Complete Rogue Guide [Pve/Pvp]

[greatcheese]

First off, the sole purpose of making this guide is to remove my 'leecher status'. Secondly it is to inform those who do not already know, how to efficiently play a rogue in World of Warcraft. This guide has been in no way 'ripped' and is entirely my own creation.

Introduction

What is a Rogue?

Not Rouge (The familiar typo error, concerning a form of make-up) but Rogue. For basics this is one of the playable classes in World of Warcraft (WoW). The class is primarily melee, with no 'magical' offensive abilitys. If this is your first time playing WoW then i'd personally suggest making a hunter, or warlock as rogues tend to die a lot from levels 1-24 without the use of any stuns (Will come to this later).

Rogue Basics

Rogues combat style is unique. Many classes use Mana apart from the exception of Warriors, who like rogues have a unique combat system using Rage. For Rogues, our source of abilities comes from using a certain amount of Energy.


As shown in the picture above, this is a fairly default UI (User-Interface) Picture of a Rogue's Health bar and below that, the Energy bar. All moves require energy as a rogue, for example you're very first attack Sinister Strike will require 45 Energy. Rogue's have a maximum potential of 120/120 Energy at any given time, however most players will be using 100/100.

Rogue's energy is unique in that it 'ticks' every 2 seconds. This increases your energy by 20 each tick, and therefore you must time abilities, and weave them together to make much larger chains / combinations. For more information check either the Pve or Pvp guide later in this thread.

How to Increase Energy

There are a few items designed by Blizzard to increase a Rogue's maximum potential energy. This will increase your Energy Cap (Maximum amount possible) from 100 up to 110 / 120. These items consist of:

Nightslayer Armor - Item Sets - WOWDB -> 5 Set Bonus (Requires the rogue to have 5 pieces of the armor equipped) of Nightslayer. This is a 'Tier 1' set from Molten Core which many people will no longer raid, however if you feel like you want to go there, by all means do so.

Vengeful Gladiator's Vestments - Item Sets - WOWDB -> On all Rogue Epic PvP Armor sets (Purchasable at level 70 via arena points / honor points) there is a 4 set bonus to increase your maximum energy by a further 10.

Vigor - Spells - WOWDB -> Vigor is a talent acquirable at the minimum level of 40 via talents (Read Talents Section). It increases the rogue's maximum energy by a further 10.

Temporary Energy Refreshers

Thistle Tea - Items - WOWDB -> Thistle tea is acquirable via cooking. It instantly restores 100 energy (lower as you level past 40, reaching a maximum of 40 energy restored at level 70). This is a great item to weave into combo's especially as a dagger spec for much larger 'Burst'

Renataki's Charm of Trickery - Items - WOWDB -> The charm is from completing an item set from the raid instance 'Zul Gurub' Much like thistle tea, it restores an amount of energy however this amount lowers as you're level increases.

Adrenaline Rush - Spell - World of Warcraft -> This is a talent via the combat tree, which increases the rogue's energy refresh rate by 100%. This allows the rogue to recieve 40 energy every 2 seconds, apposed to 20 every 2.



Talents

Every class on reaching level 10 receive a Talent Point each time they level (Or Ding as most people refer to it) until they reach the cap of 70 (Soon to be 80 in the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King). Talents are a Key factor to any classes maturing, as they either reinforce current abilities, or allow the class to receive a new ability all together, therefor talent points are advised to be spent carefully and effectively. There are many 'Builds' (Combinations of talent points to create a Spec / Build) in circulation around the game, here i will briefly go through a few to lightly guide you.

The rogue has 3 talent trees. Assassination / Combat / Subtelty. Assassination is a heavy dagger orientated specialization at higher 'Tiers', however the lower parts of this tree are essential to almost all other Builds.
Combat is essentially you're PvE (Player vs Environment) build, as it relies on sustained damage, however at a time this build was also used for pvp in a build known as HARP (For more information simply google Rogue Spec HARP).
Subtelty is a heavy PvP (Player Vs Player) Talent tree, as it emphasizes on rogue 'Cooldowns' and damage mitigation from incoming sources, this is the best tree to reinforce a rogues 'stealthyness'



PvE (Levelling)

10-40 -> Rogue Talents -> Firstly put 2 points in the combat tree into 'Improved Sinister Strike'. This will be a key ability until you hit 70, and therefore it is essential in reducing its energy cost. After this fill the assassination tree until shown, and return to you're combat tree. Doing so you will pick up a new ability called 'Riposte'. This is a nifty tool to use while leveling as it will disarm any attacker after you Parry (Deflect, you will usually have roughly 5% chance to do so) their attack. Against melee classes / NPCs (Non Playable Characters) this is a highly effective technique as it reduces incoming damage substantially, in PvP this negates the use of any ability requiring a melee weapon which turns classes such as warriors into sitting ducks for the duration.

