Comprehensive Rogue Guide I [COMPLETE!]

OK so heres my first shot at a guide and its gonna be about my favorite build so far on SRO....the Rogue. Keep in mind that this is a Work in Progress and is subject to change as i lvl+ and i receive information from fellow rouges (you hopefully). Lets Begin!


Way of the Rogue

You are the Rogue. Its important to realize what this means. You are NOT a tanker don't think you can be one. You ARE a damage dealer but your
NOT the main damage dealer don't think you can be one. You ARE an STR build meaning ALL your points go into Str its would be stupid to put any into Int because you will never do Int based attacks....ever! Your role in the Party will change depending on the situation. If you have a good healer you'll be focused on dealing damage. If you don't have a good healer your be focused on taking damage and distracting mobs. You're essentially the only Hybrid class Europe has to offer because you can do close to mage damage and at the same time have Str based health and defense, you can't do both at the same time though then you'd be even more godly. Lets Summarize

-Not Tanker
-Not Main Damage dealer
-Most Versatile Class
-Fully Str Based
-Basically a Hybrid
-Best when using BOTH Xbow and Daggers
-Max the WHOLE tree



Snipe or Slash?

The two weapons available to Rogues are Daggers and Crossbows (Xbows)

Both these weapons have their Pros and Cons lets go over them.


DAGGER

Pros
-Very Fast attack speed
-Very High Critical
-More damage then Xbow
-Has increased performance when stealthed

Cons
-Must sacrifice DEF for Max Damage
-NO RANGE
-Vulnerable to ranged Attack


Crossbow

Pros
-Very High Damage
-LONGEST RANGE!
-Has KB and KD skillz!

Cons
-Vulnerable to close attacks
-Slower Attack speed than Daggers
-Must sacrifice HEALTH for Max Damage


As you can see both weapons are excellent and eventually you should get both and switch depending on the Situation. The weapon you choose for starting off should be based solely on how you play the game. Early on Xbows will be more powerful (40-) but later on Daggers will be significantly more powerful (40+) that is just comparing the 2 builds to each other though. If you (like me) Prefer to rush in and quickly decimate your opponents with superb combos choose the Daggers. If you prefer to artfully snipe the sh*t our of your enemies leaving them in a state of confusion and disarray choose the Xbow. As i said early though your final goal should be to have BOTH.



Party with ppls

Realize that the Rogue isn't exactly an Exp party favorite. Meaning you will NEVER see a party match post saying, "Need Rogue others need not apply". The reason for this is because alot of ppl consider the rogue useless in Exp parties, especially Dagger Rogues. Why? Because you have good HP and can tank for a bit BUT you can't aggro and lure. You have Extremely high damage BUT its not higher than a mage. DO NOT let this discourage you. I know i've saved my parties life on many occasions. The Key to being a Successful Rogue in Exp parties is the LET PPL DO THEIR JOB. If your using Dagger Desperate or Xbow Extreme ( i'll explain in detail later) DON'T TRY TO TANK. Don't rush out there and lure 3 mobs you can't handle and get yourself killed. It'll make the rest of us smart Rogues look bad. Heres some pointers for Exp Partying

-Understand Aggro
Aggro is the base of the Euro party playing system. Without aggro mobs would never attack Wizards and Clerics and everyone would be happy. Aggro is the amount of aggression a monster has towards a player. If a player has a High Aggro the Monster will gravitate towards that player and attempt to kill them. If the Player has a Low Aggro the monster will ignore the player no matter how many times you hit it and it will focus on another player instead. With Chinese the determining factor of aggro was damage. With Euros its much deeper. I believe the aggro list is as follows descending from highest aggro to lowest

1.Wizards-----Or you could just as easily say this----1. Casters
2.Clerics------------------------------------------------------2. Buffers
3.Warlocks----------------------------------------------------3. Melee
4.Bard
5.Warrior
6.Rogue

