Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - Enhanced Edition Scoundrel Help?

Im having a hard time getting the Scoundrel to be a useful party of the party.

Im using Wolgraff and struggling badly with him. I just attempted to backstab a goblin mystic, got 2 hits in and only did about 30% of his life. The mystic turned around and killed him.

He is level 13, with two level 12 purple weapons. I mistakenly took sneak lvl3 and guerilla before reading and realizing how bad sneak is. My Scoundrel is at 5, and DW at 3, dex at 11 percep at 12.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

I started out making one of my mains a duel-wielding rogue, but quickly realized my mistake and switched to ranger (bow).

I don't really have any advice for you, other than to ditch Wolgraff and get Bairdotr.

People who know what they're talking about say that rogue is bad from early to mid level, then comes on strong in the later levels. But if you're level 13 and still not having fun with the character, I'd say change him out. At level 13, you should be using your skills to do damage a lot of the time.

In the original game, putting points into Sneak would reduce the AP, but not anymore. I just don't find the class that powerful, plus you can't nuke from a distance with one of your characters backstabbing.

Take a look at the following, for example.

How to play a rogue ?

Is Rogue still viable?

The Viking Rogue

Keeping the rogue viking legend alive! (or how to: make rogue feel decent)

In my opinion backstabbing is best used if the opponent has been frozen, blinded etc. beforehand. Also I usually terminate the turn with either walk in shadows or tactical retreat, or throw a smoke grenade to turn "invisible". Also, the killing blow is very handy. Try also to equip daggers which have a chance to freeze, knockdown or stun the opponents - 2 daggers with 20% chance each to set the frozen status is really helpful. Put attribute points into speed and find gear which gives you movement bonus (at level 15, I had a rogue who could walk 7m with one AP and could cross the battlefield almost 3 times in one turn). As a general rule: Do not remain standing behind the opponent after backstabbing without taking any additional precautions.

Scoundrels are very, and I mean, VERY powerful, IF used properly. Now the things you need is high speed, invis pots, and a lvl 5 crafter/blacksmith in party. Aiming at endgame, you only need about 10-11 dex (that about 17-18 with equipment), everything else goes into speed and only speed, and you'll need some equipment to get a bit constitution for max AP, but that goes only from equipment, not from boosting base stat! Seeing you have 12 perception you're pretty much screwed anyway, since you can't respec companions (well you can one of them, but that's not wolfgraff).
To make your scoundrel useful, you need 2 crafted daggers with speed bonuses (IIRC at 11+ lvl they'll give you +2 speed), of course put essences/poison on them, tormented souls (again IIRC at 11+ lvl it goes to +2 dex/str) and whetstone them. You need the super lucky magic rabbit paw amulet which is the best amulet in the game anyway (lucky magic paw + stardust, then + thread, then + bowstring). All other gear should be with as much +speed (and those few +con) as possible, if cant get speed get +movement at least, or +turn AP. Your speed should ALWAYS be the highest uneven number possible. Stun immunity on a ring is generally also a must have, as well as NIN on boots so you won't slip on that ice your mages just created with ice shards.
You also need DW 5 as soon as possible, it's easy as at levels 10+ you start getting belts with +1 DW, so 4 base is enough.
The tactic with that gear is - bless/oath on the rogue, stun/freeze/blind whatever would do too instead of bless, knockdown is even better with guerilla (with guerilla its best your earthmage buffs the rogue and does earthquake, then the rogue does the rest). Melee power stance. Then run around and destroy enemies until you have 1-2 AP (the attack with DW 5 costs 3 AP), the Adrenaline, then repeat, then invis potion at 2 ap or walk in shados which costs 1 ap more (3 ap).
I've played through vanilla 2 times, and numerous times through EE, and i'll say that scoundrel is one of the most imba chars, if done right. It needs some buffs/debuffs and support from party, but then the damage output is insane. The DW warrior is more straightforward and easy to play, however has less potential power, as well as ranger.
Oh, and if you cant get close to pwn those mobs, make the scoundrel a grenade-thrower too. About 10-12 grenades per turn at end game (with adrenaline) is just insane. If not, you can always cast 5-6 master-level scrolls, which is insane also.

I also had some trouble with my scoundrel early on. Wolgraff just seemed to need so much support to stay alive. What helped for me was to make him dual class witch, just enough to get the novice summoning spell. When I scout a fight with him I cast the summon, the haste spell and then go invisible. I can then use the expendable zombie to block for him so he can isolate a mob to the enemy's rear. If I save cloak and dagger he can then escape back to the rest of the group if there's too much aggro.
I'm sure there are many other ways to do it as well, and at least defensive spells always help keep the melee people alive so you should be using those all the time anyway. In general I think it's best to just stay invisible until there's a good opportunity to finish something off, rather than rush into a dangerous situation. Waiting a turn or two will fill up the action points anyway, so that when you do strike you get two or three attacks after one another.

If you get like 8-9 Str (you should get that fairly easily by using tortured souls on weapons) and man at arms 3 (yeah I know 3 its a lot of points invested), you can combo Fury + Power Stance + Backstab + Oath to make your hits so strong it will kill bosses in one turn (with adrenaline)... I just did with Boreas... (Classic mode/My rogue its Lone Wolf)

Make sure to use crafted daggers, craft until you get +2 speed ones, you can get A LOT of those by any knife + anvil, sharp them after... (ProTip: knife at the end of time works *-*)

You see fury and power stance lower hit%, but backstab with heartless boosts it quite a bit making sure you will still keep your hit chance above 85%... this with dual wielding 5 will make you smile I assure you.

Have fun =3

Obs: You can make that with man-at-arms 2, but fury will cost 4ap instead of 2... you can still use it pre-fight for free tho.