The Rogue -Last Updated 5-7-2004

Available to: Human, Orc, Night Elf, Dwarf, Troll, Undead, Dwarf, Gnome Best For: Orc Primary Attribute: Agility Secondary Attributes: Strength, Stamina, Spirit Tertiary Attributes: Intelligence Damage Bonus From: Strength, Agility Skills Require... Energy Allowable Armor: Cloth, Leather Starting Weapons Proficiencies: Dagger, Thrown Unlike conventional MMORPGs, the Rogue is not certain not a weak fighter. In fact, he can be considered the offensive counterpart of the Warrior, or the melee version of the mage. The rogue, left unchecked, has the capacity to deal the greatest damage in the shortest amount of time. .

The rogue is a tricky but rewarding class to play, and direct contrast to the Paladin. Where's the latter had 2 special attacks with very high cooldowns,the Rogue has dozens, and all of them have virtually no cooldown. Fighting with the rogue involves involves frantic pace, and clicking on all your different abilities like a madman. This is certainly not a class that you play by right clicking on a monster, and then go to get a cup of coffee.

Rogues operate best from surprise, or when attacking a distracted foe. Many of his most powerful combat moves require him to be either catch the enemy unaware, or be attacking from behind. And when that happens.... your foe is as good as dead.

The rogue's only weakness is their lack of hitpoints, this coupled with the restriction of Leather Armor makes a rogue the most fragile melee fighter. That isn't to say, that he is defenseless in a fair fight... just that he really shines when it isn't fair!

If you choose the play rogue, be prepared to carefully plan out your battle tactics. Rogue fights are fast paced, full of action, and require careful micro. And when you win, you'll feel like you've achieved something, and that you won because of your skills, and not your character's stats.

Ability Mechanics:

The spell system of the Rogue works in a very similar fashion to all other classes. Instead of allocating skill points to spells at each level, the Rogue purchases his spells from Rogue Trainers. This ensures that a player is not penalized for casting a using range of spells over specializing in a certain type.

Ability Types
The Rogue has several schools of magic, with effects far ranged and varied. However, their spells basically boil down to the following types:

Instant Abilities:
No casting time. They are great in mid combat as there's no chance they will be disrupted. In addition, you can cast them immediately after a sorcery, or even between two attacks! Their drawback is that you have to wait a while to use them again. Note that. Eg: Evasion

We note that all combat abilities for the rogue are instants, which means the rogue can really deal horrendous damage compared to other classes. In addition, many of the skills have no notable cooldown, and can thus be used whenever you like. All that limits you from spamming them is your energy. The highlight of the rogue is that virtually none of his combat abilities feature no cooldown, and thus he can add damage to every blow. Thus, it is essential for your rogue to be wielding a weapon of fast attack speed. When armed with two such weapons, a rogue represents a flurry of weapons and skills.

Combat Manuevers

The rogue has a complex system of combat maneuvers. Many of his attacks are deviled into build-up moves, and finishing moves. This is reminiscent the Assassin in Diablo II.

Build-up Moves:
A successful attack with a build up move will create a combo point on the target. Each target can gain up to 5 combo points. They usually have no cooldown, and how reasonable low energy costs, so that they can be used on almost every attack.

Finishing Moves:
Finishing moves can only be used on targets that have at least one combo point. The damage they do depends on how many combo points have been landed on the target, but usually, it ends up to be some horrendous amount that really 'finishs' the target.

In addition, certain abilities require the Rogue to be behind the target, such as 'Backstab'. These skills are rather difficult to execute in solo combat, though can be achieve by sneaking around behind the opponent when he stunned. However, when parties with a warrior who's taking all hits, Rogues can go into backstab frenzy... and that's just nasty.

Energy
All rogue combat abilities use energy rather than mana. In fact, the Rogue does not use mana at all... or even have a mana bar for that matter. The energy pool of a rogue does not increase per level, and always has a maximum of 100.