41-60 -> Rogue Talents -> Continue putting points into you're combat tree gaining new abilitys such as 'Blade Flurry' which is currently the only form of AoE (Area of Effect) attack rogues have in their arsenal. This is highly effective when combined with a talent you pick up at 61 called 'Adrenaline Rush'. These skills are all referred to as Cooldowns, as they will have a 2-3 minute cooldown period in which you are unable to use them, the reason for this is they are highly powerful techniques, for example combining Evasion (50% Dodge chance increase), Blade flurry and Adrenaline Rush will allow a player to kill 3-5 mobs during the duration of the 'buffs' (Temporary enhancements via other players / skills). * The weapon specialization generally used is Swords, as they allow faster leveling in my opinion and many others, giving higher damage output. However if you are unable to find two swords, select which ever specialisation most suits you're Rogue.*

61-70 -> Rogue Talents -> Finish up you're combat tree picking up Adrenaline Rush, then finish up you're assassination tree. Congratulations on level 70 ^^

This is how i and many others will level to 70, and is effectively the fastest way. This is argued a lot via the rogue community, as daggers are also a viable option leveling, however it requires you to be constantly behind you're target for efficient damage output.


PvE (Raiding)

Raiding is a term used for when you wish to take you're character into Instances (Zones with high end bosses / mobs, generally requiring a 5 man party, or a 25/40 Player Raid group). The advantages of raiding is of course the huge upgrade of gear / loot you're character may receive, however it can prove to be an expensive task in the long run and if you choose to raid hardcore (4-7 days a week) it can take its toll on your Real life. But anyway, onto the talent builds:

Rogue Talents -> You're standard Combat Swords build. This will allow the highest damage output bar none if you're gear is at the right stage. However if you are unable to come along any swords, choose another specialization.

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft -> Combat dagger build, not recommended as it is too situational, with no real optimum damage output.

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft -> A 'Tri-Spec' Variation. Not recommended for newer raiders as it lacks real damage potential.

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft -> Standard Mutilate Build, requiring daggers of course and to permanently be behind you're target.


For PvE Combat swords will always come out top, bar none if all gear is on an equal level for all specs. However, play the game as you like, and choose whichever spec suits you're style the most.


PvP

Rogue Talents -> Currently the cookie cutter PvP Spec. This gives the rogue high damage potential, along with high mobility and heavy use of cooldowns. Cheat death is also picked up in this build which is literally, a life saver.

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft -> A Variation of the mutilate spec. In my opinion mutilate works best in a 3v3 Arena setup, as imp kidney shot is a heavy damage amplifier, along with massive burst from the likes of Cold Blood (100% crit) mutilates.

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft -> Another version of mutilate that sacrifices a lot to acquire a deeper sub tree, allowing access to passive armor ignore, and shorter Cooldowns. In my opinion this isn't an optimal mutilate build for pvp unless it is solely for battlegrounds.

Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft -> One of the variations of the infamous HARP build. With preparation no longer resetting the cooldown on adrenaline rush this spec has lost a lot of its fire power, however it is still technically viable if it suits you're playstyle.


Gearing You're Rogue

Optimizing you're rogues gear is one of the key parts contributing to maximum damage potential, and an important one at that. The sole use of a rogue in PvE is to output massive amounts of damage (with some exceptions where interrupting / tanking maybe involved). Therefore if you wish to top those damage meters, you will need to optimize you're gear.

Stats

The key stats for a rogue in PvE are Agility and Hit Rating. Agility allows you're Attack Power (How hard you hit a mob) and Critical Strike Rating (Increased damage criticals) to increase drastically depending on how much agility you have. Hit rating is on par, if not more important than agility in pve as it contributes to you actually hitting the NPC. After all, if you can't hit them, even with 99999 agility you're damage will be poor to say the least. In WoW there is a hit rating 'cap' for the level of mob you are attacking, which deems how much hit you will technically need before it becomes useless to need more. As rogues are a Duel Wielding class this opens up a new table for hits / misses :

15.77 hit rating reduces your chance to miss by 1%

• Dual-wield auto-attack, with 5/5 Precision (Rogue talent): 363 hit rating
• Special attack, with 5/5 Precision (Rogue talent): 64 hit rating

Hit - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft


A Special attack is an ability such as Sinister Strike which is 'Yellow Damage'. There is no Magic number for hit rating, however in endgame raiding 300~ is the amount you should gem / acquire before going heavily into other stats.


