Very nice tips people, learned a thing or two.
Adding my 2 cents about Nasty Deeds and his children:
Nasty deeds has few useful skills, but the useful one is VERY useful.
Lockpicking isn't that useful because there are very few unbreakable chests in the game (also because traps are not associated with lockpicking).
Pickpocket sucks really hard. It's moderately useful at the beginning, but by the time you can have pickpocket 5 you don't need it anymore, also it scales bad that late in the game you will want to respec to get the points back and use somewhere else.
Sneaking is great. Sneaking is sublime. To archetypes that really benefit from it.
It's useful for Rogues and Rangers, mostly. Other archetypes don't need or would rather use the points elsewhere.
However using it offensively isn't as simple as just blowing everything with spells or rushing the enemy like with other archetypes, rangers and rogues they make good duelists/assassins, so i usually use them to kill the highest priority target and then re-stealth.
Improving sneaking reduces the amount of AP used to stealth during combat, it also reduces the effective range the opponent starts to detect you, by level 4-5 i can enter stealth from a few meters off of my enemies.
Some tips on rogues/rangers talents and skills that go well with them:
GUERRILLA:
Scoundrel skill 1 gives access to Guerrilla which is very useful for dex based characters.
It gives +100% damage for an attack from a stealthed position. Do note that this does not applies to powers, otherwise every mage would do that too. Only actual attacks (Bow shot, dagger stab, etc.) get the bonus.
Initially you can't use it DURING combat, so most likely you will enter stealth before the battle and THEN you will attack. But when you get to Sneaking 5 either with points or with equipment, you can use 1 AP to enter stealth, which allows you to reliably get the bonus by entering stealth before attacking.
This benefits RANGERS A LOT. If you get Quickdraw (requires Marskman 5) together with Sneaking 5 and Guerrilla, you can sneak and shoot more than once per turn and you can leave yourself in stealth for next round of abuse.
This also benefits ROGUES somewhat. They use daggers, which cost 2 AP per attack and with Sneaking 5 they can use 1 AP to double their damage. That totals 3 AP. Now you just need to learn to NEVER ATTACK FROM THE FRONT =P.
BACKSTABBER:
If you got Backstabber and you position yourself right there is a change on the mouse cursor telling that you can execute a backstab. The backstab itself it's a high chance of crit, i don't remember if it's a guaranteed critical.
But you would tell me that backstabbing is hard. And i answer you: only if you do it wrong. Cast area of effect spells that create terrain your enemies will want to avoid. Then go behind them and start murdering. The area of effect will force them to walk to you or try to get line of sight by the sides, which is where your rogue is conveniently waiting to murder them. Also, Smoke and Blind are your friends.
If possible, grab a few Aerotheurge levels (1 or 2 should suffice), so you can get Teleport, Become Air and Lightning Strike.
Also, VERY IMPORTANT: If you are behind an enemy and it's not his turn and you miss an attack, he will turn to you, forcing you to move to his back again. So don't miss. Get high dexterity and use bless if you need.
And if your main is a be Heartless as it gives +20% to hit when you backstab.
If your character is a ranger i'd recommend him be Compassionate to get the extra 3% crit chance.
The backstabber playstyle is not for everyone though, it requires patience and good positioning, it also requires a firm mouse grip because if you misclick, your character will probably move away from the backstab position.
Last edited by kurausu; 29/07/14 08:55 PM.
