Posting this build upon request.
U19: Updated for U19. Biggest change was race. Drow is best race for this build IMO, but human is a close second.
Updated for U17: Biggest change is gear! Entirely new gear set for lev 25 over lev 20 gear. I added a level 25 gear section to this post, I left the level 20 gear list as it was. Some chages to twists also.
U16's biggest change is more emphasis on defense. U16 Epic Elite quests are brutal if you neglect defense. I now have 25% dodge + 25% incoporeal + 20/50% concealment running on this guy all the time. You dont get hit much with all of these being separate checks for each incoming blow.
I have tried str based and dex based rogues pures and spalshed, but by far I like this one the best.
This guy requires a lot of hard to grind gear, but it is worth it!
My concept for this build started out a while back (when lev 16 was cap) as an INT based assassin. When I started this build most folks laughed and said no way it would work. LOL. My concept was to max out assassinate DC, with 500+ HP's, be able to hit most mobs on a 2, all while still being able to do all the trap stuff expected of a rogue, without fail. This build does between 80-90% of the dps that a geared STR based build does. That said, I gotta wonder why folks go STR based!!!!
Game play on this guy involves doing most of my DPS via sneak and assassinate. I concentrate on assassinating full health bar mobs, and then joining the main fight on an already engaged mob until my cool down for assassinate is reset, I then go into sneak and hunt down the next mob with a full health bar, rinse, repeat. I usually give priority to mobs in the periphery such as archers and casters for my assassinates. I also try to get lined up so I can hit two or three mobs at once. You can often assassinate 2 at once and rarely 3 if you get lucky with double strike, but the mobs have to be close together. You can also often assassinate 2 at once by striking one and taking a fast side step to reach a nearby mob. For solo play I use a lot of summon monster scrolls to get mobs attention, then stick 'em. I tend to use Bluff and Diplo a lot. All this while being able to do any trap and open any lock on any difficulty, without fail. I have a lot of fun with this guy!
Damage comes primarily from Assassinate and Sneak Attack Damage which on this guy is 23d6 + 12 + weapon damage + items that add to sneak damage, usually from an EMG + one of the CitW weapons which add 2d4 +21 base damage along with disintegrate procs, greater shocking blow from epic charged gauntlets, elemental damage from arti scrolls, critical hits, force burst alchemical rituals, and damage from the assassin enhancements make for nice DPS. I almost always have one EMG equipped, what goes in the other hand depends on the situation. Usually it is one of the CitW (for the subterfuge set bonus) weapons. The CitW weapons are king of DPS for this build as of U19, especially the rapier, dagger, and the short sword. EMG's are (still) very nearly a universal weapon that works well on everything in the hands of an assassin. I still often dual-wield EMG's when crowd control is important. As far as damage goes, it ALMOST does not matter what weapon you use, since sneak damage is so dominate. You can almost do as much damage with a spoon, LOL.
Damage wise I bring something to the table in all situations, BUT why worry about maximizing DPS by going str build or adding a splash when you can 1 shot most enemies out there and hardly fail. If the enemy is assassinatable it will go down seems to me more than 90% of the time! Even hard to assassinate enemies such as orothons and devils go down most of the time.
Anyway, Benchmarks for this build: at Lev 25. (Lev 28 stats are somewhat better than listed) (assumptions: ship buffs, GH, haste, as equipped or using equipment described below, one TR, +4 tomes to all, +5 int tome).
I do not include other (some easy to get) buffs in these numbers as I consider most of them either too hard to get (abashai cookies, house D pots, bard buffs, etc), too much of a pain in the ass to sustain (rage pots, scrolls of whatever buff, and other short duration buff pots and clickys), or too expensive (store pots, yugo pots, etc). Do keep in mind tho, that the below posted numbers can be even better. The only one of these I occasionally use these days are the store pots, they last 10 mins and allow some flexibility in some aspects of this build, such as making up for lack of a +4 tome, or if you prefer a different destiny set up than what is described below. (I usually just get the int one, as the supreme pots are too expensive, IMO)
Race Drow Elf. (36 pt build)
Stats: start / end game (+4 tome to all included, +5 tomes to DEX, INT, and CON)
STR 8 / 24
DEX 17 / 36
CON 13 / 34
INT 20 / 64 (20 base, +7 level ups, +11 item, +1 exceptional, +3 insight, +5 tome, +2 capstone, +2 ship, +2 Drow racial enhancement, +2 assassin enhancement tree, +2 mechanic enhancement tree, +5 epic destinies (including twists), +2 epic feats)
WIS 10 / 26
CHA 10 / 28
Standing Assassinate DC:
27 INT bonus (64 INT)
20 rogue levels
10 base
6 stealthy from shadowdancer destiny
5 measure the foe enhancement from assassin tree
2 EMG
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70 Self buffed Assassinate DC
1 bard Song
1 yugo pot
1 store pot
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73 DC from common and/or not too much a pain to maintain buffs.
