The Subtlety Rogue Guide
for the Mists of Pandaria

Updated for Mists of Pandaria PvP, with gems, enchants, and notes.

 

Moving in silently,
downwind and out of sight
you’ve got to strike
when the moment is right
without thinking

Pink Floyd, Animals (Dogs)

Subtlety is just set up right for ganking. Stealth, Shadow Dance, plenty of stuns, extra damage coming out of stealth, etc. Obviously the PvP spec for Rogues, Sub isn’t half bad in PvE and it’s a lot more fun than Combat for leveling.

This page covers Subtlety for PvE and PvP. Check the contents, below, for more specific guides.

Also see our Subtlety in M of P and Rogues in M of P posts. You can find some stealth tips in our Sub PvP page.

Contents

Subtlety in Cataclysm Quick Subtlety Notes M of P Patch Info Race Choice Professions Subtlety Talents PvP Build PvE Build Numbers and Stats and Rotations Gems & Enchants Macros Recommended Leveling Guide

Other Rogue Guides Rogue class guide Rogue leveling guide Assassination DPS Assassination PvP Combat spec Combat DPS Subtlety DPS Subtlety PvP Subtlety in M of P Rogue builds Rogues in the Mists of Pandaria Get leveled, fast

 

The Subtlety Rogue

Subtlety rogues present a combination of DPS and utility allowing them to do well in both PvP and PvE. In the DPS race an Assassination or Combat build might pump out more overall damage, but Subtlety is more fun and more flexible.

Cataclysm brought to Subtlety Rogues a brutal opener and solid DPS capabilities. New talents and abilities give this build more functionality that it’s had in quite some time. Skill is skill, though. With it, other players in the PvP game will worry about you. Without it, you’re just another doormat.

Mists of Pandaria will change it all, again. Sub still has the burst capabilities, but that now comes from

Buffs and Nerfs

After any big patch or expansion there’s always a period where class balance is all over the place and Rogues are no exception. Especially with the 4.0 patch and very likely with the 5.0 patch. Right after the patch the Rogue was about the same as before, but some of the other classes were buffed big time. People complained and the melee classes got buffs and the casters some nerfs and Druids became unstoppable. For a time.

The point is that after these patches there’s a “flavor of the minute” taste to class balance. Class A becomes godlike and B becomes the doormat. Then it bounces back and forth for awhile. The builds and pointers on these pages will assume some sort of class balance and will skip the “Flavor of the Minute” game.

 

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Quick Notes for the Subtlety Rogue

Best role: PvP, though Sub. can do well in PvE.

Best Race: Orc for the Blood Fury ability, Human for the Escape ability.
More Races

Subtlety Stats: For all roles: Agility way before everything else, especially with the Sinister Calling ability.
Mastery is the weakest stat. More stats

Note: If you’re going to switch specs and want to keep only one set of gear, then Haste is the best stat after 8% Hit.

• PvP: Wpn DPS > Agility > Resilience > 5% melee hit > Crit > Haste. Expertise and Mastery aren’t so hot.
• PvP Reforge: Reforge weakest stats (Master) into hit (until you have 5%) and Crit.
• PvE: Wpn DPS > Agility > 8% Melee Hit > Haste > 26 Expertise > Crit > 17% Spell Hit > Mastery
• PvE Reforge: Mastery and excess Hit into better stats.
• Resilience and Spell Pen. have no use in PvE.
• Spell Penetration  becomes PvP Power in Mists of Pandaria.

Weapons:

• DPS > Agility
• Dagger speeds have been “normalized.” What this means is that you should be able to use any dagger in either hand and get the same effect. The old “slow wpn in main hand, fast in off-hand” no longer applies.

Builds

• See below

Poisons, PvE & PvP:

• In mists of Pandaria you can apply one lethal and one non-lethal poison.
• The lethal can be either Deadly or Wound, the non-lethal can be either Crippling, Mind, Leeching, or Paralytic.
• Use Wound against anything that’s getting healed, Deadly otherwise.
• Use Crippling for most situations and Leeching if you need the health.

Glyphs: See builds below

Gems: Ignore the socket bonus unless it’s +20 Agility or better per gem.

