Help ungimping myself!

[EZ_Haranavei]

Nightshade was the character I made upon the game's release; I didn't really know how to spec, I didn't understand which skills influenced what, and since the class was horribly unfinished I really ended up speccing poorly. I finally dropped the class after the patch that upped style damage for every style line except CS (which also needed it imo, despite what Mythic said--in the process my 'alt' made it all the way to 43...). Once I read proof of the effect that piercing had on NS damage, I thought upon picking up the char again, but didn't until the addition of the extra points allowed me to put more points into piercing right away without having to suffer through the rest of the level.

Anyway, I made level 39 the other day, and can't decide what to do with the 36 points I've got sitting there.

Here are my current specs (lvl 39):

Stealth 30 +8
CS 35
Pierce 25 +4 (possibly more, I can't recall all the bonuses I've got as I've been switching weapons lately)
Envenom 21 +6

I have 36 points right now, and can't decide if I should boost pierce up with them, or if I should get another point in CS. What should my path be next level? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Also, when will my + cap be 9? I've got stealth items I don't use because I'm capped.

Riatha Moonbow ~43 Ranger
Haranavei Khoehlanna ~39 Nightshade
Maera Celebrimbor ~30 Warden
Nenien Starsinger ~25 Champion
Blathnat Ffynidwydd ~14 Druid

[EZ_Siawn Overseas]

Know I saw a 43 that mentioned his cap was +9.

[EZ_Iriki]

I'd raise pierce some. It is the skill the determines the base for all melee damage you do.

[EZ_CreepyPete]

What Iriki said.

-Creepy

[EZ_Squink McPoke]

Item cap is based on your level.

( level / 5 ) + 1, rounded down

At level 40, cap would be 9 max that you can get from items.

45 it becomes 10, 50 is 11. -- Huff McTuff, 41 Nightshade, Pendragon
-- Nightshade Team Lead

[EZ_Haranavei]

Thanks for the replies. I was fortunate enough to get into a really great group in CM and managed to eke out level 40. Dumped all points into pierce and am a much happier Nightshade for it. My base pierce is now 29, and as high as 34 with items, so I'm getting there.

Hara

[EZ_Jammermon]

A balanced Rogue is a happy Rogue

A Rogue Uber in one/two skills and idiot in rest is a poster on the VN Boards "My class is broken waaaa waaa Mythic won't fix waaa waaa".

Try to keep Weapon... CS... Envenom... Stealth all roughly about equal.

Keep in mind that it's EASY to find +stealth stuff (my char would be +12 but my cap is +9 at 41).

It's a bit harder to find +Envenom stuff but doable. (Oi am +8 envenom)

It's harder yet to find + Piercing stuff. Until the L50 Reward (Shard of Light Pierce +5%) most is +2 or +3 I've seen.

Crit Strike + stuff is damn near impossible after a few Backstab +s in the 20's.

Suggested formulae EFFECTIVE skill till L40;
Pierce/CS near 80% of Level
Envenom near 75% of Level
Stealth near 80% of Level AFTER L25-28.

After L40 and the 1/2 ding trains start getting all skills nearer 90%.

Jammer of Hibernia/Palomides