Shaiya Rogues Guide

Shaiya Rogues Guide by JamesGodden

Contents
Introduction

Chapter 1 – Rogue Modes
Rogues in the various modes of Shaiya from EM to UM

Chapter 2 – Rogue Skill List
Detailed skill list for Rogues

Chapter 3 – Builds
Mainly the grinding builds, see the PvP chapters for PvP related info

Chapter 4 – PvE
Grinding Grinding Grinding

Chapter 5 – 1-15 and 20-30 PvP
Some general information on these zones

Chapter 6 – 1-70 PvP
General 1-70 PvP tips and tricks. Plus how to defeat other classes in 1 on 1 or 1 on many PvP situations in 1-70

Chapter 7 – Advanced 1-70 builds
An in depth look on linking a rogue for ultimate end-game PvP

Thanks, Bibilography, and further reading

Introduction
About the author
Before I go into the details of this guide I felt it would be useful to sell myself a little bit to the readers.
In Shaiya I’m [GS]PrinceCatali on Teos UoF, commonly called PC or Catali. I have been playing Shaiya since May-08. I was originally an AoL player on Teos and I played Rangers exclusively till then end of 2009. In Jun-10 I was the first player to use a Faction Change Scroll on Shaiya moving from AoL to UoF. I have a 53NM, 59HM and 70UM sins, and I deleted level 15 and 30 UM Rangers. I have experience of other classes from play and from talking to others and I know most the facets of the gameplay especially in end-game PvP. I will cover most aspects of Rogues in this guide, but for the lower PvP sections I will provide links to better guides as I haven’t played there in a long while.
In this guide, I will cover most aspects of the Ranger/Assassin, the modes, skills, builds, play styles both PvE and PvP. I’ll also go over strengths and weaknesses, of rogues in PvP, and some tactics for 1 on 1 and many on many PvP situations focused on 1-70.

Here is a short introduction to the class and its style

Shaiyas’ answers to the standard “rogue” MMO class are the Assassin and Ranger Classes, which I will call rogues. Stealth and deception are the trademarks of a good rogue. Ambush and evasion are staples of the rogues. Rogues can disguise themselves as harmless creatures or as the enemy, further enabling their stealth. This class lives upto its fury name “assassin” as they can unleash the most damage in a short burst of any class. Rogues are small, skinny, fast and very powerful. They are also known as one of the most difficult classes to level (just compare the number of fighters/warriors to sin/rangers). Most people get frustrated after an amount of time of leveling it by themselves, because not many people like to have an rogue in their party, due the lack of AoEs (non-UM’s). I don’t want to scare you guys off from selecting an assassin, but grinding with as assassin can be a pain. It takes lots and lots of time and effort to build a good rogue, but eventually your patience will be rewarded. When the time comes, you will even laugh to a healer oracle/pagan/tank guard who can’t find themselves a party. For those who likes the challenge, don’t hesitate to try out the rogue class, for it is one of the strongest classes in Shaiya end-game PvP especially

Caveat Emptor
This thread is written as a guide only and I do my best to provide all the information that I have gained. The provided suggestions are based on my own experiences and expertise, I have utilised other guides where I feel relevant and I have credited them and listed them at the end.

Definition of Terms

STAT TERMS

Str: Strength. This stat determines the effectiveness of your regular hits and any skills that inflict physical damage.
Rec: Recovery. This stat determines your defense rating and increases your HP pool. It is also a key factor in determining who gets attacked.
Dex: Dexterity. This stat determines your accuracy and evasion from physical attacks. It also increases your SP pool.
Int: Intelligence. This stat determines the effectiveness skills of that inflict magical damage.
Wis: Wisdom. This stat determines your resistance to magical attacks, increases magical attack accuracy, and increases your MP pool.
Luc: Luck. This stat increases your critical hit damage and chances for critical hits. It also offers minor evasion from critical hits.

HP: Hit points. This stat is your life force. If it reaches zero, you die.
MP: Mana Points. This stat is your pool for using magical based skills.
SP: Stamina Points. This stat is your pool for using physical based skills.

Note that many skills use both MP and SP.

SKILL TERMS

AoE: Area of effect. This term is used to describe a skill or party that focuses on hitting multiple enemies at once.
DoT: Damage over time. This term is used to describe a skill that inflicts damage spread out over a set period of time.
DPS: Damage per second. This term is used to describe inflicting the most possible damage in a set time, usually by increasing attack power or attack speed.
Buff: A skill that grants bonuses for a limited time.
Debuff: A skill that puts a negative effect on an opponent.

