Browse forums
Ankama Trackers
Loka's AoE Rogue Guide (Pre 1.69)
By Loka-#2166 - MEMBER - November 21, 2019, 05:01:33UPDATE November 9 2020: Hey, so, I'm not making a new guide. Have had to take a break from the game for personal reasons. Good luck y'all. Rogue's very diverse now so have fun with it.
Hi y'all.
I'm Loka/Loka Picara, a Rogue from Nox and Remington who wrote this handy dandy guide a while back. I've noticed that a more specific Rogue guide or two, or three, could probably do some good for those who want to make an honest attempt at Rogue. Therefore, I've decided to write another Rogue guide, because I can't shut up about this class.
As I will always do with all of my Rogue guides, I'll start with a few disclaimers.
If you are looking for a Bombless Rogue Guide, or a Rogue build that uses bombs as a secondary source of damage/buffs/debuffs, none of my guides will give you that. Bombs are the core of Rogue's gameplay, and if you don't want to put up with bombs, play another class.
Rogue is a very different class compared to the majority of the classes in Wakfu. They are a damage dealer before anything else, but unlike classes like Iop and Foggernaut who are able to do damage immediately, or classes like Xelor or Huppermage who have the option of playing as setup, but can still do damage immediately, Rogue is a mandatory setup class. You don't do immediate damage as Rogue: you are always setting up for your next burst and do very little damage between those bursts (with one exception that I'll get to later.
).
Third: Just because I think that this is the best way to play Rogue doesn't mean it's the best way to play Rogue for you specifically. Feel free to experiment with the class and defy any of the guides I make. If it works for you, it works for you. Despite being a Rogue main, I am not holding a gun to your head and saying you MUST PLAY ROGUE THIS WAY because that would be silly and Rogue would be a lot more boring if there was just one way to play it.
Fourth: Some of this guide will feel a bit like the other guide, but this one is, again, more specific to AoE Rogue. I'm going to try my best to get as specific as possible, but there are a lot of nebulous elements to Rogue that I can't explain in a step by step manner.
Finally: I'm gonna be a bit snarky with this one and put a lot of personality into it, because this is my favorite way to play rogue.
If you're an impatient person and want to do damage immediately, don't play Rogue. If you just want to follow the "meta" like the sweaty Feca main you are, well, you're probably not reading this guide
Onto the actual introduction to Loka's AoE Rogue Guide!
Area of Effect Rogue is something that obviously intimidates a lot of players of this game- both playing one and playing with one. Single-Target Rogue is recommended by most people who aren't me because they don't want to play with a Rogue who has a chance of killing them because they got in the way.
This might be controversial, but I kind of see Single Target as a handicap. And I think that's an intentional part of the design. Sure, Single-Target has a slightly higher base damage, but with Rogue's damage capabilities, whether they do 92 (AoE Blinding Bomb) or 100 (ST Blinding Bomb) base damage doesn't matter when combo brings those base numbers up to four times that, easily. To me, that extra damage on a Single Target explosion is wasted on a single mob, since the damage from an AoE Explosion of the same bombs would also kill the mob 95% of the time.
Would you rather do 10,000 damage to a single mob through four 2,500 damage bombs, or do 2,300-9,200 damage to several mobs all at once?
That's why, in my opinion, Single-Target is a handicap. Sure, you might kill some allies in the process, but if all the mobs die to the explosion, you still win the fight regardless of how many allies were KO'd in the process.
That should be enough justification to play AoE Rogue.
~
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR AoE ROGUE
As usual, anything less than 7 control is generally unacceptable for Rogue. However, 6 or 5 control is definitely workable at lower levels, but I find that once you're down to 4 control it becomes an issue.
HP is always a godsend stat as a Rogue, but it's admittedly harder to come by on Area Mastery gear. HP enchantments on weapons and hats are wonderful things to have if you can manage them.
13 AP is generally a great number to have, since Blinding Bomb (4) plus Suffocating Bomb (2) plus Boot x2 (2+2) plus Badabang (3) all adds up to 13 AP exactly, but with some other potential spell combos, 12 AP works as well, but 13 is great especially if you manage to get a Save Sublimation. I'll talk about Sublimations later.
Melee Mastery is of course a solid focus, but you should definitely try to have more Area Mastery than Melee Mastery if you can get your hands on a Brutality Sublimation. I'll get to that when I talk about Sublimations, though it's probably obvious why. If you're not planning on getting a Brutality Sublim for your lower level sets, which is totally understandable given how expensive Brutality tends to be, then up until 200 it's okay to have more Melee Mastery than AoE.
CHARACTERISTICS
This will probably look pretty similar to my previous guide! Rogue doesn't vary much in the characteristics, nor do most damage dealers.
Intelligence
10 into Elemental Resistance
3 into Barrier
Rest into % Health Points
Strength
20 Melee Mastery
20 Area Mastery
Rest into Health Points
Agility
There are actually a few options here. You could:
Dump it all into dodge.
OR:
20 into Dodge
30 into Lock and Dodge
I like lock on Rogue. It allows you to have some control over where enemies go, and that's always good to have as a Rogue.
Fortune
Two options here, though most of the Fortune Branch is kinda meh for Rogue:
20 into Block
The rest into Berserk Mastery
OR:
Dump all of it into Berserk Mastery
I generally prefer having the Block, but if you feel you don't need it, going full Berserk Mastery here is valid.
Major
1 into AP
1 into Elemental Resistance
1 into MP
1 into anything else. I usually choose final damage to help with sustain.
~
PASSIVES
Unlike Single Target Rogue, which usually ends up with at least one flexible passive slot, AoE Rogue's Passive slots are cramped, as is its spell slots. These are the passives you're going to want to take.
Boomarogue
Rank 1: 2 Control. Unlocks the Reconversion Spell for Boombot.
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 110): Same as Rank 1. Boombot additionally gains 1 AP and 2 MP.
Boomarogue is just mandatory for any Rogue build because Reconversion is so powerful. That extra 2 MP for boombot also gives him more mobility, which is also always great given his pick up costs 2 MP.
Reinforced Tunic
Rank 1: HP Bonus for the Rogue: 150% of level. The bombs have 30% of the Rogue's maximum HP.
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 150): HP Bonus for the Rogue: 300% of level. The bombs have 35% of the Rogue's maximum HP.
Reinforced Tunic is another mandatory passive for any Rogue build because it gives bombs more HP, and that's always necessary.
Bomber Fan
Rank 1: The Bombs gain an additional 2 combo per turn on the field (7 Combo per turn total for the first 2 turns the bombs are out).
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 130): Same as Rank 1. The Bombs maximum combo is now 20.
Bomber Fan is the third and arguably final of the trio of mandatory Rogue passives. It isn't necessarily mandatory before rank 2, but once Bomber Fan is rank 2, Rogue gets a MASSIVE power boost. The additional Combo means a lot more damage potential, so that's why Bomber Fan, at least at Rank 2, is mandatory.
Minesweeper
Rank 1: Unlocks Badabang, which replaces Detonation.
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 160): Same as Rank 1. Badabang can now be cast on Allies, giving them a 30% damage inflicted buff.
Out of all the passives for AoE, Minesweeper is probably one that could be optional, but the power boost Badabang gives to detonations is nothing to scoff at. At Rank 2, the damage buff is also very nice and on par with Feca's Meteorites, but better because it's not Feca.
Pyrotechnist
Rank 1: Increases Powder Wall's damage by 15%. Increases the maximum powder wall size by 2 (For a total of 7).
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 140): Increases Powder Wall's damage by 25%. Increases the maximum powder wall size by 2 (For a total of 7).
Before I had to start leveling another Rogue on Remington, I had honestly underestimated Powder Wall. Powder Wall is your method of doing damage while building your bombs, and is worth using as soon as you have a decent combo bomb (Turn 2). Because the base damage is the same regardless of what type of bomb Powder Wall is cast on, any high combo bomb can do a great amount of damage to several enemies at a time, while also debuffing them. Making Powder Wall even stronger is a boon to AoE Rogue because Powder Wall scales off of Area Mastery as well as Melee Mastery. It's easy to look at Powder Wall and think it's awful because it's not Firewall, but Powder Wall is a force to be reckoned with when used right and makes this passive worth taking.
Ka-Boom
Rank 1: Dynamite can now be cast on Allies, Enemies, and on oneself. Dynamite applies the Level 1 Kaboom effect.
