Difference between revisions of "Rogue"

Revision as of 14:38, 6 September 2008

Template:Diablo Characters These female warriors are competent with a sword and can hold their own using magic, but their true mastery comes with a bow in their hands. Rogues have the fastest firing rate, best arrow accuracy, and enjoy a hidden to/hit bonus with arrows that makes their archery unmatchable by other classes. Their main statistic is dexterity, of which they an amass a tremendous amount, giving them very high inherent damage and to/hit.

Inherent Skill

Rogues have an inherent ability to sense traps on chests and doors, and have a skill that lets them attempt to open the chest/door while disarming the trap. This isn't a very necessary ability in Diablo and Hellfire, since traps are not all that damaging (though the mana drain and potion devaluing traps in Hellfire can be pretty annoying). It's much more useful in some of the Diablo and Hellfire mods, where trap damage is greatly increased.

The odds of this skill working increase with more dexterity. Traps on the lower levels of the dungeon are more difficult to disarm. Here's the formula:

1. x = 2·Dex - 5·dlvl
2. if x > Rnd[100], trap is disarmed

For instance, if your rogue has 150 dexterity and is on level 14, that's 2 x 150 - 5 x 14 = 300 - 70 = 230 which is quite a bit greater than 100. This math aside, trapped chests on hell levels in Hellfire are seldom disarmed by this skill, but this might be due to a bug.

Stats and Attributes

A collection of useful stats and figures for the Rogue. Refer to the Diablo Characters page to see these figures, and others, in tables for easy comparison between the characters.

• * Not all maximum values can be achieved at once. Each value is only attainable by devoting all of your equipment to that particular attribute or statistic.
• ** Hellfire maximum values are higher for the Rogue, Warrior, and Sorcerer since new uniques added in Hellfire make possible much higher attribute levels. The values for mana and life do not include the unique jewelry that transfers life to mana, or vice versa.
• *** No life or mana increases are granted at level 50.

Rogue Tactics

Rogues are the master of the bow, firing more rapidly and with much more accuracy and damage than any of the other characters. Rogues enjoy a hidden +20 To/Hit bonus when using a bow, and their enormous dexterity total boosts their damage, while their to/hit easily reaches levels other characters can only achieve with specialized equipment.

Melee Combat

Rogues can engage in melee combat with some effectiveness. They have naturally high to/hit and AC, thanks to their dexterity, and they block well and have a decent swing speed. However, they can not match a Warrior in damage, they can not swing fast enough to stun lock targets (even with of Haste on a weapon), and they don't usually have high enough hit points to take the sort of toe to toe damage melee fighting requires. Rogues may choose to use melee combat and spells on levels where using a bow is dangerous; when stunlock risks such as Stormbringers, Drakes, or Lava Dogs abound, for instance. But it's seldom an approach that's best suited to a rogue's long term needs.

Magery

Rogues can be effective playing as mini-mages, but it requires good technique and excellent equipment, since Rogues have some magery shortcomings. They can not raise their mana as high as a sorcerer, they do not cast as quickly, and they do not have the natural magical to/hit values. Worst of all, Rogues in Diablo (but not Hellfire) can not raise their magic to 255 (245 is the max), so are unable to read the higher level books. Fireball is the biggest handicap, since it requires 199 to read the level 9 book, and above that it's 255, and out of reach for a Rogue. This means a Rogue must engage in some serious shrine running to try to find 6 Enchanted Shrines to max out her Fireball.

If a Rogue does manage to boost her spells at least a few levels with Enchanted Shrines, she needs quality equipment too, ideally stuff that boosts her magic. To/hit with spells (Fireball, principally) is determined by a character's magic value, and at least 150-200 magic is required for good accuracy on Hell difficulty. Magic and spell level boosting gear is therefore at a premium, and sticking a Thinking Cap and Dreamflange on your mini-mage Rogue is almost essential.

All that accomplished, the Rogue can be an effective magical killer. She'll always be a mini-mage; casting more slowly and drinking more potions since she has less mana, but there's a reason the Sorcerer is by far the fastest killing character in the game, and it's because spells are way overpowered, at least in regulation Diablo. A rogue can't match a Sorcerer on all magic levels, but she can emulate him and clear levels much more quickly than a Warrior can ever hope to, and her ability to go to bow mode makes her faster than any Sorcerer on a level with triple immune Soul Burners or Advocates.

Bow Strategy

Using a corpse on a stick for cover.

The key to using a bow effectively is shooting in straight lines and using the dungeon terrain against the monsters. Use the shift key to hold still, aim in a direction (not at a specific target, if you can help it), and click click click. Most monsters in Diablo and Hellfire walk straight towards the target, and that's where a Rogue's high speed ranged attack becomes devastating. Get them coming right at you, line them up, and pincushion them. Also, monsters with unusual movement patterns don't use them at a great distance. Drakes and Balrogs, for instance, don't dance around or dive in from odd angles when they're at the edge of the screen, so they can be killed more easily the further away they are.

Arrow accuracy decreases over distance (actually it decreases with time, but the result is the same), but arrows have very good range. It's very possible to stun lock and kill targets that are well off the visible screen, and a cautious Rogue can turn large, open levels (such as you find in Hell) into virtual bowling alleys. Fire half a dozen shots in a straight line, listen for monster hit sounds, and keep shooting if you get them. If not, move over one step and repeat. Arrows are accurate for about two screens, and since dungeons are only around 6x6 screens in total size, a rogue near the middle of a level can shoot almost to the far edges in every direction.

