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Rogue Leveling FAQ (4.x)
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Edited by Aeriwen on 2/14/11 7:01 AM (PST)
This FAQ is for new rogues. It is full of oversimplifications and generalizations.
What is the best spec for leveling a rogue? - You can level fairly well as any spec now. Though Assassination probably pulls ahead because of early access to Deadly Momentum and the lack of a positional attack. What is the best Combat spec? - http://www.wowhead.com/talent#fbhZfGfcMf0RMo:okMzRVmcV - This talent focuses on buffing your combo point builders and increasing survivability. - This is up to level 80. Some talent changes will most likely be needed from 80-85 because of higher health pools. What is the best Assassination spec? - http://www.wowhead.com/talent#ffhfzsGzoGobZ0h:qVkRikmcV - The point in Deadly Brew for pvp and kiting those particularly difficult enemies while recuperate ticks. - From 80-85, I expect this spec to pull way ahead of the others. What is the best Subtlety spec? - http://www.wowhead.com/talent#fbZbZfhcfdu0RGo:zMmiRkmcV - Nearly everything is subject to debate on this spec since it is so full of filler talents. - You kill most things after the initial ambush. - This is up to level 80. A spec change will be needed from 80-85 most likely because of higher health pools. What stats should I be looking for? - Agi > Expertise (to cap) > Hit (to cap) > Haste > Mastery (when you get it) > Crit >> Strength - You will need to check the tooltip on hit and expertise to know what rating is need to not miss. - This is different than stat priority for group play because you will be attacking from the front, making expertise more valuable. Maybe as valuable than agility from a dps perspective. What weapons do I use? - Combat - Slow Sword, Mace, Axe, or Fist in the mainhand and fast weapons in the offhand. - Assassination - Slow dagger mainhand, fast dagger offhand. - Subtlety - Slow Dagger manhand, anything offhand. What poisons do I use? - Combat - Wound/Wound - Assassination - Instant/Deadly (Instant/Instant isn't a bad idea before you get Envenom.) - Subtlety - Wound/Wound - This is just for leveling. Things change at higher levels. Does the Worgen racial work with sprint? - Yes. But the ability is only a 40% speed buff now. - http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b202/BlazeInferno/WoWScrnShot_112110_024825.jpg - Credit AmorenKaire for the investigation. Does the goblin jump work with rogues? - Yes, and it is useable in stealth. (Expect this to get nerfed too.) What is a good poison macro? #showtooltip /cast [mod:shift] Deadly Poison; [mod:ctrl] Wound Poison; [mod:alt] Crippling Poison; Instant Poison /use [button:1] 16; [button :2] 17; [button:3] 18 /click StaticPopup1Button1 Use ctrl, shift, alt to apply different poisons to different slots based on which mouse button is clicked. Left mouse for mainhand, right offhand, and middle for ranged slot. The last line clicks the confirmation dialog for when you already have poisons applied. So be careful, since it will confirm other dialogs too, like dungeon finder and battlegrounds. What is a good Tricks of the Trade macro? #showtooltip /cast [mod:shift, @targettarget] [@focus, exists] [] Tricks of the Trade Casts tricks at your focus target, if you press shift it cast at your target's target. Great for tank switches in raids. If you run with regular tanks, or trade tricks with the same rogues all the time you can put in their names in the macro with @name. Works normally with no focus target. You can also use the addon TrickorTreat, or you can setup Clique to trick whatever target you want by hovering over their unit window (I use grid). Why do I do crappy damage in dungeons? - Rogues do low damage on dungeons because they lack and Area of Effect (aoe) damage ability. At 80, you will get Fan of Knives, which throws your thrown weapon (and poison) in a 360 degree arc at 8 yards. It is awesome and something to look forward too. - Combat also has Blade Flurry, with attacks the next nearest target also. Use with Adrenaline Rush for full effect. - Don't worry to much about low level dungeons though, they are quick enough for most groups anyway. You should find that you single target damage is unbeatable though. Note on Glyphs - There are a lot of good choices for glyphs. I noted some good ones for each spec on the talent trees, but only a few glyph choices are ever cut and dried especially for leveling and for the major glyphs. With the exception of Eviscerate, all of the finished glyphs are very nice as you can often get your buffs/debuffs up on a target with few combo points for the duration of the fight. Slice and Dice helps keep the buff up between pulls. Additional spec specific guides/tips are added below. Feel free to add comments or ask additional questions here instead of starting a new thread. |
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Edited by Aeriwen on 5/4/11 10:51 AM (PDT)
What heirlooms should I buy?
