Everyone has a favourite hero. My favourites are the Cultists, but I don't play them a lot. They're pretty useless in my view. They do charm animals, which helps a lot versus the computer, or in quests. They do come with a Healing spell, too, which you can cast as a Sovereign. But they're terrible in combat. They don't Follow and Support like Healers do, and they have no real impact on the game where it counts: multi-player. Now, you may also have your favourite: Priestesses, Wizards, Warriors of Discord… but no matter which are your preferred gaming heroes, or simply the ones you enjoy most, there's a hero available to everyone and which everyone should use: The Rogue.

The obvious advantages to Rogues are those two given by their Guild: Poison and Extortion. Poison isn’t as great an edge as it might seem, other than at the start of the game. The additional effect of losing a few HPs a day does kill some weak heroes, but the strongest heroes early on are Rangers, and they stock up on as many potions as they can. Later in the game, though, enemy heroes fighting far from home and out of potions will not take into consideration the effect of poison. I’ve seen a few die on their way back home to heal their injuries.

Extortion, on the other hand, can be a game-saver. I almost always have the Rogues’ Guild hot-keyed, so that when I need my money now, for either a resurrection or a sovereign direct damage spell, it’s available. The fact that Poison is only available at 2nd Level, and that Extortion rates are better for you at that level, means you should always upgrade your Rogues’ Guild to Level 2. These are obvious advantages given by the Guild itself.

Rogues themselves can do a little bit of everything. What I'll do, in this article, is illustrate some ways to use their greed. The one link you'll notice throughout is the one thing that will get a Rogue to do whatever you want, and that's Gold.

Rangers are a vital early unit. They're cheap, and their recruit speed is very fast. As a result, they're often the first recruits, and once they've visited the Marketplace for some Healing Potions, they'll speed off to explore the map. It's important to know what's out there. Trade routes must be cleared of lairs that can present a problem for caravans. Lairs that will produce monsters near your town must be found and eradicated. The enemy's town must be scoped out. Majesty's lack of a fog of war means that once you've seen the enemy's area, you'll always see it, even if you don't have a man there, now. Knowing what he's building, and how fast, is important intelligence. The Rogue can help you with that. A couple of Rogues recruited along with your Rangers will allow you to place reward flags in all corners of the map and have them targetted immediately. On a small map 200-300 Gold should get a Rogue's attention. On a large map, you might have to go as high as 500 Gold to get a Rogue to pursue, but if intelligence gathering is your game, it can be better to entice Rogues than to wait for Rangers to wander into the area of interest.

There are great advantages to having an upgraded castle, too. The higher the level of your Palace, the more money it generates in the surrounding town. And, most obviously, the better guilds available to you and the more the henchmen and the faster your money will be collected by more tax collectors. Rogues are very inexpensive, and can get you to the 4-hero level needed to go to a Level 2 Palace, and in conjunction with 4 Rangers and 4 early 2nd Level heroes, get you quickly to a 3rd Level Palace.

Early in the game Rogues are about the only heroes you'll have that will constantly attack something for only a small reward. Nearby lairs can be targetted with only 100-200 Gold Reward Flags, and your Rogues will toil endlessly to reap those rewards. This means Rogues will contribute to the protection of your Town, as those lairs will no longer produce raiding monsters, or patrolling monsters that will waylay wandering heroes who stray from town.

So, Rogues are cheap, will attack anything for a bit of money, and can help search the map and upgrade the Palace. Is there anything else? Yes, lots of it, and some of it you probably wouldn't consider.

Later in the game you might have allowed your Rogue population to dwindle. After all, when melee becomes King, the Rogues' propensity to flight can make them poor allies. But their money grubbing makes them extremely useful. I don't recommend keeping a population of Rogues about, but I do urge using them for quick strike operations. Whenever an enemy building goes under construction it's a perfect time to hit it. The enemy will already have spent the money to build it, and loses that money even if the building never gets finished. Rogues are your first choice to either take it down, or keep it from completion while stronger arms come to join in. Immediately target any building you want attacked with 200-300 Gold (more, on a larger map) and recruit a Rogue if you don't already have one or more.

Rogues will also pester an enemy who’s taking down your own buildings. For a few dollars, a Rogue can be called to use his crossbow on any enemy threatening to take down an important building. Usually he’ll hit a few times, poisoning the target. What you’re hoping for is that the enemy will be distracted, chase the Rogue, and again, stronger arms can come to help, or henchmen can rebuild the damage.

Rogues can rid your Town of unwanted buildings. Put mere 100 Gold reward flags on your own buildings and, in the absence of Statues or Royal Gardens, your own Rogues will take down the structure. This is especially useful for downing Gambling Halls and Elven Lounges. Also, Rogues can be used to rid your town of Gnomes, when you’ve no longer any need for their building skills, but prefer the Elves’ cash or the Dwarves’ defense. It can take some timing, but here’s a primer:

1. Take your gnome buildings off the repair cue.
2. Target them for 100, either all at once or separately.
3. When the hovels are very low on HPs, remove the reward flags.
4. When all 3 hovels are very close to going down, you can either:
   1. Replace the reward flags, and hope the Rogues make it to all the buildings before one reemerges, or…
   2. Supplement the Rogues with a Lightning Bolt.

The advantage, of course, is to use the Rogues to get around the intended punishment of having Gnomes: fast builders, but no late-game help. Remember, though, that you must have no statues, or you’ll have to spend much more to entice the Rogues.

This propensity can also be turned against your opponent. If you’ve used your Rangers and Rogues properly, you’ll have seen your enemy’s entire town. Take a look, and see if he has any statues. If not, and Rogues are afoot, put 100 Gold on a few of his buildings: marketplaces primarily, and newly built structures are your best targets. The Rogues will, at the least, make completion of these buildings a hard task. His only recourse will be to quickly build his own statues or to dismiss the Rogues. If you’ve a spot in your own Guild, you may gain a new ally. If your enemy is using Rogues to take out his own gnomes, go ahead and target a gnome hovel that’s close to dying. It will be trashed, and may be rebuilt far away from the other hovels, making the Rogue-assisted destruction all the harder.

In short, Rogues’ greed can be used to get them to do whatever you need done quickly. They will attack almost anything for a few gold pieces. And, even if you know they won’t stay the fight, you can get them to at least go to an area with the promise of Gold. I would never recommend resurrecting a Rogue, or even Healing him. He’s too cheaply replaced. But keep one or two around to respond to emergencies, to harass an enemy in your town, to take down or delay a new building, or to explore a part of the map you’ve still not seen. Every little contribution can help, and the Rogue can make quite a contribution… if you pay him.