Higher than 73 and you really begin to move into PIA-to-maintain-that-DC territory. Requiring (IMO) major sacrifices in destines and feat selection as well as maintaining short duration buffs that are difficult to obtain, such as abashai cookies or house D pots, etc.
70 is what I consider the best practical DC as all you need to rely on is yourself (and your ship), not make major sacrifices to attain, and not have to worry about refreshing pots or other short duration buffs. I sometimes use store and yugo pots for a 72 DC, but the cost and/or detriments are not worth it or needed most of the time.
+80 DC is possible, but, again, is not practical as it requires hard to acquire or very short duration buffs such as abashi cookies or house D pots, etc. 70 is about the best practical DC one can maintain, IMO as of U19. Going all out to 80 DC really gimps you in other areas that matter, especially in destinies and enhancements.
736 HP (often ends up to be over 800 with party buffs)
Armour Class: 70
Saves:
Fort: 46
Reflex 75 (mid 80's vs traps)
Will 48
Reflex save is very high without really trying so you could drop insightful reflexes and settle for a low 60's reflex save and get some other feat of your choice. But having that high a reflex save sure is nice in end game EE content.
Skills:
This guy basically maxes out all skills useful to a rogue. The only skills points are not put into are heal, repair, intimidate, spellcraft, and perform. 23 ranks go into ALL of the other skills (need a +1, +2, +3, and a +4 int tomes eaten on a first life, then TR, to do this) except for tumble (only need 15 ranks to max it out at 36) and jump (only need a few points to max it at 40 with the shavarath clicky).
Trap Skills: (at lev 28 using +20 items, +5 exceptional items and/or gear described below and self buffed only. Other buffs such as bard/yugo/store pots, action boosts, etc, will make these somewhat better.)
Spot 83
Search 96
Diasble 112 + 1d20
Open Lock 95 + 1d20
I have not failed any trap or lock with these numbers to date in epic elite quests and raids.
Other Skills (as equipped at lev 28 below)
UMD 51 (good enough to cast level IX scrolls at 100% success rate)
Hide 65
Move Silently 65
Jump 40+
balance 55
swim 71 (LOL) try it, its a hoot. (with a +20 item)
Diplo 65
Haggle 60
Bluff 70
Listen 56 (could hit 76 with a +20 item equipped, but I never do this on this guy)
Feats: (in order of acquisition)
Two weapon fighting
Weapon Finesse
Improved two weapon fighting
Precision
Improved crit: pierce
Insightful Reflexes
Greater two weapon fighting
Improved Sneak Attack (lev 21)
Epic Intelligence x2 (lev 24 and 27)
Toughness (lev 26)
Perfect Two Weapon Fighting (lev 28)
Rogue special feats:
Improved Evasion
Skill Mastery
Slippery mind (this really helps to shore up this builds greatest weakness, the low will save)
Opportunist
Enhancements:
Drow Racial tree: +2 INT (only requires first 3 core abilities to do this!!!!!)
Assassin Tree: All 6 core abilities, +1 INT x 2, Assassinate, measure the foe III, Crit accuracy III, crit damage III, killer II, knife specialization, sneak attack training x 4, stealthy III, Damage Boost III.
Mechanic Tree: first 4 core abilities, +1 INT x 2, Awareness III, mechanics II, wand and scroll mastery III, UMD III.
Thief-Acrobat Tree: first core ability, fast sneaking III, haste boost III.
Destiny:
This part of the build is often changing for me. Many good things here. You could actually go all int and hit a 75 or so standing assassinate if you like, however, I recommend AT THE VERY LEAST maintaining 70 standing DC + 25% dodge somehow. There are many ways to do this by tweaking this destiny to your liking. It becomes even easier if you get lucky with a +5 int tome. I use shadow manipulation a
lot, it is really excellent.
Shadow Dancer.
Stealthy III
Intelligence x4
Lithe II
Shrouding Strike I
Cloak of Shadows I
Shadow Manipulation I
Improved Ivisibility I
Untouchable I
Grim Precision II
Shadow Form I (grants 25% incorporeal!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Twists:
Brace for Impact
Int +1
Impregnable Mind
Equipment:
Weapons: Epic Midnight Greetings + Balizarde, Protector of Kings most of the time. The EMG with 1d10 acid slotted in. Both with alchemical force burst ritual. I also often UMD arti elemental damage scrolls on them. I usually swap the EMG to Agony for bosses or swap in DR beaters as needed for bosses. In situations where getting aggro cant be avoided, I also swap out the EMG with Celestina, Brightest Star of Day, or one of the other CitW weapons, or some other weapon depending if the mob is vulnerable to stat damage, etc). I also use a greensteel healing amp stick when self healing (a heal scroll heals me half my total HPs or so).
