The Rogue Star

[DrawingGuy]

This is a build I used to run months ago - going to play it again planning under the new gear, and decided to share it with you all.

The Rogue Star is a mainly Rogue based Shuriken build. I haven't searched the forums to see if similar builds exist since this is one I came up with on my own in U-19 pre-tests on Lam (oh how I miss the Ninja Poison on every Shuriken throw), so feel free to suggest any improvements.

Why Rogue Star vs pure Monk Shuricannon?
+ 13d6 more SA die
+ Full trapping abilities
+ Emp Healing for strong Springs/Heals
+ Beguile
+ Improved Uncanny Dodge
+ Venomed Blades on a Halfling
- Ninja Master
- No Fail Reflex (unless you give up Emp Heal for it)
- Grandmaster of Forms (not a big loss)
- Abundant Step


13 Rogue / 6 Monk / 1 Druid - Lawful Neutral Halfling

Abilities
Strength :: 6 + 5 tome + 8 Augment + 1 True Blood + 2 Ship Buff - 2 Stance + 4 Tenser + 2 INS = 26
Dexterity :: 20 + 5 tome + 7 Levels + 11 item + 4 Insightful + 1 True Blood + 2 Ship Buff + 2 Yugo + 2 Enhancement + 4 Tenser = 56
Constitution :: 12 + 5 tome + 10 item + 4 Insightful + 1 True Blood + 2 Ship Buff + 2 Yugo + 4 Tenser = 40
Intelligence :: 14 + 5 tome + 1 True Blood + 2 Ship Buff = 22
Wisdom :: 16 + 5 tome + 10 item + 3 Insight + 1 True Blood + 2 Ship Buff + 3 Stance + 2 Enhancements + 2 Yugo = 44
Charisma :: 8 + 5 Tome + 8 item + 1 True Blood + 2 Ship Buff + 2 INS = 26

Regarding Tomes: The only "required" tome is a +4 to INT for the purpose of maxing out trapping/UMD/Heal. Less simply would equate to having to sacrifice on your skills. Other stats simply mean drops in DPS/HP.


Skills: (you should be able to max each of these if you're leveling with a +4 INT tome)
Diplomacy
Disable Device
Heal
Open Lock
Search
Spot
UMD
Concentration
(spare points into Balance - or you can put into Balance with spare into Concentration)

Past Lives: Rogue and Ranger have the most application to this build, but getting to 36 points is the bigger key


Leveling order + Feats:
1 Rogue (1) - Point Blank Shot
2 Druid (1)
3 Monk (1) - Rapid Shot; Shuriken Expertise (Monk)
4 Monk (2) - Precision (Monk)
5 Monk (3) - Fists of Light (Monk Path)
6 Monk (4) - Least Dragonmark of Healing
7 Monk (5)
8 Monk (6) - Ten Thousand Stars (Monk)
9 Rogue (2) - Precise Shot
10 Rogue (3)
11 Rogue (4)
12 Rogue (5) - Master of Forms
13 Rogue (6)
14 Rogue (7)
15 Rogue (8) - Improved Critical: Thrown Weapons
16 Rogue (9)
17 Rogue (10) - Improved Evasion (Rogue)
18 Rogue (11) - Improved Precise Shot
19 Rogue (12)
20 Rogue (13) - Opportunist (Rogue)
21 Epic - Improved Sneak Attack
22 Epic
23 Epic
24 Epic - Quick Draw
26 Epic - Epic Spell Power: Positive
27 Epic - Empower Healing Spell
28 Epic - Forced Escape

Feats I wasn't Able to Fit but you could consider changing my feat list for:
- Dodge :: This is definitely a survivability hit as it equates actually to a potentially 5% to 11% (with hit dodge bonuses added) loss. But the freed up AP is also put straight to DPS. So considering you'd have to give up a DPS feat or yet another survival feat for this, an acceptable sacrifice. However if you go Drow (which can spare more feats), take this in a heartbeat.
- Epic Reflexes :: No Fail reflexes is undoubtably nice - however the bonus is minor - 5% - which is why I gave it up (though you can add 10% if you're in the d20 save range). However there are situations where you're making dozens of saves at a time (TOR Blue Dragon, Haunted Halls Moiir, standing in traps to disable) so it's still worthwhile when you can spare it.
- Combat Archery :: Useful, but not a top priority. 1[W] isn't a big deal on a Shuriken, so I don't find a feat worth giving up for the 2% dodge.
- Grandmaster :: This is 1 Wis + 1 Dodge + 1 saves... nice, but with my +5 tome, I don't need the point and the other two is not worth the DPS/Heal sacrifice. However if you only have a +4 tome, this becomes more important.


