Barbarians: Barbarians as rogues have a lot to be said for them. They have naturally high starting physical stats, strength, stamina, agility, and dexterity. They have a great early and mid and very high level hunting area right next to their home cities. Barbarians also get the ability of Slam, which can possibly stun your opponent for a short period of time. And they are the only rogue class that can use the best damage to delay ratio weapon in the game, the Throwing Boulder at Damage 36 Delay of 35. This is important because rogues get the ability to do critical hits with throwing weapons at level 12. Critical hits allow you to do approximately twice the normal weapon damage in one blow. The biggest draw back to the Barbarian rogue is that they don't have either infra or ultravision, and the nights of Norrath can get VERY dark. The base attributes of the barbarian rogue are as follows:
Str (Strength) 103
Sta (Stamina) 95
Agi (Agility) 92
Dex (Dexterity) 80
Wis (Wisdom) 70
Int (Intelligence) 60
Chr (Charisma) 50
Plus they get, like all rogue races 30 bonus points to modify these stats with. So if you want to play a balanced rogue you could have 103, 95, 101, 101, 70, 60, 50. The reason for 101, is because I believe that it is the lowest level of the next effect their for a class. You could also do the following archetypes: Strong: 128, 95, 92, 85, 70, 60, 50. Damage absorber: 103, 120, 97, 80, 70, 60, and 50. Sir missed a lot: 103, 95, 117, 85, 70, 60, 50. And sir proc a lot: 103, 95, 97, 105, 70, 60, and 50. A rogue primary stat split of: 103, 95, 101, 101, 70, 60, and 50. Or you could be known as the Barbarian Trades skills master with: 103, 95, 92, 80, 70, 65, 75. Of all of these, I would play the balanced, or the strong barbarian rogue for the most effect in combat.
Dark Elf: The Dark Elf Rogue can be a LOT of fun to play. But it also has some MAJOR drawbacks to playing it. Dark Elf Rogues are the ultimate in being basically evil. They should have no qualms about watching another player die and then killing the monster that they hurt so badly. Nor should the feel bad about pick pocketing a monster that another player is fighting of anything that they may get. Dark Elves get the racial benefits of Hide and Ultravision. Hide means that they start out with the rogue ability to hide at approximately 9th level of ability, and so will have an easy time of hiding early in life when it can be important. And Ultravision is the best night vision available in the game. Dark Elves also have an incredibly high starting intelligence, so learning of all skills will be easy Dark Elves can also wear Small and Medium sized armors which allows them some flexibility for armor availability. The main disadvantage of the Dark Elf is that they are KoS (Kill on Sight) in most of the cities in the game, and to most of the guards in the game. This severly hurts their ability to buy needed supplies. Starting stats for the Dark Elf are:
Str 60
Sta 65
Agi 100
Dex 85
Wis 83
Int 99
Chr 60
So with these stats and the 30 bonus points we can have a balanced rogue with: 73, 65, 101, 101, 83, 99, 60. Strength heavy Dark Elf is not as effective, but is: 85, 65, 100, 90, 83, 99, and 60. Stamina: 65, 90, 100, 85, 83, 99, 60. Agility: 65, 65, 125, 85, 83, 99, and 60. Dexterity: 65, 65, 100, 110, 83, 99, 60. Agi/Dex split: 65, 65, 105, 105, 83, 99, 60. And merchant: 65, 65, 100, 85, 83, 99, and 85. Of these the best choice would be the balanced rogue followed by the Agility Dexterity split rogue.
Dwarves: Dwarves would be my personal choice if I did my rogue over again. They have very good physical stats, as well as the racial ability of Sense Heading and Infravision (The second best night vision in the game). But their biggest benefit is the ability to wear small sized armor with its corresponding weight reduction. Dwarven Rogues also have a nice quest for the mid levels that nets them one of the better piercing weapons in the game (Damage Wise). Nearby their home areas is Greater Faydark, which depending on your server may be the largest daily auction house in all of Norrath. Dwarves have the following stats:
Str: 90
Sta 90
Agi 80
Dex 100
Wis 83
Int 60
Chr 45
Balanced: 98, 90, 101, 101, 83, 60, 45. Strong 115, 90, 85, 100, 83, 60, 45. Stamina: 90, 115, 85, 100, 83, 60, and 45. Agility: 90, 90, 105, 105, and 83, 60, 45. Dexterity: 90, 90, 85, 125, 83, 60, and 45. Agi/Dex: 90, 90, 105, 105, 83, 60, 45. Merchant (Ouchies) 90, 90, 80, 100, 83, 65, 70. My recommendation would be Agi/Dex, Dexterity, or Agility in that order.
