*Release* Rift Rogue Discussion

I did the first IT run with a rogue, last night. Between burning, poison, and bleeding, my two auto-attacks, and spammable skills, the stream of damage numbers coming off the mobs was staggering. That's not even counting the super spammable AoE attack--the Nightblade's Weapon Flare. That thing is INSANE! It deals about 15% less damage per target than the normal attack, but it does it on up to 8 additional targets, as an instant with no cooldown.

I tried out a MM/Sab/Inf last night and I was doing much better. The Sab's sticky bomb solves my problem of other toons rushing me. The Infiltrator just adds some great utility and armor piercing abilities. I was in the top 5 for kills in about 5 PvP sessions last night. I am the machine of death....

For PvE I'm MM/Hunter/Bard and that is working out great.

karmajay wrote:
And Cadence specced for healing is beastly. Strum once, strum twice, watch the caster panic and run and fire off a Coda of Wrath... That's often a kill right there, while tossing out a lot of healing. Comes in handy in rift fights too.

How does this work? I was trying to get to riftstalker to 13 for the skill that gives you healing when you kill mobs with leftover combo points, but won't help when I'm up against some of the elite mobs.

Tier 2 bard talent, Invigorated Soul. Heals up to 10 people in the raid, at 3/3 its healing equal to the damage done with Cadence. Very useful. So, two attacks with Cadence on a caster (i.e. player with low health because his stats are in Int/Wisdom, not Endurance) and he's at 20% to 30% health. And you have 5 combo points built up on him. Then a follow up of Coda of Wrath using those combo points. Bang. Oh, and both Cadence & Coda of Wrath can't be blocked/dodge/parried.

OK someone try to explain teh Bard and how it does dmg efficiently... (pvp oriented btw)

After hearing everyone talk about how great it was i went and opened up the soul to give it a try. Dont know if its because i'm playing him wrong or dont have an efficient backup souls, but he was extremely underwhelming compared to my other builds.

With my other builds after i build up stacks and use a finisher i can see a players health drop significantly. I take about 40-50% off now more if they're cloth... when i tried with the bard after a finisher they'd just lose a sliver. This is using the round of abilities LT mentioned above too.

And yes i have trained up all my abilities as high as they go.

The thing with the Bard it seems is that it doesn't do damage output directly. It's main focus is buffs. I pump the motifs that boost crit chance and attack power then focus on the attacks that would make the most of those two.
It's like playing a cleric or mage except that with the Bard you make everyone in your raid/party more effective, and you can heal them while you're at it. All in the same tree. For a rogue class.

The combo that LT states above, doesn't really do much damage compared to other rogue finishers. What it does do is provide 5 combo points in about 5 secs and with only two uses of Cadence that cannot be dodged, blocked or parried. And heals you at the same time.

In PVP, when I'm engaged in helping the warrior take down someone and I see another try to flank us, I switch focus on him, beam him with Cadence twice as he closes, then hit him with a fully charged finisher from another class that does high damage. All before he has taken his second swing at me. And with the heals I'm usually better off then when I first spotted him.

Falchion wrote:

The thing with the Bard it seems is that it doesn't do damage output directly. It's main focus is buffs. I pump the motifs that boost crit chance and attack power then focus on the attacks that would make the most of those two.
It's like playing a cleric or mage except that with the Bard you make everyone in your raid/party more effective, and you can heal them while you're at it. All in the same tree. For a rogue class.

The combo that LT states above, doesn't really do much damage compared to other rogue finishers. What it does do is provide 5 combo points in about 5 secs and with only two uses of Cadence that cannot be dodged, blocked or parried. And heals you at the same time.

In PVP, when I'm engaged in helping the warrior take down someone and I see another try to flank us, I switch focus on him, beam him with Cadence twice as he closes, then hit him with a fully charged finisher from another class that does high damage. All before he has taken his second swing at me. And with the heals I'm usually better off then when I first spotted him.

Ya what i was afraid of... if i'm playing a rogue spec i'm not wanting to worry about heals or support. I want to be up front and in their face or at their backs depending on whats needed

ranalin wrote:

Ya what i was afraid of... if i'm playing a rogue spec i'm not wanting to worry about heals or support. I want to be up front and in their face or at their backs depending on whats needed :)

I hear you. I'm currently loving the Riftstalker Plane Shift attacks. They actually don't share a cooldown like I assumed they did at first. Having three of them, I'm able to warp about the battlefield appearing at their backs almost at will. By the time I kill my target, one of the Plane Shift skills is up again. Totally awesome.

Falchion wrote:
ranalin wrote:

Ya what i was afraid of... if i'm playing a rogue spec i'm not wanting to worry about heals or support. I want to be up front and in their face or at their backs depending on whats needed :)

I hear you. I'm currently loving the Riftstalker Plane Shift attacks. They actually don't share a cooldown like I assumed they did at first. Having three of them, I'm able to warp about the battlefield appearing at their backs almost at will. By the time I kill my target, one of the Plane Shift skills is up again. Totally awesome.

