The Rogue Leveling Guide
for Cataclysm 4.3

Now we return you to your regularly scheduled guide:

Contents

Introduction to Rogues

Updated for Cataclysm patch 4.34

Rogues, like hunters, have a really easy time leveling; you could even say it’s in the class's pixilated blood.   Running through monsters like a meat-grinder and hitting with enough force to bash even warriors down, the Rogue poses one of the greatest leveling threats of all.

However, it’s not only pure burst-DPS, also known as smashing power, that gives Rogues their immense advantage over all others, it’s cooldowns.  Cooldowns that include everything from vanish, blind, cloak of shadows and much more.

These give Rogues a great deal of vertsitility and generally allow the Rogue to set up their attack in a more calculating manner than most.

Buffs and Nerfs: Any time any expansion is released the class balance goes all to heck. One day a given spec is "God Mode" and the next it's "Doormat." Rogues are in generally good shape all around. We haven't been in God Mode (contrary to what some wags might say,) but with even a bit of skill we're far from being doormats. As for leveling? Rogues are a blast.

Mists of Pandaria will likely change the balance equation, but Rogues should still be in a pretty good place.

This is the green starter set, iLevel 372, purchased from the vendor in Mists of Pandaria Beta =>

Quick Info For Rogue Leveling

This is the "quick and dirty" section. See the sections below this part for a lot more info.

Which race?

Whichever one you like. Orcs and Trolls can do more damage with their specials, Humans and Undead have nice escapes. All the others offer something that's useful. Even Pandarens. More here.

Which Rogue spec to pick?

• All Rogue specs are great for any leveling, since all Rogues do is damage and lots of it. Pick whichever spec works for you.
• Subtlety is the most fun. Shadowstep to Ambush just rules. Best PvP spec.
• Combat is the best for multiple targets. Very nice for Dungeon leveling.
• Assassination makes great use of poisons. Nice for Dungeons and PvP, no slouch at regular leveling.

All Rogues - Gear & Stats:

• Wear Leather only - you will get an ability at level 50 that makes leather wearing better.
• Stack Stamina until you are confortable with your survivability.
• Agility - Once survival isn't an issue stack Agility.
• At higher levels Haste is a good stat for all Rogue specs.
  ( Subtlety likes crit more, but Haste is still good. )
• Resilience: Worthless outside of PvP. Don't worry about it until level 85 PvP.
• Weapons: Generally slow main hand weapon, fast off hand weapon.
• Poisons: (Wound Poison is improved in patch 4.3)
  • Crippling on thrown weapon in all cases. (To slow down the runners. )
  • Quest Leveling - Instant on both weapons.
  • Dungeon Leveling - Instant on main, Deadly on off-hand.
  • PvP Leveling - Wound on main, Crippling on off.
• More info

Rogue Enchants, Gems, Glyphs:

• Enchants: Skip unless you have the cash or can find them for cheap.
  Go for Agility > Attack Power > Stam
• Got Heirlooms? Get the best enchants you can that work with Item Level 1 items.
  Here's a good example: Enchant Weapon - Agility
• Gems: Skip gems until you have a piece of gear that you're going to be keeping for awhile. If you do install gems then go for these.
• Glyphs: See the builds below for glyph recommendations.
• Professions: Pick two from Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning.
• More

Very basic Rotations:

• Sub: Shadowstep > Ambush > build combo points (CPs) > Eviscerate
• Combat: Ambush/Gouge/Cheapshot > Sinister Strike to build CPs > Eviscerate
• Assassination: Mutilate/Garrote > Mut. to build CPs > Eviscerate (Use envonom when you get it at 54.)

If you need to blast to 85 as fast as possible then check out our favorite leveling guide.

Goto >> Top - Info - Race - Combat - Assassination - Subtlety - Gear - Tips - Level Faster

Which Race?

So which races can be Rogues? Most of them, even Pandarens. the only exceptions are the Tauren and Draenei.

Which is the best race? Whichever works for you.

The racial abilities aren't that important unless you're really looking for every last drop of efficiency. The best that you get from any racial is a 1% improvement in something, which just isn't that much. So play what you like, especially if you're an RPer. It doesn't matter if one race is a tiny bit better in one area than another class, if that class just doesn't work for you.

