What weapons at level 8/10?

[Teran]

I'm a pure level 8 neutral halfling dex rogue, and a newer player. I've been planning on staying pure and going the assassin route.

***First question***

At level 10 a number of new weapons start showing up on the auctioneer. Paralyzing weapons, smiting weapons, banishing and the like.

I might be able to afford one of these (like a light mace or dagger as those tend to be cheaper). How important is it to get these, and which one should I get first?

***Second question***

Right now I have a holy weapon of deception and a holy weapon of backstabbing. I have what's likely a very common problem where I do fine damage wise against humanoids (given backstab), but feel weak against undead, elementals (which I can barely scratch), and constructs (ditto).

Holy has helped me do better against undead (although I'd still like to do better). Are there some inexpensive level 8 weapons I can get to do better against elementals and constructs? I don't have the X million gold that constucts / elemental banes are listed for on the auctioneer, and it's not like those have dropped for me. :)

Thanks for your feedback.


Regards,
Teran

[Quanefel]

Welcome to the game.

Pure rogue Assassin is not a bad choice. Although some might see a pure rogue and frown or an assassin built, I personally like mine. Seeing that death effect go off just puts a smile on my face.

Those "Epic 5 weapons" like para, distruptors, vorpals, ect. I would not worry to much about them. They drop fairly often, especially once you reach Gianthold quests. Most of us have tons lying around they are so common. I am sure someone out there on your server seeing this might toss you a few but I honestly would not waste plat on the AH for such things. Actually I do my best to not buy off it, saves your PP.

Once you start doing higher end quests you will start seeing better weapon types that will boost your DPS. Burst and Grt Banes are always good. The mobs you listed are the bane of all rogues, it is hard to fight undead or elementals all that much as a rogue. Distruptors are good to help make up that weakness but it will always be there since you can not use Sneak attack on them. I usually find a nice big fighter to hover around to take the aggro to avoid the Undead attention.

List your server so maybe someone can toss you some gear if you really need it.

[Gornn]

I'm a pure level 8 neutral halfling dex rogue, and a newer player. I've been planning on staying pure and going the assassin route.

***First question***

At level 10 a number of new weapons start showing up on the auctioneer. Paralyzing weapons, smiting weapons, banishing and the like.

I might be able to afford one of these (like a light mace or dagger as those tend to be cheaper). How important is it to get these, and which one should I get first?

***Second question***

Right now I have a holy weapon of deception and a holy weapon of backstabbing. I have what's likely a very common problem where I do fine damage wise against humanoids (given backstab), but feel weak against undead, elementals (which I can barely scratch), and constructs (ditto).

Holy has helped me do better against undead (although I'd still like to do better). Are there some inexpensive level 8 weapons I can get to do better against elementals and constructs? I don't have the X million gold that constucts / elemental banes are listed for on the auctioneer, and it's not like those have dropped for me. :)

Thanks for your feedback.


Regards,
Teran


If you can get a cheap off-hand paralyzer, ML 10, I'd say thats a good choice for your build. The other ones, smiter, banisher, etc. Not necessary. But you'll find use for that paralyzer until you get to Meridia and the Vale.

[kamimitsu]

I'll side (a bit) with both previous posters on this. First, I wouldn't spend money at the AH unless you have a lot of cash to go around. Second, I wouldn't worry too much about undead, constructs and elies. Though there are quite a few sprinkled here or there, they don't often make up an entire quest (Necropolis quests excluded). Eventually you will find or trade for disruptors (undead), smiters (constructs), and Greater Ele Banes (Elies). As such, your best bet if you must buy a weapon is a Paralyzer. To my mind, it is the best bang for your buck until about level 14-15. By that point you should have some extra cash or tradeables to get your other gear.

Other advice: find some good guilds that you get along with. Play with them as much as possible and hope for a guild invite. After that, your "basic gear" issues will be over. Just be sure to 'give back' to your guild (not necessarily financially or gear-wise, more in terms of being a team player and helping your guildies out when they need it).

[Daedalis]

I'm a pure level 8 neutral halfling dex rogue, and a newer player. I've been planning on staying pure and going the assassin route.

