View source for Filash's Guide to PvP for Rogues

With the demise of The Safehouse, I have decided to preserve a few of the guides hosted there. I make no promises as to how useful this will be, especially since I don't play on Red, but let's consider this preserved for history's sake rather than a how-to guide.

=The Guide Itself=
I am Filash, Half-Elven Rogue of the Vallon Zek PvP-Teams server. This document covers high level (namely 60) rogue Player vs. Player combat current through the end of the Velious expansion. Much of the knowledge is applicable to all levels, some to all classes. I do not feel the need to boast my record or the names of those I've defeated in battle. I believe the manual will speak for itself. I hope that by finally writing this I can put Everquest aside and move on. 


It is too clear now that this age is ending. The beginning of a gentler era approaches, and there is little room left for my kind. I write this by candlelight, alone but for the company of the spirits and corpses of other, fallen, warriors bearing visages of acceptance and release. Some waited years for this, fighting at the pinnacle of their game to the very end. The expressions reveal their intent but do not do justice to their mettle. Too little of their story will be remembered.
I cannot say how the events of the coming morning will transpire. Perhaps it will be the last for me, the last time to let fly in a torrent of blades and arcs of spitting blood. Every journey must end, and every flood must one day subside. I've no heir, and leave this in his stead. ~Filash

This manual/guide/autobiography is intended to be an exhaustive description of proper PvP combat-- the goal of which being to defeat as many people as possible and to avoid combat death. Avoiding PvP death is preferable to any other outcome unless otherwise mentioned. It is not uncommon for talented players in the 60 range to go for months at a time without being killed. 

==Awareness of Environment==

In order to excell in PvP combat you must have a strong knowledge of the game. Having a stronger knowledge of the game than your opponent is a valuable tool. The best kind of plan is one that is still secure even when revealed to an opponent. Learn to use the /loc command and carry a compass (the compass is almost never used). Don't bother with sense heading. You SHOULD know all the zone connections and layouts in Everquest. I have a folder that contains maps of every continent and easy-to-read pages containing locs of every major landmark. This is not enough. You must know the layouts of the zone, the terrain and how things connect. The better you know your opponent and the land types the easier it will be to acquire the position of a target, to track a target you've lost, or to escape to a position where the target cannot find you. I got a hard on everytime someone accused me of using ShowEQ.

You must know the spells and abilities of every class, the expected damage/healing properties, the refresh times, the resists they target, what resist level is necessary for absolute resistance, the levels at which they occur, etc. An invaluable tool is Vaslin's EQCaster program. Acquaint yourself with each class. You must know the weapons and items and armor your opponent is using or what you can expect them to have and draw conclusion based on what you know. You must know the effects these items carry. Know how many hitpoints you have and how many you have left. Much of PvP is this metagame.

Know what the hell is going on! How many people are you fighting? What classes? What levels? Are there immortal healers (too low for you or same race)? Will these people expect you to attack? Is there a guild massing on the adjacent zone? Are there KOS mobs around? Is this a hilly zone? Can you expect these people to attack again once you've killed them?

On PvP server, most people travel anonymous. Know the guilds on your server. Know the average skill level and character level. What races are in the guild? 

The /who command cannot be stressed enough. Everytime you enter a zone, and every few seconds after that, you should be observing the character list and making observations based on what you find. Can you expect these people to be grouped? Will these people call in guild assistance?

Know your server. Can you name the entire high level population of your server? At one point I was very close to knowing the class, approximate level, and race of every player in my 8-level range on the server. For many of these I could rattle off their entire set of gear. Either by extension of their characteristics or by personal knowledge of their behavior it is possible to predict their actions and the strategies you must use against them. Whenever you fight someone, consider how they react and remember it for future encounters. If you end up running away or dying (!), note what went wrong in that battle and consider how you could've performed differently. This will produce strategies for the future.

The /who command can be abbreviated to a single "/" command in all instances. By tapping / and then the enter key a normal /who results. Track the movements of unanonymous people by using /who. Discover the guild of people across the world. Fun for all ages.

The /guildstatus command should be used on all non-un-anonymous characters not displaying a guildtag. /who [GUILDNAME] (case sensitive) will report anonymous and roleplaying characters from a specific guild in the zone. This is helpful in populous zones where an individual /guildstatus for everyone is not feasible. Hotkey as necessary. Guildstatus everyone from time to time, regardless of how sure you are of their standing. People can change guilds and alliances. This is important information on server trends and that target.

/ all [GUILDNAME] will report the number and names of people in a guild displaying their guild tag, up to a certain point. The number of people it can display used to alter with no discernable reason. Generally is is around the mid twenties (?). When the guild has reached the display point you can only make estimates of their number based on the time of day, day of the week, holiday or not, overall size of guild, average guild turnout, etc. If anyone is not anonymous you can GENERALLY determine the position and relative activity of the guild. There are always a few haughty people in every guild who love to travel non-anonymous much to the dismay of their guildmates. These people often fight bitterly to go un-anon. Be forewarned as a guild can get select members to go un-anon to throw off anyone keeping tabs on them, or can get everyone to go anonymous (not to be confused with /roleplay) to hide their numbers. Be a social and active part of your server and you should have friends in every guild. Someone on the server will know where they are. Casual conversations with players inside the guild can reveal their position. Information spreads and keeping the whereabouts of 30 people all engaged in 3~ conversations is rather difficult. Know the guildleaders and their alt characters. Some guilds can't accomplish anything when their leaders are not around.

/ all 52 60 will provide a sloppy list of non-anonymous people in your range. / each specific level you feel like finding.

You, as an intelligent player, should always travel totally anonymous. Do not reveal your level, class, race, or guild. This sometimes pisses off guild officers/members/leaders and may draw heckling from people outside your guild who may inferr that you are 'ashamed' of your guild. Explain to those in your guild and don't respond to anyone else. Kill them instead.

Fill your friends list with targets of note, people who you give you trouble in PvP, or people likely to train you/act like a @#%$. Check it often. Hopefully you should be among the best PvPers on the server, and won't have to fill it with people who kill you all the time. There will always be people who EXCEL at PvP with their class. Know the best of each class on your server. Talk to them about their class! This is highly, highly important. Perhaps you are on bad terms with the best in a class and can't talk to them directly. Make a newbie and log on to it to engage them in INTELLIGENT discussion. Make sure you focus on them and important PvP aspects not "sup dude I just made a necro can I have cash for spellz?" The best are always braggarts on the inside and will spill their secrets.

You damage your opponent using autoattack, backstab, item effects, or poisons. When you opponents life reaches zero he is moved to his bindspot with no mana, full life, and his corpse is left with whatever items he possessed. You may then loot his cash and look at the items he had equipped and those he was holding or in his main inventory slots. Do not get overly greedy to loot if someone close by would gain too much advantage to kill you during the pause. Often decent loots will fund a good portion of your Crystallized/Egg pumice depending on how freely you use. 

