Starting a Rogue

The role of the Rogue in DDO is to do damage and to provide utility by using rogue specific skills. The key to doing good damage is sneak attack which gives you a huge damage boost when you attack something that is not attacking you. Utility is provided by using rogue skills, specifically Disable Device, Search, Use Magic Device, Open Lock, and Spot. With the caveat that Spot for locating traps is extremely useful for new players and useless for veterans (spot can be still useful if you're using ranged attacks or if you don't want to bump into hidden mobs while sneaking).

The Rogue receives more skills and more skill points than any other class available. Rogue builds can therefore have a bunch of variety. That being said, the two rogue builds often played are those that focus more on skills and those that focus more on damage. As a Rogue you will be expected to provide good DPS and good trap disarmament regardless of your specific build. There are some specialty builds that allow for very high AC and tanking, and plenty of multi-class builds as well, these types of builds typically will be outside the scope of this page. Always pick 'customize' for your path.

When building your Rogue regardless of your focus you should get MAX ranks in the following skills Use Magic Device, Search, Disable Device and Open Lock (open lock can lag behind slightly if you cannot afford it). Jump and Spot are honorable mentions. Also Balance should get some points but doesn't need to be kept at MAX. Put a minimum of 1 point into tumble because it's fun, and the rest of your skills you can play around with based on personal taste. One nice thing about Rogue is that they get so many skill points that if you screwed up which skills to take (like not taking UMD) you can just devote tons of points in that skill later on and catch up easily so there is no need to re-roll.

Starting Abilities
 * Constitution: Put at least 6 points here. The more the better.
 * Dexterity: Most rogues fight with two weapons (synergy with sneak attack), a dexterity score of 17 is needed for Greater Two Weapon Fighting feat. Strength-based rogues start with 15 or 16 dex and use a tome to reach 17. Dexterity-based rogues start with 17 or more. Few rare rogues dump dex and use two-handed weapons + cleave/great cleave.
 * Strength is important for melee damage. Even dexterity-based rogues need strength. 13 is needed for Power Attack.
 * Intelligence: Many rogues don't need to put points into this ability. Rogues that multiclass into classes with less skills per level might need to put some points here. Rogue mechanics can add their Intelligence modifier to damage with crossbows.
 * Wisdom is usually dumped.
 * Charisma is usually dumped as well. Some points help to increase UMD (and less importantly, other charisma skills).

To do damage you will be dual wielding. There are two options for getting your hitroll high enough to hit things, have high strength so that you can get decent hit roll, or have high dex and take the Weapon Finesse feat which converts your dex into hit roll. The advantage of using the high strength method is you will get higher damage. The advantage to the high dex method is that it's easier for you to get your dex high because 17 base dex is required anyway for the two weapon fighting feats and you get class enhancements that raise dex. Here's a rule of thumb but by no means required, if you want to focus more on damage go for str and if you want to go more for skills go for dex. You need to make this decision in your head at character creation, or you will mess up your toon and end up re-rolling.

As you read the builds, remember that this is your game and your character. What ultimately matters is your gameplay experience, so feel free to deviate in race, feats, etc. That said, this is the newbie guide so it's going to focus on what's fun, satisfying, and not going to make you re-roll over and over trying to get it right. Do not under any circumstances go crazy with a skill build forsaking all hope of DPS. All builds are 28-point builds with no tomes, because that's what noobs have available to them.

In terms of choosing a race, you should pick Human, Dwarf, or Halfling. Yes, other options are very viable and even great, but you should pick one of those three and you will be guaranteed to be happy with your choice.

Skills Focused Build
For a skills focused build, Human or Halfling are great choices. Human is nice with human versatility and bonus feat, with Halfling you can pump your int up to 16 for extra skill points and one more skill point higher in search and disable device from the higher int. These builds are pretty versatile and you can easily switch to a more DPS focus later on by changing your enhancements. Halfling gets extra sneak attack bonuses so their DPS doesn't suffer from the -2str also. These are very safe choices.

Attributes
Every four levels put your stat points into DEX
 * For Halflings, to get power attack, you need 13 base strength, if you want to hedge your bets here that you might want to switch to a dps rogue later, go with 13str/17dex/14int.

