Tear this apart for me

[ReeseFlamelocks]

Be vicious about it if you really have to. I have thick skin.

I'd first like to start that I have no idea what a lot of the terms I've seen here mean specifically, or practically, such as "Assassin," "Acrobat," or "Radiance." (They also appear to come in gradiations of roman numerals-- again, I have no clue.)

This is a three year old build, so the above mentioned phenomenons (as well as many others, no doubt), did not exist at the time.

Reese is primarily a TWF rogue that wears robes. I was using a +5 Mithril Chain Shirt, but frankly, on elite, there is nil difference between damage taken from wearing the +5 Mith or robes. So I switched to robes for the ease of switching out particular bonuses they afford mid-combat.

Elf (14 levels of rogue)

Stats
Str - 10
Dex - 20 (Base at level 14, currently 32 with everything said and done.)
Con - 12
Int - 14
Wis - 12 (spot ftw! :/ Needless to say I didn't really really know what I was doing at the time.)
Chr - 10

Trained (Total Mod, at rest without switching items such as +Search, +Open, etc.)
Balance - 6
Disable Device - 17
Hide - 17
Jump - 12
Listen - 15 (Yeah yeah, well it IS a rogue skill according to DnD. Who knew at the time Turbine was going to make it useless?)
Move Silently - 17
Open Lock - 17
Search - 17
Spot - 17
Tumble - 17
UMD - 17

I was considering diplomacy, but frankly, if you are getting aggro, then you are playing the rogue wrong. Timing is key in managing aggro, and making sure you don't ever get it.

Feats (I'm going to try and pick them out, but frankly, I don't entirely remember what I picked, and what the game gave me.)
2-Weapon Fighting
Improved 2-Weapon Fighting
Weapon Finesse
Improved Critical Piercing
Crippling Strike (I think?)

Any opinions on dodge and mobility?

Current weapons
Main
The particular Greater Bane weapon that corresponds to my current opponent.
Off-Hand
+3 Thundering Dagger of Backstabbing +5

Typically wear a Robe of Improved False Life with the Nightforge Gorget (heavy fort).

This is not a tanking rogue, this is not a soloing rogue, this is not even a rogue that can kill anything by himself. Even against CR 10 mobs, I'm sure I'd get my butt handed to me. This is a tank-assisting group-rogue that makes sure mobs die very very fast. When a good tank gets a mob down to about 80% health, you roll in and go to town. Things on elite will die...fast. For not-so-good tanks, you wait till about 60-70%ish.

If you get in trouble, you tumble and jump away. If you have grabbed aggro, you run around. If you NEED to grab aggro, such as a mob off of the cleric, you grab it and then tumble/run around. High jump is also key because you want to get behind the mobs when your party engages.

For 360 swingining mobs such as giants, trolls, ogres and a few new mobs I've seen (like some lizard looking guy in the Planes of Twilight or an Orthan {sp?}), it is imperative to tumble-in, tumble-out to avoid damage. You have to time it well and take note of the animations that the mob is doing to prepare.

The key here, frankly, is to avoid getting hit all together utilizing tumble and jump. You go in, kill it, and then get out, quickly reasses the sitch, and then go back in. Using stoneskin and blur scrolls help. Self-healing is also a must, as a rogue such as this should not burden the cleric or group. It can be really easy to screw things up and get flattened, so if you do mess up, no one pays for this build or your play-style but you.

No sacrifices have been made in the key rogue skills, as this is one of the primary elements that a group would expect of a rogue.

Please, tear it apart and tell me what I need to fix and/or add, especially concerning perks that have been added in the last three years.

I know this is kind of long. I appreciate anyone who bothered to read it and post input. Thank you.

[mediocresurgeon]

"Assassin,"

Assassin (I, II, III) are Preteige enhancements available to the Rogue class.

"Acrobat,"

Same deal as Assassin. Links here: (I, II, III)

"Radiance."

Radiance is a type of Greensteel weapon. Radiance II weapons blind your enemies on critical hits, granting you the ability to sneak attack them until the blindness wears out (they usually die long before the Blindness wears out). Usually on a rogue these are Rapiers (rapiers have the highest crit range of any finessable weapon) with Positive/Fire/Fire+Positive as the recipe.

Reese is primarily a TWF rogue that wears robes. I was using a +5 Mithril Chain Shirt, but frankly, on elite, there is nil difference between damage taken from wearing the +5 Mith or robes. So I switched to robes for the ease of switching out particular bonuses they afford mid-combat.

You will find the Robes are still your best pick. Consider wearing Dragontouched robes/vestments once you hit level 16.

Trained (base w/o bonuses)
Balance - 6
Disable Device - 17
Hide - 17
Jump - 12
Listen - 15 (Yeah yeah, well it IS a rogue skill according to DnD. Who knew at the time Turbine was going to make it useless?)
Move Silently - 17
Open Lock - 17
Search - 17
Spot - 17
Tumble - 17 (41 w/ bonuses)
UMD - 17

In the future, could you do us a favor and post Ranks instead of total modifiers? It makes dissection easier since we don't have the reverse-engineer each skill to see where your bonuses are coming from.