For ranged weapons you get repeater crossbows profs from first 4 core abilities from mechanic as well as int bonus to damage!!. I went for this as early as possible because a good repeater with int bonus is really powerful at early levels. Greensteel repeaters at lev 12 on up is also very, very good. This is a nice bonus when ranged is required.
ENDGAME gear: (Lev 28 as of U19) Slight variations on this are possible in the random gear and on the named items that have a random ability so look at all the random gear as a set, try to get what is listed as a set rather than looking specifically as I have it listed.
Head-Black Dragon Helm (+3 insight CON, green slot(+16 PRR), yellow slot(+8 CON), set bonus: (+3% double strike).
Neck- Greensteel +45 HP's, Smokescreen, displacement x2. (make many for displacement all the time
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) --> swap in +6 wis skills greensteel item when bump to spot is needed. Or other situational GS items, as needed.
Trinket- Planar Focus of Subterfuge (+3 insight DEX, +1 alchemical saves, set bonus: (3% dodge, +5 sneak attack to hit, +8 sneak attack damage, true seeing).
Cloak- Adamantine Cloak of the Wolf (+5 exceptional seeker, 8% dodge, attack +4, diversion 20%).
Belt- EE Skullduggery (+6 INT skills, +6 DEX skills, random ability(seeker 10), green slot(natural armour +8).
Ring 1- Ring of Deceit (+20 to bluff, diplo, haggle, +8 CHA, improved deception, yellow slot(vitality +20), colorless slot(+2 insight WIS).
Ring 2- Random Loot (Deadly 10, Resist 10, colorless slot(Globe of True Imperial Blood).
Hands- Gloves of the Master Illusionist (INT +11, some useless stuff, yellow(deathblock).
Feet- EE Goatskin Boots (speed XV perma haste!, green slot(protection +8), colorless slot(+8 STR), random ability (fortification 115%).
Bracers- Skirmishers Bracers (+9 DEX, doublestrike +8%), --> swap to EE Bracers of Twisting Shade and tinkers goggles when using disable device if needed or when +20 to search is needed).
Eyes- EE Intricate Field Optics (+3 insight INT, True Seeing, Spot +20, yellow slot(+8 WIS), green slot(falselife 40).
Armour- Black dragon light armour (need shadowdancer destiny to bump this to 25 max dex bonus) (Armour piercing 20%, Haste Guard, Set Bonus, Sup Acid Resist, Relentless Fury, blue slot(+2 armored agility).
Quiver- one that adds + acid damage to ranged attacks.
Balizarde provides: Good Luck +2, +4 insight to all saves and AC, and +8% insight Dodge.
Weapon main set is still Balizarde with 1d10 acid damage in the red slot + EMG with 1d10 acid damage in the red slot. For bosses OR for when my assassinate DC is not challanged by mobs I am fighting, I use Balizarde + Agony. When crowd control is important, I use 2 EMG's. For DR bypassers, 2 Celestia's works on almost everything needing bypassers. I also carry a good set of portal beaters.
This guy is a lot of fun for me because blindly running ahead is NOT the thing to do with this guy. This guy requires smart play and accomplishing things by thinking outside the box, which for me is the biggest appeal for this character, and a nice refreshing change from the norm. There is almost nothing more satisfying than listening to the big bad barb ***** because you decimated his precious kill count. LOL. And you did most of it with one swing / mob
Max Theoretical Assassinate DC for a rogue:
Max assassinate DC = 81 for a Helf, 80 for a drow elf. (this DC is far from practical since it requires a lot of very short duration and very hard to get int buffs. It is here just for reference.)
10 base
20 rogue levels
6 stealthy (shadowdancer tier 1)
2 EMG
5 measure the foe
38 INT bonus from 87 INT (18 base, 6 tome, 7 levels, 1 human adaptability, 1 arti dil, 3 action surge, 2 capstone, 2 assassin, 2 mechanic, 11 gloves of the master illusionist, 3 insight, 1 exc, 2 yugo, 2 ship, 6 epic destiny, 3 twisted, 3 great int, 2 completionist, 1 litany, 2 store pot, 3 house D pot, 4 abashai cookies, 2 bard song)