Long time no see!

The rogue class was always something I was a little intimidated by. While playing World of Warcraft I played most of the classes but for some reason skipped the rogue. I guess the reason for that was just the fast paced actions the rogues executed seemed too quick for me so I mostly stuck to spell casters and the slower warriors. Funny enough. The rogue currently has the largest skill-set of all hero classes!

Rogues are outlaws. The only friendship they have is with gold. As long as they finish their assignment they can sleep at night. They rely on their agility, blend in everywhere and if their targets see them it’s probably too late. They will hit the ground mortally wounded or dead and watch the rogue as he disappears into the night - waiting for another assignment.

Let’s just first have a quick look again at the different hero classes mentioned in the first post:

Warrior - no nonsense guy who trusts his strength as much as his weapons
Mage - watch out! A powerful spell might come your way
Rogue - they are quick and deadly. You won’t see them until it’s too late
Cleric - their main goal is to keep you alive but they pack a punch as well
Ranger - just like the warrior, they trust their weapons - only from a littler farther away

Rogues rely on their agility to get in and out of deadly encounters which makes them a hard target for opponents to hit since they seem to be in multiple places at once causing them to hit other enemies and deal damage to them for you. Add to that the fact that they can stun, confuse, and poison their opponents and you have a deadly ally that will fight for you.

Dice

As always, let’s check out the rogue die

As you can see the rogue is granted movement with every side of the die. Since movement is a critical element to being a rogue they have the chance to move up to 6 spaces for a single round!

Here is another look at the die rendered in Tabletopia:

You can almost feel the rogue moving through space and finishing off an opponent.

Movement

One thing that hasn’t been fully mentioned so far is movement and when it can be used.

After you roll and (maybe) re-roll your dice you check how many movement symbols are rolled. You now have the option of moving before you attack or after.

Moving before an attack grants you the full amount of movement symbols rolled to travel on the current tile.

If you don’t want to move your hero before an attack or you don’t move him the full amount that has been rolled you can do it after you hit an opponent. However, since your heroes exerted themselves, you only have half of the remaining amount (rounded down) available.

The formula for movement is quite simple:

MbA = Movement before an Attack
MaA = Movement after an Attack
SmbA = Spaces moved before an Attack
Mr = Movement symbols rolled

MbA  = Mr 
MaA  = RoundDown((Mr - SmbA) / 2)

This is where the rogue’s agility comes into play. Since he has the ability to move up to 6 spaces before the attack they can move for example 2 spaces before attacking and 2 spaces after ( RoundDown((6 - 2) / 2) = 2).

Get close to an opponent, deal damage, get out! The way of the rogue.

Base skills

Let’s check out the one skill all rogues have in their arsenal.

Your safety net skill. For each die you roll a dagger you deal 1 DP to your opponent for up to 4 DP when you acquire the 4th die.

Phantom (HP 8, BR 0)

The phantom relies on hitting his enemy and then disappearing. His skills leave the target with a status effect which in turn enables other heroes to punish the target as well.

Backstab

Deal 2 DP and the target is now immobilized.

After attacking an enemy and dealing 2 DP the target is immobilized and can only attack other heroes within his range.

Pounce

Deal 2 DP and the target is now stunned. Hero can move an additional 2 spaces.

Not only will the targeted opponent be stunned and unable to attack for 2 rounds, the hero gets also an additional 2 spaces to get out of the way.

Shadow (HP 8, BR 0)

The shadow rogue is all about stealth. They attack you and are instantly gone. They melt into their surroundings and are sometimes hard to trace by the opponents.

After the hero vanishes he won’t be targeted by an opponent for 2 rounds even if they dealt damage during one of them. Vanish can be combined with Ambush to deal 1 DP in the same round.

Quick blade

Deal 2 DP to adjacent opponents equal to the number of sprint symbols rolled (minimum 2).

This attack is great when combined with Vanish a round before. The rogue gets into the action and attacks opponents equal to the number of rolled sprint symbols (where the minimum is 2). Each of them will suffer 2 DP. Keep in mind that rogues can only attack adjacent enemies so you will have to pick your spot to attack.

Assassin (HP 9, BR 0, +1 movement)

The assassin is all about dealing the final blow to an opponent. This can be directly or over time by poisoning a target. Sometimes they like to throw off an opponent and watch them hurt themselves. They also get one extra movement every round giving them the freedom to be in and out of combat with ease.

Poison sting

Deal 2 DP and the target is now poisoned

A poisoned target will lose 1 DP for each space moved for 2 rounds.

