This site makes extensive use of JavaScript.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser.
Live
PTR
10.2.7
PTR
10.2.6
Beta
The Rogue Compendium
Post Reply
Return to board index
Post by
Remx
14/5/08: I don't play much anymore, and an increasing workload as well as other distractions will prevent me from providing any further updates to this thread.
I'd like to thank everyone who lent their support to the improvement of this compendium. You won't see me around the forums as much, but I will try to pop by every now and then to lend a hand where I can. Good luck and happy roguing!
THE ROGUE COMPENDIUM
I've made this thread to explain some commonly accepted principles of roguery, so that anyone who may be seeking information or answers to commonly asked questions will be able to consult a reliable source. This is by no means a thread involving discussion of advanced mechanics or anything of the sort; it is more intended to help the less experienced rather than the veterans. For more advanced discussion, I suggest you check out the EJ forums.
Table of contents
The rogue class and its role in the game
Specs
Itemisation
Levelling
PVE
PVP
Other sources of valuable information
Rogue theory 101 @ EJ
DPS spreadsheet
Gear spreadsheet
Shadowpanther
Official rogue forums
Post by
Remx
PART I - THE ROGUE CLASS AND ITS ROLE IN THE GAME
Since the beginning of beta, the rogue class has attracted many players determined to be
that
guy. You know, the one who appears out of nowhere to kill you while you've stopped to rearrange your inventory, chat with your party or take a short break. While things have changed a lot since the days when we could two-shot mages or keep our foes stun-locked as we subjected them to the embarrassing spectacle of being 100-0'd, certain things have stayed the same. Rogues are still the pain in your ass you weren't expecting, still the DPS fiends vying for the top spot on the meters, and still the one class who everyone seems to love to hate.
So what will you be expected to do as a rogue? You'll play the disruptor and death dealer in PVP, shutting down a healer's vain efforts to save those falling all around him, frustrating a mage as he's forced to spend his time escaping you rather than nuking his enemies, and annoying the absolute crap out of a warrior as you momentarily tear shreds through him, only to vanish and take up a comfortable vantage point from where you can watch him bleed out. You've got stuns, you've got bleeds, you've got poisons and you've got damage... a whole lot of it. Oh, you get to work a casual locksmith job on the side too. Exciting huh?
You'll be a vital asset in any PVE encounter, providing phenomenal and largely unmatched melee DPS to any raid. That may be all you do, but goddamn do you do it well. If lots of big numbers floating across your screen is what butters your biscuit, then you've chosen the right class for the job.
Lastly... stealth. You can't deny it, stealth is awesome. Some people pick the rogue purely because of stealth. They might fancy themselves sneaks, or they might just be perverts who enjoy shadowing their oblivious victims. It doesn't matter, as long as they get to snoop around in plain sight without actually being seen. Again – stealth, pervert, awesome.
That should give you a fair gist of what it's like to be a rogue. Sounds cool right? Thought so.
Post by
Remx
PART II - SPECS
Before taking a spec, you need to consider what you want it to do for you. Do you want to be a PVP dynamo or do you want to top the meters in your guild's raids? What it comes down to is an initial choice between spec'ing for PVP or PVE, and the subsequent choice of exactly which spec you're going to take. In this section I'm going to provide a list of commonly accepted specs. While you'll most certainly encounter other specs in your readings, they're not going to be as good as those on this list.
Interchangeable talents include:
3/5 lightning reflexes vs. 3/3 improved gouge
1/2 endurance vs. 1/2 nerves of steel
-- PVE --
Combat swords
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0ebovZMIVobVzxMGot
Combat swords offers is the ultimate build for raid DPS. Due mostly to swords being more prevalent than fists throughout the raiding scene, this spec is far more common than fists and fist/sword and is generally accepted as
the
raiding spec.