Level 1 Kaboom effect: Stabilized (Lvl. 1). Immune to the effects of Bombs. With every explosion undergone, gain 10% Damage inflicted (buff) for 1 turn.
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 190): Same as Rank 1, but the Kaboom effect is now Level 2.
Level 2 Kaboom effect: Stabilized (Lvl. 1). Immune to the effects of Bombs. With every explosion undergone, gain 15% Damage inflicted (buff) for 1 turn.
Kaboom is mandatory as an AoE Rogue in a team because, let's face it, the tank is gonna stand in your bombs if you're gonna hit anything. Kaboom is your method of giving your allies wiggle room in relation to your bombs while also getting a decent buff from the explosion. This passive skill works especially well when working with classes such as Sacrier or any other damage dealer that can do great damage while stabilized. You can play AoE Rogue without this passive, and I would have this passive as the last you put on your deck because you don't necessarily need it, but it's a nice thing to be able to give an ally a 75%+ damage buff while doing massive amounts of damage to the enemies around them.
~
Generic Spell List
This is what a typical AoE Rogue deck would look like. I'm tired so I'll just post a picture and the Deck Code.
Image Link because it keeps Breaking
6464-6476-6474-6473-6477-6469-6489-6490-6492-6493-5623-6491-6479-6483-6481-6484-6482-6487
Ok let's talk about these spells.
Blinding Bomb, of course, is chosen because it is Rogue's true god and savior. It does the most damage out of the bombs so it's a staple of any damage Rogue's deck.
Suffocating Bomb is my choice for the secondary bomb because of its low cost. Additionally, Powder Wall's damage does not change based on the Element of the bomb cast on it, so you can get some pretty stellar damage out of a high combo Suffocating Bomb through Powder Wall. Its low cost also makes it convenient for the quick Evanescence out of a tricky spot. Suffocating Bomb is also a better choice than Paralyzing Bomb if you have an even number of AP (8, 10, 12) because the majority of Rogue's useful spells are 2 AP.
Barbecued Ribs and Slap Shot are brought for the sustain. Out of the spells, they are the most optional other than Blunderbuss because, on a team, you have other means of sustain because you have healers. But, because I don't want to get babysat by an Eni, I tend to bring them.
Evanescence is brought because it's a great mobility tool that can be used to get out of tricky spots, such as being surrounded.
Blunderbuss is the most optional spell. I use it because it allows me to generate Combo on multiple bombs at once. To me, +3 Combo on 3 or 4 bombs is worth more than +4 combo on one bomb or +2 on two bombs. It also pairs well with Brutality if you position yourself correctly against an enemy standing in your bombs.
Ruse is a great mobility tool, so bringing it is almost a no brainer. Without the Evolved Gadgets passive, its range is rather short (only 1-4!) so I might consider it optional if I wanted to bring another spell.
Boot is always necessary because it's your best tool for moving bombs and setting up Powder Walls.
Boombot is self explanatory and is the savior in relation to you and your god Blinding Bomb.
Dynamite is mandatory if you are bringing the Kaboom passive, because Kaboom is useless without Dynamite on your deck.
Mass Charm (once you are able to get it, around level 130?) is the holy spirit to the Rogue holy trinity of Blinding Bomb, Boombot, and Mass Charm. It is a great tool to draw bombs or enemies to wherever they need to go, and costs 2 AP like many of Rogue's other spells, so it fits in with their turn nicely.
Powder Wall is mandatory because it is a powerful spell that you can use to do damage while building bombs, get damage out of a bomb that is going to die, and, if set up correctly, has zoning capabilities because, in conjunction with Pyrotechnist, Powder Wall can cover a lot of ground. Also, if you are bringing Pyrotechnist, you must bring Powder wall, otherwise the passive is useless.
Honorable Mentions
Barbed Fire is definitely useable with this deck in conjunction with the underrated Smoke Bombs, as, used together, you can heal and buff the resistance of up to 3 bombs with one cast of the spell diagonally.
Cross Fire is also an honorable mention as, when used correctly, gives the Rogue a lot more maneuvering ability in relation to moving their bombs. This is especially true when used with Smoke Bombs. For me, Cross Fire is a staple in tricky boss fights where I have to pay attention to the positioning of my bombs relative to each other so that they don't get AoE'd by a boss like Dragon Pig.
Smoke Bombs is a heavily underrated active spell that is extremely useful when used as an AoE Rogue. Smoke Bombs effectively transforms Barbed Fire, Cross Fire, and Execution into spells that scale off of AoE Damage rather than ST damage, which allows an AoE Rogue to heal better with Barbed Fire and do more damage with Execution. It also extends Cross Fire's reach, allowing a single cast of the spell to move many more bombs at once. If you manage to have the space for ANY of those three fire spells, make space for Smoke Bombs, because it enhances the usefulness for all of these spells as an AoE Rogue.
~
Gear for AoE Rogue
There's actually decent Area/Melee Gear available at several levels.
Starting at level 60-65, the Cwab Set, found from Cwab monsters in Sufokia's Terrana Dune, has great Area and Melee mastery. Selachii Pecs is a breastplate that has control, which isn't common at this level. Gelano is your Relic, and will be your Relic up until 155 at least for me. Bludring was my epic of choice.
At level 80, Feathered Armor is the first Breastplate with AP, though it lacks control. Items from the Arachnee Dungeon in Sadida Kingdom are great for Rogue at this level.
At 125, Whirly set is by far the best equipment Rogue can get. These items can last you into the 140s and 150s. Nettlez is a Relic option, but I'd rather use the whirly cape and keep using Gelano, since using a lower level Ring doesn't make you lose much. Bagus Shushu is always a good epic and is what I used until I could get a 200-ish epic. I'm still using it on Remington.
140 is difficult to gear for, but Drheller gear is good. As for getting control, Lenald Kimono and Turq Tutu are what I used, as well as whatever control Epaulettes I could find that had decent resistance, like Emplolettes. Whirly gear still managed to work out for me at this level.
155 is when you can get Lord of the Rats' Ceremonial Boots, which are Area Mastery boots that give an exotic AP. If you have the Kit Skill, you can wear Green Withered Breastplate. Wobotic Back-Up Undewweaw was the belt I chose to use this level, along with whatever good control epaulettes I could get my hands on. I was still using Whirly Set at this level, believe it or not.
170 is when you get the first AP and Control Breastplate: Withered Breastplate. With kit skill, you can wear the Rare version of it at 155, but this is when you can wear all of them. This is when you can finally replace Whirly gear with things like Smisse the Rogue's Bandana and Smisse the Rogue's Cloak, Hip Epaulettes, Claw Amulet, and Stalagbelt. The weapon of choice at this level, for me, was Cease Sword.
185 is when I realized I had to kill a lot of Gerbeans. At 185, my optimal set would be Sham Moon Hammer (Cease Sword works, too, since this hammer is hard to get), Gerbean Belt, Reinforced Shoulderguards, Helmeteo (From Pandissidents), BenKO Cape (Gerbean), Amon Amarth Breastplate, and Tauropolos Amulet. Amon Amarth Breastplate has a condition of having between 400 and 500 lock, so you may have to stat that to get there, but Amon Amarth is baby Narjacket and so it's really good. Tauropolos Amulet went under the radar for a while for me, but it is basically baby Zinit Amulet Souvenir. It's a fantastic amulet.
At 200, there are a few options, but, my gear generally consisted of things such as:
For Hats, Bubourg Helmet is your best option, and it's better than Pocket Headgear even as a Rare Hat. The HP is enormous for a hat in general, but especially for an AoE/Melee hat, and it has general resistance.
For Amulet: Zinit Amulet Souvenir. It's a Brutality staple for a reason.
Breastplate: Narjacket. It's got AP and Control. There's a Nogord Breastplate that's also usable, but that's if you can even get it.
Rings: Ogrest Wrath for your Relic, and Nauseatring for your other Ring.
Boots: Blightogre Boots. Despite the -100 Water Resistance, these boots have decent mastery and have a whopping 50 Elemental Resistance. This means that the -100 Water Resistance is really -50, and you get 50 Elemental Resistance in the other elements, which is fantastic. I'm sure there are other options, though. My build is always a work in progress.
Weapon(s): Agony's Companion and Dashing Dagger. Agony is a good epic just generally, though it's HP is lacking so I'm still debating on it. Dashing Dagger is an Area Mastery dagger that is very beneficial to AoE Rogue if you don't need a shield. Razor Tooth Souvenir is also a good weapon for AoE Rogue.
Cape: Ave Cape Souvenir. It's a really good Melee Cape with general resistance.
