One of the first classes in the game, the Rogue was a dagger class with leather armor and two ring slots. With the introduction of the cloak, the Rogue’s playing style completely changed.
The Rogue is the least group-compatible class, but works great by himself. He is almost invincible when used correctly, but takes plenty of skill in timing and dodging. He is a medium-ranged class with average defense, so he must avoid being attacked while invisible. Unfortunately, this means that he usually must stay away from groups to avoid death. See his stat gains, caps, and averages here.
The Rogue wears leather armor and uses daggers along with the Trickster and Assassin. The dagger isn’t very good in its lower-tier stages and excels neither at damage nor range, but he makes up for it with his speed and dexterity. While climbing up the tiers, the Rogue finally finds great damage output with the Mithril Dagger and better.
The Agateclaw Dagger/Dagger of Foul Malevolence are top-tier standard daggers with good damage and medium range. The Rogue can do great damage with these if used continuously on a single enemy while cloaked. Their range is enough for the Rogue to attack enemies at a safe distance so he doesn’t have to tank hits like a heavy armor class, and cloaks help the Rogue avoid damage to a further extent.
The Bone Dagger is a weaker dagger with a lower range, but its shots pierce through enemies. The biggest drawbacks of this weapon are obviously the lower range and lower damage, but its piercing effect can be abused by the Rogue. Its main use is to hit enemies or bosses who have minions surrounding them; the lower range is not a concern for the Rogue because he has a cloak to increase damaging time. Another use this dagger sees is for crowd control, as it does a good job at killing multiple gods or enemies simultaneously.
The Etherite Dagger is a magnificent dagger with a lower range but a large bump in damage. The main user of this dagger is the Rogue, who doesn’t care about its range when cloaked, and is able to abuse the damage boost to kill enemies much faster than normal. However, it’s also decently expensive, causing only the stronger dagger classes of the community to wield this weapon.
The Spirit Dagger is a powerful alternative to the tiered daggers and can help out-damage Assassins and Tricksters, who have higher ATT caps. While the Dagger of Foul Malevolence has slightly longer range & more consistent damage, the Spirit Dagger deals more average damage. It also has a “wavy” pattern to its shots, which makes hitting enemies slightly easier.
The Rogue’s ability, the Cloak, enshrouds the Rogue, making him invisible to all enemies. The amount of cloaking time and bonuses rise in the tiers, reaching a limit of 5.5 seconds (with 1 second of cool-down time to prevent chain-cloaking). Bonuses come in the form of small dexterity and speed boosts, which gives the Rogue an edge in hit-and-run tactics on enemies.
Learning to use and adjust to your cloak preference will give you many a soulbound drop when used at the correct time and place. Using your Cloak effectively is a vital skill to learn, and is the Rogue’s most defining aspect. However, be wary: rogues will become uncloaked when quieted, and caution should be taken in areas with quieting effects (Oryx’s Castle, Woodland Labyrinth, etc)
The Cloak of the Red Agent, Cloak of Endless Twilight, and Cloak of Ghostly Concealment are the main cloaks used for the Rogue. In the Red Agent’s case, it still provides an adequate 5 seconds of invisibility, which is enough for the Rogue to solo event bosses. It’s also much easier to acquire. Twilight/Ghostly give an extra .5 seconds, and Ghostly provides additional boosts in VIT and WIS.
Your first cloak will most likely be a Red Agent, and should be used to get a feel for the timing and mobility 5 seconds can give you on any event. It will prepare you to use the extra .5 seconds on Twilight/Ghostly. Many Rogues will use one of these in conjunction of a Planewalker.
The Cloak of the Planewalker teleports the Rogue to the mouse’s position on screen at the cost of an extra 10-15 MP, totaling a full 100 MP per use. It is the most tactically useful of any cloak, allowing the Rogue to cover more distance to get closer with 5.5 seconds of invisibility. This gives a new spin to approach tactics for more dangerous bosses, and can be used to jump past walls. “Planing” enemy projectiles is common practice, which makes it easier for the Rogue to dodge projectiles coming his way. Just remember not to use the Planewalker by mistake, or you’ll risk standing on top of enemies!
The Rogue is one of the classes that isn’t nearly as effective fresh as it is maxed, but can still get soulbound damage in dungeon bosses and in large groups of gods. It is effective as a loner among a mob, as the cloak allows for sniping.
