The Riftstalker soul has pushed the MMO genre to a new level. Finally, rogues are a legitimate tank, better than (or at least equal to) warriors in many circumstances. Warriors know this fact, and their stinky loin cloths are in a twist. For us, this opens up an entirely new dimension of game play. Becoming a master Riftstalker requires acquiring appropriate gear and a lot of patience; but once there, you will have limitless opportunities for your time in Rift.
The Basics:
For general purposes the two most important stats to build up are Dexterity, and Endurance, with Dodge coming in third for tanking. Rift is pretty good for not having to go crazy mixing and matching armor pieces. However, for the multiple role players, you will need to have a set of DPS armor and a set of tank armor.
Stats are broken down as such. For every 1 Dexterity you gain 0.5 point Attack Power, 1 point Dodge (roughly 0.024%), and 1 point Physical Critical Rating (roughly 0.038%). For every 1 Strength you gain 0.5 point Attack Power, 1 point Parry (roughly 0.016%), and 1 point Block (not applicable for rogues). For every 1 Endurance you gain 9 Hit Points, and for every 1 Toughness you will reduce all extra damage caused by NPC critical hits by 2%.
Toughness becomes really important at level 50. For the most part you will have to have at least a mix of some T1/T2 armor and crafted (of course keep working towards better tank gear). The general consensus states that the soft cap for T1 experts is 50, and 100 for T2. Based on my experience that is a bit low for the average player in the average group. Look towards adding 25-50+ to each of those values as you move into harder encounters.
All of that said, the Riftstalker soul is not just for tanking. It is also a great soul for pairing into other builds. This will be explained shortly.
Noteworthy Skills:
- Guardian Phase – Absolute must for tanking purposes, absolute must not for DPS purposes. Increased Armor Value by 50%, threat generation by 100%, all Resistances by 50, Endurance by 30%, and reduces all damage caused (outgoing, not incoming) by 30%.
- Improved Guardian Phase – +5% to Endurance, and for every point spent in the Riftstalker soul above 26 an additional +1% (when in Guardian Phase). The math gets a little funky, but the fact is – the more points you spend in the Riftstalker soul, the higher your Hit Point bonus will be when in Guardian Phase.
- Shadow Assault, Shadow Blitz, Shadow Stalk, Shadow Shift, and Shadow Warp – all send you to a pre-determined location 20-25 meters away. More importantly, all trigger Rift Barrier, Ruthless Stalker, Hasted Time, and Freedom of Movement (assuming you have points in those skills).
- Memory Capture and Flashback – these two skills are useless without each other. Memory Capture saves a spot in the world, one spot at a time, for five minutes. Flashback allows you to recall back to your Memory Capture, providing you are within 50 meters, every 30 seconds. Flashback is not bound by Line of Sight restrictions.
Planar Attraction – pulls 5 nearby enemies into one nice, neat stack right in front of you. Perfect for rounding up groups of casters, or those enemies that may wander off into the group.
The bottom line with Riftstalker is once you plane shift, be it Shadow Blitz, Shadow Stalk, etc. you gain a damage barrier, movement speed bonus, increased chance to score a critical hit, and temporary immunity to stuns/cc (some of this at higher levels). The trade-off is less damage mitigation (at least initially) and only a few taunts.
Soul Pairing:
Riftstalker is the only available choice for tanking, but tanking is not the only role for the Riftstalker. So far this guide has been focused on the tank aspect, but the Riftstalker soul is also great for hybrid builds. But first, let’s cover two of the major tanking builds and talk about strengths and weakness of both.
Tanking Builds:
Marksman (0) / Riftstalker (44) / Bladedancer (22)
This build has all the major tenants of what a Riftstalker tank should have, plus the added bonuses out of the Bladedancer tree such as +5% Dodge, +15% Dexterity, + 11% Parry, and others. Taking the Marksman soul for 0 points gives Swift Shot which is good for pulling.
Strengths: Excellent avoidance, 10 second cool-down interrupt/silence, group Dexterity buff, 2 minute cool-down +50% Dodge for 15 seconds, and half-way decent for DPS. Has the potential to switch to Stalker Phase and do a moderate amount of damage.