Ya when i get high enough i plan on using a build for them along with my assassin to be able to stun/lock kill and get away afterwards. Right now i can stun/lock kill a cloth wearer and sometimes chain before i'm taken out. With plane shift abilities i could do it and be gone.

My first rule of PvP is simple: Don't count on anyone healing you. That's what I'm loving about the riftstalker(24)/bard(8)/sab(0) build so far. The bard provides a good heal/damage punch, and the riftstalker provides great mobility and durability. The other builds I tried had better damage, but sacrifice the healing and survival.

Its a very flexible build. I can hang back and snipe/heal, I can handle pursuit and I can jump into the middle of the enemy with a good chance to get kills and get back out alive.

Just bought my third role for the rogue, tried a few high dps builds, but I keep coming back to this one. While it may not work for other people, I'm loving it. I just hit 24th. Should have my fifth Plane Shift ability by 26, if I recall correctly. I also picked up the Rift Scavenger (if a target dies with combo points on it, I get a heal for 4% for each point). That plus cadence plus the rift shields soaks a lot of damage. I've been hunting saboteurs, and laughing at them.

I can always tell the people that are specced for pvp, the two cadence&coda combo doesn't make much of a dent in them. The flip side of that, most of them can't take me down before I can E&E.

Bard's first motiv I believe is an attack power party buff. It will make a difference if you use it.

I typically use the sabo's finisher with cadence. When I am not doubling cadence, I fire off one cadence and get the other 2 spots from the sabo's dot charge. My prefered ranged finisher is the rangers though I have yet to try the marksmans.

With just zero points (I believe) in sabo you get the aoe snare bomb. Use it and you can close to use your melee finishers with cadence.

If you spec to 11 points in bard you can choose the bard's two point builder. With cadence and this, you can build 5 points 1+ second quicker. I think this will eventually be key with the sabo's aoe finishers.

Bard + Ranger is wide scale goodness. You get buffs to endurance, combat, heal song, healing cadence, speed buff (in and out of combat), oh and your attack abilities can't be blocked, parried or dodged. I use my 3rd soul as riftsalker for the endurance, armor bonus and shield. Drop cadence, power chord and finish with finisher and I am all armored up. I usually open up with Ranger attacks, pet runs off and nabs mob, I bring back 3-4 mobs and AoE sing, heal, until mobs are dead. I almost feel like I am cheating. I solo easily 4 mobs my level, 3-4 +1 level and 2-3 +2 Kbps and 1 +3 lvls. I can usually solo my level elites and occasionally +1 lvl elites, but that usually doesn't end well.

I need some help in PvP guys...and it has to do with buttons. I'm finding that I just fumble all over the place for abilities. There are just too many and I find myself stretching my fingers in ways that a gymnast would be proud of. Clearly, I need macro help. Can any of you give me a sample of your ability/macro setup for PvP...as well as PvE. Pretend you're talking to a child...not in a technical sense...but I have never really used macros before.

I would ideally only want 3-4 buttons to worry about than 6-8.

darrenl wrote:

I need some help in PvP guys...and it has to do with buttons. I'm finding that I just fumble all over the place for abilities. There are just too many and I find myself stretching my fingers in ways that a gymnast would be proud of. Clearly, I need macro help. Can any of you give me a sample of your ability/macro setup for PvP...as well as PvE. Pretend you're talking to a child...not in a technical sense...but I have never really used macros before.

I would ideally only want 3-4 buttons to worry about than 6-8.

well are you comfortable at typing? reason i ask is its real easy to map the keys around your wasd keys for quick access and you dont have to fumble.

So i went 27 points into Bladedancer and have to say that it's the iphone of the rogue class. Doesnt matter what you want it has an app for it.

Multiple agro, pvp runners, raid buffs, damage mitigation, nice burst dmg... Makes it hard to go back to assassin.

ranalin wrote:
darrenl wrote:

I need some help in PvP guys...and it has to do with buttons. I'm finding that I just fumble all over the place for abilities. There are just too many and I find myself stretching my fingers in ways that a gymnast would be proud of. Clearly, I need macro help. Can any of you give me a sample of your ability/macro setup for PvP...as well as PvE. Pretend you're talking to a child...not in a technical sense...but I have never really used macros before.

I would ideally only want 3-4 buttons to worry about than 6-8.

well are you comfortable at typing? reason i ask is its real easy to map the keys around your wasd keys for quick access and you dont have to fumble.

I'm quite comfortable with typing. As I said, never really utilized macros before...but I want to successful in Rift PvP. Setting up around wasd, is that the standard kids are using these days ?

darrenl wrote:
ranalin wrote:

well are you comfortable at typing? reason i ask is its real easy to map the keys around your wasd keys for quick access and you dont have to fumble.

I'm quite comfortable with typing. As I said, never really utilized macros before...but I want to successful in Rift PvP. Setting up around wasd, is that the standard kids are using these days ?

I don't know about macros, but what ranalin was alluding to is that you can define which of your ability bar boxes are activated by which keys on the keyboard. So, you would still have 6-8 things to worry about, but they would all be around your wasd keys so that you don't need to do finger gymnastics for them.

darrenl wrote:

I need some help in PvP guys...and it has to do with buttons. I'm finding that I just fumble all over the place for abilities. There are just too many and I find myself stretching my fingers in ways that a gymnast would be proud of. Clearly, I need macro help. Can any of you give me a sample of your ability/macro setup for PvP...as well as PvE. Pretend you're talking to a child...not in a technical sense...but I have never really used macros before.

