The first revision so far! Thanks for all the pointers! Acknowledgments at the bottom.
The Crossbow RogueLet’s go over a few main points of what it takes to be a rogue. You are a pure strength build. Never invest any points into your INT because your attacks are purely going to be related to STR. A false assumption made by many people is that they think that rogues can tank. Rogues cannot, I repeat, cannot tank even if their lives depended on it. Your Light Armor isn’t designed for extremely heavy combat. What’s good about rogues though is that you can dish out high damage (close to wizards’ and nukers’) and are pure STR so you have an ample amount of health (close to Warriors’, Bladers’, Bowmen, and Glaivers’.) What I love about being an Xbow (short for Crossbow) Rogue is that you won’t have to farm many Skill Points at all. You only need a handful compared to most other builds. However, if you already haven’t noticed, rogues aren’t exactly essential to party grinding. You’ll never see a party title saying “ROGUE NEEDED” so it’s best if you have a subclass. Let’s review.
-Pure STR-High damage
-High health
-Doesn’t take much SP to cover all the Skills
-Not essential to parties
-Needs a subclass
-Max all your Crossbow Skills
-Not a tanker
XBOW OR
DAGGERS?
The two weapons available to Rogues are Daggers and Xbows
and both of them have Pros and Cons:
DAGGERPros-Dishes out massive damage
-Has a very high Critical Hit rate
-More damage then Xbow after level 40 or so
-Is noticeably better when you are using Stealth
Cons-You must give up your defense for damage
-It has no range whatsoever
-You are extremely vulnerable to ranged attacks
-Most Skills are extremely slow
Crossbow Pros-Can do some serious damage
-It has the longest range
-The Xbow has Knockback (KB) and Knockdown (KD) Skills
-Great for keeping people out of their attack range
Cons-You are extremely vulnerable to close range attacks
-Xbows have a much slower attack rate than Daggers unless you are using Fast Shot or Rapid Shot
-You must sacrifice your health for maximum damage.
As anyone can see, both builds have their pros and their cons. I would choose a Crossbow because in my opinion, it’s the most devastating build out there. I know, I know, after level 40, the dagger is better in damage but I’ll give you a few reasons for why the Crossbow is the best build out there. It has the greatest range of any weapon so you obviously will have a good space cushion between you and your target. Plus, with your KB, KD, and Stealth Skills, in PvP you are unstoppable. All you have to do is go into stealth, get a good distance from your target and shoot away. They won’t have a chance because they will keep on falling down and/or getting knocked back. If you add your poison abilities into the mix, you have a brew for disaster… for your target I mean.
SkillsWell, to better know the “awesomeness” of the rogue, you need to know the Skills he/she will have.
Stealth Expert Series
Stealth Extension – This skill lets us elongate the time we can stay in Stealth mode. At the 90 cap, your Stealth duration will be increased by 84 seconds. I recommend that you max this skill.
Total SP = 11457 Stealth
Scorn – This skill enables you to “tease” a target into chasing you. The target cannot attack anything but you. Unfortunately, it’s only useable on fellow human players and not on mobs. Because you are a rogue, not a tanker, I would recommend you to not even get this skill at all.
Total SP = 7337 Stealth – This by far is the most useful skill a Rogue can ever use. It allows them, at the price of moving a bit slower than normal, to become completely invisible to other players. Take caution though, a Wizard can detect you with Detect and Sprawl Detect, a Warrior can detect you with Descry, a Rogue can detect you with De-stealth and Intensive De-stealth, and all Chinese characters can detect you with Skills from the Fire Combustion Line (Provided that theses characters’ detecting levels are the same or higher than your stealth level.) MAX THIS. It is the most useful skill for PvP and Jobbing.
Total SP = 3288 De-stealth – This skill is quite simple. It enables you see things that you are normally not able too, such as players in Stealth mode and Fire or Lava Traps laid by Wizards. It’s totally necessary for PvP and Jobbing. Max it.
Total SP = 3288
Tag Point – This Skill places a little mini-marker on fellow human players and tracks them as they move across the mini-map. It disappears when they move out of range. This Skill cannot be used on monsters. Its quite helpful for PvP and Jobbing, it’s your choice whether to get it or not.
Total SP = 3144 Gross Scorn – Essentially, the same thing as Scorn but it can attract up to 3 people at once. I wouldn’t get it at all.
Total SP = 3073 Intensive Stealth – The same thing as Stealth but it lasts longer and people will need higher level detecting Skills to see you. MAX IT.
Total SP = 8196 Intensive De-stealth – The same thing as De-Stealth but it lets you see higher-level Stealthed persons as well as objects. Max it.