For PvP?

Humans, Gnomes, and Undead might be "best" due to their escape abilities and Blood Elves get an extra silence effect. Orcs and Trolls have berserk type abilities that can increase damage on demand. Worgen have a +1% crit, which is small, but nice, and Goblins have a 1% attack speed increase, which is also nice.

For PvE?

• Alliance: Humans, Gnomes, and Dwarves get a bit of extra weapon expertise. Worgen have a slightly increased crit chance.
• Horde: Orcs can Enrage and have weapon expertise. Trolls can go berserk, increasing attack speed. Blood Elves look good while stabbling you in the back and Goblins will sell your stuff for you (for a hefty cut, of course.)

Pandarens can be either Horde or Alliance.

• They're "bouncy" so take less falling damage.
• They get improved benefits from food buffs
• Their rest XP lasts longer
• Skilled with Cooking
• Can put enemeis to sleep with a touch of their paw.

Alliance:

• Human
  • Increased rep gains - This is nice if you have any interest in gaining rep with any of the bazillion factions in WoW. The new Cataclysm factions have some nice stuff well worth working for and this will save you a bit of grinding. Mists of Pandaria will likely bring many more factions.
  • Mace & Sword expertise - Of some use at the high end of the game, unless you're Assassination (daggers only.)
  • Escape - Very nice for PvP, useful here and there at other times. Allows you to use two regular trinkets in PvP and get those extra stats.
  • Increased Spirit is useless to Rogues.
• Gnome
  • Escape - Very nice for PvP, useful here and there at other times.
  • Good with daggers and small swords (increased expertise) which is good for Assassination, maybe not so hot for Subtlety, and less so for combat.
  • Skilled with Engineering
  • Resistance to Arcane damage helps a bit in end-game content
• Dwarf
  • Good with maces (increased expertise,) but that's best if you're combat, but not so good otherwise.
  • Stone form erases certain effects and decreases damage by 10% - Very nice for PvP, useful here and there at other times.
  • Skilled with Archeology
  • Increased crit with guns isn't interesting to Rogues (and in Mists Rogues are unable to equip ranged weapons.)
• Night Elf
  • Extra stealth while standing still. Nice while lurking in wait, either for AFKing or ambushing.
  • They have a bit more agility and are a bit harder to hit, which is nice for any rogue.
  • Nelves are also slightly faster in stealth than other races.
• Worgen
• Can occasionally move quickly - extra speed is always good.
• Increased crit chance is generally useful to any Rogue.
• Reduced duration of curses and diseases - pretty situational
• Skinning skill and speed increased
• Resistant to Nature and Shadow damage.
• Draenei - Nope, still can't be rogues. They're much too proud.

Horde

• Orc
  • Enrage to increase damage - generally useful and quite nice for leveling.
  • Good with axes (increased expertise,) but only if an axe is the best weapon available and if you're not Assassination.
  • Resistant to stuns - Especially useful in PvP, but also nice at times while leveling/raiding.
• Troll
  • Berserk to increase attack speed by 20% - Generally useful, especially for leveling.
  • Regeneration increased - trivial for leveling, less useful elsewhere.
  • Damage Increase Vs Beasts (More for leveling, some PvE value)
  • Increase crit chance with thrown weapons - Zzzzz.....
  • Reduced duration of movement impairing effects - This is generally nice, especially for PvP.
• Blood Elf
  • Area effect silence effect also restores some energy , nice when fighting anything that casts spells as it interrupts Player and NPC (but not Boss) spellcasting.
  • They look good while stabbing you in the back
  • Resistant to Arcane damage
  • Good with Enchanting.
• Undead
  • Remove Fear, sleep, charm which is useful in PvP and of occasional use elsewhere.
  • Underwater breathing is nice for all those underwater quests, especially in Outlands.
  • Cannibalism is a nice "in your face" for PvP and eliminates the need to use a bag slot for food.
  • Resistant to Shadow damage
• Goblin
  • Can rocket jump forward, or away, so is a bit like the Mage spell Blink. It breaks your Stealth, so it's not another Shadowstep.
  • Can launch rockets at enemies. This is more of a "bottle rocket" than an ICBM. Probably good for pulling mobs.
  • Receives vendor discounts.
  • Can periodically summon a personal bank
  • Attack speed increase is always nice.
  • Alchemy skill and potion healing increased.
  • Utility belt - pretty much just a plot device, no general use.
• Tauren: What? You think a 9' tall man-cow thing can be sneaky? Though War Stomp out of stealth would be fun, it's not happening at this time.

