The Rogue of Dark and Darker is by far the most dishonorable class available in the game. Stalking about the shadows, stabbing unsuspecting adventurers in the back, and stealing all of their hard-earned loot is likely the most despicable behavior in the game. This is why the class is tons of fun, and the ideal solo player in any of the available dungeons. Being able to stand toe-to-toe against some of the harder hitting dungeon creatures, thanks to their naturally high movement speed, is the icing on the cake. Here’s how to take your Rogue to the next level.
Related: Dark and Darker Tier List – The best classes in Dark and Darker
Note: this guide is updated for the current alpha playtest.
The best Rogue perks in Dark and Darker
On a fundamental level, the Rogue works on surprise and stacking debuffs onto your opponent, ideally while your opponent is attempting to kill something, or someone, else. This mantra strikes true whether you’re focusing on PvE or PvP, and if you’re adventuring solo or with a larger party. The well-played Rogue is a nightmare for even the most seasoned opponents, and can foil the largest parties with impeccable timing.
The issue is that there are a total of ten perks for the Rogue, making the class one of the more robust ones thus far in terms of strategy and depth, while others like the Cleric only has eight. We prefer to focus on maximizing damage in an ambush setting, which means hiding at opportune times and places to stab other players in the back while they’re otherwise occupied. For this, players will want the following perks in order:
- Hidden Pockets
- This perk prevents potions from appearing on your toolbet, which glow and make your character visible from across the map. As Rogues do best hiding in shadows, removing these glowing trinkets means it’s far easier to creep about in the shadows.
- Poisoned Weapon
- Once you manage to get a few initial strikes in, the enemy will attempt to circle-strafe to face you, while creating some distance. Poisoned Weapon stacks, dealing a DoT that continues to inflict pain while the enemy is trying to figure out why they’re taking damage, often enough to prove fatal.
- Backstab
- Backstab results in an additional 30% damage being meted out while you’re attacking an enemy from behind. With Poisoned Weapon, this one-two combo is enough to handle the vast majority of adventurers, but be wary of Barbarians with their massive health pool.
- Lockpick Expert
- Rogues tend to slink about the map by themselves, meaning they’re going to consistently come across locked chests and doors that haven’t been explored by others. Lockpick Expert allows the Rogues to lockpick any lock, without needing the lockpick tools. If you want more of a focus on PvP, Creep is a brilliant alternative as it greatly reduces the volume of your steps.
Best rogue skills
When your game plan revolves around the idea of hiding in dark corners and ambushing enemies, you need to have an escape plan and damage output.
- Hide
- This skill is almost a necessity — this skill will allow you to stop NPC enemies from following you (allowing you to set up devious traps in corridors), and invites other players to stroll right past you. If you’re being followed after a botched ambush, turn a corner and use this ability to regain the advantage.
- Rupture/Weakpoint Attack
- Rogues have a choice here, and it depends on how well-geared their foes are. If you’re going into the High Roller dungeon, opt for Weakpoint Attack to remove half of the armor bonus from your foes. Otherwise, Rupture works well for stacking additional DoT against foes.
Best Rogue gear for Dark and Darker
Rogues want speed of attack to proc as many stacks of Poisoned Weapon as possible — each stack means more incoming DoT that is very difficult for players to mitigate during a fight, and it damages dungeon creatures as well. For this, we strongly recommend keeping it to Daggers, with a secondary Rapier weapon for increased range when you have to deal with dungeon foes. As a general rule of thumb, players will want to focus on Agility and Resourcefulness with gear, as those have the greatest impact in Rogue play.
Don’t get overly comfortable with the Rapier to the point that you’re bringing it out in PvP skirmishes — it’s a fair bit slower than daggers such as the Stiletto. Rapiers can help against Barbarians, however, as they tend to use weapons with long reach like War Mauls and the like. Get in the habit of looking at the Weaponsmith vendor in between dungeons — when grey Rapiers are available, stock your Rogue up.
Daggers tend to be the bread and butter of this ambusher, thanks to a fast attack speed. Remember that you’ll want to complete all three attacks by holding left-mouse — the final attack does more damage, and was even further buffed in the patch that had Wizards a bit upset. The close range doesn’t damage our fighting style too much, as we’re ideally looking at the back of our enemy’s head when the fight begins. Dual wielding can allow differing attack animations, which smart Rogues exploit depending on how the fight is progressing.
