MAX DPS ROGUE build(assassin 3 str build/guide)

[Rogann]

EDIT: With the Mists of Ravenloft expansion release and my general disinterest with current DDO. I’ve decided to do a sort of retrospective guide/tribute to rogue. Doing this mostly for nostalgia and the odd chance we get a Pre-MotU server. This will be the Update 10 version of the guide. Rogues unfortunately peaked at Update 10. The Update 11 ‘fortification and damage buff’ on bosses nerfed rogues to the ground on difficulties above normal. Ill be going into the specifics at the end of the post. Update 11 essentially forced rogues to only run raids on normal. They were also limited to only two epic raids (eChrono and eVon 6). With the release of Update 14 (MotU expansion) the metagame changed over night. Essentially nerfing rogues to the point of uselessness. Even six years later rogues are still in a terrible spot. I highly recommend you check out my Update 13 version of this guide as there were lots of changes from Update 10. Click here to see it.

INTRO:
Rogues have the highest single target dps in the game. Relatively unknown to the general populous who just see them as gimp dps or trap monkeys. This build is meant to exploit rogues damage to the extreme. Focusing more on Raid Bosses. A couple caveats with rogues: Aggro and Fortification. These two things will be the end of you. Also be aware of the tedious nature of rogues. You just cant hop in and start attacking. You have to wait for other people to grab aggro first. Besides that rogues are incredibly fun and rewarding to play. Especially max dps rogues.

RACE:
Half-Orc
*Pure rogue level 20*

NOTE: Half-Orc is the highest dps race as of Update 10 thanks to the permanent +4 base damage and three extra Haste Boosts.

ALIGNMENT:
True Neutral

STATS: 32 point build
Str 20
Dex 15
Con 15
Int 6
Wis 8
Cha 6

NOTE: Requires +2 Dex tome. Raise Con to 16, then Int if 34 point build. (lower Dex to 14 if +3 Dex tome) If you are a 36 point build and have a +3 Dex tome you can actually eliminate the need for a +4 Con Tome by starting with 17 Con. Put the last point into Int.

STAT LEVEL-UPS:
All into Strength (5)

STAT ANALYSIS:

• Int: You may say HA! You gimp! In reality you don't need Int. With easily obtainable gear, you can find and disable any epic traps.

FEATS:

• Two Weapon Fighting
• Improved Two Weapon Fighting
• Greater Two Weapon Fighting
• Power Attack
• Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons
• Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Khopesh
• Past Life: Sneak of Shadows (QuickDraw if you don't have)

ROGUE FEATS:

• Opportunist
• Skill Mastery
• Improved Evasion
• Skill Mastery

NOTE: The feats listed above aren't in order. Simply choose the ones you prefer whilst leveling. Quickdraw removes the one second delay when activating boosts or switching weapons. The dps gain from this should not be ignored.

ENHANCEMENTS:
ASSASSIN 3 PRE REQS:

• Improved Hide 2
• Improved Move Silenty 2
• SA Accuracy 4
• SA Training 4
• Subtle Backstabbing 1
• Rogue Damage Boost 2

ALL ENHANCEMENTS:

• Improved Hide 2
• Improved Move Silenty 2
• Rogue Wand and Scroll Mastery 1
• SA Accuracy 4
• SA Training 4
• Subtle Backstabbing 4
• Rogue Damage Boost 2
• Rogue Haste Boost 4
• Rogue Deadly Shadow (capstone, 4d6 SA damage/+2 int)
• Orcish Extra Action Boost 3
• Orcish Power Attack 2
• Orcish Strength 2
• Rogue Extra Action Boost 2
• Rogue Assassin 3

NOTE: I decided to opt for ‘Rogue Extra Action Boost 2’ over ‘Orcish Power Attack 3’. It’s an extra Haste Boost vs +1 damage/-1 to-hit with Power Attack. You’ll have one or two AP leftover respectively with no dps enhancements left to pick. Simply choose what you prefer. If you have the Tharne's Wrath set from DT Armor you may be able to drop 'Subtle Backstabbing 4' and pick up 'Orcish Power Attack 3' if you feel the extra threat reduction isn't needed.

SKILLS:

• Disable Device
• Open Lock
• Search
• UMD

NOTE: Rest are up to you (I go for jump, balance and concentration).

GEAR:
NOTE: This gear layout is the most optimal set up for Str Rogues.

