Rogue build Mod 17

Hello everyone and welcome to this build.

What you can find here is how I (Lya) and Someone​ ​like to play the Rogue and we
would like to share information about feats, encounters, at-wills, rotations, etc..

At the launch of the new Mod we made two loadouts for Rogue, one with Assassin
path and one with Whisperknife path, with the purpose to use Assassin in boss fights
and WK for mobs cleaning.
Few more information:
Lya’s handle in game is @kors#9447
Someone’s handle in game is @reda#0815
Feel free to ask or express your opinion about the loadouts. We do not want to make
axioms, what you are going to read is as we like to play and what we are suggesting
to you if you are looking for ideas for a build, after Mod 16 changes. If you like to play
in a different way feel free to follow your way and have fun! ;)
Race
Everything you want to choose for your character does not make any difference. So, this
means that you can get what you like. Probably there is only a noticeable race which is the
Dragonborn (3% HP and Damage) if you want to maximize your damage dealt, but it is not a
free race.

Ability scores
We have increased STR and DEX, but STR and CON is a good choice as well. STR is the
common choice because it increases the physical damage while DEX increases Run Speed
and Critical Severity. The other choice (CON) allows to you to get more HP (health points)
and an higher AP (action points) gain. Choose what you prefer or what is good for your
playstyle, both of them are good and without huge differences.

STR and CHA is another way to follow if you are looking to less cooldown for encounters
and higher companion influence stat. To be clear: no one of them make a big difference, feel
free to choose whatever you want. Probably the first two options are a little bit better.
Whisperknife feats

The image summarizes everything about encounters, feats, class features and at-wills.

Feats (Lya): About the first one I choose Shady Preparations instead of Last Moments. Both
are viable but I preferred the first one to have a faster recharge of the encounters. The other
feats are a combination of self-buffs thanks to the Stealth mechanic. All of them are useful
for the path (similar to the old Sabotateur build – Mod 15). After the nerf of Dark
Reimbursement feat this WK loadout went to sleep.
Assassin feats
As you can see there are two available options for Assassin path. Duelist Expertise feat is
better for AoE combat (see mobs cleaning) because its bonus is applied with every enemy
during the time window. Contrarily, Skullcracker feat is good for boss fight because it is
applied on the boss and you can have damage bonus against him/her.

Both are viable options, Someone likes to change loadout between the two (you can see in
the pictures when boss fight or mobs). Lya stays with the first one with Duelist Expertise feat.

The other choices are: Toxic Blades, Master of Shadows, Back Alley Tactics and Shadow’s
Flurry. Toxic Blades apply a DoT (Damage over Time) with the use of Encounter power or
Daily, Master of Shadows refill Stealth meter faster, Back Alley Tactics give us 10% bonus
damage when AP bar is empty and it decreases with its charge. And then, Shadow’s Flurry
give us 5% of chance to create (during the fight) a figure that deal damage with last hit of
Duelist’s Flurry.

Powers
At-Wills​: Duelist’s Flurry and Cloud of Steel are the best ones (for our opinion). The second
one is very useful during the second boss in LoMM, especially for Rock’s phase while
Duelist’s Flurry is the one used everywhere else. About Gloaming Cut… It is too slow and
happens often that you miss the target using it.
Note: The use of only Duelist’s Flurry in ToMM could be dangerous because you need often
to dodge attacks. Gloaming Cut could be an option there, but maybe not one of the best.
● ​Duelist’s Flurry should be empowered by the Artifact Set (Alabaster, Watcher, etc).

Encounters​: Smoke Bomb, Blade Flurry and Assassinate for mobs cleaning. Wicked
Reminder, Lashing Blade and Assassinate for Single Target/Boss Fights.
·
During mobs we always use Blade Flurry stealthed (it allows you to use it two times,
when in stealth and after leaving stealth, it is our best AoE power).
​Rotation AoE:​ SB, Stealth+BF, BF, AS. With daily: WWoB, SB, Stealth+BF, BF, AS.

Smoke Bomb it is a very nice Encounter for mobs cleaning for two reasons: Nice
damage as well (especially if the first hit is critical) as control power. It dazes the
enemies inside the AoE which makes you safe for a certain amount of time during the
spam of other encounter powers.
Assassinate is slotted also for Mobs because its cooldown is not so high and because
it allows you to kill fast high HP mobs (like Giants etc).