Smoke screen

Deal 3 DP and the target is now confused

A confused target performs a skill check and if it fails they hurt themselves in confusion.

Medium skills (3 XP)

As before, you want some cheap attacks to widen your attack range as early as possible. They won’t hit the target with huge force but will give you a lot of options when rolling for attacks.

Revenge

Deal 2 DP and mark the target. Every other hero attacking the target this round will deal 1 extra DP.

Now that’s a nice one to have in your bag. Not only will you hit a target for 2 DP they will also be marked this round. That means they will suffer 1 extra DP for every attack other heroes perform on this target. This can add up quickly so keep an eye on this one while rolling.

Sprint

Increase movement by up to 3 spaces for 3 rounds

If rolling up to 6 movement wasn’t enough you can get 3 more movement if you roll sprint. This enables you to pretty much traverse the entire tile or hit and run further away and make it even harder for your opponents to catch you.

Toxic

Deal 2 DP and poison the target as well as 2 adjacent opponents.

Like Poison sting, this skill enables you to deal damage and poison the target. However, here you have the option to poison up to 2 more adjacent opponents and watch them slowly succumb to the poison.

Strong skills (5 XP)

Want to deal even more damage and cause chaos among your opponents then these strong skills are worth upgrading to. Their effects range from simple status effects to hitting multiple targets at once.

Quick combo

Deal 3 DP to target and move to any space adjacent to the target. If another target is in range deal 3 DP to this target as well.

Now this is something! This skill enables you to attack opponents close to each other in a deadly combo. Let’s check out the following image and explain it a little easier.

You first attack an adjacent enemy (on the light green space). Once you dealt the required amount of damage, move your hero to any adjacent space of the target (dark green) and check if there is now another opponent you can attack. If yes, deal to this target 3 DP as well.

Vengeance

Deal 3 DP, poison and mark the target. Every other hero attacking the target this round will deal 2 extra DP

You can think of this attack as the next level Revenge. The targeted opponent is marked but will now suffer 2 additional DP from each other hero attacking it as well as being poisoned for 2 rounds.

Dual wield

Deal 3 DP to target, additionally, deal 2 DP to 2 adjacent opponents.

You are essentially hitting 3 targets adjacent to your hero. The main target will suffer 3 DP while 2 adjacent opponents will suffer 2 DP each. Just as Serious Sam once said: “Double the gun, double the fun”, only in this case you are hitting with two daggers.

Like water

Deflect 1 attack from your opponent to another adjacent opponent.

When an opponent tries to attack you they will instead hit another opponent adjacent to you. You will suffer no damage from this attack. All other attacks this round will hit you.

Into thin air

Deal 4 DP and perform Vanish.

Even if you are not the Phantom rogue you gain the Vanish ability to avoid being targeted for 2 rounds.

Powerful skills (7 XP)

Let’s now have a look at the most powerful skills available to rogues.

Don’t blink

Deal 5 DP and stun the target.

A stunned opponent can’t perform any actions for 2 rounds

Like the wind

Deal 4 DP to a target. Move to a space adjacent to this target and perform Like the wind again until there is no opponent available or you have attacked all opponents

You can think of this attack as moving in a checkers pattern. You deal 4 DP to a target and then are able to move to an adjacent space of that target and check if there is now a new target you can attack. If that’s the case, simply repeat the process until you don’t have an opponent to attack or you have attacked all opponents once.

As you can see above, the rogue first attacked the bottom left opponent dealing 4 DP. Now all dark green spaces around the opponent become places to move to. After moving to the space above the first opponent, a new opportunity to attack another opponent has come up. The rogue deals 4 DP to the new target. Now all spaces around the second target are available to move to and the rogues chooses to go close to the top right opponent and deal 4 DP to him too. Now the rogue has to chance to move again but since moving would bring him further from the bottom right opponent they decid to stay at the current space and finish their attack. All in all the rogue dealt 12 DP in total to 3 opponents bringing his team 1 large step close to victory.

Intoxicated

Deal 5 DP and confuse the target as well as all adjacent opponents.

One opponent will suffer 5 DP while all opponents adjacent to the hero will suffer from confusion giving them a chance to hit themselves instead of the heroes.

And that’s it! The rogue is fast and deadly and if you choose him as your hero you will have a great variety of skills available to attack. Choose wisely, clear levels, and the final boss will have hard time fighting your group.

Next time we will check out the Cleric. Their goal is to keep you alive but when push comes to shove they can deal quite a bit of damage too.

Until then,
Happy gaming!

Sep 10 Update #5 - Rogue hero class