The sneaky boys of D&D are sneakier than ever, with a bunch more utility options and some much improved subclasses. I’ll detail each of the changes for the base Rogue and the 4 subclasses, and give my thoughts on each as well.

The Rogue has a very unique relationship with its subclasses. It has the largest gap between its first two subclass features, gaining them at 3rd and 9th level respectively. This is a massive drought of features, with very little good stuff provided by the base Rogue in the meantime.

I think Thief is a bit of a misnomer; thieves are great at sneaking and stealing. They want to yoink all kinds of valuables, and tools to assist entering and exiting places. Where technically the names of these features and their abilities can enable you to play a thief, they’re far better at making you a trapsmith or alchemist.

Swashbucklers are an entire mood. A vibe, if you will. They are charming, completely fictional pirates built on the archetype of the lovable scoundrel with too much charm for their own good. In theory, I adore this character type and want so badly to play one at the table. Unfortunately, the Swashbuckler roguish archetype doesn’t mechanically satisfy in the ways I need it to.

Soulknife isn’t my jam thematically. I’d almost certainly look to reflavor the entire thing, but my god is it full of utility. Homing Strikes ups the consistency of your base Sneak Attack with the majority of the rest of the features being known incredible tools rogues love playing with like Misty Step and Invisibility.

I would recommend Scout to a new player that wants to play a ranger-like character but doesn’t want to deal with spells. It scales great, with excellent combat features at 13th and 17th level. It does lack in exciting new ways to explore environments, which is a bummer for a subclass themed around nature exploration and scouting ahead.

Phantom is edge personified. It's “what if rogue, but haunted by their crimes of MURDER”. I adore this fantasy. I want to walk through walls, sneak in shadows, and harness life force for evil. It can struggle a bit from levels 3-8, but past that, it can be a powerhouse both in and out of combat with unique mechanics and complex decisions. 

Mastermind Rogue is a cool concept, but it's hard to bring that character type to a game about killing living, hungry chests in a quest for riches. Still, Mastermind brings value to the table (primarily through Master of Tactics), and can be a good enough way to live your supreme plotter fantasy. 

The Inquisitive archetype sells itself as a monster hunter meets detective; in practice, it is fine but lacks majorly in tools to expand out how you can interface with the world and doesn’t meaningfully empower your combat skills leaving it as a flavor-only subclass with little redeeming qualities. 

Assassin rogue is a messy, complicated, munchkin-laden option. On its own, it can be deeply underwhelming with little opportunity to shine, but when allowed to shine, can be utterly debilitating for some DMs to deal with.

Arcane Trickster would majorly benefit from being a half-caster, but where it is now, its easily my highest recommendation for new rogues looking to do classically roguish stuff. Their spell options embody trickery and deciet, and their features enable those spells further while silumatenously encouraging your sneak and stab roguish play pattern.

You sneak. You stab. You steal. You do the rogue thing. 5th edition rogues are all about consistency- from high damage numbers you can turn on round after round to skill expertise that will define you as the character to do the stealth missions, rogue is built without resources and a myriad of options out the gate for spicy combat decisions.