==A Brief History of Rogue PvP==
At the opening of the PvP-Teams servers during the initial release of Everquest, choosing a rogue was akin to stabbing your own self in the eyeball. Some of us simply had a love for the class and the mystique and stuck with it even after realizing our gaming error, dealing with mocking fingers and laughing voices at every turn. Armor/Inventory items and weapons could be looted (with the exception of no-drop). Soon, weapons were removed from the available looting list. For those who made 30 prior to the nerf (I guess Rallos had a longer run with this?), weapons were disarmed to the ground instead of the inventory and could be picked up. Instill Doubt, Charm, and Fear spells worked on players for a few weeks after the opening of Vallon and Tallon Zek. Resist items were in short supply and casters ruled the land. A sitting caster usually meant he could not see you before the meditation changes. Most everyone ran around naked or bagged their gear at the first sign of trouble. Egg was still sold naturally on vendors. Those classes who fought with their gear on and spent the cash on egg-shaped won easily over their opponents who did not, although naked casters still remained very formidable to melee. Spells were later reduced in power against players by varying amounts. Rogues were the worst class both PvP and PvE (Player vs. Environment, i.e. grouping and raiding). The level cap was set at 50. Casters spawned with full mana after PvP deaths and could bind near opponents to attack multiple times. This was known as bind rushing and later fixed near the opening Kunark. Old poison was amazingly useful for the rogue, giving them magical abilities when few items would. Poison could be applied instantly (multiple times per battle) and often stuck during a time when poison resist was difficult to buff while maintaining high magic/cold/fire resist. The drawback was it took forever to farm and raise and the snare poison components dropped rare off a rare basilisk in Lavastorm. Poison Apply was later nerfed to 8 seconds in preparation for poison changes that came approximately 1 millennium later. These poison changes were keen through some of Kunark until the items on the server made it too easy to buff poison. Later, the introduction of all-purpose Blue Diamond jewelry did not help the plight of poison. Throwing was useful damage, interrupts, and finding invisible opponents, although range items set off damage shields (AND STILL DO). Serrated Bone Dirks and the godly Bone Razor were the weapons to have. No one-hit kills/backstabs, with the exception of the long casting Ice Comet. This was an exciting time, even being the underdog.

When Kunark came around, item loot was removed altogether and the "1-spell kill" emerged. Not everyone was 60 with good gear yet, and a well-placed Splurt or Winged Death gone undispelled often meant death. Tactics were just being developed and people were poking around learning what to farm. The Bracer of the Hidden was introduced, and this changed up the playing field greatly for rogue stealth tactics and also for dispel tactics, but it was more beneficial for the melee who could now see invisible foes. Later, about the time when epics came about, rogues had entered the prime of their game. No longer did people cry over the easily dispelled "1-spell kills," (even the Shaman Pox of Bertox/Bane of Nife spells were easily cured), they cried over the impervious Fungi-Covered Scale Tunic wearing melee dispensing 1-hit discipline kills with Ragebringers and Tranquil Staves. The easiness of the Ragebringer quest and the temporary shortage on other class epics coupled with an amazing damage output and double backstab/discipline list made rogues the most dangerous class. This was especially due to the AC/HP gear curve for the servers in relation to the damage output of the rogue (which did not change significantly for Velious whereas AC/HP/Resists did, making rogues much less dangerous as time went on). 

Early to Mid Velious continued the basic trends of Kunark, and with many of the PvP players still not at 60, it was cleanup time for properly equipped rogues, but also catch-up time for hybrids with the Shadowknight Death Touch and Ranger Trueshot etc. The Eyepatch of Plunder is a notable item introduced during this period, allowing melee to haste themselves. The Scimitar of Emerald Dawn from Wuoshi is also notable. As Velious wore on, the introduction of massive 2handers such as the Tantor's Tusk, the increased average level on the servers, the introduction of the Dain Ring (with its horrible DS), a swath of improved armor for all classes, the 1.5x resistance debuff increase, the ease to acquire any class epic, and the widespread use of poison resist (somewhat against ebolt/bane somewhat against the now feared rogue poison) significantly decreased the combat viability of the rogue. Rangers and Shadowknights were now clearly the most feared classes, and even Paladins, as a few predicted, became nearly indestructible by any class.

Although the Luclin expansion and this trends are beyond the scope of this document, I predict that the downgrading of the rogue will continue, as Verant is not only gunshy about improving the rogue's only combat benefit (damage), but they are also focusing their creative energy into other classes because new spells/abilities for them come much easier than new or improved techniques for the rather straightforward rogue...a trend that left many of us worried during the opening of Kunark and Velious. Already I see glaring problems in the ability sets of other classes and hear about obvious technical problems with horses involving speed and abilities. Nevertheless, Verant feels that the rogue class is now balanced, and as always, the PvP game subsists on the ebb and flow of PvE trends, for better or worse.

The rogue theme and mindset for PvP massive amounts of damage. Aggressive not defensive. Not stealth. This is muddled somewhat by the healing, buffing, and dispelling abilities granted by items to the rogue.

==The Backstab==
is your most important attack and a difficult technique to master. When the server's data of your position is behind the server's data of your PC targets position and direction it is possible to land a backstab, regardless of where YOUR model is facing or where the server believes your model is facing. What this means is you can backstab people without facing their back if you are behind them and in range. This makes jousting much easier as you do not have to turn when you are behind your opponent during a pass. You can also run up besides them when they're against a wall or in a corner. An astoundingly small number of areas in the game will allow a character to be impervious to backstabs. Note here that as an opponent rotates to avoid stabs, neither your model nor their model matches up to the server's data of their actual positions. Learn this and learn to predict and take advantage of rotations as best as possible. The backstab is important because it is your highest damage attack and (in conjunction with autoattack) best method of damaging and killing an enemy.

==Jousting and Sticking==
Jousting is the art of being in range of your opponents melee attacks only long enough to deliver your melee attacks, without getting hit. This is usually accomplished by running back and forth with variations in your path and seeing who has better knowledge of their internet connection and can time attacks properly and avoid their opponents. When you come in range you should tap your autoattack key twice (to turn off), your backstab key once (when aligned), and your disarm key.

The most damaging attack in the game is still (as of this writing, luckily) the double backstab, and it goes off instantaneously. The base primary hand weapon you should be looking at is the Ragebringer or a weapon of 15 damage and lower delay (Massive Heartwood Thorn if you are just that uber, and remember to find something with 40% natural haste if you bank your Ragebringer). Verant stated they would never create a weapon with damage higher than 15 usable by rogues for backstabbing because of how the equations work, but should this change opt for the highest damage primary unless the ratio is intolerably bad. I cannot recommend using Priceless/Primal (EXCEPT to proc Avatar, but it should already be up unless dispelled)/Vulak weapons primary over Ragebringer+, even in the name of interrupts as it lowers your backstab (and autoattack) damage, and the Ragebringer will interrupt well enough at this stage in the game while outdamaging. Remember that players move more than NPCs and you will connect less often. Do NOT switch out weapons solely for backstabs. This is an amazingly newb tactic that is ineffective and worthless.