Skills
Keep Disable Device, Open Lock, Search, Use Magic Device, Jump and Spot at their maximum level. Feel free also to keep some of the less essential skills at less than their maximum level, spreading points out between several skills. Don't waste points in Listen, Swim, or Intimidate. As mentioned earlier, it's easy to change your mind on skills since you can catch up easily. Also, if you need for some reason to skimp on one of your core skills, Open Lock doesn't really need to be maxed. If you choose to take Diplomacy or Bluff you should max it, half ranks isn't going to cut it.

Feats
Choose Two Weapon Fighting for your first feat. Choose Weapon finesse for your second feat (available at level 3, even for Human). If you are human and get a bonus feat, go nuts and pick anything that sounds good, like Toughness or Power Attack and remember that: Feats can be exchanged but it's expensive so be careful on your other selections, but typically you are going to want to take the fighting feats that improve two weapon fighting.

Enhancements
The nice thing about enhancements is that you can reset them pretty cheaply once every three days so you can't wreck your character by choosing the wrong ones. Play around with these and see what you like. A couple of enhancements are worth pointing out for the skills rogue. Rogue Disable Device, Spot, and Search are worth putting some ranks in, and Rogue Skill Boost in addition to Human Versatility (if you're human) are must haves.

Gear
You will be using a rapier in main hand and a shortsword in offhand. You need a light weapon in your offhand in order to not suffer a to hit penalty, and when you get weapon finesse it will only work with rapiers and weapons marked "(Light)" (not just short swords). For Undead you'll want a sickle or handaxe (slashing) and a light mace (crushing), and a bow for pulling. Ranged weapon are weak in the damage department overall, you'll be meleeing to do your dps. You'll want to use light armor.

There's gear that will raise your skills so you'll want to wear it to improve your disable device, search and spot. You can get +3 in Korthos areas, +5 at level 5 up to +15 eventually from drops or the AH.

Damage Focused Build, DEX Based
For a damage focused dex build, Human or Halfling are great choices. The extra feat from human is huge. Halflings get bonus damage on sneak attack which is huge too. These builds are pretty versatile and you can easily cover your rogue skills (although you may be more dependent on skill boosts and gear).

it should be noted that even DEX based rogues will eventually get a higher STR than dex due to the abundance of stacking STR items, meaning that Weapon Finesse may not be necessary for your character

Attributes
Every four levels put your stat points into DEX
 * For Halflings you need 13str to get power attack, and you want a very high dex to get enough hit to use it.

Feats
Choose Two Weapon Fighting for your first feat. Choose Power Attack for your human feat if human. Choose Weapon finesse for your second feat (available at level 3, even for Human).

Feats can be exchanged but it's expensive so be careful on your other selections, but typically you are going to want to take the fighting feats that improve two weapon fighting. Also, you won't use power attack until later because your hit roll will be low, but it's good to get the feat in anticipation of further use.

Skills
Keep Disable Device, Search, and Use Magic Device at their maximum level. Take at least some Open Lock,Balance, Spot, Jump, Bluff, Diplomacy and Tumble, roughly in that order (Open Lock is the most important, Tumble least important). Don't waste points in Listen, Swim, or Intimidate.


 * Do put 1 rank into Tumble right away, since that enables tumbling at all and lets your bonuses usefully increase your Tumble skill.

Enhancements
The nice thing about enhancements is that you can reset them pretty cheaply once every three days so you can't wreck your character by choosing the wrong ones. Play around with these and see what you like. A couple of enhancements are worth pointing out for the skills rogue. Rogue Disable Device, Spot, and Search are worth putting some ranks in, and Rogue Skill Boost in addition to Human Versatility (if you're human) are must haves. Other than that, pick skills that will help you do more damage.

Gear
You will be using a rapier in main hand and a shortsword in offhand. You need a light weapon in your offhand in order to not suffer a to hit penalty, and when you get weapon finesse it will only work with rapiers and shortswords. For Undead you'll want sickles (slashing) and maces (crushing) and a bow for pulling. Ranged weapon are weak in the damage department overall, you'll be meleeing to do your dps. You'll want to use light armor.

There's gear that will raise your skills so you'll want to wear it to improve your disable device, search and spot. You can get +3 in Korthos areas, +5 at level 5 up to +15 eventually from drops or the AH.

Damage Focused Build, STR Based
Dwarf or Human, if you are dwarf you'll be using dwarven axes and if human you'll be using Khopesh. You'll use oversized two-weapon fighting to let you do this. You'll still be able to handle traps, but you'll be light on skills in general and will have to pick and choose. Still though, this is a great build.

