1.0 - The Combat Rogue
| This guide is simply intended to provide a general overview of the Combat Rogue Spec. For a more in-depth and highly detailed resource on all Rogues, including builds, tactics, raiding, PvP, etc., check out the Killer Guides' Rogue Guide. |
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Combat rogues are a tried and true solution for massive DPS, Once boasting
at the very least top five if not even number one DPS records on almost
every boss fight capable of supporting decent melee DPS. These days Rogues fall behind some other classes in melee DPS, but can still pump out solid damage in raids and cause massive complaining from other classes in PvP.
The Combat
build can also be used effctively in PvP, as shown by some of the top
ranking rogues using this tree. The key, of course, if to make effective use of stealth and stuns and then make use of Combat's damage potential.
The overview of numbers and talent builds below will show you the requirements for bringing a combat rogue to Karazhan and beyond, some of the math behind all the DPS, and what to look for in your Rogue's gear.
3.2 patch notes: The patch has not landed as of this writing. When
will it? When it's good and ready. Here's the stuff that's interesting for Rogues.
- Agility - All classes will need 15% more agility per
point of Dodge.
- Dodge rating - All classes will need more rating per point of Dodge.
- For PvPers - The amount of resilience needed to decrease crit
damage and chance will increase.
- Blood Elf Rogues - Arcane Torrent will apply a 3 second
interrupt to non-player controlled targets.
- Axes! - Orcs will be able to use Axes, which is perfect for Orc
Rogues.
- Sword Specialization - will be called Hack and Slash and
applies to axes.
- Mining- provides more Stamina
- Skinning- provides more crit rating
- Glyph of Tricks of the Trade: Will
increase the duration of the damage bonus effect instead of increasing
the damage bonus.
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2.0 - Combat Talent Builds
Weapons: Generally you want a low main hand (MH) and a fast off-hand (OH). The MH weapons should have the highest DPS possible, for the OH speed rules over DPS. If you have two OH weapons and one is a bit faster with a bit lower DPS pick it anyway. The reason is for the energy procs from Combat Potency.
With the 3.1 patch poisons now proc (apply) on a "per minute" basis. It used to be that a fast OH weapon would give more poison procs, but not any more. Some argue that because of this the OH weapon should put a priority on DPS over speed.
See section 4 for notes on stats and numbers.
2.1 - Raid DPS Talent build
Raid DPS spec:
15/51/5 Combat Raid build (Daggers.)
18/51/2 is also good.
This one drops 3 pts in Relentless Strikes to pick up 3 in Vile Poisons
Some knowledgable people say that the combat dagger spec is dead. The Dagger specialization is left in as a placeholder. Change this to sword spec or mace spec depending on your preference. If you have nice daggers and weaker swords/maces then stick with the daggers.
Sword or Mace will pump out higher DPS than daggers.
Major Glyphs: Sinister strike, Rupture, Killing spree. Alternate choices are Slice and Dice, Tricks of the Trade, and Adrenaline Rush. Eviscerate isn't bad, at all.
Minor Glyphs: Meh... whatever. Nothing useful here for raiding.
- PvP - Glyph of Sap is interesting since it adds 20 seconds to the Sap duration. Get sapped with that and it will feel like hours before it wears off.
- PVP & Leveling - The minor glyphs: Blurred Speed (escape,) Vanish (Faster movement,) and Safe Fall (escape) all have their uses.
Poisons: MH (raiding or PvP) use Wound Poison, OH use Deadly Poison. You should be maintaining 5 stacks of deadly on the target. For leveling use Instant poison on both weapons.
In PvP, with good gear, targets tend to go down very quickly. If that's happening then you're better off with Instant Poison on the OH weapon. Keep Wound poison on the MH since it weakens the heals on your opponent.
Don't mix weapons, unless you're fist/dagger (Close Hand Combat works with both,) use two weapons of the same type, otherwise you're wasting talent points.
Raiding rotation:
- Open with Garrote (if you can get behind the boss, stealthed)
- Start Slice and Dice
- Build Combo points with Sinister strike
- Refresh SnD
- SS to 4 or 5 combo points
- Rupture
- Build combo points
- Refresh SnD if it needs it, otrherwise Eviscerate.
- Back to step 3
- The goal is to be attacking as quickly as possible and to have a bleed up at all times. Also keep 5 stacks of deadly poison up at all times.
- Note that you want to keep Slice and Dice up at all times. This is where the SnD glyph helps.