Gnomes: Gnomes make another very good merchant rogue race, and the also have the racial abilities of Tinkering (A trade skill that only Gnomes get), and Infravision. The Gnomish starting city is Ak'Anon, which is also very close to Greater Faydark. The two main drawbacks to playing a Gnome Rogue are their early level hunting areas, which can be avoided by going to Greater Faydark, and a bug wherein the second best rogue only weapon in the game cannot be used by them. But by the time you are ready to use that weapon, that bug should have been fixed. A Gnomes starting stats are:
Str 60
Sta 70
Agi 95
Dex 95
Wis 67
Int 98
Chr 60
Balanced: 78, 70, 101, 101, 67, 98, 60. Strength: 85, 70, 95, 100, 67, 98, and 60. Stamina: 65, 95, 95, 95, 67, 98, 60. Agility: 65, 70, 120, 95, 67, 98, 60. Dexterity: 65, 70, 95, 120, 67, 98, and 60. Agi/Dex 60, 70, 110, 110, 95, 67, 98, 60. Merchant: 65, 70, 95, 95, 67, 98, 85. The "best" Gnome rogue would be the Balanced, Dex, Str, or Agi/Dex.
Half Elf: Half Elves make nice rogues because of their flexibility of starting locations. They are the only race that can start on two different continents, so they have a lot of choices. Should they start in Quest heavy Qeynos, or Trade Center Kelethin, or maybe in between in Freeport. Half Elves have the starting ability of Infravision. The main draw back of Half Elves is they can only wear medium armor, unlike their purebred elven parent.
Str 70
Sta 70
Agi 100
Dex 95
Wis 60
Int 75
Chr 75
Balanced 93, 70, 101, 101, 60, 75, 75. Strong 95, 70, 100, 100, 60, 75, 75. Stamina 75, 95, 100, 95, 60, 75, 75. Agi 75, 70, 125, 95, 60, 75, 75. Dex 75, 70, 100, 120, 60, 75, 75. Agi/Dex 75, 70, 110, 110, 60, 75, 75. Merchant 70, 70, 100, 95, 60, 90, 90. The top choices are: Balanced, Agi/Dex, Dex, Agi.
Human: Humans have two main advantages to offset their lack of seeing in the dark. They can start in either Qeynos or Freeport. And they do not suffer an experience penalty like the other races do. This means that a human rogue is one of the fastest leveling race/class combinations, given that you are fighting equal monsters.
Str 75
Sta 75
Agi 85
Dex 85
Wis 75
Int 75
Chr 75
Balanced 85, 75, 95, 95, 75, 75. Str 100, 75, 85, 90, 75, 75, 75. Sta 75, 100, 85, 90, 75, 75, 75. Agi 75, 75, 110, 90, 75, 75, 75. Dex 75, 75, 90, 110, 75, 75, 75. Agi/Dex 75, 75, 100, 100, 75, 75, 75. Merchant 75, 75, 85, 85, 75, 90, 90. Top Balanced, Str, and Dex.
Wood Elf: Wood Elves have several benefits to them. They start in Greater Faydark, they have the Racial Benefits of Hide, Infravision, and Forage (A skill that allows you to find Food and Water which is important because you need to eat in this game). And they get to wear small and medium armor, just like the dark elves.
Str 65
Sta 65
Agi 105
Dex 90
Wis 80
Int 75
Chr 75
Balanced 90, 65, 105, 95, 80, 75, 75. Str 90, 65, 105, 95, 80, 75, 75. Sta 70, 90, 105, 90, 80, 75, 75. Agi 70, 65, 130, 90, 80, 75, 75. Dex 70, 65, 105, 115, 80, 75, 75. Agi/Dex 70, 65, 110, 110, 80, 75, 75. Merchant 65, 65, 105, 90, 80, 90, 90. Of these I would choose Balanced, Agi, Agi/Dex in that order.
Halflings: Halflings are considered the best "Stat" Rogues in the game. Considering that the two main rogue stats are Agility and Dexterity, and halflings start each of these at or over 100, this should give them some advantages. It does. Halflings are also your most traditional rogue from fantasy literature... Over and above the high starting stats of halflings, they also have the following racial advantages; Hide, Infravision, Sneak. Halflings start out next to one of the best early training areas in the Game: Misty Thicket. Although Misty Thicket does not have the Quests of Qeynos, or the auctions of Greater Faydark, it has a better number of low level monsters with good loot than either of those areas. They also have a low-mid level dungeon nearby with Befallen, and a High Level dungeon with the basement to Highhold. Halflings also get to wear small armor. The main draw backs to halflings is the fact that everyone around them is so tall, so it can get hard to find player made items that will fit nearby.
