Rogue is a deadly class in Loop Hero, but it does take a bit of practice to execute the right build. Players might struggle with the lack of sustainability Rogue offers, especially if they’re looking to use the Rogue to take down one of the bosses.
The Rogue does offer a powerful kit, however, with boosts to her Critical Damage and Evasion stats that can lead to an ultra-powerful build. Here’s our guide on how to build the perfect Rogue and conquer the loops.
Updated August 23rd by Harry Alston:To celebrate the upcoming launch of Loop Hero on the Nintendo Switch, and the recent update that added new tiles and monsters to the game, we’re revisiting this best Rogue build guide to bring it up-to-date. The main method of focusing on attack speed is still powerful for the Rogue, but the new tile changes have brought its balance more in line with other styles of play.
11 Rogue Attack Speed Build Has Been Balanced
The old powerful build for the Rogue - before the introduction of the June patch changes - was to stack Dunes and Forests along the River tiles to increase your hero’s attack speed while drastically reducing every enemy’s attack speed. This meant the Rogue could kill the monsters quick enough to not worry about taking much damage.
This build is still strong, but there have been a few changes introduced that make it harder:
Despite these changes, you only need to make sure you’re using the Arsenal (to get Magic HP in the form of the Amulet), placing down plenty of Forests and Thicks with Deserts and Sand Dunes (just maybe not next to each other) and the Rogue will still demolish those loops.
10 Understanding Rogue’s Strengths
Rogue receives a percentage boost to Counter Attack, Evade, Crit Chance, and Crit Damage. The class also begins with a flat rate of 5 per cent Vampirism, but can’t use any Vampirism weapons or gear during the loop. All gear is collected via a Trophy system, which can also make getting the gear you want a little trickier.
This leads to problems with staying alive. While the Necromancer uses Skeletons as a shield and the Warrior can regen quickly, Rogue can feel a bit squishy. There are ways to counter this and turn the Rogue into a very powerful loop-destroyer.
9 Try Building A Smaller Deck
As we have already mentioned, Rogue struggles to stay alive if the loop gets too difficult too early. One way to combat this is to opt for a smaller deck, with a smaller pool of cards. Focus on one or two key cards and play around them, rather than relying on all the different synergies in Loop Hero.
A Bookery can be useful to cycle through cards and works especially well in a small deck. If you do find yourself with too many useless cards in your hand, the reset via the Bookery will let you build the loop you want.
8 Spider Cocoons Is A Great Choice Of Card
Spider Cocoons might appear terrifying at first. They do spawn a lot of spiders and the tile will quickly fill up to a maximum of four enemies. While this might be daunting for a squishy Rogue, Spider Cocoons is still a great addition to your deck.
Enemies drop cards. The more cards you have, the better. Kill a row of Spiders and you’ll likely have a full hand of useful cards. Despite their strength in numbers, Spiders aren’t too difficult to kill, and the rewards are worth the challenge.
7 Smith’s Forge Is Perfect For Rogue
The Rogue gets gear through a Trophy system. Each monster slain drops a token, which is then exchanged at the Cozy Camp on each loop for weapons and armor. This does mean you might not always get the loot you want.
However, you can turn that useless loot into a powerful buff with the Smith’s Forge. This card destroys items in your inventory and replaces them with a damage reduction buff, sort of like an extra layer of armor. As a Rogue, you want to take as little damage as possible, so this works perfectly.
6 The Arsenal
The Arsenal is a powerful Golden card unlocked later in the game. It grants an extra equipment slot for the Rogue in the form of Amulets. These Amulets grant Magic HP, another method to keep your Rogue character alive loop after loop.
When choosing which Amulet is best it’s a pretty good idea to just opt for the one with the highest Magic HP stat. The rest of your gear and general loop build should account for other necessary stats.
5 Mountains Or Desert? Both Can Work
Rogue can make use of both the Mountain or Desert card, although we’d recommend choosing one or the other to get maximum efficiency out of your stats. Mountains increase base HP whereas Deserts decrease the HP of all monsters. They’re sort of similar, in a way.
One thing to be remembered about Mountain cards is that when you place them in a 3x3 square the health boost is increased significantly. However, this also means Harpies will start spawning around your loop, which can destroy even the best-laid plans.
4 Forest And Thicket
The Forest card can be extremely useful on Rogue, especially if paired with the River card. The River doubles the effectiveness of adjacent landscape cards, which means the two percent attack speed value offered by Thickets is doubled to four.
Attack speed is brilliant on Rogue. The concept is just to kill everything before it kills you. In addition, if you place Sand Dunes along the River you can slow down all the enemies so that they’re dead before they even hit you once. One strategy we’ve tried is to keep Forest and Desert tiles in hand and only use the better version of both cards: Thicket and Sand Dunes.
3 Best Gear For The Rogue
Rogue has the advantage of receiving several percentage boosts to its essential stats. When aiming for the perfect Rogue build you should primarily focus on Magic HP from the amulets. Crit Chance and Crit Damage are also good options to deal serious damage.
Evasion is another great option. The premise is simple: you’ll stay alive longer if your enemies can’t hit you. Counter is the exact opposite to this because it relies on enemies hitting you, which you really don’t want as the Rogue. Best to stay away from this stat line.
2 Best Perks For The Rogue
Rogue has a selection of powerful perks that complement its kit. We often pick up Card Sharp early on most builds simply because it might give you the chance to put down another Thicket or River tile.
Picky is another top choice for Rogue. This reduces the number of items accrued via the Trophy system but raises their rarity. You will be able to collect rarer and more powerful loot this way. Another option is Nothing Is Sacred, the perk that offers +3 HP after a kill. It’s all about staying alive, and extra HP never hurts.
1 Experiment With Your Rogue Builds
Rogue is a fun class with a lot of different potential builds. Attack Speed is useful in pretty much every build, but you could definitely focus more on the Evasion stat or even go for a full crit build.
In terms of different cards to experiment with, you could use the Beacon to increase Attack Speed even further, play around with the sustainability offered by the Meadow and River synergy, or go for a build that excels in taking down four or more enemies to farm resources. Loop Hero is a game that rewards trial and error. Good luck with your loops.
NEXT: Loop Hero Has Sold Over 500,000 Copies And New Features Are On The Way