Epaulettes: Oh-So-Porrific Epaulettes are a great option despite their lack of control. Poached Epaulettes are also a solid option, and they have Control.
Belt: Pagne Cham has both Area and Melee Mastery with 50 General Resistance, which is incredible, with good HP. Forgotten Belt is an option, though it has Single Target Mastery so it's not really that great.
Mount: Area Mount or Melee Mount depending on what you need for your Brutality Bonus.
Pet: Paunchy Godron is a really good pet with HP, Area Mastery, and General Resistance.
Emblem: Necromancer Emblem. It has Control and Area Mastery, so it's just really good for Rogue.
I feel like it's really important to note: Negative Range is actually very detrimental to AoE Rogue.
Barbed Fire is an essential Bomb Sustain spell, and combined with Smoke Bombs, is very beneficial to AoE Rogue. But, if Rogue has more than -1 Range, Barbed Fire can not be used diagonally. Even -1 Range gives Rogue very little wiggle room, as these essential AoE Rogue spells are all Range Modifiable:
Powder Wall
Barbed Fire
Cross Fire (Which has insane Range already, but is worth mentioning)
Execution
Dynamite
Detonate
Badabang
There are too many instances where my Rogue did not have the range to detonate, use Powder Wall, or Dynamite an important target. In PvE, this causes you to have to wait an additional turn, which means the enemies all get to move and damage you, your bombs, and/or your allies, and Wakfu promotes speed, so you don't want to have to wait another turn if you don't have to.
Negative Range working on Rogue is a big misconception, as this is only really true for Single Target Rogue, which is more of a PvP build that frequently wins in 1v1s, which have small maps. On AoE Rogue in PvP or PvE, range is more important than you might realize, so try to avoid gear that gives you -range!
~
Sublimations for AoE Rogue
AoE Rogue works best with the Epic Sublimation Brutality. This Sublim, if your Area mastery is higher than your Melee Mastery, increases your Area Mastery by however much Melee Mastery you have, up to 800. It also subtracts this number from Distance mastery, but that doesn't matter because in this house we don't use Scope.
It does matter for Barbed Fire, which is a spell I bring on occasion, but there are still ways to work around it (aka Smoke Bombs).
As for Relic Sublimations, there are a few options. Excess is probably the best known one, since Final Damage and Combo are separate modifiers, but it makes you predictable in a PvP situation and heavily restricts you to detonating only when you have the Excess boost, or lose a sizeable amount of damage. Stasification is another that could work, as could Alternation I or II. Directives also looks very good for Rogue, and personally is the Relic Rune that I'm going to try to build for.
Something that's likely important to note: Rogue and Green slots, with the exception of Fire Resistance and in certain cases, Dodge, don't really work well together. Green Slot bonuses other than Fire Resistance include Critical Mastery, Rear Mastery, Dodge, and Initiative. Rogue doesn't benefit from either of those masteries, and as a damage dealer in PvE, I wouldn't recommend enchanting Initiative when you have options not to.
Ruin Sublimations work with Powder Wall. I've yet to build my rogue to be fully decked out with 3 Ruin Sublimations, but it should power up Powder Wall a lot.
Having 1 Save sublimation as a 13 AP (or other odd numbered AP) Rogue is nice because many combos leave you with 1 AP remaining, such as using boombot or powder wall instead of Badabang.
Healing Sublimations give you another 10% of your maximum HP, and stack up to 3. This is nice for Rogue because it will make you and your bombs super tanky. This is especially nice for AoE Rogues, since Area Mastery gear tends to have less HP than gear of other types.
The Sublimations I'm personally going for as Rogue are as follows:
3 Healing Sublimations ( RRB ): Having a HP boost is always fantastic for Rogue, and 30% is a lot of hp. Area Mastery gear tends to have lower HP, with some notable exceptions, but Healing will bring a 15000 HP Rogue to 19000 HP. That's a whole additional 1400~ HP for your bombs! This sublimation also does not include any Green slots, so it can go on several items.
As a Rogue, I personally would recommend putting Healing on items such as Capes or Amulets. Capes double Melee Mastery, which you can put into the 2 Red Slots, and double Air Resistance for the Blue Slot. Amulets double Area Mastery, though their Blue Slot double isn't as useful, and I tend to use it for either Life, Air Resistance, or Water Resistance. Rings are also good to put Healing on, and in my build, I'm planning on putting healing on my Cape, Amulet, and a Ring.
2 Save Sublimations ( BRR ): Save pairs well with the Sublimation I'll discuss after this: Tenacity. With 2 Save Sublims, as discussed earlier, if you end with 2AP left over, it will be carried over to the next turn, which has a lot of potential to be useful for Rogue as, on the following turn, you can do your normal combo plus an additional 2AP spell like Execution, Powder Wall, Ruse, Weapon's Master, or even Boombot, or save that 2AP again to trigger Tenacity.
Save Sublimations have the same combination of colors as Healing, and don't require Green Slots, so this is really easy to place and fill for Rogue. I'm planning on putting the 2 Save Sublimations on my second Ring, and my Boots. Boots double Earth Resistance, which is a Red Slot Enchantment, so I'd put Earth Resistance in my Boots' red slots and Air/Water Resistance or Life in the Blue Slot. Rings are very flexible for sublimations, and how I organized my build required me to put Save on a ring.
2 Tenacity Sublimations ( GGB ): Tenacity pairs extremely well with Save, for obvious reasons. Two copies of this sublimation will, if you end with 2AP left over, give you an additional 50 Elemental Resistance on the next turn. I personally build my Rogues to be extremely tanky, so this is great.
Tenacity is the trickiest Sublimation to place, because it includes two Green Slots. As a result, I'd highly recommend placing this on your Breastplate and Belt, as they both double Fire Resistance, the only really useful Green Slot enchant for Rogue. Breastplates double all resistances, so the Blue Slot works well on that, though on the belt there isn't anything special to double, so Air/Water Resistance or Life as needed.
The next two are interchangable, and frankly I haven't quite decided between the two with the release of Directives.
3 Spines Sublimations ( BBR ): Figuring out the remaining 3 sublimations was tricky, given Rogue doesn't benefit from critical chance sublimations or armor sublimations. For every block performed, the Rogue will get a stack of Preparation up to 60 stacks. Every level of Preparation raises the damage dealt by the next damage spell by 1%. 3 Spines Sublimations will add 3 stacks of Preparation per block. Because Rogues can go several turns without doing a point of damage, and because Rogue is capable of being built to have high Block, Preparation could accumulate rapidly. But this only works if you actually have the block to block frequently.
This Sublimation would go on a Rogue's Hat, Weapon, and Epaulettes, as it has Two Blue Slots. HP is doubled on Hats and Weapons, and Air/Water Resistance is doubled on Epaulettes, so that's why I'd put this there.
3 Length Sublimations ( BRR ): Length gives 5%(per sublimation) damage inflicted upon aligned targets that are 2 or more cells away. With Bombs, it's very easy to be at least 2 cells away from a target, and rather easy to be in line with whatever you're targeting. This also works very well with the Directives Sublimation.
This list of Sublimations will be updated as needed.
~
Bomb Explosion Order
As of December 1st, I've figured out how the game handles detonation order, and this mechanic is useful to know about in situations where you're going to end up hitting yourself, or allies, with bombs. These rules are true for both ST and AOE, but it really only matters for AoE. Here are some definitions before I try to explain how this works.
Initial Detonation: This is the AoE of the bomb you cast Detonate/Badabang on to start the chain of bomb explosions.
Secondary Explosion: These are the AoEs of bomb explosions that are within the AoE of the Initial Detonation.
Tertiary Explosion: These are explosions of bombs that are NOT within the AoE of the Initial Detonation but are within the AoE of a Secondary Explosion.
There are rules that the order of detonations tends to follow.
1. Following the Initial Detonation, the second bomb to explode (or the first Secondary Explosion) will be the bomb closest to the Rogue but still in the AoE of the Initial Detonation. The bombs after it will go in order of how close they are to the Rogue, but will all be in the AoE of the Initial Detonation.
2. When two bombs are equidistant (the same distance) from the Rogue, they go in an alternating order starting with the bomb immediately to the left and then to the right. The bombs the next furthest distance away, but still the same distance away from the rogue, will start with the bomb to the right and then the bomb to the left.
3. If there are three bombs the same distance away from the Rogue, the bomb in line with the Rogue will explode last relative to other bombs the same distance away.