Enhancements:
Season Herald: 2 AP
1 AP - Seasoned
1 AP - Beguile

Assassin: 14 AP
1 AP - Knife in the Darkness
2 AP - Sneak Attack
3 AP - Toxin Affinity
2 AP - Venomed Blades
2 AP - Sneak Attack
2 AP - Sneak Attack
2 AP - Dexterity

Mechanic: 1 AP
1 AP - 5 meter longer SA

Henshin: 8 AP
1 AP - Riddle of Fire
2 AP - Way of the Tortoise
2 AP - Negotiator
3 AP - Contemplation

Ninja Spy: 32 AP
1 AP - Ninja Training
2 AP - Sneak Attack
3 AP - Acrobatic
1 AP - Ninja Training
2 AP - Sneak Attack
3 AP - Agility
1 AP - Shadow Veil
2 AP - Sneak Attack
2 AP - Sting of the Ninja
2 AP - WIS
1 AP - Subtelty
2 AP - Sneak Attack
2 AP - WIS
6 AP - No Mercy
2 AP - Crippling Strike

Shintao: 1 AP
1 AP - Bastion of Purity

Halfling: 20 AP
3 AP - Saves
4 AP - 2 DEX
3 AP - Dragonmark
1 AP - Cunning
2 AP - Dragonmark
2 AP - Leeches
1 AP - Guile
2 AP - Dragonmark
1 AP - Guile
1 AP - Guile


Gear:
Goggles: Intricate Field Optics WIS +3 :: Green (Blindness Immunity) Colorless (Globe of True Imperial Blood)
Helm: Dragon Masque :: Yellow (SP 250) Colorless (STR +2)
Neck: Necklace of Mystic Eidolons :: Green (Disease Resist +10)
Trinket: Manual of Stealthy Pilfering :: Green (Master's Gift)
Cloak: Adamantine Cloak of the Wolf
Belt: CON 10 of Seeking 10
Gloves: Gauntlets of Immortality :: Yellow (Fear Immunity) Colorless (Vitality +20)
Boots: EE Goatsking Boots Fort 115 :: Green (Poison Resist +10) Colorless (STR 8)
Bracers: Dumathoin's Bracers :: Blue (Golem's Heart)
Armor: Black Dragon Armor :: Blue (False Life +40)
Ring 1: Ring of Deceit :: Yellow (Feather Fall) Colorless (CHA +2)
Ring 2: WIS 10 of Resist 10
Main: Spelltouched
Offhand: Rebellion (improved dec, sneak attack, fort bypass)/Riposte item to swap to when doing traps for saves boost

As you can see, this build has more slots than I know what to do with, so there are some fluff augments. These can be swapped to better ones as new augs come out, replaced with Skill augments, etc. I can list my existing gear setup if needed, but I see no point in having people strive to match the old stuff.

[Firewall]

Nice build. I like that you managed to fit in Beguile and Empower Healing with the one druid level. Sadly that prevents you from using weapons and other items that require a good alignment if you cannot beat the UMD requirement (like Celestia, Ring of the Ancestors, Pure Good weapons,...). Especially Pure good weapons or the Purify Weapons Enhancement from Unyielding Sentinel are needed to break DR/Good which significantly lowers DPS on monsters that have it. If you can get your UMD high enough i would still switch the sneak attack and deception stuff to another item slot and use Celestia in the Offhand for additional DPS. In any case i would probably use a different gearset anyway but that of course always depends on what you have available.

You mention ranger as a good past life but the ranger past life damage bonus does not work on shuriken.

