traps and lures, and use stealth while in combat). These are a perfect complement to the new Shadow specialization once you reach level 20.

The new Awakening rogue talents begin with Heartseeker. The rogue launches a deadly blow that kills a weakened foe of elite rank or lower on a successful hit, or deals a critical hit if it fails to kill. Ghost is a great escape maneuver, allowing you to disappear from physical attacks for a short time. Weak Points puts a debuff on your opponent that increases the damage he takes. Finally, Flicker is a formidable attack against multiple enemies; all enemies in the targeted area automatically suffer a backstab attack from the rogue.

Rogue School Chain 1

Rogue School Chain 2

Rogue School Chain 3

Rogue School Chain 4

Rogue School Chain 5

Dual Weapon School

The Dual Weapon talent school focuses more on activated abilities and attacks. In addition, you get to deal damage with two weapons simultaneously. You don’t need the Dual Weapon talent school to be able to wield two weapons, but it’s a good school to develop to be more proficient at melee. The focus of your passive abilities is on your second hand—you strive to deal similar damage and a similar rate of critical hits as your main hand. You gain a bonus to attack and defense with Dual-Weapon Finesse. You gain a bonus to critical chance and can cause bleeding lacerations on your opponent, inflicting damage over time with Dual-Weapon Expert. You can wield full-sized weapons in your off hand while reducing the stamina cost of all Dual Weapon talents with Dual-Weapon Mastery.

Increase your attack damage with Dual Striking, but be careful because it eliminates your ability to critical hit or backstab. Next, you can score a two-hit combo with a possibility of stunning your opponent and scoring a critical hit with Riposte. Cripple gives you a chance to score a critical hit and inflict your opponent with penalties to movement speed, attack, and defense. Punisher is a three-hit combo that has a chance to score a critical hit, knock an opponent down, and cause penalties to movement and attack speed.

Dual-Weapon Sweep deals significant damage with each sweep, Flurry is a three-hit combo, Momentum increases your attack speed with every hit, and Whirlwind is a flurry of constant attacks: the signature of a Dual Weapon expert.

The new Twin Strikes chain scores two automatic critical hits on a target. Find Vitals increases melee critical chance by 10 and critical damage by 20. Low Blow combos with Twin Strikes and leaves opponents unable to move for a short duration. Unending Flurry acts just as you would expect it to: repeated attacks strike the target over and over until you miss or run out of stamina.

Dual Weapon School Chain 1

Dual Weapon School Chain 2

Dual Weapon School Chain 3

Dual Weapon School Chain 4

Archery School

Another school for rogues who build up dexterity, Archery gives ample special effects for a ranged combat enthusiast. Melee Archer lets you fire while being attacked (eliminating some of the pain of being an archer). Master Archer gives you bonuses to activated abilities and eliminates the penalty to attack speed when wearing heavy armor. Aim reduces attack speed but gives bonuses to attack, damage, armor penetration, and critical chance. Defensive Fire gives you a boost to defense but slows your attack speed.

In the second chain, Pinning Shot is a necessity because it impales the victim’s leg and either pins it in place or slows its movement speed. Crippling Shot deals normal damage to an enemy and gives it penalties to attack and defense, and Critical Shot delivers maximum damage upon impact. The deadly Arrow of Slaying usually scores a critical hit, often dropping weakened enemies.

Rapid Shot increases attack speed, but you lose the ability to score critical hits. Shattering Shot deals normal damage and opens up an enemy’s armor. If a warrior finds that one, it’ll be in sore shape. Suppressing Fire is like Rapid Shot, but its foes now take penalties to their attack rating. Scattershot stuns a foe and then shatters, dealing damage to other enemies around it.

When you have room to breathe, Pinning Shot and Crippling Shot turn enemies into sitting ducks for mage attacks, deadly warriors, or more of your carefully aimed arrows. Shattering Shot is excellent against heavily armed foes. Rapid Shot, Suppressing Fire, and Scattershot hack away at the collective hit points of enemy ranks.

Don’t think an archer just scores a hit or two before having to engage an opponent in melee. You can kill off a couple enemies in a few hits while pinning others in place and continuing to fire while other attackers swarm you. This you turns you into a deadly sniper that enemies need to deal with or suffer the consequences. Should the enemy swarm you, switch to Defensive Fire while you have the passive ability Melee Archer. You can fire off arrows while being attacked and still have decent defense.

