Best ways to get Sneak Attack on a solo rogue?

[Greywander]

One of the easiest ways to qualify for Sneak Attack is to have an ally standing next to an enemy. But what if you're solo? How do you go about reliably getting Sneak Attack? I know Cunning Action can work for ranged (and gets interesting, since the enemy has no one else to fight while you hide), but what about if you get caught in melee? Find Familiar can also work as your "ally within 5 feet" (or take the Help action), but that only lasts until your familiar goes down. I know several rogue subclasses get their own special ways to trigger Sneak Attack, but not all of them work well for solo games (looking at you, Swashbuckler). Dipping into barbarian for Reckless Attack would also work, but is also probably a bad idea if you're solo.

[djreynolds]

2 levels of warlock for darkness and devil's sight. But it's expensive

[Misterwhisper]

Without dipping:

Swashbuckler works well unless you get surrounded.

Inquisitive works but is not a great subclass especially with so many things stealing it’s thunder.

Familiar is a great way to do it, get an owl for flyby attack you keep it safer. Either with a feat or arcane trickster.


In the alternate features UA, rogue had Aim as an bonus action.
To help out ranged that didn’t need it.

I would ask the dm if you could have one called feint, bonus action your deception vs their insight, if you win you get advantage on your first attack.

At higher levels other subclasses get ways to do it.

Melee is much harder on a rogue than ranged, but melee can also open up many more chances for reaction attacks.

A 1 lvl hexblade, half elf, swashbuckler that is mainly charisma based would work well. You could even go 2 levels of warlock for other bonuses.

[Lunali]

The most widely useful is probably inquisitive's insightful fighting. Use a bonus action to try to gain sneak attack vs a target for 1min with no limit on retrying. If you fail, hopefully you've been hiding, otherwise use dodge as rogues without sneak attack are usually better off just avoiding damage and trying to set up sneak attack.

[djreynolds]

If multiclassing is an option. With the extra attack. Expertise in athletics.

Use you 1st attack to prone. Advantage.

Kiting and hiding. But will the DM give chase.

[Greywander]

Swashbuckler works well unless you get surrounded.
You're the only target on the battlefield. Getting surrounded is more or less inevitable if you wade into melee. On the other hand, this could work if combined with Mobile. Run in, hit an enemy standing by themselves, Dash away without needing to Disengage. Bonus points if combined with Booming Blade so you punish them if they try to follow you. Eventually, though, you'd have to fight enemies that have grouped up; great if you have AoE spells, which Swashbucklers don't get. And if you multiclass into a caster, then AT might be better for Magical Ambush.

In some ways, solo is trickier than a standard sized party, because you have to do everything yourself. Forcing the enemies into Fireball formation* would be great if you had a wizard or sorcerer in the party, but when it's just you then it does no good unless you have an AoE ability. A good party will cover each other's weaknesses; applying a tactic that defeats one party member makes you vulnerable to a different party member. But in solo, there's none of that.
*I'm still unclear on whether "Fireball formation" is the when the enemy or party bunches up, making them vulnerable to a big AoE like Fireball, or when they spread out, reducing their susceptibility to AoE.

[Zaltman]

The most widely useful is probably inquisitive's insightful fighting...

This. Use it with bow to let you snipe. Remember, the range is simply the ability to see your foe. You are the ultimate sniper. Stay away from hand-to-hand as much as you can to say alive. Since you are going to want a high wisdom, 2 levels of cleric can get you healing spells and some interesting features. Trickery might be great because you get charm person, disguise self and duplicity. Optionally, 2 levels of warlock to get devils sight will make that line of sight even better and you can sill take mask of many faces for disguise self. Take celestial and you even get healing.

The swashbuckler with booming blade is a reliable sneak attack, but much more risky in solo play since you have to toe-to-toe. With the fancy footwork feature you donÂ’t really need the mobile feat.

