Before i started writing this, i actually had to convince myself that I'm capable of writing a guide with comprehensive in the title
. But Rogue is actually my favorite mastery and i have tried it as a melee, ranged, petmaster, and mage. I actually wrote guides on knifethrower mage sorcerer and petmaster illusionist before but i have tried it with other masteries as well.
I will be listing every skill, list its description, rank it from 1 to 5, and talk about how i use it.
I decided to use this ranking system but foreword: just because a skill is ranked 5/5, doesn't mean it's recommended for every build. The same for 1/5 or 2/5. Just because i ranked it low doesn't mean it's useless. A skill is just like a weapon. A blunt weapon or a small knife may not look scary but in the hands of a true master, they can be deadly. Remember when John Wick once killed 3 people with a f****n pencil? heh
1/5 - hardly worth putting any points to
2/5 - below average. not that good but not useless either
3/5 - average
4/5 - good. above average. not perfect but a good skill nonetheless
5/5 - great skill. recommended for most builds
I've included some spoiler videos if you want to see how a skill works and also to show some hidden tricks
Abbreviations you will see in this guide:
CDR - cooldown reduction
CC - crowd control
CS - Calculated Strike
PGB - Poison Gas Bomb
SB cuffs - Stonebinder's cuffs
AoE - Area of Effect
AE/R - Anniversary Edition/Ragnarok
Rogue Mastery lvl 32:
+56 strength
+80 dexterity
1120 health
Calculated Strike and Lucky Hit:Calculated Strike:Used in place of your normal attack, every fourth hit with calculated strike will deliver increased damage. Assign this skill to your left mouse button.
skill lvl: 1/8
100% Chance to pass through enemies
3 charge levels
+45% (physical) damage
35 piercing damage
skill lvl: 8/8
100% Chance to pass through enemies
3 charge levels
+156% (physical) damage
103 piercing damage
skill lvl: 12/8 (ultimate max)
100% Chance to pass through enemies
3 charge levels
+221% (physical) damage
159 piercing damage
Lucky Hit:Uncommonly good fortune provides a chance that calculated strikes will slip past enemy armor causing tremendous damage.
skill lvl: 1/6
44% chance for one of the following:
78 (physical) damage
+70% pierce damage
120 bleeding damage over 3 seconds
skill lvl: 6/6
44% chance for one of the following:
228 (physical) damage
+215% pierce damage
414 bleeding damage over 3 seconds
skill lvl: 10/6
44% chance for one of the following:
348 (physical) damage
+351% pierce damage
744 bleeding damage over 3 seconds
Both skills have been boosted in AE/R. Calculated Strike now has 100% chance to pass through enemies. Lucky hit chance proc has been boosted from 33% to 44%. The damage likewise has been boosted. Most people used to leave lucky hit at level 1 pre-AE but I've had a good amount of experience with this and i think lucky hit procs quite often now. Calculated strike now passes through enemies every 4th hit making this a good skill for bows as well as throwing weapons. I recommend fast attacking weapons for this to make empowered hits proc more often. Also notice that this has no energy cost. It might not mean much but it can be annoying having to constantly drink mana pots especially if you focus on strength and dex. If you make this your main attack, i say both are worth maxing.
rating: 3/5
I think this is better than psionic touch if you have to choose between the two. Not better than onslaught. Better than marksmanship but only early game, late game marksmanship would be better especially if you have lots of all skills. Compared to rune weapon, probably CS is better if you go str/dex. If you go int, rune weapon is worlds better. If you go hybrid, it's complicated
Blade Honing:While active, this skill ensures that any bladed weapon used by yourself and allies will remain razor sharp and inflict increased piercing damage.
skill lvl: 1/6
16.0 meter radius
+16% increased piercing ratio
3 piercing damage
+50 energy reserved
skill lvl: 6/6
16.0 meter radius
+56% increased piercing ratio
15 piercing damage
+50 energy reserved
skill lvl: 10/6
16.0 meter radius
+88% increased piercing ratio
31 piercing damage
+50 energy reserved
per titanquest.wikia.com:
• Blade Honing provides unique bonus. Rather than simply increasing one's Pierce Damage, it affects property found on swords and spears that converts percentage of one's Damage to Pierce Damage
• Pierce Ratio bonus is multiplicative. Using 30% Pierce Ratio spear and 4th level Blade Honing results in 42% Pierce Ratio.
