Near End Game Weapons

[JustWinBaby]

I have a level 16 Rogue, Assassin 2, going to be Assassin 3 once I hit 18.

What weapons should I be using, primarily. I have about 15 different sets I go through, I'm just trying to make sure I don't miss anything.

Should I even worry about Vorpals, or Paralyzer?

I don't have anything even close to Greensteeel yet, but once I get all the ingredients, then that will be what I use.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Bodic]

greater banes undead, construct, elemental.

metallined of pg until minII

radII

if you assassinate a bunch a +9 Int green steel

[Draccus]

If you don't have Tharne's Goggles yet, a weapon with +5/+8 Backstabbing is a huge DPS increase because it applies to both hands.

For DPS, Elemental Burst of Pure Good is a good general weapon. Banes are always great against their specific targets (and the only non-crafted weapons I carry now). Construct, Undead, and Elemental banes are a great choice to carry because those mobs are inherently tough for rogues.

Before I got my RadII's and Tharne's, I was using +4 Acid Burst of Backstabbing +5 in one hand and Shocking Burst of PG in the other.

For beating DR, Metalline of PG is a good choice. I recently sold a +3 Metalline Rapier of PG for an obscene amount of plat (yes, it's me driving up your AH prices) so they are still on the pricey side.

A set of Holy Burst of PG maces or light maces (depending on build) is a staple for any rogue for skeletons, the Abbot, and Sor'jek due to their DR/blunt. Those are very common weapons and easy to find on the AH.

I never messed with paralyzers much but probably should have when I was in that mid level range. They are great for soloing and can turn a 6v1 fight into a 1v1 fight if you use a doorway. I don't like distruptors but that's just because I have horrible luck with them. They work great in a very narrow range (high enough to use them and low enough so they don't save every time) but I never had much success. I carried vorpals for specific quests but with Assassin III, everything you touch is a vorpal so there's no need for duplicates. I don't carry any stat damagers.

Your arsenal will diminish as you start crafting. The more weapons you craft, the less you'll need other weapons. I'm down to just carrying 4 sets of weapons now: RadIIs, LitIIs, MinIIs, and GUBs.

I'm pierce spec'd and don't carry a slasher. I only miss it against zombies and really only fight them any more in eVoN5. I do have a couple holy burst of PG sickles in the bank but it's not worth carrying them for just that one quest.

I also don't carry a bow any more. I carry two Tier II greensteel returning throwers but they are more for the clickie (haste on one and summon Earth Ellie on the other) than throwing. But I do throw that dagger around quite a bit.

[Llewndyn]

So I am using as my main 3 sets

Sunblade/ +5 metalline SS of PG
Sunblade/ +1 holy burst light mace of PG
+2 anarchic rapier of PG/ +5 true chaos SS

I also have a +4 heavy acid mace of PG and a +2 banishing SS of PG....

I have numerous other weapons but those are my favorites. I hate rapiers because they seem to do so little damage. lvl 16 assassin 2 rogue. What should I do to max my dps or am I already there at my level? No GS and no idea how to start on GS at this point

[Gorkulon]

+5 seeker of pure good is awesome for many non-dr mobs. MPGs with the highest + you can find/afford are good dr breakers until you can craft some mineral II weapons. I found that paralyzers get less effective the higher level/difficulty the quests are. DC on paralyze is low and weapons tend to have a low +number in my experience so attack rolls are lower with them. I believe rangers use stat damaging weapons in combination with paralyzers to make them more effective. They have uses but don't overly depend on them.

[Malithar45]

Not looking to hijack the thread, but my question is similar enough. Just reached 20 the other day after taking an extended 4-5 month break from the game, and just now starting to mess around with GS. Looking to craft my first weaponb and based on what I read prior to my break, Rad II was all the roar. I've had someone thats given me advice, shown me the ropes, helped with gear, etc since starting, and when I went to him concerning my first GS, he said to forget the Rad IIs and go for Lit IIs. He said that there's an issue in epics where they run around like they're feared whenever they're blinded.

Pretty much just looking for advice as to if this is true or not, as well as an recommended order to crafting. I currently have:

+1 Holy Burst Rapier of Puncturing/+5 Holy Burst Shortsword of Pure Good (started using the Puncturing at the advice of a friend, was using +2 Acid Rapier of Backstabbing +5 prior)

+2 Holy Burst Heavy Mace of Pure Good/+2 Holy Burst Light Mace of Pure Good

+5 Metalline Heavy Mace of Pure Good/+5 Metalline Dagger of Pure Good

+1 Vicious Morningstar of Great Construct Bane/+1 Icy Burst Shortsword of Greater Construct Bane

I'm also Tharne's-less for now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Illiain]

Don't forget good ole Weakening of Puncturing with the best + you can afford. It stacks with Crippling Strike and the faster you can autocrit, the faster things die. As a bonus, if something is at 0Str, you get your SA too, even if they're targeting you.

edit: This is for trash only, bosses can't be drained to 0Str.

