So I've heard all the arguments against playing as a Duelist and I actually stayed away from the specialization for a while because of them. However, I recently did a playthrough as a Duelist and I loved it, so I wanted to try my hand at debunking some of the more common argmuents against the class. First, however, let me say what I'm not trying to accomplish with this argument.
I'm not trying to say that the Duelist is better than the Shadow or Assassin branch. I'm perfectly willing to accept that it's the least useful Rogue specialization. What I take issue with, however, are the descriptions of the Duelist as useless, mediocre, and completely horrible. That it is not. I'm also not trying to say that it's a viable solo build (I kept Aveline and Anders in my party basically the entire time), or that it can solo Nightmare, or that it can even work on Nightmare (my playthrough was a normal one). I accept that if you want to completely decimate the Arishok one-on-one in Nightmare you may not want to be a Duelist. However, I found the Duelist to have its own fun and unique playstyle that worked well if you're actually willing to adjust your playstyle (i.e. not just jump into the biggest crowd and attack everything in sight).
Since I'm on the topic of what a Duelist isn't let me start with one more, it is not a tank. I think this should be patently obvious, but I've seen both supporters try to argue it can tank and detractors try to deride it on the basis of being a poor tank. A Duelist is an off-tank. It can take aggro from one enemy at a time (usually the largest). If you're fighting Xebenkeck and you've got three shades on your butt then you're in trouble, but if Aveline is taking most of the aggro then you can easily go toe-to-toe with almost every boss in the game (the one fight that gave me a ton of problems was the Arweigan Scrolls one on Sundermount, having two Revenants with massive health and damage output is a killer).
With that said, let me address one of the biggest problems people have with the Duelist, it takes aggro. Many people point out that this completely negates the bonuses of Predator, Blindside, and Twist the Knife. Well, yes, but no. It's true that you lose those bonuses when you throw the gauntlet, but enemies you throw the gauntlet against are going to be the least of your problems. Between Vendetta and Backstab you generally take a pretty decent-sized chunk of health out of most enemies, and if you still need to do damage Miasmic Flask does the trick (restores your bonuses against stunned enemies, as do plenty of mage and warrior talents and spells like Petrify). Now it's true you do take a hit to crit chance (100% vs. distracted opponents vs. 20%+your normal crit chance with Throw the Gauntlet and Parry), but you should have a CC score of around at least 60% anyway, making it 80% with Throw the Gauntlet. But why decrease crit chance at all you ask? In addition to getting a +60% boost to defense, you get -25% enemy damage, -50% enemy defense. This is what allows you to tank one enemy at a time, the fact that their chance to hit is lowered (I know they overuse abilities in Hard and Nightmare, hence why I'm not advocating for Nightmare builds). It also lowers their defense, so when you combine this with a power like Haste and your initial attacks with Vendetta and/or Backstab you can easily take down the bigs in this game.
But what about all the other mobs? That's the beauty of this, you can just default to the abilities you would use with any other Rogue build, in addition to having the awesome, amazing, one-hit damage of Vendetta. Believe it or not, I selected Subtlety for my Duelist (-25% threat generation). Why on earth would I do this? For one, I don't believe this ability affects Throw the Gauntlet. Two, when you're not dealing with a TTG foe other enemies will be less apt to target you, allowing you to take advantage of the bonuses from Predator, Blindside, and Twist the Knife. 90% of my fights, after the biggest threat went down, consisted of me jumping to the nearest enemy that was attacking a party member and just decimating their health. I loved when my mages gained aggro because I could just wail on the enemy while they ran away. If I or my mages ever got into trouble then I had Evade, Goad, Armstice, and Back-to-Back. Basically, contrary to what most people say, playing as a Duelist does not mean abandoning the typical dual wielding playstyle altogether. What it means is picking off the biggest threat on the battlefield in a way that is atypical to dual wielders, then ripping through the rest in typical dual-wielding fashion.
So, basically, the Duelist offers a unique way to play the Rogue class, one that tries to stay away from wading into the thick of things. It may still be the worst specialization (in part because Shadow has one REALLY overpowered talent, Decoy), but it can still be a fun spec to play, and is far from useless.
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