• This skill switches off if you change to a weapon that isn't a sword or spear (ie: hit the W key to use a bow instead of your melee weapon+shield combo. You have to manually reactivate it upon changing back.
It's still accurate in AE/R so i don't think i have to explain much further. Max this skill if you use sword, spear, or throwing weapon. (If you actually attack with a weapon heh
). This also seem to affect throwing knife (skill)
rating: 3/5
Lethal Strike and Mortal Wound:Lethal Strike:A single deadly hit that multiplies the damage of a normal weapon attack.
skill lvl: 1/8
12 seconds recharge
52 energy cost
+225% physical damage
+225% pierce damage
skill lvl: 8/8
12 seconds recharge
68 energy cost
+500% physical damage
+390% pierce damage
skill lvl: 12/8
12 seconds recharge
74 energy cost
+600% physical damage
+450% pierce damage
Mortal Wound:Stuns victims of Lethal Strike and greatly magnifies the impact of poison and bleeding damage caused by the attack.
skill lvl: 1/8
15 energy cost
+60% Bleeding Damage
+60% Poison Damage
3 Seconds of Stun
skill lvl: 8/8
15 energy cost
+305% Bleeding Damage
+305% Poison Damage
3 Seconds of Stun
skill points: 12/8
15 energy cost
+445% Bleeding Damage
+445% Poison Damage
3 Seconds of Stun
The %damage on lethal strike is just ginormous. Shield Charge and Phantom Strike might be better for melee but at least Lethal Strike can also be used for ranged weapons. In fact, i think it's better used for ranged weapons because you can stun from afar. I like using this against a mage in a pack of mobs. Interestingly though, you need high base damage on your weapon to fully benefit from the added damage. So while i prefer throwing weapons for calculated strike, i prefer bows for lethal strike. What i did with my illusionist is i equipped a throwing weapon and shield on main, and a bow on secondary. I then set plague as my right click on my main, and lethal strike as right click on my secondary. So if i want to attack with lethal strike, i switch to secondary, right click, then switch back to main. The downside is i have to recast blade honing again. One of my favorite attacks with my illusionist is plague, lethal strike, refresh, lethal strike. That is a good boss killer. I used illusionist in this example because it's the one character i have that uses both calculated strike and lethal strike. On my assassin, i use onslaught instead of calculated strike. But I've made an interesting discovery, if you equip 2 throwing weapons, be it dual wield from warfare or reckless offense from rune, there is a chance you attack with 2 weapons if you attack with lethal strike. It doesn't seem to happen with melee though, only throwing weapons. Now while i think lethal strike is worth maxing, i think mortal wound is not. Poison and bleed now scales with dex but i still think there are better skills you can spend your points on. I recommend max lethal strike and 1pt mortal wound for the stun. Maybe when you've maxed all your preferred skills and you don't know where to spend your extra skill points on. But chances are it will only happen late game. Also, there's a noticeable delay when your attack speed is very low (below 100%). This can be annoying and sometimes dangerous when attacking with left click, then suddenly attacking with Lethal Strike. When you've reached an attack speed of about 120%, there is no noticeable delay.
notice the delay at very low attack speed. I'm hitting the other target so it's more noticeable
watch for the dual wield lethal strike
rating: 4/5
Open Wound:Adds a chance to inflict bleeding damage when attacking with a sharp or pointed weapon.
