WoW Confidential » Rogue

Best DPS Rogue Raiding Guide 3.2.2 – Spec, Glyphs, Stats and Rotation

wowconfidential — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:08:11 +0000

Rogues have 3 talent trees, the first is assassination, the second is combat, and the third is not subtlety, its “utility”. And, since “utility” doesn’t show up on the meters, you are left with 2 choices for DPS.

Table of Contents:

1 – Stats.
2 – Gems & Enchants.
3 – Specs and Glyphs.
3.1 – Combat.

3.2 – Assassination.

3.3 – Subtlety.

4 – General tips and Rotation.

1 – Stats:

Rogues have 4 key stats for DPS:

1 – Hit: you can’t do any damage if you don’t hit anything, so this stat should be your priority till you get it up to ~340. You need 220 hit rating to be hit capped with your special attacks, 346 hit rating to be hit capped with poisons, and ~600 to be hit capped for white/normal melee attacks. You shouldn’t try to go above 350 hit rating because at that point you are giving up other valuable stats for a very small DPS increase.

2 – Agility: this is the most useful stat after hit, as it gives you attack power, and crit.

3 – Attack Power and Crit: personally, I like attack power over crit rating because I like my non critical hits to hit hard, rather than have spiky unreliable damage.

2.1 – Gems:

Delicate Cardinal Ruby

Delicate Scarlet Ruby

Deadly Amertine

Deadly Monarch topaz

Balanced Dreadstone

Balanced Twilight Opal

Rigid King’s Amber

Rigid Autumn’s Glow.

Nightmare Tear

These 9 gems are all you should ever need. If you need hit rating, it is better to go all out hit rather than get a mix of stats. Nightmare Tear is a good addition to a Blue slot, as it is slightly more beneficial than the Balanced Dreadstone.

2.2 – Enchants:

50 Attack Power to Bracers

Enchanting only:

Engineering only:

Hyperspeed Accelerators (340 haste rating every minute).

1600 – 2000 damage every 45 seconds

Leatherworking only:

130 AP to bracers

3.1 – Combat

15/51/5 – Combat spec

This build is centered around Sinister Strike, and it augments this ability through several talents, such as Improved Sinister Strike, Aggression, and Blade Twisting. There are also a few other talents that affect this ability indirectly, such as Lightning Reflexes, Weapon Expertise, Vitality, Savage Combat, Relentless Strikes, Malice, and Lethality. With Blood Spatter, this build also increases the damage done by your rupture by 30%. All of which are passive bonuses, i.e. you do not have to push a button for them to become active.

This build has only 3 moves that require precise timing to use effectively, Adrenaline rush, Blade Flurry, and Killing Spree. The use of these three moves is situational, and does not have a massive impact on your DPS.

This spec is designed for axe/sword specialization, and those 5 points can be placed in any of the other weapon specializations to suit your weapons.

The optimal choice for glyphs for this spec is Sinister Strike, Rupture, and Killing Spree. As for minor glyphs, the only one that would help your survival is Vanish.

3.2 – Assassination

51/13/7 – Assassination spec

This build is centered around Mutilate, and has a few abilities increasing its potency, such as Opportunity, Puncturing Wounds and Find Weakness. There are also a few talents that affect this ability indirectly, such as Malice, Lethality, Focused Attacks, Relentless Strikes, and Close quarters combat. With Blood Spatter, this build also increases the damage done by your rupture by 30%, and Improved Poisons. All of which are passive bonuses, i.e. you do not have to push a button for them to become active.

To use this build to its maximum potential, you have to learn to cope with the random number generator, so you can maximize the benefits from, Turn the Tables, Cut to the Chase, and the combo points generated from Seal Fate.

The optimal glyphs for this spec are, Mutilate, Rupture, and Hunger for Blood. As for minor glyphs, the only one that would help your survival is Vanish.

Combat and Assassination roughly do the same amount of damage, so it’s really based on preference. Combat is the fast paced tree, mainly because the main attack only 40 energy and the Combat Potency talent. Assassination is a bit slower than Combat, mainly because its main attack needs 60 energy, 55 energy with the glyph.