The off-hand weapon is an interesting decision. The extremely short answer right now is the Scimitar of Emerald Dawn (20/34 off Wuoshi). What you are looking for is the highest damaging off-hander (unless it has a horrendous ratio). There are various benefits to other offhanders, including more hits when sticking an opponent for a better chance of interrupt, dmg/life gain from procs, special abilities/buff protection from procs, etc. The idea behind the higher damaging weapon is that when jousting it does not matter how fast or slow your weapons are if you control when you are in range of your opponent, THEREFORE you want the highest damaging weapons (especially for backstab which is on a set refresh time regardless of weapon delay). Slower weapons have the added bonus of not hitting dmg shields as often when sticking. If you are going up against a two-hander with 40-50 damage and beyond, you do not want to be connecting with a 13 damage offhand weapons instead of a 20. Remember to factor in proc damage when comparing. Smolder off Nanzanta is another possible choice, or any of the high damaging offhand slashers if you cannot procure a Wuoshi scim. Not everyone can pick and choose their weapons, so if you have to use whatever you have lying around or you want to show off your PvE toy don't worry about it because it's not THAT big a deal, just remember that you won't be operating at your absolute best.

Don't use hokey hot-key script combinations as they suck violently. You will need to press everything manually.

Against some players simply jousting every time autoattack pops is not a viable option because they will neither allow you (as their refresh is much longer than your primary) nor will it do enough damage without you dying. In these scenarios you must wait for backstab to refresh everytime before jousting and make those passes count. Other techniques for jousting include: Stutter steps before passes to trick your enemy into committing to a path or pressing their attack prematurely. Circling around and also cutting through their path at various angles. Performing a joust then sticking for a bit if their refresh is long or if they are not prepared. Jumping can also disorient opponents or position you correctly. Strafing and strafe running is a must. Mouse look is a DEFINITE.

Against CLR, DRU, ENC, MAG, NEC, SHM, WIZ attack and never relent (sticking) as your intent is to interrupt them since they do not do melee damage. Against MNK, PAL, RNG, ROG, SHD, and WAR you will need to employ joust tactics UNLESS they are not of an appreciable level or are for some reason AFK or using bad weapon selection, in which case you can stick them sometimes. The main thing to look for is whether sticking will hurt you or not. BRD are a special case, if it's inside you should probably try to stick them, if it's outside you will likely be forced into a joust or hit and run (on you) situation, so land BS's whenever possible and look for a Duelist kill. Joust to interrupt hybrids but remember that they can attack immediately after and probably left the key on so you may need to move back early. Always interrupt casting melee. Much of sticking, whether a circling mage or a running character of any class is position prediction. This is different for every computer and connection and takes practice. You will need to lead the visual representation of your opponent on your computer by varying amounts to land attacks because it does not match up with the server. Doing this may remove the opponent from your line of sight briefly depending on your speed. I do not recommend using alternate camera views during sticking or jousting. Sometimes your opponent will run around trees or other objects...know when to attempt a cut off and when to follow for an interrupt. 

Keep your opponent in sight whether mouse looking or sticking. When sticking or jousting know when to run and when to continue to finish off your opponent. The rogue shines in close quarter areas and level, flat areas. The rogue suffers on offense vs. casting classes on hilly and uneven terrain. It is easier for any class to escape over hilly terrain. 

ALWAYS RUN AT A HIGHER SPEED THAN YOUR OPPONENT
Your best advantage in combat is to be quicker than your enemy. As a general rule, if one player can maintain a level of speed higher (Normal -> Jboots -> Sow) than his opponent he will emerge the victor. This is accomplished in a variety of ways. Keep your clip plane as low as possible and adjust it as needed (using shift+"+" and shift + "-"). Turn your particle effects to low but not off so you can see what your opponent is casting. ALWAYS run with Spirit of Wolf (or whatever is fastest) up. Keep in mind that the higher the level of the character casting it the faster it will be, also in relation to your opponents. ALWAYS dispel your opponents Sow! Make sure you have Journeyman boots and not Traveller's boots in case your SoW gets dispelled. Reapply SoW with a potion if there is a break in combat. Learn how to strafe-run and perform it constantly. Strafe running sums the two vectors of your straight running and your strafing resulting in a faster speed. Stack your important buffs like SoW below other less useful or instant casting buffs. Dain Ring, Bracer of the Hidden, Shrunken Goblin Skull Earring, Jboots, and other instant casting items are useful for protecting good buffs. Against an opponent who can only utilize crystallized pumice 2 instant buff items will render your buff stack impervious. Learn when to jump while chasing or fleeing from an opponent to keep the proper range necessary to land a backstab/round(s) of hits or to maintain your distance. Jumps provide a momentary increase in speed. Turn autoattack off while not in range to conserve stamina for jumps. If you can afford it, a fast computer with lots of memory and a quick harddrive will increase your speed. Never be encumbered. Drop cash instead and carry proper bags, Tinkerer's/dragon bags if necessary. "/dynamiclights" and "/hidecorpse allbutgroup" will increase your speed somewhat as well. Hiding corpses especially shines during large scale combat or where failed raids occured, etc. Use "/inspect on" (and "/inspect off" immediately after the screen comes up) everytime you want to inspect someone, otherwise you may inspect while mouse looking and fighting and this will slow you down. Make sure you are always moving as fast as possible and wink when people call you a speed hacker.

Remember when you are inside that neither you nor your opponent can reapply speed buffs (sow or jboots). A group that has been in a dungeon a very long time will not be speeded. If it is feasible you should reapply speed by exiting momentarily when in a dungeon. 
Getting snared or rooted (or any spell from these lines) is a very clear sign you are about to die. In fact, these two spells are the primary reasons you buff your magic resist. Snare will need to be dispelled with Egg-Shaped Pumice or a Golem Metal Wand if you want to live. Root can be dispelled with crystallized pumice assuming it's not deep in your buff stack, but I do not recommend it if you can spare the Egg/Wand. If you find yourself unable to remove the root or snare use a gate potion or a Shiny Brass Idol or pray to Bristlebane. 



ALWAYS BE READY IN ANY SITUATION ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME FOR PVP. 
Have the necessary expendable/charged items and gear. Switch to PvP gear when not specifically fighting NPC mobs and sometimes even when. This is a very simple tactic and yet one of the hardest to adhere to. Step up your game. Always be waiting for Area of Effect spells and move out of them if possible when they come (and don't PvP so close together so that AOE becomes effective). 

