In particularly nasty fights, I might switch to more of a conservative approach, using both my bonus action and regular action attacks on my turn, which kept my reaction free for defenses (Shield spell, Absorb elements, uncanny dodge, etc). This does not rely on Haste or Sentinel mechanics, and as long as you have 1 HP you can keep up your DPR. This uses your reaction to let you sneak attack on the other creature’s turn, which can nearly double your DPR. I often used a perceptible trigger like “if enemy X/ally Y does anything other than just stand there”. The Scimitar of Speed is a rogue’s best friend, as it lets you make a bonus action attack (which you can enhance with sneak attack) and then you can ready an action to cast booming blade (if you aren’t concentrating on something else) or even just a regular attack, to be triggered on the next combatant’s turn. This allowed me to pick up the very rare Scimitar of Speed at level 11, which i used for the rest of the campaign. Fighter also gave me proficiency in shields, medium armor and martial weapons. I took Blind Fighting which ended up being clutch numerous times, but you can take Defense if you want the extr AC. I made sure to get to AT 10 for Reliable Talent before dipping one level in fighter, which gave me a fighting style. I took Find familiar for a consistent source of advantage and Shield for extra AC. When I did, I bonus action-hid first and took advantage of the Arcane Ambush feature to force creatures to save with disadvantage (great for spells like Hypnotic Pattern). Mine was at 16 and that was fine since I rarely cast spells that relied on a high DC. I threw in Fey Touched (Intelligence) for Misty Step and Gift of Alacrity. Half elf for elven accuracy, max DEX, feats were Resilient: CON, Mobile and Tough (so you can take a few hits). Fair warning, this build depended on a couple of specific magic items to push it over the top, but if your campaign makes these items available for purchase (or you can talk to your DM in advance), then get ready to be a melee beast. I played an Arcane Trickster all the way to level 20, and ended up as the party’s highest DPR member. They do get outclassed by blade singer very hard though in terms of gishyness, and by pure casters in terms of control and nova. The big benefit of arcane trickster imo is familiars and big control spells. But they do get to pick up fantastic spells like FF, silvery barbs and shield at level 1 (shield usually gets dropped though because of uncanny dodge and being outside of your school limitations), misty step and invisibility are amazing 2nd level spells and Fly and haste are fantastic at 3. In general arcane trickster (and rogues more generally) aren't great at DPR. Ranged focused arcane tricksters are probably the most optimal way to build them but its not as DPR focused, grabbing web and hypnotic pattern, staying at range with a familiar for advantage against non webbed enemies. There's a build that uses the sentinel feat and mirror image to proc out of sequence sneak attacks which is very neat and cranks out damage with shadow blade or booming blade (just remember that shadowblade is only better at a few levels and generally booming blade will scale damage better).
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