1. Red: Delicate Queen’s Garnet or Delicate Inferno Ruby in all slots. Mists of Pandaria gems require an item level of 417 or better. You will still be looking at Delicate gems. 
2. Meta: Agile Shadowspirit Diamond in Cata, Agile Primal Diamond in M of P.
3. PvP Resilience gems
4. More gems

Enchants:

• For PvP and PvE: Agility, Attack Power, Haste – in that order
• Weapon: Landslide on both, if you can afford it. in M of P look for Dancing Steel
• PvP – off-hand weapon: Pyrium Weapon Chain
• More enchants

Subtlety rotations:

PvP:

• There is no PvP “rotation.” Try to lock up your opponents and burst them down when you can.
• Glyphed Garrote silences casters
• Keep Recuperate up, as necessary.
• Try to keep Slice and Dice up, it’s what drives your energy returns in M of P, via the Energetic Recovery ability.
• Rupture/garrote is good Vs stealthers.
• Learn to use Shadowdance. The training dummies will help with this.
• Save your Shadowstep, if possible, until the opponent escapes (eg: Blink,) then use it to catch up.

PvE:

1. Keep Recuperate up if necessary.
2. Keep Slice and Dice up at all times,  the Energy return will allow you a lot more strikes.
3. Eviscerate at 5 CPs
4. Rupture is situational, to be used only when someone in your group has a bleed buff (such as Mangle) up, otherwise skip it.
5. Backstab to build CPs, though you may have to use Hemo if you can’t get behind the target.
6. Interrupt (Kick, Arc. Torrent, Kidney Shot, etc.) as necessary

Goto => Top – Quick Info – Race – Professions – PvP Build – PvE Build – Stats – Enchants – Level Fast

 

5.0 Patch Notes for Subtlety Rogues

Blizzard’s patch notes are here.

The basics are: 

• The third weapon slot, for all classes, is gone. You still have the throw ability and you have Deadly Throw and Shuriken as talents.
• The talent system has been completely revised.
• Many old talents are now abilities, others have been rolled into other abilities or gone away completely.
• Prime glyphs are gone, major glyphs carry all the ability/talent enhancements, minor glyphs are mostly cosmetic of provide a minor utility change (such as a bit of extra range.)
• Spells and Hunter shots can now be dodged by you. They will be stacking expertise to prevent this.
• Druids have a new ability, Symbiosis. This allows the Druid to copy one of your abilities and allows youone of the Druid’s abilities. Note that these are copies, you don’t lose anything in the transfer. This means that you will want to have a Druid in your group. Any group.
  • All Rogues get the Growl ability, which is actually pretty darn cool.
  • The Guardian Druid gets Feint, Feral gets Redirect, Balance gets Cloak of Shadows, Restoration gets Evasion

 

Race Choice for the Subtlety Rogue

Pandarens can be Rogues, of either Horde or Alliance. They choose when the leave the starting area.

• May put enemies to sleep with a touch of their hand. This is a 4 second stun, which is kinda perfect for Rogues.
• Rest XP lasts longer than other races, so Pandarens will level a bit faster.
• Increased benefit from food buffs, which is handy in all situations.
• Increased cooking skill
• Take less falling damage from being “bouncy.” This probably stacks with other Rogue safe-falling abilities.

Alliance: Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Night Elf, or Worgen? Gnomes and Humans get an escape, Worgen get the best general DPS increase, but Orcs get a very nice burst.

There really should be a buyable ninja suit, other than Savory Deviate Delight. Just think of how many Sub Rogues would transmog into a Ninja outfit, if they could.