4. If there are over three bombs the same distance from the rogue, the bombs that are closest to the initial detonation will detonate before bombs that are further away from it. For example, bombs that are immediately diagonal to the initial detonation will explode before bombs that are two cells away from the initial detonation, even if all of them are the same distance from the Rogue and/or the same distance from the initial detonation.
5. The distance to the Rogue is prioritized over the distance from the initial detonation.
6. Only 9 bombs can explode in a detonation, even if there are more than 9 bombs in range.
Image Broken? Here's the Link to the Visual Example
This is useful to know because it can help Rogues detonate bombs that will hit the enemies before hitting themselves or allies.
~
Suggestions and Tips
I'm planning on posting Rogue Gameplay and Guides on my youtube channel. Hopefully I'll have some more videos up soon! They take a lot of time.
There are a few setups I can suggest, though there's no right way to set up as Rogue.
For Powder Wall, I tend to connect two bombs in a triangle or funky quadrilateral shape if I have to on Turn 2, because that's usually when enemies have started to get closer to your bombs and you're able to get several enemies standing on the Powder Wall.
I also tend to use bombs for blocking off pathways or otherwise bodyblocking enemies to get them to where I want them to go. There are several techniques Rogue can use to roughly position enemies in PvE to get a good Powder Wall or Detonate off without the help of others, and this is one of them. Use the map to your advantage.
Diagonals are also, generally, your best friend, both for body blocking and for Smoke Bombs.
I also use bombs to AoE bait enemies: the monster AI really loves juicy AoEs, so if you position your (lower costing) bombs right, sometimes they will spend AP just to hit the juicy AoE comprised of only bombs. Barbed Fire is a good spell to have when doing this, since you can buff the resistance of said bombs and heal them back up. (My bombs have tanked Ogrest throwing rocks at them doing this, as well as Kannibal Boss's (before Darkli Moon) ranged coconut attack!)
Don't be afraid to wait if you don't have a good opportunity to detonate. At the same time, there are moments where even if several of your allies are in the blast radius, it is always a good idea to detonate if it will end the fight. Pay attention and see what you can do- don't try to multitask while playing Rogue! It's hard.
Speaking of paying attention, keep in mind that Bosses will destroy your bombs starting on turn 7 and then every 6 turns after that if your bombs are 5 cells or less from the boss. Keeping track of this is extremely important in boss fights and allows you to avoid a lot of heart/headache. For quick reference, the summon kill turns are: Turn 7, Turn 13, Turn 19, Turn 25, Turn 31, Turn 37, and so on.
That's it for now. I hope that this guide helped any of you who are daring enough to try AoE Rogue.
Feel free to ask more questions or suggest changes to the guide! This guide certainly isn't perfect, and I'm still having a hard time being specific about how to play Rogue when it comes to setting up, but I'll do my best to answer any questions posed. This guide will be updated as needed.
Hi y'all.
I'm Loka/Loka Picara, a Rogue from Nox and Remington who wrote this handy dandy guide a while back. I've noticed that a more specific Rogue guide or two, or three, could probably do some good for those who want to make an honest attempt at Rogue. Therefore, I've decided to write another Rogue guide, because I can't shut up about this class.
As I will always do with all of my Rogue guides, I'll start with a few disclaimers.
If you are looking for a Bombless Rogue Guide, or a Rogue build that uses bombs as a secondary source of damage/buffs/debuffs, none of my guides will give you that. Bombs are the core of Rogue's gameplay, and if you don't want to put up with bombs, play another class.
Rogue is a very different class compared to the majority of the classes in Wakfu. They are a damage dealer before anything else, but unlike classes like Iop and Foggernaut who are able to do damage immediately, or classes like Xelor or Huppermage who have the option of playing as setup, but can still do damage immediately, Rogue is a mandatory setup class. You don't do immediate damage as Rogue: you are always setting up for your next burst and do very little damage between those bursts (with one exception that I'll get to later.
). Third: Just because I think that this is the best way to play Rogue doesn't mean it's the best way to play Rogue for you specifically. Feel free to experiment with the class and defy any of the guides I make. If it works for you, it works for you. Despite being a Rogue main, I am not holding a gun to your head and saying you MUST PLAY ROGUE THIS WAY because that would be silly and Rogue would be a lot more boring if there was just one way to play it.
Fourth: Some of this guide will feel a bit like the other guide, but this one is, again, more specific to AoE Rogue. I'm going to try my best to get as specific as possible, but there are a lot of nebulous elements to Rogue that I can't explain in a step by step manner.
Finally: I'm gonna be a bit snarky with this one and put a lot of personality into it, because this is my favorite way to play rogue.
If you're an impatient person and want to do damage immediately, don't play Rogue. If you just want to follow the "meta" like the sweaty Feca main you are, well, you're probably not reading this guide
Onto the actual introduction to Loka's AoE Rogue Guide!
Area of Effect Rogue is something that obviously intimidates a lot of players of this game- both playing one and playing with one. Single-Target Rogue is recommended by most people who aren't me because they don't want to play with a Rogue who has a chance of killing them because they got in the way.
This might be controversial, but I kind of see Single Target as a handicap. And I think that's an intentional part of the design. Sure, Single-Target has a slightly higher base damage, but with Rogue's damage capabilities, whether they do 92 (AoE Blinding Bomb) or 100 (ST Blinding Bomb) base damage doesn't matter when combo brings those base numbers up to four times that, easily. To me, that extra damage on a Single Target explosion is wasted on a single mob, since the damage from an AoE Explosion of the same bombs would also kill the mob 95% of the time.
Would you rather do 10,000 damage to a single mob through four 2,500 damage bombs, or do 2,300-9,200 damage to several mobs all at once?
That's why, in my opinion, Single-Target is a handicap. Sure, you might kill some allies in the process, but if all the mobs die to the explosion, you still win the fight regardless of how many allies were KO'd in the process.
That should be enough justification to play AoE Rogue.
~
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR AoE ROGUE
As usual, anything less than 7 control is generally unacceptable for Rogue. However, 6 or 5 control is definitely workable at lower levels, but I find that once you're down to 4 control it becomes an issue.
HP is always a godsend stat as a Rogue, but it's admittedly harder to come by on Area Mastery gear. HP enchantments on weapons and hats are wonderful things to have if you can manage them.
13 AP is generally a great number to have, since Blinding Bomb (4) plus Suffocating Bomb (2) plus Boot x2 (2+2) plus Badabang (3) all adds up to 13 AP exactly, but with some other potential spell combos, 12 AP works as well, but 13 is great especially if you manage to get a Save Sublimation. I'll talk about Sublimations later.
Melee Mastery is of course a solid focus, but you should definitely try to have more Area Mastery than Melee Mastery if you can get your hands on a Brutality Sublimation. I'll get to that when I talk about Sublimations, though it's probably obvious why. If you're not planning on getting a Brutality Sublim for your lower level sets, which is totally understandable given how expensive Brutality tends to be, then up until 200 it's okay to have more Melee Mastery than AoE.
CHARACTERISTICS
This will probably look pretty similar to my previous guide! Rogue doesn't vary much in the characteristics, nor do most damage dealers.
Intelligence
10 into Elemental Resistance
3 into Barrier
Rest into % Health Points
Strength
20 Melee Mastery
20 Area Mastery
Rest into Health Points
Agility
There are actually a few options here. You could:
Dump it all into dodge.
OR:
20 into Dodge
30 into Lock and Dodge
I like lock on Rogue. It allows you to have some control over where enemies go, and that's always good to have as a Rogue.
Fortune
Two options here, though most of the Fortune Branch is kinda meh for Rogue:
20 into Block
The rest into Berserk Mastery
OR:
Dump all of it into Berserk Mastery
I generally prefer having the Block, but if you feel you don't need it, going full Berserk Mastery here is valid.
Major
1 into AP
1 into Elemental Resistance
1 into MP
1 into anything else. I usually choose final damage to help with sustain.
~
PASSIVES
Unlike Single Target Rogue, which usually ends up with at least one flexible passive slot, AoE Rogue's Passive slots are cramped, as is its spell slots. These are the passives you're going to want to take.
Boomarogue
Rank 1: 2 Control. Unlocks the Reconversion Spell for Boombot.
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 110): Same as Rank 1. Boombot additionally gains 1 AP and 2 MP.
Boomarogue is just mandatory for any Rogue build because Reconversion is so powerful. That extra 2 MP for boombot also gives him more mobility, which is also always great given his pick up costs 2 MP.