==Gear==
If you have the prescribed weapons, you are most of the way there. Keep your PvE set of AC/HP gear current and it will do for melee classes. Keep a set of resist gear and wear it constantly. Mix your gear up depending on who you are going to fight, by default wear your resist gear. It is best if your AC/HP gear counts as resist gear as well. A proper list of available resist gear is amazingly long, simply search on any EQ info site. To vaguely get an idea of which item you should wear, sum the total amount of resist it has and compare, giving proper weight to more important resists as needed. 

Recommended Resists by Order of Importance:
1. Magic: 160-180+ (minimum 140) At this level it is exceedingly rare to be snared/rooted but it occasionally happens when tashed/maloed. Most magic DDs will be resisted totally or partially. Normal mezzes should be resisted.
2. Heat: 140-180+ (minimum 120) Many classes use fire, and it hits hard.
3. Disease: 130-160+ (minimum 100) Most useful against Pox of Bertoxxulous. Pox will stick a good bit at 80 and the surrounding range. Insidious Malady is highly difficult to resist and will decrease disease resist by a lot. It takes 2 charges of SHM cure disease potion to cure and is fast casting. PoB takes 2 charges as well.
3. Poison: 120-140+ (minimum 100) Most useful vs. Envenomed Bolt (ebolt) and Bane of Nife. Same success rate as PoB, perhaps a little lower. 
3. Cold: 120-140+ (minimum 100) Not used very much. Shaman nukes and bracer mostly, occasionally druid, rarely wizard. 


==Running==
Learn your limits, even if it means backing out everytime you feel things are wrong and losing kills. Don't stay to get another kill if it means you will die. Keep an eye on your hitpoints. Watch your text to see if someone new has joined the fray or if you are getting rocked hard by spells as your lifebar will not update as fast as your text. If all else fails bust an insta-cast gate potion. Learn to stay out of the range of spells and how to strafe-run quickly from an enemy, ALWAYS put the most distance possible between you and your foe when running, so don't double back if at all possible and head for a zone line. If you have to double back attempt an interrupt and continue on. Jump down hills to ghost and lose melee. Zoning while DOT'd will result in that DOT doing full (non-pvp) damage. Don't zone back and forth a lot of time (zone dancing), if you make it to a zone and discover your opponent zones faster than you pop a gate potion and don't disconnect imbetween zones. Disconnecting is more embarrassing than dying. Don't do it. Period. You will find many of your opponents use this. To catch a zone hopper keep your eye on the zone, place yourself to get a backstab, and wait for them to move otherwise it's an illegal tactic to GMs. If they zone faster than you there's not much you can do. If they zone back to a zone they just came from, then it's OK to attack before they finish zoning. Wail on them as much as possible between zones. They may disconnect as well, although many find it 'honorable' to zone dance but not to 'zone-plug.' Whatever. [BUG] One thing to note is that on zoning, if your hitpoints are lower than the hitpoints granted you by your HP gear, then you zone over with no buffs and hitpoints equal to the amount of HP granted by your gear. This is like a heal. This also means that foes (or you) with a lot of HP gear, that can zone faster than you can dish out damage, can live forever on the zoneline. Melee/Hybrids will wail on you if you chain zone. Casters will experience a spell delay that you can take advantage of. Remember that you can sneak/hide past KOS mobs at your level's sneak speed to evade and chase opponents, but also beware that if someone casts negative spells you on or hits you you will come unhidden so monitor your range. If someone aggroes a mob while running continue sticking and attempt to finish them off, unless the mob could easily kill you, in which case head for the hills. A shot at saving them an xp death is better than leaving them to die for sure.


==Client Tips==
Switch between Full Screen Transparent Polygons On/Off using the asterisk key on the numpad. This will allow you to read text easier on varying types of terrain. Make sure you are using the screen that allows this feature and not the tiny screen.

Shift + Page Up/Down allows you to view text quickly.

Shift + [1-0] switches hotkey banks 1,2,3...0, 0 being 10.

Hold control to strafe while manipulating menus with the mouse

Don't map turn arrows to letter keys, you can't rotate while typing.

Autorun is NumLock. Useful in general.

Keep an inventory slot reserved for pumice/casting items, another for jboots, and another empty to protect against disarm or for a potion/extra pumice.

Use the F9 camera to monitor your area while running, sitting, etc. Don't sit when the enemy is near. The regen is only 2 points anyways.

Interrupt your own spell by ducking twice. This will save you time and allow you to attack again.



First Bag (Slot 3): 3 Crystallized Pumices (should be 4 I used one up to show where to put empties), 1 Muscle Lock IV (Spirit of Sloth) Poison, 1 Crimson Potion, 1 10-Charge SoW Potion, 1 10-Charge Cure Disease Potion, and 1-10 Charge Cure Poison Potion.

Second Bag (Slot 6): 2 Egg-Shaped Pumices, 1 empty Crystallized Pumice, Golem Metal Wand (should really carry 2), Lodizal Boots, Key to Skyshrine/Chardok/Sebilis, Cobalt Scar Fang.

Third Bag (Slot 4): My PvE gear. Deceiver's @#%$ plus an Ivandyr's Hoop and general AC/HP things. I know Deceiver's sucks now but whatever.

Fourth Bag (Slot 7): Illusion Masks, more AC/HP gear, Shrunken Goblin Skull Earring, Bracer of the Hidden, Mrylokar's Breastplate of badass healing.

Fifth Bag (Slot 8) : 2 stacks of top-quality food and water. Lockpicks, Breezeboot's Frigid Gnasher, Compass, Instant Gate Potion.

Slot 1: Empty.

Slot 2: Jboots.

Slot 5: Pumice/Egg/Golem Wand.

Make trips to Bank/Town to restock as needed.



My hotkeys in bank 10 are direct copies of my general inventory for mouse switching and the proximity of the 0 key to my key setup. NoCrps = /hidecorpse allbutgroup. Lights = /dynamiclights. Discip tells me how long until my discipline refreshes. Target reports my target, I switch this in when people are assisting off me. Guild is "/ all GUILD" (case sensitive, reports my guild). The Nanak key is my special named assist key. The title changes depending on who I am assisting, and that key is set to assist off them ("/assist Nanak"). The Walk key allows me to monitor whether I am running or walking as the follow command occasionally screws it up. The autoattack key is important because I can see my refreshes and whether I am disarmed or not. Pumice is hotkeyed. Hotkey Bank 10 allows me to refresh my Jboots, or, in the two extra slots at the bottom, my Bracer of the Hidden and Eyepatch of Plunder. Hotkey Bank 9 is for switching in my BP heals, Shrunken Goblin Skull Earring, Bracer of the Hidden, and Lodizal Boots (another junk buff). Pimp, is of course, for extending a hand and pimpslapping someone. Bank 3 allows me to recover from being disarmed.



This is my keyboard setup. Copy it and play like a real man. Note how it matches up to my hotkeys.