​For ​single target it depends from which artifact you are using. If you use Soul Sight

Crystal (SSC) your rotation should be: Artifact, WR, Stealth+LB, AS, Shocking Execution
(if you have the daily). The use of Wicked Reminder (WR) grants all your party members
to deal +10% damage against the target for 10 s. One more thing is: Thanks to Back
Alley Tactics feat we have +10% bonus damage when AP bar is empty, this means that
a very good rotation can be: Artifact, WR, Shocking Execution, Stealth+LB, AS. You can
 use the first one if you have piece like Primal Arm that give you power bonus when you
hit a target with a damage higher than 15% of your HP, otherwise, if you do not have this
kind of equip, the latter could be better for damage output.
·
There is a small difference in rotation (for single target) when you have the
Apprentices' Spoils set equipped like Someone. Notice that the Orcus set is still BiS
because of its bonus. Whereas the bonus of the Apprentices' Spoils set is not that great.
It only procs when you use a Daily power. You deal 15% more damage when using a
Daily power AND when enemies are not facing you. For this rotation Someone likes to
use the SSC artifact because of the +25% damage bonus. When no one is
facing/targeting you and you stand behind your target (and when your action points are
full) then this is the following rotation: SSC artifact, WR, Shocking Execution, Stealth+LB
and then AS. When no one is facing you then you should be dealing +40% damage to
your target in this 10s (+15% from the Apprentices' Spoils set + 25% from SSC).

· ​Ifyou are not using SSC, then use the artifact at the end of encounters rotation. With the
combination of Artificer’s Persuasion insignia bonus all of your cooldown decrease of 2
seconds. In this case the rotation will be: WR, Stealth+LB, AS, ShoExc, Artifact or (for
the ​highest damage output without pieces like Primal arm) WR, ShoExc, Stealth+LB,
AS, Artifact.

Note: If there is more than one Rogue in group, keep in mind that WR does not stack.

Class Features​:
· ​Oppressive Darkness is probably the most useful here. Each time you deal damage with

CA you have a bonus magnitude damage. It is useful especially during boss fights where
it is easy to get CA by positioning.
· ​Invisible Infiltrator has strong strength and weakness. It refills your stealth meter and give
you 5% bonus damage but it actives only after daily use. The AP gain is not as in the
past, so, this class feature does not proc so often (even if you use Sigil of Cleric or
similar as main artifact).
· ​Infiltrator’s Action has a similar behaviour as Invisible Infiltrator. It procs after daily use

and it allows you to have 100% CA chance per 10 s.

The first class feature is a must to take while the other two class features are both viable.
Infiltrator’s Action is better for mobs where you reach with more difficulty CA and it gives you
the bonus damage from CA (Combat Advantage), while Invisible Infiltrator is better for single
target/boss fight where you can get CA easily with positioning.

Daily Powers
·​ ​Shocking Execution​ is our best daily for single target/boss fight. You must have it.
· ​Whirlwind of Blades has a good AoE damage and self-buff as well, which makes it the

best option for AoE fights.

·​ ​Hateful Knives ​in ToMM it’s a really valid alternative, because it grants CA to everyone.
Insignia Bonuses
​
The new mod changed a lot of things, one of this is the utility of insignia bonuses. There are
less good options than in the past so, here, you can find the ones we found “useful”:
· ​Artificer’s Persuasion​: After Artifact power use your cooldowns are reduced by 2
seconds.
· ​Gladiator’s Guile​: Increased movement speed by 10% when your Stamina is higher than
75%.
· ​Barbarian’s Revelry​: Each time you perform a critical strike you are healed by 1% of

your total HP. (It is MEH, but the best of the worsts).
· ​Assassin’s Covenant​: Decreases several defensive stats by 1000 to increase several
offensive stats by 1000. (It does not give Power, but only Armor Pen, Critical Strike and
Accuracy. It is even more a MEH).
· ​Cavalry’s Warning​: Increasing all ratings for 1000 for 10 seconds when you use mount
combat power. (Useful only if you have Legendary Mount – same comment of
Barbarian’s Reverly).
·​ ​Wanderer’s Fortune​: You have a chance to find a refine stone after killing enemy.
· ​Combatant’s Maneuver​: Whenever you control an enemy (read Smoke Bomb) you gain
CA bonus.
· ​Champion’s Return​: When you are reduced to 50% HP you gain 10% of your Stamina
and healed by 10% of you HP for 10 s.
· ​Oppressor Reprieve​: When you are controlled (stunned, etc..) you are healed by 5% of
your HP for 5 s.