The new Accuracy chain gives bonuses to your attack and damage scores, as well as ranged critical chance. Arrow Time slows down enemies around the archer, while the phenomenal Burst Shot scores an automatic triple critical hit against a single target and then shatters to deal AoE damage to all other targets around it. Rain of Arrows blankets an area with damage, harming foes and friends alike in the large radius.

Archery School Chain 1

Archery School Chain 2

Archery School Chain 3

Archery School Chain 4

Power of Blood School (downloadable content only)

Specializations

Each class has three specializations (out of six) that they can learn during the game. Your first specialization can be learned at level 7; your second at level 14; and your third at level 22. Specializations are difficult to achieve, but very rewarding if you gain one. As long as the specific abilities fit with your play style and character breakdown, a specialization is generally worth spending points in over regular talents.

Definitely experiment with specializations. A DPS rogue could, for example, specialize in Ranger to add an extra “companion” to a fight for more support. Here are some suggested play style fits for the six specializations:

Assassin

Primary: DPS (all-out offense to max out damage)

Secondary: Stamina replenishment (use Feast of the Fallen to recoup lost stamina)

Specialization: Assassin

Bard

Primary: Enemy control (Captivating Song can corral whole crowds)

Secondary: Party buffer (replenish party mana/stamina or augment offense/defense)

Specialization: Bard

Duelist

Primary: Balanced DPS (excellent offense with a touch of defense)

Secondary: Crit-happy (reach Pinpoint Strike for multiple critical successes in a row)

Specialization: Duelist

Ranger

Primary: Pet lover (summon beasties for party support)

Secondary: Off-tank (summoned creatures tank for you)

Specialization: Ranger

Legionnaire Scout

Primary: Mini-tank (transform into a defensive juggernaut)

Secondary: Anti-magic (avoid all spells, hostile and friendly)

Specialization: Legionnaire Scout

Shadow

Primary: Stealth happy (blend into the shadow for major attacks and defense)

Secondary: Pandemonium player (confuse enemies with an airborne toxin)

Specialization: Shadow

Gear

Daggers are a natural weapon for a rogue to use, given their high speed, armor penetration, and critical chance. Other one-handed weapons work well too, but you won’t be able to dual wield them until you reach Dual-Weapon Mastery at 36 dexterity. And definitely dual wield, even if it’s not something you planned to spec in, because another weapon never hurts.

Carry a bow in the backup weapon slot and make good use of it. You need to build dexterity anyway for the Dual Weapon school, so you might as well use it to complement a bow, right?

There’s more rogue gear than you could ever hope to equip in a single play. The general rule of thumb is to wait for loot that serves as an upgrade and snatch it up. If you have extra coin to buy a nice gear upgrade, feel free to spend away, though most of the low-level equipment will be easily replaced by future loot, and the high-level equipment is very expensive (generally bought before a run at the Mother).

Ideal Rogue Equipment

Party Responsibilities

Are you the party’s damage- dealer or scout? If you’re DPS-focused, your primary responsibility is dealing melee or ranged damage.

That generally means stocking up on offensive talents and gear. If you’re picking a lot of locks and stealthing around, spread more points to the non-combat talents; think balance over cutthroat combat expertise. All rogues need to be aware of threat and avoid pulling too much at once. Learn to time your attacks so you don’t draw too much threat but still deal significant damage to the enemy.

If your rogue is the main PC, the other three companions should fill in talents around you for a well-balanced party. If you’re building up a companion rogue, look to fill in where the party is lacking. Not dealing enough damage? Crank up the offense. Want to avoid more traps and earn more treasure? Make sure you build up those nimble-fingered talents. In the final party configuration, your PC should play whatever role you have the most fun with while the other three companions add the components necessary to maximize your combat efficiency.

The rogue ranks very well in terms of armor, weapons, and all-purpose talents. Those talents and gear enable you to surprise your foes with killer damage, slip in and out of combat for great defense, and deal with non-combat dungeon obstacles (traps, locks) that other companions cannot. From whirlwind flair in a sea of armor to steady precision with lockpick tools, the rogue covers everything that warriors and mages can’t—all with a wink and smile.

Role Models

With the game’s best weapon talent trees, you can create dozens of rogues who each wield something a little different in combat. Don’t feel constrained to play according to the following rogue models to the letter; take bits and pieces that appeal to your play style and add your own spin. However, these are basic models for a melee DPS rogue, ranged DPS rogue, and scout rogue. Each shows you how to choose your talents up to level 30, what talent chains are effective, how specializations fit in, and sample combat strategies for that model.