My options. Copy them for optimal performance. Run with your clip plane all the way to the left as much as possible. That screenshot is in error! Leave your damage shields turned on always, even if it spams you during raids (they should be dispelling it timely anyways). Never attack openly into a damage shield unless you are aware of the danger and find it acceptable. Dmg shields can reach about to around 70pts+ depending on the opponent's buffs.



These are my socials. Pretty obvious except for Lang which is just a language learning macro. Knowing other languages stops being useful when people make guilds, although sometimes newbies will give away their racial allies' positions etc.

Little known fact: For a while you could /assist characters across a zone and chain assist off their targets to determine who was grouped and where they were by what they were fighting. Before that you could send a tell to mobs to determine whether certain spawns existed or not. The more you know!

==Pumice Notes ==
Crystallized Pumice has a few minor advantages over Egg-Shaped. One being that you can use the cast of the pumice to determine your opponents range. Duck twice to interrupt as needed if not moving and continue on. The spell effects from all pumice/golem will also illuminate your opponent and reveal his position and path of travel. By the way, your channeling sucks on Crystallized Pumice, and moving (not counting turning) while casting or taking any melee damage, however small, will interrupt your casting.

==Recharging Your Charged Items==
Find a vendor where you can operate undisturbed. If he has been sold items, buy trivial things back from him until he has an empty slot. When you see him with an empty slot, sell an item WITH charges (preferably fully charged). That item will take up the empty slot. Then sell him back undercharged (preferably empty) items of the same type. When you buy them back they will all have the same amount of charges the first had. This works with Egg-Shaped Pumice, Golem Metal Wands, Lockets of Escape, even Crystallized Pumice in a pinch if you're away from civilization. It can get expensive with Egg/Golem wands though (130pp+ for EACH purchase). Luckily I have 60 eggs.

==Poison==
It sucks but you need it. Work it up, use it to dispatch low level foes quickly. Pray that it works to take out difficult foes. The Mind Melt (System Shock IV, low resist rate because it's a DD, pain to farm) and Spirit of Sloth (Muscle Lock IV, easy to resist, easy/cheap to make as all components can be purchased) are your best bets. If you want to apply every battle and can't afford ML4, consider Spine Break (Paralyzing Poison I), which has a high resist rate but all the components are purchasable and the effect is somewhat more interesting as it is a poison based root and 50% attack speed decrease (it will resist on almost all foes not directly 8 levels under you). Inferno Blood (Injected V) has a high resist rate and is difficult to farm. The mana tap poisons are a joke and in most instances will take off less than a bubble of mana, whereas a well placed backstab or snare poison will take out all five... They resist at approximately the same rate as ebolt, but it varies depending on the effect. Mostly it will just resist and waste your time so don't get your hopes up.

==Sitting Opponents / Suprise Tactics==
Open with pumice first if you think you can still land a backstab and round of attacks/disarm before they stand (or run if standing). Hopefully this will clear off a rune (wizards/enc/nec) or SoW or Lev. If it does not disappear retry dispelling after the backstab lands on a caster or egg them if it's a melee on top of you. If levitate does not dispel on the second try move to egg against any caster or opponent you want to kill. Pumicing will not cause them stand, unless they notice it and stand up themselves! Use Duelist on a caster if you feel like wasting it for an immediate kill. Save it for finishing off a melee/hybrid or use it on them sitting if you think it will alter the fight outcome. Sneak makes you step quietly and at level 60 does not impede motion so use it. Suprising your opponents (i.e. after a difficult PvE fight) is not quite worth what it once was but is still a notable tactic. Some will not have a time to mem proper PvP spells (shadowsteps come to mind) or switch to gear.

==Bugging Track==
Track can screw you over but it is bugged easily. Simply hide or go invisible. See the "Hide" section of Rogue Abilities.

==Moderating Your Buff Stack==
Cast all your instant junk items then fill up on good HP buffs and speed buffs and lastly SoW. Then dispel the top one or let it wear off naturally to leave an empty slot for magic based spells to reside and be dispelled. Leave more empty slots on top as needed to protect against those who would be crafty and place junk buffs on you first. Use instant items to protect against crystal pumice/lower level dispells so your SoW doesn't go bye-bye. If you get a splurt or a winged death down really deep don't be afraid to crystal, egg, or golem your own buff stack into oblivion if it will help you survive. Don't fill up your buff stack completely as DOTs will still land but will be "invisible" and you won't be able to dispel them.

==Camping==
Camping is an interesting escape tool. If you have 30 seconds of freedom or sense impending although not yet arrived doom, camp out and go get something to eat or take a nap or go outside. Your enemy will realize you've camped and (sic)

==Linkdeath==
If you are already engaged with a player and they go linkdead, kill them before they kill you or hightail it out of there because they will cast spells like an NPC and the PvP damage reduction does not take effect. If you were not engaged and did not intend to, do not attack or it is illegal as per Verant "regulations." Them's the breaks. If you develop large packet loss, this can occasionally be fixed by sending certain information to the server, namely a tell or a blank /say. The apostrophe key and then the enter key tapped in quick succession will do the trick quickly but will also alert unaware enemies to your presence. Better to send a blank tell to the group or guild if you are sneaking about.

==Levitating==
If the area is a place where the opponent can benefit from having levitate, then you must dispel it immediately. If the opponent is a mage consider how many instant casting dispel rings they will have compared to how much pumice you are willing to spend. Attempt to maximize the damage taken by falling opponents who've had their levitate canceled.

Levitate is usually not beneficial to the rogue unless your opponent has a levitate you cannot deal with or you need to escape easier over rough terrain. Remember that you cannot jump while levitating and neither can your opponent. Do not remain in casting range of a caster who has positioned themself in an area unreachable without levitate. If all else fails people on unreachable precipices can be knocked down (usually for fall damage) using the Breezeboot's Frigid Gnasher, which is highly unresistable although it carries a dangerous casting time of 10 seconds. Opponents levitating over water can have their spells nullified using water hopping tactics.

==Water/Lava Hopping==
If you are in the water/lava when the spell connects and your opponent is not (or vice versa) the spells will not take effect on you and you will receive "Soandso tries to cast a spell on you but you are protected." Incredibly useful tactic that should be employed wherever there is water or lava.

==Ghosting==
Everquest has trouble predicting character positions after significant changes on the z-axis. If you are on a ledge and SEE them drop (don't EVER be fooled by "close-calls"), predict where they hit and where they ran, don't attack the ghost as it will disappear soon. Harder is when you are running up/down hills and they ghost. You will see a character model run in circles or perhaps stop or sit and finally disappear (this also happens after gates/shadowsteps occasionally). There is no surefire way to predict where they are, simply estimate a direction and commit to that direction, using cast-time pumice and double-ducks to determine range. You can use this to your advantage when evading an enemy by bouncing up and down zone walls and hills and various elements of the terrain.

