Heroic skills

[FrozenNova]

How do you play a heroic rogue these days?

Nobody runs anything but elite, but with the auction house and pawn brokers emptier than ever before, I'm finding it impossible to ever hit these DCs.
Having just hit level 5 it would cost my broke little rogue 50kpp to buy level appropriate trap gear on the AH.
Loading up on heroism and fox's cunning potions hasn't helped, and neither has degrading myself to the point of using ship buffs.

Is it just infeasible to play a heroic assassin rogue now?

[orobold]

If you have acces to the harper enhancement tree you should go int based and max that ability as high as possible, because will be your attack&damage stat. Once u do that, pair it with skill buff enhancement and some cannith crafted spot/search/dd items and you should have no trouble.

[Hazelnut]

How do you play a heroic rogue these days?

Nobody runs anything but elite, but with the auction house and pawn brokers emptier than ever before, I'm finding it impossible to ever hit these DCs.
Having just hit level 5 it would cost my broke little rogue 50kpp to buy level appropriate trap gear on the AH.
Loading up on heroism and fox's cunning potions hasn't helped, and neither has degrading myself to the point of using ship buffs.

Is it just infeasible to play a heroic assassin rogue now?

I don't have issues using the korthos gear up to about level 8-10.

• INT needs to be at least 16 (18 if you can).
• WIS needs to be at least 10 (12 or 14 is better) unless you have all the trap locations memorized, but what fun is that?
• 13 points into mechanic tree for +3 Spot, Search, and Disable; +6 from action boost for the tough traps (but you can delay the action boost for a bit).
• Some more action points from racial (or another class tree) for another +3 to Spot and Search will eventually be needed.
• Carry a stack of heroism potions in case you run out of action boosts.
• Human gives you an extra +1 to the skills and more action boosts from enhancements (but I don't play humans much so it's not necessary).

I still find I need +10 spot,search, and disable gear by level 12. The +7 gear is okay up to then most of the time. Definitely have as high a +X INT and WIS as you can find but I've never needed to buy these on the AH.

There are people who are far better at rogue building that I am who may find you can do it with less APs or less gear (or both).

[CThruTheEgo]

Lootgen trap gear is much less common now. This is yet another result of the borked loot pass we've been left with. Cannith crafted gear is your best option nowadays, or plan way ahead and start shopping on the auction house/s regularly to find what you need before you start a trapper. And once you find that trap gear, keep it for future use. If you don't have a crafter, you can usually find someone to craft stuff for you. Ask around in guild, help channel, or your server's subforum. Anytime I encounter a trapper in heroics who seems to be struggling, I'll offer to craft them some gear after the quest. Let me know if you're on Sarlona and I'll be glad to help you out.

[CThruTheEgo]

There are people who are far better at rogue building that I am who may find you can do it with less APs or less gear (or both).

All of that is a good workaround if you don't have and can't find max gear for your level. But it's a pretty heavy investment in APs, and with max gear and the standard buffs (e.g. heroism pots, etc.), you don't need to invest any APs at all into trapping.

[Lonnbeimnech]

Try to find someone to cannith craft you some search disable stuff. They have become pretty uncommon since the ghostbane incident (that still hasnt been resolved).

[Mercureal]

I agree with all of this. Random lootgen trap gear is pretty scarce. Craft it if you have the cannith levels, or look for someone from the Smithy Alliance to help out:

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthrea...mithy+alliance

There's some named gear from quest chain end rewards that boosts trapping skills too, but those aren't available at your level yet.

[TrinityTurtle]

This is one of the instances where cannith crafting is useful. I make my own gear for my rogues low levels. Perhaps you have a friend with good crafting skills? Although for the low levels it doesnt' have to be all that good.

[FranOhmsford]

OP:

Trap DCs in low level quests have actually gone down from what they were - So that the Devs could keep trap DCs viable through the entire game - The max DC when the game capped at Lvl 20 was actually in a Lvl 13 quest - Cabal For One has since been upgraded to Lvl 14 base but that trap DC also has gone down {by at least 10 points!}.

Trap gear is hard to come by but one thing I've done with every Rogue I've ever played is accept that my DPS and defenses are going to be weak and concentrate pretty much all my early APs on the Trapping Enhancements.

DO NOT:
Take either Nimble Fingers or Skill Focus: Disable, Open Lock or Spot Feats!
These are Newbie Traps!

If you can afford it:
Take Skill Focus: Search as early as possible - This makes a Huge difference as Search is an absolute in DDO {You don't get multiple attempts!}.

Buy from the AH:
+5 Thieves Tools - Never use any other tools except +5s! These give you +7 to your Disable and Open Lock skills!

When it next appears:
Farm this...http://ddowiki.com/page/Treasure_Hunter%27s_Spyglass from Crystal Cove - Seriously...Farm one for Lvl 4, one for Lvl 12 and one for Lvl 20 if you can!
It's invaluable!

Until then:
MAX YOUR INT!
Learn where the trapboxes are so you can safely dump Wis {Wis 12 is as high as I'd go at base even without knowing where trapboxes are as you simply can't afford to dump Con or Dex!}.
Put AP into Search, Disable and Rogue Skill Boosts wherever possible!
AND
BUY those +5 Tools - I sell them regularly on the AH at 1300 bid, 2k buyout and 90% of the time they sell in an hour or less!
IF You're on Cannith I can supply you with a couple hundred of em for Free!