While it easy to exhaust one's energy pull with quick successive skills, energy regenerates from 0 to 100 within seconds. Thus, energy really only acts to slow down a rogue slightly, and will never force the rogue to be unable to use any special attacks for more than a second or so. So, unlike the mage, a Rogue can deal incredible damage indefinitely.

Stealth

One of the defining skills of a rogue is his ability to go into stealth mode. In this mode,the rogue becomes invisible to all enemies till he gets very close. Once fully trained, a rogue should be able to slip past enemies of equal level from as close as 1 foot away. This ability, needless to say, makes it very easy for the rogue to escaped tough situations, such as being trapped in cave, or sneaking back to his party members after dying in an stance.

Many abilities, both combat and non-combat, such as ambush, can only be used while in Stealth Mode. These move are generally very powerful when executed, and can decide the battle then are there. However, as stealth can only be activated out of combat, you can only use these once.

Stealth: -Non-combat Instant Target: Self The rogue is able to enter stealth mode instantly provided he is not in combat. In stealth mode, the rogue's stealth skill is compared with the level of the monster he is trying to sneak past, with adjustments based on how close the monster is and whether it is facing the player. Stealth is essential for a rogue, and many of his skills depend on it. The only drawback is that players walk slower in stealth mode. Stealth lasts until cancelled. This skill is easy to train, simply put on sneak and stand in front of monster. Grab a drink, come back, and your stealth skill will have reached its cap for your level! Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Move Speed 1 1 10 0 10.0s 50% 2 20 20 0 10.0s 60% 3 40 2 0 10.0s 70%

Vanish: -Instant Reagents: Flash Powder The rogue throws flash powder onto the ground, and disappears in a puff of smoke. Or rather, he enters improved stealth mode, which is really equivalent to the Mage's Lesser Invisibility. This spell is extremely useful for escaping during emergencies. The rogue returns to normal stealth mode after 30 seconds. Flash Power must be bought to use this spell. Fortunately it is readily available at vendors, and has a negligible price of 50. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Duration 1 22 40 0 5 min 30s

Street Fighting

The rogue is a master of cheap tactics and cheap shots, taking every advantage he can in battle. Street Fighting skills reflect this, and feature a wide variety of 'build up' moves that land combo points on the enemy. Many of these are instant, meaning that they don't count towards to cooldown of the rogues weapon. Thus, a dual wielding rogue can attack twice per around with his daggers, and then land a third blow in the enemies face! Talk about damage!

