Rogue Guide. Nothing Superfluous.
content auto translated from {from}

So, I won't beat around the bush. I just hope this guide will be appreciated. I'll speak as a player who has played no less than 100 hours as a rogue with various races and builds.

The first mistake many rogue players make is the rapid leveling of stats, especially Strength and Dexterity at early levels. Remember that the base (that is, without bonuses from gear) values for these stats should be at 20 and 36, respectively. And keep in mind that while progressing through the Circle Tower, captured by the Demon of Sloth, you will permanently pick up an additional 4 points in each of these stats. Based on this, level accordingly. However, remember that

Leveling Strength above 20

and Dexterity above 36

is pointless, as they are caps (maximum values) that grant you access to the best light armor and the top passive perk in the dual-wielding tree. And you don’t need more than that. You will waste stat points. Dexterity does not offer any advantages besides attack and defense, which when specialized as a Duelist with maxed perks will already be over 100, which is more than enough. Strength, when played correctly and approached right as a rogue, even at the 20 points of the base cap will allow you to equip the best one-handed weapon in the game, requiring 31 strength (Let’s not forget about items that grant bonuses to all stats, including those from expansions). And the top weapon, as you recall, is the Star Fang made of meteorite metal, giving us all the needed bonuses for a Rogue (Penetration, damage, dexterity).

Additionally (some might not know), the game can be tricked by equipping all items that give bonus strength, ramping strength up to 31, equipping the Star Fang, and then removing all unnecessary items to wear the ones that provide greater profit. Yes, you will lose strength and it won’t be 31 anymore, but the Star Fang will stay with you (OMG). Cool, right?) Why not 2 daggers? Just because. Trust me, it has been confirmed through experience. Anyway, let's get back to our sheep.

The main stat for a Rogue: Cunning. And only Cunning. The more, the better. Don’t believe guides that claim Dexterity is everything to you. That’s a huge misconception. And why?

That’s right, the perk Lethality scales your damage from Cunning, not from Strength.

But that’s not the main point. Let’s break it down further.

Why Cunning and not Dexterity, I think, everyone has already figured out, as explained above. Now for the most delicious part. Let’s remember what Cunning gives us besides direct damage? Right, it also provides additional damage that depends on backstab hits. How?

Very simple. The perk in the Assassin specialization called Weak Spot Detection directly increases your backstab damage based on your Cunning.

To let you understand, a damage figure over 100 from a backstab as a rogue is quite realistic. Moreover, after reaching around 45-50 points of base Cunning, this number will appear with almost every hit. And don’t forget, Cunning gives you +1 penetration for every 5 points, which is a profit in any case. Shall we continue?

Combat Tips. When obtaining the perk Mercy Strike, we gain the ability to backstab stunned, frozen, or paralyzed targets from any attack angle. So try to bring opponents to such a state as quickly as possible. Morrigan, Alistair, Zevran, Leliana, and yourself can help. Dirty fighting, Counterstrike is your everything. Also, don’t forget about freeze combinations with critical damage from weapons (Shatter). That is, you can freeze a target and immediately kill it with a critical hit. The abilities Avenger and Counterstrike in this case are the two main abilities for sending opponents to the Maker. Precision Strike for Duelists does not work (Passive backstab triggers). For a warrior (like Alistair), this ability is Suppression. For Sten or Ogren, it’s Mighty Blow and Critical Strike. However, this works only on regular foes. So of course, forget about shattering Yellow or Brown targets. Also, don’t forget about bombs. Early in the game, this is very powerful weaponry. Before reaching level 8, the Rogue will have to constantly run behind the enemy and take hits, so bombs are your trump card.

Skills. It’s straightforward. Combat Training and Poisons are your everything.

The top poison is Concentrated Crow Poison. Good damage, chance to stun and slow. Profit)) I won’t speak about bombs; you already know.

Perks. Focus on attack perks in the dual-wielding mastery tree. In the rogue's perks tree, focus on passives for quickly obtaining the Mercy Strike and Lethality perks (For Backstabs on nuked targets even in the face and for damage from Cunning, respectively). Specializations are only Assassin and Duelist. In this setup, Assassin came first and I focused also on its perks.

Food and buffs. Only the Elixir of Agility, the rest is situational.

Runes. Main hand (Paralysis, Ice Damage, Lightning Damage). Off-hand (Mage resist, Physical Resistance).

Now for items. There’s a huge variety here. But my list is something like this:

Weapons:

Star Fang (main hand), Thorn of the Rose (off-hand)

Armor:

Cloak of the Villain (Chest)

Seekers of Red Jenny (Arms)

Lion's Paw (Legs)

Honleth's Helm (Head)

Accessories:

Blessing of Andruil (Belt)

Anti-Magic Amulet (Amulet)

Lifegiver (ring)

City Key (ring)

You can equip all this quickly after obtaining Morrigan at level 10 and buying the book on Skills and Miscellaneous from Old Tegrin. After leveling Morrigan to 4 in Herbalism, and buying the recipe for the Strong Lyrium Potion in the Oddities of Tevinter, you will feel money pouring into your pocket. Great grind. Details can be found in other guides.))) No cheats. Only grind))

I will also provide as proof of everything written here screenshots of my level 13 character with his stats, abilities, perks, and achievements in battle. A damage output of 66% at level 13 is not the limit. And hitting 80 damage is also not the limit)) Further - more. The level is still low)) Game difficulty Nightmare. Only Hardcore))

I will write a detailed guide on proper leveling (detailed by levels) if this guide seems useful to you. I hope I have helped you at least a little)

PS: Zevran is not gay. He just loves male sex. Hehe :D