The Rogue is not as frail as robe classes, and leather armor can get his DEF and DEX up (as well as SPD if using Coral Silk Armor or Harlequin Armor). Rogues are known to be amazing dungeon rushers because of their ability to run through rooms quickly and bypass enemy fire, but MP pots/regeneration pets are all but essential for this job.
His main weaknesses include an inability to directly support a group, in part because his ability can’t be used effectively with other players near him. He is most rewarding when soloing, which makes the Rogue a high-risk, high-reward class to play. Another weakness is that he must get close to enemies when cloaked in order to score more hits, which requires precise timing to prevent being bombarded with shots. Its inability to heal quickly is also a major hindrance, so HP pots/healing pets are helpful for whatever situation.
The low WIS stat of 50 isn’t great for his cloak, on which he relies greatly. However this can be offset with a good Mheal pet (around 70 mheal can let you cloak for a long time) or the extremely rare Dirk of Cronus or Harlequin Armor. The DEX and SPD stat of 75 is excellent for the Rogue, supplying the damage and movement speed the class is known for. The cloak and leather armor buff these already high stats, and the use of certain rings such as Nile can boost speed and dexterity even higher. The low attack of 50 puts a damper on damage, but it is all but moot for a class with such high dexterity. As such, an attack-boosting ring is almost always better than a dexterity-boosting ring. However, after update 22.4.0, when the Puppet Master’s Theatre was implemented, the new leather armor Harlequin Armor gives the rogue an MP boost of 80, which, when using the Cloak of Endless Twilight or the Cloak of Ghostly Concealment, essentially gives an extra use of the cloak plus a SPD and WIS boost while sacrificing a few DEF points.
The Rogue is not much of a team player; his ability to cloak means that the boss doesn’t fire at all if he is on his own. The presence of any other uncloaked players can get the Rogue hit if they’re nearby, even if he is cloaked.
His ability to move unseen allows him to rush many dungeons easily and get the group to the boss faster, though enemies inflicting the Quiet status effect can make it dangerous. Some players may complain if you get to the boss first and they have to wait to teleport.
A big source of Rogue grief comes as a result of an unskilled player teleporting to a high-level Rogue trying to solo an event boss, upon which the Rogue will adjusts his position while the other player gets a faceful of shotgun.
Rogues particularly excel at soloing event bosses, and especially work well when others are not in his vicinity. Skull Shrines are arguably the easiest for the Rogue due to their fixed surroundings and immobility. Cube Gods are a close second, but move around slowly and can have obstacles in the way (though these can be used to dodge behind). Pentaracts are rather easy to rush, especially with a Planewalker. At Ghost Ships, he can focus on the boss and mostly ignore the minions he spawns.
Hermit Gods, Grand Sphinxes, and Lord of the Lost Lands are a different story, however. Because of their higher HP, they take a considerably longer time for the Rogue to solo. Their multiple phases also introduce a problem to the Rogue, meaning that they have to rely on group work in order to defeat these bosses. The Eye of the Dragon and Avatar of the Forgotten King completely nullify the Rogue’s cloaking advantage due to their continuous shooting except for the fact that the rogue can avoid the minions if solo (who wants to deal with a rock dragon confused by a bat?).
Dungeon bosses require some time for the Rogue, but are considerably easier due to their generally lower HP. (Note that multiple phases mean that the Rogue’s cloak will be useless when the boss is invulnerable.) The Rogue performs nicely rushing the dungeon whenever he wants, so is able to reach the boss quicker than any other character. In that case, it is usually best to cloak when entering the room in order to get a few hits in, and teammates can then teleport in when the cloak wears off to finish off the boss.
Playing the rogue takes some skill, but can be used successfully against events, dungeons, and O2. The class is extremely squishy, so HP and MP potions are recommended, as well as an HP/MP pet. If you mis-time a cloak, don’t hesitate to Nexus.
Generally a solo class, the Rogue prefers to play alone, but can help the group by performing infiltration tasks such as rushing dungeons and getting hits on difficult enemies via cloaking. Its high speed and dexterity make it easier to play the Rogue’s role, and their only real weakness is average defense, lack of healing, and their vulnerability to the Quiet.
This class is very fun and fast-paced, and perfect for those who prefer to play the role of a powerful, invisible loner. However, a Rogue needs DEF, SPD, and DEX maxed to be able to fully participate in end-game content. With decent DPS and the ability go get to bosses or events quickly, the class gains wealth very quickly; you usually gain as much wealth as you put into the character before you die.
