Subtlety Rogue Guide - Talents, Rotations, Races & More

While levelling you will follow 2 different rotations - before and after you can get the higher rank of Slice and Dice, available at level 42. This rank upgrades the attack speed bonus from 20%>30%, making it the better finisher.

Before Rank 2 Slice and Dice

1. Use Riposte
2. Use Ghostly Strike
3. Use Eviscerate when you will not fit in another Sinister Strike before the mob dies
4. Use Hemorrhage/ Sinister Strike

After Rank 2 Slice and Dice

1. Use Riposte
2. Use Ghostly Strike
3. Use Slice and Dice with 2 or more combo points to maintain the buff
4. Use Hemorrhage / Sinister Strike

Riposte is an incredibly powerful ability - it costs a very small amount of Energy, and deals high damage when compared to our Sinister Strike. Not only that, but it also disarms the target, reducing the amount of damage they deal. This is a very high efficiency ability, and should be used constantly when possible.

Ghostly Strike is a unique Subtlety ability on a short cooldown that increases our chance to dodge. As with Riposte, the main value of this ability is in the reduced damage we will take, and also the ability to add a free combo point to our target with the Setup ability.

Cooldown Usage

When Blade Flurry is up, make sure you pull 2 or more mobs together. If they are relatively high level, you can combine Blade Flurry with Evasion to make sure you don't die before you can kill them. Focus on bursting a target down with your cooldowns up - remember that Blade Flurry also increases your attack speed in addition to letting you hit a nearby target, but that part of the talent should be seen as a bonus instead of the main component.

As a Rogue you're going to use basically every ability you have depending on the situations. The primary Skills you’ll use are: Stealth, Ambush, Backstab, Sinister Strike, Slice and Dice,Kidney Shot, Eviscerate, Rupture and Hemorrhage once your acquire it. The main idea with rogue while leveling is to stun enemies often so you take as little damage as possible. With this build being focused on Ambush openers you'll take a more aggressive approach to killing enemies very quickly to reduce your damage taken.

This build is going to do a lot better in group play when you have tank and can always be behind the enemies, in those cases you'll be using Backstab as often as possible instead of Sinister Strike. Remember we're only using these 2 abilities until we get Hemorrhage, then it's Hemorrhage all the time.

1. Get close to enemies and then use Stealth before you're in aggro range, get behind them and open up with Cheap Shot or Ambush.
2. Use Ghostly Strike first so you can benefit from it's Dodge bonus right away, then use Sinister Strike or Hemorrhage to build up 5 combo points.
3. Use these combo points to get Slice and Dice up then proceed to use Sinister Strike or Hemorrhage to finish them off. (A 5 combo point Slice and Dice is going to last you quite awhile. The idea is to have this buff up as often as possible while you're leveling/in combat.)
4. Now you can Stealth and open on your next target, again build up to 5 combo points with Sinister Strike or Hemorrhage. At 5 combo points you need to determine if the enemy will live for quite a bit longer or if they can be finished quickly. If they're going to be alive for 10+ seconds hit them with a Rupture, if they're about to die finish them off with an Eviscerate.
5. Rinse and Repeat, Keep up your Slice and Dice as often as possible when in combat. Build up your Combo Points then hit them with a finishing move.

When you're coming up to a pack of mobs 2-3 and still want to engage, this is where you'll want to Sap one of them then deal with the other 2. You can either pop Evasion and just fight 2 at once, or you can Blind one of the others and fight them one at a time. The Blind will end before the Sap does so take them on 2nd.

If things get out of hand and you're about to die remember you can Vanish, heal up and get back in there.

Soloing Elites

Kidney Shot is going to be very useful if you're fighting a strong enemy or Elite. You can open with Cheap Shot, stun them again with a 5 point Kidney Shot and then Gouge them once it ends to buy yourself time to regain your Energy. When Gouge is about to end reengage with the enemy and keep spamming your Sinister Strike or Hemorrhage. If the enemy is still standing and you're about to die, you can use Blind to buy time to bandage yourself and regain your Energy again. When Blind is about to end, reengage once more and finish them off. This is where you can go even further and use Evasion to last a long time if needed. This rotation is going to take a bit of practice, but Rogue is one of the few classes that can actually take on same level elites while leveling if you do it right.

As a Physical based damage dealer, Rogues are defined by their weapons, even more so than most classes. Our damage is almost entirely based on auto attacks and weapon abilities while levelling (poisons make up a negligible amount of our damage as Subtlety), so it is important to keep your weapons up to date - While other gear can help you out, it pales in comparison to how important a strong mainhand weapon is. When looking for a weapon, you should consider the raw DPS of the weapon as well as its speed - slower weapons are far superior for your mainhand, while your offhand prefers a faster weapon with good stats (although your offhands speed matters far less than your mainhands speed).

Once you have picked up the Hack and Slash talent, certain weapon types gain a significant advantage; Maces lose value, while swords and Axes gain value, especially in the offhand.

Some Weapon options have been listed below. Note that due to the obfuscation of gear in WoW Forever, this list is currently incomplete, and will be updated as new weapons are found after launch.

Both - Level 10 - Blade of Cunning

Horde - Level 14 - Chanting Blade

Horde - Level 18 - Edward's Knife

Horde - Level 20 - Wingblade

Both - Level 20 - Tail Spike

Both - Level 23 - Meteor Shard

Alliance - Level 24 - Phytoblade

Both - Level 24 - Outlaw Sabre

Both - Level 30 - Torturing Poker

Alliance - Level 30 - Subdued Dragon's Fang