Where do I start with the Burglar? First off, I still wonder if this is one of the fewer played classes within the game? If it is, I’m not sure why; because it really is a powerhouse of a class that has a lot of solo potential. With the combination of Riddle, Hide in Plain Sight, Startling Twist, Mischievous Glee, and Clever Retort a player can find themselves going a long time without even needing food to regenerate (although food definitely helps). I’ve also found that with the changes that came with Echoes of the Dead, even without the functionality of Fellowship Maneuvers, the DPS for this class is really good too and I think most groups would be happy to have a Burglar as a companion.
I’ve got to say that I’m pretty excited about the upcoming changes that are coming with Rise of Isengard as well. There seems to be some good utility and some strong group additions in the changes that will become a lot more important as I level up and start playing in groups for dungeons, skirmishes, and quests. Plus it will be nice to have Riddle no longer be limited to humanoid creatures. All-in-all things look really good for the Burglar in the future.
| Skill | Skill Effect | Opinion | Level Obtained |
Well-placed Strike |
A DoT that does a large amount of damage when made from behind the target and a small amount when in any other position. | I used this skill quite a bit; mostly because it was required for a class trait, but really it was a very useful skill. The only downside is that it has a long base induction so I was usually only able to perform it effectively if I did it immediately after using Startling Twist. | 40 |
Practical Joke |
A targeted forced emote that makes people sneeze. | I honestly never used this because I don’t really care for forced emotes. I can’t help but feel like I’m disrupting someone’s gameplay when I use them. | 40 |
Share the Fun |
A skill that allows for yourself and another fellowship member to be in stealth together (with a -2 Stealth Level modifier). If you separate more than 5 meters you are both revealed. | I can see where this could be useful, but with a -2 modifier to Stealth I can see this possibly breaking quite a bit. I haven’t tested it though. | 42 |
Knives Out |
An AoE attack that both reduces your incoming melee damage and reflects some incoming damage as well. However, for the duration of the buff you cannot Block, Parry, or Evade. | I’m on the fence about this and I’d love to know what people think about this skill. I can’t decide if it’s beneficial or not so I used it now and again. But for situations where you might be up against a mob you have a low chance of using a defensive skill (like a Boss) it might be good. | 42 |
Seize Initiative |
Upon the completion of a successful Fellowship Maneuver, the use of this skill can reset a number of skill cool-downs. | I didn’t get a chance to use this since I didn’t group, but I can foresee this being quite beneficial. It will even be better when it’s combined with Escape Clause. | 44 |
Confound |
A skill only useable in Mischief that slows a targets’ attack speed by 5% and that will apply a 30 second daze upon expiration. | This is a decent skill and if you time it well it might be a halfway decent form of crowd control. Truth be told though, I didn’t use it very much. | 46 |
Escape Clause |
Upon the completion of a successful Fellowship Maneuver, the use of this skill can reset a number of skill cool-downs. | I didn’t get a chance to use this since I didn’t group, but I can foresee this being quite beneficial. It will even be better when it’s combined with Seize Initiative. | 48 |
Exposed Throat |
A chained skill that will make perform a Main-hand attack and has a 20% base chance to apply a 6 second stun. It can only be used after performing Double-edged Strike. | Unfortunately I didn’t earn this skill, but I wish that I did. I love stuns since they allow me to get into position for more damage. | 39+ Legendary Class Book |
Flashing Blades |
A chained skill that will make two sequential attacks. It can only be used after performing Double-edged Strike. | I didn’t earn this one either, but again I wish I had. It looks like it does a lot of damage. | 39+ Legendary Class Book |
| Trait Name | Trait Effect | Opinion | Level Obtained |
Sweep the Leg |
This trait upgrades Trip to Tangle-foot, reduces Trip’s cool-down by 40 seconds and no longer breaks stealth. | A good skill that makes Trip even better. I can see this being a huge group-based trait for Burglars. | 39+ Legendary Class Book |
Stick and Move |
Skills that are unlocked by scoring Critical hits now unlock when you successfully Evade as well. It also adds an additional 1% partial evade chance and mitigation. | A very nice skill that increases your DPS ability. It’s hard not to like this one for solo play. But in a group I’m not sure how much I would be using this since I shouldn’t be getting hit in the first place. | Level 45 Class Quest |
July 14, 2011 at 10:18 am
Great stuff, gotta love burgs. I have to tell you, you are right to love Well Placed Strike. So many burgs I know can;t be bothered with it, but with the traits, legacies (WPS CD and Burg bleed damage) it can do mental damage, and is VERY usefull for tricky solo attempts.