OTHER TERMS

EM: Easy Mode. Can go up to Lv30. This mode is useless.
NM: Normal Mode. Can go up to Lv70. Once you reach Lv40 NM, you unlock HM.
HM: Hard Mode. Can go up to Lv70. Once you reach Lv40 HM, you unlock UM. HM get more stats, skills, and gear options than NM.
UM: Ultimate Mode. Can go up to Lv70. UM get more stats, skills, and gear options than HM but run the risk of losing your character forever.
PvE: Player versus environment. This term describes gameplay that involves interaction with AI enemies.
PvP: Player versus player. This term describes gameplay that involves interaction with human enemies.

SHAIYA SLANG, JARGON, AND TERMS

Mob: Refers to a regular AI opponent.
Aggro: Refers to getting a mob’s attention. This may include attacking it, debuffing it, or simply running by it and having it chase you.
LFP: Looking for party.
WTS/WTB/WTT: Wanting to sell/buy/trade.
KS: Kill steal. This is when someone attacks something that has already been aggroed to another player. It is considered rude and repeated KSing may result in a ban.
Lapis: A gem that can be augmented into your gear to boost stats or give other bonuses.
Slot: A space in your gear in which you put lapis.
Toon: A character in the game is referred to as a “toon”

Chapter 1 – Rogue Modes
Rogues as with all Shaiya classes have 4 modes. In each mode the “fxed” stat point gained per level is in Dex.

Easy Mode – Easy Mode is basically the mode you pick to get to level 10 on an alternative server/faction to be able to sell items. Skip this mode for actual gameplay. EM toons receive 5 distributable stats +1 fixed stat per level.[/color]

Normal Mode – Normal Mode is the first true gameplay mode. As stated in the jargon busting section above once you reach level 40 you can move on to HM. NM rogues are a hard class to grind. I got to level 53 in episode3 mainly to get the full dread dragon set and luck buff3, since then the game has moved on, now you can unlock each mode at level 40, and tbh its not worth going passed 40 on NM especially for Rogues, it is worth taking the time to play a NM rogue, although other classes offer fast routes to 40 due to their AoE/Party power, if your serious about rogues and play alone a lot initially in MMOs then NM will help you understand the most unique feature of rogues: Chains. NM toons receive 5 distributable stats +1 fixed stat per level, they can wear upto dread gear, they can equip 60+ weapons but not 60+ armors[/color]

Hard Mode – HM unlocked by getting to 40 on NM. HM is where sins start (but don’t end) becoming alive. You get a few more key skills, “Blunt/Misfortune” being a key “pulling” skill to gather mobs together to kill, or to pull a single mob if you prefer 1 at a time. In HM as a rogue you will learn more about the rogues key chains for both PvP and Grinding. I would still advise pushing on for UM with rogues, but if you can’t afford to play UM, then HM can work in PvP, especially in 1-70. HM toons receive 7 distributable stats +1 fixed stat per level, they can wear upto legend gear, they can equip 60+ weapons and 60+ armors [/color]

Ultimate Mode – UM is unlocked by getting to 40 on HM. This is best mode to make a rogue to play more, in NM and HM you will have learnt about all the basic chains, in UM you get new fun and powerful skills to play with. Your chains will now have Eviscerate and Dark Panic added to them, excellent for grinding (especially in 60+ maps), possibly most crucial of all you get Magic defy, which will block a lot of hits from mobs and players. With UM you do run the risk of losing your toon by dying without a Resurrection Rune or a healer that knows Ressurection Lv 2, but if your careful then that is no problem, although Continuous Resurrection Runes (CRRs) can be expensive. UM toons receive 9 distributable stats +1 fixed stat per level, they can wear upto goddess gear, they can equip 60+ weapons and 60+ armors

Chapter 2 – Rogue Skill List
Hard Mode skills will have their names in blue & Ultimate Mode skills will have their names in red. Each skill will also be followed by a short section on the change from Episode4 & a recommendation of the usefulness of the skill, I’ve tried to break each skill down into “types” as follows.

Must: The skill is useful to all styles of Rogue
DPS: DPSers aren’t just rangers that use the power skills, these are Str-based rangers, be it Str/Dex or Str/Dex/Luc, they are built to hurt
Stun-Bot: Stun-Bots aren’t just rangers that use the stun chain, these are REC/DEX rangers, that have low attack power, & are built to annoy
Optional: Skills that aren’t really required but are nice to haves
Useless: Skills that are useless to this class

This is my opinion of the skill, however, so ultimately its your decision.

Chains!

The Ranger chains are modified in Episode5. Here are the “new” chain orders. As always the previous skill must be on cool down to activate the next skill, with the exception of when Dance of Death (DoD) is active as the skill Dance of Death removes any chain prerequisites allowing rogues to use all their power skills together!

Halt Kick > Stun Crash > Dark Panic
Halt Kick > Phantom Assault

Tetanus > Aggravation > Slasher
Tetanus > Eviscerate

Drag Down > Venom Crash > Gruesome Attack
Drag Down > Gruesome Zone

Stealth > Shadow Sleep
Stealth > Shadow Attack
Stealth > Stunning Disruption

Low zone highlights

For pvpers here is a quick list of the major changes to the 1-15 and 20-30 zone

1-15
Now Mana Decay, Gruesome Zone and Shadow Attack are available.

