Updated for Mists of Pandaria gems and enchants.
Even in Mists of Pandaria Combat isn’t really the optimal spec for PvP, but if that’s your game then go for it. Subtlety is about bone-crushing burst and Combat is about sustained DPS. You’ll probably find Arenas difficult, but might well have fun in the Battlegrounds.
With the changes to the talent system in Mists of Pandaria, Combat has been given some life in PvP. You can now Shadowstep, if you choose, and there are other goodies. Give it a shot.
In honor of those who like their PvP in Hard Mode, here you go. 
Page Contents |
Other Rogue Pages |
Combat Rogue PvP Build
Qick notes for the Combat Rogue.
Best Race:
- Orc, for the Blood Fury racial
- Human for the escape or Gnome for expertise, size, and escape.
- More on Race
Stats: For all roles: Agility before everything else, Mastery and crit are the weakest stats for DPS.
- Main Hand Wpn DPS > Agility > Hit to 3% > Expertise to 3% > Haste
- Reforge : Get Hit & Expertise, reforge all else into Haste.
- Stats
Weapons:
- DPS > Agility
- Slow Sword/Mace/Axe in main hand, fast dagger in off-hand. The fast weapon gives more energy procs via Combat Potency
Builds & Glyphs
Poisons, PvP:
- Lethal: Wound, because of the heal debuff.
- Non-lethal: Crippling or Mind Numbing.
Basic Combat Rotations
- Try to keep Slice and Dice up at all times, but it depends on the fight.
- Use 5 pt Eviscerates or Kidney Shots.
- Keep Rupture up if you can, it’s not a big DPS losss if you don’t. It helps Vs stealthy types.
- Blade Flurry is for only two or more mobs/players.
- More
Gems: It’s worth matching socket bonuses, uses gems with Ag, Haste, and PVP Power or some combination of those.
Enchants:
- Enchant for Agility & Haste
- Dancing Steel on main weapon.
- Living Steel Weapon Chain for the off-hand weapon:
- More enchants
Number Crunching, Gems, Enchants, Macros
NOTE: The below section is nearly identical for all three specializations of rogue, this is due to the usage of almost entirely the same stats for any rogue no matter the attack rotation and/or talent build.
At level 77, assuming that you’re leveling, you should buy the Cataclysm greens off the Auction House. They are a huge step up from any green and blue Wrath gear, and even some of the lesser purple gear. It better than any honor gear you’ll get at that level.
- At 80 start looking for Mists of Pandaria gear, some blues are item level 415 at level 80. You should be able to pick up some pretty mice M of P weapons, too.
The Numbers, Which stats are best?
PvP Power is a straight up damage add, like Attack Power, but for PvP only. Point for point it’s probably close to Agility in value.
In Mists of Pandaria, your priorities are…
Main hand weapon DPS is #1
- Primary: Agility and Resilience, PvP Power
- Secondary: 3% Hit (Sinister Strike and other specials use this) 3% Expertise > Haste
- 7.5% Hit/Expertise is needed for Raid bosses, not PvP.
- Weaker: Hit to 15% (white damage and poisons) > Crit rating > Mastery > Hit over 15%
Reforging
- If you’re less than 3% hit, then reforge crit & mastery ->Hit
- At or over 3% hit: reforge crit & mastery ->Expertise (to the cap of 3%) and then haste if the piece doesn’t already have Haste. Haste improves everything you do.
Gear
- Weapons – Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria
- Armor - Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria
- Misc - - Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria
Gems for the Combat Rogue
If you can’t afford the best gems then dropping down one level is not a big DPS loss and you will save a lot of gold. See our gold guide if the funds are running low.
| Gem Priorities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Meta |  |
Agile Primal Diamond: +Agil & 3% Increased Crit Effect |
| Red |  |
Delicate Primordial Ruby: 160 Agility |
| Yellow |  |
Mystic Sun’s Radiance: 320 Resilience |
| Blue |  |
Stormy River’s Heart: +320 PvP power |
| Orange |  |
Lucent Vermilion Onyx: 80 Agility, 160 Resilience Tenuous Vermilion Onyx: 160 Expertise, 160 Resilience |
| Green |  |
Vivid Wild Jade: +160 Res, +160 PvP Power |
| Purple |  |
Assassin’s Imperial Amethyst: +80 Ag, +160 PvP Power |
| Prismatic |  |
Delicate Primordial Ruby: 160 Agility |
| Cogwheel |  |
Fractured Tinker’s Gear: 600 Mastery - requires an engie helm, such as this. Quick Tinker’s Gear: 600 Haste |
Enchants for the PvP Combat Rogue
Head enchants are gone, the Shoulder enchants come from the Inscription profession.