Gear

For optimal Gear lists for PvE the following sites will provide all the information you need:

MaxDPS.com - World of Warcraft Gear Rankings - News
ShadowPanther.net - World of Warcraft Rogue Info - Charts, Articles, Guides & more!
[Rogue] DPS Spreadsheet - Elitist Jerks

Simply check their spreadsheets / enter you're stats on maxdps and away you go upgrading you're character.


Gemming

As a rogue you should be gemming:

Meta : Relentless Earthstorm Diamond - Item - World of Warcraft
Red : Delicate Crimson Spinel - Item - World of Warcraft
Orange : Glinting Pyrestone - Item - World of Warcraft
Yellow : Rigid Lionseye - Item - World of Warcraft
Purple : Shifting Shadowsong Amethyst - Item - World of Warcraft

In lower Item level gear you won't need to match socket bonuses, so simply gem for either hit or agi/hit in every socket. The most important thing about gemming is remember to use 2 purple gems to attain you're meta bonus. If possible put them in pieces with a reasonably good socket bonus for those few extra stats (Slayers shoulders + chest for example)


How to Dps in PvE

Rogue dps in PvE is fairly straightforward. Firstly, acquire a pve build from above (Preferably Combat Swords 20/41). You will then need to get used to some fun cycles to put out your maximum potential dps (For help finding you're highest output cycle, check the Dps Spreadsheet on Elitist Jerks shown above).

The general Cycle for Dps is : Garrote - Slice And Dice - Sinister Strike x 4/5 until 5 combo points - Rupture - Sinster Strike - Slice And Dice Repeat from Step 2.

The key thing here is figuring out how many combo points you require before hitting slice and dice. For example a rogue with Netherblade - Item Sets - WOWDB 2 set bonus will be able to use 1 Combo Point SnD's throughout a fight without ever dropping (Losing) the SnD (Slice and Dice) buff.

Tips:
NEVER let SnD Lose its buff, if you have to refresh it, do it.
Always pop (use) You're cooldowns whenever they are available to you, if on trash packs, ask the tanks to drag mobs together for Blade Flurry.
Always have Deadly poison on Offhand, instant on mainhand (unless receiving Windfury from a shaman then no poisons on main hand)


Buffs

The following are items every rogue should have if they attempt to reach number 1 on the Damage Meters.

Flask of Relentless Assault - Items - WOWDB -> Straight forward 120 AP. Use this flask whenever attempting a new encounter or expecting a lot of wipes, as it will persist through death.

Elixir of Major Agility - Items - WOWDB -> If you are going for a boss 'on farm' (Killed before and it is a simple kill from here on out) use exlixirs. They offer higher Dps (Damage Per Second) Potential then a flask, however if you die, you will need to refresh it.

Haste Potion - Items - WOWDB -> I personally use 40 or so a raid. Pop one whenever its cooldown is up preferably with Blade flurry.

Flame Cap - Items - WOWDB -> For fights like brutallus (Brutallus - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft) Where every bit of Dps matters, these can help.

Drums of Battle - Items - WOWDB -> As a rogue you SHOULD be Leatherworking if you intend to seriously Raid. If you aren't, then take a break from reading this, and go level it If possible ask everyone in you're regular raid party to also acquire drums / leatherworking, as they are chain castable so you are permanently buffed.

There are also other means of buffs, such as item procs (Band of the Eternal Champion - Items - WOWDB for example)and trinkets, however for more information on these you should check a dps site such as one mentioned previously in this post.


Group Makeup

I Can't stress this enough. In a raid beg / sleep with you're raid leader until you are put into an optimal Dps Group. This will usually consist of for a rogue:

Enhancement Shaman (Pref totem twisting Grace of air / Windfury)
Fury Warrior (Battleshout improved)
Feral Druid (5% crit)
Rogue 1
Rogue 2

You want to be Rogue 1 or 2 ^^ If you are receiving Windfury, make sure to remove any poisons from your Main Hand. Raid makeup can severely effect you're dps, so make sure you are with a good setup.