Reinforced Tunic
Rank 1: HP Bonus for the Rogue: 150% of level. The bombs have 30% of the Rogue's maximum HP.
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 150): HP Bonus for the Rogue: 300% of level. The bombs have 35% of the Rogue's maximum HP.
Reinforced Tunic is another mandatory passive for any Rogue build because it gives bombs more HP, and that's always necessary.
Bomber Fan
Rank 1: The Bombs gain an additional 2 combo per turn on the field (7 Combo per turn total for the first 2 turns the bombs are out).
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 130): Same as Rank 1. The Bombs maximum combo is now 20.
Bomber Fan is the third and arguably final of the trio of mandatory Rogue passives. It isn't necessarily mandatory before rank 2, but once Bomber Fan is rank 2, Rogue gets a MASSIVE power boost. The additional Combo means a lot more damage potential, so that's why Bomber Fan, at least at Rank 2, is mandatory.
Minesweeper
Rank 1: Unlocks Badabang, which replaces Detonation.
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 160): Same as Rank 1. Badabang can now be cast on Allies, giving them a 30% damage inflicted buff.
Out of all the passives for AoE, Minesweeper is probably one that could be optional, but the power boost Badabang gives to detonations is nothing to scoff at. At Rank 2, the damage buff is also very nice and on par with Feca's Meteorites, but better because it's not Feca.
Pyrotechnist
Rank 1: Increases Powder Wall's damage by 15%. Increases the maximum powder wall size by 2 (For a total of 7).
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 140): Increases Powder Wall's damage by 25%. Increases the maximum powder wall size by 2 (For a total of 7).
Before I had to start leveling another Rogue on Remington, I had honestly underestimated Powder Wall. Powder Wall is your method of doing damage while building your bombs, and is worth using as soon as you have a decent combo bomb (Turn 2). Because the base damage is the same regardless of what type of bomb Powder Wall is cast on, any high combo bomb can do a great amount of damage to several enemies at a time, while also debuffing them. Making Powder Wall even stronger is a boon to AoE Rogue because Powder Wall scales off of Area Mastery as well as Melee Mastery. It's easy to look at Powder Wall and think it's awful because it's not Firewall, but Powder Wall is a force to be reckoned with when used right and makes this passive worth taking.
Ka-Boom
Rank 1: Dynamite can now be cast on Allies, Enemies, and on oneself. Dynamite applies the Level 1 Kaboom effect.
Level 1 Kaboom effect: Stabilized (Lvl. 1). Immune to the effects of Bombs. With every explosion undergone, gain 10% Damage inflicted (buff) for 1 turn.
Rank 2 (Unlocked at Level 190): Same as Rank 1, but the Kaboom effect is now Level 2.
Level 2 Kaboom effect: Stabilized (Lvl. 1). Immune to the effects of Bombs. With every explosion undergone, gain 15% Damage inflicted (buff) for 1 turn.
Kaboom is mandatory as an AoE Rogue in a team because, let's face it, the tank is gonna stand in your bombs if you're gonna hit anything. Kaboom is your method of giving your allies wiggle room in relation to your bombs while also getting a decent buff from the explosion. This passive skill works especially well when working with classes such as Sacrier or any other damage dealer that can do great damage while stabilized. You can play AoE Rogue without this passive, and I would have this passive as the last you put on your deck because you don't necessarily need it, but it's a nice thing to be able to give an ally a 75%+ damage buff while doing massive amounts of damage to the enemies around them.
~
Generic Spell List
This is what a typical AoE Rogue deck would look like. I'm tired so I'll just post a picture and the Deck Code.
Image Link because it keeps Breaking
6464-6476-6474-6473-6477-6469-6489-6490-6492-6493-5623-6491-6479-6483-6481-6484-6482-6487
Ok let's talk about these spells.
Blinding Bomb, of course, is chosen because it is Rogue's true god and savior. It does the most damage out of the bombs so it's a staple of any damage Rogue's deck.
Suffocating Bomb is my choice for the secondary bomb because of its low cost. Additionally, Powder Wall's damage does not change based on the Element of the bomb cast on it, so you can get some pretty stellar damage out of a high combo Suffocating Bomb through Powder Wall. Its low cost also makes it convenient for the quick Evanescence out of a tricky spot. Suffocating Bomb is also a better choice than Paralyzing Bomb if you have an even number of AP (8, 10, 12) because the majority of Rogue's useful spells are 2 AP.
Barbecued Ribs and Slap Shot are brought for the sustain. Out of the spells, they are the most optional other than Blunderbuss because, on a team, you have other means of sustain because you have healers. But, because I don't want to get babysat by an Eni, I tend to bring them.
Evanescence is brought because it's a great mobility tool that can be used to get out of tricky spots, such as being surrounded.
Blunderbuss is the most optional spell. I use it because it allows me to generate Combo on multiple bombs at once. To me, +3 Combo on 3 or 4 bombs is worth more than +4 combo on one bomb or +2 on two bombs. It also pairs well with Brutality if you position yourself correctly against an enemy standing in your bombs.
Ruse is a great mobility tool, so bringing it is almost a no brainer. Without the Evolved Gadgets passive, its range is rather short (only 1-4!) so I might consider it optional if I wanted to bring another spell.
Boot is always necessary because it's your best tool for moving bombs and setting up Powder Walls.
Boombot is self explanatory and is the savior in relation to you and your god Blinding Bomb.
Dynamite is mandatory if you are bringing the Kaboom passive, because Kaboom is useless without Dynamite on your deck.
Mass Charm (once you are able to get it, around level 130?) is the holy spirit to the Rogue holy trinity of Blinding Bomb, Boombot, and Mass Charm. It is a great tool to draw bombs or enemies to wherever they need to go, and costs 2 AP like many of Rogue's other spells, so it fits in with their turn nicely.
Powder Wall is mandatory because it is a powerful spell that you can use to do damage while building bombs, get damage out of a bomb that is going to die, and, if set up correctly, has zoning capabilities because, in conjunction with Pyrotechnist, Powder Wall can cover a lot of ground. Also, if you are bringing Pyrotechnist, you must bring Powder wall, otherwise the passive is useless.
Honorable Mentions
Barbed Fire is definitely useable with this deck in conjunction with the underrated Smoke Bombs, as, used together, you can heal and buff the resistance of up to 3 bombs with one cast of the spell diagonally.
Cross Fire is also an honorable mention as, when used correctly, gives the Rogue a lot more maneuvering ability in relation to moving their bombs. This is especially true when used with Smoke Bombs. For me, Cross Fire is a staple in tricky boss fights where I have to pay attention to the positioning of my bombs relative to each other so that they don't get AoE'd by a boss like Dragon Pig.
Smoke Bombs is a heavily underrated active spell that is extremely useful when used as an AoE Rogue. Smoke Bombs effectively transforms Barbed Fire, Cross Fire, and Execution into spells that scale off of AoE Damage rather than ST damage, which allows an AoE Rogue to heal better with Barbed Fire and do more damage with Execution. It also extends Cross Fire's reach, allowing a single cast of the spell to move many more bombs at once. If you manage to have the space for ANY of those three fire spells, make space for Smoke Bombs, because it enhances the usefulness for all of these spells as an AoE Rogue.
~
Gear for AoE Rogue
There's actually decent Area/Melee Gear available at several levels.
Starting at level 60-65, the Cwab Set, found from Cwab monsters in Sufokia's Terrana Dune, has great Area and Melee mastery. Selachii Pecs is a breastplate that has control, which isn't common at this level. Gelano is your Relic, and will be your Relic up until 155 at least for me. Bludring was my epic of choice.
At level 80, Feathered Armor is the first Breastplate with AP, though it lacks control. Items from the Arachnee Dungeon in Sadida Kingdom are great for Rogue at this level.
At 125, Whirly set is by far the best equipment Rogue can get. These items can last you into the 140s and 150s. Nettlez is a Relic option, but I'd rather use the whirly cape and keep using Gelano, since using a lower level Ring doesn't make you lose much. Bagus Shushu is always a good epic and is what I used until I could get a 200-ish epic. I'm still using it on Remington.
140 is difficult to gear for, but Drheller gear is good. As for getting control, Lenald Kimono and Turq Tutu are what I used, as well as whatever control Epaulettes I could find that had decent resistance, like Emplolettes. Whirly gear still managed to work out for me at this level.
