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Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader

Cassia Build - Rogue Trader

By
Craig Robinson

"Cassia" iconCassia is a character you can get very early on, offering players a very powerful caster, using special skills called Navigator powers. These powers offer some incredible combat support in the form of forcing enemies into tough spots, dealing damage, alongside providing strong buffs to your allies’ defense, and more. Cassia is by far one of the most irreplaceable characters in Rogue Trader, and we’ll show you why. Below is a look at the recommended Cassia Build in Rogue Trader to assist players on all difficulty settings.

A Cassia Build in Rogue Trader uses her unique special magic spells, buffs, debuffs, and her Operative and Grand Strategist perks to create an effective backline mage support playstyle.

Officer Build

The main idea of the Officer Build is that you’re taking the very basics of the officer’s stat bonuses and bonus 2AP turns, and then taking mainly Navigator benefits. The reason is because of an "Unnatural Allure" iconUnnatural Allure, which grants bonus "Fellowship" iconFellowship per each Navigator trait you take. This then further enhances your "Voice of Command" iconVoice of Command, granting incredibly strong bonuses to your characters.

It does mean that you are going to start playing Cassia as a mage type character, casting powerful control spells across the battlefield. These spells typically come in the form of forcing enemies to move. This is important since you are likely going to have at least one or two melee characters in your party for Attacks of Opportunity synergy that comes with this playstyle. If you have "Pasqal" iconPasqal with his Omnnisiah’s Axe, that’s a static cleave that comes from the power weapon, which is free damage in perfect usage of the skill.

The other benefit of the playstyle is you want to force enemies around the battlefield, especially when you encounter some very hard enemies with lots of movement. This can buy a lot of time on harder difficulties. In addition, one of the talents you take grants you damage to enemies that you forcefully move around the map, which is passive damage since Officers tend to not do too much damage thanks to low weapon or ballistic skill.

Order Unlock 1 Unlock 2
1 "Voice of Command" iconVoice of Command
2 Persuasion
3 Bring it Down
4 Finest Hour "Inspire Courage" iconInspire Courage
5 "Fellowship" iconFellowship "Guide of Souls" iconGuide of Souls
6 "Tonicity" iconTonicity "Willpower" iconWillpower
7 "Zone of Fear" iconZone of Fear "Perilous Ways" iconPerilous Ways
8 "Pass Unscathed" iconPass Unscathed Preference
9 Finest Hour 2
10 Preference "Fellowship" iconFellowship
11 "Mind Over Matter" iconMind Over Matter "Willpower" iconWillpower
12 "Point of Curiosity" iconPoint of Curiosity "Eye Of Oblivion" iconEye Of Oblivion
13 "Unnatural Allure" iconUnnatural Allure Preference
14 "Perception" iconPerception "Unblinking Stare" iconUnblinking Stare
15 Finest Hour 4

Grand Strategist

Cassia is a powerful character at this point, with some incredible control magic. You now want to add more zones and powers to ensure you dominate every battle map.

The Grand Strategist section will further embellish your magic capabilities and grant more and more buffs you need for your magic damage, survivability, and take some key stratagems to benefit your frontline. From our experience, your backline hardly needs to dodge and overpen if you’ve been modifying your gear and builds properly, whereas reduced dodge, damage bonuses and more are certainly helpful for taking out bosses, or regular mobs on much harder difficulty. Other than that, you’re buffing your magic, and you are making it more likely for your allies to pass any potential friendly fire magic tests you may unleash. "Mobility Zone" iconMobility Zone is a handy talent for assisting an assassin in your party and helping to get to those weakspots and Vuln pops for even more damage.

Furthermore, there’s some great breakpoints at certain stages of this build. Take the lineup of "Under My Protection" iconUnder My Protection. You can take this here as you’ll have 10/2 in the formula because of the Fellowship tick-over through Nav Power bonuses from Unnatural Allure. This is where you can start really seeing the benefits of the Officer and Grand Strategist Fellowship scaling, thanks to that one talent investment and further Nav power investment through the Officer and Grand Strategist tree up to that point. This only gets better the more talents you take in Exemplar and Grand Strategist too.