Combat fist/sword
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0eboxZMIV0bVzEMGot
Together with combat swords, this is one of the best builds available to you when it comes time to PVE. You wield a fist in your main-hand and a sword in your off-hand, the idea being that the sword will proc extra attacks with your fist which have a 5% additional chance to crit. The only problem with this spec isn't the spec itself, but the poor fist itemisation throughout the raiding scene. Your best bet is to pick up a MH fist from the arena.
Combat mace/sword
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0eboxZMIV0bVtxMGot
Similar to combat fists, this is a spec most often taken by rogues who receive a main-hand upgrade in the form of a mace rather than a sword. It is much less common than any other combat spec, and is only recommended for rogues who don't have access to a sword of the same quality as their mace. What sets this build apart from combat maces is that the user will be wielding a sword in their off-hand to proc extra main-hand attacks with the mace which gain a critical strike damage bonus. It will perform slightly better than combat fists, but worse than combat swords or fist/sword.
Combat fists
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0ebovZMIVobVzVMGot
Another good raiding spec, combat fists is most often taken by rogues who receive a weapon upgrade in the form of a fist rather than a sword. While the DPS discrepancy between this and the above three specs is at first fairly minimal, this spec does fall behind. Keep in mind that this discrepancy will increase as your gear improves due to the increased value of an extra attack after each stat upgrade.
Combat daggers
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0gcoLZGcVobEz0MGotV
Combat daggers, while not quite as effective as its sinister striking counterparts, is still a prime contender in raids. Some rogues take combat daggers over other specs because they enjoy its style and rotation more, others take it because they've got access to daggers superior to their sword, fist or mace alternatives. The DPS discrepancy between combat daggers and the sinister striking flavours is often exaggerated; combat daggers falls only very slightly behind the above builds.
Hemo swords
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0eboZ0eV0bVzLMZEMc0MhMo
Hemo swords is the second of only two PVE specs with points in subtlety. Unlike combat daggers however, hemo swords features quite a lot of its points in the subtlety tree. Hemo swords will offer less personal DPS to a rogue than combat swords, but the debuff hemo applies to the target will net a DPS increase for all melee classes striking the rogue's target. Dirty deeds helps the rogue output significantly higher DPS towards the end of each encounter. Recent testing has shown that the loss in personal DPS at the T6 gear level is too great to be compensated by the benefit of the hemo debuff, but until that point it is an effective alternative to combat swords.
Deadliness Hemo
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0eboZ0eV0bVzLMZEMc0MhMo
Hemo swords, but with deadliness instead of sword specialisation. This is the spec you should take if you want to raid hemo but don't have a pair of swords.
Combat mutilate
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0efoEMoizVo0eV0bV
Combat mutilate is very different to all the other PVE specs. Its rotations are more involving and varied, and the itemisation required to make it effective is quite different, being more crit dependent than anything. Some rogues prefer to raid as combat mutilate because they consider it to be the most fun build to play, or because they wish to PVP as mutilate without having to respec.
-- PVP --
Combat mutilate
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0ecREMoizVohdVbbV
A slightly varied mutilate spec from the one mentioned previously, this one takes talents vital to PVP before PVE.
Subtlety mutilate
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0ecREMoizVoZEMc0Mh
Subtlety mutilate is considered to have less damage efficiency than combat mutilate, but in lieu of this it provides added survivability and control through the talents it takes in the subtlety tree. It offers slightly less in-combat mobility than combat mutilate due to the lack of improved sprint.
Heavy assassination mutilate
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0ecREGsidVoZEM
A slight variant of subtlety mutilate which drops more points into assassination in order to increase control through poisons.
ARPrep
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fZhdVbrVt0M0oZxMjoMuRox
ARPrep (adrenaline rush preparation) is a build which provides extraordinarily high sustained damage and good survivability in the one package. It saw a significant nerf with the 2.3.2 patch though, and has been dropped in favour of HShS by many rogues since.
Combat maces
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0ebonZGcV0bVt0rhRt
Combat maces offers high sustainable damage, incredible burst during AR and the benefit of mace spec's stun procs. Combat maces' lower mobility and reduced survivability make it less attractive than HShS or ARPrep for most arena play, although the right team composition can allow it to shine.