20-30
Now Phantom Assault, Gruesome Attack, Blunt, Misfortune, and Dark Panic are available ^^

MP and SP Now added for most skills
Episode 5.2 new skills added

Skill List

Passive Skills

Muscle Training

Change from Ep4: Increase to 7 levels of learning. Existing max level3 is +35 attack, now improved.

Must: Max this skill, its cheap & adds to your attack power

Rogue Weapon Power-

Change from Ep4: Now 6 levels of learning. Existing max level3 is 20 attack, so now improved

Must: Max this skill, its cheap & adds to your attack

Relax Body

Change from Ep4: Much faster recovery speed

Must: Max this skill for faster grinding & recovery in PvP

Evasion Ascent

Change from Ep4: Top end Evasion higher, however the Episode4 skill was 22% at level41

Must: Max this skill evasion is important to this class

Dagger Weapon Power

Change from Ep4: Now 6 levels of learning. Existing max level3 is 20 attack, now improved, development starts later.

Useless: Do not get this skill Daggers are an inferior weapon for this class.

Interpretation

Change from Ep4: This skill is unchanged

Optional: Max this skill if you want to be able to understand the opposing faction in PvP

Rogue Weapon Mastery

Change from Ep4: No Change

Must: Max this skill you will use Claws & Reverse Swords exclusively

Backpack Upgrade

Change from Ep4: This skill is now learnt later in character development

Must: Max this skill or you’ll be Warehousing a lot of stuff & unable to carry much

Basic Skills

Town Portal

Change from Ep4: None

Must: This will destealth you as its a skill unlike /town-ing. Free skill

Fatal Hit

Skill   Player   SK Pt   SP     MP     Cool   abnormal    + attack    movement
Level   Level    Cost    Cost   Cost   Down   condition               reduction
1       1        1       19     0      10s    slow 3s     +16 attack  1 level
2       10       1       51     0      10s    slow 4s     +50 attack  1 level
3       19       2       95     0      10s    slow 5s     +95 attack  2 levels
4       28       2       139    0      10s    slow 6s     +199attack  2 levels
5       37       2       183    0      10s    slow 7s     +308attack  2 levels
6       46       3       227    0      10s    slow 7s     +412attack  3 levels
7       55       3       271    0      10s    slow 9s     +530attack  3 levels
8       64       3       315    0      10s    slow 10s    +634attack  3 levels

Change from Ep4: no longer pause now “Slow”, much much greater damage, no longer needed for chaining

Optional: Old staple skill of a Ranger, no longer needed for chaining, the damage is better

Agility

Change from Ep4: Higher DEX bonus at level 60, Max increased, duration improved.

Must: Basic buff of rangers, a must!

Sprinter

Change from Ep4: Now a 3 minute buff at highest level

Optional: Sonics are the preference in ShaiyaUS, only get Sprinter if you don’t have sonics. Disguise, Stealth, transformation can not be used with sprinter.

Big Coup

Change from Ep4: Level 2 now 40 not 45s duration

Must: A handy skill if your in a tight spot skill has an effect on your accuracy & evasion, precise effect unknown.

Misfortune

Change from Ep4: bigger decrease in Luck stat, smaller AoE range

Optional: Lvl3+ 5m AoE. Blunt is a much better skill, Misfortune now available for assassins

Blunt

Change from Ep4: bigger decrease in Dexterity stat, smaller AoE Range

Optional: Lvl3+ 5m AoE. Blunt is available for Rangers now & is a preference to Misfortune

Scouting

Change from Ep4: None

Optional: PvP Skill, doesn’t work on Mobs. A must if you plan to PvP

Attack Skills

Tetanus

Change from Ep4:

DPSer: Does basic damage. Following chain skills must be used whilst this is on Cooldown.

Halt Kick

Change from Ep4: More levels, longer silence debuff, slightly higher damage

Must: Following chain skills must be used whilst Halt-Kick is on cool-down. Lvl5+ probably not necessary, must casting classes will pot this quickly

Drag Down

Change from Ep4: Much greater effect. SP and MP reduces by % amount every 3s

Stun-Bot: Does basic damage. Following chain skills must be used whilst this is on cooldown.

Stun Crash

Change from Ep4: Damage increased, stun & recharge now same length at all levels

Must: Halt-Kick must be on Cool-down for this skill to be used. Increased damage of lvl 2+ not worth the skill points stick to level1. Following chain skills must be used whilst Stun Crash is on cool-down.

