Thought we should have a separate thread for this kind of discussion.
My personal rogue build: http://www.ro2base.c...310535.22310535
*edited build as of 7/18/2013
Bread and Butter Skills:
1) Hiding
2) Dark Illusion*
^ These 2 basic skills must be respected, and mastered. Mastering when to use both can guarantee a good rogue entry into the final round.
3) Smoke Bomb
4) Dirty Plan
^ Wasting either one of these is a mistake that can usually cost you the round. Patience is key to playing rogue. Sometimes it's better to let yourself die, rather than rush using smoke bomb (only to see it fail because someone shot at you).
It takes experience to know when to do either one;you'll have to go through some trial and error before you're able to consistently have good judgement.
5) Deadly Blow
^ It is important to know when to use it.
Many times I will steal a kill because I used Deadly Blow with 3 combo points. You don't need to have 5 combo points before using deadly blow. A newer rogue might get frustrated at his kills always getting stolen if he falls into this bad habit.
It's all about judgement with rogue-- you have to get a feel for your damage range and how much time the animation takes before it connects.
6) Gangster's Paradise
You should ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS use Gangster's Paradise when it's off CD and you have a Combo Mastery proc or 5 combo points. This skill will make you live through things that would normally kill an elephant. It's also a way to dissuade people from attacking you, because while it's active you will seem un-killable.
Combining the use of Master Red pots + constant GP usage will make a good rogue seem like a beast that simply can't be killed. A lot of classes will avoid you even when you're out of hiding if you get good at using this combo. You want to make people have low self-esteem when it comes to fighting you-- this can be accomplished by giving them just one bad experience when trying to kill you
ON HIDING:
You are a rogue. Think of yourself as a ninja. A good rogue will hardly ever be seen; and when he is seen... the person that saw him is about to die.
*Example situation*
A ranger is fighting with a warrior in the outskirts of the arena. The ranger is obviously winning, and the warrior's health is dropping fast...3k...2k...1500...300... wait what?!
*it's only for a moment, but a rogue appears out of thin air and steals the kill. Then before the angry ranger can react, the rogue has already vanished again in a cloud of smoke.*
This is what your first kill should be like in Rounds 1 - 4. I laugh every time I do it, because I imagine the other person's face as he struggles to Tab-Target me in anger.
It takes skill and patience to pick the right target & wait the right amount of time before using Dark Illusion. You have to evaluate several things in a matter of seconds.
- How skilled is the target that's losing health?
- Who is attacking the target?
- What kind of burst can the attacker do?
- Did the target recently use a potion or self-heal yet?
Sometimes it's better to just let a weak player get burst to death by another class-- this will give you information on how much time you have to use DI the next time someone is weak.
A rogue is also a mad scientist, studying his potential victims from the shadows.
The 2 ways to get to the dreaded Final Round:
There are 2 ways to play rogue, and BOTH must be taken advantage of in order to do well consistently.
METHOD 1: Hide and wait until someone is under 2k HP, then use Dark Illusion.
This may sound cheap and dishonorable, and that's because it is. Rogues don't care about having honor or not-- people that lose usually do. You picked Rogue, so you have chosen the dark path of being a cheap kill-stealer.
It's more fun than it sounds though, at least for me. I personally try to imagine how mad the other guy is when I steal his kill from him. Picturing him cursing at his computer screen makes me happy.
Basically, just do exactly that; wait until someone hits slightly under 2k HP, and then spam dark illusion until you [hopefully] kill them. This is the recommended way to start rounds 1-4.
However, you can't wait too long, and you have to be wary of your cd's and nearby AoE's that may reveal you when you try to attack.
If you can't get the kill (or feel that you'll get it) within the first 30 seconds, then abandon this method and go to method 2.
METHOD 2: Isolate and kill monsters while spamming potions and Gangster's Paradise.
Rogues actually have an advantage on killing monsters, and it's easy to get them to come to you by throwing a dagger at them or just slashing them once or twice. Sometimes I will use Method 1 to steal a 15k monster from Method 2. Sound complicated?
Basically you need to decide how confident you are that you can kill someone with your DI. You don't want to just attempt it and waste it (besides when you miss, since that's out of your control). If you don't see any players that look like they are in the right HP range or are dying fast enough, then use it to KS a monster.
