2 Handed Rogue Build - Dragon Age: Origins (DAO)

2-Handed Rogue Build

The builds offer a very unique playstyle that one might have thought of, but you would generally disregard it. So Rogue with a heavy weapon can dish out some big damage, and fully replace a normal rogue - which might surprise you.

Of course, this is not an "intended" way of playing the class so there will be some workarounds. First, the problem of wearing a Two-Hander. This requires plenty of strength so there will be a slight investment into it to unlock some better weapons.

Another aspect is low attack, which will come from minimal investment into strength and dexterity. This does require some buffs like Heroic Offense or Miasma to compensate for your low hit chance. So a mage is necessary in the group. They would also help with your low attack speed with Haste.

Cunning will play a huge role as it will give a multiplicative damage improvement from Lethality, Exploit Weakness, and Song of Courage. This is what will allow you to see very high numbers. Moreover, high Cunning will be perfect for lockpicking and disarming traps. So you get the best of both worlds.

If this sounds like what you are interested in, let's go more into the build!

Character Creation

If you are into optimizing there are a few things that you can do to optimize your build a bit.

Race

So, all the races can have rogue classes and have very interesting backstories for that. However, I do think for optimal setup up two of those are better:

Class

The choice here is obvious:

Background

To be fair there are quite a few background choices. Elves and Dwarves get two of each. Here are my recommendations

Attributes

For the start of the game, all points should be invested - +5 Cunning. Although this will delay the access to required equipment, reaching 20 as soon as possible will allow you to unlock all chests in the early game, and see traps.

Skills

I recommend one of the below:

Talents

There are 2 main talents that I would prioritize.

Quest Priority and Locations

Once you have finished Ostagar and Lothering, the world will open up and you can visit multiple areas. Below I will cover some progression recommendations, to obtain a few core items needed.

If you do not have Specializations unlocked:

1. Stoner Prisoner can obtain some good items, specifically Helm of Honnleath which will be useful for the build.
2. Circle Tower - additional attributes for progression and to reach the required strength threshold to save attribute points.
3. After 1 main story quest explore the world. You will have a random world encounter where you can recruit Zevran. He is the one who can teach the Assassin specialization with good relations (approval of 27 or more).
4. Talk with Leliana a few times in camp and get her on the positive side. Ask her about Orlais and spies. This will unlock Bard's specialization.
5. Your preferred quests

Full Build Setup

In this section, I will go with in-depth explanations of each important selection for attributes, talents, and skills. This will give you a better understanding of what role each decision will have on your overall build. The explanations can also be used to better decide your picks for optimizations.

Attributes

In this section, I would like to review the recommended attributes for Two-Handed Rogue Build. You will be required to pick them every level up, so optimizing and not wasting any of them will prove vital for the build.

Skills

The goal in my opinion is to get Combat Training and Coercion to a maximum. This will cover all the aspects that the main character would need.

Specializations

The build uses two specializations which both improve the build:

On the other hand, a Duelist specialization can also be relevant. It improves attack values with Dueling helping to land hits more consistently. However, this will require you to sacrifice some damage.

Talents

The build has minimal investment into talents. You will mainly concentrate on specialization and class ones.

Assassin Tree

Bard Tree

Rogue Tree

Dirty Fighting Tree

Below the Belt tree

Deft Hands tree

Stealth Tree

Power of Blood

These talents are obtained automatically if you drink a blood vial in Soldier's Peak.

Equipment

The gear you use with the 2-Hander Rogue Build will play a crucial role in combat. There are various combos that you can go with.

Below, you will find the gear that should be used with the build. Generally, the lower the item is in the table the lower its priority and the earlier you can get it. So the top ones are the best picks.

Weapons

Picking the correct weapon is especially important for this build. Because we want to minimize invested strength, make sure to get bonuses from other equipment. So equip those weapons that your strength allows, the highest one is 38.

Item	Description
Dragonbone Cleaver	The best weapon for this build as it comes with improved backstab damage. It will require 38 strength.
Starfang (Greatsword)	One of the best greatswords in the game with big bonuses to damage. Requires 38 strength.
Chasind Great Maul	Comes with good bonuses for damage, however, the stamina is irrelevant to the build.
Chasind Flatblade	The best pick for the early game can be obtained in Ostagar. Change to the better ones as you improve your strength.