 Goto >> Top - Info - Race - Combat - Assassination - Subtlety - Gear - Tips - Level Faster

Talents for Cataclysm

Rogues haven't changed much coming into 4.0 and Cataclysm, or since. Except for some new abilities, from 80 to 85, they're much the same as before. The main changes are the same as for every class and that's the new talent system and a shuffling of abilities.

In Mists of Pandaria the mechanics will be much the same, even though talents and abilities are going to move around a lot (eg: Only Sub. Rogues willbe able to use Backstab.)

At level ten you get access to the talent system. When you spend the first point in whichever tree you pick you will be locked into that tree until you have spent at least 31 talent points. You do not need to get the top tier talent, you just need to spend the 31 points to then open up the other trees.

After that you can go into the other trees or buy more combat talents. You will only get a total of 41 points at level 85 (as opposed to the previous 71 points at level 80.)

In Mists of Pandaria the talent system will change greatly.

• All specs will have a set of core abilities, much like they do now.
• Each spec will have another 6 unique abilities
• All Rogues will share common abilities, as the do now (eg: Evasion.)
• There will be six tiers of talents (at levels 15, 30, 45, 60,75, and 90,) with three possible choices in each. Pick one of the three and you will have six talents at level 90. Any Rogue can pick from any of these talents.
• For all talents and abilities you either have it or you don't, there are no points to spend in each talent. In the Cataclysm system, of course, you can spend up to three points in each. Not in Mists.

Buy the Dual Talent ability from your trainer (at 30) if you want to work with two specs.

In return for having to stick with one tree you get certain abilities unique to that tree. Shadowstep, for example. You get it when you enter the Subtlety tree and no Combat or Assassination rogue will be able to get it.

Mastery is an ability you will be able to get from your trainer at level 80. It gives you an extra bonus to your abilities, such as extra attacks in Combat. Cataclysm gear will frequently have Mastery Rating, but whether stacking Mastery has any value, as compared to hit or crit or whatever, depends on your build.

Note on leveling: Nowadays we have three (or four) ways of gathering our XP. All are fast.

It used to be that going level 1 to 60 in 6 days in-game time was pretty fast. These days? Dugi's + heirlooms + questing + Recruit a Friend + charging as hard as you can can get you to 85 in under three days (in-game time.)

• Questing and or Grinding - low stress and you'll level fast enough. The in-game quest helper is fine, but Dugi's is much better. Questing is, overall, about as fast as dungeon or PvP leveling.
  
  
• Dungeoning - via the Dungeon Finder tool: DPS classes are a dime a dozen so the wait times to get into the dungeons can be a few minutes, but this can result in fast XP and better gear than you'll get from questing. Just go questiing while you're waiting for the dungeon queue. Dungeron leveling isn't much faster than questing (mostly due to the sometimes long wait times for a group,) but it's different and you get the nicer gear.
  
  In Cataclysm those dungeons will be immediately open to you when you pass level 80. By that time you should have your flying mount. You can see our cataclysm dungeon list to fly around and discover them, if you like. It's actually useful to know where they are, like when you die and appear outside of the dungeon and need to get back in.
  
  
• PvP leveling - Battleground weekends can result in seriously fast XP if your side wins. Since winning doesn't seem to be a priority these days, for either faction, it might be best to do this with a well-oiled team. Even if it's not the BG weekend, wins still result in very nice XP gains. XP while losing is about the same as questing XP and is more frustrating (to me, anyway.)

The leveling builds below assume that you're questing/grinding, but there are notes for the other methods of XP acquisition. All the trees are good for leveling, but have different feels.

Assassination - Somewhat energy starved in the beginning, requires daggers, but can pump out some consistent, and nice, damage. End game? This might be the best tree, overall, for level 85 raiding and is Ok in PvP. Energy regen comes from one of the top tier talents.

Combat - The most "in your face" if the trees. Starts out with good energy regeneration and is the only Rogue build with any "hit two or more at once" skills. Very competitive with Assassination for PvE content. Ok for PvP if you have mad skillz.