You look like you are missing 2 ranks from Disable Device, 2 ranks from Search, 16 from Balance, and 5 from Jump. Add UMD to this list and that's all a rogue really needs. I would concentrate my next few levels maxing out these skills again, and then blow the extra skill points on whatever you feel like you need.

I was considering diplomacy, but frankly, if you are getting aggro, then you are playing the rogue wrong. Timing is key in managing aggro, and making sure you don't ever get it.

In theory, you are correct. However, the difference between a good rogue and a great rogue is that a great rogue can make a quick recovery when the sh!t hits the fan. Diplomacy is a great way to lose aggro if you accidentally overaggro, or if the tank dies and you are next on the aggro list. Especially for a rogue, I would not underestimate this skill--Diplo'ed monsters are vulnerable to Sneak Attack, even when soloing (though this glitch is likely to be fixed soon).

Feats (I'm going to try and pick them out, but frankly, I don't entirely remember what I picked, and what the game gave me.)
2-Weapon Fighting
Improved 2-Weapon Fighting
Weapon Finesse
Improved Critical Piercing
Crippling Strike (I think?)

Your feats look solid. I'd take Greater TWF and Oversized TWF after that, so you can dual-wield rapiers. (Actually, Oversized TWF is optional--once you get geared you can do without it just fine.) Skill Focus: UMD might also be a good pick.

Any opinions on dodge and mobility?

They are not worth taking on a rogue unless you splashed 6 ranger for Temepst and need them for prerequisites.

If you have grabbed aggro, you run around.

Be careful with this. It will annoy party members more often than not. I suggest having a shield on a hotbar and shield blocking until someone can take aggro from you.

Looks pretty good for a 3 year old character.

[Varr]

Nothing much to say......looks like a very good non 32 of halfling assassin character. Nothing broken here....load himup with raid loot and greensteel add go to town!!

[Quikster]

Be vicious about it if you really have to. I have thick skin.

I'd first like to start that I have no idea what a lot of the terms I've seen here mean specifically, or practically, such as "Assassin," "Acrobat," or "Radiance." (They also appear to come in gradiations of roman numerals-- again, I have no clue.)

This is a three year old build, so the above mentioned phenomenons (as well as many others, no doubt), did not exist at the time.

Reese is primarily a TWF rogue that wears robes. I was using a +5 Mithril Chain Shirt, but frankly, on elite, there is nil difference between damage taken from wearing the +5 Mith or robes. So I switched to robes for the ease of switching out particular bonuses they afford mid-combat.

Elf (14 levels of rogue)

Stats
Str - 10
Dex - 20 (Base at level 14, currently 32 with everything said and done.)
Con - 12
Int - 14
Wis - 12 (spot ftw! :/ Needless to say I didn't really really know what I was doing at the time.)
Chr - 10

Trained (Total Mod, at rest without switching items such as +Search, +Open, etc.)
Balance - 6
Disable Device - 17
Hide - 17
Jump - 12
Listen - 15 (Yeah yeah, well it IS a rogue skill according to DnD. Who knew at the time Turbine was going to make it useless?)
Move Silently - 17
Open Lock - 17
Search - 17
Spot - 17
Tumble - 17
UMD - 17

I was considering diplomacy, but frankly, if you are getting aggro, then you are playing the rogue wrong. Timing is key in managing aggro, and making sure you don't ever get it.

Feats (I'm going to try and pick them out, but frankly, I don't entirely remember what I picked, and what the game gave me.)
2-Weapon Fighting
Improved 2-Weapon Fighting
Weapon Finesse
Improved Critical Piercing
Crippling Strike (I think?)

Any opinions on dodge and mobility?

Current weapons
Main
The particular Greater Bane weapon that corresponds to my current opponent.
Off-Hand
+3 Thundering Dagger of Backstabbing +5

Typically wear a Robe of Improved False Life with the Nightforge Gorget (heavy fort).

This is not a tanking rogue, this is not a soloing rogue, this is not even a rogue that can kill anything by himself. Even against CR 10 mobs, I'm sure I'd get my butt handed to me. This is a tank-assisting group-rogue that makes sure mobs die very very fast. When a good tank gets a mob down to about 80% health, you roll in and go to town. Things on elite will die...fast. For not-so-good tanks, you wait till about 60-70%ish.

If you get in trouble, you tumble and jump away. If you have grabbed aggro, you run around. If you NEED to grab aggro, such as a mob off of the cleric, you grab it and then tumble/run around. High jump is also key because you want to get behind the mobs when your party engages.

For 360 swingining mobs such as giants, trolls, ogres and a few new mobs I've seen (like some lizard looking guy in the Planes of Twilight or an Orthan {sp?}), it is imperative to tumble-in, tumble-out to avoid damage. You have to time it well and take note of the animations that the mob is doing to prepare.