Str 70
Sta 75
Agi 105
Dex 100
Wis 80
Int 67
Chr 50
Balanced 95, 75, 105, 105, 80, 67, and 50. Str 95, 75, 105, 105, 80, 67, 50. Sta 75, 100, 105, 100, 80, 67, 50. Agi 75, 75, 130, 100, 80, 67, 50. Dex 75, 75, 105, 125, 80, 67, 50. Agi/Dex 75, 75, 115, 115, 80, 67, 50. Merchant 75, 75, 105, 100, 80, 72, 75. Top choices: Balanced, Agi, and Dex. I would not play the merchant type unless you were an experienced player, and had a lot of items to help cover the deficiency.
The Basics
Strength: I rate strength as the most important stat to a Rogue. It will effect how much you can carry, which will become a big thing later in life as you pickpocket literally thousands of Copper and Silver. It will also determine what kind of armor that you can comfortably wear. Some of the lower strength Rogues have trouble putting on a full suit of Banded Armor, and armor, along with some other skills is what will keep you alive later on in life. Strength also adds straight into your attack value. this value determines how often you will actually hit a monster, and how hard you will hit them. Strength will also determine your maximum backstab and individual hit damage after 20th level. As rogues using piercing weapons, we will hit fast, and a few bonus points from strength will add up VERY fast. For a minimum strength, I would recommend a 75.
Stamina: Stamina determines your bonus hit points that a rogue will receive per level. Seeing as how you will never come close to a warrior, and the fact that you will be very close to a druid in hit points, there are two ways that you can go with this. You can either dump points into Agility (I will explain why shortly), or you can dump an awful lot of points into stamina, and try to fill one of the biggest weaknesses of the rogue class. In my opinion, ignore stamina.
Agility: Agility determines two thing in your rogues life, what your Armor Class bonuses will be, and thus how often you will be missed. Another word of caution, Agility does not determine how often you will dodge, or parry, or reposte, just armor class bonus. An example: With an Agility of 110, my Wood Elf Rogue gets 23 points of Armor Class from putting on an armor class 15 small banded tunic. The second thing that agility determines is when you will start to slow down from being overloaded. An example assume you have a natural agility of 130 (Only possible with a Halfling or Wood Elf) and someone casts a spell on you that raises your agility to 150. Also assume that you have a natural strength of 65. You will not start to slow down until you are carrying 86 pounds of stuff. This is because every pound of stuff that you are carrying over your strength reduces your agility by one point, and with each agility point loss beyond your natural agility, you start to lose a small percentage of speed. So being overloaded in the above example, would not have effected you (Other than by dropping off some of your bonus Armor Class points) until you had more overloadedness than you had points of bonus agility.
Dexterity: It will determine how often your high level weapons with special magical effects, or your poisoned weapons will go off. This is also known as procing. I would make sure that this stat had a minimum value of at least 100.
Wisdom: Wisdom is of minor use to a rogue. The only rumored benefit that we can get from having a high wisdom is an additional miniscule chance to "reroll" a failed "roll". A clarification, you swing at a monster and miss, there is rumored to be a one in a thousand chance that a high wisdom will change that miss into a hit. Wisdom also play a vital role in the trade skills. The higher your wisdom, the less chance of failure. My advice is not to worry so much about wisdom, your points are better spent elsewhere.
Intelligence: Intelligence does one thing for Rogues, it will determine how often you gain a point or level in a skill. This is vitally important with something like poison which we can get later in life because poisons cost so much in terms of time and money that each chance we get we want to raise the skill through practice. On the other hand, intelligence is almost useless for raising piercing because you will do that so often throughout your career that if you are not maxed on your piercing skill by the time you level (Not counting levels 1-5), then you must not be using a piercing weapon. Intelligence is a trade off between how often you will use a skill and how many resources it takes to practice a skill. My advice is to leave Intelligence alone.
Charisma: Charisma has one real effect to a rogue, and one rumored effect for a rogue. The real effect of charisma is how much merchant Non Player Characters (Game Controlled Merchants) will pay for your goods, or will sell there goods to you for. A high Charisma will get you better prices for your items, and have the NPC's items cost less to you. The maximum effect that I have seen from charisma as far as merchants is concerned is from the 110 charisma point. The rumored effect of charisma is that it will also help determine how often the skill of instill doubt will function. I will discuss instill doubt later, but suffice to say, unless you want to play a merchant rogue and get into the trade skills, leave Charisma alone.