3.3 – Subtlety

If you are planning to use this spec, you should know that it is completely based on utility, and utility doesn’t show up on the meters.

9/10/52 – Subtlety spec

This build is centered around Hemorrhage, which is more of a “utility”, i.e. increasing the damage output of your fellow raiders, than your own damage. There are two abilities that directly increase the potency of Hemorrhage, and that is Slaughter from the Shadows and Sinister Calling. It also has a few abilities that increase its damage indirectly, such as Serrated Blades, Deadliness, Precision and Malice. This build passively increases the potency of rupture, and also, your attack power and agility.

The main objective of the subtlety tree is survival and utility, damage is a secondary concern. There are a vast number of tools available to you for survival, such as Sleight of Hand, Preparation, Ghostly Strike, Elusiveness. Although there is a bit of randomness due to Honor Among Thieves, you would hardly notice it, and may be considered as a passive buff.

4 – General Tips and Rotations:

As a Rogue, there should be only two things that stops you from dpsing, and that is your energy regeneration, and the chance of you dying if you don’t stop dpsing.

When your DPS reaches that alarming rate where you pull aggro off the tank, rather than stopping, simply vanish and use Tricks of the Trade on the tank, and open even harder, this does several things, by using vanish, you reduce the risk of pulling aggro, by using Tricks of the Trade on the tank and opening even harder than before, you are setting a cushion for the other DPS, and they can DPS harder as well.

Here is a rotation I use in the combat spec:

Garrote > Adrenaline Rush > Sinister Strike till you get 5 points > Rupture > Sinister Strike till you get 5 points > Eviscerate, or Envenom if you have 5 deadly poison stacks > Killing Spree > Blade Flurry > Slice and Dice > Sinister Strike till you get 5 points, rinse and repeat till the boss is dead.

The basic idea of this rotation is to keep up Rupture and Slice and Dice up at all times, and follow up an Envenom with a Killing Spree when possible. Chaining Envenom and Killing Spree increases your damage dramatically, because of Envenom’s after effect, which increases the application of Deadly Poison by 75%, this lasts 1 second for each combo point used.

Here is a rotation I use in the assassination spec:

Garrote > Mutilate till 5 points > Rupture > Mutilate > Slice and Dice > Mutilate till you get 5 points > Eviscerate/Envenom (Envenom if you have 5 Deadly Poison stacks), rinse repeat.

The basic idea of this rotation is to keep up Slice and Dice by utilizing the Cut to the Chase talent, and keep up rupture up at all times.

After looking at all three specs, I hope you realize the pros and cons of each spec, and also realize the value of passive talents.

Here is a rotation I use in the subtlety spec:

Garrote > Hemorrhage till you have 5 points > Rupture > Hemorrhage till 2-3 points > Slice and Dice > Hemorrhage till 5 points > Shadowstep > Eviscerate > Hemorrhage till 2 points > Slice and Dice, rinse repeat.

The basic idea about this rotation is to keep up Rupture up at all times, as that is where the majority of your damage is going to come from, as it’s effect is increased by 60%, thanks to Serrated Blades and Blood Spatter. You should also combine Shadowstep with your Eviscerates as it increases the damage of your next ability by 20%.

Lastly, the easiest way to increase your DPS is by “chaining” your cooldowns, i.e. using them one after another in quick succession, rather than using them all at once, and use your cooldowns as often as you can. This does two things, first, gives you sustained DPS over a period of time, and second, by using your bigger cooldowns first, you can get them to be up again faster. For example: if you are combat spec, you have Adrenaline Rush, Blade Flurry and Killing Spree. There is a right way and a wrong way to use these cooldowns:

Wrong way: Using Adrenaline Rush and Blade Flurry at the same time, and follow it with Killing Spree. Doing this will put your Adrenaline Rush and Blade Flurry on cooldown at the same time, and they wont be up for another 3 minutes. A lot of people think that their DPS will increase by using them both at the same time, because blade flurry increases your haste by 20%, but what some don’t realize is that Adrenaline Rush makes your Sinister Strikes’ instant, so Blade Flurry is wasted.

