D&D 5E Ranged Rogue Feats

[Roman Ryder]

There are 3 feats that I want on my ranged rogue. I'm just not sure what order I should take them.

It's basically 3d20 sneak attack rolls vs ignoring 1/2 and 3/4 cover vs not being revealed on a missed attack.

I wouldn't use the extra damage option of sharpshooter, unless I already had elven accuracy and/or some other attack bonuses.

I think it's probably elven accuracy > sharpshooter > skullker.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Charlaquin]

Sharpshooter’s most powerful ability, the -5/+10, really clashes with Sneak Attack. Elven Accuracy would of course help with that, though Crossbow Expert is really the better option for Ranged Rogues. If you do decide to go Sharpshooter though, definitely take Elven Accuracy first. Whether you want to take those two and then Skuller or the other way around is really just a question of if you want to focus more on combat or stealth.

 

[Roman Ryder]

Thanks for the quick reply! I want to focus on combat from stealth! lol

I've been using my bonus action to hide a lot after attacking. I've been trying to consistently deal out sneak attack damage and avoid getting attacked. If all else fails, I can dash and cast invisibility.

 

[Bacon Bits]

If you're focusing on attacking from stealth for sneak attack damage, then I'd say that Sharpshooter is better. I think Elven Accuracy > Sharpshooter only if you can reliably get advantage. Otherwise Sharpshooter is better. After that, I think it's clearly better to get Dex to 20 before even thinking about Skulker or Crossbow Expert.

The problem with Crossbow Expert's bonus attack is that if you shoot and miss, you reveal your position. That spoils the advantage benefit of the second shot and may prevent a chance of sneak attack. You need the Skulker feat to overcome that. Furthermore, a ranged rogue typically wants to use their bonus action to hide with Cunning Action. You can't do that if your bonus action is going to be used to make another shot with a hand crossbow.

Are you planning to play a Scout?

 

[Dan Chernozub]

In my experience, Dex definitely trumps all the options presented at lvl 4. YMMW.
Also subclass matters.

 

[Roman Ryder]

My character is an Arcane Trickster. I don't have any plans to use a crossbow. I'm pretty consistently getting advantage by attacking from stealth.

 

[TwoSix]

Elven Accuracy. You won't need to sacrifice a stat bump at level 4, assuming you buy a starting 15 Dex (17 with Elf racial bonus). You'll have advantage often by dint of using stealth all the time, and EA Advantage is giving you an even better crit chance. That's a big deal for rogues, since sneak attack scales with critical so well.

 

[Roman Ryder]

Elven Accuracy. You won't need to sacrifice a stat bump at level 4, assuming you buy a starting 15 Dex (17 with Elf racial bonus). You'll have advantage often by dint of using stealth all the time, and EA Advantage is giving you an even better crit chance. That's a big deal for rogues, since sneak attack scales with critical so well.

It's a level 7 character, so I already did a stat bump at 4 to get to 20 dex. I debated on a 18 dex with a feat, but I thought a bump to armor, skills, etc. was worth it.

An extra chance at a critical definitely sounds great!

 

[Dan Chernozub]

A 7-level rouge with SA deals 23.5 (1d8+4d6+5) damage on a normal hit. This increases to 42 (2d8+8d6+5) on a crit.
Advantage improves crit chance by 0.95*0.05=0.0475
Elven Accuracy improves crit chance by 0.95^2*0.05=0.045125
0.045125*(41-23.5)=0,8348125<1
Your average damage increase is less than +1 per shot from the crit chance increase.

You have to also factor in increased to hit chance. Average AC level 7 enemies that matter enough to bother with feat selection efficiency should be around 18-19 (ex. mean dragons and demons, Fire Giant).
It is also convenient for calculations to assume a base 50% hit chance (+5+3).
Advantage gives you 75% hit chance.
Feat gives you 87,5% hit chance or 12.5% increase.

Not going into the complex-ish calculations this should be slightly under +3 damage per shot with advantage.
Given the same assumption, your aDPR with advantage w/o the Feat is ~19,5.


TL:dr
For your character, assuming no other magical shenanigans, this Feat increases your aDPR by ~3.5 for attacks with advantage or by ~18%.

How does this compare to other options?

 

[Horwath]

For elven rogue; Elven accuracy.

Gives +1 dex, so you can get 18 dex at 4th level.

Also, wood elf can hide almost everywhere so you will get that 3d20 very often.

And increased chance for crit to double all those great extra d6's.