Besides the agility leather. You can buy the sword or mace. A dagger would be optimal for leveling as assassination or subtlety. However, daggers will only be really useful for leveling a rogue. Considering the increased cost of heirlooms, from an economy standpoint, it would be a good idea to level as combat with a sword and/or mace to maximize reusability. I would buy one sword or mace and use drops for the offhand slot. Assassination Guide As you level, I recommend you buy the talents in order: Deadly Momentum 2/2 Lethality 3/3 Quickening 2/2 Puncturing Wounds 3/3 Vile Poisons 3/3 Cold Blood 1/1 Deadly Brew 1/2 Seal Fate 2/2 Deadened Nerves 3/3 Master Poisoner 1/1 Overkill 1/1 Coupe de Grace 3/3 Cut to the Chase 3/3 Venomous Wounds 2/2 Vendetta 1/1 Improved Recuperate 2/2 Relentless Strikes 3/3 When you get envenom at level 54, that becomes your main finisher. Rupture and Garrote are used for energy regen, the damage is a bonus. If you are fighting two opponents and one if about to die, it might be a good idea to finish with rupture and let its damage and poisons kill it and start on the next opponent. That way you'll have the energy regen from rupture still ticking to power your mutilates on the next target. When an opponent dies with rupture still going, it will refund all the energy proportional to the energy use and the energy from venomous wounds. If you time it right, you can build your combo points and get the energy return to finish on your next target. Its a great mini-game to play. Macros: #showtooltip /startattack /cast Mutilate Useful to start attacking even when you don't have enough energy to do so. Notes: You will mainly be finishing with Envenom when it becomes available or, when things are dying too quickly to stack Deadly Poison, use Eviscerate instead. In which case, it "might" be optimal to try Wound instead for the higher proc rate. In fact, judging by how quickly things are dying now at low levels, it will probably work better. Then again, most things are dying in 3 or 4 buttons presses anyway. |
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Edited by Aeriwen on 11/20/10 1:52 PM (PST)
Combat Guide
Improved Recuperate 2/2 Improved Sinister Strike 3/3 Precision 3/3 Aggression 3/3 Lightning Reflexes 3/3 Reinforced Leather 2/2 Combat Potency 3/3 Improved Sprint 1/2 Adrenaline Rush 1/1 Savage Combat 2/2 Improved Sprint 2/2 Improve Slice and Dice 2/2 Improved Gouge 2/2 Killing Spree 1/1 Deadly Momentum 2/2 Lethality 3/3 Macros #showtooltip /startattack /cast Sinister Strike Useful to start attacking even when you don't have enough energy to do so. |
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Edited by Aeriwen on 11/19/11 8:14 PM (PST)
Subtlety Guide
Relentless Strikes 3/3 Night Stalker 2/2 Improved Ambush 3/3 Opportunity 3/3 Hemorrhage 1/1 Find Weakness 2/2 Initiative 2/2 Premeditation 1/1 Honor Among Thieves 3/3 Energetic Recovery 3/3 Sanguinary Vein 2/2 Slaughter from the Shadows 3/3 Serrated Blades 2/2 Shadow Dance 1/1 Deadly Momentum 2/2 Improved Recuperate 2/2 Lethality 1/3 Notes: Also note that the hemo glyph isn't that useful until you get serrated blades, as it is usualy more benficial to gouge, get some energy, and backstab a mob instead of spamming hemo-wet-noodle. Just something to think about. Note on notes: Hemo has been buffed since this writing. I don't know how good it is at low levels, but it hits quite hard at 85. Macros: #showtooltip /startattack /cast Hemorrhage Useful to start attacking even when you don't have enough energy to do so. #showtooltip Ambush /cast Premeditation /cast Ambush Uses Premeditation (extra 2 combo points) every time you ambush and premeditation is available. (It will still work even if premed is on cooldown.) |
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Edited by Aeriwen on 2/14/11 7:24 AM (PST)
General Stategies
