DA Podcast - Episode 4: Smiley Face

There are basically two viable builds to a Rogue - High Dex or High Cunning.

High Dex Rogues usually go for Archery talents, though with the Dex fix, Dual Daggers are also experiencing a surge in popularity. Their main advantage is that with high Dex, their attack scores are usually through the roof, meaning their attacks hit more often (theoretically, anyway... without any way of knowing enemy defense scores, there isn't any way to perform a test supported by actual numbers). Also, Dexterity increases Defense scores, which usually won't mean squat for a character specialized in dealing damage, but having that extra bit of survivability helps.

High Cunning Rogues rely on Lethality and Assassin specs to deal more damage than Dex Rogues, though it also theoretically means you have less chance to hit (again, can't really be tested for), though people claim that the difference is minimal at worst. They also make better Bards since Cunning increases the effectivity of Song of Valor and Song of Courage (the latter, by the way, helps in reducing the attack score gap between high-dex and high-cunning Rogues). Finally, Cunning Rogues don't need to invest too many points in the Deft Hands talents - pretty great considering that Rogues suffer from a lack of talent points more than Warriors do.

As far as attributes go, Rogues should get enough Strength to wear the best light armor (which is 20 - item bonuses count toward that total). Dexterity should be raised enough to get all the talents you'd need (usually 30 base points for Archery Rogues, 26 base for Dagger Rogues), while the rest go towards your chosen primary attribute (either Dex or Cun).

Humans and Dwarves make the best rogues because of their racial bonuses - less points are wasted on useless attributes (like Magic and Constitution).

Archery Rogues will also benefit from some points in Willpower, since they will be spamming abilities more. Dagger Rogues can go without adding points in Willpower because they will rely on backstabs (i.e. auto-attacking) to deal most of their damage. Of course, Deep Mushrooms can be consumed instead for Stamina concerns so attributes can be saved on other things.

Dagger Rogues don't need too much talents from the Dual Weapon Tree for them to be effective - most of their points are spent on Rogue specific talents or Specialization trees early on. The only Dual Weapon talents that are a must-have as early as possible are the 3 Dual-Weapon passives and Momentum. Everything else can wait until you have spare talent points (which won't happen too often)

Archery Rogues spend most of their points in the archery tree early on. I personally find Melee Archer to be a must-have, so your attacks don't get interrupted, and then getting Critical Shot, Scattershot and Arrow of Slaying as soon as possible. The only sustainable worth having up from that tree is Rapid Shot, up until you can get equipment that gives Rapid Aim (which doesn't stack with Rapid Shot, but gives the same bonuses without the drawback), or until your Crit % chance reaches more than 10%, whichever comes first.

one more thing to note is that Archery Rogues are much easier to play. Just attack from afar and spam all abilities. Dagger Rogues need proper backstab positioning to make them as effective as possible.

Hope all of this helps.

- John

Hey Dudes,

Firstly, great job with the podcast. Secondly, when it comes to Rogues, I'm all about dexterity and dual wield. One of my PCs is a dualwielding rogue, and I completely dominate with her. Mostly, I focused my points on dex (duh), constitution, willpower, and strength. There are sustained abilities in the dual wield tree that add a bonus to your attack speed. Next thing you know, you're tearing through darkspawn like a machine built for such a task.

The higher your rogues dex, the easier that Archdemon is to defeat with ballistas.

Peace,
Marc!

PS - I live in NY. Booooo to Bazaar!

Hopefully I'm not too late =)

What I did with my rogue is put all his points into cunning and dex evenly, and had my character duel wield. Get all the various duel-wielding talents, and the rogue backstabbing ones. This gets much easier if you set up Wynne as a healer, have Morrigan magin from a distance, and Sten/Shale meleeing with you.

Hope this was good

Bbtufty

There are many Rogue models available to the character, but I like to lean more towards a Melee DPS model. Of the three schools (Rogue, Dual-Weapon, and Archery) I lean towards Rogue and Dual-Weapon. If you're a ranged DPS model, you want to pour your points into Archery. If you're a melee DPS model like myself, you're going to want to start off with Below the Belt and Dual Weapon training. Below the Belt gives you a descent attack that can slow down enemies so they can't escape or can't pursue. Dual-Weapon training starts the first Dual Weapon chain, which will be your primary focus. As you advance through the first few levels, Dual Striking and Dual Weapon Finesse are a must. Also take Improved Combat Training at this point.

Next, at Level 4, Combat Movement presents a wider flanking area to produce backstabs. In the bigger fights, with alot of enemies bunched together, it's not easy to position you're rogue behind a target, so this helps alot. Let's see, at level 5 pick up Deadly Strike as a precursor to lethality for extra armor penetration. At level 6, Riposte will add another stun to your arsenal.