The Skills
Level 1:
One Handed Blunt: One handed blunt is almost a worthless skill for a rogue. We don't want a one handed blunt weapon in our primary hand because we will not be able to backstab with it (More on that later). And we will usually not have it in our secondary hand because the weapons that have a procing effect (A magical ability of the weapon to cast a specific spell at random intervals), are usually not usable by us. On the other hand, not all of the magical one handed blunt weapons in the game have been found yet. And if, I found myself fighting primarily blue con monsters (Monsters that are lower level than you), with a party, and my piercing and one handed slashing weapon skills were at maximum, I might train this skill until my next level. Don't put any points into this skill as it starts usable.
One Handed Slash: This is the skill that I would start using every level after I had reached the maximum in my piercing skill. Now, while we still can not backstab with this skill, there are several VERY nice one handed slashing weapons in the game that are not only faster than piercing weapons, but they have better procing effects as well. Try to make sure you keep this skill at its maximum as you travel through your levels, as later on in life it is harder to raise this skill up from zero. Don't put any points into this skill as it starts usable.
Archery: Archery will probably be the primary skill that is used to pull monsters (Pulling is activating monsters and leading them back to a group or zone line so that they can be fought in relative safety). There are some very nice bows and arrows that are available from other players at a reasonable price depending on your server. If you find that your archery is sub par, some groups of players will allow you to shoot their monsters from a distance in order to increase your skill with this weapon. Note: This can also be a reasonably expensive skill to train up, so you might not want to use this skill until later in life. Don't put any points into this skill as it starts usable.
Bind Wound: This skill allows you to heal yourself up to half health. It can cut the time you sit on the ground healing up after fights by a significant factor. The only problem is that the use of this skill takes bandages, which are either expensive, if bought from a computer controlled merchant (NPC Merchant), or you have to find someone of the magician class to summon them for you, which can be expensive, and time consuming. Don't put any points in this skill as it starts usable.
Piercing: This is the bread and butter of the rogue combat skills. This is the skill that you will use more often than any other skill in the game by a long stretch. Don't bother to put any points into this skill as it starts primed and ready to go the moment your character is created. This is also the weapon type that will occupy your primary weapon hand for most if not all of your character's life. It is also the weapon type that you need to have in your primary hand in order to backstab your opponent. The only problem with it is that at most levels, there will be better one handed slashing weapons available.
Sneak: This is the art of moving silently. The first thing that you want to do is to make sure that you have a hot key of this skill in your skill bank. (To make a hot key of non combat skills, go into the main screen with your character classes symbol on the left hand side. Left click on the abilities button which is on the mid right hand side. Left click and hold down the skill that you want to hot key until you have a detached copy of that skill on your pointer. Then finally, place that skill box into your bank of six empty boxes on your left hand side. A note, the upper left hand corner of the detached skill box is now the point of your mouse pointer, so you want to center that in the empty box before you press the left mouse button to release it again.) Sneak is the ability that allows you to come up behind a monster quietly so that the monster does not turn around, so that you can get your backstab in to start the combat. Sneak also has a secondary function that if you sneak up behind a merchant that is dubious to you or worse, allows you to buy and sell to that merchant at indifferent prices. Just make sure that the merchants back is to you, and if the merchant turns around to face you, just sneak around behind them again. You can tell that you have successfully snuck against a specific target because the target will /con indifferent to you. You can tell that you have successfully snuck in general when you get the message "You are as quiet as a cat stalking its prey".
Throwing: Throwing is a skill that almost no one uses. The ranges on it are to short to effectively pull with. The weapons that are used in throwing usually have terrible damage to delay ratios. And as far as I know, there are no magical throwing weapons available in the game (Not even Magician summoned Throwing Daggers, although every other weapon they summon is magical). The throwing weapons that can be bought are expensive compared to arrows. And through all of these negatives, I would not spend any points into throwing nor would I waste money taking the throwing skill up unless I was a Barbarian Rogue, and could later on in life get Throwing Boulders from Giants. Even though at level 12 we can score critical hits with throwing weapons, our critical will pale in comparison with a cheap arrow fired from a good bow. Do yourself a favor an don't use it.
Level 3
Hide: Once you get to level three, you can finally become a real rogue, assuming your race didn't start with the hide skill as a racial benefit. At this level, if you successfully hide, you will get a message stating such, then you successfully sneak, you can now move around invisibly. Albeit your movement rate is so low that you cannot catch up to a walking monster, this will allow you to move behind a stationary one for your initial backstab. And if you combine this with spirit of the wolf from a Druid, Shaman, or high level Ranger, you can move at normal walking speed while invisible. A couple of notes: If you have to travel reasonably long distances through dangerous territory, ask for an Invisibility from a mage type. And be sure to /con all the monsters that you get close to make sure that they are indifferent. Make a hot key of this skill as soon as you get it, and practice hiding when you are resting up after a fight. You will need to put one point into this skill, if your race did not start with it, to allow you to use this skill.