[greatcheese]

PvP Arena (I won't go into BG's as many people just AFK leech nowadays in there)

As a rogue in arena you are one of (Currently) the most desired classes in almost any setup, whether it is 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5. I will only be going through strats vs popular setups otherwise i'd be here all week.

First things first though:

Macro(s):

There is currently only one macro i find use for, spammable sap:

/console targetNearestDistance 10.000000
/targetenemy [noharm][dead]
/console targetNearestDistance 41.000000
/cast [harm,nodead] Sap

Spam this and when a target appears (e.g. rogue in 2v2 stealthed) it will instantly target them and sap. If you want anychance of playing high rated arena use this macro, as 99% of others will do and will get you sapped firstly.


UI / Addons

I can't stress this enough, CUSTOMIZE your're UI. Make it clean and efficient for you're needs. My ui currently is looking along the lines of :



Essential Addons:

Spell Alerter : WoWInterface Downloads : Combat Mods : SpellAlerter On My ui this appears in the center top of my screen.
Quartz : WoWInterface Downloads : Combat Mods : Quartz - Modular Casting Bar Casting bar addon
Proximo : WoWInterface Downloads : Ace: Combat : Proximo Arena unit Frames
Afflicted 2 : WoWInterface Downloads : PvP/Arena/BattleGrounds : Afflicted2 Another mod like NECB for cooldowns etc


KEYBINDINGS

If you wish to succeed at pvp, it is essential you use key bindings. This cuts you're initial reaction -> cast times exceptionally compared to clicking. NEVER backpedal (hold s to move backwards) Holy you're right mouse button, turn you're camera with you're mouse, and run forwards / sideways so you don't lose speed.

My current Bindings:

wasd - movements
right click - camera move
q - Hemo
e - Eviscerate
r - Shiv
f - Kidney Shot
c - Kick
v - Gouge
t - Cloak of shadows
g - Deadly Throw
1 - Throw
2 - Rupture
3 - Expose Armor
4 - Shadowstep
Alt + q - Vanish
Alt + e - Blind
Alt + r - Sprint
Alt + f - Evasion
Alt + c - Preparation
Alt + v - Slice n Dice
Alt + t - Pve Buff food
Alt + g - Envenom
Shift + 1 - Haste pots
Shift + 2 - Shadowmeld
Shift + 3 - Distract
Shift + 4 - PvP Trinket
Shift + q - Auto Attack
Shift + e - Bloodlust Brooch
Shift + r - Battlemasters Trinket
Shift + f - Ghostly Strike
Shift + v - Food
x - Mount
` - Bandage


Basic Arena Techniques / Tips

NEVER drop below 25-30 Energy unless you are certain a hemo or w/e will kill off your opponent. Nothing is worse than draining energy then missing important kicks / DThrows interrupts, which could have been game winning.

Don't panic / rush when an opponent hits 20% hp. Never start spamming hemo like a madman or you'll drain you're energy dry while you're enemy usually heals up to full / escapes.

Save Cooldowns for when they're actually needed, dont blow them all like a madman. Use vanishes wisely to avoid CC etc. For instance vs Rogue / Mage the rogue is 20% and you're being hit by a poly. Vanish it off and finish the rogue. Also nice for chains silencing with garrottes.

Stack evasion + Ghostly to reach 95-100% dodge vs melee.

Use shadowstep both ways. Movement tool, but also for a big 5 CPoint finisher if you're sure it will deal a killing blow.

Abuse the pvp glove bonus on deadlthy throw, works amazing vs classes such as paladins / shamans. In 2v2 i am able to COMPLETELY shut down such classes with them casting a single heal. Keep you're energy around 60 when fighting such classes to copmletely shut them down. Keep up slice and dice for pushback / white dmg whilst kicking, gouging, kidney shotting, deadly throwing all spell casts.

Never ever ever tunnel vision dps. If you play with a healer, keep an eye on his/her mana + hp. If they need to drink, allow them to do so, sometimes Cooldowns are needed for defensive purposes, aswell as offensive.



2v2 Setups

Rogue / Mage - This was my setup in Season 3, which helped me easily attain 2k+ rating in 2 nights. it relies on heavy shatter combos / CC from the mage, and an extreme amount of control via the rogue through stuns etc.