	Sinister Strike -Instant Build-Up Move Target: Enemy Adds: 1 Combo Point Requires: Melee Weapon Required Position: None The first, and most broadly used rogue combat ability. Sinister Strike effectively gives the rogue an extra attack each around whenever energy allows, that does almost twice as damage as a normal attack. In effect, it almost doubles a rogues damage output. A typical rogue fight involves spamming this skill a lot, since it has no cooldown and doesn't require you to be anywhere special. The spell deals the user normal damage with his weapon, plus X addition damage, depending on the rank of the spell. Note, this is instant, not a next attack skill! you can fit it between your normal weapon cooldown... cool huh? Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Extra Damage 2 6 2 45 0 5 yrd 6 3 14 13 45 0 5 yrd 9 4 22 40 45 0 5 yrd 12 5 30 80 45 0 5 yrd 15 6 38 1 70 45 0 5 yrd 18
	Gouge -Instant Build-Up Move Target: Enemy Adds: 1 Combo Point Requires: Melee Weapon Required Position: In front of Target Unlike most Rogue skills, this one actually requires the Rogue to be in front of the enemy. The rogue draws his knife, and gauges the enemy across the face, dealing X damage and dazing them for a short period of time. Dazed opponents are unable to move or attack. Attacking the enemy will automatically end Daze, much like it does to sleep. This spell is usually used to get your rogue behind the target. A favorite combo is the gouge the opponent, walk behind him, then backstab him. Great damage! This move is limited by cooldown, so use it whenever possible. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Daze Duration Damage Damage/Energy 1 6 2 45 10s 5 yd 4.0s 10 0.25 2 18 25 45 10s 5 yd 4.0s 20 0.25
	Slice and Dice -Instant Finishing Move Target: Enemy The Rogue goes into an offensive frenzy for a period of time determined by the number of combo points landed on the opponent. This finishing move is great against casters. The sheer speed in which you attack will disrupt their spells. It is most effective against units with weak armor. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Attack Speed Duration 1 10 7 50 25 1s 5 yrd +20% 9 + 3s/Combo Pt
	Cheap Shot -Instant Build-Up Move Target: Enemy Adds: 2 Combo Points Requires: Melee Weapon Required Position: Stealth Mode The Rogue attacks from the dark, stunning to target for a short period of time. This skill is best used in parties, where the stunned opponent is focus fired to destruction. Cheap Shot has the advantage of not requiring you to be behind the enemy, and is thus much easier to pull off than ambush. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Stun Duration 1 26 60 45 1.0s 5 yd 4.0s
	Kick -Instant Target: Enemy Requires: None Required Position: None A quick kick to the groin insures the silence of a spell caster, well almost. Kick deals a small amount of damage to the enemy, and has a 75% chance is disrupting all spells the target casts for the next 6 seconds. It has a low energy cost, which ensures that you'll be able to cast it when you see a mage trying to get off a spell. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Damage Damage/Energy 1 26 60 25 10s 5 yd 10 0.40
	Kidney Shot -Instant Finishing Move Requires: Melee Weapon Target: Enemy A finishing move that strikes the enemy in the kidney, stunning them for a duration dependent on the number of combo points landed on the target. This finishing move doesn't actually deal damage, and hence isn't too useful except for spell disruption when soloing. In parties however, it's ideal for those times when the monsters got you on his aggro list, and you just want to get away, and still be useful! Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Stun Duration 1 26 60 25 20s 5 yd 1.0s/Combo Pt

Assassination

In contrast with street fighting, assassinations all about dealing damage, as fast and as hard as possible. The abilities features are the one responsible for making the rogue the class with the highest damage output. Never turn your back on a rogue... and here's why.

