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.
Finally, ranger allows you to summon animal allies into a fight, adding a pet wolf, bear, or spider to your side.
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.
Strenths 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 disarms them to avoid the brutal consequences 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.
Advantages
- Single-target DPS
- Lockpicking
- Trap Detection and Disarmament
- Stealth
- Access to More Skill Points
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.
Disadvantages
- Limited Defense
- Must Get Behind Targets to be Most Effective
- Generally Weak Against Magic Attacks