Once you hit level 7, you're first specialization opens up. You could go with Duelist, but I prefer Assassin since it concentrates on Damage. Damage is our first priority here. The first in the Assassin chain is Mark of Death; it increases damage on a specific target (highlighting the target in red). Party members will be able to do more damage to the target, especially warriors. This is great for enemies with a lot of health that require multiple attacks to kill.

At level 8, Leathility increases your critical chance and, as I understand, converts your cunning into strength for damage purposes. At level 9, Dual-Weapon expert adds even more critical chance. You need 26 dexterity and Expert Combat training to pick this up, though. I'd go far Coupe de Grace and Cripple at levels 10 and 11, which essentially pile on the damage with more chances for backstabs and critical hits. At levels 12 and 13, top off your Dual Weapon chains with Dual Weapon Mastery and Punisher. Now you can deal with huge threats, rather than just small ones, and wield full-sized weapons in both hands, and because of increased stamina, can use more talents at less cost.

Complete your Assassin Specialization with Levels 14-16. Exploit Weaknesses increases your damage potential by finding holes in your enemy's defenses. Lacerate gives you a damage-over-time effect. I like Feast of the Fallen because it replenishes your stamina with each kill. At Level 17 pick up Evasion, and 18 Feign death which decreases your threat level even more. Top off the last two levels with Dual-Weapon sweep and Flurry, which are combat-focused techniques.

It should be known that I am playing the console version of Dragon Age: Origins, though this build will have an equal effect on PC as well. The only class I wouldn't suggest focusing on in the console version is the Mage. Warriors and Rogues make for a great time on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.

The contents of this submission are based on both my own personal experience, as well as some help from the Dragon Age strategy guide. However, personal experience beats strategy guides any day.

It's hard to say... there both very important to a Rogue Melee build. I would say both, but Dexterity more. Cunning should be second, though.

DEX Rogue - solo rogue
CUN Rogue - party rogue

Melee Rogue, "The Scrapper"

Use a dagger in each hand, pump strength to 20 to use the best light armor (20 for Origins, 24 for Awakening), pump as much dexterity as you need to get your talents, then pour all your points into cunning.

Key Talents: Lethality, Momentum.

Ok, really like archery, so here is my full archery spec'ed rogue.

Note 1: This build uses bows exclusively, no daggers/swords

Note 2: I recommend not using Leliana in your party, since many of the PC skills and talents will overlap with hers. Use Morrigan (if you can spec her with some healing spells early on) or Wynne, Shale and Sten (if you know how to build a decent 2H'er), then later Oghren.

Note 3: Use a mod that makes short-bow 100% DEX, as it should be...

Note 4: I used a DEX/CUN ratio of 60/40, but a 75/25 and 50/50 would also work depending on desired specialisations.

Recommended race: Human

Recommended specialisations: Ranger/Assassin. Consider Bard only if you plan on higher CUN.

I will break this down into Skills, then Talents

Early Skills

• Coercion I
• Coercion II
• Combat Training I
• Combat Training II
• Combat Training III
• Traps I

Mid-level Skills

• Combat Training IV
• Traps II
• Traps III
• Poison II
• Poison III
• Coercion III
• Coercion IV
• Stealing I (for Denerim Quests)

Higher-level Skills

• Traps IV
• Poison IV
• Survival I
• Survival II
• Survival III
• Survival IV

The order you take these will depend more on you play-style. If you prefer setting traps, then concentrate on Traps first, if you prefer bombs, then do Poison first. Or you can just focus on one or the other. I would recommend traps over bombs.

Key rogue Talents

• Stealth (Max Out ASAP)
• Deft Hands (Max Out ASAP)
• Lethality (For when you want to switch from short-bow to long bow, but not necessary until mid game, when you can find/buy decent long-bows)

Archery Talents
Early levels

• Melee Archery
• Aim
• Pinning Shot
• Crippling Shot
• Critical Shot
• Arrow of Slaying (You want this ASAP)

Mid Levels

• Rapid Aim
• Shattering Shot
• Suppressing Fire
• Scattershot

Later Levels

• Defensive Fire
• Master Archer

Play style is important. You are essentially an advance scout leaving the party on hold at area transitions and/or well back around corners. You will spend most of your time scouting alone in stealth disarming traps and laying trap ambushes for the mobs you will draw out into corridors and passages. You pick-off the survivors with ranged attacks, kitting back to the party if you get overwhelmed. Obviously for the major boss battles, everyone will be forced on you.

I played as a rogue and was never sure of the benefit of the strength ability, as compared with the dexterity ability. Is it worth investing points in strength?

Also, I keep seeing on the dragon age wikia various talents which generate "no threat" - whats the deal with that? is holding back on talents a way for my rogue to lose aggro, or is it not worth bothering?

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Dirty_Fighting