DnD 2024 Rogue Class Guide

Introduction

DnD 5e’s Rogue is the quintessential scoundrel character: cunning, capable, and effective in a variety of situations. Sneak Attack allows them to do a pile of damage in a single attack, and their pile of skills allows them to easily handle locks, traps, social situations, and many other challenges. While other classes can fill the Rogue’s niche in the party, it’s hard to compete with the sheer number of important skill and tool proficiencies offered by the Rogue.

In a party Rogues serve as some combination of Face, Scout, and Striker. Their roles are admittedly narrow, but subclasses and build options leave plenty of room to customize. Rogues get more skills than any other class, potentially allowing you to fill any skill-based role if you’re willing to invest proficiency and possible Expertise.

Rogues typically split into melee or ranged builds, though the universal efficacy of Dexterity makes it easy for many rogues to switch between the two. Melee Rogues frequently go for two-weapon fighting because it provides a second chance to score Sneak Attack, and hit-and-run tactics enabled by Cunning Action are great way to get into melee to attack before retreating out of reach.

Ranged rogues typically rely on sniping, which is also enabled by Cunning Action due to the ability to hide as a Bonus Action. Hiding after each attack using Cunning Action is reliable and effective, though it can be very static and repetitive. Rogue subclasses expand upon those tactical options, but, in many cases, these staple tactics remain crucial to the class’s function.

This article is for the 2024 DnD rules. For the 2014 rules, see our 2014 DnD 5e Rogue Class Guide.

Introduction
Disclaimer
Rogue Class Features
2024 Rogue Changes from 2014 Rules
Rogue Backgrounds
Rogue Species
Rogue Ability Scores
Rogue Skills
Rogue Feats
Rogue Weapons
Rogue Armor
Rogue Multiclassing

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks, which is simple to understand and easy to read at a glance.

Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
Green: Good options. Useful often.
Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

We will not include 3rd-party content, including content from DMs Guild, in handbooks for official content because we can’t assume that your game will allow 3rd-party content or homebrew. We also won’t cover Unearthed Arcana content because it’s not finalized, and we can’t guarantee that it will be available to you in your games.

The advice offered below is based on the current State of the Character Optimization Meta as of when the article was last updated. Keep in mind that the state of the meta periodically changes as new source materials are released, and the article will be updated accordingly as time allows.

Rogue Class Features

Hit Points: 1d8 hit points is dangerous if you go into melee alone, so be sure to have a nice tanky ally nearby and a healer waiting in the wings.

Saves: Dexterity saves will protect you from things like fireballs, and Intelligence saves also exist, I suppose. Evasion further improves your Dexterity saves. At high levels, Slippery Mind adds proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma saves, so high-level Rogues have excellent save coverage.

Proficiencies: Rogues get all of the weapons they need to get by, plus thieves’ tools, and a fantastic four skills.

1. Expertise: Excellent. Rogues get Expertise earlier than any other class, and they get their second round of Expertise at level 6 instead of level 9 like Bards and Rangers.

1. Sneak Attack: The Rogue’s central mechanic in combat. Sneak Attack is a single attack, which encourages you to prioritize important targets rather than jumping around between multiple targets.

Since Rogues only get one attack per turn by default, you’re gambling all of your damage on a single attack. Based on the Fundamental Math, we can assume a 65% chance to hit, but that means that you’ll miss roughly 1 in 3 attacks. Adding a second d20 roll from Advantage or from a second attack will increase your DPR by roughly 50%. At range, use Cunning Action to Hide. In melee, use two-weapon fighting.

Since Sneak Attack is once per turn, not once per round, you can use it outside of your turn if you’re able to attack as a Reaction somehow. Opportunity Attack is the most accessible option, but if allies can help you attack (Battle Master’s Reactive Strike, etc.), you’ll have more options. A popular trick is to use the extra Action from Haste to attack on your own turn, then use your Action to Ready an attack as soon as your turn ends.

