Rogue: Assassin build?

[Gyrmadet]

I am looking for tips on best build to mimic an high burst/dexterity backstabbing a$$h0le.
Items, skills ecc...

[7FOUR]

Haven't played too much Dragon Age in a while, but hopefully this information is accurate.

Choice of race and origin aren't make-or-break, but if interested in minmaxing, go with Dwarf Noble for the best bonus stats, innate magic resist, and free combat training.

As for stats, you want enough strength and dexterity for armor and talents, with the rest going into cunning. Once you pick up the Lethality talent, cunning supplants strength in damage calculations, assuming that it is higher. You only need 20 or 24 strength for armor and 36 or 52 dexterity for talents, in Origins and Awakening respectively.

For skills, pick up Combat Training and Coercion for sure. The former because it's a prerequisite for talents anyways, and latter because the PC is the only one who can get it. Those obvious choices aside, what you do with the remaining points is up to you, though I suggest leaving crafting skills to your companions. Survival is an okay tertiary pick for the detection and passive resistances, or you can save your leftover points for Vitality/Clarity in Awakening, though it shouldn't be necessary given how rogues get plenty of skill points.

Regarding talents, as long as you pick up Momentum, Coup de Grace, and Lethality, along with the Assassin specialization talents, you're in good shape. Your primary source of damage will be backstabs and Coup de Grace hits, so everything else is bloody icing on your murderous cake.

I can't think of all the best gear off the top of my head, but you'll want to run with dual daggers and wear just about anything that gives increased critical/backstab damage or has nice resistances/defensive bonuses.

[Gyrmadet]

thanks a lot, those are useful info!

[7FOUR]

Glad to have helped. Have fun!

[K00lex]

Originally posted by Gyrmadet:

I am looking for tips on best build to mimic an high burst/dexterity backstabbing a$$h0le. Items, skills ecc...

Blue covered alot above.

To get high DPS rogue, use dual daggers, with Momentum, Lethality, & high CUN.

For optimum build, put attribute points in DEX (to get talents) & STR (to wear decent leather armor) at first. And, focus talent points to reach Momentum. Then, switch to gain Lethality and higher CUN. Then, either up to Coup De Grace or Master Stealth, depending on play style.

You don't need full Dual-Weapon Mastery. Just up to 2nd level (Finesse) for +ATT & +DEF. Maybe 3rd level (Expert) for +crit chance. Then, spend points in Rogue talents (Coup De Grace & Stealth). Go back to Dual Weapons to get Riposte, Whirlwind, & Punisher.

Don't bother with Feign Death (eliminate them first, use Dirty Fighting, or enter Stealth) or Evasion (the blocking/parrying animation will interrupt your fast dual dagger attacks, reducing DPS). My rogues never get all Rogue or Dual Weapon Talents since some points are used for specialized talents: Exploit Weakness, Feast of the Fallen, Song of Valor, Song of Courage

In gameplay, I'd approach the yellow/orange or mages in stealth, open up with a backstab for initial auto-crit, use Dirty Fighting or Riposte to stun, then continue to "backstab" via Coup De Grace. For frontal assault, start with Dirty Fighting, then, auto-backstab, until no longer stunned. Maybe a Flurry to finish off or Riposte for more stun. Dual-Weapon Sweep if more than 2 in front. Whirlwind if surrounded. I hardly bother with Cripple, and never activate Dual-Strikiing, which negates critical hits or backstabs.

IRT gear, equip all leather or dalish armor, gloves, & boots for set bonus. Later, hunt Drakes to assemble Wade's Superior Drakeskin Leather Set. Ultimately, buy Felon's Coat. Wear Helm of Honnleath, Key to the City, and any amulet/belt/ring to increase all attributes or DEX/CUN, such as Andruil's Blessing, Dusk ring, Harvest Festival Ring...
When available, wear gloves to increase armor penetration or critical hit/damage (Red Jenny Seekers). Use daggers with similar bonus properties (The Rose's Thorn). Add runes for physical/spell resistances and paralysis.

One trick with Song of Courage is to wear +CUN gear, activate this talent, and switch back to +crit chance/damage/DEX weapon/equipment. After a cut-scene or area transition, may have to deactivate Song of Courage, switch gear, and re-actiivate, to utilize high CUN bonus.

[Gyrmadet]

Originally posted by K00lex:

One trick with Song of Courage is to wear +CUN gear, activate this talent, and switch back to +crit chance/damage/DEX weapon/equipment. After a cut-scene or area transition, may have to deactivate Song of Courage, switch gear, and re-actiivate, to utilize high CUN bonus.

hey thanks for all the tips! I want to max the stealth, so I'll keep in mind these advices! :D

[Gyrmadet]

I would like to specialize as Assassin, but it looks like it's not that easy? I mean, I cannot access the area of the city where the book is sold, and Zevran still didn't show up... there is no other way?

[ieough]

Pro tip: don't play an assassin. Do beastmaster/bard or if your playing inquisition beastmaster/legionaire scout?/shahow something?. The reason being you want the min amount of stats in str and dex for equipping and cun for stealth lvl 4 and everything else in willpower. Willpower lets you use more abilities and thus makes the game more dynamic rather than run behind a target, auto attack, run behind another target, auto attack. You also want scatter shot and should open with scatter shot then hit stealth. And on top of that your caster(or one of your casters) should have paralysis on enemy caster macroed so you can simply walk up to the caster and backstab away.

e.g. in inquisition I am currently running rogue/beastmaster/legionnaire, rogue/beastmaster/bard, warrior/champion/reaver, mage/archon or w/e is 1 point to to make magic staisfy str attribute/ bloodmage. 2x scatter shot, paralyse caster and haste and bloodmage 3rd and 4th ability for tougher fights, warrior with a bunch of staminia spamming aoe attacks.

[Gyrmadet]

uh, I admit I didn't consider that. I have the raven mod so I can try it to see if it satisfies me...

[Zanuffas]

Here, are two builds that I think would fit your requirements. They are more or less the same, but use different attributes as their primary ones:

Cunning Based rogue Dual Wield

Cunning Based rogue Dual Wield [gamestegy.com] - This setup offers very high damage, and is my recommended rogue experience. The main attribute is cunning, which will be used instead of strength for dagger damage calculation. You have multiple ways to stack damage from cunning:

• Lethality
  
• Exploit Weakness
  
• Song of Courage
  
• Bonus armor penetration from cunning

Besides these, the core talents are - Momentum, Dual-Weapon passives, Dirty Fighting, and Coup de Grace. All of these will allow you to effectively exploit backstabbing mechanics.

Similar to this there is another build

Dexterity Based rogue Dual Wield

Dexterity Based rogue Dual Wield [gamestegy.com] - this setup is somewhat different. The main change is that you have minimal investment into cunning (mainly for Deft Hands talents, to unlock chests and disarm traps). However, you do put all points into dexterity.

Why is this important? High dexterity improves your hit chance and defense. The latter is what enables you to avoid most physical attacks - arrows, and normal hits. You are still vulnerable to enemy skills and spells, but your survivability becomes extremely high.

Gear

The item recommendations are these:

• The Edge - very good early-game dagger
  
• The Rose's Thorn - one of the best daggers in the game
  
• Helm of Honnleath - the best helmet for the main character that gives bonuses to all attributes
  
• Guildmaster's Belt - decent cunning bonus for the cunning-based rogue
  
• Andruil's Blessing - one of the best belts in the game with +2 to all attributes.
  
• The Felon's Coat or Battledress of the Provocateur. These are the best light armors in the game giving solid bonuses to the main stats

This should give you a good head start on the builds :)