[Krag]

Don't forget good ole Weakening of Enfeebling with the best + you can afford. It stacks with Crippling Strike and the faster you can autocrit, the faster things die. As a bonus, if something is at 0Str, you get your SA too, even if they're targeting you.

edit: This is for trash only, bosses can't be drained to 0Str.

Fixed

[Illiain]

Wouldn't you prefer to deal 1d6 Con damage on every swing when autocritting? That's an additional 1-3 damage/level and they die when at 0 Con.

[Aranticus]

Wouldn't you prefer to deal 1d6 Con damage on every swing when autocritting? That's an additional 1-3 damage/level and they die when at 0 Con.

mobs do not die of 0 con

[Qezuzu]

mobs do not die of 0 con

They do become incapacitated with low base HP, which might as well mean death. But yah it's not instant-death at 0

[Krag]

They do become incapacitated with low base HP, which might as well mean death. But yah it's not instant-death at 0

It does not help much when mobs are already helpless from Str loss.

[RTN]

It does not help much when mobs are already helpless from Str loss.

Autocrit at zero Con is certainly nice.

[JustWinBaby]

Autocrit at zero Con is certainly nice.

Yes, but you want your weapon doing 2 Str damages or 2 Con damages, not one of each. You want to get them at 0 Str or Con, either one doesn't matter.

You'll get them there faster with a Weakening (-1 Str) of Enfeebling (-1d6 Str on crit) or Wounding (-1 Con) of Puncturing (-1d6 Con on crit) instead of a Weakening of Puncturing or a Wounding of Enfeebling.

[Ookami007]

Personally, I am Piercing/Finese spec'ed at the moment, though I change from time to time.

I have a set of Rad II Greensteels that I use 90% of the time. Why? Because on crits, you autoblind mobs. That means, every attach you make after that is at +4 to hit and is a sneak attack. It also means, the mob gets a -4 to hit you and a 50% miss chance.

For boss beating, I pull out a Min II rapier and a Metaline Rapier of Pure Good.

All of my weapons are bound and have either force crit or force damage on them.

Occassionally, I will respec to STR/Slashing build and in those cases, I have Rad II kopeshes and Metaline of PG kopeshes for beating.

I usually go back to to a Finese build because as a straight rogue, I find myself missing more than I care to on a STR build.

The extra damage from STR/kopesh hasn't been worth the missed attacks in my opinion.

But when I want to see big numbers (when I DO hit), I will switch to STR build.

[ghettoGenius]

I swear by paralyzers for most melee, especially rogues. Of all the classes they need a way to immobilize mobs quickly. I usually get an offhand paralyzer by lvl 10 (dagger or shortsword will suffice if you cant find a rapier). If youve never used a paralyzer before you are in for a treat. You may not get auto crits or sneaks, but a mob thats not moving wont last long. And yes it can be used as effective crowd control both solo and in groups.

As I level I look for better paralyzers with additional effects. IIRC the last one I used the most was a paralyzer/pure good shortsword with icy burst on it. This one weapon had been my main offhand weapon until I hit cap, only being replaced on higher level content with a holy/puncturing rapier with icy burst. Personally I find these more useful than banishers and smiters given the effect is applied on hit and works with many creature types.

Never messed much with backstabbing weapons tho I tried to no avail to really make Treason worthwhile. Maybe a good paralyzing/backstabbing rapier with icy burst would be useful.

[JustWinBaby]

I don't really see how useful Paras can be in higher levels. A 17 DC doesn't seem like it would even be worth it. Am I wrong?

[ghettoGenius]

Well it procs often enough. You got to think its still a 5% chance at least, and TWF get alot of swings in. I don't miss much. Problem is I see alot of mobs at near end game get hit with the paralyzing graphic but they still move all over the place (elder air/earth eles/bearded devils/orthons often freeze up but still rubberband around and hit you), so I'm not completely sure the effect is working properly. It's for this reason I use something else (usually puncturing) in offhand if were talking about such content. But for Sands/Gianthold/Vale paralyzers are quite effective.

[andbr22]

paralyzers still work very good for most of vale normal quests (and adventure area). It is also very nice dual weapon combed weapon with improved cursespewing (has higher DC, and lower DC required for paralizer).