155 is when you can get Lord of the Rats' Ceremonial Boots, which are Area Mastery boots that give an exotic AP. If you have the Kit Skill, you can wear Green Withered Breastplate. Wobotic Back-Up Undewweaw was the belt I chose to use this level, along with whatever good control epaulettes I could get my hands on. I was still using Whirly Set at this level, believe it or not.
170 is when you get the first AP and Control Breastplate: Withered Breastplate. With kit skill, you can wear the Rare version of it at 155, but this is when you can wear all of them. This is when you can finally replace Whirly gear with things like Smisse the Rogue's Bandana and Smisse the Rogue's Cloak, Hip Epaulettes, Claw Amulet, and Stalagbelt. The weapon of choice at this level, for me, was Cease Sword.
185 is when I realized I had to kill a lot of Gerbeans. At 185, my optimal set would be Sham Moon Hammer (Cease Sword works, too, since this hammer is hard to get), Gerbean Belt, Reinforced Shoulderguards, Helmeteo (From Pandissidents), BenKO Cape (Gerbean), Amon Amarth Breastplate, and Tauropolos Amulet. Amon Amarth Breastplate has a condition of having between 400 and 500 lock, so you may have to stat that to get there, but Amon Amarth is baby Narjacket and so it's really good. Tauropolos Amulet went under the radar for a while for me, but it is basically baby Zinit Amulet Souvenir. It's a fantastic amulet.
At 200, there are a few options, but, my gear generally consisted of things such as:
For Hats, Bubourg Helmet is your best option, and it's better than Pocket Headgear even as a Rare Hat. The HP is enormous for a hat in general, but especially for an AoE/Melee hat, and it has general resistance.
For Amulet: Zinit Amulet Souvenir. It's a Brutality staple for a reason.
Breastplate: Narjacket. It's got AP and Control. There's a Nogord Breastplate that's also usable, but that's if you can even get it.
Rings: Ogrest Wrath for your Relic, and Nauseatring for your other Ring.
Boots: Blightogre Boots. Despite the -100 Water Resistance, these boots have decent mastery and have a whopping 50 Elemental Resistance. This means that the -100 Water Resistance is really -50, and you get 50 Elemental Resistance in the other elements, which is fantastic. I'm sure there are other options, though. My build is always a work in progress.
Weapon(s): Agony's Companion and Dashing Dagger. Agony is a good epic just generally, though it's HP is lacking so I'm still debating on it. Dashing Dagger is an Area Mastery dagger that is very beneficial to AoE Rogue if you don't need a shield. Razor Tooth Souvenir is also a good weapon for AoE Rogue.
Cape: Ave Cape Souvenir. It's a really good Melee Cape with general resistance.
Epaulettes: Oh-So-Porrific Epaulettes are a great option despite their lack of control. Poached Epaulettes are also a solid option, and they have Control.
Belt: Pagne Cham has both Area and Melee Mastery with 50 General Resistance, which is incredible, with good HP. Forgotten Belt is an option, though it has Single Target Mastery so it's not really that great.
Mount: Area Mount or Melee Mount depending on what you need for your Brutality Bonus.
Pet: Paunchy Godron is a really good pet with HP, Area Mastery, and General Resistance.
Emblem: Necromancer Emblem. It has Control and Area Mastery, so it's just really good for Rogue.
I feel like it's really important to note: Negative Range is actually very detrimental to AoE Rogue.
Barbed Fire is an essential Bomb Sustain spell, and combined with Smoke Bombs, is very beneficial to AoE Rogue. But, if Rogue has more than -1 Range, Barbed Fire can not be used diagonally. Even -1 Range gives Rogue very little wiggle room, as these essential AoE Rogue spells are all Range Modifiable:
Powder Wall
Barbed Fire
Cross Fire (Which has insane Range already, but is worth mentioning)
Execution
Dynamite
Detonate
Badabang
There are too many instances where my Rogue did not have the range to detonate, use Powder Wall, or Dynamite an important target. In PvE, this causes you to have to wait an additional turn, which means the enemies all get to move and damage you, your bombs, and/or your allies, and Wakfu promotes speed, so you don't want to have to wait another turn if you don't have to.
Negative Range working on Rogue is a big misconception, as this is only really true for Single Target Rogue, which is more of a PvP build that frequently wins in 1v1s, which have small maps. On AoE Rogue in PvP or PvE, range is more important than you might realize, so try to avoid gear that gives you -range!
~
Sublimations for AoE Rogue
AoE Rogue works best with the Epic Sublimation Brutality. This Sublim, if your Area mastery is higher than your Melee Mastery, increases your Area Mastery by however much Melee Mastery you have, up to 800. It also subtracts this number from Distance mastery, but that doesn't matter because in this house we don't use Scope.
It does matter for Barbed Fire, which is a spell I bring on occasion, but there are still ways to work around it (aka Smoke Bombs).
As for Relic Sublimations, there are a few options. Excess is probably the best known one, since Final Damage and Combo are separate modifiers, but it makes you predictable in a PvP situation and heavily restricts you to detonating only when you have the Excess boost, or lose a sizeable amount of damage. Stasification is another that could work, as could Alternation I or II. Directives also looks very good for Rogue, and personally is the Relic Rune that I'm going to try to build for.
Something that's likely important to note: Rogue and Green slots, with the exception of Fire Resistance and in certain cases, Dodge, don't really work well together. Green Slot bonuses other than Fire Resistance include Critical Mastery, Rear Mastery, Dodge, and Initiative. Rogue doesn't benefit from either of those masteries, and as a damage dealer in PvE, I wouldn't recommend enchanting Initiative when you have options not to.
Ruin Sublimations work with Powder Wall. I've yet to build my rogue to be fully decked out with 3 Ruin Sublimations, but it should power up Powder Wall a lot.
Having 1 Save sublimation as a 13 AP (or other odd numbered AP) Rogue is nice because many combos leave you with 1 AP remaining, such as using boombot or powder wall instead of Badabang.
Healing Sublimations give you another 10% of your maximum HP, and stack up to 3. This is nice for Rogue because it will make you and your bombs super tanky. This is especially nice for AoE Rogues, since Area Mastery gear tends to have less HP than gear of other types.
The Sublimations I'm personally going for as Rogue are as follows:
3 Healing Sublimations ( RRB ): Having a HP boost is always fantastic for Rogue, and 30% is a lot of hp. Area Mastery gear tends to have lower HP, with some notable exceptions, but Healing will bring a 15000 HP Rogue to 19000 HP. That's a whole additional 1400~ HP for your bombs! This sublimation also does not include any Green slots, so it can go on several items.
As a Rogue, I personally would recommend putting Healing on items such as Capes or Amulets. Capes double Melee Mastery, which you can put into the 2 Red Slots, and double Air Resistance for the Blue Slot. Amulets double Area Mastery, though their Blue Slot double isn't as useful, and I tend to use it for either Life, Air Resistance, or Water Resistance. Rings are also good to put Healing on, and in my build, I'm planning on putting healing on my Cape, Amulet, and a Ring.
2 Save Sublimations ( BRR ): Save pairs well with the Sublimation I'll discuss after this: Tenacity. With 2 Save Sublims, as discussed earlier, if you end with 2AP left over, it will be carried over to the next turn, which has a lot of potential to be useful for Rogue as, on the following turn, you can do your normal combo plus an additional 2AP spell like Execution, Powder Wall, Ruse, Weapon's Master, or even Boombot, or save that 2AP again to trigger Tenacity.
Save Sublimations have the same combination of colors as Healing, and don't require Green Slots, so this is really easy to place and fill for Rogue. I'm planning on putting the 2 Save Sublimations on my second Ring, and my Boots. Boots double Earth Resistance, which is a Red Slot Enchantment, so I'd put Earth Resistance in my Boots' red slots and Air/Water Resistance or Life in the Blue Slot. Rings are very flexible for sublimations, and how I organized my build required me to put Save on a ring.
2 Tenacity Sublimations ( GGB ): Tenacity pairs extremely well with Save, for obvious reasons. Two copies of this sublimation will, if you end with 2AP left over, give you an additional 50 Elemental Resistance on the next turn. I personally build my Rogues to be extremely tanky, so this is great.
Tenacity is the trickiest Sublimation to place, because it includes two Green Slots. As a result, I'd highly recommend placing this on your Breastplate and Belt, as they both double Fire Resistance, the only really useful Green Slot enchant for Rogue. Breastplates double all resistances, so the Blue Slot works well on that, though on the belt there isn't anything special to double, so Air/Water Resistance or Life as needed.
The next two are interchangable, and frankly I haven't quite decided between the two with the release of Directives.