Confound is very situational, but with the trait, and legacy, can be really overpowered and very usefully for a mass mob situation!
July 14, 2011 at 10:54 am
Thanks Adam, much appreciated.
I’m always glad to have some insight from those who have more experience with or being with burglars. Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I grouped with someone who was a Burglar, but it was probably Sid several months back.
July 15, 2011 at 2:44 am
Yeah Confound gets way more useful with the legacy that can shorten the daze activation countdown from 15 seconds to 5 seconds.
Flashing blades is a must. Best DPS skill we have, though the recovery time from the animation is a tad long. I highly suggest going back and picking up at least this skill from the legendary pages before heading into the 50-60 buglar altoholism run.
July 15, 2011 at 4:50 am
I use confound for some silly larger pulls for fun
With the trait Confound is 4 targets (as the first 5 seconds are now a stuff before the 25 seconds mez, with the legacy as Grimbran says it is now a 5 second wait for the mez. This means you can easy solo 6 mobs, and more if you are brave, and its great in mob heavy skirmishes for this (AaD and IC especially!).
Run in to 6 mobs, pop confound, kite for a few seconds, then stop
Debuff or Riddle one, and DPS-debuff and DPS the other, then kill the second. Down to 4 mobs left
You should have time for a third mob before the confound is up, but no worries if not.
When they awake: riddle one and startling twist/EO for a short stun or debuff on teh second, and kill the last.
You are then left with two to deal with as you please
If it gets hairy, or you get resists, you have touch and go, and a reset with ready and able, and there is always mischievous glee to spam as often as poss, and HIPS for if it all goes wrong.
It isn’t like this is an amazing achievement, plenty of classes can deal with 6 mobs, my champ and warden for example, but with the burglar when I am stood there at the end with nearly full health and 6 dead on level mobs, I always feel more like I beat them with wits and skill, rather than just brawn or stamina!
great class!
July 14, 2011 at 12:06 pm
I made my 4th attempt at the burg class this week & am finally starting to love it. Burgs still seem to be quite rare, I only ever saw one once in over 20+ GS runs. Even in large kins there is usually only 1 or 2 max level burgs.
July 14, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Good stuff! Yeah, I think we have a burglar or two at max levels, but usually that’s not the class of choice among most people. I think they do pretty awesome DPS and have a lot of group utility, but I have to admit I don’t know where they fall in latter day dungeons.
July 15, 2011 at 2:54 am
Sadly there really aren’t that many burgs around at higher levels. In my small kin of altoholics like myself, I think I’m the only one with a high-level burg. Kinda funny on kin runs where the only class skill they think of me for is riddle, cause they don’t really know the class. I’m teaching them little by little.
As far as end game dungeons, burgs tend to be hampered a bit by bosses that are FM immune. For example, the class quest to 16th hall to get a capstone skill has a fight with a boss and two trolls, and all three of them are stun immune and FM immune. Really annoying, though at least the trolls can be riddled still. (I view this shortcoming as Turbine’s fault. I think its lazy encounter design to up the difficulty of a boss by taking the shortcut of just making it FM immune.) Hopefully we’ll see less FM immunity in RoI.
July 14, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Confound it a nice back up when a mob resists your riddle. Something is always better than nothing
July 14, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Glad that you’re enjoying your burg. My burg was the second character I created but became my main. I moved over from a Hunter and at first found it frustrating that it was slower to kill mobs, but that soon passed and I grew to love the burglar. They seem to be becoming more popular, on Elendilmir anyway. Their skills are very valuable on certain bosses in raids so the demand for them is certainly there! One thing I have neglected with my burg is stealthing because most of the time I levelled in fellowships, but it’s such a great set of skills to use solo. Such a diverse class. Enjoy
July 20, 2011 at 8:55 pm
Cobrette, my main, is a raiding Burg.
Well-Placed strike is great DOT attack. If you are in a group, the tank should have agro and you should be in behind the mob to pick up positional bonuses. That’s well placed strike hits hardest. IIRC, with a reveal weakness you can get around 225 damage per pulse for 5 pulses. That’s 1125 damage without any legacies with 1 skill.
And FM immune sucks. We would be the go to class for any raid if they were not FM immune.
Flashing Blades is not my favorite legendary, but it’s good for soloing and rotating with the other crit chain skills.
However, I firmly believe that in the group is where we shine, but people don’t really notice because we are debuffing the heck out of mobs not causing a bunch of damage, although we could…