Stealth

Change from Ep4: None

Must: PvP Skill mainly, can be useful for PvE for activating Stealth Cooldown for certain skills, can’t be activated whilst disguised/transformed & cancels sprinter, lift if attacking or attacked, or Right-click the icon to lift

Shadow Sleep

Change from Ep4: sleep length increased

Optional: Does no daamge. Stealth must be on cool-down to use this skill. Not that useful outside of 1-15 & 20-30

Magic Defy

Change from Ep4: None

Must: Handy for PvE to evade magical attacks, great in PvP for the same. Some spells still go through

Aggravation

Change from Ep4: Much more powerful skill

DPSer: Tetanus must be on cool-down to use this skill. Following chain skills must be used whilst this is on Cooldown.

Shadow Attack

Change from Ep4: Now available in 1-15 pvp, looks to be DEX based

Must: Stealth must be on Cool-down to use this skill. SA does major damage regardless of build

Venom Crash

Change from Ep4: % reductions changed, now MAX hp not Current HP effect.

Stun-Bot: Drag-Down must be on Cool-Down to use this skill. Following chain skills must be used whilst Venom Crash is on cool-down.

Flash Attack

Change from Ep4: None

Optional: Not really needed once you are lvl 35+ as a flashed weapon OR Melon IC does the same

Stunning Disruption

Change from Ep4: New Skill

Must: Non-Target AoE hits hard stuns, Long CD, but a good skill. Requires Stealth to be on CD

Special Skills

Evasion

Change from Ep4: None

Must: Free SKill, careful with use as wipes SP/MP. Ranger ONLY

Bloody Karma

Change from Ep4: None

Must: Assassin ONLY

Mana Decay

Change from Ep4: Now available in 1-15

Stun-Bot/Optional: This is less useful to DPS styles, it does have use especially in 1-15 on healers.

Incantation

Change from Ep4: LUC buff is now giving more LUC, also lvl6 is “union” not “group” in Raids

Must: One of the best buffs in the game

Dance of Death

Change from Ep4: New Skill

Must: Uber skil in PvP especially, unchains all skills, allows a Sin to do massive damage in a short space of time

Mental Storm – Distortion

Change from Ep4: New Skill

Optional: Though skill is useful in 1-15 maybe, it is limited at high level, its effect isn’t too profound.
Though it does have a Condition of Poision it can’t be potted, infact all the targets skills are rendered unuseable

Gruesome Zone

Change from Ep4: Now set damage, “abnormal condition” unknown, now a 1-15 skill, however might be nerfed by the targets absorb

Stun-bot: Ignores target Defense.Drag down must be on cool-down to use this skill.

Phantom Assault

Change from Ep4: Now AoE, now sleep, now 20-30 skill.

Notes: Halt-Kick must be on cool-down to use this skill.

Potential Nimble

Change from Ep4: None

Must: Seems to have an evasive hidden property. MR = Magic Resistance

Eviscerate

Change from Ep4: Major reduction in power, CD is much lower.

DPS: Tetanus must be on Cool-down AoE skill does decent damage, if not the old spectacular amount

Transformation

Change from Ep4: None

Optional: More of a fun skill, can be handy to run through a map of dangerous mobs, lift if attacking or attacked. Note has a 4s Cast time

Disguise

Change from Ep4: None

Optional: More of a fun skill than that useful, lift if attacking or attacked. Note 4s Cast-time

Mental Storm – Lure

Change from Ep4: New Skill

Must: this skill removes the infamous insufficient range bug that you receive in PvP.
Also players effected can not perform any actions

Mental Storm – Confusion

Change from Ep4: New Skill

Optional: Skill is great in PvP on Priests, Tanks and if you are heavily outnumbered.
Also players effected can not perform any actions

Slasher

Change from Ep4: Damage increase, CD reduced from 45 to 30seconds

DPSer: Aggravation must be on cool-down to use this skill.

Gruesome Attack

Change from Ep4: CD now 30s, abnormal condition removed so should work on bosses, now available in 20-30

Stun-Bot: Venom Crash must be on cool-down to use this skill. Classed as stun-bot, but if it works on bosses, may well be required for CTI til Ep5.2

Dark Panic

Change from Ep4: slight 1s reduction at pre-60, now available in 20-30, else the famous Ep4 skill is unchanged.

Must: Lvl1-2 Nasic attack, lvl3-4 2x Basic attack. Stun-Crash must be on cool-down to use this skill.