Melee DPS Rogue Model

Overview: The name of the game is to deal damage quickly. Generally, Dual Weapon talents combined with the backstab- bing Rogue talents work best.

Leveling: You begin with Dirty Fighting talent, an excellent starting skill and always useful. You can stun, then move behind the enemy to get in a couple of backstabs. This skill helps tremendously when you are forced to fight face-to- face, or for helping out a healer or teammate about to die.

Below the Belt gives you a decent attack that can slow down enemies so they can’t escape or can’t pursue. Dual Weapon Training starts the first Dual Weapon chain, which will be your primary focus. Continue your Dual Weapon basics with Dual Striking and Dual Weapon Finesse. Make sure you take Improved Combat Training by this point.

Next, Combat Movement presents a wider flanking area to produce backstabs easier. In the bigger fights with bodies all bunched together, it’s difficult to get directly behind a target in time, so this helps a lot. Next, pick up Deadly Strike as a precursor to Lethality and extra armor penetration. Then, pick up Riposte to add another stun to your arsenal. With Coup de Grace, you prevent damage to your party while hacking away for criticals.

Once you gain your specialization, you could go with Duelist, but Assassin concentrates on damage, and that’s your priority. Mark of Death increases all damage against a single target. It’s perfect against bosses and tougher foes that require that special touch.

The passive talent Lethality increases your critical chance and converts cunning to strength for damage purposes. Dual- Weapon Expert adds even more critical chance. You need 26 dexterity and Expert Combat Training by this point.

Coup de Grace and Cripple pile on the damage with more chances for backstabs and critical hits. Top off your two Dual Weapon chains with Dual-Weapon Mastery and Punisher. You can deal with huge threats now, wield full-sized weapons in both hands, use more talents because your stamina costs are reduced, and punish an opponent with three crushing blows. You must have 36 dexterity and Master Combat Training by now.

Complete your Assassin specialization: Exploit Weaknesses increases your damage potential by finding holes in your enemy’s defenses, Lacerate gives you a damage-over-time effect, and Feast of the Fallen replenishes your stamina with every kill.

Now that you’ve nearly maxed out your offense, add a little defense with Evasion and Feign Death. You can always gain these defensive talents earlier if you find yourself hit a lot in combat. With a good party, though, you probably want to favor the offense. At this point, you may have an extra point to spend as you like.

You can finish up your talents through level 20 with virtually anything you want. Here we’ll add Dual-Weapon Sweep and Twin Strikes. Twin Strikes lands two critical hits in a row, and when you combine it with level 21’s Find Vitals, which improves melee critical chance by 10 and melee critical damage by 20, you deal massive hits.

Start the Shadow specialization at level 22 with Shadow Form, followed by Decoy at level 23. Shadow Form allows the shadow to flit in and out of concealment, making you harder to hit. Decoy keeps enemies occupied while the shadow escapes.

At level 24, switch to the new Rogue chain and buy them all in succession: Heartseeker (level 24), Ghost (level 25), Weak Points (level 26), and Flicker (level 27). Heartseeker adds more offense, Ghost may be your best defense, Weak Points improves all melee talents, and Flicker deals backstabs to all foes in a targeted area.

Pick another Dual Weapon talent at level 28, Low Blow.

Finish with two more Shadow specialization talents: Deep Striking at level 29 grants a large bonus to backstab damage and melee critical chance. Finally, Pandemonium at level 30 confuses all enemies within range.

Talent Choices: Melee DPS tends toward Dual Weapon talents as a natural fit. You can dabble in the cunning Rogue talents, but to maximize your offensive potential, stick with most, if not all, of the dexterity Rogue talents.

Specialization: Assassin is all about enough damage to kill targets before they kill you. It’s possible to go with the Duel- ist specialization as well, if you want a little defense mixed in with your offense, but for all-out DPS, Assassin slays the competition.

Battle Tactics: Wait a few seconds for the tank and other companions to engage the enemy. Angle into the fight from the side or rear, and always position yourself for a backstab attempt. In general, you want to help the tank eliminate his prime adversary, but if you see targets of opportunity with half health or less, make quick work of them.

Based on the position and number of foes, select your attacks appropriately. Tank’s target putting up a fight? Hit from behind with Coup de Grace and Punisher. Enemy turning its attention on you? Stun it with Dirty Fighting or Riposte, or slow it down with Cripple so you can escape. Boss lumbering into view? Hit it with Mark of Death so everyone piles on extra damage.

Ranged DPS Rogue Model

Overview: Much like an offensive mage, a ranged DPS rogue con- centrates weap- ons and talents on enemies at a distance. He focuses on the Archery school, and may dip into some talents, such as the Duelist specialization, when melee becomes imminent.

