Warden Dual Wield Rogue Assassin Build - Shadow Minstrel Mechanics

HOW TO USE THE BUILD

In this section, I would like to go through some general tips on how to correctly utilize the build.

Main Mechanics

In this part, I would like to go through the core mechanics of the build. Using them you can construct your preferred playstyle and utilize everything that the various talent and equipment picks have to offer.

Sustained Talents

The build needs a few sustained abilities as they will give a huge improvement in terms of damage.

  1. Momentum - improves attack speed by 30%, mandatory talent from very early.

  2. Song of Courage - improves attack, damage, and critical chance, based on the cunning attribute.

Cunning - Damage, Lockpicking and Traps

The main stat of this build is Cunning. Thanks to Lethality it is used for damage calculation instead of strength. Why is this important?

  1. It improves armor penetration which results in more damage against heavily armored enemies.

  2. Improves the Song of Courage effect giving even more boost to damage.

  3. Improves Exploit Weakness from Assassin tree, giving even more damage.

  4. Increases the lockpicking and trap disarm capabilities.

As you can see, with a single talent the build receives a significant boost to damage and utility during world exploration.

Backstabs

The main idea with Rogue is that you can get guaranteed backstabs which inflict a similar amount of damage as critical hits. They are technically different so some effects will not apply. But overall, the damage amount will be similar.

This encourages you to go behind enemies and use every chance you get to exploit this weakness. This creates an interesting and engaging playstyle, where you think of ways how to safely reach targets and exploit this.

However, for the late game, when you will be very powerful with plenty of runes, high damage, and fast attack speed I would use a different approach. For normal enemies use auto attacks without backstab, as they only need a few hits to be killed. This does not waste any time with movement. And for stronger foes exploit the backstabs.

Coup De Grace and Stunned Targets

One of the talents that you will obtain is Coup de Grace. It will allow you to inflict backstabs on stunned targets. This is important as you can use Dirty Fighting or mage Paralysis, Glyph of Paralysis, etc. to not waste time with movement and instantly attack for maximum damage.

Maintaining High Attack Speed

I already mentioned this a few times, but there are various bugs with dual wielding and in general attack speed. The main one is that if your attack speed reaches above 50% percent you start hitting slowly. This can happen easily:

  1. Momentum - 30% attack speed

  2. Haste - 25% attack speed

High Dodge Chance

One of the aspects of the build is the need to survive. You will probably run many times as the first one into combat. Before your tanks can build Threat and mages apply control you will be hit a lot. Generally, Dexterity can help with this. However, the build puts all points into Cunning to get the maximum damage value.

To overcome this there are a few items that you might be interested in using to stack Dodge chance:

  1. First Enchanter's Cowl - +10% Dodge Chance

  2. The Spellward - +10% Dodge Chance

So in total, you can reach 70% Dodge chance, without accounting for the defense values of your rogue. So you will avoid 7/10 hits, making you a very sturdy and robust frontline combatant. Of course, this is not mandatory, and just an option if you find a need for this and your healer might not be doing a good job of keeping you alive.

Early Game Combat

The start of the game might be a bit difficult as you will be limited by equipment and survivability. However, with each level, it will be easier and easier. Here are some recommendations for the early game:

  1. Make sure to use Dual-Weapon Sweep, as it hits multiple enemies and is effective early on.

  2. Activate Momentum for improved attack speed.

  3. Dirty Fighting is excellent for stunning Lieutenants or casters, which you can then attack from the back.

  4. Go for the enemy's back to inflict backstabs with maximum damage.

Late Game Combat

The start of the game might be a bit difficult as you will be limited by equipment and survivability. However, with each level, it will be easier and easier. Here are some recommendations for the early game:

  1. Make sure to use Dual-Weapon Sweep, as it hits multiple enemies and is effective early on.

  2. Activate Momentum for improved attack speed.

  3. Dirty Fighting is excellent for stunning Lieutenants or casters, which you can then attack from the back.

  4. Go for the enemy's back to inflict backstabs with maximum damage.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Dual Wield Rogue Assassin Build, post for Dragon Age: Origins. This build offers a mix of Assassin and Bard with maximum Cunning investment. This is one of the highest damage builds in the game offering true destruction of enemies in the direct meaning of the word.