Perfect Position

Change from Ep4: Nothing major, final level is more evasive

Optional: Handy pvp buff, was expensive in Skill points in ep4

Spy Bugging

Change from Ep4: None

Useless: Useless

Terrible Attack

Change from Ep4: CD reduced from 900s, Is NOT set damage, it hits hard and can Crit, Elementally influenced

Optional: Expensive skill but hits hard

Deaths Touch

Change from Ep4: Not % anymore of Max HP, now a massive boost to Attack power, DEX based, Crits, and Elemental can effect damage. Note: Only lvl1 for HM, lvl2 and 3 are UM only versions

Must: Extremely powerful skill will 1 hit most targets

Chapter 3 – BUILDS

Build-Types
Ok now we know the Modes and Skills available and what level those can be acquired, the next thing to discuss before that actual gameplay aspects is builds. Here we will look at the 4 primary build types you can aim towards. There are a myriad of options here, and these base builds are more akin to different grind styles than PvP (there are exceptions) when it comes to PvP your base build isn’t set in stone but will depend on your lapis and gear.
So lets discuss the 4 major stats you can use in a rogue

STR Assassin: This build is mainly focused on having a good base attack power. Besides STR, the assassin needs accuracy in order to hit the opponent. This build is focused on STR/DEX. This is a typical powrr build, and is arguable the best for grinding the low levels (1-55)

• NM: 3STR/2DEX, 2STR/3DEX (with good gearing 4STR/1DEX suggested)
• HM: 5STR/2DEX, 4STR/3DEX (with good gearing 6STR/1DEX suggested)
• UM: 6STR/3DEX, 7STR/2DEX (with good gearing 8STR/1DEX suggested)

These builds are straightforward and easy to use. I personally ran 6/3 5/4 str/dex alternate during my UM grind in episode3

DEX Assassin: This build is mainly focused on evasion and accuracy. You are sacrificing your attack power in order to increase your evasion. Although this build is focused on STR/DEX, unlike the STR builds it relies on evasion rather than fast killing to grind.

• NM: Stick to STR builds NM would be too weak for a DEX build
• HM: 3STR/4DEX
• UM: 5STR/4DEX (very, very powerful and safe build)

The DEX build is incredible as an UM. Don’t think 5STR/4DEX is a weak build, due to lack of damage, but it is very safe build to tank more mobs at same time, where your AoE will do the job.

REC Assassin: For all those who likes to be annoying in the battlefield with the least look on the resurrection-screen, this is your chance. This build mainly focused on evasion and shielding. This build is focused on REC/DEX or STR/REC/DEX. If you have pure DEX gear or are a perma nosser then for 1-15 the 9 REC build is ok too.

• NM: Stick to STR builds for NM
• HM: hard to pull this off, but if you really want to, than go for 5REC/2DEX.
• UM: 6REC/3DEX, 5REC/4DEX (PvP annoyer). 9 REC if your planning to Noss a lot.
  5STR/2REC/2DEX (Safe build in case your evasion fails).

I’m not a huge fan of REC builds, especially for grinding, yes they are safer, but man they are slower too. This is typically the slowest grind-style

LUC Assassin: People are saying the LUC build is powerful, where others are saying the STR build is more powerful. I can say that from personal experience STR builds are best for grinding, and Luc builds for PvP, as we are more looking at “standard builds” for now I’ll suggest a few

• NM: Stick to a STR build
• HM: Stick to STR/DEX builds, if yoru determined to try luck out wait until the mid-50s minimum but you’ll need uber gear.
• UM: 5STR/2DEX/2LUC (suggested by Killer595 if you want go LUC build from start)

I myself don’t like grinding from level 1 to the top with a LUC build. It is better to go STR and DEX builds from start and restat at later level. The suggested restat level is 55, that is when you attained the incantation skill lvl5. My UM was a str/dex grinder true luck builds rely on gears a lot more. (see advanced 70 pvp section)
Chapter 4 – PvE

Historical rogue Grinding

Grinding Rogues is notoriously difficult. A lot of this is due to the stigma attached to the class from its Episode3 days where it was really hard to find a party. this was due to the lack of AoEs available to the class.

Episode 4 started to fix this issue, Rogues got 3 AoEs, Gruesome zone, Eviscerate, and Dark Panic. All of them had pretty long CDs, but the addition of parties often looking for fillers for the perfect party bonus, meant that Rogues got more invites.

Episode 5 Grinding 1-60

With the changes made to the skills for Episode 5 (see chapter2) Sins now have multiple useful AoEs for grinding. Rogues can solo comfortably, but with these AoEs party invites shouldn’t be so far and few between. Map mobs should be more susceptible to Fantom Assault, in dungeons you might find this missing a fair bit, along with Dark Panic. Once you hit the mid-50s there will be the opportunity to leech on map5, remember you will likely be “PvPed” but due to the general rarity of Rogues, the “luc buff” aka incantation, should secure you some parties here.

Episode 5 Grinding 60-70

Once you hit 60, Map5 is the only really viable source of Exp. Here Fantom Assault and Dark Panic work on a lot of the mobs, this will mean you can grind with relative safety alone. The map is however best grinded in PPs so look for these.

Gear to grind in

From level 1 to level 15 or so Gear isn’t hugely important, Keep any nobles you find especially those in the 10-15 bracket. If you can throw some cheap lapis into them that will speed the grinding up. If you have done any PvP in 1-15 you’ll likely have a set from there to use. Grind in this gear to the mid-20s

25-45. here aim to use the 20-30 PvP set you have, or the dreads from the dread quests. HP isn’t of huge signifigance in this grind so the quested dreads linked with even just 3s and 4s will suffice. Obviously if your richer you can make better gear to work in.