1. Thieves’ Cant: Very cool, but rarely impactful.

1. Weapon Mastery: A fantastic addition to any martial character.

For more on Weapon Mastery, see our Weapon Mastery Guide.

2. Cunning Action: Central to the Rogue’s combat tactics. Melee builds can use Disengage to safely move in and out of melee, while ranged builds can use Hide to repeatedly attack with Advantage.

3. Subclass: Rogue subclasses are briefly summarized below. See our Rogue Subclasses Breakdown for help selecting your subclass.

Arcane Trickster: Add some wizard spellcasting and get really good at using Mage Hand in unique ways.
Assassin: Be sneaky, be surprising, be lethal.
Soulknife: Use psychic powers to enhance your abilities.
Thief: Move quickly, act quickly, and use magic items better than anyone else.

3. Steady Aim: A good backup option when your other tactics for getting Sneak Attack don’t work, but you don’t want this to be your go-to option because it prevents you from moving, which can leave you very vulnerable.

5. Cunning Strike: A massive expansion of your options in combat. Until now, your tactics have started and ended with the damage from Sneak Attack, but Cunning Strike gives you options that are a bit more interesting in exchange for some of your damage.

Poison: Poisoned is a massive debuff. However, this targets a Constitution save, and Con saves are consistently high. Resistance and immunity to poison are also common.
Trip: Knocking an enemy prone benefits your whole party (unless someone is relying heavily on ranged attack rolls). This is especially useful against flying enemies because falling prone causes most flying creatures to fall.
Withdraw: This is at least somewhat redundant with Cunning Action, but it’s still very useful for melee builds. Use Cunning Action to Dash, run into melee, deliver a Sneak Attack with Withdraw, then you can move your full speed away plus the 15 additional feet from Withdraw. This will put you out of range for most melee enemies, making hit-and-run tactics very safe.

5. Uncanny Dodge: If you only draw a handful of attacks, this can prevent a huge amount of damage.

7. Evasion: Between this and uncanny dodge you are very durable.

7. Reliable Talent: This is especially nice for your Expertise skills, and it’s great motivation to pick up the Skilled feat.

11. Improved Cunning Strike: Very powerful. Combining two effects which target Constitution saves gives you a decent chance that targets will fail one of them despite Constitution saves being consistently high. Gambling huge amounts of Sneak Attack damage on one hit feels hard, but when you get Devious Strikes at level 14 you’ll be able to debuff enemies so much that it’s worth the trade.

14. Devious Strikes: More options for Cunning Action. They’re more costly, but can also be more impactful.

Daze: You gamble much less damage than Knock Out. The effect is smaller, but still extremely impactful, and it works on targets immune to unconsciousness.
Knock Out: A huge gamble. 6d6 is a ton of damage to give up, but knocking your target Unconscious takes them out of the encounter for at least one turn. Unfortunately, this targets Constitution saves, which are consistently high, so it’s not reliable. If you and your party can debuff your target’s saves with options like Bane or Mind Sliver, it may be viable, but otherwise this will be unreliable.
Obscure: Most creatures have mediocre Dexterity, and Blinded is a significant debuff. In many encounters, this will be reliably impactful for your whole career.

15. Slippery Mind: Two more save proficiencies is huge. With the Rogue’s base proficiencies, you’re now proficient in Dexterity saves and all mental saves, giving you broad protection against saving throws.

18. Elusive: Not always impactful, but still great protection in situations where you might otherwise be very vulnerable.

20. Stroke of Luck: Works on any d20 test, allowing you to rescue a failed save or turn a missed attack into a critical hit.

2024 Rogue Changes from 2014 Rules

This section is from our 2024 DnD Rules Transition Guide.