***First question***

At level 10 a number of new weapons start showing up on the auctioneer. Paralyzing weapons, smiting weapons, banishing and the like.

I might be able to afford one of these (like a light mace or dagger as those tend to be cheaper). How important is it to get these, and which one should I get first?

***Second question***

Right now I have a holy weapon of deception and a holy weapon of backstabbing. I have what's likely a very common problem where I do fine damage wise against humanoids (given backstab), but feel weak against undead, elementals (which I can barely scratch), and constructs (ditto).

Holy has helped me do better against undead (although I'd still like to do better). Are there some inexpensive level 8 weapons I can get to do better against elementals and constructs? I don't have the X million gold that constucts / elemental banes are listed for on the auctioneer, and it's not like those have dropped for me. :)

Thanks for your feedback.


Regards,
Teran

Question 1: The big 5: Smiter, Banisher, Vorpal, Paralyzer, and Disrupter. Two of these can cost a lot more due to the fact you have to hit a critical in order for the weapon to work. Smiter & Banisher both require a crit....so this is the reason that almost everyone is seeking a rapier of smiting or banishing as they have one of the highest crit ranges and they are finessable for the finesse fighters (dex based). With improved crit for piercing you have a chance to smite or banish on a 15-20. Paralyzers are useful in any hit....the mob has to make a save and if they don't they freeze. Disrupter is on every hit as well and if the undead doesn't make their save they are killed. Vorpal only hits on a confirmed 20. Much harder for a finesse fighter to find a good price for a finessable vorpal.

Damage items - holy, anarchic, axiomatic (all do 2d6 points of damage against the correct type of enemy). If you have umd, find weapons with Pure good on them as it added more damage. Bane weapons are good against the type of creature your fighting: lesser does 1d6, regular bane does 2d6, and greater bane does 3d6 I believe.

elemental weapons are good, but some mobs are resistant or immune to them. Personally I look at the vendor quite often and find the best weapons I can that way....you would be surprised at what someone sells :). AH is a good place to pick up item at price or below. Rarely do I spend over what the item is worth....unless it's a rare item that is hard to get any other way.

The big reason why construct bane weapons cost so much is the Shroud....the portals are considered constructs and everyone thinks they will get a mill or two on any construct bane weapon.

2nd question: Undead....Holy, undead bane, and knowing what bypasses their DR. Skellies you will need a blunt weapon, zombies are slashing, but if you have a transmuting weapon you won't have to worry about it. Fire & acid are usually good, but again some undead have immunities to elemental weapons.

Constructs are a totally different story, immune to crits and backstabbing. However, a rogue can get "wreck construct" as an enhancement that should help...I think it lowers the constructs a ability to be critcaled. Smiter kills on a failed save (except for portals or named red/purple named bosses). The last is construct bane. I know for the named marut in the vons anarchic or true chaos will bypass his DR, not sure if that is true on all constructs.

hope this helps out :),

Dae

[Thrudh]

Paralzyers are incredible off-hand weapons... They make a HUGE difference... Don't wait to find one... buy a cheap one off the AH...

A paralzyed enemy is not swinging at you... You can also keep the paralyzed enemy between you and the other bad guys and they can't get to you.

[honkuimushi]

I agree that the Paralyzer can make a big difference in level 8-14 quests. But there are a few cheap things you can do about undead, contructs and elementals.

First, for undead, pick up a pair of Holy light maces. If you can, get a nice suffix like Undead Bane, Pure Good, Rightous, or even Maiming. But a High plus is one of the best properties you can have, certainly better than bursts. That will get you set for skelletons and liches. Similarly, a pair of slashing weapons with the same mods for zombies. This is a little tougher for pure rogues since the only finessable slashing weapon they are proficient with is the sickle. This is one reason I like to include a few full BAB classes on all my Rogues. Martial weapons open up kukris and handaxes.

Also on the subject of undead, I find it worthwhile to pickup a couple of Ghost Touch weapons. Go for a high plus and a good suffix if you can. Disruptors are nice in certain quests, but on elite quests over level 10, high mob saves make them less useful. Look out for them in random loot, but I would only buy one if you get a really good deal.


