Rogue postcap training and hunting strategies

[Hymore246]

I'v seen a lot guides for precap training but there is nothing for postcap training. You have a lot of freedom postcap but I wanted to ask the great minds of PC for advice on spells, lores and hunting tactics for a postcap Rogue. This isn't about WHEN to train ranks, it's about WHAT to put those ranks into. I've bolded my questions and included a TLDR at the bottom for those that don't want to read my theory crafting wall o' text.


SPELL RESEARCH
I'm definitely getting 120 and 430. The real question on my mind: Is it worth getting 140 as a Rogue? I'm leaning towards yes because there is very little to spend mana when I'm hunting. Any additional spell research ranks are going into Minor Elemental because 425 and 430 will give extra AS, DS, and TD with higher Minor Elemental ranks.


ELEMENTAL LORES
Of all the lore sets, this one has the most variety on improving spells and picking where the ranks go is pretty hard. What Elemental Lores should I learn?

Air: 30 ranks. It's temping to take a lot of ranks in air lore to make ewave a sphere (50 ranks) and to make Celerity imbeds better. But these benefits are very small for the high amount of ranks required. So I settled for 30 ranks, which lets me use 405 to detect flares and enhancives and gives a small boost to Celerity.

Earth: 46 ranks. The most important bonus from earth lore is from 414. With 25 ranks, 414 can block an attack 5% of the time against a like level enemy. Other than that, 430 gains emergency crit padding a very small amount of the time (2%). I ended up going to 46 ranks which makes 414 work 6% of the time and increases 430'a bonus to 4%.

Fire: 0 ranks. I don't think I'll ever hunt using warding or bolt magic so nothing fire lore gives is worth anything to me.

Water: 25 ranks. Despite having some stuff that improves 403 and 404, water lore ends up not being very good. This mainly because the bonuses are gained slowly and take a lot of ranks (summation seed 10) and reduced disarm roundtime and lockpick damage are not that impressive. Still, they share a common breakpoint at 21 ranks and I can up the ranks to 25 ranks since ewave becomes more effect with every water lore rank.


SPIRTUAL LORES
What Spiritual Lores should I learn? But I think this one is easy to figure out.

Blessings: 91 ranks. All utility and defense spells work off of blessings lore with a common breakpoint of 91 ranks. Even other spell circles like Paladin and Ranger get a decent boost from the lore ranks.

Religion: 0 ranks. Nothing in minor spiritual gets a boost from religion and nothing in the other circles gain anything useful either. Pass.

Summoning: 10 ranks. This is where the leftover ranks go. Nothing really worth mentioning here honestly.


MENTAL LORES
What Mental Lores should I learn? This one is kinda like Spiritual Lore in that only one lore type is really worth the ranks.

Divination: 0 ranks. Boosts nothing but 1217 and I don't think I'll ever cast Vision.

Manipulation: 0 ranks. This is the attack lore and I am not using attack spells.

Telepathy: 0 ranks. What?! Soothing Word gives 30 seconds of sheer fear immunity at 25 ranks?! That's it? No thanks.

Transformation: 91 ranks. This one makes Brace and Dragonclaw better and minor circles get ALL your lore ranks, unlike the major and profession circles. Not much but it's better than the alternatives.

Transference: 10 ranks. It makes Blink better by 4%. Yep.


SORCEROUS LORES
What Sorcerous Lores should I learn? Bottom of the barrel here. Sorcerer spells are not known for a lot of defense and utility, so these ranks give almost nothing. But two things DO stand out.

Demonology: 101 or 75 ranks. Phase can be used on boxes from a wand. That's it. I would be able to phase 22 lb boxes with 101 ranks and 20 lb with 75 ranks. The number of ranks I will have here depends on how many Necromancy ranks I get.

Necromancy: 0 or 36 ranks. Rot flares improved based off necromancy lore and 36 ranks happens to be the only breakpoint I can hit. Nothing else is boosted by necromancy ranks and I don't own a Rot flare weapon right now. These ranks are a long ways off anyway and I may not get any ranks at all unless I come across a Rot flare weapon.