3 Spines Sublimations ( BBR ): Figuring out the remaining 3 sublimations was tricky, given Rogue doesn't benefit from critical chance sublimations or armor sublimations. For every block performed, the Rogue will get a stack of Preparation up to 60 stacks. Every level of Preparation raises the damage dealt by the next damage spell by 1%. 3 Spines Sublimations will add 3 stacks of Preparation per block. Because Rogues can go several turns without doing a point of damage, and because Rogue is capable of being built to have high Block, Preparation could accumulate rapidly. But this only works if you actually have the block to block frequently.
This Sublimation would go on a Rogue's Hat, Weapon, and Epaulettes, as it has Two Blue Slots. HP is doubled on Hats and Weapons, and Air/Water Resistance is doubled on Epaulettes, so that's why I'd put this there.
3 Length Sublimations ( BRR ): Length gives 5%(per sublimation) damage inflicted upon aligned targets that are 2 or more cells away. With Bombs, it's very easy to be at least 2 cells away from a target, and rather easy to be in line with whatever you're targeting. This also works very well with the Directives Sublimation.
This list of Sublimations will be updated as needed.
~
Bomb Explosion Order
As of December 1st, I've figured out how the game handles detonation order, and this mechanic is useful to know about in situations where you're going to end up hitting yourself, or allies, with bombs. These rules are true for both ST and AOE, but it really only matters for AoE. Here are some definitions before I try to explain how this works.
Initial Detonation: This is the AoE of the bomb you cast Detonate/Badabang on to start the chain of bomb explosions.
Secondary Explosion: These are the AoEs of bomb explosions that are within the AoE of the Initial Detonation.
Tertiary Explosion: These are explosions of bombs that are NOT within the AoE of the Initial Detonation but are within the AoE of a Secondary Explosion.
There are rules that the order of detonations tends to follow.
1. Following the Initial Detonation, the second bomb to explode (or the first Secondary Explosion) will be the bomb closest to the Rogue but still in the AoE of the Initial Detonation. The bombs after it will go in order of how close they are to the Rogue, but will all be in the AoE of the Initial Detonation.
2. When two bombs are equidistant (the same distance) from the Rogue, they go in an alternating order starting with the bomb immediately to the left and then to the right. The bombs the next furthest distance away, but still the same distance away from the rogue, will start with the bomb to the right and then the bomb to the left.
3. If there are three bombs the same distance away from the Rogue, the bomb in line with the Rogue will explode last relative to other bombs the same distance away.
4. If there are over three bombs the same distance from the rogue, the bombs that are closest to the initial detonation will detonate before bombs that are further away from it. For example, bombs that are immediately diagonal to the initial detonation will explode before bombs that are two cells away from the initial detonation, even if all of them are the same distance from the Rogue and/or the same distance from the initial detonation.
5. The distance to the Rogue is prioritized over the distance from the initial detonation.
6. Only 9 bombs can explode in a detonation, even if there are more than 9 bombs in range.
Image Broken? Here's the Link to the Visual Example
This is useful to know because it can help Rogues detonate bombs that will hit the enemies before hitting themselves or allies.
~
Suggestions and Tips
I'm planning on posting Rogue Gameplay and Guides on my youtube channel. Hopefully I'll have some more videos up soon! They take a lot of time.
There are a few setups I can suggest, though there's no right way to set up as Rogue.
For Powder Wall, I tend to connect two bombs in a triangle or funky quadrilateral shape if I have to on Turn 2, because that's usually when enemies have started to get closer to your bombs and you're able to get several enemies standing on the Powder Wall.
I also tend to use bombs for blocking off pathways or otherwise bodyblocking enemies to get them to where I want them to go. There are several techniques Rogue can use to roughly position enemies in PvE to get a good Powder Wall or Detonate off without the help of others, and this is one of them. Use the map to your advantage.
Diagonals are also, generally, your best friend, both for body blocking and for Smoke Bombs.
I also use bombs to AoE bait enemies: the monster AI really loves juicy AoEs, so if you position your (lower costing) bombs right, sometimes they will spend AP just to hit the juicy AoE comprised of only bombs. Barbed Fire is a good spell to have when doing this, since you can buff the resistance of said bombs and heal them back up. (My bombs have tanked Ogrest throwing rocks at them doing this, as well as Kannibal Boss's (before Darkli Moon) ranged coconut attack!)
Don't be afraid to wait if you don't have a good opportunity to detonate. At the same time, there are moments where even if several of your allies are in the blast radius, it is always a good idea to detonate if it will end the fight. Pay attention and see what you can do- don't try to multitask while playing Rogue! It's hard.
Speaking of paying attention, keep in mind that Bosses will destroy your bombs starting on turn 7 and then every 6 turns after that if your bombs are 5 cells or less from the boss. Keeping track of this is extremely important in boss fights and allows you to avoid a lot of heart/headache. For quick reference, the summon kill turns are: Turn 7, Turn 13, Turn 19, Turn 25, Turn 31, Turn 37, and so on.
That's it for now. I hope that this guide helped any of you who are daring enough to try AoE Rogue.
Feel free to ask more questions or suggest changes to the guide! This guide certainly isn't perfect, and I'm still having a hard time being specific about how to play Rogue when it comes to setting up, but I'll do my best to answer any questions posed. This guide will be updated as needed.
Respond to this thread
any baby rogues out there
follow this
I wanna see the als leaderboards on remi FILLED with rogues
I'll do an example on the 156-170 since that's where my rogue's at the moment:
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ Stalagmotel - you need to hide your bombs in spikes, and a panda would be nearly mandatory to throw them onto the boss. Otherwise you're a very subpar damage dealer / sitting duck.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Zeppelantern - One boss and no mobs? Perfect! Do a turn 4 set up and one turn kill the boss with the help of your teammate's buffs. (I did it, it feels VERY awesome).
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ Xelorium Past - a very mild boss lets you do whatever, the crolks and lapses are the problem here as they can pull and destroy your bombs. Could likely one turn the boss on a turn 4 set up, just know where you stand and you'll be good to go. Easy if the party can clear the mobs timely.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ Elite Riktus - the boss requiring consistent DPS doesn't match your style. otherwise the mobs are good for you as they lose resist in exchange for FD as turns go on. The boss does WAY less damage if you stay close to him, his AoE range attacks hurt(don't recall if it has LoS) so you might wanna place the bombs on the side to prevent them from being destroyed.
I'm just spamming Zeppelantern at the moment since it's the easiest one.
Maybe I could do some video guides on Rogue in specific dungeons... sounds fun and videos seem to help people a lot (it's what most people ask me for beyond these two guides lol). I'll probably have to enlist a bunch of Rogues for that sort of project, but it sounds fun and helpful.
Thanks so much for the suggestion! It's a fantastic idea and is something I'm now planning on pursuing.
Rogue pairs nicely with a lot of classes, but between Ruse, Boot, Boombot, and Cross Fire, Rogue doesn't actually need a lot of outside support in getting its bombs positioned to kill enemies. I'll go through each of the pairings and give you my opinion on them, because I'm feeling it
I'll admit, I haven't played a ton with all the other classes on my Rogue! So feel free to take liberties on it or otherwise correct me. It's also important not just to think about how this other class benefits Rogue, but how Rogue benefits this other class, too.
Rogue and Feca
Feca, honestly, has great synergy with every class because its kit is overloaded with support, buff, and debuff abilities. Its positioning is weaker than some of the other options, but it's effective at tanking, which is always a nice combo for Rogue because it can keep enemies grouped up in one area.
Rogue and Osamodas
Osamodas is a mixed bag of damage and support abilities, but most of its damage lies in its summons. Rogue's ability to, with Rank 2 Minesweeper, give a 30% damage buff, benefits Osamodas a lot as Rogue can buff its summon, and in turn, Osamodas is capable of brief positioning with Scaraleaf's Wing (useful for pushing enemies onto powder wall tiles) and in general is a solid damage dealer. It's not the best combo with Rogue, but there's some synergy there.
Rogue and Enutrof
Enutrof is similar to Feca in that it pairs well with damage dealers because of its debuffing capabilities. It has some positioning with its drheller, but you'd use Enutrof in any team for pretty much the same reason: best resistance debuffer in the game.
Rogue and Sram
Rogue and Sram mesh very well together, as Sram is a melee damage dealer that can be buffed by Kaboom. Sram generally doesn't keep enemies clumped up around it, but its invisibility allows the AI to become more predictable, which is always nice for Rogue. Sram also has positioning skills in Fear and Fog Trap, and Rogue can set off traps by Booting a bomb onto a trap to trigger it on other enemies in the AoE. Sram also benefits from Rogue's Badabang buff, like all other damage dealers, and can heal off any spare air bomb if needed.