• Gnome: You’re short. This is a good thing for PvP Rogues.
  • PvP for their escape ability and small size (which makes it harder for some to target them and a bit easier to lurk in wait.)
  • PvE & PvP for their expertise with daggers and small swords, which lets your spend some rating points elsewhere.
  • If healers target by clicking you (most don’t) then your size might be a disadvantage.
• Night Elves: Ok, you look good in gear. Anything else?
  • PvP – Shadomeld does not add to their stationary stealth, but is a good way to drop aggro and then go into stealth. With perfect timing it might be used to break incoming spells. ‘Meld as the spell approaches and the spell breaks.
  • PvE – A small agility increase and a small dodge increase, which is probably of more use for tanks than DPS. Any dodge increase is nice in PvP. Spell and Hunter shots are now affected by Dodge.
  • Slightly faster in Stealth than other races.
• Humans:
  • PvP – Their escape ability is quite useful and allows the use of two DPS trinkets in PvP.
  • PvE – Expertise with swords and maces is useful for Combat, if those are your weapons of choice.
  • Increased rep gain is nice since you’ll hit those rep awards and achievements just that much faster.
• Dwarfs: You’re short, massive, and round. Why are you a Rogue?
  • PvP – Can wash away the bleeds and some other effects, provides a 10% damage reduction instead of armor increase (and increases your size for the duration of the effect. )
  • PvE – Expertise with ranged weapons is nice for Hunters, not so much for you.
• Worgen
  • Increased crit chance is one of the better PvE racials and it also has PvP value.
  • Darkflight is, essentially, an extra Sprint.
  • Good with skinning (which adds crit rating.)
• Draenei
  • Having no interest in being sneaky or in the fine art of Backstabbing, the Draenei cannot be Rogues at this time.

Horde: Orc, Troll, Undead, Blood Elf, or Goblin. Orcs, Trolls, and Goblins get a DPS increasing ability, Undead can wash away certain effects, Blood Elves get a silence.

• Undead: Ok, there’s nothing like a Rogue who’s already dead.
  • PvP – Aability to remove fear, charm, etc. is pretty nice. Can eat opponents in addition to /LOLing them.
  • Undead drain life and heal with it. The Underwater Breathing ability is gone.
  • PvE – no special abilities
• Orcs: Arguably the best race for the Sub Rogue.
  • PvE & PvP – Blood Fury is a nice damage add, that’s on demand. Put it in a macro after your opener (it breaks stealth.)
  • PvP – their resistance to stun is useful and has occasional PvE value
  • Pet damage? You’re not a Hunter, sorry.
  • Expertise with axe and fist weapons isn’t very interesting for Sub.
• Trolls:
  • PvE & PvP: Increased attack speed from Berserk (it isn’t Haste) is nice anywhere, as is reduced duration of things that slow you.
  • Increased damage Vs beasts is nice while leveling, situational in PvE, and of no use in PvP. Unless Bliz decides to consider Worgen to be “Beasts.”
  • Ranged expertise isn’t interesting.
• Blood Elves: Stop playing with your hair in the middle of the fight!
  • PvP & PvE – an Area Effect 2 second silence which can break NPC spells and regenerate a bit of energy. Nice.
  • Good with enchanting.
• Golblin
  • Increased Haste is generally useful
  • Rocket jump can be an escape, basically it’s a “blink” and has a 2 min cooldown. It breaks stealth.
  • Good with alchemy. Stock your bars with all kinds of toxic useful chemicals.
• Tauren: Nope, nothing happening here. Bovine discrimination? No need to be sneaky? Maybe it’s the horns? Unable to pick pockets or locks?

Goto => Top – Quick Info – Race – Professions – PvP Build – PvE Build – Stats – Enchants – Level Fast

 

Professions for the Sub. Rogue

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 Crit (skinning) instead of Ag (leatherworking) won’t ruin the raid or get you Pwned in PvP, though you might be punted from the MinMax club.

Blacksmithing, with its two gems slots, might actually be the best for min/max if you can afford the newest/best gems, since the profession allows you two slot two of them. Mists of Pandaria gems are be much nicer than Cata gems.

Best for cash, but still being useful? Herbalism and Skinning or mining. If you don’t PvP then mining has less utility since you won’t need the Stam as much (and you probably won’t be Sub. if you’re not PvPing, right?) The crafting professions have some sweet spots where you can sell stuff for a nice profit, but you have to pay attention to the markets.