The key here, frankly, is to avoid getting hit all together utilizing tumble and jump. You go in, kill it, and then get out, quickly reasses the sitch, and then go back in. Using stoneskin and blur scrolls help. Self-healing is also a must, as a rogue such as this should not burden the cleric or group. It can be really easy to screw things up and get flattened, so if you do mess up, no one pays for this build or your play-style but you.

No sacrifices have been made in the key rogue skills, as this is one of the primary elements that a group would expect of a rogue.

Please, tear it apart and tell me what I need to fix and/or add, especially concerning perks that have been added in the last three years.

I know this is kind of long. I appreciate anyone who bothered to read it and post input. Thank you.

Hydro has some good advice. Just a few things i would like to add.

Dont worry too much about those skills, the key ones are fairly high, just make sure to max the ones Hydro suggested. You will be serviceable for sure. Once update one comes you can prolly respec your skills easy enough if you decide to.

I myself would prolly go with toughness at 15 to boost your slightly low con. I take it on my rogs and it is helpful.

With your int score and being pure I would consider specing for Assassin II atm and going assassin III when avail (vorpal strikes with any weapon!)

Stick with the robes. You can go two ways and I'll try to break down the ac for each. DT robes are nice, and you get to maximize your item slots with these. It can be very frustrating to get them right however. AC may look like this:

10 base
11 dex mod (this will go up as you keep leveling)
05 protection item (you can get this on your DT robe if you want)
06 DT robe
02 Chaosguarde (switch with tharnes if/when you get for agro reduction)
01 Alchemical (ritual on your robe)
02 Defensive Fighting (you can take CE to get 3 more if you want to get higher)
03 dodge (from DT robe or Chattering ring. Both are tough to get though)
04 insight (shroud weapon. Takes some grinding, but if you are making Rad II might as well add it)
___________________
44 standing

Start adding buffs and you get

44 standing
03 bark pot
04 shield wand
01 haste
____________________
52 self buffed

Party buffs

52 self buffed
02 recitation
02 ranger bark
04 bard song
_______________
60 party buffed.

Not a bad ac here, but does involve some grinding, It will be a little higher as well as your dex will be higher. For max ac go the following route Assume 38 dex (current of 32 + 2 levels + 3 tome if you have a 2 in ya already +3 exceptional dex)

10 base
14 dex mod
08 armor bracers
04 icy rainment
03 chattering ring
05 protection item
01 alchemical
04 insight
05 Combat Expertise
_____________________

54 standing
03 bark
04 shield spell
01 haste
________________
62 self buffed

02 ranger bark
02 recitation
04 bard song
06 DoS III pally
__________________
76 absolute stars aligned raid only usually but rarely get all this attention from others buffed

The later is definately harder to get, just giving you an idea. If you are the right alignment you can currently splash a level of monk for some more ac and an extra feat.

Anyway, bottom line is you have a decent build here, I would stick with it, possibly redo the skill points next update, but other than that it looks like a solid rogue.

[Mangloid]

With the 12 wisdom he could splash monk for some added AC if he really wanted. It'd give him an extra feat or two also.

[Cap_Man]

I was considering diplomacy, but frankly, if you are getting aggro, then you are playing the rogue wrong. Timing is key in managing aggro, and making sure you don't ever get it.

Diplo is the best skill for getting rid of aggro. If you do not need diplo occasionally then you are not playing your rogue to it's max potential either that or the rest of your party puts out exceptional DPS. If you PUG, you need diplo.

Here's an excerpt from 'Notes from a Dancing Rogue' (probably the best rogue guide out there) by SableShadow:

Put some points into Diplo; max it out if you can. You'll be spamming it all the time.

Check it out:
http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Notes..._Dancing_Rogue

You will also want to look into the enhancement line: Rogue Subtle Backstabbing

Timing + Rogue Subtle Backstabbing + Diplo = Best aggro management

[Quikster]

With the 12 wisdom he could splash monk for some added AC if he really wanted. It'd give him an extra feat or two also.

Yup, I mentioned that, didint notice alignment in his breakdown though.

[ReeseFlamelocks]

I appreciate the input.

I still have to disagree with diplo, regardless of whose guide it came from. Perhaps this is a play-style difference. It is my belief that a rogue should not get healing from a cleric. If you're standing around trying to get a mob off of you, you will need healing, especially if the mobs are in packs and have a 360 attack. And if it fails (which will happen often on elite), you've wasted precious time, health and healer mana.

The rogue is about opportunity and should never stand still. And diplo has a second of pause (much like intimidate), which unfortunately makes it deadly.

If a rogue gets aggro, it's the rogues fault, not the members of the party. You have to size up your party and see what they are capable of. The rogue has to adjust because sneak attack is too powerful.

And you're right medio, running around with a mob is only if the other party members are engaged with other mobs they need to kill first. It's not hard to run around and assist them with the mob trailing behind. This is why a stride item is necessary, or even a haste clicky.

If it's the only mob left, then yes, running around is silly and annoying. A shield is necessary in these cases.

I have to say, I've never tried diplo. It never factored into my play-style, so I disregarded it. But, I can't fully knock something until I've tried it. So I will give it a go and see what is what.

Again, I appreciate the advice.