Total SP = 8196 Hunting Point – The same this as Tag Point but has a longer range and lasts longer. Again, it’s your choice whether to get this Skill at all.
Total SP = 5675 Poison
Poison Weapons – This Skill, in my opinion, is very useful for a Rogue. It allows you to poison enemies, which gives them Damage over Time (DoT.) It's extremely useful to use on party, champion, giant, or unique mobs. In PvP, it’s good if your opponent doesn’t have any pills and with the Euro pot delay, you still have a good chance to pull of some moderate damage. Max this.
Total SP = 2314 Poison Circle – This Skill is somewhat useful if you are in a party. It decreases the chances of getting poisoned, as well as a few other statuses. If you do anyways, their effect will be somewhat decreased. It’s your choice whether to get this or not.
Total SP = 3030 Poison Field – This Skill gives you an 80% ability to poison up to 5 enemies in a 6.0m radius. It’s your choice whether to get this or not.
Total SP = 9515
Poison Trap – Similar to a Fire or Lava Trap set by a Wizard; this is a trap that incurs poison when stepped over. Max it. It’s useful for party, champion, and giant mobs.
Total SP = 7794 Vein Weapon – The same as the Poison Weapons Skill but does even more damage. Max this.
Total SP = 5789
Vein Circle – It’s like Poison Circle on steroids. It’s your choice.
Total SP = 7667
Mask Change
Monster Mask – This Skill, in my opinion, is a very amazing Skill. It lets you take the form of any monster you kill, although it has to be in the range of your Skill’s level. You keep all your stats but take the shape, speed, and attacking form of your “host” animal. It’s very useful for Jobbing when you want to confuse a Thief, Merchant, or hunter. After you get the level 40 Monster Mask Skill, you can make big bucks by selling Kokoru or Periton Masks because they run faster than any horse in the whole game. MAX THIS.
Total SP = 1671
Duplicate – Lets you look like any other player. You keep all your status though. It’s useful for PvP because it appears as if you don’t have a Cape but you really do. It’s your choice.
Total SP = 3500
Death Essence – The same as Monster Mask but lets you create masks of higher level monsters. MAX THIS.
Total SP = 9839 Crossbow Expert
Crossbow Power Up – A passive Skill that increases your damage done by Xbow Skills. Max This.
Total SP = 21898 Wide Sight – Increases you maximum Xbow range. Max This.
Total SP = 4874 Avoid – This decreases the damage you take from long range physical attacks. It’s only applicable to other Xbows and Chinese Bows. Max This.
Total SP = 11510 Crossbow Extreme –This Skill is very, very, very useful. It may cut your health in half, but it increases your Critical Hit Rate and your Damage Rate drastically. Max this baby all the way.
Total SP = 13572 Crossbow
Power Shot – This Skill gives you a chance to KB your enemy. If KD, your damage will increase on the enemy if using this skill. Max it.
Total SP = 1354 Fast Shot – This Skill quickly launches a bolt. It’s great for finishing an enemy because it has such a fast timer. It also has the longest ranges of any skill that you will have for a long time. It’s a great opener. The only problem is that this skill delivers only 51% damage of your normal attack. Max it.
Total SP = 2596 Long Shot – This Skill will be your main damage dealer ‘till level 40. It also has a long range. Max it.
Total SP = 4680
Blast Shot – This shot enables you to knock down your enemies. It’s a good combo with Power Shot or Intense Shot. Max it.
Total SP = 7393
Intense Shot – Essentially the same Skill as Power Shot, except for that it shoots two bolts and deals more damage. Max it.
Total SP = 23284
Rapid Shot – Essentially, it’s the same Skill as Fast Shot but it allows you to attack multiple enemies at one. Max it.
Total SP = 18970
Distance Shot – You’re all noticing the pattern now right? It’s the same thing as Long Shot but it does way more damage. Max it.
Total SP = 19337 Hurricane Shot – The last and most powerful of all the Xbow attacks. It’s similar to Blast Shot but shoots of two bolts. Max it.
Total SP = 11622
Bard Subclass
Now, I bet you’re asking, “Why the hell would I need a Bard Subclass? It’s pointless right?” (Or something like that.) Well, being a Bard will benefit you in a few ways. If you decide to farm your entire SP early on, the Bard Subclass offers the Skill Noise, which will prevent enemy mobs from being agro against you. It’s quite useful while jobbing or just trying to get around. You also can use certain Skills to move faster or make mobs attack each other. Lets take a look into what I consider the ultimate Subclass for the Rogue.
Bard’s Dream
Echo – This increases the range of one of the most useful Skill Lines in the Bard Subclass, The Music Pleasure Line, Max it.
