Best armor for a spell slinging rogue?

[HermieTheDentist]

As the question implies. What's the best armor for a spell slinging rogue?

Thanks for the input.

[BriarFox]

As the question implies. What's the best armor for a spell slinging rogue?

Thanks for the input.

I'd stick with hauberk. 9 and 10% for MnS and MnE. MBP's not a bad choice either, but you need more armor training.

Edit: Though with the new armor changes, brig is pretty sexy, especially if you're overtrained by 50 or 100 ranks.

[HermieTheDentist]

Briar,

Do you mind breaking your reply down a little for me? Give me some numbers and such to work with? I was thinking hauberk... your set in particular has me interested. That being said, I'd like to hear an expanded version of your reply.

[BriarFox]

No problem.

Brig needs 30 ranks for maneuver hindrance, and for a rogue, 110 skill bonus for 6% MnS and 130 skill bonus for 7% MnE. 6 and 7% spell hindrance is pretty nice, especially if you're going to cast a lot. If you overtrain brig, then for every 50 ranks, you get a reduction in its maneuver hindrance (at 80 and 130 ranks). That can be useful helping you dodge things. As a rogue, you can reduce your maneuver penalty with the armored evasion ability, as well. You could be pretty quick and agile in brig.

As for hauberk, you'd need 70 ranks for maneuver hindrance, then 170 skill bonus for 9% MnS and 190 skill bonus for 10% MnE. If you're going to do hauberk, you might as well train to 120 ranks (70+50) for a reduction in maneuver penalty as well. The advantages of hauberk are +11 CvA over brig, a crit divisor of 9 instead of 7, a much better DF overall, and usually better AvDs.

For me, the benefits of hauberk far outweigh the benefits of brig, especially because of the ability to take hits in it and the boost to spell defense. The few extra points of hindrance don't really bother me. It's your call, though, and you might find with armored evasion that you have a higher DS in brig than hauberk.

[HermieTheDentist]

Thanks.

[Durgrimst]

What level rogue are you playing? I think you are the one selling a level 95 one, so what are you planning on using, it might help to pick an armor class knowing what type of TPs your working with.

[HermieTheDentist]

Durg,

That's part of what I'm working on. I'm looking for the best protection vs. hinderance. Yeah I'm trying to sell the 95 Rogue mentioned above. Not getting anywhere with it so I'm looking at alternatives in making him more effective.

Thanks for any input.

[Widgets]

Protection is what boils down to it now, alot of Rogues (Magical) swear by hauberk as opposed to brig since you are going up in the next crit divisor.

I'd also take a look at how often you plan on casting, or may need to cast in swarms IE: 410 etc. If you think maybe once, twice a hunt will suffice, then I'd say stick with the Hauberk. If more, you may wanna consider dropping down to something lower in hindrence.

Granted you know my take on spell slinging rogues...Robes were the best way, nothing was more fun than casting 117 before each swing/fire

[HermieTheDentist]

So with this kind of training at lvl 95. How/What kind of spells should I be aiming to have?

Armor Use 90 (0.9X)
Edged Weapons 138 (1.4X)
Ranged Weapons 192 (2.0X)
Combat Maneuvers 95 (1.0X)
Ambush 194 (2.0X)
Physical Fitness 143 (1.5X)
Dodging 194 (2.0X)
Climbing 30 (0.3X)
Swimming 30 (0.3X)
Stalking and Hiding 194 (2.0X)
Perception 291 (3.0X)
First Aid
Survival 96 (1.0X)
Harness Power 95 (1.0X)
Spell Research 16 (0.2X)
Minor Elemental 14 (0.1X)
Minor Spirit 2 (0.0X)

[BriarFox]

I wouldn't half-ass edged, too. Go pure ranged and use the extra points to get hiding to 3x and your climbing and swimming up to at least 50 each. You can probably dump a ton of HP. I doubt you need more than 100 mana. Personally, I'd aim for 410 and 107.