• Leatherworking
  • Your Draconic Embossment – Agility provides 130 Ag. 500 in Mists of Pandaria.
  • Also, your Dragonscale Leg Armor provides AP 190 and 55 crit (285 Ag and 155 Crit in M of P)
  • You can make your starter PvP set.
• Jewelcrafting
  • Self only gems, such as Delicate Chimera’s Eye (+67 Ag,) can replace the Delicate Inferno Ruby (+40 Ag.) You can use three of these which gains a total of 81 net Agility. (320 each in M of P.)
• Blacksmithing
  • Two additional sockets (Socket Bracers and Socket Gloves,) each of which will take a Delicate gem for that much more Agility.
  • Patch 4.3 introduced the epic gems. If you can afford the Delicate Queen’s Garnet then you can slot two of those instead, for a total +100 Ag bonus. This bonus is better than any of the other profs at this time. When your gear is iLevel 417+ start slotting those M of P gems.
• Alchemy
  • Your passive Mixology buff increases the effect of Flask of the Winds by 80 Agility. It also increases the benefit you get from any of your own potions. Additionally, the buff doubles the duration of your flasks. Lots of potions are quire useful.
• Enchanting
  • Enchanters are able to enchant both of their rings with Enchant Ring – Agility for a total of 80 Agility (320 total in Mists of Pandaria.)
• Inscription
  • Scribes are able to enchants their shoulders for +80 agility over the next best enchant. (In M of P it’s 520 Ag and 100 Crit)
• Tailoring
  • Swordguard Embroidery procs a 15 second long buff (1000 AP) which works out to a value of about 74.5 Agility. In M of P it offers 4,000 AP, sometimes.
• Engineering
  • fun and useful items.
  • Kill-Shades and a couple of +208 Resilience or Crit Cogwheels isn’t a bad way to go. The cogs are better in M of P.
  • Synapse Springs adds 480 to one stat, on demand, for 10 seconds with a 60 sec cooldown. In M of P it’s 2940 Ag.
• Herbalism
  • Lifeblood provides a heal over time and which also grants you 240 haste rating (480 in M of P) for a short time, which is about 80 haste rating averaged out over a long fight. This is clearly the best gathering profession for Subtlety rogues, though the buff isn’t quite on par with the crafting professions. Stick this in a macro with  Shadowstep (if you take it) or some other appropriate ability to get that Haste running.
• Skinning
  • Skinners gain Master of Anatomy which gives a passive 80 crit rating, 320 in M of P. Much as Sub loves Crit, Agility is way better so this bonus lags the crafting profs.
• Mining
  • Miners have 120 stamina from Toughness (480 in M of P) which provides no DPS gain other than additional survivability. This makes it a better PvP profession then PvE.

Goto => Top – Quick Info – Race – Professions – PvP Build – PvE Build – Stats – Enchants – Level Fast

 

Subtlety Talents and Abilities for Mists of Pandaria

So a few things have changed from before and all classes have these changes.

The talent system has been totally changed and all the old Cata builds are dead (though we’ll keep them around for awhile, for legacy sake.)

The old talents from Cataclysm are either dead or have been rolled into other abilities or talents. The same is true of glyphs. Primes are dead and majors now enhance your abilities. Minors are mostly costmetic (ie: change the appearance of something) or offer a bit of utility, such as increased range for non-combat powers.

You no longer spend points in any power or ability, when you pick it up you have the whole thing, rather than 1 to 3 points in it.

Any Rogue can pick any one talent from any row, for six talents at level 90. Yes, this means that Combat or Assassination Rogues can take Shadowstep or Preparation.

Talents can be changed just like you change glyphs. Click any row of your in-game talent window that has a learned talent and a popup will pop up and ask you if you want to change it and tell you the cost. You will need the same dust/powder/tome that you need to change glyphs.

All the Rogue Talents

See below for Builds.

Level 15	Nightstalker – faster movement in stealth and more damage coming out of stealth.	Subterfuge – Stealth doesn’t break immediately. (This allows the use of two openers when attacking. )	Shadow Focus – Abilities no longer cost Energy while you are stealthed. Stealth to sap to opener with zero energy cost.
30	Deadly Throw – Reduces movements speed and can interrupt if you have 5 CP on the target.	Nerve Strike – Opponent does less damage when coming out of Cheap Shot or Kidney Shot.	Combat Readiness – Take less damage as fight gets longer.
45	Cheat Death – Avoid fatal attacks, the killing blow against you doesn’t kill you.	Leeching Poison – your strikes heal you. The more damage you do the more you’re healed.	Elusiveness – Feint reduces all damage, not just A of E.
60	Preparation – Finishes cooldowns.	Shadowstep – Teleport to any target, friendly or enemy, but no damage increase.	Burst of Speed – Break free from CC, run faster if not CCed.
75	Prey on the Weak – When you disable an enemy with Kidney Shot, Cheap Shot, Gouge, Sap, or Blind, they with suffer slightly increased damage from all sources for the duration of the effect.	Paralytic Poison – A stunning poison. Get 5 stacks and the opponent is stunned.	Dirty Tricks – Gouge and Blind cost no energy and don’t break from your bleeds or poisons, though they will from the other guy’s stuff.
90	Shuriken Toss – Ranged attack, adds 1 combo point.	Versatility – Eliminates Redirect cooldown.	Anticipation – Stores excess CPs on target and applies them after a finishing strike.