Constructs are rough on rogues, but you can at least bypass bost of their damage reduction with an adamantine weapon. I like blunt weapons because Clay Golems require blunt adamantine weapons to bypass their damage reduction. A simple agamantine weapon with a high plus will do a lot of good. The best mods are all suffixes, Construct Bane, Smiting and Maiming. There is one other group of constructs to watch out for-- the inevitables. They have DR/Chaos to you need either an Anarchic or Pure Chaos weapon. If you're not lawful, it's worth carrying one or 2 around once you hit level 8 or so.

Elementals are perhaps the toughest. They are immune to crits and sneak attacks, they have impenetrable DR and they have lot's of HP. One of the favorite strategies right now are Wounders and Pucturers. But that will not be an option post Mod 9. The best option is some sort of Elemental Bane. Barring that, pure alignment weapons are a good second choice. For Fire elementals, a frost weapon is a nice choice.


Most of these weapons can be picked up pretty cheaply. A lot of times you can get them off the brokers or for base price or less on the AH. They won't be the best combos, but they will usually let you bypass the mob's DR and upgrade your damage a bit.

[Draccus]

Dresek the Assassin's guide to rogue weapons, pre-Radiance II:

Trash mobs: Stat damage
Bosses: Transmuting backstabber/Seeker
Low level undead: Disruptors
high level undead: Pike
Elementals: Stat damage
Constructs: Pike
High level undead bosses: Pike while alt-tabbed over reading the forums.

[CSFurious]

first, i think that being a finesse rogue limits your ability to fight too much because you can only use certain weapons

however, this is my advice:

get the following sets of weapons & i would focus on daggers, light picks & short swords for piercing & kukris/sickles for slashing because rapiers are hard to acquire

(1) grevious blades: puncturing dagger that is level 4 minimum

(2) wounding kukri/short sword: pair one with the grievous blade & your damage will be good

(3) giant stalker knives: kukris good for the giantkin that you will meet in those levels & before

(4) any deception weapon is good for you, i like miasma's fang & then i move on as i acquire levels & loot

(5) any bane weapon is good to have

(6) holy daggers & light picks will make you deadly against certain foes

(7) icy burst/holy burst are always good to have

(8) for level 10, you will eventually want some vorpal kukris/sickles, they will be expensive but you will eventually need some

i think you will be good for finding banishers, etc. in the GH

with my current halfling str-based assassin, 4 rogue/1 fighter, i usually fight with a +2 seeker (+2) heavy pick of maiming & a greivous blade

i will mainly fight with holy & icy burst weapons starting at level 6, but will still use wounding/puncturing

at level 10, i will be fighting with vorpals, weakening/enfeebling, etc.

[Wormbait]

first, i think that being a finesse rogue limits your ability to fight too much because you can only use certain weapons

however, this is my advice:

get the following sets of weapons & i would focus on daggers, light picks & short swords for piercing & kukris/sickles for slashing because rapiers are hard to acquire

(1) grevious blades: puncturing dagger that is level 4 minimum

(2) wounding kukri/short sword: pair one with the grievous blade & your damage will be good

(3) giant stalker knives: kukris good for the giantkin that you will meet in those levels & before

(4) any deception weapon is good for you, i like miasma's fang & then i move on as i acquire levels & loot

(5) any bane weapon is good to have

(6) holy daggers & light picks will make you deadly against certain foes

(7) icy burst/holy burst are always good to have

(8) for level 10, you will eventually want some vorpal kukris/sickles, they will be expensive but you will eventually need some

i think you will be good for finding banishers, etc. in the GH

with my current halfling str-based assassin, 4 rogue/1 fighter, i usually fight with a +2 seeker (+2) heavy pick of maiming & a greivous blade

i will mainly fight with holy & icy burst weapons starting at level 6, but will still use wounding/puncturing

at level 10, i will be fighting with vorpals, weakening/enfeebling, etc.

The OP is a straight Rogue so cannot use Kukri's.

[Timjc86]

Deception in conjunction with paralyzing and vorpal is very handy as a rogue. My capped assassin still makes great use of his vorpals of deception in some of the raids.

