Dark and Darker is a first-person multiplayer online role-playing game that features game elements from Diablo, The Elder Scrolls series, and roguelikes. In this article, we’ll look at one of the character classes in the game, the stealthy Rogue. Our focus will be on the best builds, perks, and equipment to use throughout the game.

What is the Rogue Class

The archetype of silent assassins and pure stealth gameplay, Rogues are one of the most exciting character classes to play in Dark and Darker. By taking advantage of positioning—through skills and perks, or through basic movement—and use of poison to deal damage, learning what makes the Rogue a good character class may put you in an advantageous position in PvE and PvP battles.

Rogues have two different play styles: Burst and Stealth, both relying on getting the most out of your positioning and Stealth perk. Burst does damage through poison and skills like Weakpoint Attack. Stealth primarily relies on ambush tactics to deal massive damage to enemies.

Skills

Here are the skills for Rogue:

• Caltrops: Drops Caltrops spikes on your feet that deals 10 physical damage to enemies and drops their movement speed by 50% for three seconds.
• Cut Throat: Disables the enemy’s ability to use skills, spells, and performance abilities. This effect lasts for four seconds.
• Hide: Makes you invisible. You may not equip your character when in this state, and the skill will deactivate when you move, attack, or use another skill.
• Rupture: Deal an additional 20 physical damage over five seconds after landing a successful hit.
• Smoke Pot: Use to deploy a smoke screen that lasts 12 seconds and has a coverage of six meters. Enemies entering the smoke screen will have a 10% movement speed reduction.
• Tumbling: Your character makes a tumbling movement in the opposite direction that your character is facing.
• Weakpoint Attack: Reduces enemy’s armor rating by 30% for three seconds after landing a successful attack.

Perks

Perks are passive attributes that augment the chosen character class. Here are the Perks for Rogues.

• Ambush: Your character will have an additional 10% movement speed and 50% physical damage bonuses after coming out of Hide. If the melee attack is successful, the effect disappears. This effect lasts three seconds.
• Back Attack: Gain an additional 30% backstab damage when attacking an enemy from behind.
• Creep: Your character’s footsteps will not be heard while crouch walking.
• Dagger Mastery: Deal an extra 15% damage bonus when using a dagger.
• Double Jump: Gain an additional jump at the expense of 18 movement speed.
• Hide Mastery: Extends the duration of Hide by 40 seconds.
• Jokester: Boosts the attributes of all party members by 2 points.
• Pickpocket: Steals items from enemies. Using Hide will not reveal your character when bumped.
• Poisoned Weapon: Applies poison damage that deals 4 magic damage over four seconds. Effect can stack five times.
• Stealth: Your character can move 10 steps while crouching or slow walking when hidden.
• Thrust: Deal an additional 20% armor reduction while using a dagger.
• Lockpicking Mastery: Unlock locks without using a lockpick.
• Shadow Runner: Gain 15% movement speed bonus after hiding.
• Trap Detection: Ability to detect traps. Detected traps are highlighted and can be disarmed.
• Hidden Pockets: Items equipped in utility slots do not appear on the waist.
• Hand Crossbow Mastery: Ability to use the Hand Crossbow.

Equipment

Rogues have a small variety of weapons to choose from. These are centered on close-range combat.

• Castillon Dagger
• Stiletto Dagger
• Rapier
• Rondel Dagger
• Throwing Knife
• Hand Crossbow

What Are the Best Builds for Rogue?

As mentioned previously, there are two play styles for Rogue. We will look at the best builds for both.

Burst Rogue

Burst Rogues can benefit from coordinated team plays that require damage-per-second effects and additional damage bonus.

As such, prioritizing Weakpoint Attack and Rupture as skills will do the best damage. These two skills go hand in hand because of the armor reduction property of Weakpoint Attack paired with the damage bonus of Rupture.

For Perks, having Poisoned Weapon, Backstab, Creep, Lockpick, and Double Jump may benefit you in solo play. For team play, substituting either Lockpick or Double Jump for Jokester gives your team a necessary boost in attributes. The Poisoned Weapon perk greatly adds to the effects of Weakpoint Attack and Rupture.

Dagger Mastery is also recommended in place of Creep, but this may be a situational suggestion and will largely depend on which play style you want within the Burst Rogue build.

The point of this build is to pressure the enemy by smart positioning and dealing burst damage. So, any type of damage dealing perk will get you far in solo play. For team play, you can adjust your perks to help your teammates while you make a move to deal the most amount of damage. Since Rogues are notorious for their cooldown times, moving around and letting your teammates set you up for your attacks will greatly optimize your character.

Stealth Rogue

While a Stealth Rogue will largely depend on Stealth-based Skills and Perks, it doesn’t hurt to have at least one damage-based Perk such as Poisoned Weapon.

Smoke Pot and Hide are great skills. These two give your character ample time to move around and plan your next attack.

As for Perks, the obvious choices are Stealth and Hide Mastery. Aside from those, you can choose Ambush, Creep, and Back Attack. Don’t forget the Poisoned Weapon as your main damage dealing Perk.

This build relies on sneak attacks and critical hit bonus due to backstab damage, if positioned properly. You can also benefit from movement speed and damage bonuses from Ambush and Back Attack Perks.

Weapon Recommendation

We recommend using a Rapier (main hand) and a Dagger (off-hand). These two weapons deal the best amount of damage for any of the two builds. But for those who prefer being sneakier, the Hand Crossbow can make a great replacement.