Helm

Item	Description
Helm of Honnleath	One of the best helmets in the game giving +2 to all attributes.
Quicksilver Arming Cap	+2 Cunning to improve damage directly and from various talents.
Armsman's Tensioner	Although this is more intended for archers the attack bonus will help with landing attacks.
Free Scout Arming Cap	Provides +2 Dexterity which is less important than cunning in the late game.

Armor

Item	Description
Shadow of the Empire	Generally, this armor would not be as high. However, as it comes with bonus strength, this will allow wearing better gear and improve attack values.
Battledress of the Provocateur	This does trade blows with The Felon’s Coat. It can be obtained very early. Although it provides less dexterity it comes with a boost to dodge.
The Felon’s Coat	Gives big boosts to dexterity, armor, and defense.
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Leather Armor	I only recommend equipping this together with Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set. I would avoid using just armor, as its bonuses are disappointing.
Dalish Armor	Great armor early in the game. Can be bought in Dalish Camp. Moreover, you can equip it with other items for the Dalish Leather armor set bonus.

Gloves

Unfortunately, there are not many worthwhile gloves.

Item	Description
Red Jenny Seekers	Gives +15% to backstab damage.
Backhands	Similar to Red Jenny Seekers, however, gives only +10% to backstab damage.
Gloves of Guile	Gives a significant boost to armor penetration.
Qunari Siege Gauntlets	Gives 1.5 point armor penetration bonus
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Gloves	Give's +1 to Dexterity. Best to wear with Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set, but can be worn alone
Dalish Gloves	Use these gloves together with the Dalish Leather armor set

Boots

Item	Description
Cadash Stompers	Gives +2 dexterity, bonus armor, and improved critical chance.
Silverhammer’s Tackmasters	Gives +2 to Dexterity. Best boots for the Rogue in terms of damage.
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Boots	You can also wear them without Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set as they give bonus Dexterity.
The Lion's Paw	Provides a bonus dodge chance. It's a useful stat but not crucial for long-range builds which can avoid attacks.
Bard’s Dancing Shoes	A decent boost to defense, to make it easier to avoid enemy attacks.
Dalish Boots	Great early boots that you can obtain cheap in Dalish Camp. Use these boots together with the Dalish Leather armor set

Accessories

Item	Description
Andruil’s Blessing	Comes with a +2 to all attributes bonus improving all the stats the build needs.
Guildmaster's Belt	+3 Cunning, which is a significant boost to damage and also provides a bonus chance to dodge attacks.
Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering	You will need to finish Witch Hunt DLC to unlock this accessory. Gives +1 to all attributes, spell resistance, and improved dodge chance.
Dwarven Warrior's Belt	Gives +1 strength and armor, a decent early-game belt.
Ornate Leather Belt	+1 strength, simple and cheap belt to help with strength requirements for early game.

Amulets

Item	Description
The High Regard of House Dace	The best amulet in terms of offensive power as it improves Cunning.
Pearl of the Anointed	The +1 to all attributes is a significant boost, especially at the start of the game.
The Spellward	Considered one of the best amulets in the game as it gives dodge chances and spell resistance. Still, I am more in favor of offensive stats on amulets for a build using long-range weapons.
Heart of Witherfang	Comes with a +1 Strength bonus to minimize the gear requirements.
Magister's Shield	Improves defense and spell resistance.
Mark of Vigilance	Provides defense and resistance bonuses.

Rings

Item	Description
Key to the City	One of the best rings in the game. It will be contested by many builds, so just listing it here as an option.
Harvest Festival Ring	Improves dexterity and strength. The ring is perfect to gain attributes to wear the best armors in the game and save attribute points.
The Lucky Stone	+1 to all attributes that improve all the core stats of the build.
Ring of the Warrior	Improves dexterity and strength.
The Wicked Oath	Improves critical damage and armor penetration.
Dusk Ring	Sacrifice 1 point in strength to gain +3 Cunning. Could be a perfect pick if you have all the required stats to wear the best two-handed weapons.
Silverleaf	+1 Cunning which is not much, but still a relevant addition to the build's core talents.

How to use the Build

In this section, I would like to go through some general tips on how to correctly utilize the build.

Main mechanics

In this part, I would like to go through the core mechanics of the build. Using them you can construct your preferred playstyle and utilize everything that the various talent and equipment picks have to offer.

