The Melee-Rogue Guide!

[Cheeseflys]

Hello readers, this is my D1 Variant guide, based on the use of a melee-rogue.

First of all, i'll say that this ISN'T a dumbed down warrior, this type of character can do what a warrior can, to a high extent. I will go over the idea of High-AC or Low-AC, and the great helpful spells and stats.

Ok, so lets start about what this character can do that a warrior could never do:

1. More Mana= More casting=More Telekilling/stone cursing (More on Telekill later)

2. Higher Base AC- Due to the Rogue's naturally high Dex limit.

3. Looks alot better(Personal opinion :p)

4. This goes along with more mana, but the ability to have a decent Mana Shield.

Now, for the things that aren't so good:

1. Less damage, due to the lower strength that the Rogue can obtain.

2. Can be expsensive, due to the need for more life/resists/damage.

3. Less life, that explains itself there. :3

4. If you disagree with the good point in 3, then it's "Ugly"



Low AC, or High AC? That is the question

Low AC has less of a restricted gear selection, due to the choice of more resist gear, and less AC. And more mana. As well as most monsters in Hell/Hell being magical thingys.

High AC can take more of a beating in a melee mob, but you shouldn't be in that anyway.... And, less gear choices, and more jewelry wasted on resist instead of mana/stats. Less melee monsters in Hell/Hell that give some trouble.

Overall, low-AC takes the cake in the long run, but High-AC is alot better for newer players, that managed to be able to get their hands on some good stuff.


Gear Selection:

Weapons:

Kings Sword of Haste: Strong, and fast.

Kings Sword of Vamp: Strong, and mana-leach allows more well.. Mana things.

Kings Sword of the Bat: Life leech doesn't seem as fun as Mana Leach in the long run.

Civerb's Cudgel: You can tripple your TOTAL damage to demons with this, leading to a 300 or so damage melee attack, great choice.

Shield:

Emerald Shield of the Tiger: Resists, AND life, very fun. :)

Storm Shield: More damage with this, and a fast block with decent AC.


Body Armor:

Naj's Light Plate: Possibly the BEST Low-AC armor, +spells, mana... Resists.

Saint's Plate of the Tiger: Great for higher-AC, life, and harder to find...

Jewelry:

Obsidian/Zodiac.

Dragons/Zodiac.

Any plus stats, resists. Combine them as you wish.



Helms:

Unidentified Gudderdamerung: High AC. (60)

Thinking Cap 11 dur: Great for low-AC, sort of liek Naj's.

Helm of Spirits: 5% Life Leech, nothing else. Great to have with a King's Sword of Haste, specially with biggers mobs.

Any +resist/stats/life

Telekilling: What is it?

Tele killing is when you lock your cursor over a monster, and teleport, draggin your most to the upper right corner so you smack em' in the face when you appear at their feet. Very, very, very nice against those damn runners/teleporters.

Basic Strategy: DON'T GET MOBBED. I can't stress this enough, keep to mobs of 3-6, IF you get into a corner... Unlike most games, if you dish out enough, and get yourself into a corner, you basically take each monsters 1on1. So, with a KSoH, or CC, and HoS, you could potentially do it without any potions.

Spells, and what level to have them at:


Teleport: Level 8, for a lower mana cost.

Stone Curse: Level 8 for lowest mana cost, 9 for the max duration.

Heal: Maxed (15) , unless you're going pure mana-shield. :)

Charged Bolt: I usually max this for the simple reason that it's sort of a look out spell, and you can flood a room with it and get some easy kills.

Golem: Not as much of a tank as it is in D2, not really worth it. But, it can take the heat off of you almost completely.

Chain Lightning: Same thing as charged bolt, except it's not cast and forget, and it tears through non-lightning immunes with a good cast like butter.

So, that's it, and good bye. :)

If I missed anything, leave a suggestion in a post!

[Clervis]

Cool build. I'd actually really like to try it. I know my warrior suffers only from a lack of extra dexterity, which effects how often you're hit, block, and hit monsters. To have all of those essentially maxed out would really help make up for lower damage. And the extra mana could be very useful.

[Swordslash]

R-O-G-U-E

:crazyeyes:

[Garisdacar]

R-O-G-U-E

:crazyeyes:

i was thinking the same thing.....rouge on a melee character is like lipstick on a pig.

[Flux]

The key point to a melee rogue is that she can't get stunlock, since her fastest swing is .40 with a haste sword.

http://diablo2.diablowiki.net/Diablo_Characters#Attack_Rate

Warriors can get to .35, which is what's required to stick mages, and to lock up melee enemies so they can't hit you. this makes the rogue fundamentally annoying at melee, especially since mages keep slithering away with teleport. Much more stone curse (or patience to herd them into corners) is required.

Rogues are fairly good at melee against other enemies, since .40 is fast enough to not get hit by melee enemies. You can usually get witches too, since they have to walk away and unless you miss 2 swings in a row you'll pull them back before they're out of range.

The other key issue with rogue vs. warrior is that warriors get a hidden critical hit bonus = Clvl. The C window display isn't that different, but a lvl 40 warrior will get double damage on 40% of his hits, which makes a huge overall difference.

I enjoy doing rogues melee at times, but I'm usually in mini-mage mode with a dreamflange. Going pure melee requires more patience than I possess, but mixing in some spells with melee can be fun. Judicious use of Chain Lightning can greatly accelerate your level clearing speed, and fireballs are great too, especially against non-resistant enemies.

You can use fireball against anything non-immune, but you'll need to find a bunch of enchanted shrines to up the level, and also wear equipment that ups your magic, to have sufficient magical to/hit. My current rogue is lvl 41 and with lvl 18 FB in hell on MP, I still need 3-4 shots to kill Blood Knights on 16. Around 160 magic is required to hit them with most every shot. I can devastate non-resistant enemies on 13-15, though.

[Cheeseflys]

I've always been interested in mini-mage set ups, but I don't think I have the patience to go on enchanted runs. :p

[Flux]

enchanted runs are fun in the cats on hell difficulty. Do them mage style with a sword/shield, unless you've found a dreamflange already. They're great to level up, until about lvl 40. far faster killing than in hell or crypt since nothing is immune. there's very little danger either, and you don't even need resistances since all you ever get is that bloodstar pack of unique goats, and sometimes acid dogs or lava throwers on 8.

you won't find anything worth using other than possibly some mid-level uniques, though. I found like 4 thinking caps doing them with my rogue.

Shrine runs are also very useful in Diablo since you find hidden shrines as well and can pump up the durability of your weapon, or thinking cap (or both, since the -10 durability almost always hits the shield slot). This is irrelevant in Hellfire though, since durability + oils are easier to find than hidden shrines.

[The Sandcat]

To prevent the wrong item being upgraded,unequip everything else by throwing it on the ground,but keep the item you want to upgrade.Touch shrine and reequip.Just make sure there are no monsters around. Or save the game and if the effect is not what you wanted,restart the saved game.This is very useful for cauldrons as well,as their random effects can give a nasty surprise.Works in SP only.