[SpiritofAlba]

Many good suggestions, although in essence the original poster is correct - it is hard to trap well without gear, and gear is hard to find or expensive, unless you cannith craft or someone does that for you. Cannith crafting may be limited, but it definitely has its lower level uses.

On a dex based build with starting intelligence 14, trapping is fine with crafted gear. As well as spot / search / disable goggles which I rotate as needed, I wear a +wisdom helm for spot (incidentally helps will saves too), which I then switch to a +int helm for search and disable. I do use ship buffs too.

I agree with previous poster that it is worth prioritising search. Failed searches are really annoying (particularly for a non-vet player like me) as you are never quite sure if it is your DC or just standing in the wrong place. At least with disable you can see whether it is working, and can roll again in hope of a higher number. However, I'd only go for search feat as last resort - enhancements are much easier to swap out of if no longer needed when better gear is found.

Also agree that +5 tools are pretty vital, and cheaper to get than the permanent gear.

[UurlockYgmeov]

How do you play a heroic rogue these days?

Nobody runs anything but elite, but with the auction house and pawn brokers emptier than ever before, I'm finding it impossible to ever hit these DCs.
Having just hit level 5 it would cost my broke little rogue 50kpp to buy level appropriate trap gear on the AH.
Loading up on heroism and fox's cunning potions hasn't helped, and neither has degrading myself to the point of using ship buffs.

Is it just infeasible to play a heroic assassin rogue now?

a) Int based builds.
b) find a crafter for the gear
c) use harper to get INT to hit and damage.
d) insightful reflexes.

[Livmo]

I sometimes craft throw away goggles for lowbie trapping.

Cannith Crafting Planner, http://cannith.cubicleninja.com/

Goggles crafted with a masterful craftmenship shard will make all these level 5 to use:

• +10 Open Lock
• +10 Disable Device
• +10 Spot
• +10 Search

Set up a hot bar for goggles so you can use them as a switchable. Don't forget to switch back to main goggles after trapping.

If you don't have the crafting skill to make the shards someone else can make unbound version to give to you. In turn, you can use those to craft the items. Without the shard of masterful craftmenship those goggles will be level 7. You can have someone make the goggles undbound and pass to you, then you put your own shard of masterful on it, since the masterful shard will make the item bound.

Also, if you are going to use goggles for a switchable why not get a pair of Time Seeing goggles from Chronoscope to have for a Haste clickie. Those goggles are level 5 as well, but I don't use them for the spot and search, just for the Haste clickie.

[redoubt]

Lots of great input here already.

1. Go read CThru's assassin build in his sig.

2. No reason not to max INT these days.

3. Wear the best spot and wisdom items you can find at all times.

4. The rest of your trap gear is swap-able.

5. to run elite at level (level 10 quest on elite is level 12 and you are level 12) I find that having trap gear with a + equal to your level from 5-15 sets you up nicely. i.e. have +5 items at level 5 and +15 items at level 15 (above level 15 you will just have level 15 items.) Have max level INT, WIS and DEX items to wear when appropriate. (Livmo's post shows how you can craft way better than this also.)

5. Greater heroism is your friend (clickie, scroll, friendly caster). (hero pots can do in a pinch.)

6. If you can take a skill boost, these can help if you get into tough spots or can't get the right item and need to get by with dated gear for a level or so.

You could also post your server. I'm betting many of the rogue fans would help you make crafted gear if we new you were on our server...

[seandageek]

I'm returning after being gone about a year and a half (used to play on Orien but starting over on Sarlona). Does the Sleet Storm + Kip Up sneak attack trick on mobs still work? Parties hate it when you use it but I remember using it when things would go pear shaped when soloing.
I'm strongly considering playing some sort of assassin int build or a ranger/rogue combo. I toyed with a monk/rogue and a bard/rogue as well. Too many choices. I'm an altoholic unfortunately.

[Saekee]

I don't have issues using the korthos gear up to about level 8-10.

• INT needs to be at least 16 (18 if you can).
• WIS needs to be at least 10 (12 or 14 is better) unless you have all the trap locations memorized, but what fun is that?
• 13 points into mechanic tree for +3 Spot, Search, and Disable; +6 from action boost for the tough traps (but you can delay the action boost for a bit).
• Some more action points from racial (or another class tree) for another +3 to Spot and Search will eventually be needed.
• Carry a stack of heroism potions in case you run out of action boosts.
• Human gives you an extra +1 to the skills and more action boosts from enhancements (but I don't play humans much so it's not necessary).

I still find I need +10 spot,search, and disable gear by level 12. The +7 gear is okay up to then most of the time. Definitely have as high a +X INT and WIS as you can find but I've never needed to buy these on the AH.

There are people who are far better at rogue building that I am who may find you can do it with less APs or less gear (or both).

This is good advice--heroism and, if possible, greater heroism. Luck bonus also helps from things like voice of master. A monk and bard can buff also.