1. Expertise. No longer allows you to select Thieves’ Tools.
1. Thieves’ Cant. Also grants you an extra language proficiency.
1. Weapon Mastery. New.
3. Steady Aim. Identical to the Optional Class Feature.
5. Cunning Strike. Allows you to reduce your Sneak Attack damage in exchange for powerful rider effects like knocking the target prone or applying the Poisoned condition.
7. Reliable Talent. Moved from 11th level.
11. Improved Cunning Strike. New. Use up to 2 Cunning Strike effects on the same attack.
14. Blindsense. Gone.
14. Devious Strikes. New. Adds more Cunning Strike options.
15. Slippery Mind. Now adds proficiency in both Wisdom and Charisma saves instead of just Wisdom.
20. Stroke of Luck. Turn any d20 test into a 20. This means at least one guaranteed critical hit between each rest.

Rogue Backgrounds

An increase to Dexterity is too crucial to forego, so any Background which doesn’t include Dexterity is immediately out. What skills you want will depend heavily on your role in the party.

For information and advice regarding Origin Feats, including those granted by your Background, see the Rogue Feats section, below.

Artisan ^(PHB) : Good ability scores for an Arcane Trickster, and the skills are decent, but Crafter isn’t a great feat.
Charlatan ^(PHB) : Absolutely fantastic for the Rogue, especially in a small party where you have gaps in skill proficiencies or for a rogue planning to play their party’s Face.
Criminal ^(PHB) : Perfect for a stealthy character.
Entertainer ^(PHB) : The ability scores are good and the Musician feat is welcome in any party, but it’s hard to waste two skill proficiencies on borderline useless skills.
Guide ^(PHB) : Great ability scores, decent skills, and you can get some good utility options from Magic Initiate (Druid). I frequently advocate for Shillelagh, but you can’t Sneak Attack with it, so it’s not a good choice for the Arcane Trickster.
Sage ^(PHB) : Intelligence and Constitution work fine for the Arcane Trickster, especially with Magic Initiate and Intelligence-based skills, but remember that you’re still a Rogue first, so you really want Dexterity. You can build around Intelligence and use True Strike for your attacks, but that won’t fix your AC and it won’t support your crucial Dexterity-based skills.
Sailor ^(PHB) : Decent ability scores for a melee build, plus one good skill, but you’re absolutely not going to use Tavern Brawler.
Scribe ^(PHB) : An easy go-to option, especially in a small party that needs more skill coverage. Good ability scores, good skills, and Skilled gives you even more options.
Soldier ^(PHB) : Good ability scores, but Savage Attacker is wasted on the Rogue, and the skills aren’t great.
Wayfarer ^(PHB) : Good ability scores, good skills, and Lucky are all great, but the tool proficiency is redundant since Rogues already get proficiency in Thieve’s Tools. If you’re fine not getting another tool, this is a great choice.

Rogue Species

Rogues have a lot of flexibility in their choice of Species. You don’t need more durability thanks to Cunning Action, Evasion, and Uncanny Dodge. You don’t need more skills since Rogues already get 4 just from their class skills, though more will allow you to cover more skill-based roles. Anything that competes for your Bonus Action will be difficult since Cunning Action and Steady Aim are so important.

Innate Spellcasting may be helpful for Arcane Tricksters, but offensive spells are a difficult choice since they typically can’t deliver Sneak Attack. There are a few exceptions like Booming Blade and True Strike which are definitely worth considering, and they can be a huge damage boost if you get them at level 1.

