The Shadownaught: Ultra-Survivable+Stabby Stabby

[Qezuzu]

Build Purpose

Takes the best of the rogue class (high DPS, Assassinate, self sufficiency) and combines it with high PRR, AC, Dodge, moderate HP, concealment, DR, and incorporeal miss chance. This makes your rogue very solid, and very effective in shortmanning difficult content.

My main play style is duoing/trioing or just shortmanning with friends, so pumping defenses was a must. In an "optimal" six man party or 12 man raid, which have one or more divines, positive energy is being sprayed all over the goddamn place so people slack off on their defenses. For harder content/play styles, this isn't an option.

Race:
Half Elf

Half elf for the Dilettante feat. I chose artificer for the bonus to assassinate, UMD and the ability to use Repeating crossbows. However, barbarian would be the next best choice. Monk would be good IF it didn't require 13 WIS.

Human would also be solid.

Stats (36 point):
14 STR + Tome
16 DEX + 2 level + 3 Tome
16 CON + 1 level + Tome
16 INT + 3 level + Tome
8 WIS
8 CHR

21 DEX is required for Improved Sneak Attack. If you don't have a +3 tome, drop INT by one and put another level up in DEX. It will also give you some AC.

19 INT is for Assassinate. You will likely not be a designated tank, since Sneak Attack is still most of your damage. However, it is possible if other party members are constantly hitting the boss with Improved Deception and Bluff. But this will not usually be the case. Assassinate is one of the best ways to contribute to a party, and raising INT and "dumping" STR is less than a 5% decrease in your damage.

Rest goes into STR and CON. With a +4 tome, you can get Epic Toughness. You can fit in Epic Toughness by dropping Power Attack or Improved Critical: Piercing.

For 32 Point builds, drop STR to 10.

Feats:
TWF Line
Power Attack
Combat Mastery
Toughness
Improved Critical
Improved Sneak Attack
Sneak of Shadows (change depending on your Past Lives situation, but it really is the best feat)

Improved Evasion
Opportunist
2x your choice (defensive roll maybe? Acrobat revamp will make this more powerful, I'm told)

Skills:

UMD, stealth, locks and traps, balance, etc. Diplomacy and Bluff are a must because you will have next to no threat reduction. Another reason to use half elf is the extra use of those skills. Rest of the skill points are your choice.

Enhancements:

Assassin III and its prerequisites
Haste Boost IV
Deadly Shadow Capstone
Human Adaptability INT (if you're going for Assassinates, change to something else if not)
Greater Human Adaptability CON
Improved Recovery I
Human Versatility II
Toughness III
Faster Sneaking II
Half-Elf Artificer INT
Wand and Scroll Mastery IV

This will change based on your dilettante or race.

Epic Destiny:

Shadow Dancer is the best, in my opinion, for the straight 25% miss chance granted with Shadow Form.

Choices are up to you, but get Shadow Form, three ranks of Lithe, three ranks of Stealthy, and make sure that you can hold seven Shadow Charges at once. I also recommend Shadow Manipulation: this ability is insanely awesome, and a great way to enter an area without you or your party getting mobbed. It can save you a LOT of healing in Epic Elite content.

The twists are important. Improved Combat Mastery, from the Dreadnought line, is an absolute must. PRR is extremely effective against mobs that hit in the hundreds.

Brace for Impact, from the Sentinel line, is a cheap way to make yourself immune (or at least incredibly protected) against critical hits and sneak attacks. I would definitely get this.

A lot of things could go in your third twist. Ephemeral Evolution, from Primal Avatar, is a decent choice, possibly. From Grandmaster, you could get 3% doublestrike or 3% dodge, or from Shirdai, Fey Form so you don't have to worry about managing your Stoneskin. A lot could go here.

Gear:

Some of this is a WIP. I needed to slot in Adamantine Bear cloak and that really switched things around. I haven't yet figured it all out.

Helmet:
+45 HP MinII Greensteel
Necklace:
Epic Golden Guile, slotted with +4 Resistance or GFL
Alternatively, Epic Grim's Bracelet, slotted with +4 Resistance or GFL
Cloak:
Adamantine Bear Cloak is a must for the PRR
Alternatively, Epic Envenomed Cloak (slot is your choice) or Cloak of Night
Gloves:
Purple Dragon Gauntlets are very solid
Alternatively, Epic Charged Gauntlets for the DPS
Trinket:
Planar Conflux set is an absolute must. It's just too good. Aim for the insightful +3 CON or STR.
CitW is a pain, so you can put a lot of other items in here, instead.
Rings:
I'm a fan of my Ravager set. Don't slot it with a +2 stat, 20% healing amp is way better.
In the other ring, +6 Natural Armor, or +5 until you can get on. I use Epic Seal of the Earth. Switch this ring with an Epic Rahkir's ring for +9 INT, for Assassinating
Belt:
See rings. Ravager belt. Ravager set will interrupt Assassinates so switch it out for something else.
Goggles:
Tharne's
Bracers:
Bracers of the Sun Soul are good. The Superior Parrying is very nice, as is the bonus to your will saves.
Alternatively, Superior Parrying can be found on lootgen items, often paired with something useful like +8 STR
You can also get Epic Scorched Bracers, but only if you're going for the set bonus.
Boots:
Not a lot of competition here. Epic Boots of Corrosion are good for the slot alone, I guess. If you use Scorched Bracers and Charged Gauntlets, you can get the set bonus.
Armor:
There are a lot of solid choices that could go here.
Whisperchain for the innate blurry, Superior FL, exceptional sneak attack, and the Heightened Awareness gives you some AC if you don't have Parrying. Probably one of the best choices.
Epic Vulkoorim Fighting Leathers will give you some slots, can possibly let your drop Tharne's for something else, give you an attack bonus (not as important anymore), and give you +15 to hide. It's not as good as it used to be, though. Has a chance of being upgraded by Turbine in the future.
Cormyrian Red Dragon armor and Epic Marilith Chain are both excellent contenders here, as well.