This means that once a monster becomes aggressive towards any member of the party they will gravitate towards the player with the highest Aggro automatically. Thats why casters die so much because even with other players around monsters will ignore them to get to the caster. Understand that Rogues have LOW AGGRO meaning if you lure three mobs into the party 1 may focus on you but the others will head straight for the casters and buffers. Warriors can increase their aggro and draw mobs towards them YOU cannot. Without DD or EX on your aggro will be low and insignificant with DD and EX on your aggro will increase greatly. This doesn't help you at all really because when your defenses are down your drawing mobs to you like a wizard and when your defenses are up don't draw mobs away from the wizards and casters. Understand the concept of aggro...save a life. Don't be the guy who kills your party because you don't understand Aggro.....its not cool -_-


-Back Up the other Builds
If you see a warrior off tanking a giant or champion while the mages are killing something else Go help the Warrior. You can kill ALOT faster than he can so he can get out there and tank more mobs. If Your whole team is attacking a giant and you see mobs starting to attack the healers and mages kill them off. You can 1-2 hit any mob 1-5 lvls higher than you (depending on your lvl and gear) so you can save some time there. Whatever the wizards aren't attacking and should be YOU attack.

-Don't Try to Lure
I know i know your Str based you've got tons of health your a bad Mother F*cker right ...WRONG! Even with DD or EX off you lack the tanking and aggro skillz necessary to handle multiple mobs at once AND keep them from attacking your team mates. So wise move is don't go out attracting more mobs than you can handle. You'll already have a hard enough time with wizards AoEing everything in sight. So don't feel like a p*ssie just because you have to stand back and wait for things to come to you. Its better to kill what comes than having the whole party die because you decided to be a hero.

-Know When to say When!
Desperate Dagger (DD) and Extreme Crossbow (EX) significantly raise your Attack damage to wizard lvls but lower your defenses to there lvls as well. A mob that dealt only 13-50 damage without DD will start dong 200-350 Damage WITH DD. If your in a party and you know you have a bad healer DON'T USE THESE SKILLZ. If your in a party and you know there are not enough warriors DON'T USE THESE SKILLZ. I'm warning you now if you use them your chances of death skyrocket and so do your chances of getting kicked from the party. Use it when you feel comfortable enough to know that you can basically let down all your guard and you'll still be safe. I know it'll be tempting to get in there and start comboing out some real high numbers but you'll have to learn to recognize a situation when its ok to use these skillz and when its not.

Destroy ALL Players!

This section will Focus on PvP and Jobing....where the Rogue shines. The Rogue was made to solo. Most of their skillz don't really benefit Exp Parties and some may seem completely useless at first glance. In both PvP and Jobing your object will be the same. Kill Players as Quickly as possible. IMO rogues are the BEST thiefs but they can do any job... thieving though is where there skillz really stand out. Heres how best to do it.

Stealth

This is your master piece. The silence before the strike.....the terror afterwards. You are able to move amongst your enemies without ever revealing your presence. Once you cast stealth you'll see a great drop in moving speed, The Dagger tree has skillz that can make you a bit faster but not by alot. The Stealth skill has about a 20 sec cool down and at lvl 1 last 60 secs. You can recast it anytime after the cool down and the 60 sec will just starting over. If SRO is lagging or your compy is lagging then you might be visible for a mili sec while recasting.....its unlucky when this happens but such is life. Dagger Rogues have a skill that increases the damage done while in stealth. Once you attack your Stealth goes away so lets use our brain here. The first skill you use in stealth should be a phy attack skill some off you might accidentally use the poison imbue but try to get out the habit. Lets summarize using Stealth.

-20 Sec cooldown
-last 60 sec (initially)
-Lowers moving speed alot
-Daggers get higher damage when stealthed
-If you use a skill Stealth goes away
-If you are attacked Stealth goes away
-You can be detected by skillz on the Fire Tree
-You can be detected by Warriors
-You can be detected (very temporarily) by Wizards
-You can be detected by De-Stealth pots

Know your weaknesses and grow stronger from them...stay out of range of warriors and your prey until you are ready to strike.