[Misterwhisper]

You're the only target on the battlefield. Getting surrounded is more or less inevitable if you wade into melee. On the other hand, this could work if combined with Mobile. Run in, hit an enemy standing by themselves, Dash away without needing to Disengage. Bonus points if combined with Booming Blade so you punish them if they try to follow you. Eventually, though, you'd have to fight enemies that have grouped up; great if you have AoE spells, which Swashbucklers don't get. And if you multiclass into a caster, then AT might be better for Magical Ambush.

In some ways, solo is trickier than a standard sized party, because you have to do everything yourself. Forcing the enemies into Fireball formation* would be great if you had a wizard or sorcerer in the party, but when it's just you then it does no good unless you have an AoE ability. A good party will cover each other's weaknesses; applying a tactic that defeats one party member makes you vulnerable to a different party member. But in solo, there's none of that.
*I'm still unclear on whether "Fireball formation" is the when the enemy or party bunches up, making them vulnerable to a big AoE like Fireball, or when they spread out, reducing their susceptibility to AoE.

Keep in mind on swashbuckler if you attack someone they can’t use a reaction against you normally, even without mobile.

You can always just disengage as a bonus action to move anywhere you need to to get your attack.

Mobile is always nice for that 10 extra movement.

Melee on a rogue, solo takes a lot of on the fly strategy, because unlike a ranged person, hiding each round is not likely.

Let’s look at specific subclasses:

Assassin: if you are lucky enough to get a surprise round they are great, after that, meh.

Arcane Trickster: casting is great, invisible mage hand is not as good as it used to be since multiple others get it too now. Buffing is great. Add mobility and you got some good business.

Thief: good utility and abilities but nothing that will really help get that sneak attack. Could be worked with.

Mastermind: oddly not good for solo.

Swashbuckler; been over this one and is my personal pick.

Inquisitive: great vs one person a round I also really like their capstone.

Scout: tons of skill and ability synergy. Probably better as an archer but all their abilities are nice. Good solo utility if you carry lots of throwing weapons like daggers.

Pretty much all the UA ones suck so whatever.

[OldTrees1]

Arcane Trickster -> Cast Find Familiar (Owl) -> Use Flyby to have an ally next to your target.

[Tanarii]

Avoid combat unless you can one shot from surprise.

Hire mercs / retainers / henchmen.

[Hytheter]

On the other hand, this could work if combined with Mobile. Run in, hit an enemy standing by themselves, Dash away without needing to Disengage.

Don't forget that Swashbuckler has that feature built in with Fancy Footwork. Mobile isn't bad for the extra movement but you don't need it for melee kiting as a Swashbuckler.

[Hairfish]

If you're playing a solo campaign, presumably your DM is designing encounters with the fact that you're a solo rogue in mind. This generally means not having you face multiple enemies, unless you can split them up in some way. If this isn't the case, ask yourself whether or not you really want to play a game with a DM who makes all/many of the encounters like pulling teeth.

I'd recommend swashbuckler for a melee rogue or scout for a ranged rogue. If your DM is using RAW for surprise rounds, having high initiative is super important.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Inquisitive works but is not a great subclass especially with so many things stealing it’s thunder.

Stealing what thunder? As mentioned above, it has the option to be used at range which is the most lacking part of being a Swashbuckler.

I would favor Inquisitive in a solo campaign where you want to be effectively able to use your sneak attack but a higher priority is to avoid combat altogether. If the campaign is combat centric and you don't expect to be avoiding it, I would recommend Swashbuckler, Scout and Thief in that order.

Most Rogue subclasses are actually light on combat features, but Swashbuckler and Scout have several of them.

I'll make a special nod to Mastermind, although it doesn't have anything to directly make sneak attacking easier, it isn't completely helpless in a solo campaign. If hirelings are an option you can really bolster their effectiveness, and if the campaign extends to 13th level Misdirection is a surprisingly decent defensive option, it happens to also work if an enemy is granting you cover. This of course relies on whether your DM keeps track of the fact that creatures grant cover in the first place, many tables are unaware or choose to avoid using the rule due to the tedium of it.

