How is Thief-Acrobat?

[Hipparan]

So I have some quarterstaves left over from a couple of Henshin Mystic lives on another character and I have a character I'm thinking of TRing to Rogue to have some sneaky fun in Sharn. I can't decide though if I want to stick with Assassin like I have always done in the past or if I want to try something new with this Rogue. I'd like to give Thief-Acrobat a try, but I feel like they are pretty underused in DDO. Has anyone tried playing as a Thief-Acrobat and how is it? I know weapon damage can be an issue but I'm hoping the Falconry tree can help with that.

P.S. I'm not interested in making a Mechanic.

[Discpsycho]

My last life was as a pure TA. Aside from difficulties self-healing, I have no complaints.

THF chain, PA/Cleave/GC, IC. Dex-based for absurd evasion, reasonable AC and decent Sweeping Strikes. You can go Str-based if you want better synergy with LD in epics, but it'll make you a bit squishier through heroics. I don't have Falconry so I can't claim to understand the synergy, but I would personally go with Harper over Falconry

[Elfishski]

So I have some quarterstaves left over from a couple of Henshin Mystic lives on another character and I have a character I'm thinking of TRing to Rogue to have some sneaky fun in Sharn. I can't decide though if I want to stick with Assassin like I have always done in the past or if I want to try something new with this Rogue. I'd like to give Thief-Acrobat a try, but I feel like they are pretty underused in DDO. Has anyone tried playing as a Thief-Acrobat and how is it? I know weapon damage can be an issue but I'm hoping the Falconry tree can help with that.

P.S. I'm not interested in making a Mechanic.

I found Thief-Acrobat to be a lot of fun. Assuming you have a few good quarterstaves at least, ideally with backups for when they break.

It's very squishy when it gets hit (as appropriate), but if you focus on upping your standing dodge/max dodge and make liberal use of Uncanny Dodge (and in epics also Meld into Shadows), make sure you have a deception item (to get sneak attack and also make monsters spin around and not hit you), and always keep moving, then you shouldn't be getting hit. Also Sweeping Strikes is one of those abilities that seems to work way more reliably than you'd think based on the DC, and tripping all the monsters near you is another great way to not get hit while you kill them all.

Solo you have to be on your toes all the time, in a group with a tank and a healer it really shines and has plenty of DPS including AOE cleaves and multiple targets with the capstone, all of which get huge amounts of sneak attack and helpless damage multipliers. I'm not sure if that DPS really compares to e.g. Assassin (I assume not that favourably given that none of the meta-gamers seem to play Thief-Acrobats), but it was very solid when I tried it.

[NemesisAlien]

I also thinking of doing acrobat next life, parking here for info.

[Emerge2012]

So I have some quarterstaves left over from a couple of Henshin Mystic lives on another character and I have a character I'm thinking of TRing to Rogue to have some sneaky fun in Sharn. I can't decide though if I want to stick with Assassin like I have always done in the past or if I want to try something new with this Rogue. I'd like to give Thief-Acrobat a try, but I feel like they are pretty underused in DDO. Has anyone tried playing as a Thief-Acrobat and how is it? I know weapon damage can be an issue but I'm hoping the Falconry tree can help with that.

P.S. I'm not interested in making a Mechanic.

Acrobat is a VERY solid tree on it's own! However the reason you don't see many is that it has terrible synergy with everything else if you're a pure rogue. For instance the other rogue trees don't offer you a whole lot as secondary trees and Acrobat itself really wants you to be str or dex based which makes Harper/Falconry harder to invest in to keep the damage/tactics high. Assassin/Mechanic are generally easier with higher ceiling due to the ease of being Int based.

Could you easily do a wisdom based aasimar acrobat? Sure! Spend 16 or so in Aasimar, capstone in acrobat, then get yourself some tier 4 goodies from the bird tree. Would be nice self healing that recharges, some on hit vulnerable, and good tactics DC's - at the expense of maybe struggling to do traps on the top end without excessive gear swaps. If I were to build one this is probably the route I'd take as the good gearsets really support dex as a secondary stat anyways.

[Hipparan]

Acrobat is a VERY solid tree on it's own! However the reason you don't see many is that it has terrible synergy with everything else if you're a pure rogue. For instance the other rogue trees don't offer you a whole lot as secondary trees and Acrobat itself really wants you to be str or dex based which makes Harper/Falconry harder to invest in to keep the damage/tactics high. Assassin/Mechanic are generally easier with higher ceiling due to the ease of being Int based.

Could you easily do a wisdom based aasimar acrobat? Sure! Spend 16 or so in Aasimar, capstone in acrobat, then get yourself some tier 4 goodies from the bird tree. Would be nice self healing that recharges, some on hit vulnerable, and good tactics DC's - at the expense of maybe struggling to do traps on the top end without excessive gear swaps. If I were to build one this is probably the route I'd take as the good gearsets really support dex as a secondary stat anyways.

Wisdom Acrobat build sounds interesting, but I was thinking more along the lines of spending just enough points to get Meticulous Weaponry. The negative thing I've heard the most about Thief-Acrobats and other staff builds is the staves breaking so that should help. Getting some extra PRR/Healing Amp can't hurt a Rogue either.

[Emerge2012]

Wisdom Acrobat build sounds interesting, but I was thinking more along the lines of spending just enough points to get Meticulous Weaponry. The negative thing I've heard the most about Thief-Acrobats and other staff builds is the staves breaking so that should help. Getting some extra PRR/Healing Amp can't hurt a Rogue either.

Definitely has a problem with staves breaking. The best staff is a lvl 7 until epics and it's not exactly durable. Last time I ran a staff build I no joke had 3 Elemental Blooms in my inventory the whole time and got to use them all more much more often than I ever thought I would.

[NemesisAlien]

Definitely has a problem with staves breaking. The best staff is a lvl 7 until epics and it's not exactly durable. Last time I ran a staff build I no joke had 3 Elemental Blooms in my inventory the whole time and got to use them all more much more often than I ever thought I would.

Till now i cant figure out which is better, densewood or darkwood staves, whats the difference anyway

Lev 1 staff of nothing with meteoric star ruby pwns everything between 1 - 5. Except the pit maybe, because **** ooze noms even wood...

[C-Dog]

Till now i cant figure out which is better, densewood or darkwood staves, whats the difference anyway

If you're crafting, Steel. Seriously.

But to answer your question, in D&D Darkwood is supposed to be +1 point harder than wood (and half the weight), and Densewood is supposed to be +2 points harder. But in DDO, both hardness and durability scale some when Cannith Crafted, so the actual values vary.

So Densewood is better - just not as good as steel.