COMBAT AND HUNTING STRATEGIES
Being a postcap character opens up a lot of choices in the way you can hunt. I want to know what each combat style offers and how to hunt certain types of creatures.


ARMOR USE
I think of all professions, Rogues are the most capable of using any sort of armor they want. Robes? Sure, pair it with 3x Dodging and 3 ranks of Evade Mastery and nothing can physically touch you. Plate? Sure! Creatures will have to plink you to death and you an still be stealthy. Currently, I am wearing decently crit padded brig and my goal will be 177 Armor Use ranks. Combined with rank 3 Armor Evasion, I can completely eliminate the action penalty of brig. That means more DS and no maneuver penalty from the armor. So, what is the best armor for a postcap Rogue?


COMBAT MANEUVER
I'm pretty confident on my cman choices as a UAC ambushing Rogue but I wouldn't mind a second opinion.

Skill name             Mnemonic        Ranks
Combat Movement        cmovement         5
Combat Focus           focus             5
Shadow Mastery         smastery          5
Combat Mobility        mobility          2
Surge of Strength      surge             2
Evade Mastery          emastery          1
Divert                 divert            2
Cunning Defense        cdefense          5
Vanish                 vanish            3
Punch Mastery          punchmastery      3
Striking Asp           asp               3

SHIELD USE
I want to use a shield for sure. I know I will be using a buckler with 3 ranks Small Shield Focus, 5 ranks Shield Brawler, and 3 ranks Shield Swiftness. That takes up 104 of the 202 points I can use. I'm thinking of trying Shield Bash but How useful is Shield Bash for a Forest Gnome using a buckler? I really want it to work but I haven't tested how practical it will be with the race size penalty and shield size. Beyond that, Any recommendations on what Shield Maneuvers to get for a Rogue?


RANGED WEAPONS
I think this combat style offers a lot good things for a Rogue. Sniping, being able aim for the eyes/head without legging something first. Combining 404 with GoS sigils is awesome! In fact, if you combine a +20 bow, ebladed (+20), master fletcher arrows (+5) made with +5 wood (need 25 ranks in a lore), you have a 10x weapon! But I have one burning question: What type of bow should a Forest Gnome use? Is it worth the additional roundtime to use a longbow or should I use a short bow and fire as fast as I can?


TWO WEAPON COMBAT
Assuming I do pick this up, What kind of weapon should a Forest Gnome use with TWC? I'm thinking troll-claws but that might be because I already have Brawling ranks.


NON-CORPOREAL UNDEAD
I hate these a lot. They are the antithesis of an ambushing Rogue. High perception and I can't crit them. The fact that I am not in Voln isn't helping. What is the best combat style for a non-Voln Rogue to use again non-corporeal undead? TWC? THW? mstrike UAC kick? I really want to know! It's the main reason I can't do Reim.


ELEMENTAL CONFLUENCE
How does a Rogue hunt in the Confluence? I swear, nothing about any of the elementals seem reasonable for sqaures. Earth elemental have massive padding, Fire and Lightning punish you for hitting them with physical attacks (even arrows!), on top of all of them not being critable. I suppose this is the best place to ask this question too: What is the best element to attune to as a square?


OTF
I visited OTF once and it was a horrible experience. How the flipping hell do you hunt in OTF as a Rogue? I NEVER want to go back there but I want to know how people deal with that swarming nightmare of a hunting ground.



TLDR
Is it worth getting 140 as a Rogue?
What Elemental, Spiritual, Mental, and Sorcerous lores should I learn?
What is the best armor for a postcap Rogue?
How useful is Shield Bash for a Forest Gnome using a buckler?
Any recommendations on what Shield Maneuvers to get for a Rogue?
What type of bow should a Forest Gnome use?
What kind of weapon should a Forest Gnome use with TWC?
What is the best combat style for a non-Voln Rogue to use again non-corporeal undead?
How does a Rogue hunt in the Confluence?
What is the best element to attune to as a square?
How the flipping hell do you hunt in OTF as a Rogue?