[Eldariel]

Just play Arcane Trickster. Familiar is good. (Greater) invisibility, Tiny Servitor/Animate Dead, some restraining spells, etc. could also do the job when need be.

[holywhippet]

It does require the right circumstances, but if you take enough levels of sorcerer, warlock or wizard you can take the shadow blade spell. It makes attacks with advantage in dim light or darkness.

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Arcana Trickster with Shadow Blade.
Make sure you are not under the sun, use your cunning action to get away from fights in light, remember you can throw it and use bonus action to bring it back if you need some range.
Helped a friend kid build one for a level 9 game, the kid had a blast.

[JellyPooga]

Thief can circumstantially access advantage via terrain manipulation with Fast Hands; light sources in particular can be helpful here, but with a permissive DM, sometimes things like felling tapestries, chandeliers or bookcases on to foes might also impose some form of handicap (e.g. blind or prone) that would give you advantage.

As I say, it's very GM dependent and circumstantial, but it's one of the reasons Thief rates so highly in my book.

[djreynolds]

Can't you grapple and then pin and stab with a dagger?

[BloodSnake'sCha]

Can't you grapple and then pin and stab with a dagger?

You can, takes two attacks.
One for grapple, one for shove.
A rogue have a single attack which means it will take him two turns, he could die to enemies attack as he try and nothing says he will roll higher then his enemies.

[nickl_2000]

Multiclassing into Bard for a few levels could be very useful soloing as well. Jack of all trades and expertise help massively to fill the skills gap (as does bardic inspiration) and Fairie Fire solves your advantage issue for larger groups. Then once you have dropped a few, your swashbuckler ability will kick in since you don't be surrounded and you can kite until everyone is dead.

Were it me I would go Swashbuckler X/ Bard 3 or 5 depending on the final level.

As for the bard subclass I would likely choose Lore for the extra 3 skills, but Valor would also be a solid choice to up your AC.

[Democratus]

Inspiration.

You get sneak attack any time you have advantage.

Do things that generate inspiration. Since you are the only player, it shouldn't be hard to find out from your DM what this entails.

[Lunali]

Stealing what thunder? As mentioned above, it has the option to be used at range which is the most lacking part of being a Swashbuckler.

Inquisitive is probably the best option for sneak attack, but the subclass in general has weak features or gets its thunder stolen by rogue features. Ear for deceit gets completely replaced by reliable talent (granted you get 8 levels of it) if you're proficient, which if you take this subclass, you should have expertise. Eye for detail would be useful when it comes up but you usually have better things to use a bonus action on in combat. Steady eye is decent for standing watch or searching for traps, but becomes much less important 2 levels later with reliable talent. Unerring eye would be a decent feature if it were a passive ability.

[Sorinth]

If you don't mind multiclassing then Battle Master fighter offers Feinting Attack is a BA to gain advantage and there's also Trip Attack though you might be better off using the standard Shove attack to knock prone depending on if you put your expertise in Atheltics.

Anyways, against multiple opponents I think you'd want to stick to range and kite as much as possible using Cunning Action to Hide.

[Hal]

If your GM is amenable, a Sidekick companion would make your life a lot easier. It doesn't even have to be a person, it can be an animal companion of some kind.

Barring that, a three level Ranger Beastmaster dip will get you a companion that can give you advantage. I know Beastmaster is terribly unpopular, but it's reliable.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Steady eye is decent for standing watch or searching for traps, but becomes much less important 2 levels later with reliable talent. Unerring eye would be a decent feature if it were a passive ability.

Steady Eye has the benefit of giving you advantage, which does apply to your passive checks, where Reliable Talent only affects dice rolls. Pair this with Observant and your passive score becomes a higher floor than Reliable Talent gives you. As a practical example, my retired Inquisitive has a passive Perception score of 35 with advantage on the checks. His passive score treats it as if I've rolled a 20, if the DM asked me to make a check rather than taking my passive there would be a chance of rolling below that. It was kind of overkill though.