[Stretch]

Drop edged and get armor up to 140 ranks to use full plate. The difference between hauberk or even MBP and full plate is absurd. E-wave is completely overrated, especially since Ranged DS is typically pretty low. (Return: 360/180 or so TPs)

Drop perception to 2x. The extra DS and better aiming is not worth the sink in MTPs. That could get you 5 or 6 extra spells, which is enough to get Spirit Warding II. (Return: 400 MTPs)

Drop Harness Power to at most 0.5x. Unless you're in Sunfist, you really don't need more than 50 mana. (Return: 450+ MTPs)

Put the rest of the points to get Dodge as close to 3x as possible.

[HermieTheDentist]

I get what you're saying Stretch... but, why have the spells if you really cannot combat utilize? The DS and TD are nice admittedly. But, to get in the ewave is pretty nice if you get caught up in a swarm.

[Stretch]

My rogue used to decimate OTF and Nelemar with plate + ranged.

Trust me, the incremental DS from Dodging, better armor protection, and better CvA will make you wonder why you even bothered with learning spells. It's also worth not being able to take temporarily disable a room with e-wave.

414 / 107 are easy enough to get from other people that I would probably just ditch those in favor of 2x PF and 3x Dodge. I didn't bother to pick up spells with my rogue until I had enough to get 430 / 120.

[BigWorm]

Stretch knows what he is talking about, listen to him.

For a rogue, one of the biggest benefits of full plate is the CvA bonus, which is basically free TD. This is why wearing robes is fucking retarded, no matter what Widgets says. I'd definitely recommend ignoring his advice considering he owned the highest experience rogue and still managed to die so much he had an obscene amount of death's sting.

[BigWorm]

Oh yeah, in before "it was the Simu lag man".

[Drew]

I'd also take a look at how often you plan on casting, or may need to cast in swarms IE: 410 etc. If you think maybe once, twice a hunt will suffice, then I'd say stick with the Hauberk. If more, you may wanna consider dropping down to something lower in hindrence.

Both Nuadjha and I play rangers in hauberk. I cast at almost every creature I hunt so I don't really agree with this advice. For casting hauberk works out just fine.

[waywardgs]

Stretch, were you firing from open? Did you hide at all?

[BriarFox]

Both Nuadjha and I play rangers in hauberk. I cast at almost every creature I hunt so I don't really agree with this advice. For casting hauberk works out just fine.

:yeahthat:

The 11% (for rangers) isn't that bad. I even thorn-sorc on occasion. You can also get a paladin to use Armored Fluidity on you.

[Stretch]

Stretch, were you firing from open? Did you hide at all?

Not really, hiding was a pretty big waste of time since all it did was bypass some form of DS (either parry or stance, can't remember).

Hunting from open with ranged is almost unfair post-cap (at least compared to other square builds, and assuming STR bonus is high enough to get aimed to 3 seconds). I routinely went through 60-70 tritons every 15 minutes or so, and it was only that slow because the gen rates on radicals and executioners wasn't that great.

[BigWorm]

Stretch, were you firing from open? Did you hide at all?

My current build is pretty similar to what Stretch was running with Ed, minus more than a few spells (I only know up to 414 so far). I have 0 ranks in hiding and do well in OTF, Nelemar, and Plane 4 (haven't been to the Rift since the Scatter was properly released to try that out). Warcamps are pretty ridiculous with haste up and 1 sec eye shotting even giants. Bandit tasks are infinitely easier now than before when I was ambushing.

[The Ponzzz]

I have 210 (10 ranks being from enhancives) of armor use and can cast in MBP and down with min spell failure. If you need the protection and have the mana, 16% MnE spell hindrance isn't THAT bad, but it is annoying.

Aug chain is the easiest highest AsG to train off spell hindrance with and I would think it's the most widely used for that scenario. Depending on you level or post cap experience though, it just boils down to what you can afford. Stick to 3x dodge, that's all I gotta say!

[Sablemane]

Ranged + robes...heck, I'm not casting and I still think robes rock, with high enchant of course

[waywardgs]

Ranged + robes...heck, I'm not casting and I still think robes rock, with high enchant of course

Robes can get you a ridiculous DS, can make you practically untouchable, but when you DO get hit you might as well be wearing a paper bag. And DS is hardly ever as much of an issue for a square as TD is- loosing all that CvA can really hurt if you miss your hide as a rogue.