I would ideally only want 3-4 buttons to worry about than 6-8.

Couple things,
Make a macro that will cast what eve reactive ability has procced. Lets say you have 3 abilities that are only active after something happens i.e. you get parried/dodged etc.

You can create one button that will cast only the one that is available it is simple.
/cast ability 1
/cast ability 2
/cast ability 3

So if 1 is available it will cast that one, also if 3 is available it will cast that one. But if 1 and 3 are available it will cast 1 and stop if you hit it again it will then cast 3.

As for key binds you have to find what you are comfortable.
I said it in another thread but my binds are
1234rfvcxzqe
And then ALT and sh*t for those same ones.

They work for me so I don't have stretch my sausage fingers very far.
I also have abilities and macros bound to mouse buttons and my mouse wheel.

Every time you make a drastic change to binds or configuration of what you are playing with there will be a steep learning curve and a number of rounds that you will be god awful. Just stick with it and once you find a groove you like, it will make you a better player.

Thanks guys.

Found this:
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthrea...

My mission tonight is to make macros.

darrenl wrote:

Thanks guys.

Found this:
http://forums.riftgame.com/showthrea...

My mission tonight is to make macros.

wonder how long before they remove that wait command.

FYI -- /wait command does not change the fact that you can only make one "cast" per macro

So i went 27 points into Bladedancer and have to say that it's the iphone of the rogue class. Doesnt matter what you want it has an app for it.

Ah everyone is jumping on my Bladedancer bandwagon!

karmajay wrote:
So i went 27 points into Bladedancer and have to say that it's the iphone of the rogue class. Doesnt matter what you want it has an app for it.

Ah everyone is jumping on my Bladedancer bandwagon!

I was there too Karma! heh but yeah, Bladedancer was my soul of choice coming in but right now I'm still hooked on the Riftstalker.

I don't know why I try to pick my class before playing a game, I always end up liking something else. As my last of the big 4 classes I went rogue and now I'm thinking it might turn out to be my main. For my first three souls I went Marksman/Bard/Riftstalker and now I finally see what everyone's talking about with bard. That's one OP class. Having cadence heal you and everyone in your raid for 100% of its damage with a motif of regeneration running for 30 seconds and the + healing to you ability from rift stalker means I'm fighting groups of mobs without ever having my health dip below full. It's just nuts. I had originally planned to play a Reaver/Paladin/Void Knight as my main for survivability but at least in the early levels my bard is wiping the floor with groups of 5 or more enemies while my warrior was having trouble with 3 same level enemies at once.

Dont know if i was so enamored with the other classes that i just gave sabo a run through, but god that class is nice. I mean i liked it, but just didnt put much time in it.

rolled up a new toon on a pvp server to see what the action was like and right at lvl 10 i was coming out 1st in dmg in the warfronts and destroying people in duels.

in pve it rocks too with the no threat talents. So you can front load a mob with bombs and have sticky traps and other nasties ready for it as soon as you detonate. Most times mobs are 3/4 dead from the first blast already.

Wait, the no threat talent in the sabo tree means you can just throw on 5 charges without the mob agroing?

Tobliz wrote:

Wait, the no threat talent in the sabo tree means you can just throw on 5 charges without the mob agroing?

correct!

That is one of the beauties of the sabo for sure!

I'm Riftstalker/Bladedancer/Nightblade currently, trying to build something of a tank. I'm having a hard time working out it's viability though, since it's my first spec, on my first class, on my first character in the game, I have nothing to compare it against. Plus I'm only level 10.

In PvP I'm finding the Nightblade abilities are the ones that bring people down in a hurry, but I haven't spent a single point in my Nightblade tree yet. Go figure.

At 33, I'm hardly using Mm anymore. BD gets a charge move (which looks frakking awesome). I think I may put most of my points in BD and keep MM where it is at just in case.

Redwing wrote:

I'm Riftstalker/Bladedancer/Nightblade currently, trying to build something of a tank. I'm having a hard time working out it's viability though, since it's my first spec, on my first class, on my first character in the game, I have nothing to compare it against. Plus I'm only level 10.

In PvP I'm finding the Nightblade abilities are the ones that bring people down in a hurry, but I haven't spent a single point in my Nightblade tree yet. Go figure.

You cannot roguetank effectively until level 18. It is pretty pointless until you get Guardian Phase, the 18 point root ability that ties it all together. Ideally, you do a full press on riftstalker and put the rest towards BD until at least False Blade. The idea in dungeons is to try to keep all of your three finisher buffs up (Guarded Steel, the shield one and False Blade). Use your shift skills to make yourself more mobile and get to mobs; do not use them to get your post-shift buffs up! The combo point buff is better in general.

Also, for your first few combo points, it is best to pull off 2-3 point finisher to get those buffs up; the first few seconds of a fight is your most vulnerable since you don't have your defensive buffs in place.