The Rogue is a melee dagger specialist that deals its damage from behind. The official archetype phrase is Opportunistic Striker. It uses no magic, it is described as having the most powerful form of invisibility in the roster, capable of traversing areas impassable to other classes, and it carries more escape and evasion tools than any other class.
Field | Detail |
|---|---|
Archetype | Opportunistic Striker |
Roles | Melee DPS |
Playable races | Deep Elf, Deep Gnome, Dwarf, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Human, Troll, Wood Elf |
Armor and weapons | A melee dagger specialist, and a master of thrown weapons, capable of landing critical hits with them. |
Rework status | Detailed rework published and shipped to the closed beta servers in update 0.26.0.0 on July 3 2026 |
Identity and role
Backstab requires careful positioning, which is the defining constraint of the class and the reason the team addressed soloing directly. Their words: as a positional damage class, Rogues have a tougher time than most other classes when it comes to soloing, and while Monsters and Memories is a group-focused game, they would like to give you at least some ability to play solo while looking for a group. That is an unusually plain statement of a class weakness and it sets expectations correctly.
Alongside damage, a Rogue brings alchemical poisons that debuff, damage over time and physically impair, the ability to incapacitate an unsuspecting target without breaking stealth, and the ability to break engagement by jumping into stealth mid-fight.
Playable races
The Rogue is open to Deep Elf, Deep Gnome, Dwarf, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Human, Troll and Wood Elf, one of the broader race lists in the roster.
That list covers the full designed race roster. The Troll is designed but is not among the races playable at Early Access launch on October 1 2026, so the practical choice at launch is the remainder of the list.
Stealth
The rework rewrote the rules for who can see you, and the new rules are specific enough to plan around.
Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
Yellow con NPCs | NPCs that con yellow no longer have any chance to see through Stealth, though some NPCs always can. |
Red con NPCs | Remain dangerous. |
See Invisibility | No longer sees through Stealth, for NPCs or for players. |
Player versus player | Players can see you in their front arc if they outlevel you, and within one meter at any time. |
Vial of Smoke | Now provides the intended 5 second window in which you will not reaggro, regardless of the level difference. |
Counters | The only things that negate Stealth are the Archer Flare ability and Beastmaster Bat pets. |
Considering a target with the consider command is how you read a con colour in the first place. See Combat and Interface and Commands.
Poisons
Poisons are crafted rather than bought ready-made. There are three types of poison you can learn from the Poison Maker NPCs, and each has four tiers with increasing effects. You gain access to the first Snaring Poison at level 4.
Poison | Effect | Activating agent |
|---|---|---|
Snaring Poison | Slows movement speed. | Soporific Agent |
Weakening Poison | Slows attack speed. | Torporific Agent |
Dulling Poison | Slows casting speed. | Deliriant Agent |
Recipes begin by extracting toxins from venom glands, venom sacs and poison ducts, which drop from venomous animals of a level appropriate to the poison tier. The toxin is combined in a vial with the matching activating agent. The team has also said it will add experimental poisons over time that do not show up as a recipe on the vendor, leaving those to be discovered. See Tradeskills.
Backstab
Change | Detail |
|---|---|
Stealth bonus | If you have been in Stealth for at least 3 seconds, the weapon-based portion of your Backstab damage is doubled. |
Assassin Trait | At level 35 you unlock the Assassin Trait, which grants the ability to critically hit on Stab and Backstab. |
Weapon scaling | The weapon damage scaling on Backstab has been nearly doubled. |
Ambush | Removed and partially merged into Stab. |
Double Backstab | The level 50 Double Backstab was removed, as part of the roster-wide removal of sudden double damage mechanics. |
Abilities
Ability | Effect |
|---|---|
Slice | New. Weapon Ratio Damage plus Bleed Damage, on the Might cooldown, stacking up to two times. |
Twin Blades | New. Weapon Ratio Damage per equipped weapon, on the Might cooldown. |
Rain of Steel | New. Throwing knives dealing Weapon Ratio Damage three times. Channelled, usable while moving, with no minimum range. |
Deadly Throw | New. If your target is below 20 percent Health, this ability's damage is doubled. |
Escape Artist | New. Removes all Root and Snare effects and briefly grants immunity to them. |
Gambit | New. Resets the cooldown of your Uppercut, Stab and Vial of Shadow abilities if you are hit within a short period. |
Poison Tolerance and Desensitization | New. A self-only Poison Resistance buff. |
Swift Strikes | Now toggleable on the aura bar and set as a Tertiary Haste, so it stacks with Primary and Secondary hastes from other classes. |
Nimble Evasion | Moved to level 20. |
Fury of the Assassin | Moved to level 40. |
Avoidance, Incapacitate and Low Blow were removed.
Pick Pocket, lockpicking and traps
Class details below come from the ability rework that rolled onto the closed beta servers through 2026. The developers state plainly that there is a high probability some aspects will change before they reach the beta servers, so treat specific ability behaviour as a snapshot of the beta build rather than a settled launch state.
Three of the class's classic non-combat skills have a dated status worth being precise about. In the patch after the ability rework, Pick Pocket changes so that it no longer pulls from the mob's actual loot table and instead pulls from a pick pocket specific table. Lockpicking and Disarm Traps are not in that patch: the team states they are still planned and will make their way in when the content to support them exists. As of September 2026 neither has shipped, and neither should be assumed present at Early Access.
Playing a Rogue in a group
A Rogue is a damage seat that also carries scouting and escape. Bleed is a cross-class mechanic it shares with the Archer and with Beastmaster pets, its poisons apply the same kinds of slows a Shaman applies with spells, and its invisibility is the most reliable way for a group to get somewhere it should not be able to reach. The cost is positioning: a Rogue that cannot get behind the target is not doing its job. See Classes, Grouping and Death Penalty.