Since the build depends so heavily on Sneak attacks it is really sad that you could not fit in the Precision feat.

The feat i miss the most in your build and that you have not listed is Blinding Speed. You miss at least a permanent 7% attack speed that you can get from no other source except a Haste spell, +1 dodge and +1 reflex save as well as the permanent high running speed for kiting.

Even with the downtime during 10k stars i still think Doubleshot is the best feat you can take at level 28. You probably won't have enough SP to use Forced Escape that much and to break CC on yourself if it hits you you can still use the harper token.

Am i right that your healing also comes down to Cocoon and maybe heal scrolls?

Which Epic Destiny are you running in? Shadowdancer?

[unbongwah]

4 Monk (2) - Dodge (Monk)

I would take Precision instead; I don't see it listed elsewhere.

1 AP - Master Thrower

Has this been fixed yet in U21? I've seen conflicting posts about whether it's finally WAI.

Sadly that prevents you from using weapons and other items that require a good alignment if you cannot beat the UMD requirement (like Celestia, Ring of the Ancestors, Pure Good weapons,...).

That's not usually an issue on a rog-hvy build: 23 ranks + 8 (CHA 26) + 8 (epic lvls) + 2 (Luck) + 4 (morale) = 45 UMD w/out GS CHA items or anything too fancy.

[DrawingGuy]

I would take Precision instead; I don't see it listed elsewhere.

I mention that in my post - switching Dodge out for Precision would definitely boost DPS... especially considering you'd free up the AP to get No Mercy. But you're also dropping 5% dodge + stacking dodge if you get hit. This becomes a case of survivability vs DPS. Personally I suggest people build for higher survival first until they learn their char, though admittedly this build is not short of ways for people keeping themselves out of harm's way with Pin + Ottos + Beguile + Nerve Venom + Improved Deception turns + any CC their Spelltouched procs. Actually thinking about it, I may make that change the base build with Dodge as the suggested alternative...

Has this been fixed yet in U21? I've seen conflicting posts about whether it's finally WAI.

Actually I need to look into this - the tool tips reflected the difference, but just tested on the dummy and when it rolled the number by the Halfling Master Thrower, it didn't show a crit roll. I'll need to do more tests, and will also test to see if the Ninja Spy capstone was fixed or is also still borked. The DEX to Damage appears to be working fine, however, now. If this is the case, will end up dropping this enhancement - there's no shortage of things to spend it on.

Nice build. I like that you managed to fit in Beguile and Empower Healing with the one druid level. Sadly that prevents you from using weapons and other items that require a good alignment if you cannot beat the UMD requirement (like Celestia, Ring of the Ancestors, Pure Good weapons,...). Especially Pure good weapons or the Purify Weapons Enhancement from Unyielding Sentinel are needed to break DR/Good which significantly lowers DPS on monsters that have it. If you can get your UMD high enough i would still switch the sneak attack and deception stuff to another item slot and use Celestia in the Offhand for additional DPS. In any case i would probably use a different gearset anyway but that of course always depends on what you have available.

As Unbong said, UMD is high on this build even without swapping to CHA Skill/UMD items. Equipping UMD checked items is no problem, so Celetia is definitely an option. Especially since you can easily fit a Planar Focus since the goggles already give you Spot 20.

You mention ranger as a good past life but the ranger past life damage bonus does not work on shuriken.

You are correct - I tossed that in forgetting Ranged and Thrown are separate entities and was just trying to think of something quickly that would boost the build. Thanks for the point!

Since the build depends so heavily on Sneak attacks it is really sad that you could not fit in the Precision feat.

You could - you just have to sacrifice something to get it as it is unfortunately a bit feat starved. You could swap out Dodge or Emp Heal for Precision.

The feat i miss the most in your build and that you have not listed is Blinding Speed. You miss at least a permanent 7% attack speed that you can get from no other source except a Haste spell, +1 dodge and +1 reflex save as well as the permanent high running speed for kiting.