Level 4
Dodge: Dodge is the first combat evasion skill that you will get for your character. The dodge skill allows you a chance to evade a hit that a monster would have scored on you. The higher your dexterity score, the more often you will dodge in a fight. This happens automatically in a fight, so you can not hot key this skill, nor do you need to. You need to place one point into this skill to allow you to use it.
Level 6
Picklock: This is the first of your almost totally useless skills. There are less than ten locked pickable doors in all of Norrath. Not only that, but there are no foreseeable new locked doors on the horizon. Rumor has it that the expansion to EverQuest that includes the new continent will have lots of locked doors. But as it stands now, either ignore this skill, or if you want to have another skill to max out each level, buy a set of lock picks, put six points into this skill (Because at one time Lock pick came at level 11, you need to put six points into this skill in order for it to work), head to the Dungeon Befallen. One the first floor of Befallen there is a Door that is locked, and when you click on it will say "This door is locked and you do not have the key." Pick up your lock picks with your mouse cursor, and click on the door. If you are successful, the door will open. If it opens close the door, and do it again. Repeat this process until you have reached the maximum in this skill. Be sure to set aside about an hour or two to reach your maximum with this skill.
Level 7
Pickpocket: Pickpocket is your ability to lift coins, and rarely an item, from any monster or NPC that is near by. Even in Player versus Player mode, or on a player versus player server, you are not allowed to pickpocket from other player characters. When you first get this skill, you need to put a point into it, then go find the nearest green monster and pickpocket it until it attacks you. Kill it, and go find another one. When you first get this skill, you will get LOTS of copper, and some silver, but as you go up in levels, and as the monsters that you are fighting get richer, you will start to occasionally pickpocket gold and platinum, and LOTS and LOTS of copper. This additional money from pickpocketing will allow you to afford some items before other classes of your level can traditionally afford them. If you find yourself overloaded and far from town, don't be afraid to drop the copper that you are carrying, it can save your life. Remember, the more overloaded you are the lower your agility is, and the less benefit you will get from your bonus armor class.
Level 8
Sense Traps: This is the first of your totally useless skills that you obtain. Sense Traps will turn you around until you are facing the nearest trap in the ZONE that you are in. Even if that trap is on the other side of the zone. It will not give you a distance to the trap, nor will it detect holes in the floor or pit traps, or illusions, just mechanical traps. Yes, there are actually traps in this world, there is one in the Dungeon Split Paw, and several in Solusek A, and Solusek B. The only problem is that each and every one of these traps has had their damage disabled, so they are nothing other than window dressing (Although they will still take down your hide and sneak). If you want to waste a point, your to just say that you have this skill, put one point into it, then go find a zone that has a trap in it and click on your sense traps hot button. Or just sit in the city of your choice and click on the sense traps button, both of these ways will eventually train you to your maximum in sense traps. Oh, just ignore the "You don't sense any traps nearby message" you are still training the skill.
Level 10
Backstab: This is the crowning jewel of the Rogue class, and the only reason that we ever get invited into groups. To backstab a monster, you need to get behind the monster, have a piercing weapon in your hand, and press your hot keyed backstab button. The formula for backstab is (Backstab Skill / 25 + 1) * Your weapons normal damage for your level, with a minimum damage of 7. And unless you have a high strength and are fighting Blue /con monsters, you will miss with this skill a LOT. But missing doesn't matter, because the real effect of the Backstab attack is the fact that it functions as the most powerful taunt in the game. This will allow you to pull monsters off of the spell casters that they are beating on, and on to you (Which may not be a good thing considering that you have just slightly better hit points than some of them, and some of them get better armor than you...) After you hit level 10, immediately run to your guild and put a point into this skill at your guild master, then hot key it into your main combat bank of hot keys. Finally, find a group that is willing to allow you to join them, and backstab as much as possible to raise this skill. You will want to make sure that this skill reaches its maximum values as soon as possible each level for best effect. A final note, if the monster you are fighting is facing you, not an uncommon occurrence, you can hit your backstab hot button for an additional normal attack each time that it is ready.