HShS
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0ebRiZZxMjoMGRoxst
Short for hemo shadowstep, since 2.3.2 it has been accepted as the best PVP spec available.
CHShS
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=fZhdVbbVZxMjoMGRoxst
CHShS is the combat variant of HShS.
DShS
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0gcoxZZEMcc0GRsxst
DShS is the shadowstep daggers build. It's considered ineffective for arena play.
Post by
Remx
PART III - ITEMISATION
Like any class, the rogue becomes considerably more powerful as its gear improves. Just how powerful will be determined by your ability to correctly itemise yourself. What does this mean? It simply means you'll perform better if you has a good understanding of which stats to aim for when collecting gear. The stats a rogue aims for in general include attack power, agility, crit rating, hit rating, weapon expertise, armour penetration, haste, resilience (not important in PVE) and of course stamina (though its importance in PVE diminshes greatly after the rogue has a respectable health pool). You should aim to achieve a different balance of these stats depending on both your spec and what you intend to use the gear for, be it PVE or PVP.
Itemisation in PVE
The stats a rogue should focus on for PVE are hit rating, agility, attack power, weapon expertise, crit rating, haste and armour penetration. Stamina is not a DPS stat, and shouldn't be considered in item comparisons once your health pool has reached at least 7k. Resilience is to be avoided, it's absolutely useless for a rogue in PVE.
Hit rating
Hit rating reduces our chance to miss our target. It's important to have at least 200 hit rating when beginning your raiding career (note that you're using a PVE build so you will have precision – if you weren't then this number would be much higher). Your hit rating will need to increase from 200 rather dramatically as you progress through content. A total of ~200 hit rating is fine for starting Karazhan, but it should be in the realm of ~300 around the time you reach Black Temple. At level 70, 15.76 hit rating = 1% chance to hit. The hit cap is 363 hit rating with precision.
Agility
Agility effectively provides two DPS stats – attack power and crit rating. It also provides a small amount of dodge and armour, but that's completely irrelevant for this discussion. It scales in raids better than most other stats due to agility benefiting from blessing of kings. At level 70, 1 agility = .025% chance to crit and 1 AP.
Attack power
Attack power is the baseline stat by which Blizzard measures the effectiveness of our other melee DPS stats. Attack power translates directly to extra DPS. Think of your weapons' base DPS – it's rather low compared to the DPS you actually output isn't it? The discrepancy is due in part to the role of AP – the more AP you have the more DPS you will actually do with those weapons, special abilities included.
Weapon expertise
Weapon expertise is the stat that replaced weapon skill. Previously, weapon skill had reduced the chance that any hit you scored would glance (a glancing blow largely diminishing the damage done by the hit), to the point where it eliminated your chance of scoring a glancing blow entirely. Weapon skill was for this reason, extremely powerful up until reaching this point. Blizzard felt that the ability for us to eliminate the chance of scoring glancing blows was far too effective, so they changed weapon skill to grant us hit and crit rating instead (causing ~25% to glance from then on).
Blizzard replaced weapon skill in 2.3 with weapon expertise. Instead of granting hit and crit rating, weapon expertise reduces the chance that our target will dodge or parry our attacks. This change caused our hit rating cap to rise from 308 with precision to 363 with precision. The weapon expertise cap is 103 without the weapon expertise talent. At level 70, every ~3.9 points of expertise rating grant one point of expertise, which reduces the chance your enemy will dodge or parry your attacks by .25%. This means that at level 70, 15.76 expertise (not expertise rating) will reduce the chance your enemy will dodge or parry your attacks by 1%.