• Helm: Epic Helm of the Red Dragon
• Necklace: Shintao Cord
• Bauble: Epic Bloodstone
• Cloak: Epic Envenomed Cloak
• Belt: Colethenis's Belt
• Ring 1: Kyosho's Ring (+2 Exceptional Con)
• Ring 2: Ring of The Ravager (+2 Exceptional Str)
• Gloves: Epic Charged Gauntlets
• Boots: Epic Boots of Corrosion
• Bracers: Min 2 Green Steel (45 hp/heavyfort/protection +5)
• Armor: Dragontouched Armor (Tharnes Wrath slotted)
• Goggles: Tharne's Goggles

WEAPONS:

• NO DR: Lit 2 Khopesh
• DR: Holy Silver of GEOB or Appropriate DR breakers

GEAR NOTES:

• Dragontouched Armor vs Epic Redscale: Dragontouched armor slotted with Tharnes Wrath (-20% threat with Tharnes Goggles) is best in slot. Redscale is useless in nearly every raid. Reavers, Abbot, and Epic Chronoscope when the boss isn’t Fire Immune being the exceptions. Redscale works the majority of the time in quests however due to all the bosses having 0% fort you pull aggro incredibly fast. With the added versatility of the other two Dragontouched Armor slots I cant justify using Redscale. Threat reduction is too important. If you truly want to min/max and have a tank capable of holding aggro use Redscale.
• Trinkets: If you lost your ship buffs and the enemy isn't resistant to Electric damage or has Evasion switch to Greater Bold Trinket. If you miss on anything besides a 1 swap to Cannith Crafted Trinket with +4 to-hit.
• Augment Slots: Will have to slot Greater False Life, Toughness, +1 Exceptional Con, +2 luck bonus, Fear Immunity and others depending on your preference.
• Trap Gear: You'll need a UMD, +6 int, +20 search, +15 disable/openlock items. (I used Epic Kundarak Delving Goggles with +6 Int slotted and Epic Treasure Hunter's Spyglass for the UMD and +20 search if it was needed)
• Resists: 30 acid/lightning, 40 fire perma resists

NOTE: This is what the build looks like finished. 100% Unbuffed. Has +4 Str tome. I'm only missing the Epic Bloodstone and a +4 Con tome in this screenshot. HP would be 445. Remember that at this time +4 tomes were incredibly rare and were not sold in the ddo store. You had to pray that you saw it in your 20th ToD list or loot it in an Epic Raid.




NOTE: Average damage output of the build. Hardly buffed at all (Pastlife: Rogue being the one exception). I'm also missing about 3 base damage from tomes and Shintao tod set. If you’re still wondering how rogues had the highest possible single target dps in the game think about this. Sneak Attack damage applied to off-hand procs (80% chance thanks to Greater Two Weapon Fighting) at full damage. By only counting non-crit base damage and Sneak Attack the average damage for a single swing is around 230+. You can see how ridiculous this gets. Now add in Haste Boost, Pastlife Rogue, crits, vorpal hands, doublestrike, and item procs like ravager/redscale/shocking blow/lightning strike. Insane dps.



THE DEATH OF ROGUES:

• Update 11: The Update 11 ‘fortification and damage buff’ on bosses nerfed rogues to the ground on any difficulty above Normal. Rogues got 60% or more of their dps by Sneak Attack. Suddenly every raid boss had 65% fort on Hard, and 80% on Elite. Epic Velah and a couple others had 0% fortification prior to Update 11 which were raised to 50%. Not only that but raid boss damage was buffed on all difficulties hurting rogues even more due to their limited health pools. Now you had to rely on your party members to lower the fort for you. Unless you assembled the properly specced dream team (Fvs, fighter, monk) you were boned on any difficulty above normal. Forget about Epic DQ and ELOB raids (80% fort). To make matters worse Opportunist was bugged until Update 12 or later (i'm not actually sure if it was fixed). Where the 10% fort pen would only work for the base damage portion and not the Sneak Attack portion. Not only that but that bug may have persisted with other Fortification reducing abilities like Improved Sunder. Update 11 was rogues untimely death. If you are curious about what people thought of the fortification change click here. Keep in mind that the Update 11 fort changes were completely unwarranted. Melee dps numbers were all within 10% of each other at 50% fort. In fact due to Opportunist being bugged rogues were just barely at the top if not just below the top dps builds. More info here. Keep in mind those calcs assumed Opportunist was working (which it wasn't).
• Update 14 (MotU): When MotU launched the metagame changed over night. Gone was the classic mmo trinity (Healers, Dps, Tank). Suddenly ranged aoe self healing builds were king and single target dps builds were garbage. This was also the start of the giant packs of mobs quest design. Essentially nerfing rogues to the point of uselessness. Even six years and 23 updates later rogues are still in a terrible spot.