Level 12
Safe Fall: Safe fall is a skill that allows you to fall from a height and not get hurt, or get hurt less from the fall that you will take. This skill does not have a hot button, it will automatically take effect when you fall from a height that would damage you without the safe fall skill. This skill will its maximum at 94, which will have you still taking damage or dying from some of the steeper falls in the game. When you first get this skill, put one point into it, and then go find a steep surface and run down it. If while running down it you take one point of damage multiple times, you have found the perfect training ground. Just continue running up and down it until you have hit your maximum safefall level. Some recommendations of locations to try are: Steamfont mountains, The zone wall near Felwithe where it is nearly vertical, and the wall near the entrance to the Estate of Unrest on the right hand side as you are looking in to the zone valley.
Parry: This is the second of your combat evasion maneuvers that you get. Just like dodge from level four, this is an automatic skill, that will go up naturally in combat. Then only thing that you need to raise this skills is one initial point to your guild trainer, and then go engage monsters. This skill will raise just fine on its own without any further help from you. And although at early levels, you may not see any effect, at later levels you should, on average perry two to three times per fight depending on your dexterity.
Critical Hits: Also at Level 12 you will get the ability to Critical hit with thrown weapons. This is not a skill, it is an ability, just like the warrior's ability to critical hit. You do not need to put any points into it to activate it, it will come naturally, and randomly. Of course even with critical hits, your thrown weapons will do much less damage than a good bow and arrow, so I would only see criticals from a true role-playing rogue. Remember, throwing knives are 1 silver each with a 110 charisma...
Level 13
Dual Wield: The second you hit 13th level, tell your group good bye and go to your trainer and put one point into dual wield. Then sell your shiny brass shield and equip the fastest secondary weapon you can find, preferably a piercing weapon as you may have your highest ability in those types of weapons. Then come back to your group, and start to see the true damage potential of a rogue. At the early levels you will not see your weapon go off that much, but each chance it has to go off, you will also get a chance to raise in skill. At later level, the combat rounds where your weapons both do not go off will be few and far between. This is the skill, when combined with backstab and double attack, that will allow you to keep a monster focused on you even through a wizard overburning.
Level 16
Double Attack: This skill allows you a small chance for an additional attack with each of your wielded weapons when they attack. This skill will allow you a miniscule chance for a round of combat with four separate non backstab attacks, with a more common round of three attacks. this skill is one of the main reasons, when combined with low delay piercing weapons, that rogues are known as the La Machines of Norrath. Edited by Zato at: 2/4/00 2:13:02 pm
Apply Poison: While this skill should be what rogues are known for, it is not. Because of the time involved in getting poisons to apply to weapons (More on this under Make Poison Skill), and the restrictions on how to apply poison, apply poison is a skill that few if any rogues will use to any great extent. After you have put one point into this skill, more is recommended if you plan on taking poisoning seriously, and you have acquired a poison, through a higher level rogue, questing, or killing specific rare monsters, you need to sit down and right click on your bottle of poison. The most common message you will receive is that you were not skillful enough to apply poison. But if you do successfully apply it, your primary weapon slot now has one chance to poison the monster you are fighting. Note, your weapon that is in your primary weapon slot is not poison, just the primary weapon slot itself, so you can switch weapons and still have a chance to poison monsters. Also, if you are moving when the poison decides to go off, such as chasing down a monster, your chance to poison will fizzle. The monster has a chance to resist your poison. If you zone or die, the poison goes away. And finally, if you successfully poison, or if it fizzles or is resisted, the poison has now been removed from your weapon and you have to sit down and reapply it.
Level 20
Make Poison: At this level you get the ultimate in worthless skills. Not only is Make poison expensive in terms of time it takes to gather the ingredient to concoct the poisons, but it is also expensive in the items that are necessary for each poison. If you want to dabble in poisons, first you need to find one of the two merchants that sell the mortar and pestle in the game. One is Gilden Toxfodder in West Karana, and the other is a Dwarf on the island in Dagnor's Cauldron. From one of these Merchants you need to buy the mortar and pestle, a heavy No Drop Container item, the book on poison making, and several suspensions. Next read the book and it will list several different poisons that you can make and from what ingredient. After you have figured out which poisons you want to try for, travel to the areas and either /auction for those specific parts of monsters from the player there, try to find them on nearby merchants, or kill the monsters that would have those parts. Once you have the necessary ingredient to make the poison from the monsters you will notice that you now need a vial. Vials are player made items only, so now you need to find a player that has mastered the skill of pottery, or master that skill yourself. Vials are made from a Block of Clay, a Vial Sketch, a Flask of Water, and an animal skin (A ruined pelt will not work). These are combined on a spinning wheel, for one chance of failure, and if successful you will have an unfinished vial. This unfinished Vial needs to be put into a kiln along with a high quality firing sheet, for a second chance at failure, but if successful, you will now have a Vial in your possession. Now take the vial, the monster parts listed, and a suspension and place them inside your mortar and pestle (Making sure that nothing is stacked, each in its own spot). Hit the combine button, and if you are lucky, you will now have a single dose of your poison. More commonly you will fail here and have to start over. For all the time and frustration and chance of failures, go out and higher a wizard and tell him or her that each time they cast a spell you will pay them 5 gold pieces. Not only are they more reliable, but they are faster and will be much less frustrating in the long run.
