Updated for 4.3
Note: Some aspects of this guide may not apply to your Rogue until higher level. If you need to get your character to max level quickly, take a look at this leveling guide, now.
Glyphs come in three varieties, Prime, Major and Minor. Prime glyphs enhance core aspects of your class and generally provide the greatest benefit of the three types.
Major Glyphs, while not quite as powerful as Prime Glyphs, are still useful and continue to provide a myriad of benefits.
Minor Glyphs often times provide small quality of life improvements or visual changes, such as the Glyph of Shadow Form for priests which makes the character more visible through Shadow Form. However, a few are known to provide more significant benefits such as the warrior glyph of Berserker Rage.
Prime Glyphs:
Major Glyphs:
Here are your highest priority abilities.
Keep Slice and Dice as well as Recuperate active at all times throughout combat. Rupture should only be applied when a feral druid is using Mangle on the target, otherwise it’s a DPS loss. Backstab is your primary attack ability and combo point builder unless you can’t get behind your target, in which case you can use Hemorrhage.
AoE Rotation
Your primary AoE attack is Fan of Knives to apply poisons to all targets.
Cooldowns
The most important aspect of managing your cooldowns as a damage dealer is making certain to use them whenever they’re avaliable. Don’t be afraid to use them during any fight, even against trash mobs, as the higher the uptime you have with them, the greater your overall damage will be so long as you aren’t using them when a fight is about to end.
The only time to hold off on using your cooldowns is when you’ll be unable to attack the boss due to fight mechanics, such as during Morchok’s Black Blood of the Earth ability or when Hagara is about to cast Water Shield and become immune to all damage.
Melee DPS will have to watch out for this more than ranged, as they are far more vulnerable to situations where an encounter requires constant movement or the boss is utilizing some form of AoE attack that makes fighting in melee range impossible.
Agility > 8% Melee Hit > 26 Expertise > Haste > Critical > 17% Spell Hit > Mastery
Agility:
Agility increases attack power and critical chance. As a rogue this is your primary damage increasing stat.
(8%) Melee Hit:
Hit rating reduces you chance to miss with attacks. A hit rating of 8% makes it so that your special abilities will no longer miss on bosses, thereby avoiding loss of DPS.
(26) Expertise:
Expertise reduces the chance for an enemy to dodge or parry your attacks. At an expertise rating of 26, the ‘soft’ cap, your attacks will no longer be dodged when behind your target.
Haste:
Haste increases attack speed and energy regeneration. For a Subtlety Rogue this is your more effective secondary stat after reaching the 8% Hit Cap and 26 Expertise Cap.
Critical Strike:
Critical rating increases your chance to critically hit with attacks. Critical hits multiply the damage of an attack.
Mastery – Executioner:
For a Subtlety Rogue, Mastery increases effectiveness of Slice and Dice and the Damage of all finishing moves.
Reforging
When reforging gear, it’s important that you look to reforge from your least effective stat into the most effective for whatever gear goal you are currently aiming for. See our stat priority list for more information.
8% Melee Hit > Haste > 26 Expertise
(8%) Melee Hit:
First check that you have 8% melee hit, and if not, reforge until you reach it.
(26) Expertise – Haste:
Once you’ve reached the 8% melee hit cap, optimize the amount of haste on your gear while also aiming to reach the (26) Expertise Cap.
Gems
- Red – Delicate Inferno Ruby
- Yellow – Deft Ember Topaz
- Blue – Glinting Demonseye
- Meta – Agile Shadowspirit Diamond
Unless a socket bonus offers agility, it’s more effective to gem for pure agility and ignore the bonus.
Enchantments
- Helm: Arcanum of Ramkahen
- Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal
- Cloak: Enchant Cloak – Major Agility – Enchant Cloak – Greater Critical Strike
- Chest: Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats
- Bracers: Enchant Bracer – Agility
- Gloves: Enchant Gloves – Greater Mastery
- Belt: Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
- Leggings: Dragonscale Leg Armor
- Boots: Enchant Boots – Major Agility
- Main Hand: Enchant Weapon – Landslide
- Off-Hand: Enchant Weapon – Landslide
Our class guides for whichever class you’re playing:
Death Knights – Druid – Hunter – Mage – Paladin
Priest – Rogue – Shaman – Warlock – Warrior
The GotWarcraft Gold Guide
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