The chest item is the only Resilience enchant, there are no PvP Power enchants.
| Combat Enchantments | |
|---|---|
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon – Dancing Steel: Sometimes add 1,650 Ag when striking. Living Steel Weapon Chain- Reduces duration of disarm effects, +200 Expertise. |
| Shoulders | Secret Tiger Claw Inscription +520 Ag, 100 Crit, requires Inscription 575 Greater Tiger Claw Inscription: +200 Agility, +100 Crit |
| Cloak | Swordguard Embroidery: Sometimes pops 4k Attack Power for 15 sec. Req. Tailoring. Enchant Cloak – Accuracy: +180 Hit rating |
| Chest | Enchant Chest – Super Resilience: +200 Resilience |
| Bracers | Fur Lining, Agility: +500 Agility, requires Leatherworking. Enchant Bracer – Greater Agility: +170 Agility Socket Bracer: Self only, Blacksmithing, pop in a nice Agility gem. |
| Gloves | Enchant Gloves – Greater Haste: +170 Haste Enchant Gloves – Superior Mastery: +170 Mastery Socket Gloves – Self only, Blacksmithing, pop in a nice gem. |
| Belt | Living Steel Belt Buckle: put a nice gem into this slot. |
| Leggings | Shadowleather Leg Armor: +285 Agility & 165 Crit rating |
| Boots | Enchant Boots – Pandaren’s Step: +140 Mastery and Slight run speed increase. |
| Rings | Enchant Ring – Greater Agility: +160 Agility, Requires Enchanting 550 |
Note: Landslide procs from separate weapons stack with each other. Back to back procs from the same weapon do not stack. My guess is that the same will be true of the Dancing Steel proc.
Professions
Certain professions provide self-only buffs/enchants. Some of these are of more use than others, but none are wildly better. A few points of Haste instead of Ag won’t ruin the raid, though you might be punted from the MinMax club.
Profession buffs in Mists of Pandaria run about 320 Agility, roughly, over what you’ll get with non-profession enchants/buffs.
Gems with secondary stats have twice the value as gems with primary stats, so 160 Ag Vs 320 PvP Power. This makes matching socket bonuses worthwhile since Agility isn’t vastly better than the other stats.
Best min/max? Blacksmithing allows slotting two of these 320 Stat gems, for 640 total stats Vs the 320 Ag or so from the others.
Try to get PvP power where you can, Haste otherwise.
Best for cash, but still being useful? Pick two from Herbalism, Skinning, and Mining.
| Professions for the Combat Rogue | |
|---|---|
| Tailoring | Cloak enchant sometimes adds 4k Attack Power for 15 seconds. |
| Leatherworking | Bracer enchant adds 500 Ag. |
| Jewelcrafting | Make nicer gems for your own use. |
| Enchanting | Enchant both rings, for a total +320 Ag gain. |
| Inscription | Shoulder enchant adds 520 Ag and 100 crit. |
| Alchemy | More effect from your own potions. Adds 320 Ag and an extra hour to your main flask. |
| Engineering | has lots of interesting toys, some of which have situational use, and Synapse Springs, which increases Ag by 1940 for a short time. If you take this use a macro to activate it along with other short term buffs. |
| Blacksmithing | gives two extra gems slots. Since gems with secondary stats have twice the value of gems with primary stats Blacksmithing might be a very valuable profession. For example, you’ll be able to socket he two gems for 640 PvP Power instead of 320 Ag. |
| Skinning | provides 480 crit rating |
| Herbalism | Small heal and 2880 Haste for 20 seconds |
| Mining | 480 Stamina |
Rogue Macros
Pandarian Looking into Jewelcrafting
Some macros for your amusement.
Tricks of the Trade
Use this for your Tof T button. Fill in the name of the party member who will be the focus of your T of T. Fire it off, he gets the benefit, and you don’t have to fuss with target picking or focus changing. This macro will not deselect your current target:
- #showtooltip Tricks of the Trade
- /cast [target=YOURPARTYMEMBERHERE] Tricks of the Trade
Blind
Mouseover a target and hit the Blind button. If there’s no target under your mouse then it will blind your current target.
- /cast [target=mouseover, exists] Blind; blind
Gouge + Bandage
Cast gouge and immediately start bandaging. Works just fine when out of combat. Replace the name of the bandage with the one you’re currently using.
- /cast Gouge
- /stopcasting
- /use [target=player] Windwool Bandage
Mashable Sap
This one will dismount and stealth you, then cast Sap. Keep mashing it if you suspect there’s a Rogue/Druid nearby.
- #show Stealth
- /dismount
- /cast [stance:0] !Stealth
- /targetenemy [harm][nodead]
- /cast Sap
Startattack
This makes sure that your autoattack starts, even if you don’t have the energy to actually use SS.
- #showtooltip
- /startattack
- /cast Sinister Strike
The Fastest Rogue Leveling Guide
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