46-59. Here If your HM use legends, UM consider buying the Goddess set 50-53, if you can afford it and throw Duals into it. This will help considerably later on.

60-65 Stick to your Goddess/Legend set till you complete and dual link the quest 60-64 set, unless you get lucky and get a dreamy piece.

66-70 Stick to the Quest set unless you’ve been fortunate, and/or are rich enough to afford to buy the top 65-69 set or a dreamy set.

For weapons, the level 45 Epic is worht to arounf the 55, the Caelum Sacra quest reward weapon then works fine. An ele’d weapon is almost always better to grind with than a non-ele one. Eventually work on getting the 68/69 weapon. Rgue weapons are very cheap to buy, as are the sin dreamy pieces (not sure on Ranger set) Once you are 70 then you will begin to Farm

Farming at 70

There are lots of good farming opportunities for both gold and lapis that you require.

The Aur/Stigma caves for 5s,
Relic mobs for 5s,
KI for Mystra Lapis boxes
OI for 6s.

A sin should be able to at least duo all these places with ease at 70. This will help you to finance and link your sets

Chapter 6 – 1-70 PvP

1-70 PvP is the big time it is the end game, its what most people play for, and its where rogues perform the best.

There are multiple aspects to 1-70 PvP for a rogue. Build, Gear, Skills, Skill orders, and different scenarios of PvP. For gear and builds for ultra PvP see the next section.

Skills and Skill Orders

So your level 70, your a UM rogue, you have chosen a DPS build of some description, what skills should you be looking at, and which skills are more optional or pointless.

in the skill section we saw there are many chains and skills available to a rogue. These can be split into 5 main groups.

• Passives
• Bread and butter skills: Those with short CDs
• Assassination Skills: Those skills with large damage bonuses but longer CDs
• Buffs and Debuffs: All the buffs and debuffs you can cause in PvP
• Fun skills: The likes of Disguise and Distortion, fun but of limited use.

The best way for me to show you Skills is to simply list which skills I have and then what other options are available. I have Maxed black skills, not got red skills and haven’t maxed orange skills

Passives

Muscle Training
Rogue Weapon Power up
Dagger Weapon Power up
Rogue Weapon Mastery
Evasion Ascent
Relax Body

Bread and Butter

Tetanus
Aggravation
Eviscerate
Slasher
Halt Kick
Stun Crash
Fantom Assault
Dark Panic
Drag Down
Venom Crash
Gruesome Zone
Gruesome Attack
Fatal Hit

Assassination

Shadow Attack
Stunning Disruption
Terrible Attack
Deaths Touch

Buffs and Debuffs

Agility
Incantation
Magic Defy
Stealth
Sprinter
Big Coup
Perfect Position
Bloody Karma
Evasion
Misfortune
Blunt
Lure
Confusion
Distortion
Scouting

Fun Skills

Interpretation
Spy Bugging
Transformation
Disguise

As you can see I have ignored skills that where identified in Chapter 2 as “stun-bot” skills. If you are playing a Rec/Dex rogue max these and drop the “DPS chain” I also have ignored the fun skills, (I only have interpretation for GS purposes) Some of the other ignores might need explaining

Terrible Attack: Skill point cost is huge at 24, skill has a massive CD of 10minutes and the + damage isn’t really that great. Possible trade offs to get this skill? Fatal hit (cost 17) interpretation (5 skill points) Muscle Training (14) Rogue Weapon Power-up (18 )

Sprinter: Everyone who is anyone has either Grape, Sonic Ammy or Sonic boots

Perfect Position: Again the Skill Point cost is massive (24) for the small pay-off. There are better skills

Misfortune (14 at max level, 7 for aoe) Blunt is better, no need to have both except maybe if your a debuffing Dex/Rec Rogue.

Distortion (10) this i the worst of the 3 “mental storms” and it doesn’t do much but confuse the target for a second, I also “think” its pottable.

With stun Crash and Halt Kick its not necessary to max them for all types level SC at level 1. HK starts to get expensive skill point wise from Lvl4 up for no real gain (99.9% of Casters would pot it, the other 1% would die fast)

Ok once you have made your skill selections you now need to consider how you use them. I will skip how to play Dex/Rec Rogues for 2 reasons, 1) I’ve never played that style 2) I’ve never seen anyone else play that style)

Massed PvP tactics

There are 3 main ways to play 1-70 PvP, Use the Tetanus Chains a lot, or use the Halt Kick Chains a lot, or using both a regularly. My preference is to use the Tetanus chain more than the Halt Kick Chain in open PvP and reverse in Close quarter “room” PvP.