skill lvl: 1/12
33% Chance of 27 Bleeding Damage Over 3 Seconds
skill lvl: 12/12
33% Chance of 309 Bleeding Damage Over 3 Seconds
skill lvl: 16/12
33% Chance of 441 Bleeding Damage Over 3 Seconds
It's a passive skill so it's worth a point i guess. It has been boosted in AE/R and bleed now scales with dex but it's still useless against undeads and constructs. It seems to affect throwing knife (the skill) provided you equip a spear, bow, or throwing weapon. But it's still meh
rating: 1/5
Anatomy:With a deep knowledge of anatomy, attacks can be directed at vital points in the body increasing the chance and effectiveness of bleed damage.
skill lvl: 1/8
36% Bleeding Damage
skill lvl: 8/8
120% Bleeding Damage
skill lvl: 12/8
199% Bleeding Damage
Another passive skill but this is unlike open wound which is only a chance to proc. This boosts all your bleed damage be it from skills or items. And incidentally, rogue has probably the best skill to spread bleeding damage: throwing knife. If you make throwing knife as your main attack, it's worth maxing. If not, maybe just 1pt. If you pair it with dual wield tree as a melee, this is 1-max.
rating: 2/5
Throwing Knife and Flurry of Knives:Throwing Knife:Throw a piercing blade at your opponent capable of causing prolonged bleeding.
skill lvl: 1/12
6.0 seconds recharge
18 energy cost
1 projectile
10% chance to pass through enemies
48 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
15 Piercing Damage
skill lvl: 12/12
1.6 seconds recharge
29 energy cost
1 projectile
10% chance to pass through enemies
204 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
58 Piercing Damage
skill lvl: 16/12
0 seconds recharge
33 energy cost
1 projectile
10% chance to pass through enemies
270 Bleeding Damage over 3 seconds
81 Piercing Damage
max this with +4 from gear to get zero cooldown
Flurry of Knives:Learn to throw additional knives at once and cut down enemies with a lethal flurry of razor-sharp metal.
skill lvl: 1/12
15 energy cost
1 projectile
26% Pierce Damage
skill lvl: 12/12
24 energy cost
4 projectile
48% Pierce Damage
skill lvl: 16/12
30 energy cost
8 projectile
66% Pierce Damage
per titanquest.wikia.com:
• This skill carry over many unusual damage factors and effects.
• This skill use Casting Rate rather than Attack Speed.
• Properties applied to Throwing Knife:
• armor, jewelery and artifact flat damage bonus
• armor and jewelery charms'/relics' effects
• any kind of percentage damage bonus from any source
• any on hit effect provided by armor, jewelery and artifact
• Properties NOT applied to Throwing Knife:
• any kind of flat weapon damage
• any kind of flat shield damage
•non-damage weapon properties
• non-damage shield properties
Many people think this is a bad skill now because of the 10% chance nerf. It's not. I have used this skill extensively and i can say with certainty that this is still a very good skill. Actually, it might be better now. Bleed and poison now scales with dex and throwing knife is probably the best skill to spread those DoTs. But the bigger reason is the cooldown now depends on the skill level rather than CDR. That means you won't get hostaged by CDR items anymore allowing you to get other necessary attributes like resists, life and mana steal, etc. Also, that opens up more knifethrower builds besides sorcerer and magician because you don't have to concentrate on int anymore. I know it's always been possible to get very high CDR without getting int but honestly, that is very gear dependant and would limit your item choices even more. Now it's not a problem anymore, heck legendary SB cuffs alone gives +3 all skills. I have even written in one of my guides how to be a full knifethrower as early as lvl 25. And because this carries weapon buffs like storm nimbus, earth enchantment, battle standard, rune weapon tree (except transmutation) etc, you can make this your main attack and have a powerful caster toon. Or if you want it to just be a utility skill, it's a very good CC because it carries envenom skill tree including nightshade and mandrake. Imagine an AoE CC with no cooldown. And while this skill doesn't benefit much from bonus from weapons, it triggers chance to proc skills from weapons like Study Prey from Mbuti's Advocate, Summon Ancestral Warriors from Key of Elysium and Summon Spriggling from Staff of the Chosen, and also non-weapons like Dvalin's Simulacrum. If the devs make the chance to pass through back to 100%, this would be overpowered and break the game.
mage sorcerer
this one was a take 2 i admit
rating: 5/5