Description
The Rogue is not an individual that is easy to categorise, among their ranks are adventurers, pickpockets, scouts and even plain thieves. They have different morals and beliefs, with two rogues even of the same race rarely using their talents for the same cause. They have many skills for a profession that specialises in combat and can certainly put them to a great variety of uses. Perhaps their most useful ability out of combat is sneak, a skill which allows them to become invisible to almost all types of creatures (except those that can see through invisibility). It can be used to locate a corpse, scout an area and to launch a damaging surprise attack, complemented with another Rogue skill: Backstab.
Backstab is a Rogues single most important damage dealing skill in combat, it is one of only a few melee abilities capable of killing a creature of equal strength to the Rogue and at full health outright. Its only drawback is the Rogue has to be behind their target to perform the Backstab but they have several skills to help them get in this position. In addition to their sneak ability Rogues can lower the aggression a creature has to them and can cause a monster to run from them in fear (then backstab as it flees).
Their combat effectiveness is not just limited to backstabs, Rogues are trained in all the offensive Warrior skills including Disarm, Double Attack, Dual Wield and Riposte. With all these offensive skills at their disposal Rogues can make a very significant contribution in a party, unfortunately because they have so little time for defensive skills they can't make their presence known when alone. Rogues need to stay light on their feet and so avoid Plate armour resulting in little protection from direct blows. They are often quite agile giving them an edge in avoidance but it is not enough to allow them to stand for long when fighting toe to toe.
Rogue Races
Barbarian, Dark Elf, Drakkin, Dwarf, Gnome, Half Elf, Halfling, Human, Vah Shir, Wood Elf
Stats
Rogues rely on their strength to add weight to their blows with backstabs benefiting greatly from a powerful thrust. The only real objective of a Rogue in a party is to inflict as much damage as possible, with strength a very useful assistant to this goal. Rogues often use items with magical properties, that occasionally result in a magical attack in combat. Dexterity increases the chance of these strikes and later the ability to inflict critical damage.
Without the protection of heavy armour a Rogue will use their agility to dodge and evade blows. When a Rogues agility fails they will usually take a hard hit, this can be dealt with more easily with a solid stance and developed toughness. Stamina is of great benefit to those two factors, giving the Rogue the ability to take damage with some confidence, at least until a more defensive combatant can come to their aid.
Tips
- Strength is the base statistic for the damage you inflict, consider it one of your most important statistics.
- A Rogues weapons can make a huge difference to their effectiveness, armour is only secondary and shouldn't take priority.
- Don't neglect your backstab skill, it needs to be worked on like any other as the damage you can inflict will suffer if it lags behind your other skills.
- Try to pick up an item or seek an enchantment that increases the speed that you can swing your weapons (haste) when you can.
- If your offered tips by a more experienced Rogue always accept them, you don't want all a powerful creatures attention focused on you and any additional methods to avoid it are very valuable.
Screenshots
With thanks to Gromol (Gnome), Covenante (Halfling), Kitkatt (Vah Shir) and Nashira (Vah Shir) of The Rathe (Karana) server for being the Rogue screenshot models!
Sites
Casters Realm
http://eq.crgaming.com/menu/rogue.aspThe Casters Realm menu for Rogues, includes a creation guide and information on disciplines, hunting, skills and adding poison to your weapons.
The Safehouse
http://www.thesafehouse.orgThe Safehouse Network, has a useful section dedicated to EverQuest Rogues and very popular forums, with many helpful, informative posts.