Why like that? Well the Fantom Assault chain is annoying and great in tight quarter PvP. Its damage is lower though (unless Dark Panic is up too) Tetanus is an unpottable defence reducing Debuff. Aggravation though 1 target only does a lot of damage, ditto with Slasher. As the majority of dino PvP rogues will focus on a single target and then move on. When you can find a close knit group of targets, switch to using Fantom Assault first it will lock them down for just long enough to also get Eviscerate to hit most of them. This is also the time to use Dark Panic, most pvpers are very good at potting the stuns/sleeps but less so at darkness.

In “room” PvP debuffs help more than damage, stopping healers healing, and DPS from attacking are the keys to success. here spamming stun crash, and fantom assault works well as you will often get groups of targets. Equaly in these situations you will often find many foes under “DF” using halt kick on the priests with stun crash, rinse and repeat, is about all you can do till the DF ends to avoid killing yourself >.<

So thats the basic skills out of the way. What about those “assassination” skills and the Ep5 skills. Let’s take a look.

In open PvP, Lure/Confusion are best used on Tanks/Healers. When Camped only use them to pull to the guards if your about to push, its wasteful to use them to remove a player and then not push when the 1hit guard kills them, save them for the pushes, else you’ll end up looking stupid when they move back or are summoned back. In “room” PvP when the opponents are DFed use these skills to annoy the healers/main DPs. when they aren’t Dfed use exclusively on the healers as they are the prime targets to kill to win rooms.

SA and DT are skills best used tactically. Use SA to take out major DPSers and DT to kill Rec players. Don’t waste DT on non-Rec toons unless its required to take out 1 DPS urgently. The biggest key with these 2 skills is know your enemy, try and make sure you pick their ele. I do this more by hitting them than by scouting them. Scouting is fine but you need to use it on people that are being hit a lot so that they don’t see they’ve been scouted and switch on you. A lot of players have a favourite top, knowing this is a massive advantage in pvp. Add Terrible attack to this list if you use it.

If your like me and have Fatal Hit it does good damage and well slow runners down. Rogues no longer have a pause from this, but slow is handy. Stunning Disruption is exactly that it stuns and disrupts if you can creep up on a group it rocks, but watch out for Frost Barrier

Blunt is useful at removing magic defy from opponents which allows a rogue to use the Ep5 skills. If you have a debuff weapon spamming Blunt on a player that is DFed is also very effective as you wont cause damage to yourself but will debuff them constantly.

One on One tactics

Fighter/Warrior This class can have massive DPS from their skills such as EWS and DS. they also have Divine burst and Eraser which can cause massive damage. Their biggest strength is their biggest weakness. Fighter/Warriors tend to love STR, very few run over 650 DEX this means they might hit hard but they shouldn’t hit often.

To beat them 1 v 1 best tactics is to open with the Fantom Assault chain then follow up with Slasher, if they try and run Lure them back and finish them. If they run at the start of a fight that will usually mean they are weaker than you, then Lure and slasher chain immediately.

Archer/Hunter This class is possibly the biggest danger to a rogue. They tend to run much more DEX than Fighter/Warriors and their mix of Magic Defy and multiple Debuffs can be a pain, especially in massed PVP.

To beat them 1 v 1, the best tactics is to stealth as soon as you see them. If they didn’t notice you, you can creep up and get near. Range is their biggest strength. If the stealth did work, go with: Stunning Disruption > Fantom Chain > Tetanus > Aggravation. If your fast and have the right ele that should have pretty much killed them. Some archers can be ultra strong annoying. This is what SA was made for! It does most damage to low Rec toons, Archers are squishy to it, and often low HP, know their Ele and let rip with SA. They’ll like QQ or come back with a PV/AS combo, but then they have wasted those skills on you nto a REC toon, which in a way helps

Mage/Pagan Mages/Pagans are few and far between, they do have a fair number of nasty Debuffs.

UM Rogues, however, have Magic Defy, which will block a lot of magic. Get near them, silence chain works wonders on them, especially if they are short on abolishing pots. If they run as always use lure to pull them back, The Slasher chain should waste away most their HP if not all. If they pop HA, spam silence if they are a tough kill, else wipe their Mana with a few Aggravations.

[img]http://i570.photobucket.com/albums /ss144/PrinceCatali1/ep5pic/GuardDef.png[/img] Battle Defender/Guardian Battle built Def/Guards can be a right royal pain. If they use a Untouchable or reflection skill Kite them till it runs out. They tend to be even lower dex than Fighter/Warriors so your evasiveness should protect you well. They are less squishy than most classes so might take a while to whittle down. If they run, Lure ofc !

Tank Defender/Guardian

Rec tanks are extremely hard to kill in Ep5.2 running upto 60k+ HP means that basically they require a lot of “gank/zerging” you are unlikely to meet one in a 1 on 1 situation. If you do, probably best to just ignore them, they can’t hurt you, and if they are any good you can’t hurt them.