	Eviscerate -Instant Finishing Move Requires: Melee Weapon Target: Enemy This is your basic use at any time finishing moves! Eviscerate is a straight forward skill, you can use it in any situation, and with no cooldown. It deals instant damage, and depending on the number of combo points you have, is quite likely to kill a injured enemy outright. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Damage Damage/Energy 2 8 3 50 35 1.0s 5 yd 5-15 + 12/Cp 0.28 + 0.34/Cp 3 8 3 50 35 1.0s 5 yd 8-24 + 22/Cp 0.46 + 0.63/Cp 4 32 1 35 1.0s 5 yd 18-54 + 50/Cp 1.03 + 1.43/Cp 5 40 2 35 1.0s 5 yd 25-75 + 71/Cp 1.43 + 2.03/Cp
	Backstab -Instant Build-up Skill Target: Enemy Adds: 1 Combo Point Requires: Dagger Required Position: Behind Target Anyone who turns their back on a rogue will be painly reminded that its not a good idea. Backstab deals a multiplier of the players normal damage, depending on the rank of the skill, as will as an addition X bonus damage. Unfortunately, the skill can't be used all the time. It is lethal in conjunction with gouge, which allows the Rogue to walk behind his opponent. A cunning rogue will use feint to get rid of enemy threat in a party, and wait till the enemy turns towards an ally, then, straight from behind. Stab! This spell is awesome when the enemy as enraged against an ally, sometimes, they won't turn even after being backstabbed... heck, just backstab again! Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Damage Multiplier Bonus Damage 1 4 80 60 1.0s 5 yd 150% 15hp 2 12 10 60 1.0s 5 yd 150% 30hp 3 20 30 60 1.0s 5 yd 150% 45hp 4 28 70 60 1.0s 5 yd 150% 60hp 5 36 1 50 60 1.0s 5 yd 150% 75hp
	Sap -Instant Target: Unaware Enemy Requires: Melee Weapon Required Position: In Stealth The rogue knocks out an unwary target from behind. The target falls in slumber of a significant period of time. Any damage dealt to the target will make him from his slumber. Sap can only be used gainst enemies that are not in combat, while you are in stealth mode. Despite the rather strict conditions, it is a great ground control spell that allows the rogue to face multiple opponents. See a camp of 2 Orcs? Sap one, and kill the other! Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Sleep Duration 1 10 7 50 65 1.0s 5 yd 25s 2 28 70 65 1.0s 5 yd 35s
	Garrote -Instant Build-Up Skill Target: Unaware Enemy Adds: 1 Combo Point Requires: Stealth Required Position: Behind Target Garrotes the enemy, causing a massive amount of damage over a fairly short period of time. Garrote is great way to start 1vs1 battles against tough mobs. The fact that you do need to be behind the target and stealthed to use this ability makes it difficult to pull off against a group of moves (in which case, sap would be better any way). Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Damage Damage/Energy 1 14 13 55 1.0s 5 yd 108 over 18s 1.96 2 22 40 55 1.0s 5 yd 144 over 18s 2.88 3 30 80 55 1.0s 5 yd 180 over 18s 3.27 4 38 1 70 55 1.0s 5 yd 216 over 18s 3.92
	Ambush -Instant Build-Up Skill Target: Unaware Enemy Adds: 1 Combo Point Requires: Stealth Required Position: Behind Target Ambush is a instant damage version of Garrote, and is better suited against mages, and many vs few battles, where you don't think the mage will last the amount of time required for Garrote to run its course. The damage it deals is very much dependent on the damage of your weapon, and you're recommend to make a short calculation to decide which is better at a given situation. It operates much like backstab, except it does way more damage, but at the price of being restricted to Stealth Mode, and thus can be used only once in any usual battle. That is, the damage dealt is a multiplier of the melee weapon the Rogue usually does, plus additional bonus damage. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Damage Multiplier Bonus Damage 1 18 25 60 1.0s 5 yd 250% 50hp 2 26 60 60 1.0s 5 yd 250% 75hp 3 32 1 20 60 1.0s 5 yd 250% 100hp
	Rupture -Instant Finishing Move Requires: Melee Weapon Target: Enemy Rupture uses your combo points to slit the opponents artery, causing heavy damage over time. It's excellent to use during the first half of battles against tough opponents. Alternatively, it can also be used in fight that you're not certain you'll win, and both the enemy and you are on low health. Rupture him, cast Sprint or Evasion, and run off. Let his wound do the rest! The Duration of the Rupture increases depending on the number of combo points on there target. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Duration Damage Damage/Energy 1 20 30 25 1.0s 2 + 4 per Cp 10hp/s 0.80 + 1.60/Cp 2 28 70 25 1.0s 2 + 4 per Cp 15hp/s 1.20 + 2.40/Cp 3 36 1 70 25 1.0s 2 + 4 per Cp 20hp/s 1.60 + 3.20/Cp

Deception

Deception deals with misguiding the enemy, and rogues are great at that. When trained properly,a cunning rogue can make monsters behave like morons.

	Feint -Instant Build-Up Move Target: Enemy Adds: 1 Combo Point Requires: None Required Position: None Launches an attack that deals no damage, which lulls the opponent into a false sense of security. It adds one combo point for extra damage later, and lower the threat of the rogue. Use this when you just dealt too much damage in a party, and gained too much threat. This allows you to perform a devastating finishing move once the enemy has his back turned. Note that Fient doesn't actually reduce a rogue's damage output, since its an instant spell. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Threat Lowered By 1 16 18 35 1.0s 5 yd 10% 2 28 70 35 1.0s 5 yd 20%
	Gouge -Instant Target: Enemy Requires: None Required Position: None Attempts to distract nearby monsters by throwing something at a target location. Distracted monsters will move in to investigate. The chance of success depends on the Rogue's Deception Skill. This spell does not break stealth, and is ideally used to clear a path, allowing your rogue to slip through. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range 1 25 50 35 30s 30 yd
	Blind -Instant Target: Enemy Required Skills: Poison(1) Required Reagents: Blinding Powder Due to its highly cooldown, and reagent requirement, this powerful spell should only be used against bosses or as a last ditch means of escape or victory. Blind instantly blinds the target, causing to the wonder around aimlessly at a slower speed for the duration of the spell. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Move Speed Duration 1 34 50 35 5 min 10 yd 40% 10s

Defense

While the rogue may take fewer hits compared to the Warrior or Paladin, he's is just as hard to kill. When cornered, a rogue has several spells that takes himself from the clutches of death.