I don't think Unnering Eye is all that bad as a feature, in fact if it were passive I would consider it probably a bit too strong. Inquisitive is a combat lite subclass, even among Rogue subclasses, it's not a bad thing for a subclass to be designed in favor of a different pillar of play, especially when most Rogue subclasses only have 1 or 2 combat features to begin with.

[Lunali]

I don't think Unnering Eye is all that bad as a feature, in fact if it were passive I would consider it probably a bit too strong. Inquisitive is a combat lite subclass, even among Rogue subclasses, it's not a bad thing for a subclass to be designed in favor of a different pillar of play, especially when most Rogue subclasses only have 1 or 2 combat features to begin with.

My problem with it is that you get to use it 1-2 times a day, (unless you have really high wis) if you're confident enough that there's something nearby to use it on, you probably don't need the ability to make sure. If I were going to make it passive, I would probably reduce it down to 10ft range to match it up with the blindsense you get one level later.

[Man_Over_Game]

There's also Samurai to grant yourself Advantage regularly.

[Misterwhisper]

I wish their was a way to make spears finesse weapons.

I always wanted to make a very agile sneak attacking spear user.

[Spiritchaser]

I wish their was a way to make spears finesse weapons.

I always wanted to make a very agile sneak attacking spear user.

A very agile sneak attacking spear user with PAM who uses the OA of PAM to get two sneak attacks per round (one on your turn, one on the target’s turn)?

[nickl_2000]

A very agile sneak attacking spear user with PAM who uses the OA of PAM to get two sneak attacks per round (one on your turn, one on the target’s turn)?

Yup that was the problem I was seeing with it. You would have to make it

Light Spear
A piercing blade with a short haft on it. The short haft allows for more agile use and quicker movements. Due to the short shaft, this weapon is not eligible for the Pole Arm Mastery Feat.
1 gp
Simple Weapon
1d4 piercing
3lbs
versatile (1d6)
Finesse
Light

This is pretty similar in power to the dagger (although possibly slightly inferior due to versatile rather than thrown) but still gives you a spear. Since it specifically says that you can't use PAM you don't have that issue.

[Mith]

Yup that was the problem I was seeing with it. You would have to make it

Light Spear
A piercing blade with a short haft on it. The short haft allows for more agile use and quicker movements. Due to the short shaft, this weapon is not eligible for the Pole Arm Mastery Feat.
1 gp
Simple Weapon
1d4 piercing
3lbs
versatile (1d6)
Finesse
Light

This is pretty similar in power to the dagger (although possibly slightly inferior due to versatile rather than thrown) but still gives you a spear. Since it specifically says that you can't use PAM you don't have that issue.

Isn't that basically a Zulu iklwa spear?

[Tanarii]

Isn't that basically a Zulu iklwa spear?
Javelin works for a 3ft version or standard iklwa
The Spear would be a 4ft long 'half-spear'. It really shouldn't be throwable, but feasible to one-hand in skirmish combat.
For a 6ft-7ft spear, see the Pike.

Now if only they'd fixed PAM so it didn't work with one handed staff / spear in the process of adding spears to it ...

[nickl_2000]

Isn't that basically a Zulu iklwa spear?

It's pretty darn close, but the Yklwa is defined as a weapon in 5e already. So, it had to have a different name.

[N810]

There's also Samurai to grant yourself Advantage regularly.

Or barbarian … :thog:

[Joe the Rat]

Or barbarian … :thog:

Mobile Roguebarian. Reckless Stab(s), then walk away quickly.

[N810]

Recklessly angry sneak attacks. :nale:

[Misterwhisper]

Recklessly angry sneak attacks. :nale:

I will savagely beat you to death with my rapier while cleverly poking you at vital organs.