Insignia​: Which should I choose? Dominance is, for sure, a very good one. It gives you two
important stats: Power and Companion influence. It is good and it is the most expensive as
well, so, not so easy to have full of this type of insignia. If you have not the cap of the
offensive stats thanks to your companion (bonding runestones, companion equipment,
enchantments), then, use the insignia to help yourself to reach the caps. With the new trial
ToMM you will need more HP and, in this case, insignia like Prosperity can be helpful to gain
HP.

Legendary Mounts​: Tenser and Swarm combat powers are, probably, still the best choices
for DPS.

Mount Power​: With the offensive stats capped go for Power (5k epic, 10k legendary). For
ToMM go for HP if you did not reach the recommended minimum amount (350k). In this case
Triceratop can help you (25k epic, 50k legendary).

Companions
The best summoned companions in this Mod are the Augments. Yes, they are. First of all,
augment companions are always with you while with fighter companions usually happens
that they remain far from you and this does not allow to get their stats through the bonding
runestones. So, if you have any augment companion, slot it as summoned one. Each
augment has +1k on three stats, but it is not a big difference if you compare this bonus with
the caps. A lot of people are using Bulette Pup because it has +1k in two important stats as
Power and Combat Advantage. Actually it is expensive, and, to remind you that, it is not a
huge difference so slot whatever you have. This guide has the purpose to be useful for
everyone and not only endgamers.
Mod 16 has not changed only the “BiS” (Best in Slot) summoned and active companions, but
also the way they work. In this mod companion’s sheet is very similar to the mount’s sheet.
Most of the active companions are used as stats bonus. So, you can use the slots available
to help yourself to reach the caps you are missing, or, if you have not any difficulty to do that,
the new way is to use companions that give you Power (there is no cap here) and CA (it is
the hardest one to reach the cap). With ToMM you will need companions that give you HP.

Some examples are:

·​ ​Deepcrow Hatching​: Power,

·​ ​W
​ arlock Zentharim​: HP and CA,
·​ ​ S ​ taldorf:​ CA,

·​ ​Barbarian Shaman​: Power and CA,

·​ ​M ​ ercenary:​ Power and CA,

·​ ​E ​ nergon​: HP,

·​ ​R ​ ed Dragon Ioun Stone:​ HP and Incoming Healing,

·​ ​ I​ ron Golem:​ HP and Defense,

·​ ​S ​ torm Rider:​ HP and Power,

·​ ​T ​ amed Velociraptor:​ Power.

Enchantments
Weapon enchantment​: Vorpal enchantment came back as BiS, thanks to its bonus on
Critical Severity. Even with it procs half of the time, it is, actually, the best choice for DPS as
well as for Healers.
Armor enchantment​: Whatever you had before, keep it. Nice ones, for us, are Soulforged
and Barkshield. In ToMM trial, maybe, the best choice could be Barkshield to prevent your
death.
Offensive slots​: If you have no difficulties to reach the offensive stats cap then go full
Radiants for more Power. If you have difficulties then use the enchantments that help you to
find the balance.
Defensive slots​: We are DPS and it is hard to cap both offensive and defensive stats. One
defensive stat it is enough, but HP are always the best way to stay alive. So, also here,
Radiants are a very good option. If you have difficulty to cap Defense (80k in ToMM), then
think about the use of Brutals (HP and Defense).
Boons

HP boons were not fixed some patch notes ago, but now they are. If you have easily capped
the stats then go Power, HP, Speed, Companion influence, AP gain, “Recovery” and bonus
damage against different type of enemies if you still have points. In Tier 5 Incoming Healing
bonus is a very good option as well.
Stats
For the new trial ToMM (Tower of the Mad Mage) you need to reach new stat caps as a
DPS:

Offensive Stats:
➔ Armor Penetration: 80k
➔ Critical Strike: 80k
➔ Accuracy: 80k
➔ Combat Advantage: 130k

Defensive Stats:
➔ Defense: 80k
➔ HP: 350k (at least)

Of course it is hard to have high power and HP at the same time, this means that probably
you are not able to reach the cap to CA and it is the one you can stop to focus on. Increase it
as more as you can, but most important are the other stats here listed.
About the caps you should be able to cap Armor Penetration, Critical Strike, Accuracy and
Defense thank to the companion equips (even the old ones) and your 3x Bonding
Runestones rank 15. Thank to that, you can focus on HP and Power with your companions.
About HP Energon (Utility slot) can help as well as Red Dragon Ioun Stone (Offensive slot).
The lattest give you double stats: HP and (very important!) Bonus on Incoming Healing. You
will need this kind of stat, not only to help the healer to heal you because you have more HP
than before but also it helps you to get more temporary HP from OP healer. More you have
higher your chance to survive to the very high AoE damage in ToMM. For the same reason
you want to switch your Darks in Utility slots with Tacticals (Bonus Incoming Healing).
About Defense stat, if you are lacking only few thousands of the stat, Brutals in defensive
slots can be helpful (they give HP and Defense) and you want to cap Defense to decrease
the damage from Halaster.