Order Unlock 1 Unlock 2
1 "Combat Tactics" iconCombat Tactics
2 "Waking Nightmare" iconWaking Nightmare
3 "Blood Augury" iconBlood Augury
4 Take and Hold
5 AP Increase "Perception" iconPerception
6 Under my Protection "Perception" iconPerception
7 "Glimpse of Fate" iconGlimpse of Fate
8 Preference "Nimble" iconNimble
9 "Willpower" iconWillpower "Open to the Warp" iconOpen to the Warp
10 "Point of Interest" iconPoint of Interest
11 "Willpower" iconWillpower Preference
12 Take and Hold 1
13 "Adjusting Frontline" iconAdjusting Frontline "Fellowship" iconFellowship
14 "Perception" iconPerception Preference
15 "Killzone Stratagem" iconKillzone Stratagem
16 Veil of Protection "Ebb and Flow" iconEbb and Flow
17 Preference "Fellowship" iconFellowship
17 "Intelligence" iconIntelligence It Will Not Die
18 "Mastery of Time" iconMastery of Time
19 Take and Hold 3

Exemplar Build

The Exemplar tree comes with some very strong buffs you can grab to support your overarching playstyle. There are a few good ones to buff willpower tests, magic damage, and other supportive aspects of the playstyle. Below you’ll find a quick overview of an order we recommend grabbing, with freedom to do what you want after that. Malign is a key one, as it will enable every successful "Willpower" iconWillpower test to deal more damage, which you’re using on your main Navigator spells. Overall, this one talent immediately makes her more deadly, ready for those high Wound threats.

Order Unlock 1 Unlock 2
1 Malign Influence "Iron Discipline" iconIron Discipline
2 Preference "Improvised Strategy" iconImprovised Strategy
3 "Willpower" iconWillpower Threads of Faults
4 "Air of Authority" iconAir of Authority Preference
5 Eager Subordinates "Strategic Offensive" iconStrategic Offensive
6 "Perception" iconPerception "Steel Resolve" iconSteel Resolve
7 "Scourge of the Red Tide" iconScourge of the Red Tide "Willpower" iconWillpower

At this stage, you’re largely picking up what other minor benefits you can give to your stratagems, any other stratagems you’re interested in, or other small Navigator magic bonuses you can find. When you come across Exemplar talent rows, you’re either looking to buff your supporting capabilities or defensive capabilities, depending on what you feel you need for the build at the time, and the difficulty you’re on. With that said, we’ve concluded the Cassia build in Rogue Trader, so you now know how to build your warp mage, combined with some very powerful combat buffs, dodge support, and other important facets that will see you through hard mode and beyond.

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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Owlcat Games
  • Platforms,
    PS5, Steam, XB X|S
  • Genre
    RPG
  • Guide Release
    23 November 2023
  • Last Updated
    8 March 2024
    Version History
  • Guide Author

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In the grim dark future of the 41st millennium, there is only war. The Imperium of Man, ruled by God-Emperor of Mankind from atop his Golden Throne, is a vast interstellar empire with countless armies. Despite the Imperium’s apparent strength, however, its enemies are even more numerous and threats to mankind both surround the Imperium and gnaw at it from within. Where the constantly strained military might of the Imperium can’t reach, humanity must find other champions, and blessed with holy Warrants of Trade, Rogue Traders have almost unlimited authority to operate in the unconquered reaches of the galaxy beyond the Imperium’s direct influence. After unexpectedly inheriting the title of Rogue Trader von Valancius, you’ll have to secure your holdings in the Koronus Expanse, establish and develop new colonies, investigate the conspiracy that led to your ascension and fend off threats, internal and externals, humans, xenos and worse…

This guide will provide the following information:

  • Tips and info about various gameplay mechanics, including injuries and trauma, veil degradation, momentum, resolve, heroic acts, weapon types and space exploration.
  • Recruitment guides and builds for every companion in the game.
  • Walkthroughs for main quests, boss battle strategies and the effects your choices have.
  • Complete chapter overviews.
  • Best weapons lists for each chapter.
  • Guides for optional dungeons, side quests, errands and solutions to puzzles.
  • Colony guides, including colony projects and their rewards.
  • A vast database of weapons, armor, accessories, abilities, talents and more!

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