Also, don't underestimate a solid cursespewer. Cursespewing of Deception or Backstabbing are quite nice. It's extra AC for your group, higher DCs for your casters, and even if you don't have the big 5, it helps your group members who do land those special effects.

For fortified/sneak attack immune stuff, really you just have to watch your loot and the auction house for the right weapons. Greater banes may be hard to come by, but Holy (Burst) of Pure Good isn't too rare. If you've got a free feat and a 13 base strength, Power Attack helps as well, but that is highly dependent on your character build.

[Nonan]

The house D Weapons shop is a good place to look for weapons. I find all sorts of interesting stuff in there. It still costs PP but not as much as the AH's. I usually check at teh end of each night. I kniow this will sound bad, but longtime players usually have a lot of teh big 5 weapons and dont really want to hassle with an auction, so they just sell those weapons for the plat.

Just my 2 cents.

[SableShadow]

One of the things that surprises me in game is the number of high level martial classes that don't carry undead specific beaters, at least at the cap. I can recall a couple instances of barbs wanting to beat on Sorjek with their Lightning II great axe, for instance, because "It will do incredible damage to him." A couple of gubs, holy of gp, or even just plain holy that bypass an undead's DR will often pull agro off a barb/fighter/ranger with alarming frequency unless they're equipping moderately good undead beaters.

Greater undead bane light maces are uncommon, but not rare, and usually show up on the AH at a reasonable price (from the level 16 perspective). I payed a fair penny for Holy gub light maces, but the Anarchic gubs that I was using before then were cheap (I think I payed 50kpp for the set...about an hour or two's worth of outdoor grinding, give or take).

I used holy, then holy of pure good, then gubs...all on daggers, 'cause that made them cheaper...as I was leveling. When I could afford it (and could find them), I switched over to light maces. There are skellies at all levels of play at the moment, so blunt is a good general choice. Daggers drop so more often than light maces, though, that it will be much easier to collect them.

I wouldn't break the bank to do it, but decent undead beaters will serve you in good stead at any level of the game.

[Comfortably]

Low level undead: Disruptors
high level undead: Pike
High level undead bosses: Pike while alt-tabbed over reading the forums.

Lmfao! ;)

[CSFurious]

there is no good reason for a rogue to not be 19 rogue/1 fighter


The OP is a straight Rogue so cannot use Kukri's.

[QuantumFX]

OP: The key to damaging stuff is to know what it’s weaknesses are and exploit them. Check out this thread (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=178393&highlight=Damage+Reduction) to learn how to bypass the DR on most stuff.

Undead: Holy light maces of Pure Good
Constructs: Adamantine Light maces for most, Anarchic rapier of Pure Good for Maruts
Elementals: Puncturing weapons if you're lucky or an elemental bane/icy burst weapon.

[wamjratl1]

Dresek the Assassin's guide to rogue weapons, pre-Radiance II:

Trash mobs: Stat damage
Bosses: Transmuting backstabber/Seeker
Low level undead: Disruptors
high level undead: Pike
Elementals: Stat damage
Constructs: Pike
High level undead bosses: Pike while alt-tabbed over reading the forums.

too funny. and sadly true...:o

or umd some CSW's just to be a little useful...

PS OP remember you sneak attacks help you get through a mob's DR so even if you don't have the right weapon for every type of DR you can still do some damage. A Holy Burst of Backstabbing is a great DPS wpn against most things.

[Philetus]

I have to second the poster who mentioned cursespewing, but I'd go further and pair it with destruction (if you can get both with a good damage prefix/suffix, so much the better, but you should be able to pull together a decent cursespewing/destruction set by level 10).

Cursespewing lowers attacks, saves and skills by 4, and destruction lowers AC by four. Those numbers can make a massive difference for the rest of the party in mid-level quests, even if you aren't doing too much damage yourself.

Also, as a STR-based assassin (as opposed to the OP's DEX-based) I have normal trip and normal sunder on my No. 1 task bar right beside stunning blow, and use them whenever the counter reaches 0. They won't hit often with no specialists in them, but they take the same time as a normal attack and are very useful when they do land.