Aasimar ^(PHB): Two damage resistances, Darkvision, a once per day heal, and a once per day combat transformation. Celestial Revelation is neat, but Heavenly Wings is the only option that will be reliably easy for you to use. Flight once per day and the modest damage bonus are fine, but amazing.
Dragonborn ^(PHB): Darkvision, a damage resistance, and once per day flight are great, but you will likely never use the breath weapon beyond very low levels.
Dwarf ^(PHB): Darkvision, resistance to the most common non-weapon damage type, and more hit points. Tremorsense may be your only way to locate invisible enemies. Definitely tempting, but the durability is wasted on the Rogue, and Tremorsense isn’t enough on its own.
Elf ^(PHB): Darkvision and an extra skill are both great. The innate spellcasting is neat, but only consistently useful for the Arcane Trickster.
Gnome ^(PHB): Darkvision and Gnomish Cunning are both great, and the added cantrips from Gnomish Lineage offer some interesting utility options.
Goliath ^(PHB): Giant Heritage offers some interesting options, they’re all either redundant or unimpressive alongside the Rogue’s existing features. Cloud Jaunt is great, but in most situations it’s redundant with Cunning Action. The on-hit damage options are interesting, but they’ll feel minor compared to Sneak Attack and Precise Strike. Stone’s Endurance is good, but with Evasion and Uncanny Dodge you already have a lot of damage mitigation. Large Form and Powerful Build won’t see use on a Rogue.
Halfling ^(PHB): The Halfling is tailor made for the Rogue. Brave covers one of the Rogue’s weakest defenses. Halfling Nimbleness lets you move through enemies’ spaces, allowing you to get past enemies easily when paired with Cunning Action (Disengage). Lucky won’t trigger very often since rogues make so few d20 rolls compared to other martials, but it’s nice insurance. Naturally Stealthy lets you hide behind most of your allies, which is especially useful in environments with few hiding places.
Human ^(PHB): An additional skill and origin feat are an easy choice on any build.
Orc ^(PHB): The temporary hit points from Adrenaline Rush are nice, but with Cunning Action is much less appealing. Relentless Endurance is nice, but if you’re worried about taking too much damage you can hide and rely on sniping.
Tiefling ^(PHB): Darkvision, a damage resistance, and some innate spellcasting. Only useful for the Arcane Trickster, and even then most of the spells aren’t great choices compared to Sneak Attack.

Rogue Ability Scores

Dexterity is key for any Rogue, and Intelligence is important for Arcane Tricksters, but your need for Wisdom and Charisma depend largely on your choice of skills and role in the party.

The ability scores recommended below leave am 8, a 10, and a 14 to be allocated to your mental ability scores. Arcane Tricksters need high Intelligence, then put the 10 into Wisdom. You’ll need high Charisma if you’re playing your party’s Face, then put the 10 into Wisdom. Otherwise, put the 14 into Wisdom, then put the 10 into either Intelligence or Charisma depending on what skills you prefer.

The PHB recommended abilities work well for an Arcane Trickster.

Str: Dump.

Dex: Your primary ability. Skills, tools, attacks, damage, AC, and your best save.

Con: Hit points are always important, especially for melee Rogues.

Int: Arcane Tricksters need Intelligence for their spells, but other Rogues only need it for Investigation.

Wis: Helpful for Insight, Perception, and saves.

Cha: Rogues make a great Face if you take Expertise in skills like Persuasion, and you can’t be an effective Face without Charisma.

	Point Buy	Adjusted	Standard Array	Adjusted	PHB Recommended	Adjusted
Str	8	8	8	8	12	12
Dex	15	17	15	17	15	17
Con	14	15	14	14	13	14
Int	10, 14, or 8	10, 14, or 8	12	12	14	14
Wis	14, 10, or 8	14, 10, or 8	13	14	10	10
Cha	8, 8, or 14	8, 8, or 14	10	10	8	8

Rogue Skills

Acrobatics (Dex): Very situational.
Athletics (Str): Functionally useless.
Deception (Cha): Important for a Face.
Insight (Wis): Important for a Face.
Intimidation (Cha): Important for a Face.
Investigation (Int): Very helpful, but not as important as Perception.
Perception (Wis): Perception is by far the most important skill in the game, and it’s important enough that several characters in the party should have it even if you’re really good at it.
Performance (Cha): Functionally useless.
Persuasion (Cha): Essential for a Face.
Sleight of Hand (Dex): Sleight of Hand is very thematic for many Rogues, but it’s not very useful. A lot of people mistakenly think that Sleight of Hand is used to pick locks and disarm traps, but that’s not the case. That’s handled with Thieves’ Tools.
Stealth (Dex): A Rogue without Stealth is a very strange Rogue.

Rogue Feats

This section does not address every published feat, as doing so would result in an ever-growing list of options which don’t cater to the class. Instead, this section will cover feats which we think work especially well for the class or which might be tempting but poor choices.