Attributes
At level 4, put one stat point into DEX. Every other four levels put your stat points into STR.

This build can greatly benefit from dexterity tomes. You need 17 dexterity for Greater Two Weapon Fighting. A +1 dexterity tome allows you to put all your level-up stat points into Strength (any character can easily accumulate enough coins to buy one on the auction house). A +2 dex tome (somewhat more expensive, still in reach) allows you to start with 15 dex.

Feats
Choose Two Weapon Fighting for your first feat. Choose Oversized two-weapon fighting for your human feat if human. Choose Exotic weapon: Khopesh for your feat at level 3.

Feats can be exchanged but it's expensive so be careful on your other selections, but typically you are going to want to take the fighting feats that improve two weapon fighting, and slashing feats which benefit your weapon. You will be a little light on feats in general, and most dwarves take 1 level of fighter. This is a big boost and the current capstone for rogue is lackluster, however I recommend progressing some before making the call, maybe to level 8 before deciding.

This originally read reverse, Oversized at level 3, Khopesh as human feat. You have to have a BAB of +1 at least to take Khopesh. Rogues start at 0.75. The decimal is dropped, not rounded, which means Rogues cannot take Khopesh at 1st level.

If you are not human, Oversized can be taken at level 3. Dwarves who splash a level of fighter may consider dropping khopesh in favor of the dwarven waraxe, considered a martial weapon for them.

Skills
Keep Disable Device, Search, Use Magic Device, Diplomacy at MAX. Throw some points into balance and Open Lock and Jump. You are going to have to rely on your groupmates, experience, or luck to know when to hit search since you won't have spot. If that doesn't work for you try to work in spot... Don't waste points in Listen, Swim, or Intimidate. As mentioned earlier, it's easy to change your mind on skills since you don't need to max everything.

Enhancements
The nice thing about enhancements is that you can reset them pretty cheaply once every three days so you can't wreck your character by choosing the wrong ones. Play around with these and see what you like. Since you'll be a little weaker early on in the skills dept, Rogue Disable Device, Spot, and Search are sometimes worth putting some ranks in, and Rogue Skill Boost or Human Versatility (if you're human) are must haves. Other than that, pick enhancements that will help you do more damage and dump those utility skills when you get higher level and want to pump out the DPS.

Gear
You will be dual wielding dwarven axes or khopeshes after level 3. For Undead you'll want some maces (crushing) and a bow for pulling. Ranged weapon are weak in the damage department overall, you'll be meleeing to do your dps. You'll want to use light armor.

There's gear that will raise your skills so you'll want to wear it to improve your disable device, search and spot. You can get +3 in Korthos areas, +5 at level 5 up to +15 eventually from drops or the AH. You will be fairly reliant on this to allow you to tackle the traps.

Multiclassing
Since the introduction of rogue capstone enhancement Deadly Shadow, multiclassing rogues comes at a cost. Some rogues multiclass with Fighter, Ranger, or Monk, usually for weapon proficiencies and feats. Two paladin levels can increase your saves considerably if you invest into Charisma. A dip into artificer grants proficiency with repeating crossbows and later runearms.

Use Magic Device (UMD)
Rogues often use this skill to buff and heal. With this skill, you can use divine and arcane wands and scrolls. You can also bypass race requirements on certain equipment. Read more in the topic Use Magic Device).

Improved Feint
This is another optional path that can be added to any build. A difficult choice as it requires spending 2 feats (Combat Expertise and Improved Feint) to acquire, but the benefits are significant. With max points in Bluff and an appropriate +bluff item you can keep most monsters bluffed constantly. A bluffed monster is vulnerable to sneak attack damage even if you are the target of its attack, this can make a soloist rogue viable, or let you keep dealing DPS if you draw aggro. Also Feint can be used as a pulling tool (see Bluff description). Mindless creatures are immune to Feint; this includes most undead, oozes, animals, etc.

Conclusion
To say "This is not your father's Rogue" would be getting the point across, but it would be inaccurate. Chances are, this IS your father's rogue. DDO plays like the Pencil and Paper version, which means that the rogue implemented here is the more traditional version, and if you're not used to it, it's because wherever you played a rogue before strayed from the original concept. Abandon your preconceived notions from other games and give it a try. Your trap-disarming, lock-opening, danger-avoiding and treasure-spotting skills are unique to the class, and a good rogue has a place in any party. Now that you have a build, read some suggestions on how to play it.