Poison

Poison is as poison does. Its does DoT but not really impressive especially when ppl are using pills. With Euro's however and the pot delay someone without pills can easily die from poison damage. Poison is not useless though think of it like having a pet only better cause the damage ignores defenses. So use it whenever you can cause a little damage goes a long way.

Mask, Scorn, and Duplicate

These skillz are used solely for confusion and temporary confusion at that. In Cape Battles making a duplicate of a non caped person will cause ppl to be unable to normal click attack you. So they'll probably ignore you. BUT if they Alt-Click you then they can attack you and you can only attack them by Alt-clicking. In job wars make a duplicate of a trader or a hunter. It make confuse ppl only for a sec because it won't change your thief icon but that second is long enough to get close to your target and finish them if your good.

Monster mask are the same way. You can only attack players with an Alt-Click and can only be attacked with an Alt-Click though you will take splash damage. If your thieving ppl surrounded by monster turn into one of them and sneak up close enough for the kill.

Scorn is useful because for 3 secs the person you attack with it can only use skillz on you. Cast it on Clerics or Bards first or on any other class if your Thieving with others in case your team mates are getting hurt by someone.

Using these skillz foolishly can be fun. But using them wisely and carefully and you can devastate your enemies and leave them cursing and crying.

Daggers or Xbow?

The choice is yours in the end. Use it according to the situation. If you've got back up and need to take out a larger group of ppl fast use daggers. If your solo and just need to kill a few ppl quickly use Xbow. I used to be a Blader so i get more satisfaction getting a close up combo kill then sniping but whatever floats your boat. Thats the best part about being a Rogue, you've got a bag of tricks for every situation just know when and where to use them.

Weaknesses
If your using both Dagger and Xbow Trees it'll help cut your weaknesses down to a minimum. Your WORST enemies are Warlocks and Wizards.


Warlocks top the list. They stun they sleep they DoT there class is designed to do the one that you can't stand. They can stop you! They can stop you cold and dead and theres hardly a damn thing you can do about it. If you can afford the expensive pills for curses don't use them for cape battles save them for job wars/battles and they WILL save your life. in that 5 sec your stunned that warlock unleashes all kinds of damage on to you and you really don't need that. To make matters worse they've got that damn Shield. If the attack you use to expose yourself is blocked your in trouble. Proceed with Caution against warlocks.

Wizards are just annoying. If theres not a warlock around and sometimes even if there is kill them first because they'll kill you the fastest. They just sit and nukes for daggers they're especially troublesome because of that lack of range. But they go down really easily and aren't much of a problem if you know what your doing.


I overlooked Warriors the first time. After they get Iron Skin they become a giant pain in the arse. Because the buff only last 45 sec they normally won't have it on unless they think they're about to be attcked. Once they do put it on you'll have to rely on crits for kills cause your see a significant drop in the damage your dealing. Before they get Iron Skin though they pretty much suck so you won't have to worry about them. Sometimes they KD sometimes they Stun but a good rogue should be able to kill them before they do either. But beware of Paladins (warrior+clerics) if they know how to play the build right you could be in for an interesting fight.


Clerics/Bards....ugh These guys are like wizards and warlocks all over again but not half as bad. A good cleric is almost as tough as a warlock....almost. If your thieving and you've removed your prime targets kill them next before they res or before they can buff up the party. Don't worry about the cleric offering unless your soloing or in a party where no one has res. Once they use it on hit will finish them off and you could probably finish them off in the 3 secs it takes to pull the skill off.


NOTE: If your carrying loot in a transport and are solo its best to turn DD and/or EX off. You'll take alot less damage from hunter spawns but will still be able to kill them in a timely fashion. If your carrying 2*+ a nice tactic is to find a safe area go stealth and just walk away from your transport. The transport WON'T follow and you can stay 100 meters away, then when hunters spawn you can take them on one at a time without having to deal with them all attacking you at once as soon as they spawn.

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