Leveling: You begin with Dirty Fighting. It’s not ideal for range, but very helpful when an enemy closes on you and you need a quick stun to get your distance again. As you’ll be working with a bow, load up on dexterity.

With your first two talent points, choose Pinning Shot and Rapid Shot. You now can hamper someone’s movement with Pinning Shot or reload much faster with Rapid Shot. Below the Belt gives you another melee talent, which also helps you avoid prolonged face-to-face encounters.

Gain the Improved Combat Training skill and start working on the next tier of talents. Crippling Shot hampers a foe’s offense and defense, while Shattering Shot and Deadly Strike put holes in enemy’s armor.

If you have 21 dexterity and Expert Combat Training, select Critical Shot. If you hit, Critical Shot inflicts critical damage and a bonus to armor penetration. Follow that up with Suppressing Fire at the next level to further encumber targets with attack penalties.

Purchase Lethality. It’s an all-around excellent ability: it increases the critical chance for all attacks and possibly replaces cunning for strength when considering damage bonuses.

You reach your first pinnacle with Scattershot. This awesome talent automatically stuns your target and deals normal damage, then splinters off and does the same to all nearby enemies. Use this effectively against enemy spell- casters or large enemy groups to impede flanking attempts.

If you can reach 30 dexterity, you gain Arrow of Slaying. This scores an automatic critical hit against all but high-level opponents.

At this point, concentrate on the Melee Archer chain. Melee Archer prevents attacks from interrupting your firing, while Aim and Defensive Fire provide offensive and defensive oriented bonuses, respectively. Finish the chain with Master Archer. You can fire arrows while taking damage, gain bonuses to offense and damage, slow the rate of fire to gain bonuses to defense, and bulk up almost all your Archery talents with Master Archer. This skill also allows the rogue to wear heavy armor without attack speed penalties.

Now it’s time for some melee talents in case enemies get close. Dueling and Pinpoint Strike ratchet up your offense while Upset Balance and Keen Defense ensure you won’t go down so easily with swords and claws flying.

At level 19, dip into the cunning Rogue talent, with one point for lockpicking’s Deft Hands. If you aren’t pure ranged DPS, you’ll want these talents earlier, and you’ll pick up the rest of lockpicking at the end with Improved Tools at level 28, Mechanical Expertise at level 29, and Device Mastery at level 30.

When you reach level 20, go right for the new Archery talents. Level 20’s Accuracy improves all your bow stats, level 21’s Arrow Time slows down enemies around you, level 22’s Burst Shot scores three successive critical hits, and level 23’s Rain of Arrows delivers much needed AoE damage.

At level 24, it’s time for the new Rogue talents. Pick these up in a row, starting with Heartseeker at level 24 for a potent melee attack, Ghost at level 25 for a great escape talent, Weak Points at level 26 for added damage, and Flicker at level 27 for a backstab explosion against multiple foes.

Talent Choices: The Archery school and all its ranged surprises are your go-to talents. Duelist provides some melee talents in case an enemy gets close enough to grab you.

Specialization: The Dueling sustained ability gives a bonus to attack while active. Upset Balance can slow an enemy’s movement speed and hinder its defense. The passive Keen Defense does just that: add a permanent bonus to defense. Your top melee talent, Pinpoint Strike, converts all hits into critical strikes for a moderate duration.

Battle Tactics: Once the battle begins, stand your ground. Let the tank and other melee DPSers embrace the enemy. You want to nuke them from afar. Unlike a mage who stays in the rear, however, the ranged DPS rogue can enter melee with his better armor, weapons, and Duelist talents at higher levels.

Survey the battlefield and pick your targets wisely. Concentrate fire on the tank’s target to bring it down quicker, or look for injured foes that you can drop with an arrow or two. If you see an enemy spellcaster in the enemy’s rear, make it your priority. You don’t want it getting off damaging spells. Same goes for enemy archers. If your melee companions can’t reach them, it’s your job to stop them from pelting the team with damage.

On offense, your rotation goes something like this: Aim, Pinning Shot (against moving targets), Critical Shot (against near-dead targets), and Arrow of Slaying. On defense, go Defensive Fire, Crippling Shot, Suppressing Fire, and Scattershot (especially against enemy spellcasters or enemies charging at you).

As a ranged DPS rogue, you have much of the offense of a DPS mage, yet you still can wear most of the better armor and use high-quality weapons. Keep on the go to avoid enemy melee encounters and let your companions wade through the blood and limbs.