Origin Feats

These feats typically come from your Background, but you can also select an Origin Feat any time that you could select a General Feat, and you may get more from sources like the Human’s species traits.

Alert ^(PHB): Never a bad choice, but less impactful for martial characters than for full casters. The Assassin already gets Advantage on initiative, so they should skip this.
Crafter ^(PHB): Neat, but not especially impactful. Crafting mundane gear stops being impactful early in the game as players quickly accumulate enough to afford nearly anything in the Player’s Handbook. This notably omits the Herbalist Kit as a choice, so you can’t even use this to craft Potions of Healing.
Healer ^(PHB): The Thief Rogue has a unique interaction with the Healer feat because you can use Fast Hands to use Battle Medic as a Bonus Action. This is probably the best use of the feat in the whole game.
Lucky ^(PHB): An easy choice on any character. It won’t directly impact your build, but it’s a great default if you don’t need anything else.
Magic Initiate ^(PHB): A typical build won’t use offensive spellcasting, but buffs like Guidance or Mage Armor might be worthwhile. An Arcane Trickster build could build around Intelligence by relying on True Strike to attack, which trades some of your stealth and skill capabilities for better spellcasting and a scaling damage boost that works with Sneak Attack both in melee and at range.
Musician ^(PHB): A great way to contribute to any party.
Savage Attacker ^(PHB): Your weapon damage die isn’t a big enough part of your damage output to make this impactful.
Skilled ^(PHB): Rogues already get more skill proficiencies than anyone else, but in a small party you may still need more skill coverage.
Tough ^(PHB): If you need this, you need to be using Cunning Action more to keep yourself safely out of reach.

General Feats

Athlete ^(PHB): A decent choice for many martial characters. A climb speed is the next best thing to a fly speed. The ability to stand up quickly makes falling or being knocked prone less of a problem. The ability to jump with less of a running start may let you easily jump over difficult terrain and other obstacles which otherwise might slow your movement in combat.
Charger ^(PHB): Combining Cunning Action (Dash) and the push effect can allow you to rush into melee, knock your target back, then retreat to a safe distance.
Crossbow Expert ^(PHB): Not worth the feat. Use Steady Aim to attack with Advantage so that you still roll 2 d20’s to hit while also qualifying for Sneak Attack.
Defensive Duelist ^(PHB): Too much overlap with Uncanny Dodge.
Dual Wielder ^(PHB): Grab a weapon with Nick, and you can roll at least two d20s to attack, which dramatically improves the reliability of Sneak Attack. The possible third attack as a Bonus Action doesn’t help significantly, especially since you can use Steady Aim if you need Advantage.
Durable ^(PHB): This is bad and it conflicts with your Bonus Action class feature.
Fey Touched ^(PHB): Helpful for the Arcane Trickster. More spells and some free castings can do a lot for you. But Misty Step may not be especially useful since you have Cunning Action.
Inspiring Leader ^(PHB): If you have the ability scores to qualify for this, it’s a massive amount of temporary hit points. But it can’t improve Dexterity, so you probably want to wait to take this.
Lightly Armored ^(PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
Mage Slayer ^(PHB): Great insurance against difficult mental saves, but you can also protect yourself by hiding so that you can’t be targeted. At high levels, Slippery Mind makes this much less appealing.
Martial Weapon Training ^(PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
Medium Armor Master ^(PHB): Borderline worthless. Put +2 into Dexterity and wear light armor.
Moderately Armored ^(PHB): A 1-level class dip into Fighter is almost always a better idea unless you’re expecting to reach 20th level.
Observant ^(PHB): Competes with your crucial class features too much to justify.
Piercer ^(PHB): Nearly all the Rogue’s preferred weapons deal Piercing damage. Note that the reroll can be any of the attack’s damage dice, so you’re free to reroll a Sneak Attack damage die.
Poisoner ^(PHB): Since Rogues depend on making big single hits, poisoning a weapon before you go into combat is less of a hassle than it is for classes that rely on numerous attacks. Even so, the damage doesn’t scale with level, so it will be less impactful at high level. Assassin Rogues will get considerably more value here thanks to Envenom Weapons.
Resilient ^(PHB): Never a bad choice, but it’s hard to say which ability score to use this on until you’re high enough level that you have 20 Dexterity and every feat that you could want.
Ritual Caster ^(PHB): Not even on an Arcane Trickster.
Sentinel ^(PHB): Potentially an easy way to get Sneak Attack outside of your own turn.
Shadow-Touched ^(PHB): You’re almost certainly going to learn Invisibility.
Sharpshooter ^(PHB): Helpful for ranged builds, but not essential.
Skill Expert ^(PHB): More skills are always nice, especially once you have Reliable Talent.
Skulker ^(PHB): This feat was made for the Rogue. It’s absolutely essential if you’re planning to fight at range.
Slasher ^(PHB): Rogues get very few slashing weapons that also qualify for Sneak Attack, but this can work with whips.
Speedy ^(PHB): You have Cunning Action.
Spell Sniper ^(PHB): Even the Arcane Trickster can’t rely on spell attacks since they can’t apply Sneak Attack.
War Caster ^(PHB): Potentially useful for Arcane tricksters.
Weapon Master ^(PHB): You already get enough Weapon Mastery slots.