These spec aren't designed the same as end game specs, or even 80-85 specs, as I've noted here and there. At cap, and soloing for 80-85, mobs live much longer and you often finish multiple times during a fight including buffs. At lower levels, finishing is a rarity. A typical fight usually involves spamming a combo point builder until it dies. Use the leftover points to buff up SnD or Recuperate and move on. Don't underestimate Slice and Dice it is a very strong buff, every spec does large amounts of physical damage. Your weakest finisher is a competition between expose armor and rupture because of the energy investment those finishers require versus the duration of the fight. It is not as hard to level now as it once was, but try and practice your CC abilities. It possible to take on 3-4 opponents at once with most having been CC'd. I also encourage every rogue to try PvP. It really teaches you how to play your class more than any PvE encounter ever could. Most of all, have fun and chime in if you are having problems or questions. |
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this rocks...thank you for doing this!
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#showtooltip It is to start attacking even when you don't have enough energy to activate the special ability. |
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Edited by Oppressor on 11/20/10 2:22 PM (PST)
#showtooltip So it's to replace right click or attack nearest/next target keybinds? |
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Yeah, if you use those keybinds. I personally only click if I need to switch targets. Otherwise I run up to whatever I'm attacking and press my main attack, it'll automaticly start autoattacking my nearest target even if I don't have enough energy. I have it on my fan of knives ability as well for those aoe situation, though it is less of a dps less now that we don't get energy returns from auto attacking. Combat does though.
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#showtooltip I know what a macro is, i have/use them, i just didn't understand the purpose of those macros when you can just as easily right click or use your attack next/nearest enemy keybinds and mash the ability you would like to use, untill it is used was all. Also, i do know that simply selecting the ability to begin with will put you in combat with your target, so again, i just don't understand the point when you factor in the keybind/right click. I thought those things were just givens (right click or keybind). I apologize if i'm coming off as either snooty or inept, i should probably not be doing this on my phone at work as i believe i'm simply making things worse. |
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Whoa, hello wall of quotes! :P
If you don't have enough energy or you are out of range of your target, using the ability button will not start attack until you are in range or have enough energy. Those macros solve that problem. |
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Yes, it will light up as normal.
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Edited by Amielle on 11/20/10 8:38 PM (PST)
I'm curious why it's recommended that you use Envenom over Eviscerate starting at level 54 for Assassination. From personal experience it seems that non-boss mobs die too fast for Deadly Poison to stack to enough for Envenom to out damage Eviscerate. Eviscerate has many of the talent-based benefits of Envenom (namely SnD refresh to 5pt max), but Envenom does allow for faster Deadly and Instant poison application. Generally speaking, though, I tend to find that after an Eviscerate my primary target is dead or will die after a Deadly Poison tick or auto attack. However, using Envenom, it feels that the same mob dies much slower.
Am I missing something? |
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Its debatable. However, after the coming damage nerfs you should be finishing more and eviscerate is going to mitigated by armor. Make sure you are using a fast offhand to stack deadly poison as well. This isn't an end all be all guide. Some amount of intelligence will be needed. Like blinding and sapping multiple targets and whatnot. That was a good question though.
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