Blinding Speed does NOT provide the +1 dodge and +1 reflex save. Besides, Blinding Speed is a convenience feat rather than providing something you didn't have before - Haste pots, clickies, and casters that carry it are still your friends. The Boots just cover the gaps for if it runs out during a fight or you're feeling lazy.

Even with the downtime during 10k stars i still think Doubleshot is the best feat you can take at level 28. You probably won't have enough SP to use Forced Escape that much and to break CC on yourself if it hits you you can still use the harper token.

The Doubleshot Penalty for 10k stars extends past the 10k burst - so you only would get your Doubleshot for 15s out of every 60s... not worth getting the feat for that small window, especially considering how little other options you have for DS. The Harper token does no damage and has a very long cooldown while Forced Escape only has a 20s. CC is your biggest threat as a kiter. Besides, with hundreds of SP, you can easily afford it even if you have Cocoon slotted as you have little to spend your SP on. If you find yourself almost never needing CC breaks and are willing to eat the death if you get caught a twice in a row - there are still other choices I'd take over Doubleshot - DR bypasses, Elusive Target... heck, even Toughness.

Am i right that your healing also comes down to Cocoon and maybe heal scrolls?

Halfling Mark of Healing gives you 4 Heals (5 if wearing crown), 6+ criticals (still heals 100+). This is on top of Spring (if you're in Shiradi) that procs for hundreds every 20s. Heal scrolls cover any gaps. When it comes to Cocoon, I wouldn't bother with it if in Shiradi, but would carry it outside that ED. Even outside it, I've had entire dungeons where I've never touched the skill (with no healers in the party), and then times where I was using it constantly. Personal preference dictates, but cocoon is strong on this build - Short story, self healing is NOT a problem for the Rogue Star.

Which Epic Destiny are you running in? Shadowdancer?

Shiradi. Shiradi provides you tons of CC (Pin + Otto + Nerve Venom) on top of strong DPS from procs (In my perfect world, I'd fit Empower Meta and spell power to boost procs) - it far surpasses the 6-8d6 you'd gain to your sneak attack, though Shadowdancer is far from a bad ED for this build. GMoF is also nice since you can still use Lotus and EIN with yet another heal, free Ki, and no-fail saves.

[DrawingGuy]

Tested - while it's difficult to tell 100% if DEX to Damage is since the damage is not broken down, I do know for a fact that Halfling crit modifier *and* Ninja Master crit modifier are NOT working at this time... unfortunately the tool tips showing it correctly are merely cosmetic. Even stuck at a 19-20, it's still worth it to load seeker + exceptional seeker + Ninja Poison... unfortunately this also kills one of the major reasons to go Halfling over Drow.

So currently:
Going Halfling
+ 4 Saves
+ 4+ free Heals, 6+ free cure criticals
+ Easy neg level removal
+ 3d6 SA die (superior to +4 Xen'drik DPS gain)
+ Better IPS capability with the ability to keep smaller creatures in line
- Less carry capacity

Drow (two freed up feat slots since Shuriken Expertise is autogrant + no longer taking a Dragonmark)
+ Spell Resistance
+ Sleep Immunity
+ 6% dodge (3 Dodge feat + 3 Enh)
+ Epic Reflexes for no-fail Reflex (or Blinding Speed for the lazy)
- Lower free build points
- Less HP/Fort saves due to CON hit

So really, it comes down to a choice: Halfling with more DPS from +3 SA die and survivability bolstered by free heals and higher saves, or Drow with more passive survivability options with SR, higher dodge, and the feat flexibility to gain no-fail Reflexes or others.

While the feat flexibility gained by going Drow is pretty compelling, even if I could make the start stats match (couldn't - basically dropped DEX by 2 to get CON and WIS to the levels they needed to be with the spare points tossed on INT... but that equates to 2% less chance to throw extra shurikens), I'd still edge out for going Halfling as the race. More self heals + 3d6 + better IPS line of sight wins it for me. However Drow is still a solid option, so here's the changes I'd make if going Drow:

Drow starting stats:
8 STR
18 DEX
12 CON
16 INT
16 WIS
10 CHA

Feats I'd take with the freed up feat slots:
- Dodge
- Epic Reflexes

Racial Enhancements: (other trees remain the same with the exception of the spare point spending)
Drow: 17 AP
2 AP - Spell Resistance
4 AP - 2 DEX
2 AP - Xen'Drik
2 AP - Xen'Drik
3 AP - Improved Dodge
2 AP - Xen'Drik
2 AP - Xen'Drik

Mechanic: 3 (additional) AP
3 AP - Mechanics

[drewrayder]

Tested - while it's difficult to tell 100% if DEX to Damage is since the damage is not broken down, I do know for a fact that Halfling crit modifier *and* Ninja Master crit modifier are NOT working at this time... unfortunately the tool tips showing it correctly are merely cosmetic. Even stuck at a 19-20, it's still worth it to load seeker + exceptional seeker + Ninja Poison... unfortunately this also kills one of the major reasons to go Halfling over Drow.

So currently:
Going Halfling
+ 4 Saves
+ 4+ free Heals, 6+ free cure criticals
+ Easy neg level removal
+ 3d6 SA die (superior to +4 Xen'drik DPS gain)
+ Better IPS capability with the ability to keep smaller creatures in line
- Less carry capacity

Drow (two freed up feat slots since Shuriken Expertise is autogrant + no longer taking a Dragonmark)
+ Spell Resistance
+ Sleep Immunity
+ 6% dodge (3 Dodge feat + 3 Enh)
+ Epic Reflexes for no-fail Reflex (or Blinding Speed for the lazy)
- Lower free build points
- Less HP/Fort saves due to CON hit

So really, it comes down to a choice: Halfling with more DPS from +3 SA die and survivability bolstered by free heals and higher saves, or Drow with more passive survivability options with SR, higher dodge, and the feat flexibility to gain no-fail Reflexes or others.

While the feat flexibility gained by going Drow is pretty compelling, even if I could make the start stats match (couldn't - basically dropped DEX by 2 to get CON and WIS to the levels they needed to be with the spare points tossed on INT... but that equates to 2% less chance to throw extra shurikens), I'd still edge out for going Halfling as the race. More self heals + 3d6 + better IPS line of sight wins it for me. However Drow is still a solid option, so here's the changes I'd make if going Drow:

Drow starting stats:
8 STR
18 DEX
12 CON
16 INT
16 WIS
10 CHA

Feats I'd take with the freed up feat slots:
- Dodge
- Epic Reflexes

Racial Enhancements: (other trees remain the same with the exception of the spare point spending)
Drow: 17 AP
2 AP - Spell Resistance
4 AP - 2 DEX
2 AP - Xen'Drik
2 AP - Xen'Drik
3 AP - Improved Dodge
2 AP - Xen'Drik
2 AP - Xen'Drik

Mechanic: 3 (additional) AP
3 AP - Mechanics

maybe you overlooked this or i missed it, but i see 2 items with spot 20 on them, and no search item. what do you use for search 20?

[Firewall]

After taking a closer look:

Attributes:

- I wondered why you have such a rather low DEX when DEX is by far the most important attribute for a shuriken build. The main difference seems to be that the shuricannon gets 7 points of DEX from enhancements while you only take 2 (according to your attribute listing) or 3 (according to your enhancement selection). Also you don't mention any DEX that you get from the Shiradi ED where my shuricannon gets 5 points from. I'm not sure why you took 2 points of WIS from the Ninja Spy tree but would suggest you take DEX instead.

- Starting with 6 STR seems critically low to me especially with the halflings already shortened carrying capacity and the -2 STR from Water Stance. How hard is it to level this guy with a full inventory of past life BTC stuff? I imagine you become uncentered and helpless with a full inventory and with every Ray of Enfeeblement or stat drain thrown at you?


Feats:

- I'm still debating if 9 AP (3xDragonmark + Leeches) and a feat slot are worth spending for only four Heal uses and Leeches. I can see the use for heroic levels but not really in Epics. Healing Spring and Cocoon along with Heal Scrolls, Sovereign Pots and maybe an Eternal Bottle of Rum should be enough healing and would free resources for other choices.