Total SP = 6581 Prism – It increases resistance while using the Skills of the Music Pleasure Line. Max it.
Total SP = 9001
Music Pleasure
Moving March – Increases you and your party members moving speed on foot. Max this baby up.
Total SP = 1680
Hit March – It increases you and your party members Hit Rate and is canceled when a Skill outside the Music Pleasure Line is used. Max it.
Total SP = 5638
Swing March – The same as Moving March but longer and better. Max this Skill all the way.
Total SP = 9839
Clout March – The same as the Skill Hit March but it lasts longer and is better. Max it.
Total SP = 5675
Guard Tambour - This protects your and your party members from all types of physical damage. It consumes MP continuously every 5 seconds so use it when in need only. I recommend maxing this skill.
Total SP = 11510 Mana Tambour - Similar to Guard Tambour in all aspects except that it protects your party from all magical damage. Max it.
Total SP = 11457
Melody
Holding Clamor – I have had some experience with this Skill. My friends who are Rogues told me to get this because it binds the enemy and they won’t be able to move. That’s easy sniping. For me, the normal KBs and KDs from the original Xbow Skill Line worked better for me. It’s your choice.
Total SP = 8103
Cure Melody – You cure a random bad status from a party member. This skill is great for getting you into parties but I believe this is the Cleric’s job and a waste of SP. It’s your choice on this one.
Total SP = 8082
Temptation – This Skill is a beast of a Skill. When used on a selected monster, it will turn agro against a nearby monster. It is applicable to Party monsters as well! Sadly, it cannot be used on Giants or Champions. In my book, you should max this baby.
Total SP = 4934
Patter Clamor – The same thing as Holding Clamor but can be used on up to 3 enemies at once. Once again, it’s your choice on this one.
Total SP = 2164 Curious Temptation – The same thing as Temptation but your monster now will attack a whole bunch of other monsters. Max it.
Total SP = 4689
Cure Music – It will cure all party members of one random adverse condition. Once again. I think that this is the Cleric’s job and shouldn’t be the job of a Rogue. It’s your choice.
Total SP = 4686 Sound
Tuning Noise – This Skill lets you regain MP for free! Nothing like free MP to make your day better! What is amazing is that it ignores defense so it has a preset amount of damage. At higher levels, it’s pretty good for PvP and Jobbing. Max it.
Total SP = 2596
Noise – This Skill is a beast. It lets you grind in an agro mob filled area because they won’t be agro to you anymore. Sadly, this Skill doesn’t work for Giants or Champs. Anyways… Max it.
Total SP = 11510
Discord Wave – Makes a monster non-agro towards a certain target. It’s great for Pleveling people or parties with weaker members and spell casters. In my book, you should max this.
Total SP = 17464 Tuning Sound – It is the souped up and better bigger brother of Tuning Noise. Max this baby because you’re getting freer MP.
Total SP = 18970
Mana Cycle - It restores MP to a single nearby person. It's your choice.
Total SP = 15529 Mana Wind - Restores the MP of three people nearby you. It's your choice.
Total SP = 13602
Mana Breeze - Mana Wind on steroids but it affects up to 8 people. It's your choice.
Total SP = 12147
Mana Orbit - All of the Mana regeneration Skills combined with super steroids. This baby is definitely juicing. It affects 8 party members and recovers MP for a fixed duration.
Total SP = 5675
My reasoning for the Bard Subclass stands strong. These are the reasons why:
-It makes you and your party members go faster.
-It makes you resistant to agro mobs, unless they are giants or champs.
-You can make certain mobs non-agro towards a certain person.
-You can regenerate MP without the use of pots
-You can distribute or selectively give MP to your party members when needed.
-You can bind mobs that are far away from you for some time, allowing you or others to attack it.
-You can cure status ailments that are detrimental to you and your party.
-You can make other monsters attack nearby monsters, a great help when attacking a giant.
-It increases your and your party members Magical and Mêlée defense.
As you see, The Bard subclass offers you more alternatives than the few Cleric perks.
Party Fighting
I have come to realize that Rogues aren’t exactly “needed” or “desired” in parties. My aim is to get you into as many parties as possible because party grinding is the most fun as well as the second fastest method of leveling (Pleveling is the fastest.) By having your Bard Subclass, you will be desired in all parties for when the need of a Bard arises, you will be called upon and accepted. Now, we have to discuss your role in the party.
Your role is actually very vital since you are a bard. Try to buff everybody as much as possible but do not do it too much or else you will end up taking tons of MP Pots instead of using Tuning Noise and Sound. Revive people’s Mp now and then and be sure that you always have your speed buff up.
