A Rogue Mini-Strategy Guide

[Roland]

A few points:

First and foremost, you can't put points in Lethality without 10 points in the assassination tree.  I think your first edit should correct this rather large oversight.

Eep! I have no idea how that one slipped by me. Must have been because it was about 3 in the morning when I started. :P I'll take a look into that, and see what I can do.

I would compare hemorrhage with what people would generally use in it's place, Sinister Strike.  You simply show how much damage hem does without taking into account what you could do with another attack of the same level (the analysis still favors hem, assuming you have enough time to land all the blows)

Sounds like a good plan. Will take some mathematical analysis to do the comparison, but shouldn't be too much of a problem. Thanks for the tip!

While I'm a little reluctant to critique the talent build, because you mention it's a themed build, I think the exclusion of Improved Sap is near suicide to enjoyable group instance play at or near cap level.  Improved Sap, should also fit well with your theme.  Personally I'd take the Vanish points and put them in Imp. Sap.

I've used Sap quite often, but I have yet to get close to the level cap, so high-level instance play is not something I've had any experience with. I've always considered Improved Sap to be a nice skill (and I did mention it as a possible investment in the Subtlety tree), but I was unaware that it's virtually essential. You are right in that Improved Sap would fit with the overall goal of the build (which I also mentioned), although I was generally favoring Vanish over Sap. But I'll give it another once-over.

It seems like you think premed. excludes the use of CS.  It doesn't, and actually would fit VERY well into your build.
Distract + Premed + CS + SnD = 4 or 5 CP of Slice and Dice without having to wait for energy.

I already explained this. Cheap Shot breaks stealth. The purpose of this build is to utilize Ambush, Hemorrhage, and Slice and Dice to their fullest advantage. I wrote all about this in the guide, in that Cheap Shot offers minimal benefit due to Initiative, which makes 3 out of every 4 Ambushes (and Cheap Shots, but again, I already explained the merits of Ambush over Cheap Shot) will pop 2 combo points instead of one, thus allowing you to fire Premeditation, Ambush, Hemorrhage, and Slice and Dice all within the first few seconds of battle. Cheap Shot offers no damage bonus, and Ambush already has heavy investment from other Talents to improve it even more. It wasn't that I think it's a choice between Cheap Shot or Premeditation, it's that Cheap Shot excludes the use of Ambush, which I already pointed out was a critical skill of this build. Ambush's high damage potential (especially with a critical strike) far outweighs the potential for one extra combo point from Cheap Shot.

Premed, unlike any other rogue skill, has a casting time.  Because of that you may want to discuss a little about if you've experienced premed having issues with mobs running out of the short range during the casting time, or if you have to use distract EVERY time you use premeditation.  I've never used premeditation, so I don't know for sure how this plays into it's use, but I imagine it requires a little different strategy.  I imagine at the very least it means that premed is of little use in a group PvP type setting.

Good advice. I use Distract so often that I kind of took for granted that some Rogues may never use this skill at all. To me it's a staple ability, to be used for scouting, safe escape, and setting up a strong opening attack. It amazes me how some of, IMHO, the most important skills that a Rogue has many people just see as utterly useless. Eh, whatever, a rant for another time. Distract does warrant mention, if I didn't already, as I use it constantly, and it is a staple skill for any Rogue worth his stealthy salt. Thanks for noting the casting time on Premeditation. I've gotten quite good at maneuvering around targets so that movement on their part is usually not much of a concern, but I still use Distract about 50% of the time, even while soloing. In groups, I use it about 90% - 100% of the time, especially in Instances, where little space and tightly packed monsters translate to difficult maneuvering.

Artega is right about the warrior comment.  Dodge is the last thing you want to do against a warrior, you basically give a warrior sinister strike with this build, as he will overpower every 5 seconds.

One thing everyone should note: I am not writing this (nor any other guide) for PvP. I threw a small blurb about PvP play in there just for the sake of having SOMETHING said about it in the guide, but I myself do not play PvP. I see no merit to exposing myself to repeated ganking and griefing, nor do I feel like succumbing to the pressures of always having to group up to survive. It's not worth my time nor money to invest into something I won't enjoy nearly as much as I enjoy PvE play. So, don't expect any of my builds to be geared towards PvP play. I should think that many of them would be applicable to PvP play, perhaps with some adustment, but it is not my focus, so it won't be the focus of any guides I write.

Thanks for your comments, though. I think they'll definitely fill in some gaps that I didn't know I had, and that's always a good thing. :) And don't be too afraid to comment on the Talent build just because it's themed. If you see something you feel is either out of place, or could be replaced by something better, feel free to speak up on it! I value anyone's input, provided it's constructive. ;)