Vs Druid / Warrior : There are two ways to go about this setup. If the druid is camping in cat form, you can go for a quick gib on the warrior. Once the warrior hits 40-50% or so the druid will pop and NS heal. This is where the mage will need to Counter spell (Improved i hope), followed by a blind (which will be trinketed). From here on out the rogue must stop the druid from healing, whilst the mage finishes off the warrior. This is easily doable as the druid will be out of combat from the silence / blind combo. This allows the rogue to vanish -> sap, however if this isnt doable, you can simply gouge -> 1 combo kidney which should buy enough time to take the warrior from 40% - 0 from the mage.

The second way to go about this fight is taking the druid option, in certain arenas this can be extremely tough, but doable. You will want you're mage to start on the warrior forcing the druid out of cat form into healbot mode. While the mage is soloing the warrior, its you're job as a rogue to be looking for the druid. If you find him in cat form, great, if not just wait till he's forced to heal the warrior (hopefully having to NS heal because of you're mage, this makes it much easier in the long run). After the druid reveals himself, go into the motion of instantly CCing the warrior via Polymorph / Blind (avoid sap as it shards the same DR with poly) and switching straight onto the druid. Begin beating on the druid, as soon as the kidney shot is applied you're mage has to unload his shatter combo, however the first kidney will usually be trinketed which is where you have a choice. 1: If the druid is behind a pillar from his warrior after trinketing kidney, and you feel you have enough dps, you can blind the druid after trinketing kidney, and take the warrior. Make sure to apply a sap after blind duration is finished on the druid. This is more than enough time to take a warrior. 2: continue on the druid, i'd recommend option 1.


vs Rogue / Druid : This setup is pretty much the same as Warrior Druid, however it is much harder to CC the rogue, and you'll also have a waiting game at the start. The general tactic here after the Cheat Death nerf is to kill the rogue, as he is a much easier target than a druid. Start off with you're mage going invisible, and moving towards the stealth sight debuff location. while doing so, its you're job as a rogue to scout out the other rogue and get him sapped, if the opposing rogue is human sorry but you will get sapped unless you hang back for 20 seconds (if you 100% know you're up against perception). If you're unable to find the druid or the rogue you will win if they sit around too long, as you're mage will be able to pick up stealth sight and unstealth them both, so usually the rogue will open on you're mage. When this happens you want to start on the opposing rogue to negate as much damage on you're mage as possible. At this point the opposing druid will come out of stealth to cyclone -> heal his partner. you're mage MUST Counterspell this cyclone, as you will not be able to trinket it. Trinketing = blind -> sap etc which gives more than enough time to kill you're partner mage. After the druid is out, sheep the rogue (cast a 2nd incase of a trinket) and switch to the druid. Again during a kidney the druid is more than likely going to trinket it. Blind the druid, switch to the rogue IMPORTANT : Make sure you get a rupture onto the rogue, otherwise you WILL lose due to a vanish -> wait until druid is out of CC. Make sure you resap the druid towards the end of the blind, and if extra time is needed, sheep the druid afterwards to force a GCD (Global cooldown) before he can shift -> heal. However through a blind -> sap -> imp cs -> Sheep the rogue will be dead at this point.

[greatcheese]

Should be fine to post now, ill go through Arena strats throughout the day, so check for updates

- Reserved

[XinuX]

Just wanted to say good job, I didn't read it through, but I'm happy that you didn't copypaste, as almost all leechers do these days.
+2rep

[greatcheese]

tyvm

I'll keep updated the arena section throughout the day when time allows

[eti-enne02]

really nice guide! I'm not done reading yet but it's enought to give you 2rep!

[White_Sabre`]

Perfect, I just hit 70 on my guy
Bookmarked ^^

[Jareth123]

Not trying to make fun of you or anything, but how come you know this much & have shit pvp gear?

[greatcheese]

Valid question ^^

Havn't really played serious arena since season 2 now, picked up 4/5 s3, s4 chest, playing with a few friends who needed help in 2's + 3's (holy pala in 2v2 isn't a v nice comp), whilst doing pve now for warglaives (skillslol)

hoping to sit it out and help get s4 weapons with a holy pala however, always enjoyed a challenge

Also play hunter, 2nd rogue, warrior, druid, paladin, mage atm so don't have much time for hardcore rogue pvp

[gramkind]

Great read as a new rogue really helpful.

[masonna]

Loved the macro, lost it when reinstalling.

[AcidYen]

I have to say a very nice guide for rogues

[Maverike]

Very nice, thanks for the contribution and +rep

[fucduck]

thank ya, will help moi a lot
+rep

[Themaster15]

Im impressed at all that info.
Bookmarked.
+Rep Also