a quick IM heads-up...

[thraeneth]

I cleared the Cats in a solo rogue IM cave-in run yesterday. I fired Diablo up this morning to give the Caves a go but had quite an unpleasant surprise: my rogue was just as she was after clearing the Church!

I did some quick testing... unless Diablo is launched using 'Run as Administrator' it doesn't have write access to edit the .drv file in c:\windows. One could edit the perimissions there to allow it, or just remember to 'Run as Administrator'.

Bit of a bummer because the Cats clear had yielded an Executioner's Blade, Civerb's Cudgel, and Amulet of Stability. The Executioner's Blade was great for handling the acid beasts and poison spitters. Not that it matters now, but I was looking forward to trying the CC; anyone have any experience with it on a SS rogue in hell?

[Rudra]

Hi, I think it's not too different from a normal warrior.
You have a useful dex advantage though. I don't know if you can generalise that, but from my own epxeriences (with stormshield) I can tell that if you invest enough points in dexterity and attract only one monster at once (carry a bow with you for that purpose), melee monsters are quite enjoyable, because you block everything thanks to high dex.
But I cannot assess the benefit of a vanilla shield without fast block, with less AC and limited durability.
Apart from that, there is nothing like bowing down bitches and mages, they'll cost you precious resources if you try it with melee.

By the way, you should install the latest patch, which is 1.09.

[maht1]

Without taking into account any identified items or shrines, a rogue will equal a warrior's melee accuracy when dex = 100. Hypothetically, this could be achieved at the earliest by clvl15, but not realistic since you would likely put a few points into str.

The greater accuracy and block percentage is advantageous, but this is offset by not having fast block and insufficient damage to stun. As such, the problem I have encountered with solo IM SS rogue is that your shield takes a hefty beating without you being able to retaliate due to block lock. This becomes increasingly obvious from the caves onwards. Another downside is being unable to repair, so you could easily find yourself without a shield unless you keep a spare.

It becomes much more viable when you have either a good melee weapon or one of the unique fast block shields.

I would use a bow 99.9% of the time in hell, adopting the one monster at a time tactic. Melee monsters are quite easy to pick off from range using run and gun tactics, and it can be done fairly quickly with a rogue's bow accuracy. Not 100% sure about this, but even if your rogue can block everything, without fast block you can get hit from the monsters with low cooldowns, like acid beast types and storm demons.

[Rudra]

Not 100% sure about this, but even if your rogue can block everything, without fast block you can get hit from the monsters with low cooldowns, like acid beast types and storm demons.

Hi, this is not the case.
According to JG, fast spit is the attack with the lowest "attack time" (0.20s). A Rogue without fast block needs 0,20s for blocking. In a test with a spitting mob, you would therefore still expect the rogue to block every single spit, and that is what happens indeed.

[thraeneth]

I've been stuck in the Cats in SS setup due to bow durability issues before. Shield durability is a much bigger problem than block recovery speed. Stumbling across an indestructible one would really open up options...

Anyhow, sorry for starting the thread drift. I did finally wrap up my last 1.07 run and am now doing 1.09 runs in a VirtualBox VM. Thanks to Kylearan for the tip. Being able to walk away at any time by saving the machine state is great. But, it does feel a little 'slimy'; like the demands on one's patience are reduced. If I ever finish one, maybe it shouldn't be considered 'legit'. I'm sure Finnan Haddie wouldn't approve...

[Nystul]

Not that it matters now, but I was looking forward to trying the CC; anyone have any experience with it on a SS rogue in hell?

My rogue winner found a Doombringer and cleared a good deal of level 14 (knights and snakes) with it, as well as Sir Gorash and (with firewalls) Diablo. She did not have a fast block shield. By rough estimate Cudgel should do similar damage to demons in normal/hell to that Doomy. It worked fairly well but still required care. It's a lot harder to get isolated battles in caves or hell than the early game, and the perfect block won't be perfect against multiple enemies without fast block. But certainly if you find some special equipment you can pick and choose spots to melee. And for killing Diablo I think a shield is always a wise choice.