Scout Rogue Model

Overview: A master thief slinks through the shadows and opens locked doors with a flick of the wrist. A scout rogue can DPS well, but knows more than a thing or two about the business of treasure and traps.

Leveling: From the start, lean toward your key noncombat talents, Deft Hands (for lockpicking and trap detection) and Stealth (for hiding invisibly). The Deft Hands chain is your priority; you want to be able to open locked doors and chests, and it will take up to Device Mastery to open anything that comes your way.

Begin on your offense with Dual-Weapon Training and Combat Movement. The following level, pick up Improved Tools to further enhance your lockpicking and trap detection. With this build, you should increase cunning and dexterity to unlock all the necessary talents.

Continue your offense with Dual-Weapon Finesse and Dual Striking. The big penalties to your off-hand weapon will be gone, and you now can attack with a two-hit combo.

Grab the Bard specialization. Song of Valor provides regen- eration to mana and stamina, which always proves useful after a long battle. Next, you gain the third lockpicking rank with Mechanical Expertise. You will need 18 cunning.

To become a Dual-Weapon Expert, make sure you have 26 dexterity and Expert Combat Training. Your critical chance increases, and you may inflict lacerations that cause enemies to bleed more damage over time.

Continue down the Bard path. Distraction is a single- target stun, while Song of Courage improves the party’s attack, damage, and critical chance scores.

If you have 22 cunning, welcome to the ultimate lockpicking and trap detection talent: Device Mastery. You will never fail to open a locked door or chest (unless it requires a special key), or to detect a trap and disarm it. You can cap out two more key talent chains. First, the Bard’s Captivating Song is the rogue’s finest crowd control talent if you have the stamina to use it properly. Dual Weapon Mastery finishes off your expertise with two weapons, including wielding full-sized weapons if you like.

Now you can fill out talents as desired. Here we went with Riposte and Coup de Grace next for more stunning and backstabbing. Feign Death and Cripple give you options to remove yourself from combat if you have too much threat on you. Punisher gives you a powerful finishing move.

At level 20, Stealthy Item Use improves your stealth to the second rank. Follow with Combat Stealth at level 21 and Master Stealth at level 22.

The new shadow specialization fits in well at level 23. Shadow Form defends the rogue by decreasing threat with each hit against you. Level 24’s Decoy also increases defense with an illusionary doppelganger that seizes the enemy’s attention while you slip away in shadow. Level 25’s Deep Striking sees you slip out of shadow for attacks and increases backstab damage and critical chance. Finish off the Shadow chain at level 28 with Pande- monium. The talent confuses nearby enemies and forces them to either flee or attack a random target.

At level 26, start in on the new Dual Weapon talents. Level 26’s Twin Strikes lands two critical hits, while level 27’s Find Vitals increases your melee critical stats. At level 29, Low Blow cuts movement and attack speeds of a foe and will drop them to the ground if previously struck by Twin Strikes. Your final talent at level 30, Unending Flurry, repeatedly stabs a target until you miss or run out of stamina.

Talent Choices: The Rogue cunning abilities come in the most handy, supported by its dexterity talents and some Dual Weapon conditioning.

Specialization: The Bard specialization may not produce extra damage, but it gives the rogue phenomenal control over en- emies with the stuns Distraction and Captivating Song. The group buffs Song of Valor and Song of Courage raise the stats of the entire party. If you aren’t worried about pure combat, the Bard specialization is the best option for helping out the entire party. The new shadow specialization aids primarily for personal defense, though you can attack out of the shad- ows for extra damage.

Battle Tactics: You don’t have as much DPS as your other com- panions, so let the tank and other melee specialists roam out into the enemy crowds. You can slip into stealth and pick your best spot to enter combat. At higher levels, once you’ve stacked up a few Dual Weapon talents, you should hold your own against lesser enemy groups or a stronger one-on-one fight.

Your chief role will be crowd control. Once you have the Bard’s Captivating Song at level 13, charge out just behind the tank or other DPSers. Activate Captivating Song once the enemy throng presses in. You won’t be able to move, but all enemies within a moderate radius will be stunned unless they pass a mental resistance check every few seconds. Most mobs are susceptible to mental attacks, so the song is very effective. With the song active, you lose stamina over time, and when you hit zero, all enemies break loose. Build up your willpower if you plan on using Captivating Song a lot. By pinning enemies in place, you prevent incoming damage and allow your fellow companions ample free shots on the dazed enemies.