Noob Rogue wondering about tempest

[jadiusmaximus]

So, if i'm reading forums right sneak attack applies to off hand attacks too, right?
If so, is there a benefit to running some tempest levels along with assassin to bump up those off hands? Even though i would then loose the 4d6 sneak bonus for level 20 assassin.

I don't know just seems like assassin sneak bonus is so overwhelmingly huge that i don't see how any of the other classes stack up to it dps wise. Obviously i'm not seeing something as im sure the game isn't populated with only assassins.

[unbongwah]

So, if i'm reading forums right sneak attack applies to off hand attacks too, right?

Correct.

If so, is there a benefit to running some tempest levels along with assassin to bump up those off hands? Even though i would then loose the 4d6 sneak bonus for level 20 assassin.

Yes and no: remember you're not only giving up sneak atk dmg, but also lowering your Assassinate DC by at least -4; -1 for not getting +2 INT capstone, -3 for dipping to rog 17 / rgr 3 to get lvl 3 Tempest core for +10% offhand. If you MC even further -e.g., rog 13 / rgr 6 / ftr 1 to gain some extra feats and other rgr perks - you're giving up even more DCs.

I don't know just seems like assassin sneak bonus is so overwhelmingly huge that i don't see how any of the other classes stack up to it dps wise. Obviously i'm not seeing something as im sure the game isn't populated with only assassins.

The problem with sneak atks are they aren't boosted by crits; and in epic levels, a lot of your DPS depends on crits. A good rogue build still does plenty of DPS, because you build for sneak atks and crits, but then you come to their real shortcoming (IMHO): they're glass cannons with no inherent self-healing compared to pallies or even the HP sinks which are barbs. Draw too much aggro on a build with not enough dmg mitigation and not enough self-healing and you're a soulstone in no time. Because of this, I actually think rogues are one of the most challenging classes for newbies, particularly soloers.

[count_spicoli]

Rogues make great party toons. So much of their devastation depends on others getting aggro then just destroying things. Unfortunately it's not always possible to have a group so can be tough soloing. Still a pretty fun class to play in the right setting.