I have not touched this game since Vanilla, but after a steam sale I've got all the DLC and I'm ready to rumble. Starting with Dual Wield, Assassinate, Burglary, Tinkering, Big Game Hunter, Werediggle, Communist. The focus is on Sealth, and this gives me every passive stealth bonus except Daggers and the active ability in Piracy. Are there any glaring difficulties I will have with this build thanks to the DLC?
Werediggle you lose all passive attribute bonuses from your skills when in werediggle form. (and it's own passive bonuses only apply in werediggle form.) So you'd probably be better off replacing it with Daggers.
Thanks. I counted on keeping the passive bonuses even if I only used Werediggle for the first couple of floors. If I don't get that juicy stealth then I will definitely grab daggers instead.
Beyond that issue, I have no idea how effective stealth is as a driving element behind a build. I've found the communist guerilla ability is definitely useful for meleeing larger groups or enemies that would normally be too tough for you though, and stealth would play into a similar build to avoid drawing too much aggro. (Plus tinkering would give you crossbows, for enemies that you can't melee as well) So it seems like it would be workable.
Here is a viable stealth build Alchemy (invisibility potions, teleport potions) Rogue Scientist Burglary (invisibility ability, teleport) Unarmed Artful Dodger (teleport) Perception (invisibility mushrooms and invisibility potions) Big Game Hunter It doesn't have every passive , but it has a lot of ways to turn invisible and teleport away. Rogue scientist's toxin canister+ alchemy will clear entire room up until floor 12ish. With perception you will see monsters way before they see you. With unarmed and books you will deal amazing ranged damage (Though you do have to relay on the RNG for a good crossbow). Late game you will have so much that almost nothing can hit you and you can turn invisible, teleport away, summon diggles if you are ever in trouble. Early game will be hard, focus on unarmed and a few points in rogue scientist and alchemy, until you can handle combat easily. Around level 15 you should become unstoppable. The problem with straight is that it only helps for the first hit after that you have give away your position.
Actually I just noticed that there are a lot of skills that scale damage to sneakiness (Two attacks one dagger from daggers, sneakily shiv from assassination, hunters strike from bgh*), so attempting to get really high sneakiness could easily be viable as a method of dealing damage. (Although you'll need dodge or counter to stay alive, obviously) (Also you give away your position to the monster you attack, others nearby may not notice as readily I've found when I was playing a rogue build recently--without deliberately investing in sneakiness a lot of monsters would completely ignore me as i killed everyone else in the room. Plus with the communism attack to pacify and/or confuse monsters they'll lose aggro and need to spot you all over again--I've used that to take down evil clones in melee when I'm only like, level 12 or something.) *ETA: Okay, three, but still.