Right way: Using Adrenaline Rush, then Blade Flurry, then Killing Spree. By simply using them one after another, you can greatly increase your DPS. What this does is use your biggest cooldown first, so when you use Blade Flurry and Killing Spree, and you can use Adrenaline Rush roughly 40 seconds sooner, because it has been cooling off while you were using it and the other cooldowns, and when you do that, you can use your other cooldowns faster too.

Level 29 Rogue Twink Battleground Guide

wowconfidential — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:12:50 +0000

(Written by Ryan S.) (Write for us!)

This guide covers how to max out everything possible to have the highest stats and killing power in the level 29 battlegrounds as a Rogue. If you want to get to 29 as quick as possible you should check out Zygor’s in-game leveling add-on walkthrough showing you the most efficient questing routes.

Index

1. Gear

2. Enchants

3. Talents

4. Glyphs

5. Your job in the battlegrounds

6. Warsong Gulch

7. Arathi Basin

8. Some friendly advice

1. Gear

Head

Humbert’s Helm -Cheap, easy to get, and not bad at all.

Scaled Leather Headband of the monkey -better then Humbert’s but is a rare drop and can cost you a fortune.

Pathfinder Hat of the Monkey- Very Rare, but is definitely the best twink headpiece, even a 8/9, 9/8 will go for 100+ gold on my server and the 9/9 of the monkey goes for 1000 gold. The best twinks will have this item.

Neck

Wolfpack Medallion – great to use while you are getting the marks/honor for the WSG necklace, easily farmable too.

Scout’s/Sentinel’s Medallion The best necklace by far, costs 95 honor, and 20 WSG marks of honor.

Shoulders

BoA shoulders- Best choice in my opinion, but not all twinks have an 80, or access to these.

Mantle of thieves- very good shoulders as well, but very rare expect to pay 100+ gold on these.

Watchman Pauldrons -in my opinion these are not all that good and should only be used if u are a Flag carrier, or are lacking stamina.

Cutthroat’s Mantle of the monkey- Best looking shoulders by far, I would use these rather than watchman Pauldrons.

Cloak

Parachute cloak- definitely the best option, but it requires 225 engineering, it’s the best because it can be enchanted with +12 agility.

Tigerstrike Mantle- Also a very good option, but is not ilvl 35+ so cannot be enchanted with BC chants

Chest

Raptor Hunter Tunic- The only option for a twink can be given BC chants making it even better. Requires you to do a 4 quest chain that you should start at level 28, and you will need help from a higher level friend.

Tabard

Your Tabard doesn’t matter at all, but 2 really cool looking pvp tabards are

Private’s/Scout’s Tabard both costing 3 WSG marks and 3 AB marks.

Bracers

Barbaric Bracers- Very good, and very cheap, Second best twink option.

Emissary cuffs of the monkey- The best twink bracers, though very rare, they are definitely worth trying a few gnomeregan runs for.

Hands

Razzeric’s Racing Grips- the best gloves you can get, although you can put +26 attack power on them, +15 agility is much better for rogues.

Headhunter’s Mitts of the monkey- also a very good choice, in my eyes these are better than Wolfclaw gloves, but it is debatable.

Wolfclaw gloves- Another good choice these are the easiest of these gloves to obtain.

Waist

Defiler’s/Highlander’s leather girdle- The best 29 twink rogue belt, cost 175 honor points, and 20 AB marks.

Deftkin Belt-the best belt to use while waiting to get the AB belt

Ghostwalker Belt of the monkey- also a very good belt to use while waiting for the AB belt, but very rare.

Legs

Triprunner Dungarees- The only choice of legs if you are planning on making a serious twink.

Feet

Defiler’s/Highlander’s Leather boots-the best boots for a 29 twink, cost 175 honor and 20 AB marks.

Insignia boots- very good temporary pair of boots, almost always a pair or two on the auction house.

