What kind of rogue should i be

You should endeavor to get studded leather armor as early as possible, and you'll likely be wearing that armor for the rest of your campaign. The weapon selection is less straightforward, though in order to actually inflict sneak attack damage you'll either need to be utilizing finesse or ranged weapons. For ranged weapon options either the shortbow you start with or a hand crossbow are usually the best options.

Or if you're willing to give up a free hand try a light crossbow for a little bit more damage. Make sure to keep a full quiver of arrows or bolts if your DM wants to keep track of such things. For the melee options, you'll need to decide if you want to dual wield or go two-handed. Dual wielding has the advantage of granting you that extra off-hand attack, which means another chance at landing that sneak attack if the first swing misses.

Two-handing a weapon has higher damage potential, but a lower chance of landing a hit. If you go with dual wielding, you really only have two options, daggers or shortswords. The tradeoff is that shortswords do a bit more damage, but you can also throw daggers as a ranged weapon in a pinch. For two-handing a weapon the only real option is the rapier. It has the highest damage potential while still being a finesse weapon for sneak attack.

Beyond that core gear, rogues gain a lot of utility from a full pack. You start out with your choice of a burglar's pack, a dungeoneers pack, or an explorers pack. Each pack is chock full of little useful baubles like chalk, ball bearings, and oil. Things that a clever player can use to get up to shenanigans. If you're in a bind, don't forget about your pack, it may have some creative solutions inside. You won't have too much trouble with really any combination of race and class.

For most rogues you'll then be looking for a bonus in Constitution, though in the case of arcane tricksters and swashbucklers you'll be looking for bonuses in Intelligence and Charisma, respectively.

The base elf gets you darkvision and a free Perception proficiency, and there's quite frankly no wrong answers when it comes to the subraces. Though for your "standard" rogue I like the Shadar-Kai the best. Yes please, they're even thematically edgy already. Halflings are and always will be one of the best rogue options. And while I've picked out stout halflings specifically you'll still be fine with any of their subraces. The halfling lucky feature is just insanely strong and will keep you alive in situations that would kill other characters by passing key ability checks or making that crucial attack.

Lightfoot halflings also get a special mention for their infuriating ability to hide right behind their allies for sneak attack shots. Both humans and variant humans will always be the ultra-flexible option for any class. Grab the standard human if you want to go for the "jack of all trades" and be the party skill monkey, go for variant human if you're trying for any specific combat build that needs a ton of feats.

Goblins are almost tailor-made as rogues and their fury of the small feature can be stacked onto a sneak attack for some incredibly insane damage totals. Regrettably though you lose out with some overlapping features as the goblin nimble escape ability is practically just a watered-down version of your cunning action.

If you can tolerate the "loss" there, goblins still work quite well as all around rogues. When you reach 3rd level, you'll get a chance to select your "roguish archetype". Your choice of rogue subclass will determine a ton of your class features, and this choice of roguish archetype can dramatically impact how your character plays and functions. A magic-using Rogue, what could be cooler than that? You get Spellcasting at level 3, allowing you to learn Wizard spells. Once you get to level 9, Magical Ambush will make the victims of your spells face disadvantage on saving throws if you are successfully hiding from them.

Playing an arcane trickster can be very different from a typical rogue build or a simple magic initiate, so much so that we've included a full arcane trickster guide you can find further down!

Want to play the fantasy RPG equivalent of a hitman? This is your roguish archetype. At level 3, Assassinate gives you advantage on any attack roll against an opponent that has not yet taken a turn and gives you an automatic crit against any surprised victim.

If you've ever wanted to play Sherlock Holmes, this is how you do it. You gain a bunch of skills and bonuses to investigations and you can outwit your enemies to gain advantage for your sneak attacks. Probably one of the best picks if you're playing investigators heading into a mystery adventure where you'll be needing to look for clues.

This is the rogue you play if you want to manipulate events, without putting yourself in harm's way. Aside from all the unique roleplay tricks and tool proficiency, you also get an ability that makes interesting use of the "help" action. You can easily keep out of danger, while granting your allies advantage from a distance.

Grab this for a roleplay heavy adventure, and just use your physical abilities as dump stats. Phantom rogues are extra spooky, touched by death or planes of negative energy. Their starting abilities let you swap out a tool or skill proficiency when you rest and deal extra necrotic damage to another target when you sneak attack. The later soul token feature is fantastic, simultaneously making you more survivable, deal more damage, and gives you potential access to ghostly clues and knowledge.

The scout rogue is honestly my favorite rogue archetype; you gain some survivalist abilities like a ranger, but the "skirmisher" ability is just so darn useful. You get to play "keep away" when an enemy gets close to you, and you can sometimes go entire combats without the enemy getting a swing on you. Also strangely works well for bandits, as you can snag something and usually get away free. You also get free telepathy which is nothing to sneeze at. A Swashbuckler rogue is a stylish and charismatic rogue that can use their panache to artfully dodge their opponents and talk their opponents into duels.

It also has features that dip into Charisma and really lends itself to the "face of the party" role. If you go for this archetype, you'll want to make sure Charisma is one of your better ability scores.

Grab this if you want to play a melee rogue dripping with charisma and charm. This is the archetype most people think of when they imagine a Rogue. Unfortunately, it starts out underpowered. But if you can make it to levels , Supreme Sneak will give you an advantage on dexterity checks when you move no more than half your movement speed during a turn and Use Magic Device will let you ignore all class, race, and level requirements while using magical devices.

Now go rob some marks. All Rogues need to have a high dexterity. With a bit of magic. There's nothing a lockpick can't fix. One must understand the issue before dealing with it. Quietly and unseen. Up front and with a bit of flair. From the shadows. Let your underlings do your work for you. By watching and learning. Your favored weapons is your No one ever sees them coming. It's never led me wrong before. I know exactly what I'm doing. There's no questions without answers. Quick fingers. Screenshots containing UI elements are generally declined on sight, the same goes for screenshots from the modelviewer or character selection screen.

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Connect with Wowhead. Quick Facts. Table of Contents. Guide Navigation. Rogue Class Overview. Rogue Leveling Guide. Rogue PvP Guide. One of the most unique things about the Rogue class is the use of Energy as a resource to activate Abilities, instead of the more common resource, Mana.

Rogues are also unique because they use Combo Points to trigger powerful Attacks; a target can have up to five combo points on them at a time. Another unique aspect of Rogue, is the use of Poisons , allowing the Rogue to apply harmful effects to their weapons, increasing their assassination skills. A Rogue will also use Stealth , sneaking around creatures and slipping undetected behind enemy lines. Every expac, third of the specs get butchered to the bitter disappointment of people that used to love them.

Outlaw is the more popular spec for pve. But personally I do perfectly fine with assassination. The playstyles are quite different. If you like carpal tunnel syndrome specs like fury warriors and demon hunters then go for outlaw. If you like pressing fewer buttons, and planning your energy spending a bit more then assassination is a better choice. However I do play outlaw sometimes. There is also a strategy involving not using Crippling Poison on Sanguine weeks if this issue actually happens to you.

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