[neimanz1]

no 140 (475 & 125)
20 rank min for fire lore ( bonus for 430 even if its very little )
all bless lore (or half summon lore too in case you get sk 1605 item)
yea necro lore for rot flares
robes or double leathers like a ninja
shield bash sucks and i would get everything passive
silentstrike or snipe ( stop playing rogue because they suck at crowd control )
twc because it does the most damage
range or thrown for confluence
longbow since size always matter
katars

[Rhovan]

120 in chain armor and up, 140 below. That's a lot of mana to waste on missed casting in the field. Additionally, at the exp you are talking about, DS won't usually be an issue unless you are carrying too much or immobilized. At those times, heavier armor will keep you safe, but otherwise the extra DS from spells is useful.

Lores have so little worth to me as a rogue, I won't even bother thinking about them at over 2x cap.

I'm very happy with hauberk as a rogue. I can't get into the shadows every attempt at over 3x, but that is more from where I'm hunting than the armor. Take the extra padding, TD, and weight reduction.

Shields, I've only tried on one char about 2 decades ago, so no comment.

Use whatever bow can get an aimed shot off in 3 seconds. That being said, if you can't get an aimed longbow shot off in 3 seconds, consider a different weapon type.

Katars are the best TWC, but that's neglecting TPs and enhancives. Best weapon choice generally needs to consider what you are hunting and open vs ambush more that your race.

I'm lazy and ignore non-corp and confluence as a rogue.

Fire is best for e-blading youngins' weapons around Mule.

Haven't gone to OTF since I always hear the loot sucks, but I don't see why it'd be worse than the scatter. TWC with whirling dervish and enought MOC to negate FoF. Why is crowd control a problem?

[Hymore246]

no 140 (475 & 125)
20 rank min for fire lore ( bonus for 430 even if its very little )
all bless lore (or half summon lore too in case you get sk 1605 item)
yea necro lore for rot flares
robes or double leathers like a ninja
shield bash sucks and i would get everything passive
silentstrike or snipe ( stop playing rogue because they suck at crowd control )
twc because it does the most damage
range or thrown for confluence
longbow since size always matter
katars

Going to 475 seems pretty nice now that I think about it. AS is harder to come by than DS, at least as far as spells are concerned. I think I'll aim for that. Or maybe just 470 so I can get 130.

Fire lore doesn't affect 430, only earth lore does (emergency crit padding). You might be thinking of Elemental Targeting (425), but that bonus to crit effect only affects spells.

I always sort of panned katars since they needed two weapon skills to use but looking at them again, I have to agree they are pretty good. I think katars will be my weapon of choice for TWC and dealing with undead.

Why do Rogues suck at crowd control? Even when they are really high into postcap?

120 in chain armor and up, 140 below. That's a lot of mana to waste on missed casting in the field. Additionally, at the exp you are talking about, DS won't usually be an issue unless you are carrying too much or immobilized. At those times, heavier armor will keep you safe, but otherwise the extra DS from spells is useful.

Use whatever bow can get an aimed shot off in 3 seconds. That being said, if you can't get an aimed longbow shot off in 3 seconds, consider a different weapon type.

I didn't even think of all the DS I would have from 3x Dodging and all those spells, not to mention 2x Shield Use or 2x TWC. I probably will not need it after all. Knowing my luck, 140 would JUST run out after I got imobilized and I would die anyway. BAH!

Does that longbow roundtime include sniping? Because I don't think you can snipe in 3 seconds with a longbow even with a +50 strength bonus. A 3 seconds aimed roundtime with a longbow is a tall order, even if I wasn't a forest gnome.
Best I think I can do with a longbow when sniping atm would be: 7 (base) + 1 (aimed) + 1 (hiding) - 1.5 (+15 strength bonus) - 1 (rank 2 Surge) - 1.5 (Wizard Strength) = 5 seconds.
I'll mess around with the bows and see if a shortbow or a composite bow are workable. My archery days are far off, so I got plenty of time to figure it out


Anyone have any other opinions? All help is appreciated.