Level 21
Disarm Traps: This is the second of your absolutely worthless skills that you receive. This skill allows you to disarm all of the non functioning traps that sense traps allowed you to find. If you want to be a completes, put one point into this skill then head to either Split Paw or Solusek A and find one of the traps there. Continuously slick on the trap until bored to tears, ran over by a train, or you have hit your maximum ability with this skill. Or just save your point and ignore the traps.
Level 22
Instill Doubt: This is the second of your almost worthless skills that you receive. Instill doubt is supposed to cause a monster to turn its back on you and run away in fear. In actuality, you will be absolutely surprised if it ever works. Oh, and as for the Instill Doubt Backstab combination, that does not work because instill doubt will deactivate your backstab button if it works. There are two reasons that this skill may not work as planned. Number one is that this skill has a kicking component to it, and since rogues do not get the kick skill, we have a very hard time connecting with our kicks, which is necessary for the rest of this skill to take effect. The second thing is that this skill may have a Charisma factor to it. Most Rogues have ignored Charisma during character design and development, and thus may have a negative modifier to this skill based on their low charisma. But if you do get this skill to work, the monster will turn around and start running away from you at their maximum speed, much as if a fear spell had been cast on them. This is a VERY bad thing in a dungeon environment, as each monster that the running monster passes on its way away from the rogue is then activated onto the rogue, and each monster that it passes on its way back to the rogue after the fear effect wears off is also activated onto the rogue. All of this together has the capability to start huge hordes of monsters all out seeking the poor rogues blood. But if you are really interested in this skill, put one point into it, then go find a spell caster's pet and practice it on them. This should only take about five to ten hours to raise it up to its maximum level.
Level 27
Disarm: This skill used to be one of the reasons that other player characters would not duel us in either player versus player environments, or in duels of honor. This skill would allow us to knock the weapon from the opposing player or creatures hands and make it fall to the ground. After many players complained that this was unfair, Verant has changed it so that we can no longer knock magical weapons from monster's hands, and when we use this skill on another player, that player's weapon is either placed in their inventory, or onto their mouse pointer. This was a sever weakening to this skill. But if you are still fighting creatures with non magical weapons, place one point into this skill and make a hot key for it. When you are fighting a monster that has a weapon equipped, press this hot key and you have a small chance to then disarm that monster causing their weapon to fall to the ground. Note, an average creature has a hand melee delay rating of about 30, but their damage is not effected by what type of weapon that they are carrying. So if you are fighting a monster that is using a fast weapon, such as a dagger, or scimitar, disarming them would be a good idea, whereas a monster with a slow weapon such as a two handed sword or an orc with an orc pick, disarming them actually makes them more effective. As side note to this is that some creatures get bonuses with particular weapon types and are more effective, or hit for maximum damage more often with particular weapons, so it would be a good idea to disarm those creatures when you see them with that weapon type. An example would be Crushbone Orcs with Scythes, or Aviaks from South Karana with maces.
Level 30
Riposte: Riposte is the last skill that a rogue will receive in there career outside of the expansion set. Riposte is the last of your automatic combat skills and combines an offensive maneuver and a defensive maneuver all into one. When a monster swings at you, when you have this skill, you will have a small chance to riposte that attack which means to block their incoming attack, and launch a free attack of your own. Your chance to perform a riposte is based on your Dexterity and your Riposte skill. To train this skill, put one point into this skill and go out and fight. At higher levels with a good dexterity, a rogue should see one or two ripostes per combat.
Walking the Walk
At level 3 you get your first skill, Hide. Suggestion. As soon as you can start using a skill, use it and keep it maxed. Once you get higher in levels you won't want to take the time to train up skills since they train so slow in the early going. But at this stage in the game all you have is time. You are killing and resting. While your resting your practicing. While your killing your practicing. While your running between store and hunting zone your practicing. You will have to place 1 practice point into a skill from here on out to activate it, and I suggest just that one. All skills go up with practice and there is no need to spend points this early on when you have all the time in the world to practice.
Ok at level 4 you get dodge. Nice Nice skill. If your not there they can't hit you. Get it just as soon as you can run back to your guild. I found that just as soon as I saw the message I had gained the level I was running for the zone.