As an Xbow Rogue in a party will play a vital role because he/she will have low agro. Agro is the level of aggressiveness that a monster will have against a certain player in a party when they all attack. For the Chinese, it depends upon damage. For the European characters however, it is much different. Agro is divided by what class you are. It’s a simple order:
1) Wizard
2) Cleric
3) Warlock
4) Bard
5) Warrior
6) Rogue
Now having the Bard subclass obviously won’t affect you unless you are being a dumbass and attack the party mob with a harp. This is why Wizards die so soon in Party Conflict, when all members are attacking a party mob, the monster will attack the wizard first and since Wizards have crappy health, they are owned. Rogues will always be attacked last so be a help to your party and draw in some monsters. When everyone gets to the attacking, protect your wizard, because even though you hit the monster first, as soon as the Wizzy attacks, it’s gonna go for it. Due to this advantage, you can bring in giants, party mobs, and champions for your party. As soon as you do so, have a Warrior or Warlock take over for a little. When the monster reaches half health, have the Clerics and Wizards come in. Meanwhile, you can be attacking all the time.
Now, since you are a pure STR build, you probably think you can take Giants by yourself. FREAKING WRONG. Your Light Armor cannot stand up to the crazy blows of a Giant (especially a Party Giant) and you will die really fast due to the pot delay for Euro chars. Your best bet is to draw the Giant in and let your stronger members take the Agro before attacking.
It’s also important to use XE (Crossbow Extreme) under special circumstances. Sure, you will be hitting more Crits. and doing more damage but your FREAKING HEALTH HAS BEEN CUT IN HALF. Make sure you know where you are and what you are doing before you enable this skill. It’s only useful when you are perfectly safe or when you have a group healer (preferably Cleric, Chinese Force Skills suck incredibly bad).
PvP
Now, we come to the section where the Rogue truly shines. The aspect of PvP. I will list the other classes as well as their weaknesses and strengths against the Rouge build.
WARLOCK
I truly hate these guys. They have the ability to own you in a few seconds. They usually open up with a skill that will stun you or put you to sleep. Unfortunately, you cannot use pills on these statuses and they will unleash all kinds of undesirable damage on you while you are in those states. To make matters worse, they have a shield, which happens to increase their defense, and they have the ability to block some of your shots. However, this build is not invincible. The key is to go stealth and hit them from a far away distance. KB, KD, or poison them if you can for it will disrupt their attacks against you. Another plus point for you is that they are a pure INT build so they have very little HP. Usually, they will die in a few hits if not one.
WIZARD
These guys are really annoying. They, like you, have the option to turn invisible. They also can deal more damage than you. WAY more. This means that when facing them, expect 1 or 2 hit shots on you (usually one hits). But, like the Warlock, they are a pure INT build and have low hp. The best thing is that when they use Life Control/Turnover to boost their damage, their HP is cut in half. This nearly seals the deal if you can hit them first; it’s a guaranteed 1-hit KO. The worst thing you can run into is a Necromancer (A wizard with a Warlock sub or vice-versa.) They will immediately stun you and then proceed to one hit you. It’s horrible. My suggestion is to always go into Stealth mode when attacking a pure INT build.
WARRIOR
These people are probably the best-suited class to combat the Rogues.
. They utilize the Iron-Skin Buff, which for 45 seconds makes all mêlée attacks on them do much less damage that they would normally do. And, as most warriors have a subclass of Cleric, they will usually be buffed up, so damaging them will be a giant pain. Another thing to watch out for are the ones with shields. The Skill “Shield Trash”, at higher levels, is amazingly effective at knocking you down. The Skills of a 2 Handed Sword Warrior allow them to knock you down as well. Your best bet over here is keeping a distance between you and them. They have no range whatsoever; they purely build on CQC. You have to rely on Crits., KDs, and KBs to seal the deal.
CLERIC
This class is usually a 1-hit KO class but can have a few exceptions. Most, if not all, Clerics carry a shield and wear Light Armor. This obviously boosts their DEF, but being a pure INT class makes them easy prey. They can be annoying though, when in groups. They ress people back, so when attacking a group, go for the Cleric first. They also can heal themselves, so try to use your most powerful attack on them to knock them out of the fight for good. I would be careful about their Skill line of Sacrifice. It can deal major damage and I would recommend you to take out the Cleric before they have the chance to cast it on you.
BARD
The easiest of all the classes. You can save this class for the last pickings. The only danger though, is multiple coordinated bards. With their use of the Beautiful Life and Dancing Concert Skill lines, they can buff a whole party into an unstoppable force. If you make contact with a group and they have multiple dancing bards, target them first. It will be much easier to take out the rest of the group later.