Evasion -Instant Target: Self Duration: 15s Evasion increases the Rogue's Dodge chance by huge amount. Given that he's normal chance to dodge is at around 20%, this spell effectively gives him around 266% his usual life at Rank 1. It has a long cooldown, so save it for though tough fights where your surrounded. Together with Sprint, Evasion get the Rogue out of almost any situation. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Dodge Chance 1 8 3 50 35 1.0s 5 yd +50%

Thief Skills:

In addition to combat abilties, the rogue also gets several utility skills that comes as a bonus to the class. These truly make the rogue a versatile character in any situation:

	Pick Pocket -Instant Target: Enemy Required: Stealth Pick's the target's pocket. The chance of success depends on the target's level, and your pickpocketing skill. You may only pick the pocket on each monster once. A monster still spawns normal drops even if its pockets has been picked, so a rogue can effectively get twice the income per monster. Failure takes you out of stealth and causes monster to attack. Rank Required Level Cost Energy Cooldown Range Move Speed Duration 1 4 80 0 1 s 5 yd
	Pick Lock: -Trade Skill Level Required: 16 Cost: 18 Pick Locks allows the Rogue to open a variety of locked chests. While every class can gain Pick Locks for 100 Skill Points, the Rogue has the option of purchasing the skill instead, allowing him to save up his skill points for other Trade Skills, and getting the skill much earlier than most.
	Poisons: -Exclusive Rogue Trade Skill Level Required: 20 Cost: 30 Poisons operates in a very similar fashion to normal Trade Skills, except that only Rogues may obtain them. With this skill, a rogue can use a variety of materials he finds and purchases to create poisons that can be coated on weapons, or reagents such as Blinding Powder.

Character Development:

Rogues do not have a mana bar, and therefore intelligence is absolutely useless to them. That is, they don't have any effect at all. So don't waste any skill points rasing the attribute. Everything else is useful, so keep them maxed.

At lower levels, Rogues may wish to purchase cheap throwing weapons to pull enemy mobs. At higher levels, investing in Bow Skills is a good idea, giving the rogue ranged flexibility.

Trade Skills useful to the Rogue include:

Lockpicking: You get this without having to pay skill points, so use it.
Skinning: Gather Leather for Leatherworking.
Leartherworking: Learthworking provides lots of armor that's ideal for the Rogue..
Cooking: Regenerate your health after fights.
First Aid: Pick Pocket allows the Rogue to get more Linen than any other class. Great for healing yourself..
Avoid getting skills that are made redundant by your skills, or make equipment that you do not wish to use. Eg: Smithing. Definitely pick at least one of First Aid or Cooking, the Rogue has no innate methods of healing himself, and either of these abilities will really cut down on your downtime.

Typical Combat:

Below are typical sequences for fighting in solo. There lots of variations here, I'll just list one viable version.

Against Melee
- Pull with throwing weapon/Bow
- Sinister Strike
- Eviscerate

Against Missile
- Sneak
- Garrote
- Backstab
- Sinister Strike - Eviscerate

Against Caster
- Moonfire
- Sneak
- Ambush
- Kick
- Gouge
- Backstab

When in a Party, a rogue needs beware about threat. With he's potential to deal huge damage, a rogue can easily attract the threat of every mob and suffer a cruel death. Use Feint and Stunn Spells to get enemies off you, so that you may backstab them from behind. Generally, stay in cloaked form and let someone else do the pulling, then deal the pain.

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