For levels 1 to 5 I found the newbie zone was just the place to be. I could solo everything and everything gave me good exp. Once I hit 5 I started finding that things in this zone were turning green and it was hard finding things to kill. At 5 you may want to start looking to new zones to explore.
For levels 5 to 10 I found that the zones just beyond the newbie areas worked just find. If you are in a good group you can play the outer boundaries of these zone pretty easy and without too much competition. If your still going solo at this point staying close to the newbie zone might be a safer bet. Remember to keep those skills maxed and work on all of your combat skills switching from one to the next as soon as you max them out per level.
Levels 10 to 15 are good skill levels for a rogue. At 10 you get your first rogue defining skill, Backstab. Get it and keep it maxed. I also found that safe fall was a good skill to have later in my rogue career. Being able to jump from high places to escape can be a handy thing to know. And then finally at level 13 you get your duel wield and your parry. The next two things that define a rogue.
When you hit level 15 as a rogue your really coming into your own as a group player. By this time your choice of weapons should be near the top end of what a rogue can have in carry. Most rogues at this level are trading in their combined and fine steel weapons for the more popular Dragoon Dirk and Blood Claw. Even though they won't see the benefits of the claw for a couple more levels the weapon by itself is a fine weapon to carry.
At 16 you get your double attack skill and this is where you really start to see the damage piling up on your opponent. You can still solo blues at this level, though many will be taking you down to whoever swings next will be the winner, but in a group is where you will want to start finding yourself. From this level on you will want to find a good set of friends and start partying with them on a regular basis. One reason for this is that blues will be starting to mop the floor with you around this time, and second you will need to train your new group on tactics for fighting with a rogue in a group.
Level 17 and 18 for me were boring levels. I was pushing for 18 to get my apply poison skill and start learning what it would be like to be a real rogue. But it seemed like it took for ever. You can't really solo at this level and you find that unless you have a regular group you party with its going to be hard to find a group. This is the level where I started to travel the world a little more. I finally ended up down in South Karanas at the Aviak Village and just over the zone line into Lake Rath. These were some real nice hunting areas for a rogue with a group. Your group could usually pull off one or two mobs and with a good take you could backstab and kill all day long with little or no damage. As for Apply Poison and later level 20 Make Poison, please refer to the library. It has some fantastic advice and what is currently know about poison.
Levels 19 and 20 were much the same with one little addition. I started to earn a lot of money. You start to see that around level 20 or so the mobs you are hunting.... at least the ones down around the Aviak Village start to carry a lot of money. So with By the time you hit level 25 you will most likely have had some time to play with poisons, remember to save some skill points to start up Disarm and riposte. This is actually a good time to camp Drelzna in Najena, because you will be getting good exp as well as nifty items.
25 through 30 are the first levels where you want to keep your eyes open for a Serrated Bone Dirk because it begins to proc at 28. These are also the levels where you're hunting mobs that give regular plat loots. This is when to get as much cash as you can and find a level 35 enchanter jeweler, and get some spiffy +agility +dex +str items. I found that Mistmore is an excellent place to hunt from 25 to 30, and the pickclaw goblins in the basement of High Pass Hold. Mistmore is also a place where hunting for exp you can get your hands on some of the more coveted items for other classes and sell them for a decent price. (crested armor, mistmore shield, Sacrificial Dagger, Eye patch of , and the coveted drums off of the Gypsies.)
When you hit 27 and get the skill disarm, I would suggest dueling a few friends to practice your disarming skill. In regards to disarm it is a great skill, BUT when fighting NPCs you should be aware that some of them hit a LOT harder when they are barehanded than when they have a weapon. So if your fighting a Pickclaw warrior that's using a 2h sword with a nasty 40 delay you might wanna think twice about disarming him. Riposte - another automatic skill like dodge or parry, put one point into it then goto town. Riposte deflects the attackers damage back onto themselves. These are also the levels where you might want to begin to seriously train poison if you have the money because at level 30 your make poison skill can be mastered (100). As far as this is concerned I'd suggest going to lavastorm and just using /shout to tell all the newbies there that your buying putrid biles, and you will be amazed at how many you can get in just an hour if there’s more than 10 people in the zone. that Pick Pocket skill you have been practicing since level 7 you should be swing, pick pocket, swing, swing swing, pick pocket. Makes for a real nice game of are you cheating me. I constantly amaze my friends by telling them how much money they just got off that loot.
Zato Thornblade the Dwarven Rogue
Tarew MarrEdited by Zato at: 2/25/00 1:41:50 pm
