[quote="langeweile"]

Dagger 101
– a Rogue concept –

Others call it a knife – you call it an art.

Motivation
Evaluate and demonstrate the ability of the Rogue to perform in the top-tier league of Strikers, while retaining both their general Rogue identity as well as their superb debuffing abilities, and give Rogue players a framework to craft their own build from.

Constraints
— No multiclassing or hybriding is used, just resources naturally available to the Rogue.
— Material obviously broken or often unavailable is avoided.
— The race is largely left open, although the assumption of a basic optimal choice of Dex +2 is made.
— Any Rogue Tactics (class feature) can be add to this framework.

Framework
— Race: any with Dex +2
— Attributes: 20+ Dex, 13+ Str/Cha, 13 Con, 10/10/8 the rest
— Skills: Acrobatics, Insight, Intimidate, Perception, Stealth, Thievery (for full power access)
— Weapon: Dagger (Subtle in Heroic, Bloodiron in Paragon, Bloodiron & Frost in Epic)
— Paragon Path: Daggermaster
— Epic Destiny: Deadly Trickster
— At-Wills: Deft Strike (for mobility and the restealth and throw trick), Piercing Strike (can be retrained to Ripost Strike / Sly Flourish or Disheartening Strike after getting Deft Blade)
— Encounters: at least one Minor Action attack (Low Slash L3 / Tumbling Strike L17), any two control powers (Dazing Strike / Positioning Strike L1, Imperling Strike / Sand in the Eyes L7, Stunning Strike / Tornado Strike L13, Scorpion Strike / Shimmering Blade / Steel Entrapment L23, Dance of Death / Safe Bet / Sheathe the Blade L27, Critical Opportunity (L11 PP), and remember you always can take / keep lower level powers instead
— Dailys: Press the Advantage (L1), Bloodbath (L5) / …  / Assassin's Point (L29), Knockout (L9), Deep Dagger Wound (L20 PP)
— Utilities: any one (L2), Ugly Finish (L6), Spot Weakness (L10 Skill Power), Meditation of the Blade (L12 PP), Insightful Riposte (L16 Skill Power), Seize the Moment (L22), Epic Trick (L26)
— Feats (Heroic): Backstabber, Slaying Action, Weapon Expertise (Light Blades) [L4], Melee Training (Dex), Nimble Blade, Weapon Focus (Light Blades)
— Feats (Paragon): Two-Weapon Fighting, Two-Weapon Opening [L12], Deft Blade, Rogue Weapon Mastery, any two other
— Feats (Epic): Lasting Frost, Wintertouched, Epic Recovery (or Martial Mastery), Triumphant Attack, any two other
— Noteable Equipment: Iron Armbands of Power as affordable; Ring of Giants (L13), War Ring (L16, a second copy by Epic), Ring of Free Time (L29); Gloves of Ice, Siberys Shard of Merciless Cold (two copys), Frozen Whetstones all as affordable by Epic; Dice of Auspicious Fortune (L11), Stone of Earth (L12) for extra rolling precision; any armor; any neck; any other items as affordable

Performance Evaluation

Customisation
— Race: Half-Orcs make excellent Brutal Scoundrels and can be built for some particularly good novas (get a cheap Blood Fury Weapon), and Bugbears have the highest sustained damage output. Drows are good Artful Dodgers and have strong control and damage options. The Rogue's thirst for feats, defenses and skills can be well fulfilled by Humans. Halfling are very defensive, and together with Kobolds and Goblins are the kings of mobility, as their small size also lets them walk through spaces of larger mobs.
— Skills: Acrobatics is highly recommended due its usefulness and being a common requirement. All other skills can be chosen by preference and in our build were just selected them to aquire certain utility powers, although Intimidate as prerequesite for Rattling attacks is of particular interest.
— Other Classes: As every class, Rogues can well use MCing to improve their performance. The Fighter for Battlefury Stance (L2) and the Kensai PP is a good choice, as is Ranger for extra Quarry damage, the many non-standard action and multi-attacks and the very stylish Giantslayer PP. But almost every Striker has something to offer for the Rogue, and the Paladin has a strong MC feat to screw with a mob and access to some strong damage boosting powers. Hybriding is possible as well, but you always need to keep your Light Blade / Crossbow requirement in mind.
— Paragon Path: While no other PP is as much a damage powerhouse as the Daggermaster, about all Rogue PPs are solid choices, and all come with a cool flavour. For good damage and particularly more steady damage your best alternative is the Fighter's Kensai or Shock Trooper, and for mobility it's hard to beat the Ranger's Giantslayer.
— Epic Destiny: The Deadly Trickster is probably the most versatile choice available and the only way to nova twice per day, and as such well suited for every Rogue. Alternatives are about any ED that gives a Dex boost, Punisher of the Gods to maximise crits and Eteneral Seeker to cherrypick powers from other classes.
— Encounters: These are your bread and butter choices to get by between novas and at-will spamming. The three minor action attacks are the strongest choice for damage, and all offer good other benefits as well, and can even help to recover your SA damage after a miss. What they lack is some strong control effects, which is a very worthy part of the Rogue, and they neither offer good straight de/buffs, so pick up powers that do.
— Dailys: Your core nova relies on using a high damage attack on your target, which you can guarantee to crit thanks to preparation with Knockout. From allys to yourself taking other classes' powers and even sometimes items, there are a few other ways to do such preparation, and about any high damage main attack you fancy will do. Beyond that it's just piling as many other attacks on the target in one round, but maxing that with Press the Advantage is probably not very necessary. You instead have access to a wide range of devastating control powers and others with encounter long benefits, which all make strong contenders.
— Utilities: Use these to fill any gaps in your build, or if you don't feel you have any, refine it like we did here. You should in particular consider both powers from other classes, as mentioned there, and the huge range of tricks Skill Powers offer (there's even the Skill Power feat to pick up an extra one).
— Feats: The selection of Heroic feats provided up-thread is what all Rogues should get eventually, but everything else is just icing the cake. Your second concern is definately picking up some defensive boosts, of which Toughness / Durable, Paragon / Robust Defenses / Combat Anticipation and Two-Weapon Defense / Parrying Dagger are the most common options. But you can find endless feats to sink into oozing out a bit more damage, too. Also consider MCing, racial feats, Secret Strike, Quick Draw / Improved Initiative / Danger Sense / Surperior Initiative, Critical Ambush to improve your first strike capacity, CA improvements like Distant Advatage / Vicious Advantage / Expert Sneak and anything skill and non-combat related.
— Equipment: For weapons you probably want to stick to the ones discussed, although any featuring Radiant damage has its use if your allys (or you) exploit Divine means of imposing such vulnerability. Again your second concern should be defense, particularly against conditions. Also consider Solitaires to make the most out of your regular crits, and combined with a Belt of Titan Strength you can push your L30 nova as far as 1224.6 expected damage (1270.6 for Brutal Scoundrels), but you'll blow about all your daily activations on that one. As for utility powers, use items to close gaps, refine your favourite points and add improve your non-combat performance. Just remember that you should fill every slot by Paragon and that Wondrous Items like Scabbards can, while often high priced, give you benefits without taking up a valuable slot.

Further Readings
— The Art of Striking (by mkill) for strategies how to fulfill the job as Striker well
— The Rogue Handbook (by lordduskblade) for further opinions and options, such as racial feats, items, etc
— Critical Hits (by AA_Metatron) for a list of ways how to crit and how to abuse them

Feedback, in-play experiences, criticism and suggestion are always welcome.[/quote]