At the end, if you have the offensive stats cap and around 160k Power and 350k HP you can
be able to do ToMM. Of course, if you have more Power and HP it is better for 2 reasons:
you have more chance to survive and your DPS is a little bit higher. The numbers wrote here
should be the minimum amount to go in ToMM.
Gear
All of us rushed in the past to get equipments that were BiS for DPS classes. We can
reassure you that our efforts are still in a very good place. The old melee BiS DPS
equipments are still BiS in this mod. Of course, from these pieces we get less HP and Power
but the % damage bonuses are way better than increasing only the power.

Fured Kiuno of the Bear, Heels of Fury, Jawripper’s Gloves (or Terrored Grips as well),
Shadowstalkers and Demogorgon set are still Best in Slot for us. There are only few
interesting new pieces like the Ebony Stained Raid Shirt (+3% bonus damage when Stamina
> 75%), Staff of Flowers artifact (+3k power), Arctruria’s Music Box artifact (+3k CA). For
LoMM (Lair of the Mad Mage) and ToMM (Tower of the Mad Mage) as well as for
Undermountain map Spyguild helm and Protégé’s Hood are very good because their +5%
bonus damage in Undermountain map (LoMM and ToMM are in it). For ToMM you need to
switch Kiuno with the Ebony Stained Hide (+10% of your Power at maximum stack) and
Shadowstalker +4 with Ebonized Assault Ring (+3% melee damage). Instead of the use of
Terrored Grips, Primal Arms can be (probably) a better option in ToMM. The Power bonus
from these kind of pieces influence not only the encounters but also the at-wills like Duelist’s
Flurry. If you are still lacking some HP and Defense think about Erratic Drift Globe (HP,
Defense and Deflection).
Below one more equipment option, with the new set. As for our Class Features, this new set
procs only after daily and to enemies that are not facing you (but gives CA stat). This is why
the % damage bonus from Demogorgon set is still BiS.
Last but not least (About active artifact): Here there are few choices. If you want less
cooldowns an available option is from the Wyvern artifact (you can find it in Undermountain
shop) which works in similar way to the old Dragon hearts. If you are looking for AP gain,
then artifact like Sigil of the Cleric or Storyteller Journal are good choices. Last option is to
use Wheel of Elements and Soul Sight Crystal, one for mobs and one for boss fights. The
latter one gives you a very nice bonus, but you should focus the right moment to use it (all
encounters and daily available). There is one more interesting artifact to use in mob fights
which is the ​Decanter of Atropal Essence – 1% damage buff that stacks up to 10% by the
boon of Atropal hitting enemies 10 times, for 20 seconds. The base duration can be
extended 10 times by 1 second so long as you are hitting enemies, sometimes even
more if you hit multiple enemies at once. The Decanter of Atropal Essence artifact
seems to be the BiS for DPS in ToMM, because it has the longest damage bonus during
the fight (From Lya and Someone no tests have been conducted).

Personally, for who is using the Apprentices’ Spoils set, the best artifact choice could be
one that give you AP because it allows you to trigger the set bonus (Daily use). More
chance to use the Daily means more time with 15% bonus damage. Someone
(@reda#0815) switched to Sigil of Cleric with an higher increasing in damage output,
even having the same power.
One more mention about Wyvern-Venom Coated Knives (which you can get from
Undermountain campaign shop). From Sharpedge’s (@thefabricant) tests it seems that
the debuff from this artifact stack when party members have different ranks. Normally
the use of artifact like this is better for tank and healer classes (in order to allow DPS
classes to use SSC and so on), but it is not a bad choice even for a DPS class.
Expecially when you are not the highest DPS, or when you are in 10 people queue like
the new ToMM (Tower of the Made Mage). It gives to all party members a short time
window to deal more damages to the enemies hitted.

Have fun!

PS: A very HUGE thanks for the TR community which is very active and helpful for every
stuff. A special thanks to Janne, Blur, Tradeli, SoD, Kirito, BlopusCorpus and SkullElf for the
first feedbacks, corrections and for the added informations and contents.

Last upgrade​ 23/08/2019