Subtlety Rogue abilities.

These are the abilities specific to Subtlety Rogues. Each spec gets it’s own unique set of abilities.

10	Hemorrhage – adds a bleed, replaces Sinister Strike.	50	Honor Among Thieves – Gain combo points from the crits of party members.
10	Master of Subtlety – more damage when attacking from stealth.	60	Sanguinary Vein – Improves Rupture and all bleeds.
10	Sinister Calling – increases total agility by 30%.	70	Energetic Recovery – Slice and Dice for faster energy recovery.
20	Find Weakness – openers bypass 70% off opponent  armor.	80	Mastery: Executioner – Increases damage done by finishing strikes
30	Premeditation – adds 2 combo points to target before attack.	80	Shadow Dance – now 8 seconds, allows use of abilities out of stealth.
40	Backstab – requires man hand dagger, must be behind target.

 

Subtley PvP Build

This build proves utility, survivability, and mobility.  None of the talents are bad and some choices are a bit tough, such as in row 5. Take Shadowstep and give up Prep and an escape. Arg. This build should get you started, but remember that talents can be easily changed.

See below for more complete talent descriptions.

	Why these talents:
	Shadow Focus allows you to Sap > Cheap Shot at zero energy cost. This allows more flexibility for your followup strikes.
	Nerve Strike reduces the target’s damage after your stun wears off.
	Leeching Poison is a heal and counts as a non-lethal poison. The harder your strikes hit the bigger the heals.
	Shadowstep for the mobility. This is a tough row, but I think mobility wins.
	Dirty Tricks allows you to use your Gouge and Blind without worry of being broken by your poisons or bleeds. The other guy’s poisons and bleeds will still break them.
	Anticipation means no more wasted Combo Points. Extra CPs, up to 5, are “stored” until you finisher goes off, then they are applied to the target.

View this build on wowhead

Subtlety PvE Build

Sub does fine in PvE, even though the “rotation” is a bit more complicated. Your energy return will come from Slice and Dice, so you will want to keep that up at all times. The Deadly Momentum glyph will refresh SnD (and Recuperate) when you kill your target.

	Why these talents?
	Shadow Focus – Abilities no longer cost Energy while you are stealthed. Stealth to sap to opener with zero energy cost. More energy for your follow-through.
	Deadly Throw – Reduces movement speed and if you have 5 CP on the target it will silence them. Nice way to control runners without using Crippling Poison
	Elusiveness – Feint reduces all damage for a few seconds.
	Shadowstep – Teleport to any target, friendly or enemy. Nice movement utility and can ‘step over piles of floor glop.
	Prey on the Weak – When you disable an enemy with stuns they with suffer slightly increased damage from all sources for the duration of the effect. This should be a group damage increase on that target.
	Anticipation – Stores excess CPs on target and applies them after a finishing strike. No more wasted CPs.

view on wowhead

 

Subtlety PvE “How To” Videos

How Shadowstep has changed in Mists of Pandaria. This video was done back in April, bet everything he says still applies as I write this on Aug 31. About the only thing that I could not Shadowstep to was the rare npc and a stablemaster’s pet.

 

Goto => Top – Quick Info – Race – Professions – PvP Build – PvE Build – Stats – Enchants – Level Fast

 

Leveling With Subtlety

 

Leveling with Subtlety is nice, especially with the Cataclysm changes, and it gets faster as you level. Leveling with a PvP build works well enough, especially once you’re up a few levels. Supplementing your questing with some PvP leveling can be interesting and this way you don’t have to switch builds. Now, check out our recommended leveling guide if you need to level as fast as possible.

