Rogue Class Guide: Playing the Blade in Wanderer's Tale

The Rogue is a precision fighter. It hits fast, hits where it hurts, and is at its best finishing an enemy that is already on its last legs. If you like picking your moment and ending a fight in one clean stroke, this is your class.

It is one of the four free classes in Wanderer's Tale, a free browser text RPG. You can start as a Rogue in under a minute, no signup needed.

At a glance

• Starting health: 70 base, plus 5 for every point of Constitution above 10, set when you create the character
• Starting Energy (your ability resource): 30 base, plus 2 for every point of Intelligence above 10, set when you create the character
• Starting bonuses: +3 Dexterity, +1 Strength
• Starting skills: Stealth and Sleight of Hand
• Each level gives: +10 max health, +6 max Energy, +3 Dexterity, +1 Strength, +1 Intelligence, +1 Constitution
• Starts with: a Hunting Knife, Rogue's Leathers and a Small Health Potion

How the Rogue actually plays

The Rogue runs on a simple loop: attack to build Energy, then spend it. Every plain Attack you make gives you 10 Energy, until your pool is full. Backstab costs 20, so two plain attacks fund one Backstab. The basic rhythm is Attack, Attack, Backstab, and then you repeat.

Energy only builds from attacking, so unlike a Mage you are never stuck with an empty pool in a long fight, as long as you can keep swinging.

Your weapon is a blade, so you fight next to the enemy. Most fights begin with the enemy several squares away, typically somewhere around 4 to 8, and your Advance covers 3 plus half of your Dexterity above 8, rounded down. With the Dexterity a Rogue builds up, you close the gap quickly.

Three of your abilities, Backstab, Poison Strike and Assassinate, need the enemy next to you, and Smoke Bomb needs it within 3 squares. Hemorrhage, Evasion and Shadow Step have no range limit.

Dexterity is your damage

Your abilities scale off Dexterity, and so does everything the Rogue wears. Every piece of Rogue gear carries a Dexterity bonus, and those bonuses count: Backstab adds half of your Dexterity to its damage, and your plain Attacks crit more often the more you have (5%, plus 1% for every point of Dexterity above 10, up to 35%).

That means a Rogue grows two ways at once: automatically, by +3 Dexterity every level, and through the gear you buy.

Abilities

Every Rogue ability spends Energy. You unlock them as you level.

Early game (levels 1 to 9). Attack, Attack, Backstab. Smoke Bomb at level 3 is your defense: it gives the enemy's next attack a 50% chance to miss, and it costs only 15. Poison Strike at level 6 is damage that keeps ticking while you do other things.

Midgame. Assassinate is the Rogue's signature, and it is a finisher. Below 30% health the enemy takes triple damage, so the plan is to wear it down with Backstabs and poison, then Assassinate to end it. Against a boss, that last 30% is where it pays off the most.

Late game. Hemorrhage is a long bleed: 8 damage a round for 4 rounds, 32 in total, and it works from any distance. Open with it as the enemy approaches. Evasion at level 35 is your panic button, and Shadow Step at level 55 is your best burst, two strikes with a high crit chance that does not need you to be next to the enemy.

Poison and bleeding run alongside each other and your attacks, and they tick every round, so apply them early.

Daggers and leathers by level

Rogue gear is built around Dexterity. Buy whatever gives the most.

• Armor cuts damage by a percentage: your total armor divided by that number plus 40. The full set above is 9 armor, which cuts about 18%.
• The Heirloom Weapon perk (2 points at character creation) starts you with a Heirloom Dagger: 5 to 11 damage, +4 Dexterity and +1 Strength from level 1.
• Energy Vials refill your Energy: 25 for 15 gold, and larger vials at levels 4, 7 and 10 for 60, 120 and 200. They are sold to Rogues and to the premium Shadow class.

Perks worth a look

If you use Customize at character creation instead of Quick Start, you get perk points to spend:

• Heirloom Weapon (2 points): the Heirloom Dagger above.
• Battle Hardened (1 point): +15 max health at the start, a useful cushion for a class that fights up close.
• Unbreakable (2 points): once per quest, survive a killing blow at 1 HP.
• Weapon Expertise (1 point): +1 to both ends of your weapon damage rolls, on plain Attacks and on your weapon-based abilities.

Be careful with Brutal Critical. It only makes critical hits from plain Attacks do triple damage. Backstab, Assassinate and Shadow Step use their own crits, so the perk misses most of what a Rogue does.

If you roll your own stats, put your best roll into Dexterity. Your starting health comes from Constitution, so your second best roll goes there. After creation your health grows by a fixed 10 every level.

Common mistakes

• Using Backstab from a distance. It needs the enemy next to you. Close in, or open with Hemorrhage instead.
• Spending Energy you do not have. Plain Attacks build it. Do not skip the loop.
• Assassinating too early. It is a finisher. Wear the enemy below 30% health first.
• Forgetting the damage over time. Poison and Hemorrhage tick every round, so use them early in a fight.
• Taking Brutal Critical. It improves plain Attacks only.

Start playing

Wanderer's Tale is free, runs in your browser, and does not need a signup to start. Pick Rogue, name your character, and the first quest begins at the gates of Thornhaven.

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See also: Rogue in the Codex, Shadow Blade, Rogue's Leathers, Energy Vial