2.2 - Leveling Combat Build
Rogues will get Dual Wield at level 10. Dual Weild provides about
a 20% overall damage increase, despite a 25% per weapon hit
penalty and a 50% damage penalty on the off-hand weapon. So use it and love it.
You will want the hardest hitting weapon you can find for the main
hand (the weapon with the highest damage range, which will usually be the slowest weapon you can find.) The high damage weapon will provide bigger hits from
your specials (such as Sinister Strike and Eviscerate.)
The off-hand (OH) weapon should have the highest DPS you can fnd, until you get into the combat potency talent, then you want the fastest weapon possible to get more Energy procs.
Both weapons should be coated with Instant Poison. Mobs will die too quickly for Deadly Poison to be worth much, and their being healed usually isn't a factor which makes wound poison less useful.
Glyphs, in order of picking:
- Major: Sinister Strike, Slice and Dice, and Garrote (if you use that opener) or Eviscerate
- Minor: Vanish, Safe fall, and... bleh. Take pickpocket if you like.
This build is biased towards solo play and non-pvp. If daggers are your thing feel free to switch out the sword/mace spec for 5/5 Close Quarters. This build is also very similar to the raiding build above.
If you're on a PvP server you might want to pick up Master of Deception when you move into contested areas. The extra stealth might save you a ganking or let you do the ganking. You'll do a bit less damage and live longer.
Combat Swords leveling build 15/51/5
Combat Tree
- 2/2 in Improved Sinister Strike
- 5/5 in Dual Weild
- 5/5 in Precision
- 2/2 in Improved Slice and Dice
- 1/2 Endurance
- 5/5 Aggression
- 1 Blade Furry
- 4/5 Sword or Mace Specialization (use whichever weapon you're using, don't mix.)
- 2/2 Weapon Expertise
- 2/2 Blade Twisting
- 5/5 Sword or Mace spec
- 1 Adrenaline Rush
- 3/3 Vitality
- 2/2 Endurance
- 5/5 Combat Potency
- 1 Surprise Attacks
- 2/2 Unfair Advantage
- 2/2 Savage Combat
- 5/5 Prey on the Weak
- 1 Killing Spree
Subtlety Tree
- 5/5 Relentless Strikes
Assassination Tree
-
5/5 Malice
- 3/3 Ruthlessness
- 2/2 Improved Eviscerate
- 5/5 Lethality
This is not the Ultimate Build. Feel free to switch things around to suit your play style. |
Leveling Rotation
- Cheap Shot for faster fights, Garrote for longer ones.
- Start Slice and Dice
- Build Combo points with Sinister strike
- Eviscerate (or Rupture) is it's really long.
- Kidney Shot if you need to break a spell.
- If it's still alive then go back to #3.
- For two mobs - Bladeflurry
- For 3+ mobs: Blind one, gouge one, Move, then Blade Flurry + Adrenaline Rush. Killing Spree if you have it. Don't forget your evasion skill. All that with Slice and Dice and your blade speed is increase by about 9000%
If you
wait on Malice and the other non-Combat tatents, then
you can get into Blade Flurry and Murder Spree that
much sooner.
If getting to level 80 ASAP is your goal then check out our favorite leveling guide, below
3.0 - Combat PvP Build
Level
80 Combat PvP Spec 0/59/12
Change this to fit your playstyle. Arena PvP is not equal to Battleground PvP. This will get you started, but make changes to suit your situation. This build focuses a little more on attack speed than others.
Combat:
- 2/2 in Improved Sinister Strike
- 5/5 in Dual Weild
- 5/5 in Precision
- 1/2 in Improved Slice and Dice
- 2/2 Endurance
- 2/2 Sprint
- 3/3 Lightning Reflexes
- 5/5 Aggression
- 1 Blade Furry
- 5/5 Sword or Mace Specialization (use one spec, don't mix weapons.)
- 2/2 Weapon Expertise
- 2/2 Blade Twisting
- 1 Adrenaline Rush
- 3/3 Vitality
- 2/2 Nerves of Steel
- 2/2 Throwing Specialization - a ranged spell interrupt/silence
- 5/5 Combat Potency
- 1 Surprise Attacks
- 2/2 Unfair Advantage
- 2/2 Savage Combat
- 5/5 Prey on the Weak
- 1 Killing Spree
- Subtlety:
- 5/5 Relentless strikes
- 3/3 Master of Deception
- 2/2 Dirty Tricks
- 2/2 Elusiveness
If your partner is generally the focus of the opposition's attacks consider swapping out Lighting reflexes for Malice or another talent. It's in this build to help proc Unfair Advantage.