 

Gear, Gems, Numbers, Tips, Etc

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.

Gear, if you’re leveling:

• At level 60 you can get a full set of PvP honor gear, for not much honor cost.
• At level 70 get your full set of arena gear from the legacy arena vendors, all for less than 2k honor.
• At level 77-80, assuming that you’re leveling, you should buy the Cataclysm greens off the Auction House. They’re much better than the level 80 honor gear.
• At 85 buy the crafted Vicious Leather set and then upgrade as you level through Mists of Pandaria.
• Level 85 guild heirlooms are available, but other than the cloak and helm will require guild achievements to unlock.

Keep in mind that with Sinister Calling Subtlety will get more out of any Agility gear, including socket and set bonuses, than the other Rogue specs.

If your stats are not perfectly optimized don’t worry about it. Small discrepancies are just that, small. Your skill at using the right ability at the right time is far more valuable than a few points in any one stat.

If you need gold to buy any of this stuff then see our gold guide.

 

Numbers and Stats

For Cataclysm, with high level gear, Esp. with Sub, your stat priorities for DPS are…

PVE Weapon DPS Agility is Way above everything else Hit to 8% Haste Expertise (26 max) & Crit rating are very close to each other at all gear levels. Spell Hit (for your poisons, to 17%) loses out as gear levels get very high. Mastery White Hit (17%+ for your auto-attacks)

PvP Weapon DPS Agility is WAY better than all other stats, especially after 4.06. Resilience Hit (this is your hemo, etc.) to 5% Crit Haste is useful, but well behind Crit in value. Expertise, spell hit (poisons) are a little further behind Mastery is pretty worthless. Excess Hit (over 17%) does have some value for your white damage, but it’s less than the above.) Excess Expertise is useless. PvP Power used to be Spell Penetration.

Mists of Pandaria Stats will probably be similar: Agility > Resilience > Crit, but that remains to be seen for sure. In any case you won’t go wrong by getting Hit and Crit/Haste. Fine tune at a later time.

If you’re dual building with another spec, Combat for instances/raiding, for example, and you want to keep to one set of gear, then Haste is a pretty good secondary stat to use.

PvE Reforging

• reforge mastery -> hit until 8% (5% for PvP,)
• then haste if the piece doesn’t already have Haste. Haste increases everything you do.
• Otherwise reforge Mastery and Hit over 8% into Expertise (26 max) or Crit.
• Don’t reforge into mastery or hit above 8%.

PvP

• Reforge to get 5% Hit, then everything else into Crit.

Goto => Top – Quick Info – Race – Professions – PvP Build – PvE Build – Stats – Enchants – Level Fast

 

Subtlety Gems

Got enough gold? Here’s stuff to spend it on: Epic gems, high end enchants, weapons and gear, leveling profesisons, mounts and pets, really big bags, etc. Any time that new gems are introduced (such as the epics in Cata 4.3, or the M of P gems) prices are very high. Buy them if you want an edge or wait if you can’t afford them.

Quick and dirty gem advice: It’s the best to go for Delicate gems (Agility) almost everywhere (remember that you get 30% Agility through Sub. Specialization and 5% Agility through Leather Specialization.) These specializations are the same in Mists of Pandaria and Agility is still be the #1 stat.

Note that Mists of Pandaria gems will have much higher values than those from Cataclysm. Replace your Cata gems with comparable MoP gems as soon as you are able to do so, but the MoP gems will require a 417 item level.

Ignore socket bonuses unless they are for socketing all red gems or are very high (figure 20 Agil per gem slot.)