Weaknesses: Only 44 points in Riftstalker means -7% Endurance bonus which translates into lower over-all Hit Points. Also, no points available for spending in 3rd soul. While that might seem like not a huge deal, you miss out on a couple great, cheap, skills.
Bard (9) / Riftstalker (51) / Bladedancer (6)
This build is a classic all-in Riftstalker tank with some excellent bonuses obtained with wisely spent 15 leftover points. Most commonly used Riftstalker tank build is some very similar derivation to this build. Some people will dump 6+ points into the Ranger soul (5/5 Enduring) for an additional +5% maximum health, and +2, 4, 6% raw damage reduction (1/3, 2/3, 3/3 Bolster), as well as getting Quick Shot, which is great for pulling/adding combo points. How you go is a personal choice.
Strengths: Maximum Hit Point bonus including +40 Endurance from Fanfare of Vigor (which will add to your +*% bonus from Riftstalker talents), and a raw +10% to Hit Points. From Bladedancer: +5% Dodge, self Dexterity buff, 2 minute cool-down +50% Dodge for 15 seconds. Also from the Bard soul: 3% reduction in chance to be hit/crit, and an Armor Rating bonus from Anthem of Glory.
Weaknesses: Very low DPS, even when not in Guardian Phase. With this build you are a tank, whole tank and nothing but a tank – bring a healer.
Before moving on to non-tank builds, here is an example comparison of stats between the 44 and 51 point Riftstalker builds.
Non-Tanking Riftstalker Builds:
Riftstalker (27) / Nightblade (34) / Assassin (5)
This hypothetical build is designed as DPS with no viability as a tank. In theory one would use Stalker Phase while Stealthed/Concealed and engage in most fights by opening with Shadow Stalk and Dark Malady. Doing so would increased damage by 35% and Critical Hit chance by 15% for 10 seconds while also adding a shield that will absorb 15% of all physical damage for 15 seconds, increase movement speed by 30% for 4 seconds, and adds 2 combo points.
This can be done every 30 seconds.
Meanwhile, as you wait for Shadow Stalk to refresh, you can use Shadow Assault, Shadow Step, or Shadow Warp and gain much of the same benefit.
In theory a high tree Riftstalker hybrid works well. Fine tuning and adjusting to this play style would require some effort. Feedback on this build, or something similar, would be greatly appreciated.
Bladedancer (22) / Assassin (31) / Riftstalker (13)
For 13 points in the Riftstalker you can get an invaluable passive called Rift Scavenger. Whenever you kill any enemy with unused combo points left-over, you are healed for 6% of your maximum health per combo point. In other words, with this skill you have the potential to end most fights with a large portion of your health being refunded.
This works well when paired with high damage souls with some Area of Effect skills.
In addition to Rift Scavenger you can also get Unseen Fury, which is a straight +15% bonus to Attack Power, and Great Fortitude for +15% Endurance. Not too shabby for such few points. This is unbelievably beneficial to the lowbie rogue. You will not regret spending your first 13 points in this manner, guaranteed.
Additional Considerations:
As with all roles and souls that you may play, choosing the right gear and using the right runes to enhance what you have could mean all the difference. One rune that works well for tanking is the Windshielding Rune. This rune triggers very often, and the +15 parry/dodge overall is more valuable than having +10 Dexterity on your main hand.
Another step to bolstering your tank stats is to purchase a six-slot Planar Focus and insert six Vigorous Thirst Lesser Planar Essences. Doing so will be an over-all increase of +60 Endurance, +42 Strength, + 42 Dodge, and +36 Water Resist. These are relatively cheap, and sold by the Rare Planar Goods merchant, Jerel Wren, outside of Lantern Hook.
Tanking in general requires practice and patience; not just patience on your part, but for your group as well. As food for thought, please take the time to learn how to tank before jumping into a group haphazardly. Nothing is more frustrating than having a tank try to learn at everyone else’s expense. Practice on low level enemies, then work your way into normal dungeons with a close group of associates that understand you are trying to learn, and when you are well enough skilled and geared, then try your hand at some more challenging dungeons. Trust me, your party will thank you for it.
LET'S GET SOCIAL