Crit rating
Crit rating has a simple function, it increases our chance to crit our target. It does so far more effectively than agility when you consider the cost of each stat on an item's attribute budget (the attribute budget or item level dictates the cost of each additional stat given to an item. The item cannot have a total stat value higher than its item level. This is a rather complex topic and isn't overly important to this discussion so I won't delve into it). Crit rating features prominently on most PVE orientated rogue items. Crit rating is valuable to rogues of any spec, though it is less valuable to hemo swords rogues as they do not have the lethality talent, and more valuable to mutilate rogues as they have seal fate. At level 70, 22.08 crit rating will grant 1% chance to crit.
Haste rating
Haste rating reduces your swing timer, effectively making you attack faster. Haste rating used to be the single most powerful stat for a rogue until Blizzard changed its conversion formula. It's still a considerably powerful stat, and is seen on quite a few end-game rogue pieces. Haste rating's value increases as you gather more of it (this is due to a multiplier in the haste rating formula). For this reason, if you have any trinkets with a use function that grants you haste, it's most effective to use them while your other haste effects are up (mongoose procs, blade flurry and slice and dice - bloodlust too if there's a shaman using it, and berserking if you're a troll). At level 70, 15.76 haste rating increases the haste of your attacks by 1%.
Armour penetration
Armour penetration is another stat which features on quite a lot of end-game rogue PVE pieces. It's also given by serrated blades and the executioner enchant. Like haste rating, armour penetration's value increases as you gather more of it (it too has a formula with a similar multiplier).
Post by
Remx
Itemisation in PVP
The stats a rogue should focus on depend largely on gear level. Rogues in full merciless gladiator gear or better can focus on damage stats, while rogues at lower gear levels need to support themselves with extra stamina and resilience. The most valuable stats to a rogue in PVP are (in no particular order) stamina, resilience, agility, attack power, crit rating and armour penetration. Hit rating is very valuable up to the point where your specials will no longer miss (5% hit or 79 hit rating, note that precision grants 5% if you've taken it), after which it is still valuable, but less important than the other stats mentioned in this paragraph. Dodge rating should not be considered to hold any value in PVE, and it should take a backseat to all other stats in PVP.
Stamina
Stamina grants extra health points. For each point of stamina you gain 10 health points. The benefit should be obvious here – the more health you have the longer it's going to take for you to be killed, and the longer your healers have to get a heal off on you while you're being attacked.
Resilience
Resilience decreases the chance that your enemies will crit you (be it in melee or with spells), and if they do manage to then it reduces the damage you take from the crit. It also reduces to damage you take from DoTs (as these cannot crit). Character level also plays a role, though for the sake of this discussion we will assume that players are level 70 (if you wish to see how character level comes into it, I suggest reading
WowWiki's resilience page
). At level 70, a player gains 1 percentage of resilience for 39.42 resilience rating. This one percentage of resilience reduces the chance the player will be critical hit by 1%, reduces the damage they will take from a critical hit by 2% and reduces the damage of DoT effects on them by 1%. This may not seem like much, but resilience really is an incredible survival stat.
Agility
Agility's function was explained earlier. It isn't as prominent on most PVP gear as say attack power or even crit rating, but it is still a solid stat for PVP, especially if you're running a deep subtlety build with sinister calling or a mutilate build. Agility's effectiveness is slightly influenced by resilience as the crit rating becomes less effective as your opponent's resilience increases.
Attack power
Attack power is arguably the most effective damage stat in PVP. It is not affected by resilience. It is even more effective to rogues who run with subtlety builds that feature deadliness, such as ARPrep or ShS. It features prominently on almost all rogue PVP gear and is the best stat to focus on when trying to increase your damage in PVP.
Crit rating
Crit rating is also rather prominent on rogue PVP gear, though its value decreases as your opponent's resilience increases. It's still a good idea to maintain a decent chance to critically strike though, just don't go out of your way to stack it, and keep in mind the effect resilience has on it while comparing it to other stats when you're trying to choose between pieces of gear.
Socketing
As a rule, only go for a socket bonus if it provides a sufficient increase to a valuable stat. Valuable stats include hit rating, crit rating, agility, and attack power. Socket bonuses which are only valuable in PVP are stamina and resilience. A socket bonus which is not valuable is dodge rating.