The rundown:

PRR:
15 base light armor (use Tenser's at all times)
20 Improved Combat Mastery
9 Adamantine Bear Cloak
15 Conflux
=59, or about 29% reduction in damage

AC:
This will vary wildly, but you can easily sustain over 80

Dodge:
6 Improved Uncanny Dodge
7 Shadow Charge bonus
+ a bunch of other stuff (items, Epic Destiny twists)
=you can get over 15% pretty easily, and you can use your Uncanny Dodge, or that one Shadowdancer 100% dodge ability.

Incorporeality:
25 from Shadow Form

You can still get 10% with an item, in case you die and lose your form or if you don't choose Shadowdancer for some reason.

Concealment:
20% blur, hopefully at all times
50% displacement, with clickies or scrolls

HP:
Easily over 700 HP with buffs (lol Yugo pot). With Improved Evasion (and all of these defenses), that's enough.

Anyway, to sum up, this is a very sturdy toon. Enjoy.

[Arkantios]

Been a rogue on Orien for a straight 3 lives right now, your build looks decent, though odd in some places gear wise. Well and ive never been a fan of power attack xD, rather take precision instead.

Anyway, why not bracers of twisting shade for the perma blur, resist, and makes it so you dont have to switch out gear for traps.

Could easily slot in the EE treads (boots from the new chain) and get 11 dex from that instead of just some random boots.

I don't see any Umd item in your build...Not incorporating those? Plus a Tier 3 Spyglass from CC matched with the Seal of House Avithoul could replace your tharnes goggles, open your goggle slot, give you umd, and heck, a +2 insightful int.

Anyway not trying to rag on your build. Just asking a few questions. Good going with it though.

[Qezuzu]

Well and ive never been a fan of power attack xD, rather take precision instead. That's also an option.

Anyway, why not bracers of twisting shade for the perma blur, resist, and makes it so you dont have to switch out gear for traps. Forgot about those, they do look very solid, they're also an option.

Could easily slot in the EE treads (boots from the new chain) and get 11 dex from that instead of just some random boots. DEX is not important to this build, at least not marginal sources of DEX. With the way AC works now, a few more points of DEX has a negligible effect on defenses.

I don't see any Umd item in your build...Not incorporating those? With GH and the artificer dilly, UMD is at 43 without any items. I do have +6 CHA slotted, though, and a +2 CHA tome. Plus a Tier 3 Spyglass from CC matched with the Seal of House Avithoul could replace your tharnes goggles, open your goggle slot, give you umd, and heck, a +2 insightful int. With this, I would lose the Conflux set, which is too important. I have +2 INT with Rahkir's ring for Assassinations, don't need the UMD, and there's no need to free up my Goggles.

Responses in cyan.

[Arkantios]

Alrighty. Like I said before it definitely looks interesting. Never been much a high def rogue, more evasiony and whatnot. Seems solid gear wise, with room to change which is nice. Might have to email you my SneakATank rogue build sometime; you might get a kick out of it. Ah and what weapons were you planning to use?

[Qezuzu]

Ah and what weapons were you planning to use?

Dual Celestia's for general damage. I still haven't gotten one. Dual epic Midnight's combined with the golden guile for constant sneak-vulnerable bosses. Then a RadII for trash.

[BrianTheHun]

Dual Celestia's for general damage. I still haven't gotten one. Dual epic Midnight's combined with the golden guile for constant sneak-vulnerable bosses. Then a RadII for trash.

Dual Celestia's are excellent DPS, but can also be serious aggro magnets, especially if you won't have much Subtle Backstab. That being said, it's totally worth getting them.
FWIW, I pair an Epic Elemental rapier of Air with an Agony for when I don't want everything to aggro on me. I also pair the Agony with my Midnight Greetings to maintain the Planar Conflux effects.

[maddmatt70]

Sense weakness is just too much damage to pass up so I would have to go for that. I think dex based will be more the way to go when the enhancement pass comes out which I hope is not too far in the future. Some of your ideas I like - I like epic toughness especially when dex based becomes stronger for rogues which means strength will be more of a dump stat and less build points to spread around. Physical resistance and brace for impact to keep the damage intake down is also good. I would probably tweak the gear some more though. I do not think you need all the physical resistance gear and twist that you espouse..

[Qezuzu]

I would probably tweak the gear some more though.

Yup.

I do not think you need all the physical resistance gear and twist that you espouse..

It's only two (three if you count Celestia) items, but I just doubled checked and the difference between 50 PRR and 59 PRR is like 4%. The Bear cloak is entirely skippable. I shot for the highest PRR since it's such a good defense against Epic Elite bosses.

Wolf cloak is probably better. Luckily I haven't actually gotten all the mats to buy the Bear cloak.