Battle Priest/Oracle Battle Water casters are similar to mages. Treat them the same, remembering they don’t have HA, but can heal themselves. Once again Halt Kick is your friend here. Etain’s shield can be a pain, ensure you don’t waste your conditioned skills whilst they have this up

Tank Priest/Oracle Torcs/Tank Priests are similar to Rec Tanks. they are not usually found alone, if they are they are generally easier to kill than a REC tank, but still sometimes not worth the effort, especially if they time using Etain’s Shield to evade your debuffs.

Ranger/Assassin Your counter part on the opposite faction is a tricky customer. Luckily you should know them pretty well. If you’re stronger than them the DPS chain should work well. If its an even match, they might be strong too, go with the DP, and stuns chain. Debuffs will slow them and break their chains. They have Magic Defy (UM) which can ruin the use of Lure on them. Worst case scenario they should be pretty low defense, so SA is effective

Chapter 7 – Advanced 1-70 builds

Stats Calculator

the below link is a link to a stats calculator, where you enter into the relevant fields what you plan to link or have linked in each slot. The second tab then contains your fully buffed stats.

Stats Calculator

How does it work. You can see I’ve already set up 8 sheets in the workbook 2 sheets per build as discussed below.

Notes: The Spreadsheet has the following assumptions

1. You OJ stats are 1500HP on each piece and 20 str/dex/luc on the weapon.
2. This is for the 65-69 set only, it has a dreamy helm rather than the 65 helm as this is more obtainable
3. It assumes a rank of 0.
4. It assumes your weapon is a lvl69 at [0]
5. Current Linked tab contains my current linking for my sin with my rank

I would suggest you take this and put your own current linking Enchant levels etc into it on the “lapis” tab of the first tabs. Then you can change the lapis to suit yourselves. If you plan to link 1 Life7 you can see which piece would be best for you to do this too, etcetc. Use the OJ stat column to enter your weapons Enchant for example if its [3] put 21 into the min and max attack rows. Add your rank stats to the 621 in the relevant column.

Lets look at each one of the build tabs now.

The Builds

The classic DPS build. This is the maximum Str/Dex/Luc you can link.

Advantages, you’ll have high Str, High Dex, High Attack.
Disadvantages, you’ll have 750+ Luck and low HP and Defense. Sure 750 Luc isn’t a complete waste of time, but surely if you could move those stats you would. In Episode 5.2 Life7s are massive.

Example: Craft6 is 30 stats, Craft7 is 50 stats, the craft7 is 67% better than the Craft6
Life6 is 500HP, Life7 is 2000HP, the Life7 is 300% better than the Life6

The a Twist classic DPS build. This is the maximum Str/Dex/Luc you can link.

In the Stats calculator you can see the classic Str/Dex/Luc build is Luck heavy even with some slots taken using alternatives to Luck Lapis. The twist build is to link Life7s. These add HP in huge numbers and allow your luck stat to be reduced slowly. Focus on linking Life in slots that start with Luck and you’ll still have a healthy amount of Luck

The Classic Stun-lock build. this is the most Rec/Dex you can link

Advantages, you’ll be annoying in PvP, you’ll have good defence and Dex, you’ll be high HP, and Debuff weapons.
Disadvantages, you’ll be a support player, much like a Rec Defender is, you wont be killing people. the build is also flawed in that the skills from Ep4 no longer exist in the same way. Also you’ll find it hard to link some pieces to cope with the high STR of DPSer and you’ll not have massive Dex.

The 4 Stat Build, this build is only really workable in very very good gear with decent rank

Advantages, Maxing Str/Dex/Luc/Rec and using Life7s, you’ll not be too high on the Luck stat, probably still around 600, you’ll have high Str, High Dex, and high HP. Your Defence will be decent at least 900.
Disadvantages, incredibly expensive, only workable in top end gear with decent PvP rank (70k kills + I would recommend for this sort of build.

Which build to pick

Well in an ideal world everyone would pick the 4 stat build as it offers most the advantages of the other 2, its big disadvantage is it will take a very long time to link even with good budgets, unless you can throw 3-4k a month at the game for a few months you wont get there fast.

Between the other 3 builds? Well for me its down to play style. I imagine if you enjoyed playing a Rec Tank in the past, the Rec/Dex build might be up your street. If your looking for a toon that can kill, invest in the Str/Dex/Luc build possiblities, working Str/Dex first before Luc. Then if you win the lottery or something you can look into the 4 stat build a little easier.

If your not in the end game set you might need to adjust the spreadsheet to suit your current set to see which build would then work best for you.

Thanks, Bibilography, and further reading

Avalon42’s excellent Episode4 Guide Episode4 the one basically prior to this is NOT obsolete! There is a lot of great information in here especially for 1-15

Killer595’s Episode 3 guide to levelling an Assassin

MirasNovo for the Stats calculator I based mine from