PVE
Always use a
relentless earthstorm diamond
in a meta socket, regardless of whether or not you're going for the socket bonus in your headpiece. You do not need to go for the bonus for the meta to work.
If you are not taking a socket bonus, fill all the sockets on that item with
rigid dawnstones
, or
delicate living rubies
if you're mutilate.
When you're aiming for a socket bonus, use the colour corresponding gems I have mentioned below:
Red:
Glinting noble topaz
(
delicate living rubies
if you're mutilate)
Blue:
Shifting nightseye
Yellow:
Rigid dawnstone
(
glinting noble topaz
if you're mutilate)
PVP
Returning soon
There are more powerful gems available to you through heroics, quests, PVP, mining nodes in Hyjal, and drops in BT and Sunwell.
Enchants
PVE
Head -
Glyph of ferocity
Shoulders -
Greater inscription of the blade
or
greater inscription of vengeance
. The inscription of vengeance is slightly superior.
Cloak -
Greater agility
Chest -
Exceptional stats
Bracers -
Assault
Gloves -
Superior agility
Pants -
Nethercobra
or
cobrahide
for placeholders.
Boots -
Dexterity
Rings -
Stats
.
Striking
if dagger spec'd.
Weapons -
Mongoose
on both weapons.
PVP
Coming soon
Post by
Remx
PART IV - LEVELLING
In this part of the compendium I will provide you with a spec optimised for levelling, information on itemisation, as well as various other tips which will assist you as you level.
Spec
The most efficient spec to level with is a combat swords build:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0eboeZMIEz0VzxMhot
Subtlety and assassination may seem enticing paths, but specs built on these trees are simply not as good for levelling. They're slower and far less efficient than combat when it comes to fighting mob after mob. You don't have to level with a combat spec, but if you're after the most efficient and effective spec to level with then it is the best choice.
The exact order in which you spend your points won't make a ton of difference, but spending them well can save you some time in the long run. Here's the order which I've found to be the most efficient:
Level 10-11 - 2/2 Improved Sinister Strike
Level 12-14 - 3/5 Lightning Reflexes
Level 15-19 - 5/5 Precision
Level 20-22 - 3/3 Improved Slice and Dice
Level 23-24 - 2/5 Deflection
Level 25-29 - 5/5 Dual Wield Specialisation
Level 30 - Blade Flurry
Level 31-34 - 4/5 Sword Specialisation
Level 35-36 - 2/2 Weapon Expertise
Level 37-39 - 3/3 Aggression
Level 40 - Adrenaline Rush
Level 41-43 - 5/5 Deflection
Level 44 - Riposte
Level 45-49 - 5/5 Combat Potency
Level 50 - Surprise Attacks
Level 51 - 5/5 Sword Specialisation
Level 52-56 - 5/5 Malice
Level 57-59 - 3/3 Ruthlessness
Level 60-61 - 2/2 Murder
Level 62 - Relentless Strikes
Level 63-67 - 5/5 Lethality
Level 68-70 - 3/3 Vile Poisons
Upon hitting 70 you should respec to one of the builds mentioned earlier in this compendium.
Itemising yourself for efficient levelling
Unlike post-60 gear, the items you'll find while levelling won't have a wide variety of nice stats. You'll be hard pressed to muster any decent amount of hit rating, crit rating, weapon expertise, armour penetration or haste rating while you level. Your bread and butter stats will instead be agility, stamina and attack power. Equip gear that has primarily one (excluding stamina), or a balance of at least two of these attributes.
The prevalence of strength on a lot of the gear you'll want to use is something you can't avoid. Don't hesitate to equip an item just because it has strength on it, you still gain attack power from strength.
Stamina is rather useful while levelling. With more stamina you'll be able to survive tougher fights, pull more mobs between each rest and luck permitting, even escape would-be gankers.
