ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Some people were asking what my build was for unlocking Marauder around level 16 as a Rogue, so I'm posting the link here. It should be noted that he had an insidious poison weapon to swap to. Once you have some gold, check shops for a weapon that has insidious poison on it (unless you feel comfortable blowing an infusion slot on a poison) and a decent two-hander equal or greater to Bill's Tree Trunk. I don't remember my build order exactly, but it shouldn't be too hard to adapt to your playstyle.

I'm sure it's possible to unlock it at an even lower level, but this was a pretty easy and comfortable character to play. The armor makes the character much more survivable than your usual rogue.

Character That Unlocked Marauder By 16

Poison infusions also work and are more common I think.

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<darkgod> all this fine balancing talk is boring
<darkgod> brb buffing boulder throwers

Yeah, I mentioned that in the parenthetical. I personally found it more survivable to get a fourth rune/infusion slot and just go shopping everywhere around level 15. Your chances are fairly reasonable that you'll find something with a poison on it. If you don't, an insidious poison will hopefully be in one of the infusion shops if one hasn't dropped for you already.

Sorry, I just woke up so my reading skills seem to have failed.

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<darkgod> all this fine balancing talk is boring
<darkgod> brb buffing boulder throwers

It's cool, man. You were just trying to be helpful.

I've done it with a cun/str build going for stealth at lvl 14, but then again, I died twice until then because I was quite squishy, so I'd still recommend this build over mine.
Going for Stealth does mean needing an extra turn after all poisons are applied, but due to the damage bonus from striking out of stealth, you might get away with having a less potent weapon.

Thanks. This build helped, even though I died several times in a graveyard, once to the Wraith (used my reflection rune too early). I put the category point in general combat which was probably a bad idea. I got lucky that I managed to crit without applying a stun, and I barely did it with only 2 poisons, at level 15.

Nice. Congratulations!

You mentioned "opening shops at 15". Do the quality of the items come from when you first entered (i.e. if you wait till you're a higher level there will be better stuff)?

It used to be that way but I think in the current versions that is changed to fixed quality.

About the marauder unlock: If you don't find a good two-hander but a good one-hander, using a shield, blocking and then counterstriking with the venomous strike works at a similar level as the two-hander approach.

Yeah, that changed in B43 or RC1. I edited my post to reflect that.

Yeah, I'm of the opinion that a str/cun build focused on two-handers is a good way to unlock the marauder. I've been trying for QUITE a while, and then once I saw this thread, it only took me a few days to get the unlock . And with only 2 poisons boosting Venomous Strike!

Here's a link to the rogue that did it for me, if anyone's interested: http://te4.org/characters/1596/tome/834dcd27-a08e-42d0-9748-868df4c57271

It took me forever and ever to unlock Marauder. I never actually tried one of these gimmicky two-handed weapon Strength Rogue builds, but more power to you if they work out for you.

What worked for me was simply getting a Shadowblade to the endgame. (A Rogue would've worked too, I'm sure.) With endgame stats and gear and prodigies (depending on which ones you pick, obviously), the unlock will probably happen naturally. In the case of my Shadowblade, it was the Shadowstep talent combined with critical hits that did it (Shadowstep multiplies weapon damage by a talent-level-dependent multiplier, and converts it to darkness damage). After stacking enough critical damage multiplier and darkness damage multiplier gear and talents, I got it somewhere around level 33. Later, on High Peak, I was getting way more than 600 points per dagger with Shadowstep, thanks in part to Arcane Might.

Endgame isn't necessary, even.

I got the 600 damage achievement with a L30 Shadowblade, and it wasn't a Stealth build or any special attempt to rack up high damage.

I find the image of a plated rogue lugging around a poison-coated tree hilarious as hell.