==Illusions==
Illusions grow worthless as your notoriety grows. Sometimes they are decent when surrounded by newbs, as they have a tendency to shout your position when in a foreign racial zone. DF gives you infravision and makes you smaller (helpful depending on your race).Gnome makes you very small and is ideal for jousting. Iksar, sadly, does NOT give regen. Many bugs used to (and possibly still do) exist in regards to illusion, most notably the Backstab/Skill bug where you could not backstab/disarm/etc. while in illusion form (although the keys would grey). Usually in conjunction with this were the movement/dot bugs, whereby root or snare or darkness would land (and hurt your health in the case of darkness) but would not impede your movement unless your illusion dropped before they wore off. Dots would not appear in the buff stack and would do full damage as a result of not being dispelled. There was a rumor that bards in werewolf form could not be backstabbed. I tested this myself as a HEF vs. a HUM bard and found that I could backstab the bard. Be wary though when using illusions as many of these antiquated bugs still exist on the Racewar servers and will pop up from time to time.

==Races==
Racial sizes alter how much you will need to lead in order to score a hit. Trolls and Ogres have large sides and it is more difficult to get around to score hits while chasing or jousting. Shorties are harder to see and chase over terrain. This is coming from my perspective as a HEF. Yours may alter depending on which class you select. The gnome size is best for fighting although I recommend getting a gnome mask if you can as normal gnomes cannot use many useful mid-sized items. The racial size advantage is not overpowering but it is noticable Trolls and Iksar have a 20pt or so extra regen at 60.

==Rogue Abilities==
Keep all Defense, Offense, Parry, Dual Wield, Riposte, Double Attack , Dodge and Piercing skills maxed. Also keep 1HB or 1HS maxed if you plan on using them.

*Sense Heading - Worthless and slow, buy a compass.

*Bind Wound - Pretty worthless if you have a Mrylokar's Breastplate. Max bind wound plus a Fungus Tunic will outheal the Velious chestguards by a minute amount (they have a longer cast time than Mrylo) up to 70%. Limited use in group format.

*Hide - Caps at 200. Use it to detarget against an opponent without invis (will not stop spells already being cast), to sneak in front of MOBs who do not see through rogue hide, or right before each joust. Hide will also bug track, causing the tracker to believe you are at the point where you last hid (so move after or stop when running). If you hide sometimes people aren't wearing a see invis item, or you may have dispelled their see invis. This will remove you from the target box but won't stop a spell already being cast. This can be helpful when running or jousting an unobservant opponent. Evade can also be used to transfer mob aggro to other players (because they aggro'd the mob in the first place, right?).

*Disarm - Use it every time it pops on all classes. Some opponents do not monitor their weapon slots/hit reports and this results in an occasional easy kill or at the very least in disorienting your opponent. Disarming an opponent with a full/close to full inventory will result in 2 items going to their cursor and the rest dropping the ground/poofing. Do not feel bad if it poofs but consider returning any items that fall. You know better than to keep your inventory full or bags incapable of holding the item sizes you've equipped, your opponent should know this too. Defend against disarm by keeping a main inventory slot open and hotkeyed next to your weapon slot so you don't have to open a bag or go to your inventory. Also keep an actual autoattack button so you can see when you've been disarmed.

*Sneak - Highly useful. Allows you to sneak behind ANY mob and also removes the sound from your steps against players. At level 60 running with sneak on at all times as it will not decrease your speed. Before 60 sneak is probably not ideal for rushing someone. If a person is so unobservant you can land a backstab on them sitting with sneak you can do it without sneak and it will take less time for you to get there as well. Rush them and do not relent.

*Pick Lock - Limited PvP use. Lock people in the Freeport bank instead.

*Pick Pocket - Does not work against players on the PvP-Teams servers.

*Safe Fall - Useful talent. Many classes will take moderate fall damage on hilly terrain. Helpful for leaping off spires or ledges after quarry. If you're in a zone like Gfay follow them off the edge, they will be wounded at the bottom.

*Swimming - Amazingly useful. Max it at 200 if you have to leave your guy swimming into a corner overnight. Not everyone maxes swimming and this can give you the edge in underwater battles and chases. It is also next to impossible to track someone while swimming. Consider how this works both for you and against you. When you swim at someone predict where your prey will pop out of the water or where they may stop to attempt to gate and cut them off. Do not swim deep unless you are close to killing them or they are a gating class. Level your vision to look both below and above the water at the same time. Characters have a tendency to ghost underwater. Remember that you can always water hop versus spells.

*Throwing/Archery -Worthless. If you are far enough away to use a range weapon as a rogue you are in a bad position. You should always be right on top of your opponent as your autoattack and backstab do many times more damage. I wouldn't really recommend using these against a sowboot shaman either. If you can maintain that range at your own sow speed you should maintain yourself right on his back. Fill your slot with a resistance or hitpoint/AC item depending on the class you are fighting. A good progression for resists is Runed Bone Fork -> Thex Dagger -> end-game encounter resist item. Don't throw that item.

*Apply/Make Poison - Might as well work it up. More on this in other sections.

*Instill Doubt - Does not work on players. Works on pets on mobs. RARELY useful. If Instill Doubt is the deciding factor in your battles you are doing something wrong. Target the player, continue attack and press the ID button, switch to the pet before it resolves then switch back after it connects or more likely, fails. If you're having this much trouble with pets consider opening with Muscle Lock IV snare poison on the pet then switching to the caster. Or dispel the pet as necessary to remove any offending power or speed buffs. You should be able to lengthen your circles while chasing circling casters to avoid pet hits. Don't let them stun you. If you are running and a pet is stunning/attacking you from behind get rid of their speed with egg-shaped pumice/golem metal wands or use the Nimble trick. Remember, pets won't follow across zone lines.

==Rogue Disciplines (in order of usefulness)==

*59 Duelist - Great for opening on sitting opponents or as a finisher to end troublesome classes. Often this discipline and proper item use is the only way to defeat skilled players of a certain class. 12 second duration, make it count.
*55 Nimble - Excellent to avoid attacks (from player, mob, or pet) to cast a spell since you have zero channeling. Does not work if player is behind you. Switch out items, send a tell for help, adjust your package, whatever. 12 second duration.
----- Line of Worthlessness -----
*56 Kinesthetics - Know that you will throw 2 backstabs and four attacks as your opener on an opponent which may or may not connect.
*54 Deadeye - At least one backstab and an attack or two will connect on an opponent.
*53 Counterattack - Weak version of nimble. Miniscule damage. 
*30 Resistant - Uh, it's better than Fearless.
*58 Blinding Speed - The haste sucks, the duration sucks, this discipline sucks.
*40 Fearless - Players cannnot fear other players. I guess maybe if you have a fearing mob or dragon on you.

*Fake Discipline - Make a hotkey that emotes a fake discipline to trick opponents into certain behavior.