Tips
It's a good idea to train swords and pick up a cheap pair as soon as you can afford to, as this will allow you to raise your skill with swords as you level and you'll have no problem wielding them by the time you pick up sword specialisation.
It's better to have a fast sword in your off-hand once you gain the ability to conjure and use poison, and it's a necessity once you pick up combat potency. The faster your off-hand the more procs it will trigger.
Your main-hand's damage range is important, but as a rule of thumb, the slower your main-hand the better.
Use instant poison on both hands when grinding mobs.
Always keep yourself loaded up with poisons, flash powder, food and bandages (you can ask a mage to conjure you some food if you want to save silver). You should be able to down several mobs before needing to replenish your health, but when you do need to rest, take the time to eat. You'll save yourself quite a bit of gold in the long run if you keep bandages (and health potions when you have them) for more dire situations (remember that bandages can be used in combat).
Keep slice and dice up as much as possible and use eviscerate as your damage finisher. Avoid using rupture, expose armour or kidney shot for the typical fight.
Don't waste time by gouging mobs you're fighting, unless it's going to save your life. The most efficient method of fighting is to stand in front of the mob, sinister striking, slicing, dicing and eviscerating its face.
If you can approach a mob from the rear easily then you can open with garrote and use the point from it for slice and dice. Once you gain cheap shot it should be used to facilitate slice and dice at the start of each fight, with the stun helping you avoid some damage.
When fighting casters who heal or cast damage spells, you can save yourself quite a bit of grief by maintaining enough energy for a kick at all times. Kick their heals or high damage casts.
More incoming
Post by
Remx
PART V - PVE
NOTE:
I haven't determined a structure for this section yet, but in order to get some updates done sooner rather than later, I'll use a temporary layout.
This section will deal largely with preparation and play in a raid environment.
Your role as a rogue in raids is pretty clear; to provide unmatched melee DPS. You won't be buffing the raid (unless you're bringing drums and the like) and you won't be asked to CC. This may sound simple, but there's some guidelines you must follow in order to truly perform at your optimum.
Don't die. A dead rogue does no DPS. Well, at least once rupture and deadly poison stop ticking.
Manage your aggro. There's no point going balls out at the start of a long fight. You'll have to blow vanish early and you'll soon find yourself threat capped before the cooldown has reset, which is as frustrating as it is limiting. You shouldn't ever need to feint if you're being sensible.
Know when to use your cooldowns. If you're able to, timing your blade flurry with drums can really unleash power you never knew you had. Don't blow adrenaline adrenaline rush if you know you're at risk of being out of range of your target for its duration. Examples of this would be before an enfeeble in the prince malchezaar encounter, tombs in the morogrim tidewalker encounter, air burst in the archimonde encounter or fatal attraction in the mother shahraz encounter. There are plenty more too, so be careful.
Maximise your rupture uptime without dropping slice and dice. As long as you're not refreshing slice and dice early, you're not wasting your energy. Letting slice and dice drop off for a few seconds is more detrimental to your DPS than not managing one more rupture before the slice and dice refresh.
Don't use eviscerate unless you really have to. If your rupture and slice and dice are still up and you've got 5/5 combo points, chances are that you've popped adrenaline rush recently and your energy is now at risk of capping out for a few seconds while you wait for rupture to drop. Don't panic, and don't eviscerate. Sinister striking to prevent an energy cap out while waiting for rupture to drop so you can refresh it is more efficient than letting off eviscerate and building up a slice and dice refresh while missing out on a rupture cycle.
Don't forget to refresh your poisons if their duration is fading. This is especially important before engaging bosses. If your poisons won't last the encounter, refresh them. There's almost never time for you to stop mid-fight to do so.
Bring consumables, and use them. This may sound obvious but I've raided with a ton of rogues, and only a handful of them have dilligently farmed and utilised consumables. Guess what? They did more damage than the others too.