MoP = Mists of Pandaria

• Red
  • Delicate Serpent’s Eye (MoP:) +320 Agility, Requires Jewelcrafting 550
  • Delicate Pandarian Garnet (MoP:) +120 Agility
  • Delicate Chimera’s Eye: +67 Agi, Requires Jewelcrafting 500
  • Delicate Queen’s Garnet: +50 Agility
  • Delicate Inferno Ruby: + 40 Ag.
• Yellow
  • Smooth Serpent’s Eye (MoP:) +480 Crit, Self-Only Jewelcrafting 550
  • Smooth Sunstone (MoP:) +240 Crit
  • Smooth Chimera’s Eye: +67 Crit
  • Smooth Lightstone: +50 Crit
  • Smooth Amberjewel: +40 Crit
  • Quick Serpent’s Eye (MoP:) +480 Haste, Requires Jewelcrafting 550
  • Quick Sunstone (MoP:) +240 Haste
  • Quick Chimera’s Eye: +67 Haste, Requires Jewelcrafting 500
  • Quick Lightstone: +50 Haste
  • Quick Amberjewel: +40 Haste
  • Perfect Mystic Sunstone (MoP:) +320 Resilience
  • Mystic Sunstone (MoP:) +240 Resilience
  • Mystic Cogwheel: +208 Resilience, requires Engineering 525 and Engineering helm
  • Mystic Chimera’s Eye: +50 Resilience
  • Mystic Lightstone: +40 Resilience
  • Deadly Lava Coral: +25 each Ag. & Crit
  • Deadly Ember Topaz: +20 Agi & Crit
• Blue
  • Perfect Stormy Lapis Lazuli (MoP:) +320 PvP Power
  • Stormy River’s Heart (MoP:) +240 PvP power
• Meta
  • Agile Primal Diamond (MoP:) +240 Agility & Increased Crit effect.
  • Agile Shadowspirit Diamond: +54 Agi, +3% crit damage
• Cogwheel: Cogwheels are loaded into sockets on Engie items, such as: Reinforced Bio-Optic Killshades and require you to maintain a 525 Engineeringskill.
  • Quick Tinker’s Gear (MoP): +567 Haste
  • Smooth Tinker’s Gear (MoP:) +567 Crit rating
  • Mystic Cogwheel: 208 Resilience
  • Smooth Cogwheel: 208 Crit rating

Enchants for Subtle Types

MoP = Mists of Pandaria. MoP enchants require item level 372 or better and you’ll notice that they are somewhat better than their Cataclysm counterparts. Yes, you can put these enchants on your crafted,level 85, PvP gear. New enchants (and gems) are always very expensive when the appear, and sometimes afterwards. If you need more cash to be able to buy these things then check our Tycoon review.

• Head
  • Arcanum of Vicious Agility: 60 Ag & 35 Resilience
  • Arcanum of the Ramkahen: 60 Agi & 35 Haste, Revered with Ramkahen
• Back
  • Enchant Cloak – Accuracy (MoP:) +180 Hit rating
  • Enchant Cloak: Greater Spell Piercing: +50 Spell Penetration
  • Scroll of Enchant Cloak – Major Agility: +22 Agility
  • Enchant Cloak – Greater Critical Strike: +65 Crit.
• Shoulder
  • Greater Tiger Claw Inscription (MoP:) +200 Agility, +100 Crit
  • Swiftsteel Inscription: 130 Agi, 25 Mastery, Inscription 500, self only
  • Greater Inscription of Vicious Agility: 50 Ag, 25 Res
  • Greater Inscription of Shattered Crystal: 50 Agility & 25 Mastery, Exalted with Therazane
• Chest
  • Enchant Chest – Glorious Stats (MoP:) +80 to all stats
  • Enchant Chest – Peerless Stats: +20 to all Stats
  • Enchant Chest – Super Resilience (MoP:) +200 Resilience
  • Enchant Chest – Mighty Resilience: +40 Res
  • Enchant Chest – Mighty Stats +15 all stats
• Bracers
  • Enchant Bracer – Greater Agility (MoP:) +170 Agility
  • Draconic Embossment – Agility: +130 Agility, Leatherworking 500, self-only
  • Enchant Bracer – Greater Speed: 65 Haste
  • Socket Bracer: Self only, Blacksmithing, pop in a nice Agility gem.
• Gloves
  • Enchant Gloves – Greater Haste (MoP:) +170 Haste
  • Enchant Gloves – Superior Mastery (MoP:) +170 Mastery
  • Scroll of Enchant Gloves – Major Agility: 20 Agility
  • Enchant Gloves – Crusher: +44 AP
  • Socket Gloves – Self only, Blacksmithing, pop in a nice gem.
• Legs
  • Shadowleather Leg Armor (MoP:) +285 Agility & 165 Crit rating
  • Sha-Infested Leg Armor (MoP:) +165 Agility & 100 Crit rating
  • Dragonscale Leg armor: 190 AP & 55 Crit, From Leatherworking
  • Charscale Leg Armor: 55 Agil, 145 Stam
• Feet
  • Enchant Boots – Greater Precision (MoP:) +175 Hit rating
  • Enchant Boots – Pandaren’s Step (MoP:) +140 Mastery and Slight run speed increase.
  • Enchant Boots – Major Agility: +30 Agility. You will not need a run speed enchant since you’ll probably be speced into Quickening.
  • Enchant Boots – Assassin’s Step: 25 Agility, minor run speed increase, in case you didn’t take Quickening
• Belt Extra Socket
  • Ebonsteel Belt Buckle: put a Delicate Inferno Ruby or Queen’s Garnet or MoP gem into this slot.
• Rings
  • Enchant Ring – Greater Agility (MoP:) +160 Agility, Requires Enchanting 550
  • Enchant Ring – Agility: 40 Agility, Requires Enchanting 475
• MH
  • Enchant Weapon – Dancing Steel (MoP:) Sometimes add 1,650 Ag when striking.
  • Enchant Weapon – Landslide: +1,000 Attack Power Proc
  • Enchant Weapon – Hurricane: Sometimes procs for 450 Haste for 12 sec.
  • Enchant Weapon – Avalanche: Often deals about 500 Nature damage.
• OH
  • Enchant Weapon – Dancing Steel (MoP:) Sometimes add 1,650 Ag when striking.
  • Pyrium Weapon Chain– Reduces duration of disarm effects, +40 Hit.
  • Enchant Weapon – Landslide: +1,000 AP Proc