Sustained Talents

The build does not use many active talents so it's easy to use sustained abilities with minimal impact on the offensive potential of the build.

1. Song of Courage - the main Bard song, that will improve your and party member damage.
2. The Tainted Blade - improves damage based on your cunning. However, you continuously inflict spirit damage.

Cunning - Damage, Lockpicking and Traps

The main stat of this build is Cunning. Thanks to Lethality it is used for damage calculation instead of strength. Why is this important?

• It improves armor penetration which results in more damage against heavily armored enemies.
• Improves the Song of Courage effect giving even more boost to damage.
• Improves Tainted Blade effect.
• Increases the lockpicking and trap disarm capabilities.

So as you can see, with a single talent the build receives a significant boost to damage and utility during world exploration.

Improving Attack Speed

You will be wielding a heavy sword most of the time and this will create some problems, mainly slow attack speed. To address this there are a few ways:

• Haste or to be precise 2x Haste if you can do it on 2 mages. This will give a 25%/50% improved attack speed.
• Swift Salve - a special item that improves attack speed by 20%. If you have double Haste I would not use this, as you would be over 50% attack speed threshold, negating its effect. So only use it with one Haste or alone.

Animation Cancellation

This is the most important skill to learn when using Two-Handed weapons. This will drastically improve any kind of 2Hander build regarding speed and damage per second. The idea is quite simple:

1. Start with auto-attack (or activate ability)
2. Once the hit lands and you see damage numbers, instantly move a little bit. This will cancel the animation of the weapon moving to the initial position.
3. After the animation has been cancelled follow up with auto-attack or use activate talent.
4. Cancel the animation once again once you see damage.
5. Rinse and repeat.

In the video below, you can see that I move a little bit after each hit. This greatly improves damage per second, and more so with backstabs.

Get bonuses to Attack

One of the big problems with this build is that you will have a low Attack. It determines whether the hit lands on the enemy. Early in the game, this will not be a problem as you will have decent dexterity and Strength.

However, things will start to change once you reach higher levels. More and more hits will not land, and this can become frustrating. Here are some sources to improve attack values:

• The most obvious is gear specifically one that gives Attack or Strength.
• Heroic Offense spell from Creation tree.
• Miasma - entropy spell that reduces enemy defenses.
• Song of Courage - gives bonuses to attack and other offensive stats.
• Other spells and debilitating effects.

With a few of these, you will be able to consistently land hits and destroy foes one after another.

Using Stealth

As this build has plenty of free talent points taking Stealth is a good option. It allows you to reach better positions. The main thing is that your initial strike will be a critical hit and with all the damage bonuses and wielding a 2Hander this can inflict some heavy damage.

However, be careful engaging in combat alone as this will leave you prone to all enemies attacking you which could lead to instant death.

High Dodge chance

To increase the build survivability you can stack Dodge Chance from various items. This is a perfect option to overcome low defense and incoming enemy physical attacks.

• First Enchanter's Cowl - +10% Dodge Chance
• The Lion's Paw - +10% Dodge Chance
• The Spellward - +10% Dodge Chance
• Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering - +10% Dodge Chance.
• Reaper's Vestments - 10% Dodge Chance.

So with a 30% dodge chance, you can avoid three out of ten attacks. This does not account for any defense-related avoidance, which would further boost the survivability.

Early Game Combat

• The main goal is to get behind the enemy's backs and land backstabs. This will be a huge damage boost.
• Dirty Fighting is excellent for instantly stunning foes and getting behind their backs. Once you have Coup De Grace you can just continue attacking them without moving.
• Song of Valor can be enabled to boost mana/stamina regeneration for allies.
• Try to get some kind of boost to attack.

Late Game Combat

• You will start seeing your damage lift off once you obtain Lethality.
• Backstab, Backstab and more backstabs.
• Use the Mark of Death on stronger targets like Bosses and lieutenants. Normal enemies will be dying too fast to make it worthwhile.
• Activate Song of Courage and The Tainted Blade for maximum damage boost.
• Stealth can be used to start combat in a favorable position and land a few hits on important targets like mages or archers.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Best Two-Hander Rogue Build, post for Dragon Age: Origins. The setup offers a unique playstyle with Rogue where instead of a stealth dagger wielder or archer you come in with a huge weapon. The result is a ridiculous yet very effective build.

Feel free to leave feedback below.