Stick around for trash. Don't go AFK just because there's not a boss for another twenty minutes. Your raid leaders will notice and you won't leave a good impression. If you're a raid leader yourself, lead by example. If you don't feel like sticking around for the tiresome parts, why should anyone else? On the same note, perform to the best of your ability and don't ever slack off in raids. If you're always performing well, you'll be noticed. This is particularly important if you harbour aspirations of officership, veterancy or what-have-you.
Always try to turn up to raids slightly early. Not half an hour or anything, just five minutes or so. If enough people do this then you've got a better chance of starting the raid on schedule, and you'll probably be more successful by the end of it.
Don't fux around in raids. I've been in guilds where there's been one tool who has always fooled around at the most inappropriate of times, and on more than one occasion has caused a completely unnecessary wipe. You don't have to conduct yourself with integrity, but it helps. If you are going to be an ass, don't be one at your raid's cost. You're not just wasting your own time, you're wasting that of your guildmates.
Research encounters. If you've got a raid coming up where you're bound to experience content you've not yet seen, go to
Bosskillers
and read a strat or two. Being prepared for an encounter is almost as important as showing up for it.
More incoming.
Post by
Remx
PART VI - PVP
NOTE:
I haven't determined a structure for this section yet, but in order to get some updates done sooner rather than later, I'll use a temporary layout.
Rogue PVP isn't at all like rogue PVE. While this may sound obvious, questions regarding the best 'cycles' for PVP pop up on this forum regularly. The truth is that there are no solid cycles. PVP play is a lot more reactive than PVE play, largely because of the more random element of human opposition as opposed to a programmable encounter. As such, you must be reflexive in order to succeed, and not set on executing any rigid cycle.
Your opponents will have many counters to the tricks you employ, just as you have counters to theirs. What makes a good rogue is one who knows these counters, and can read their opponent well enough to expect and prepare for them. If you're able to do this then you'll be able to stay on the offensive, put the pressure on your opponent and either force them to make mistakes or fall under the weight of your careful assault.
What do I mean by preparing? It could be anything depending on the situation. Say for instance I force a mage into an early iceblock. I know that if I go to blind him once the ice block wears off, he'll probably trinket it and continue trying to evade me. I prepare for this by staying on top of him as he's iceblocked, and even still as I send the blind his way. If he does trinket the blind, he's still right next to me and I'll have the chance to shiv crippling onto him before he blinks/novas away from me. From there's he's stuck with the crippling debuff, and at most a shadowstep's distance away.
Obviously this is an extremely limited scenario, but it's an example of what I mean by being prepared. I can't take the time to explain every single possible PVP situation to you, but I can help you establish the mindset that is required to learn them for yourself. Rogue PVP is not mindless as some of the other classes like to believe. You have to stay sharp, you have to be fast, and most importantly you have to be thinking.
Whether or not that sounds easy to you, I really can't be sure. But if it does, trust me, it's not. It only takes one error or unlucky random number generation to really mess things up for you. Things might start to go south and you might panic, and from there you'll be brought down in a timely fashion. That's another factor you'll have to control; even if things do turn a little pear-shaped, keep a cool head and stay on your game. You can recover from some mistakes, it just takes a level head. Failing to do so only invites your opponent to continue the punishment.
Of course all of this will come to you in time. I've never been too focused on the PVP side of things, yet I've had my fair share of wins against difficult opponents. I've managed this through practice and experience, not just from watching countless PVP videos or reading endless threads of tips and hints (though that's not to say they don't help, if they didn't I wouldn't be writing this). There's nothing more beneficial than making mistakes for yourself and learning from them, so I strongly encourage you to set aside some in-game time to really focus on improving your PVP game if that's what you want from your rogue.
I could probably rattle on for another hour about the reflexive nature of PVP and the importance of forward-thinking, but I'd only be playing the same tune you've just heard. So without further ado, some general tips:
Be wise with your cooldowns, but don't be afraid to use them. I know everyone here has probably dueled someone, floored them, then had to listen to their incessant whining about the number of cooldowns that were used to pummel their ugly little face in. Guess what? No one but them really cares, and you certainly shouldn't. If they feel that you should be using less of your abilities to beat them, agree to do so, but only if they'll duel with just one of their hands.