Rogue and Xelor
I think Rogue and Xelor work very well together, because Xelor has the ability to force an enemy to return to a specific spot on the map. That is an EXTREMELY powerful positioning ability when working with Rogue, because it allows you to set up around a spot that you know will be occupied. Xelor is also a great buffer and Debuffer, and both Xelor and Rogue can be setup based classes that can work off of each other to make them stronger. Hydrands and Sinistros, like Bombs, can be used to bodyblock, so this team combination creates some dangerous zoning capabilities. Rogue can also buff a Xelor with Badabang, but the Kaboom Buff's stabilization isn't as beneficial to Xelor as it would be to other classes.
Rogue and Ecaflip
Ecaflip, being a jack of all trades damage dealing class that can buff, debuff, position (with that lick spell and Craps), and heal, works somewhat well with Rogue, who can buff them with Badabang and Kaboom. Ecaflip doesn't mesh well with Kaboom's stabilization, as it wipes out all of their mobility, so it's something you'd have to keep in mind if you're using the Kaboom Buff.
Rogue and Eniripsa
Eniripsa's the big healer on the block. Any eniripsa who knows to save the blinding bombs is a keeper, and it works well with any other class, including Rogue. Rogue doesn't really give Eniripsa anything in return, though.
Rogue and Iop
Iop is a Melee damage dealing class, and so it works well with Rogue because of Rogue's Badabang and Kaboom buffs. Rogue can weaken or wipe out all the enemies near the Iop and the Iop, buffed up, can take out whatever is left, but Iop loses most or all of its mobility when stabilized like with Kaboom. (I don't personally play Iop, but I'm pretty sure stabilization makes Iop incredibly immobile.) Rogue can make a Iop very powerful, but you have to plan around that stabilization.
Rogue and Cra
I'm sorta iffy on this pair. Both are damage dealers that tend to deal with enemies from a distance, and while Cra has somme positioning, they're not going to spend much of their AP doing that. Rogue's Badabang buff does benefit Cra, though, but the Kaboom buff likely won't ever hit a cra, and shouldn't, because Cra loses mobility when stabilized.
Rogue and Sadida
I don't know Sadida that well tbh, but Sadida has an AoE heal and can protect bombs and the Rogue rather well as a team healer. Or at least, that's my experience.
Rogue and Sacrier
I think Rogue and Sacrier is one of the best pairs for Rogue for a few reasons. While Sacrier does lose mobility with being stabilized, it has Attraction and that earth spell that also pulls (Insanity? what's it called i dont remember) so it can still benefit from the Kaboom buff as well as always benefitting from the HBB buff equivalent that can be done every turn and has no damage rebound known as Badabang. Sacrier can also Sacrifice the bombs, and if a Sacrier does this you immediately fall in love with them i don't make the rules this is how it is.
Sacrier's transposition is also nice because Sacrier can just pop out of a big explosion position and instead an enemy is in position to get a butt ton of damage from the Rogue.
Rogue and Pandawa
There's a stereotype that in order to play Rogue, you have to play Panda, too, because every Rogue needs a Panda. This is not true. You don't need a Panda to play Rogue effectively.
But still, it's a very good pair. Panda is the best positioner in the game, and with Ether's nerf making Panda only able to stabilize itself every other turn, it works well with Rogue's Kaboom ability to *also* stabilize every other turn, so the Rogue can help a panda lock and tank an enemy or three. Panda, being capable of locking and tanking, keeps enemies clumped up in one place, which again, is always good for Rogue.
Rogue and Masqueraider
Masq, being an AoE healer and big positioner, works well as Support for Rogue, but also benefits well from the Kaboom buff because Coward Mask has that ridiculous ability to give you 1 MP on a successful dodge, so if you're a fluctuation masq, you're using MP to move more often when you're about to do damage, so stabilization, theoretically, shouldn't hurt as much. It's not something I've paired much with Rogue at all, though.
Rogue and Ouginak
Tbh, I don't have a clue about this one! Ouginak is a melee damage dealer, though, and probably doesn't suffer too much from stabilization to begin with, so Rogue, like with all the other Melee Damage dealers, can give some tasty buffs to Ougi while wiping out or heavily damaging all the enemies around them.
Rogue and Foggernaut
Seeing a boombot nyoom down some foggernaut rails is fun.
Regardless, Foggernaut, even as a distance damage dealer, doesn't suffer too much from stabilization, so if coupled with another positioner, could probably get a decent kaboom buff from Rogue and not suffer too much in the process.
Rogue and Eliotrope
boombot with portals is ALSO fun
Eliotrope is great for everyone because portals. They suffer from stabilization, but still frequently benefit from a Badabang buff. They're not the strongest combo with Rogue, but they can work.
Rogue and Huppermage
Huppermage doesn't like to be stabilized as it wrecks their already limited mobility, but Huppermage is also a versatile damage dealer. If you're playing with a Melee Huppermage or Brutality Hupper, that kaboom buff could really hulk that hupper up. AoE damage dealers also generally work with Rogue well if Rogue doesn't end up killing all the enemies outright.
Rogue and Rogue
This is one of the pairs I have infamous experience with and, while at first glance it is TERRIBLE, it's not unplayable. But I wouldn't recommend it in a 3 man team at all: only in a 6 person group doing a dungeon, and both rogues must know what they are doing.
Anyone reading, feel free to respond with your thoughts, because I honestly don't know a ton about all the other classes but I do know that Rogue works well with other melee damage dealers like Sram and Sacrier, and with tanks like Feca, Panda, and Sacrier again.
What I really want you to take away from this though, is that Rogue does not need any positioning support at all if you know what you're doing, but it's nice to have a little bit. Even a class with a 1 cell push is all the positioning a Rogue might find useful in a team, and it's pointless to dedicate two or even one member of your team to positioning for the rogue. Play the classes you enjoy, and you'll find a way to make Rogue work in that team comp, since it's more independent than most people give it credit for.
My team on Nox tended to be either Rogue, Sram, Feca, or Rogue, Sram, Ecaflip.
My team on Remi is Rogue, Sacrier, Eniripsa, and it works rather well.
I'm in too deep y'all
I'll answer anyways, though. Whether a detonation is AoE or ST is based on what you cast detonation on. Casting detonation on a Bomb will give you an AoE explosion, while casting detonation on a target will cause a ST explosion. AoE explosions will hit anything in the range of the bombs that explode, but ST explosions will only hit whatever you targeted with detonation.
Generally speaking, HP and Melee Mastery as well as elemental mastery in at least 2 elements are best and should be prioritized. You're level 50, so once you're around 60-65 I'd aim for Cwab gear, which has nice Melee and Area mastery stats. Blibli is good for single target. You can probably already wear white Cwab gear, if not in a level or two.
There's a lot of gear available, it's more a matter of knowing what stats you need to go for. Having at least 5 control at your level is nice, but you can probably get by with 4. The wakfu encyclopedia is your friend.
edit: thought this was my general rogue guide and not the aoe rogue guide lmao go for Cwab set! It's very good for aoe rogue around that level.
I studied combos and gameplay a lot, but while it takes me 3 turns to hitting 1500, my friends hitting 1000 every turn.
Will it improve after high level? The class's difficulty does not seem to make up for its gameplay?
What level will I be useful at?<_
That being said, lower levels for rogue are brutal. It really gets going around 130 when bomber fan levels up. Low level rogue can thrive in higher stasis but it's a lot more brutal than later in the game, where you have more AP, more control, and overall more damage and longer fights.
-My group at the moment is xelor, panda, eni, anu, iop and roublard, do you think that despite the rework, the roublard is still a good composition for my group?
-How do you see the possible rogue?
-Will you make a guide about it?
The upcoming changes to rogue look pretty good. There are some nerfs, but they're valid as far as I've seen, and there are definitely a lot of buffs that really expand rogue's playstyle. Before these changes there was really only one effective way to play rogue. Once 1.69 is out, there will be at least four ways to effectively play rogue, all being rather different.
Yes, I will be making a guide about it. I can't tell you how long that might take, though... there's a lot to cover.
Now that we got some changes in 1.69 I got worried maybe other rogue builds overshadowed it now...
I believe this has changed since the most recent rework, but I can't say for sure because I don't play Rogue.