Usually rounds 3 & 4 are where you have to start using Method 2. Before doubting Method 2, let me just say I've made it to the final round several times with only a single kill (once even with 0 kills!) in round 4.
Don't get stressed and panic trying to be perfect in Method 1 if you have a bunch of priests and tanks running around that aren't reliable kills. If it's not happening within the first 30 seconds, just abandon it and go for Method 2.
They give us monsters for a reason, take advantage of them. When you get snared or frozen, don't just stand there planning how you'll complain to your friends about losing. Throw a dagger at a monster-- try to kill it before you die. Take the monsters with you. The monsters add up; they will get you to the next round.
Some General Tips:
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When you respawn in rounds 4 & 5, and your smoke bomb is off CD-- DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT RE-BUFF YOURSELF. You can't forget there are less players in those rounds, so the odds of you getting hit with a DoT are high. Especially if your opponents know what they're doing.
WHEN YOU RESPAWN, GO STRAIGHT TO SMOKE BOMB! At least this will give you a moment to get your bearings and figure out what's going on around you. Even if you aren't planning to DI someone, use your 2nd smoke bomb. It will probably be your last chance to be invisible for the rest of the round.
Dirty plan, however, should not be spammed in the same way. It keeps you standing still for just long enough to get screwed over. If your DP is off CD, and smoke bomb isn't, it may be better to just save it in case you happen to get that #1 at the end of the round and need an extra Gangster's Paradise / random smoke bomb (to escape targeting) in order to survive those last few seconds.
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Patience is key. Be patient, my son. It's okay if someone is low on health and gets bursted to death in front of you. There are other people you can still kill. There is no reason to spam DI at the first low-hp person you see.
Steady, focused, and at your own pace-- this is how you want to play with hiding and Dark Illusion.
YOU are in control, not the random sorcerer's bursting people to death from 5k. (At least you will tell yourself this.)
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Slash random people when you're out of hiding and waiting on smoke bomb / dirty plan CD's. You don't have to try to kill them-- just build up your Combo Points & possibly get a Combo Mastery proc while you're looking for someone low enough to kill steal. Some people won't even react to you if you just slash them once and keep running.
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If it looks like you have no hope, there's 1 minute left, and you have no kills-- GO FOR THE PORINGS!!! When you have no hope, poring buffs are your only chance at redemption. It's luck-based, but at least it's something.
A rogue with the 30 second enrage buff can take down the entire colosseum. I've gone on rampages where I've killed nearly 10 people in a row just because I was so powerful.
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Round 5
Round 5 should be played differently than all other rounds. You should use your guardian right before after using your first smoke bomb -- a level 3 guardian will cut the usual CD time in half. Remember though, there's currently a glitch (i think it's a glitch, anyway) where when you die once during a round, you can't use your guardian the rest of that round. (It does, however, revert to being a full guardian gauge at the start of the next round.)
So you might as well use it at some point while you're alive that first time, unless you're extremely confident you won't die.
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More tips on Guardian Usage in the Final Round: (Credit to Mysticalre):
"This is good advice, but I've always used guardian after my first smokebomb. How come you use it before? What if you don't find a target within 30s?
I usually do:
1) DI once + smoke
2) guardian when someone starts getting focused
3) DI again
4) DP + smoke (so both get affected by guardian)"
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Isolating people is key in round 5. Sometimes it's good to pretend to run from a ranger, getting him to chase you (thinking you're an easy kill), only to pop your guardian & gangster's paradise... and then you can turn around and beat him to death.
It's good to save a smoke bomb for the last 30 seconds of the round. If you get first place around that time and can smoke bomb without a DoT, do it. Then wait. You should watch everyone's health, and also watch the time. If someone is about to be killed, you'll have to attempt to steal it (or you might lose first place). This concept takes a LOT of experience and even I have trouble making the right decision sometimes on what to do in these last moments. More often than not it's better to do nothing and wait, but there are times when I've lost and could have easily stolen the kill if I just went for it.
Feel free to discuss 
Edited by xxalucard, 18 July 2013 - 05:27 PM.
