THE ULTIMATE NIGHTMARE DW CUN ROGUE

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MIN-MAXING AND GOLD DUPING, ALL DLC AND PROMOTIONAL ITEMS ARE ACCESSIBLE

Did this for fun throughout my last playthrough as a sort of diary to make sure I really had the meta down to a science and to prove to myself that cunning rogues are just as viable as DEX on nightmare. The only common deaths from party members I had were from Alistair prior to touching his dexterity, once he got the knight commander's plate and taunt it was pretty smooth. Criticism/improvements are welcome!

The warden in question is a Human noble rogue as he gets the best starting stats out of the 3 races and the most experience during the origin story. I have included a few tactics that I found necessary and sometimes even game breaking. Obviously not all the listed equipment can be found or equipped immediately however the use of DLC items allows easy access to some seriously OP items very early on.

BASE

str 11 dex 15 wil 12 mag 11 cun 15 con 10

BASE + FADE BONUS

str 15 dex 19 wil 16 mag 13 cun 20 con 12

GEAR

Rose's thorn (+2dex)

The edge

Helm of Honnleath (+2all)

High regard of house Dace (+6cun)

Andruil's blessing (+2all)

Key to the city (+2all)

Wicked oath

The Felon's coat (+6 dex)

Backhands -> Red Jenny seekers

Cadash stompers (+2dex)

BASE + FADE BONUS + GEAR

str 21 dex 33 wil 22 mag 19 cun 32 con 18

TOMES

Mortal vessel x2

skill and sundry x3 (all bonus points into cunning)

ALISTAIR

Starfang LS

Fade wall (Gaxkang farm)

Spellward

Knight commander's plate

Juggernaut boots, Gloves

Lifegiver

Ring of ages

Self any-> Shield wall, threaten

Enemy grabbing-> shield bash

Enemy short/medium range-> taunt

Self health<25%-> use poultice.

MORRIGAN

Winter's breath for coc

Reaper's vestements

magus war boots

spellward #2

The lucky stone

Self any> ice weapons

Enemy clustered=3-> sleep

Enemy sleeping-> waking nightmare, horror

enemy using magic attack> mana clash

WYNNE

Staff of the magister lord

Vestements of the seer

Enchanter's footing

Self any> rock armour, fire weapons

Ally, self health<50%> heal

Enemy rank elite> glyph of paralysis

Level 1:

Dex to 20, Formari tome: dex to 21, Dirty fighting, Dual-weapon training, Dual-weapon sweep.

Picked combat training II for the attack bonus, the high regard of house dace should be sufficient to pass the persuasion checks for now until we start boosting up cunning. This is also a prerequisite for Dual-weapon finesse.

Level 2:

Dex to 24, Dual-weapon finesse.

By equipping the lucky stone and the cinch of awakening; dexterity will be at 26 allowing the rogue to equip the edge in the game's first battle!

Level 3:

Pump cun for the rest of the game, Flurry.

Picked Coercion so that I'd never have to fail a persuade check in the entire game. Dexterity is high enough such that the rogue can equip jewelry and the helm of honnleath to meet the equip requirements for the rose's thorn, now to grind up cunning for the rest of the game.

Level 4:

Momentum.

Momentum is the first necessary skill in the game that I'd been working towards with a flat 30% dps increase. It can be beneficial to hold onto the barbarian's mace from the Chasind cache to meet the equip requirement for the helm of honnleath and tier 7 light armour.

Level 5 + GW Bonus:

Combat movement, deft hands I.

Choose trap making for some extra experience in Lothering to help push Cousland up to level 7. Combat movement is another huge talent for the ultimate backstabbing rogue, as the most important part of nightmare mode is combat, deft hands has been neglected until now.

Level 6:

Below the belt.

Between level 6 and 7 I like to work towards lethality with two useless talents.

level 7:

Assassin Specialization (+2dex), Deadly strike

This put me right at the end of the prologue stage of the game in Lothering. I used the reaper's cudgel to dupe a large amount of gold for the impending gear collection. It's very important to get as many items as possible from Bodahn the first time entering camp as he only restocks once before the final battle. I usually buy the spellward for Alistair, both tomes for Alistair and Morrigan, silverhammer's tackmasters for the warden and all the grandmaster elemental runes for the warden. It's easiest to travel straight back to Lothering then return to camp to purchase a second spellward and some more tomes for the party.

GEAR PILGRIMAGE

I first travelled to Denerim and headed to the wonders of thedas to buy the third arcane tome, the reaper's vestements and the ring of ages. I play Morrigan in a support CC role so the added spellpower from the Tevinter mage robes is redundant when she isn't doing any real damage. All 3 arcane tomes go into the mana clash line to trivialize any mage or demon fights.

Surviving Orzammar's gating encounter may be tricky at first, but with mana cleanse it becomes a much easier time without the mage annihilating the party with chain lightning as soon as one approaches. It is also possible to sprint through the battle as Dog and exit Orzammar though the deep roads map. The important items to consider are: Knight commander's plate (outside), the rose's thorn (commons), tome of the mortal vessel, tome of physical technique (commons), backhands (dust town), Morrigan's unique mirror gift (commons), lifegiver (commons), Key to the city.

Finally I travelled to the mage's tower to pick up the last remaining bits of gear for my OP level 7 party: Andruil's blessing, tome of arcane technique, staff of the magister lord.

level 8:

Lethality.

The best rogue talent in the game, with the warden's current stats, every attack will gain 5-10 points of damage just from taking this.

level 9:

Coup de grace.

Another great talent for a backstabbing rogue, I use this alongside the last arcane tome to have Wynne paralyze elite targets with the glyph. The warden will pick up 21 bonus points from the fade between level 8-9, with enough DLC gear the warden will be able to equip the helm of Honnleath and the battledress of the provocateur.

level 10:

Deft hands II

With cunning through the roof, the warden can now pick every lock in the game with just 2 points in lockpicking! The formula for lockpicking checks is below; ranks 3 and 4 are only really necessary for a pure dex rogue.

(CUN-10) + (10*DEFTHANDSRANK)

level 11:

mark of death

This is important to pick up in time for the dragon fight at level 12 alongside exploit weakness to give the warden a HUGE dps increase on bosses.

Level 12: Exploit weakness

Beat the high dragon at the first oppurtunity by exploiting FF and COC. Oh the joys of a double mage party.

Level 13: Stealth

Nothing to pick at this point. Many will be tempted to pick dual-weapon expert at a time like this, note that an unresolved bug means that using it alongside the tainted blade sustain will inflict bleeding wounds on the warden.

At this point in the game I've completed the mages' tower, the sacred ashes and the battle of redcliffe. Now to go on over to Denerim to grab the Felon's coat immediately.

Level 14: Bard Specialization (+2wil,+1cun) Lacerate.

Level 15-17: Bard talents up to song of courage.

I keep the song of courage on at all times, the damage bonus is good enough alone to warrant the 50 stamina cost.

(3 + 0.1 * (CUN - 10)) attack

(2 + 0.05 * (CUN - 10)) damage

(3 + 0.1 * (CUN - 10))% critical chance

Level 18-20+:

The meat of the build is over, I ended up putting the rest of my points into Stealth despite my immense hatred for the talent.

LEVEL 20 + FADE/SPEC BONUS + GEAR

str 21 dex 35 wil 22 mag 19 cun 92 con 18

During the final fight my warden was backstabbing the Archdemon for 100+ multiple times per second, He never stood a chance.