On the same note, don't blow your cooldowns simply because they're there. They're not going to run away just because they don't see any action, believe me. The last time I remember striking my feint key, mullets were considered trendy and milk was delivered to my doorstep in little glass bottles. It's still right there in my spellbook though.
Keep crippling poison on your off-hand at all times. Being able to shiv crippling is vital for most PVP encounters, and you should be maintaining the crippling debuff on your opponent throughout the duration of a fight.
Vanish is one way to stop an enemy cast when you absolutely have to. Say you're about to get hit by a full duration sheep and cloak of shadows and your trinket are down; vanish will cancel the cast. If you're quick enough and your latency isn't high it can even work on instant casts that need to travel, such as deathcoil.
Don't trinket short duration CC unless it's absolutely necessary. It'll put you at risk of falling victim to longer duration CC for the rest of the fight. Don't trinket a warrior's charge if you know he's got intimidating shout up, don't trinket a rogue's cheap shot, etc.
More incoming
Post by
Queggy
cool, just wondering though, when can expect the other parts to loaded? And good job!
Post by
97155
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
57248
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
ruleofthumb
Nice job. This will become a very useful tool for a lot of Rogues in the future. I may work something up for the Hunter side one of these days.
Regarding Combat Mace/Sword PvE spec
What sets this build apart from combat maces is that the user will be wielding a sword in their off-hand to proc extra main-hand attacks with the mace which gain a critical strike damage bonus.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this statment isn't entirely true. Mace Specialization does not get a crit bonus, but instead gives a chance to stun the target. The Dagger and Fist Spec are the only talents that increase crit.
Post by
Remx
Nice Remx! Can't wait till the whole guide is complete!
Just one question about the PvE Fist/Combat spec - since it's for raiding, you sure that Imp. Gouge would be useful?
Thanks for a great guide!
I decided to put improved gouge into all the combat builds as I found lightning reflexes to be just as insignificant in raiding (where you're not meant to be hit). Due to improved gouge being quite a useful PVP talent, I included it instead as I'm sure even the most dedicated of raiders enjoys a bit of PVP on the side. That being said, lightning reflexes could be taken instead should the user want it for farming or a 3% better chance of getting away with a momentary aggro pull. There are a couple of talents in some of the builds which can be swapped around if the user wishes to, I just decided to included what I consider to be the standard incarnations.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this statment isn't entirely true. Mace Specialization does not get a crit bonus, but instead gives a chance to stun the target. The Dagger and Fist Spec are the only talents that increase crit.
Mace specialisation increases the damage dealt by your critical strikes with maces by 5%, and gives you a 6% chance to stun your target for 3 sec with a mace.
Excellent job Remx, no need for my thread to be stickied now =p
Might I suggest using my leveling spec for the leveling section? It is the most optimal spec for fast leveling.
Your levelling guide is excellent, I will certainly reference it when completing the levelling section of this thread.
Post by
97155
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Remx
The 3% dodge from lightning reflexes would probably be more useful if you were to pull aggro as most trash and bosses in raid content are mez (mesmerise efffect) immune.
Post by
97155
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
ruleofthumb
Mace specialisation increases the damage dealt by your critical strikes with maces by 5%...
Ah okay. I had not looked at the Mace Specilization talent since 2.3. Didn't realize it had changed to this.
Post by
Remx
I'll try to get part three finished off before I head to work, failing that I should have it and possibly part four done after I get home.
Post by
LandSavage
Awsome guide. I have not messed with the raid's yet, but i got the same feeling your giving off here. As for the PvP build's its kinda nice to know how people view these spec's as I see myself as a utility man, but from what i see that's more BG's and less arena, that will help me much, thanks.
Post by
109536
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post Reply
You are not logged in. Please
log in
to post a reply or
register
if you don't already have an account.