Epic Boons

Boon of Combat Prowess ^(PHB): Functionally removes your ability to miss unless you’re making Opportunity Attacks. If you’ve been using two-weapon fighting in order to get a second chance to deliver Sneak Attack, you can safely stop doing that and look at weapons with better Weapon Mastery options.
Boon of Dimensional Travel ^(PHB): If you can get an attack cantrip like Booming Blade or True Strike, this is fantastic.
Boon of Energy Resistance ^(PHB): A powerful defense on any character.
Boon of Fate ^(PHB): More useful to support your allies’ save-or-suck spells than for anything that you’re doing.
Boon of Fortitude ^(PHB): Great on a melee build.
Boon of Irresistible Offense ^(PHB): You don’t attack frequently enough for the damage boost to be meaningful. Bypassing resistances is nice, but if you have a magic weapon, it’s almost a non-issue.
Boon of Recovery ^(PHB): The Last Stand feature is great insurance, but definitely not enough to justify your first Epic Boon. Try to get someone to cast Death Ward on you.
Boon of Skill ^(PHB): Stunningly powerful when combined with Reliable Talent.
Boon of Speed ^(PHB): The speed is nice, but you can already Disengage as a Bonus Action.
Boon of Spell Recall ^(PHB): Potentially useful for the Arcane Trickster, but remember that it only has a 25% chance to work.
Boon of the Night Spirit ^(PHB): Excellent on a stealthy character like the Rogue. However, remember that a lot of things are an Action, so it’s very easy to break this invisibility. Notable examples that people easily overlook include Hide, Search, and Study.
Boon of Truesight ^(PHB): Probably your only option for handling invisible enemies. If you’ve made it this far, your party is covering for you or you’ve found a creative solution.

Rogue Weapons

The Rogue is proficient in Simple weapons and Martial weapons that have the Finesse or Light properties, and they get 2 Weapon Mastery slots.

When considering weapon masteries, Vex requires some additional scrutiny. Advantage on an attack is one of your options to qualify for Sneak Attack, but Vex isn’t your only source of Advantage. Hiding with Cunning Action or using Steady Aim will both give you Advantage. If you’re finding that those options work for you, there’s little reason to take a Vex weapon.

If you’re planning to capitalize on two-weapon fighting, you’ll want to use both masteries for melee weapons so that you can have one Nick weapon and one other weapon. Making a second d20 roll on a turn increases your DPR by roughly 50%, which is a massive improvement for the Rogue, so two-weapon fighting is a great choice. Of course, you can also make a second d20 roll if you have Advantage, so two-weapon fighting isn’t outright better than other tactics, provided that you can get Advantage easily.