Note: Landslide procs from separate weapons do stack with each other. Back to back procs from the same weapon do not stack.

 

Subtlety Macros

You can also insert Trinket cooldowns into macros, so that you remember to use them. (if you need macro help, go here.)
For example, if you have a “Mighty Trinket of Opposite Faction Slaying” that has an on use ability:  put /use Mighty Trinket of Opposite Faction Slaying into your macro. You can also use numbers. 13 and 14 are the trinket slots, so /use 13 will use whichever trinket is in the first slot.

This one makes Vanish a bit more reliable. Now if we could just get something to drop Hunter & pet targeting… Maybe Smoke Bomb will do that.

#show Vanish
/stopattack
/cast Vanish

Premeditation – replace NameOfOpener with Garrote, Ambush, or whatever. An option is to add /cast Pick Pocket, if you’re leveling attacking humanoid mobs. You can also add “on use” trinkets here.

Test them first to make sure that they work right and don’t break stealth. This macro assumes the the trinket will break stealth, so uses it after the Opener.

#showtooltip NameOfOpener
/cast Premeditation
/cast Pick Pocket
/cast NameOfOpener
/use NameOfTrinket

Mashable Sap

For PvP:
You can constantly mash Sap with this and it will target the nearest enemy and sap it. If you target something first then it will remove that target and apply it to the nearest player.

#showtooltip Sap
/cleartarget
/targetenemyplayer
/cast Sap

For PvE the above macro gets a bit weird, so just use this:

#showtooltip Sap
/cast Pick Pocket
/cast Sap

 

 

 

The Fast Rogue Leveling Guide

Sneaking… that’s what we do best, isn’t it? Oh yeah, and slaughtering from the shadows. Especially with a well place Ambush. Now you have to get to the level cap ASAP and do a million quests and kill a bazillion mobs to get there. How to do it, with never a question as to what to do next? Go with a full blown Rogue leveling guide.

Zygor’s Guide is our choice. Zygor’s automates the whole questing experience. You just pick your starting point and the guide automatically updates and advances as you complete quests, sets waypoint arrows automatically, and includes all of the important quest info.

Even if you gain a few or a bunch of levels in PvP or the dungeons Zygor’s guides will figure out where you are and where you need to go, automatically, and even clean up your obsolete quests!

Zygor’s is regularly updated for all the latest patches and expansions, it’s never obsolete. It’s like having an old pro showing you the way, step by step, until you’re where you want to be. You will probably never need to look at your quest log again, much less browse some website. We use and highly recommend Zygor’s Guides. Grab your copy here or read the review.