==Rogue's Order of Stat Importance for PKing==
*Stamina - Hitpoints
*Strength - ATK boost, helps prevent encumbrance.
*Agility - Only important to not be encumbered while low on stamina or hitpoints. You MUST keep this stat at/above 118 to avoid death march (decreased speed as a result of lowered agility at dangerous health levels) at any low hitpoint level and at/above 123 to avoid AC penalty (75 AGI nominal level) at any low hitpoint level. After that AGI has only a small effect on AC for PKing. So keep it at/above 123 at all times and then focus on STA and STR.
----- Unimportant -----
*Dexterity
*Charisma
*Intelligence
*Wisdom

==Tips By Class==

===Bard ===
Sadly there were only 3 bards on the server who I could fight with as the rest were all Elven. One of these quit, one of them was in my guild, and one never played. Fortunately there were many Elven bards, some highly skilled, and I was able to couple my few fighting experiences with what I saw and heard from the Elves. I never died to a bard. The main resist to keep up is magic, although some songs do target other resists. Attempt a poison as it may be your only hope for killing the bard, then lay into them with Duelist if it sticks. Don't kill yourself on a bard's damage shield. Bard songs have a 1 tick (six seconds) refresh rate, meaning a good bit of egg while they Selo around or fumble for jboots can mean a dead bard. You cannot interrupt a bard no matter what (their channeling is 255). This means items too. Bards will attack, then run away to regen and return, seeking to win by attrition. Use your healing breastplate as necessary, if they run in to interrupt duck twice to cancel casting and land a backstab. Dispel anything they stick on you, especially debuffs. Occlusion of sound is a 15pt debuff to Magic, Fire, and Cold. Don't bother trying to dispel it. Just make sure your resists are high enough. Although bards can run from you easily, I find it not that difficult to evade a bard at jboot speed even when they have Selo's. Watch out if they are using a tash orb and consider using cure poison. You should not die to a bard 1 on 1. If you are a bard PvPer or knowledgeable about the proper tactics please send me an addendum to this at Filash@email.com.

===Cleric===
Clerics have no way to kill you short of damage shield, items, weak jousting with blunt weapons, or magic based DD spells. Clerics keep themselves buffed and may stack a sow or damage shield in very deep, meaning that you may have to resort to a golem wand or lots of egg depending on the skill and preparation of the opponent. Your magic resistance should be high enough to mitigate or resist the damage from any DD spell the clerics cast. The only resist necessary for clerics is magic. DD spells drive them OOM quickly. Do not get low on health from a damage shield as a DD spell can occasionally take you out, and that would be just embarrassing. Immediately dispel any of the Celestial line of heals as they are heal over time buffs. If a Cleric or Paladin uses divine aura, follow them around and do not relent on the attack (it lasts 18 seconds max). Stick on them, clerics have a good chance of channeling a gate. Their pet is weak and dies in one or two hits should they absentmindedly consider using it. All CLR spells are magic based.

===Druid===
Dispel wolf-form (sow speed), SoW, levitate, and damage shield everytime they are up. You usually don't have to dispel their hitpoint buffs but it depends on how much of an advantage you need. Winged Death is a nasty dot they get at 54 that needs to be dispelled immediately (the damage does not accelerate like Splurt/SHM epic), it is also very difficult to resist and will land almost always. Smart druid opponents will still have jboots after their SoW is dispelled. Druid pet is not a threat unless you only have slow pumice. It costs too much mana, has few hitpoints, and does little damage. Get in close and don't let them cast their fire nukes. If you see them start casting a SoW/Spirit of Cheetah you can either attempt an interrupt, egg after it lands, or immediately begin casting a Crystallized Pumice that will resolve after the spell takes hold. Make sure you never get snared or rooted...if you do dispel hard. They do not use any decent spells that affect Disease or Poison, but occasionally Ice.

===Enchanter===
Heh. Don't die to an enchanter. The Tash line of spells costs little mana to cast, casts in a second, is unresistable, and lowers your MR by 1.5 what it does to mobs. Fortunately, enchanter nukes are costly, magic based, and easily resistable. All enchanter spells are magic based, except for perhaps Tash, which while unresistable leaves a poison counter (that can be cured py potions although easily reapplied.) If an enchanter is using a pet against you expect that pet to be speeded and/or runed. If you do not feel you can take the enchanter out before taking considerable damage from the pet, dispel/kill the pet as necessary. They are rather weak. If an enchanter is using a pet they cannot mez you. Enchanters get a fast casting unresistable DD at level 8, which will stun you for a brief moment. They may use fire elemental illusion and dmg shield potions in conjunction with rune-ing to attempt to get you to kill yourself. Dispel them. Dispel dot lines if they land on you and dispel your friends' mezzes if you cannot hit them (must be grouped). Rapture is their 59 mez with a decent recast time, it is unresistable and can set you up for big punishment from other classes or allow the enchanter to escape/gate. Consider carrying Crimson Potions (purchased at any potion vendor) which will heal/DOT you for 180 seconds. If you have a DOT you cannot be mezzed. Use it before as you cannot use the items while mezzed. Enchanters may also use Dazzle which is a difficult to resist mez. If you can be Dazzled while tashed your magic gear needs to be stronger (approximately 160 range). All ENC spells are magic based.

===Magician ===
Dispelling the pet's attack buff can help too. Dispel the magician's SoW/DS/lev/caster HP buff/whatever. If they have their pet up (especially epic) you will need to dispel its speed buff to get away from it. Never attack the pet. Earth pet should never root you through your magic resist, never attack the Fire Pet as it has a damage shield, Water pet will nuke you vs. cold, and Air pet is the hardest to handle as it stuns you. Remember that pets do not follow the magician across zone lines so mages will be wary about zoning. Mage nukes are easily resisted but may have a tendency to catch you off guard if you're not sticking them. If the mage is circling you will need to widen your arc as you follow them to avoid being hit/stunned by the pet. Kill the mage as fast as possible and their pet will disappear. Instill Doubt the pet if you think it can land and will not take too much attention away from the mage. Dispel Mala if they cast it on you. All magician nukes are Fire or Magic based.

===Monk ===
Like WAR, watch for the riposte or high damage discipline. In the case of the riposte discipline either get behind them or more preferable avoid them for the duration altogether (11 seconds?). Remember that monks get mend but it has a decent refresh time. If they are dual wielding you should have an easier time jousting them to death. Monk weapons hit very, very hard. Avoid getting stunned by a Tranquil Staff, and Nimble if you do so they don't kill you with a discipline. They also have a better Safe Fall than you. Switch to AC gear.