Harbringer boots- Best Stamina boots in the 29 bracket, buy a pair if u plan on being a flag carrier.

Rings

Deadman’s Hand- the best ring in my opinion, I farmed 43 runs to get this ring, and I think it is very much worth it.

Charged gear of the monkey, or of the tiger- hard to farm, but these are definitely worth it.

Legionnaire’s/protector’s Band- it’s a matter of preference in this over charged gear, but either way this is a very good ring too, costs 95 honor and 20 WSG marks.

Signet of Argas- Easily obtained through a quest, is worth getting while you are farming for the other rings.

Trinkets

Inherited Signet of the Horde/Alliance- is a must have, if u can’t get this then get the normal insignia of the alliance/horde.

Rune of Duty-a very good trinket, these 2 are the only trinkets I have ever wanted. Costs 118 honor and 30 WSG marks

Daggers

Torturing Poker- Absolutely the best dagger in this bracket, should be used in the main hand.

Scout’s/Sentinel’s Blade- Very good Daggers to be used in the offhand, costs 316 honor and 30 WSG marks.

Balanced Heartseeker- very good dagger to use in the main hand or off hand. I personally use it in the offhand with torturing poker in the main hand.

Ranged

Charmed Ancient Bone Bow- Best bow by far, can be traded for the BOA gun if you would like some more resilience.

Naga Heartpiercer-Best non-BoA Bow for a rogue in my opinion.

NightStalker bow- Another great bow, I would only use it if it dropped in a RFK and you didn’t want to run BFD.

2. Enchants

Cloak-+3agi/+12agi (only if you used parachute cloak)

Chest-+6 stats, or +150 hp

Bracers- +9 stam

Gloves- +15agi

Legs- +32 armor

Boots- +7agi

Weapons- +15agi on both weapons

Ranged- +3 dmg scope

3. Talents

4. Glyphs

Glyph of Sinister Strike

Glyph of Vanish

When choosing glyphs it is really just preference whether you want glyph of Ambush, or Glyph of Sinister Strike. I use Glyph of Ambush because when I get an ambush crit for 1100 damage it makes a fight.

5. Your job in the battlegrounds.

A rogue’s job in the battleground is to provide support, keep the enemy dead. It isn’t always best to get in combat. Use Sap a lot, especially on hunters, then distract people away from your flag carrier.

When you are carrying the flag make sure that you use your cooldowns, and make sure to communicate with your teammates, you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve been going for the last cap and a huge group of enemies is coming up the tunnel only 3 seconds after a teammate said it was safe.

6. Warsong Gulch

A very basic Battleground where you try to capture the opponent’s flag, while protecting your own from being captured. Teamwork will be very important if you are planning on winning many of these. If you can get in a Twink guild your best choice is to run Pre-made WSG so that you might be able to win a warsong in 10 minutes or less. I consider it almost impossible to get the 6 minute WSG victory achievement if you are not using a Pre-made group.

7. Arathi Basin

My personal favorite Battleground, The objective is to contol as many of the 5 points as possible. To win an AB you have to communicate well with your teammates, call incomings EX. Inc GM would mean incoming gold mine, meaning there are enemies heading toward gold mine and it would be wise to have some of your team head over there.

8. General Tips

1. As an ambush specced rogue most of your damage will come from ambush of course, so if you see hunters coming stealth as soon an you can to avoid getting hunter’s mark.

2. Don’t aim for the most damage in a battleground, try to have a good balance of flag caps, damage, and flag returns. The game isn’t only about stats, so if u have a bad game, but you still won give yourself a pat on the back, you must have been doing something right.

3. Avoid hunters as best as you can, Hunters are the only class that I really have much of a problem on.

4. Distract/sap people who are attacking your flag carrier.

5. Distract will be a huge help when you are trying to catch up to that guy who is 10 yards ahead of you.

6. Focus on teamwork, not how well you are doing.

7. Sap hunters

8. Have fun, If you keep losing take a break then come back, owning isn’t worth it if you aren’t having fun.

9. Finally. Good Luck!