Likewise, if you're never getting stunned, then swap out Nerves of Steel.
Some people hate Killing Spree, so if you are one of them...
PvP Rotation:
It depends...
- Garrote provides a bleed and Cheap Shot stuns as well as giving 2 combo points.
- Slice and Dice is good Vs plate.
- Rupture provides a bleed and Eviscerate can hit for large numbers.
- Blind and Gouge and Kick should all be ready to go.
- Energy is your limiting factor. Look into; Thistle Tea, Glyph of Vigor, the Vigor talent, and the Gladiator PvP set.
PvP Poisons: With good gear, targets tend to go down very quickly. If that's happening then you're better off with Instant Poison on the OH weapon. Keep Wound poison on the MH since it weakens the heals on your opponent.
4.0 - 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
The Numbers
Agility - 1pt at 70 = 1 Attack Power, 0.55
Critical, 2 Armor, 0.95 Dodge Rating
at lev 70: 40 Agility = 40 AP, 22 crit rating (1% crit chance,) 80 Armor, ~2.1 Dodge
at 80: 40 Ag = 40 AP, .~.45% crit chance, 80 armor, ~.96% dodge
Strength - 1 = 1 Attack Power
Attack Power- 14 = 1.0 DPS
Critical Rating - 22.1 = 1% Critical
Hit Rating
15.8 = 1% Hit at 70
32.8 = 1% Hit at 80
Dodge Rating
18.9 = 1% Dodge
39.35 = 1% dodge at 80
Haste and Expertise
Armor Penetration
4.1
- Hit Rating, Crit, etc.
The Stats:
- Agility is Always important
- Attack Power is always important.
- Stamina is less important for raiding (since the tank(s) should be taking the hits,) more important for PvP.
- Hit rating is always important, at least to the poison cap (about 315 rating)
- Crit rating
- Expertise rating is nice to have for PvP and nice for raiding, but less useful for leveling.
- Armor Penetration got a boost with teh 3.1 patch and is now useful. At very high gear levels (T8) it may be the most important stat for raiding.
- Resilience is only useful for PvP and it's very useful there.
- Strength is least important
- Int and Spirit are completely useless. Rogues have no use for brains.
So what do you need? :
- Leveling: Agility + Stam + AP + Hit + Crit
- PvP: Add Resilience (found on PvP gear.)
What to shoot for when entering Karazhan & Level 70 Heroics:
- Hit Rating: 90+
- Attack Power: 1200+
- Critical Rating: 20%
What to shoot for when heading into 25-Raids:
- Hit Rating: 200
- Attack Power: 1450
- Critical Rating: 23%
4.2 - Gems
Gem for offence if you're raiding or leveling.
Red Gems:
Blue Gems:
Yellow Gems:
4.3 Enchantments
At level 70:
4.4 Rogue Macros
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 target.
- /cast [target=mouseover, exists] Blind; blind
Gouge + Bandage
- Cast gouge and immediately start bandaging. Works just fine when out of combat.
/cast Gouge
/stopcasting
/use [target=player] Heavy Netherweave 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
5.0 - PvE Gear Guide
Note: This list is for level 70 and is kept here for those who don't have Wrath of the Lich King or who want to try the level 70 raids. As this is a PvE gear guide I'll only list
the PvP rewards capable of being obtained via Honor, arena rewards
are however viable alternatives to many pieces of gear.
Many pieces of gear will also be equally useful to both assasination, combat, and subtlety builds:
A level 80 gear list will appear here at some point.
Head:
Neck:
Shoulders:
Back:
Chest:
Wrist:
Hands:
Belt:
Legs:
Boots:
Rings:
Trinkets:
Main-Hand:
Off-Hand:
Ranged:
1-80 Rogue Leveling Guide
Now that you're on the way to becoming a lean, mean, killing machine you should consider a full blown leveling guide for your 1-80 blast. Why? It will save you many days of in-game time and will also save a good deal of frustration, even if you already know many or most of the quests.
Our recommended leveling guide is Zygor's Guide. Zygor's automates the whole 1-80 path (automatically updating as you complete tasks and quests) and is like having an expert helping you every step of the way. Pick your starting point and the guide automatically updates and advances as you complete quests, sets a waypoint arrow automatically, and includes all the important quest info.
You will probably never need to look at your quest log again!
Grab your copy of Zygor's Leveling Guide, here
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