- Last time i checked Blinding Speed still applied the bonus to reflex and to dodge which even stacked with the bonuses from the Haste Spell and the Armor of Haste which was surely not WAI. Seeing the Lamannia Release Notes from Thursday i saw it mention that the Blinding Speed feat will once again apply the reflex save with U21 Patch 1 so i guess you are right that it was broken somewhere in between but will be fixed with the next patch. I still think it is a necessary feat for a ranged toon since i doubt you want to drown Haste pots every minute or so during fights and quests or while kiting and in the case of your build you could even free your boot slot and maybe fit in some nice random gear or even some GS boots with +45 HP, permanent Blur and two Displacement Clickies.

- Even though the Doubleshot feat is useless about 75% of the time you use 10k stars it still comes down to 2.5% more damage overall (or even more if you don't use 10k stars precisely every time it is off cooldown) which i think is still worth it comparable to the other options available.


Enhancements:

- I would take DEX instead of WIS (see above)

- Why did you take 3 AP in Toxin Affinity? I think 2 AP would be enough to get to the next tier of enhancements in that tree.

- Why did you take Crippling Strike? Two points of STR damage at sneak attack range do not work on most monsters in epics. And even if they take it it has no noticable debuffing effect and they regenerate it every few seconds. I took it with my shuricannon since i had to spend 40 AP in the tree to get the capstone and there was no better choice but i would recommend spending the AP somewhere else in your build.

- If you can free AP i would suggest getting more DEX and/or a higher tier of Venomed Blades for the synergy with the Ninja Poison vulnerability.


Gear:

- I see you suggest three items with Deception on them (Rebellion, Ring of Deceit, Dragon Masque). So far i have not seen anything that would prove that the old Improved Deception stacks with the new Deception effect. Do you really need the CHA bonus from the Ring or could you slot something better there? I would switch Rebellion for another weapon in any case (see below).

- As far as i know different types of armor piercing on items do not stack anymore. This has been fixed and the info on the DDOWiki is outdated according to my information. You can test this by equipping two items with armor piercing and the blue 'Effects' text in general chat should warn you that you wear two items with armor piercing that do not stack. If this is the case that would make your Black Dragon robe more or less redundant since you do not even use the set bonus so you could change it for something else (Maybe the new Shadow Armor?). Also - since you will want to have the highest bonus possible - i would change Rebellion for a Tier 2 Thunderforged Shortsword with 150 Devotion SP and -35% Armor Piercing. That would even let you switch your Gauntlets for something else.

- I think the Adamantine Cloak of the Wolf is rather outdated. There are more useful cloaks around and the only real benefit it gives you is +5 exc. seeker because you can find higher dodge bonuses on random gear already. Since the crit range of shuriken is already rather low the DPS benefit of Seeker items is not really high. Maybe you can find something better to fit there?

- The Manual you suggest as a trinket is more of a switch-in item in my opinion. If you want more permanent DPS you should go for the planar focus combination with AOE procs from Celestia and +4 attack and damage as well as +15 PRR from the trinket set bonus.

- If you really have too many free augment slots in your gear i suggest also adding an augment with + concentration for a higher Ki stack and if you switch the Gauntlets for the Thunderforged shortsword also an augment with + heal skill on it. If you switch out the Manual you can easily slot a +2 Good luck augment too.


Drow vs. Halfling:

- I don't think that 3d6 sneak attack damage (which is 10.5 average) from halfling is so superior to the +4 attack and damage from Drow. Letting the +4 attack aside the advantage of the +4 damage is that it works at full range which is a benefit in wide quest and wilderness areas and that it works with every monster and is not situational and dependant on fortification and not having aggro or making mobs vulnerable to it. Since you can only get up to 60% Fortification Bypass (35% Thunderforged, 15% Precision, 10% Opportunist) your sneak attack damage is only to some extent (if at all) working against undead, constructs and high fortitude mobs and only at sneak attack range.

- I have no idea what you mean when you say that the halfling has better IPS capability.


How high can you get your Dodge at cap?

What do you suggest as Twists?

What do your saves look like?

How do you bypass DR/Good + DR/Metal Mobs?