Diagonal shots can be used, and they're 100% accurate against stationary targets, such as witches or mages. But against moving targets, straight lines are the way to go. Monsters that advance right at you, such as knights, are much easier to deal with than Drakes or other monsters that skitter around diagonally.

Use doorways and other bottlenecks when possible, such as in the Church and Cats. Corners are very useful too; monsters run into each other and jockey for position when moving, and if they're rounding a corner and you're nailing the one in front, the others have to pathfind around the one in front. Firing along walls, rather than while standing in the center of room, is another good idea. Many monsters, goatmen and Balrogs for two, run around in circling patterns, until they reach a wall, which they will usually advance along for a few spaces. If your rogue is firing along that wall, the monsters will get drilled when their AI drives them to run along it.

Rogues can stun lock enemies at point blank range, but it's wiser to force them to keep their distance. Monsters often twitch quickly enough to get in a swing between shots, or if a shot misses. If they're at melee range, they may hit you. If they're 3 or 4 spaces away, they'll try to take a step forward and your next arrow will probably interrupt their movement. And if not, they're still well out of melee range. Also, each shot will stun or stop a monster, turning it into an obstacle to enemies behind it.

Between the corner and the corpse, only witches in a straight line can hit this covering Rogue.

Witches are a particular favorite of Rogues, since their AI is so easily abused. Most rogues love to enter a room, attract the attention of a dozen witches, then lead them back to a corner. Stand one space back from the corner and watch the witches line up firing at the wall beside you while you pick them off with impunity. Blood Stars don't deal splash damage, so if they don't hit, they don't hurt. Impaled bodies, Cauldrons, and other obstacles can be used just as well as walls and corners.

Spell Support

Fire spells along with arrows. Don't forget to kill with magic even while using a bow; a Rogue with high level Fireball and Chain Lightning can devastate enemies with those spells, even when not in mini-mage equipment. On lots of Hell levels one type of monster can be quickly wiped out with Fireball or Chain Lightning, and if you see a cluster of them, let them have it, reserving your arrows for single targets or the resistant/immune enemies you can't nuke. The mana cost of the spells is well worth the time savings.

Stone Curse is another very useful skill, both to stop attackers and to stop monsters from attacking. If you're firing at an Advocate with several others on the screen, stone curse some of them. Healing the damage from their Fireballs would cost as much or more mana as the stone curses, and that's especially true if you're using Mana Shield. It's also useful to stone curse one type of monster in a mixed mob; stone that one Steel Lord that's marching towards you while you pick off the half dozen much lower damage/hit points mages around the corners of the room.

Besides Stone Curse, the most useful Rogue spell is probably Teleport. The best way to deal with monsters is to shoot them from a distance, and the best way to maintain that distance against packs of approaching enemies is to teleport back. Fire in a line and get all the hits you can, teleport back a full screen when the monsters are almost in melee range, and keep firing.

Bow Damage Limitation

To limit the rogue's lethal speed with the bow, Blizzard made it so bows only add their damage to the base total derived from strength, dexterity, and character level. As a result, rather than the bow damage being modified by the rogue's attributes, the bow damage simply adds on.

For example, if a rogue does 70-80 naked and equips a plain long long war bow that does 1-14 damage, she'll do 71-94. If the bow has the Massive prefix that adds +100% damage, the rogue will deal 72-108 damage, meaning the bow only adds 2-28 total damage, and the prefix only adds 1-14.

For this reason, many high level rogues prefer to find a bow that adds resistance with the prefix (Obsidian or Emerald, ideally), since there isn't that much difference in damage, and a substantial resistance bonus from the bow frees up other equipment slots to pursue other bonuses. (This generally results in more mana, since the only useful high level jewelry prefixes grant resistance or +mana, and if an obsidian or other resistance ring/amulet is taken off, the best alternative is usually drakes or dragons of _______.)

Rogue Lore

Rogue concept art.

Rogues are members of an all-female guild, renowned for their archery and combat skill. The official game fiction reads as follows:

The Sisters of the Sightless Eye are a loosely organized guild shrouded in mystery amongst the peoples of the West. These highly skilled archers employ ancient Eastern philosophies that develop an "inner-sight" that they use both in combat and to circumvent dangerous traps that they may encounter. Known only as wandering Rogues in the West, the Sisters conceal their secret affiliation by posing as simple travelers. Many pompous fools have made the mistake of underestimating these steel nerved women in combat and paid a terrible price for their vanity.

The strange events transpiring in Khanduras have caught the attention of many of these Rogues. They have come from as far as the Eastern dunes to test their skills against the dark evil that is said to be lurking in Tristram. It is also believed that untold riches wait to be discovered among the ruins of the ancient cathedral.

Although not as powerful in close combat as the Warrior, the Rogue is the undisputed master of the bow. A skilled Sister can send a stream of arrows at an opponent, each fired with a seemingly careless precision. The innate sixth sense that all Rogues seem to possess also allows them to sense trapped fixtures, and aids them in attempts to disarm these traps.

Rogues returned in Diablo II, as the main NPCs of Act One. It was their monastery through which the Dark Wanderer passed, waking demons and calling forth Andariel, the Maiden of Anguish, to corrupt and defile the Sisters and their stronghold. Rogues can be hired as mercenaries in Act One, and as part of the game fiction players learn that the rogue character from Diablo I returned to the Monastery and was corrupted, eventually becoming Blood Raven, a demon archer you must defeat in one of the earliest quests in Diablo II.

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