JOBBING
The area of jobbing is where the Rogue excels. The various and deadly combinations of the Skills you posses can be used to your advantage over unsuspecting players.
Thieving: For many, this is the ideal job setting for a Rogue. I think otherwise but will tell you how to excel anyways. The Stealth Expert, Stealth, and Mask Change Series will be your main friends. Stealth is key for Thieving. You want to attack your targets first and never want to draw out the battle. A technique my friend employs when he is thieving is to wait for the NPC thieves to attack to reveal yourself and attack. The Hunter(s) and Merchant(s) will be focused on the NPCs and won’t even have time to react to you (and your party if you don’t go solo.) It’s best to thieve in parties, you will have friends to back you up, tank, ress, and buff. Obviously, the Stealth Expert Line increases the duration of the Skill Stealth/Intensive Stealth. De-Stealth will be extremely useful for the Merchants and Hunters who employ Invisibility/Stealth (they would have to be Wizards or fellow Rogues.) The best way to do so is to get your party to remain in Stealth or hiding while a Warrior goes into the heart of the caravan and performs Descry or you perform De-Stealth. Tag Point/Hunting Point is also extremely useful. When you cast it, you can follow the movements of the Merchant you are stalking and will have time to coordinate a tactical assault using the terrain and NPC thieves to your advantage.
The Monster Mask Skill, although seemingly used only for fun or speed, is amazingly helpful. You can trick an unsuspecting/unaware trader into thinking that you are a normal monster. You can coordinate by surrounding the caravan and decimating its members, by the time they get ready to attack, you might have killed them. You can also put Poison Traps in the way of oncoming caravans to unsuspectingly poison them.
Merchanting + Hunting: This is my profession of choice mainly because I love the profits and the thrills of battling NPC thieves as well as real life players. As stated before, all the latter Skills will help you. De-Stealth for finding those damn annoying invisible thieves, Stealth for tricking them, Tag/Hunting Point for tracking their movements and predicting what they will do next, and monster masks for luring them to your caravan to attack your animals then turning on them. Scorn can somewhat be effectively used here to trick the thieves, but this would most likely result in your own death. Anyways, I would suggest you be a merchant although the Skills of a Rogue are more practical for the job of a Thief.
DEFENSE:
The best bet for a Rogue would obviously be Light Armor. It defends you without being sacrificing too much as Heavy Armors and Robes do. Robes sacrifice your Physical Defense but greatly increase your Magical Defense. They also offer a 20% speed bonus. Heavy Armors off your unparalleled Physical Defense but that comes at the cost of poor Magical Defense and a speed bonus isn’t implemented. Light Armors are more practical for you because they offer you moderate to good Physical and Magical Defense. They aren’t cumbersome like Heavy Armors but aren’t light and “flowy” like Robes so they give you an approx. 10% speed bonus. It’s best that you start to use Elixirs and perform Alchemy on your Light Armor starting around the upper 50s and mid 60s because you will be leveling much more slowly at that point and its best to keep a good set around. If you feel unsuccessful with your attempts at pimping your armor, I suggest buying some with good blues. The best kinds have:
-Int # Increase = Increases the amount of MP your character has as long as the armor is equipped
-Str # Increase = Increases the amount of HP on your character as long as the armor is equipped
-Astral # Time/times = Keeps your weapon at +4, assuming you get it there. If you fail at +5 and above, your weapon will drop back to +4.
-Immortal = Keeps weapons from breaking during alchemy.
-Lucky = Increases the chance of further alchemy being successful.
-Steady = Keeps you from loosing stats on an item when you + it.
-Parry Ratio % Increase = Increases your Parry Ratio
-Attack Rating % Increase
-Blocking Ratio % Increase = Increases the chances of blocking an attack with a shield (not applicable to Rogues.)
-Durability % Increase = The Durability of your Light Armor is increased so it means less trips to the Blacksmith or Protector Shop Owner to get your Light Armor fixed.
-Crit. Increase = This would be the best thing a Rogue could ever have. It increases the chance of you performing a Critical Attack on a person. We already are Crit. Machines but a little more help wouldn’t hurt at all.
Any Reduction of Bad Statuses (especially Stun, Zombie, and Freeze.)
That’s it for now! I’ll be adding pictures, colors, and videos later on.
P.S. Expect the updates and Revisions to be a bit slow in coming. Sorry! I'm just really busy.
Thanks to XemnasXD for the help on the alchemy section
Thanks to rumpleKillskin for reminding me about the missing Bard Skills
Thanks to [SW]XMoshe for clearing up the Offensive properties business with the Light Armor section