Subtlety Rogue Guide - Talents, Rotations, Races & More

Level 30 Talents (0,0,21)

The BETA only allows you to get to level 20 at the start, hindering our ability to obtain Hemorrhage. Once they allow us to reach level 30 is when you'll really be able to play this to its potential. Again I'd just recommend playing Combat Rogue to start, and respec your talent tree at 30 to try this out, but if you're set on playing Subtlety at the start of the BETA here's the order to put your talents in.

Make sure you obtain some Daggers by level 10 when you start getting Talent points so you can actually benefit from these choices.

• 2 points into Opportunity and 3 points into Camouflage.
• 3 points into Improved Ambush and 2 points into Setup.
• 1 point into Ghostly Strike, 3 points into Initiative and finish off Setup.
• 3 points into Serrated Blades, 1 point into Premeditation and 1 point into Improved Sap.
• Finally you pick up Hemorrhage at level 30.

Level 60 Talents (15/0/36)

Here's a look at what we think the level 60 PvE Focused Subtlety Rogue Talent Tree will look like. As mentioned above this guide will be updated as we go through the beta and during launch to include any other Endgame Subtlety Rogue Talent Trees along with all the other information you need to excel in the endgame and Raids as a Rogue.

Playable Races

Alliance - Human, Night Elf, Dwarf, Gnome & Skyborn

Horde - Orc, Troll, Undead & Skyborn

Recommended Races

Human is the best race if you plan on doing PvP. They get to allow you to find other Stealthed classes with ease. Human also comes with Sword Specialization which is great for Rogue and Will to Survive to remove stuns.

Gnome is another great option if you have no interest in PvP. Eureka! gives you 10% increased damage, Expansive Mind gives you 5% increased energy and Escape Artist grants you brief immunity to Roots and Snares.

Undead is great for a PvP Rogue thanks to Will of the Forsaken which essentially grants you another PvP Trinket to break out of Charm, Fear and Sleep. Touch of Weakness was added in WoW Forver and will be a nice dps and healing boost for PvP encounters as well.

Orc is also a great choice for Horde Rogues and is also fantastic for PvP. Blood Fury increases Attack power by 10% for 15 seconds. Hardiness reduces stun duration by 20% and Shatter Curse grants immunity to Curses and Banes and reduces magical damage taken for 8 seconds.

Troll is great for PvE focused Rogues since you’ll be fighting a lot of beasts in the early game and they have 5% increased damage to beasts. Their Berserking buff grants you 10% attack speed for 10 seconds and they also have Rapid Regeneration which allows you to restore 50% of your health every 3 minutes. Add in Regeneration which allows 10% of health regen to continue in combat.

For every race's full ability list, check our racial abilities guide.

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.

A enemy under the effect of Sap, Gouge or Blind will break out if you damage them.

Remember a Bleed, poison or other form of damage over time will break you out of Stealth or Vanish. If you're fighting enemies and they're putting up these DOTs on you trying to Vanish to escape from death will fail you. In these situations you're better off using Evasion to try to out last them and win the battle, or use Sprint to get out of there!

Level up your lockpicking as you go. Nothing is more annoying as a Rogue than coming across a chest and not being able to open it.

A Rogue's favorite Stat is Agility, followed by Strength and Stamina. Agility increases your Attack Power, Critical Strike Chance, Armor and Dodge. Strength is another Attack Power boost and Stamina is a solid choice if you can't find items with Agility & Strength on them.

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.

When playing in a party the gameplay mostly stays the same. You may be asked to go Stealth and Sap an enemy in a pack to make the fight easier.

You may need to Distract to hold a patrol in place. Either to pull it when everyone's ready, or to keep it from getting close enough to join in on a fight you're already in.

Blind can come in handy when things are getting out of hand on a dungeon pull or when a caster is in the back causing trouble.

See how Subtlety Rogue holds up on our WoW Forever tier list.

Acquire Thistle Tea. This consume instantly restores 100 energy and has a 5 minute Cooldown.

Don't run out of Poisons or Flash powder. Keep a good stock of these in your bags so you can always reapply your Poisons and use Vanish when you're in trouble.

In a fight you can Gouge, Vanish, sneak behind them quickly, then hit them with a Cheap Shot or Ambush again. Keep in mind you don't want to do this unless you're sure it'll lead to a stun combo or damage burst that will lead to their demise. In general it's smart to save Vanish for escaping a dire situation than using it offensively.

/startattack macros are fantastic to build into your most used abilities like Sinister Strike, Backstab and Hemorrhage

Start Attack/Sinister Strike

#showtooltip Sinister Strike
/cast Sinister Strike
/startattack

Start Attack/Hemorrhage

#showtooltip Hemorrhage
/cast Hemorrhage
/startattack

Spammable Stealth Button

Allows you to spam Stealth without breaking it.

#showtooltip Stealth
/stopcasting
/stopattack
/cast !Stealth

Spammable Sap Button

Clears your target and targets the nearest hostile player the moment they're in range. Spam this in pvp when a stealth character is near you and you'll Sap them as quickly as posible.

#showtooltip Sap
/cleartarget
/targetenemyplayer
/cast Sap