===Necromancer===
Keep top open for dispel dots. Floating NEC = Dead Man Floating (see invis, poison resist, lev), so dispel. A floating necro also means that your poison will NOT land. Dispel any speed/runes/Shield of the Magi on the necro and lay into them. Watch out for shadowstep tactics and learn to recover. At 60 a necro can lifetap you and shadowstep while you attempt to follow him, and kill you if you're not good. Make sure you are faster than him and not missing your chances for attacks and he should fall. Be wary of pets and if you cannot kill the necro in time lead them off the necro and kill/dispel them while working on an Instill Doubt. Jboots run faster than a necro pet unless it's buffed. You should have sow. All decent necro dots can be dispelled and all others should be resisted. Some necros will cast fast casting junk buffs on you in an attempt to prevent you from dispelling dots. Use egg if you cannot crystal through. Splurt is a slow working dot, it accelerates and does all its damage at the end, and very little at the beginning. If you can kill them before it begins to accelerate press on, otherwise stop to dispel. Heat blood and its ilk should be dispelled immediately unless it will prevent your kill. Vexing Mordania will need to be dispelled off you AND the necro. Deflux is very fast casting. Necro spells affect every resist, although their magic and fire dots are very hard to resist and will land almost always. Lifetaps are unresistable.

===Paladin===
Dispel HP buffs, SoW, and damage shields. Dispel the paladin self heal DOT. Attempt to get a Duelist kill when they are low before they can Lay on Hands. Joust the best you can and try to interrupt spells without getting whacked by their epic or primal or better 2h. Note that you may have to run off if they have a Dain Ring to run them down by attrition. Their nuke is magic based but hard to resist--it's weak anyways. Don't be in front of them when the finish casting a spell.

===Ranger===
Note that rangers can fill up an entire buff stack with their spell easily, putting sow and a damage shield on the bottom. Therefore you should expect to spend at minimum 1 Golem Metal Wand on any decent level 60 RNG you expect to fight. The buff stack is 15 slots large, a Golem Wand fully expended will cancel 15 slots, assuming your opponent does not re-buff imbetween the casts. Primal Bow or similar powered bows will rock you if you get out of range. Thus your jousting rest-position distance is shortened, advance if they attempt to back up for shots. Keep out of range distance. Don't let a ranger reverse kite you and don't let them Trueshot ("Soandso's bow crackles with mystical energy.") you either as you cannot weather repeated 100pt+ bow shots. If you cannot escape over hilly terrain get in close and try that instead or gate the hell out of there. Learn the limits of the bow on a running opponent/one behind objects but remember some bows carry insane ranges. If for some reason they use the parry disc ("Soandso twirls his blades deftly.") get in and land hits from behind. Make sure you are interrupting their spells. 

===Rogue===
Sorry, I gotta keep some secrets.

===Shadow Knight===
Like paladins don't be in their weapon range when they finish casting. The hardest class to defeat at 60 one-on-one. Note that their death touch will take off a good 1100 or so hitpoints instantly (using disc). Interrupt spells, dispel dots, dispel epic lifetap on you AND him. Make sure your MR is high enough to resist the darkness line. Dispel or plow through any Diamondskin. Don't worry too much about the pet, but lead it away and kill it if necessary. Dispel Vampiric Curse on you/him. Follow through the shadowstepping. 

===Shaman===
Dispel hit point/regen buffs. Know that a shaman with an epic will have sow boots, and thus it is next to impossible to kill them outside without running very fast, possessing a good bit of skill, or tricking them into thinking they can win if they fight you. Spear dot is very similar to Splurt. Disarming stops the epic from casting. Dispel Malo if the land it immediately. Plauge is very slow. If you cannot kill the shaman quickly you will need to take care of the pet either by killing/dispelling it and pausing momentarily between rounds on the pet to interrupt the shaman. Avoid the pet otherwise if possible and attempt to fight SHM inside. Your poison and disease resists should be high enough to resist Bane of Nife(poison)/Pox of Bertoxxulous(disease) but you will need to cure them off if they land. Also cure off Insidious Malady (disease based). Dispel torpor. Interrupt heals. Make sure your MR is high enough so that you do not get slowed, it is easy to resist. Dispel if you do. If you sneak up on a SHM and he is cannabalizing, let him finish draining his life to his mana and kill him. Running an opponent out of mana is very rarely a legit tactic to kill them, UNLESS you see they have been soloing etc. Shaman spells target Magic, Ice, Poison, and Disease.

===Warrior===
Watch for riposte/damage discs and avoid them. Warriors have more hitpoints, higher AC, get triple attack at 60, and will probably outdamage your jousts, so you have to be that much better. Attempt a Duelist kill if you can't handle them. A warrior bow CAN finish you off if you're just that close to dying. This is just a straight up joust match, so make sure you play better and run faster. Some warrior 2handers have very long refresh times. Memorize these times in seconds and assume they are wearing 40% haste (dispel any Eyepatch buffs). Use those long refresh times to stick imbetween jousts. Wait for backstab to refresh each joust pass if necessary and let them have it. Similar to a monk fight. Switch to AC gear if they are not using proc'ing weapons that check your resists.

===Wizard===
Dispel any sow or epic rune. Know how much each bubble of life you have approximately represents. Watch what lures they are using and see how much they are taking off. Depending on the wizard's level, most will use lures and not even bother to root you (perhaps once to test your resists), therefore your resist gear is mostly useless and can be exchanged for hitpoint gear. Wizards will depend on yonder instead of shadowstep which will take them a farther distance. The yonder line of spells does not take the wizard higher on the z-axis than where they started, so many gravitate towards hill crests before casting. One basic wizard strat is to simply yonder over and over again casting as you come in range and yondering before you reach them. The problem with this is, if you have a decent SoW (and occasionally jboots) your ETA to the caster in a straight strafing line may be faster than the spell, giving you ample time to attempt not only an interrupt of the spell, but a full line of attacks during the casting and after during any running or yonder attempts. If your regen is high enough and you can keep up with all the yondering it will quickly become a game of attrition in the rogue's favor. If you lose them for a while and they have their epic they will be sure to refresh it. Don't wait time swinging at a shadowstep ghost. Head around and see if you can figure out where they landed. This takes practice.

If you note they have been casting for a while and do not feel you can reach them in time, do a 180 and attempt to run out of range. Depending on how much of a slow ass you are this may or may not work. Occasionally this has the added benefit of lowering your health to the point where the wizard switches to aggresive tactics, not attempting to yonder and wait. I have never seen this impatience pay off as it usually results in a dead wizard.

Another tactic of most casters, and wizards especially due to their line of gate spells, is running up TALL wizard spires. In some zones this works well such as GFay or Dreadlands, but other spires such as SRo are nowhere near tall enough. Going toe to toe with this tactic is risky at best with higher level wizards or wizards using lure, especially if they are levitating and you are not. Waiting in the center on the ground dispelling with slow pumice while they float down dropping anti-personnel lures is the exact inverse of cool (run out of range). The spires have a tendency to impede movement and get you stuck in weird places (which can be fixed by jumping and running around the circumference), ef

(guide ends abruptly here, evn in the original post)

[[Category:Rogue Guides]]
[[Category:Player Guides]]