Subtlety - Are you seeing Rogues appearing from nowhere, behind the target, and putting down a nice initial burst? That's the Subtlety spec and Shadowstep is the ability. Nice initial burst, but energy starved until Energetic Recovery is obtained. Not so good for longer fights until both that and Slaughter from the Shadows are obtained. This is the spec for PvP.

Goto >> Top - Info - Race - Combat - Assassination - Subtlety - Gear - Tips - Level Faster

Level 85 Combat Rogue Leveling Build (9/31/1)

Remarks

Starting off here with a Combat spec, since that's been the traditional Rogue leveling build. It's also the easiest to use and has the quickest Energy regeneration until level 60 or so.

In your face swashbuckling using whichever weapons you pick. If you like fast sword play then this is your build. Combat is less reliant than the others on burst or poisons and it doesn't require, or even recommend, daggers or any particular weapons, so use the best weapons you can get at any given level.

Your initial attack might do less damage than Subtlety, but it will be easier to keep up consistent damage when fighitng multiple opponents.

1. Blade Flurry is your level 10 special ability. BF attacks one additional opponent. It's great against two opponents, but useless Vs just one. It's a toggle. Keep it up when fighting more than one mob, turn it off when hitting singles.
2. Ambidexterity - gives 75% extra damage to your off-hand and throwing weapons. This is a pretty nice damage increase.
3. Vitality increases your Energy regeneration rate by 25% and your attack power by 25%
4. Mastery: Main Gauche - (A main guache is the off-hand weapon used by fencers, usually a form of dagger) This gives your offhand weapon a chance for extra strikes, based off your main-hand weapon attacks.

Weapon speed - This question has been asked for as long as anyone has been dual wielding their weapons. Until you get Combat potency it doesn't matter. Once there you'll want a slow main-hand weapon and a fast off-hand weapon due to Combat Potency procs (see #8, below.)

Weapon Choice - A fast dagger is your best choice for an off-hand weapon. With 4.0 you can use any one-handed weapon and there are no weapon specializations. So grab the best weapon main hand weapon you can and try to put a fast dagger in that off-hand.

For example: A Sword with a 2.8 speed in the main hand and a dagger with 1.4 speed in the off-hand.

With Mastery granting extra weapon attacks from main-hand attacks an argument can be made for a fast main-hand. A fast main-hand will gimp your Sinister Strike and Eviscerate abilities and that will likely cost a lot more damage than you'll gain from a couple of off-hand weapon swings. Given that info I'm going to stick with Slow Main, Fast off.

See below for rotations, notes on abilities, gear, and so on.

Combat Rogue Leveling Spec

Just take the talents in the order listed.

(view this build)

Notes:

Generally, if you PvP a lot you will want to go with Subtlety. But if you stick with Combat:

1. If you PvP a lot you will want 2/2 Improved Sprint for the escape ability.
2. Improved Kick, for the silence, is a useful PvP ability
3. Blade Twisting is another useful talent for PvP, but it overlaps with your Crippling Poison.
4. Throwing Specialization is a useful interrupt if you're constantly fighting casters. Your timing needs to be pretty good to use it effectively.
5. Nightstalker has its uses if you like/need the faster Stealth cooldown and movement.

Click here to get to 85, fast

Combat Rogue Rotation for leveling

CP = Combo Point
SS = Sinister Strike

Note: For short fights Slice and Dice has little value. If you're fighting several mobs in a row or are fighting mobs that take awhile (dungeon mobs) then it's very nice.

• Before 8: Just run up and smash.
• Level 8+: Open with Ambush, then SS, then Eviscerate. If you can't easily get behind the opposition then just open with SS.
• At Level 12 you get Recuperate which is a great place to spend any left over CPs. Mob dies, hit Recup to use up your left over CPs, and downtime becomes minor.
• At level 16 you get Gouge. You can run up, unstealthed, Gouge, and kill. Or Gouge > Hop behind the mob, and Backstab (if you have a main hand dagger.)
• At level 22, you get Slice and Dice. If the fight is a bit longer, such as in a dungeon/raid, build up four CPs then hit Slice and Dice. Try to keep SnD up at all times.
• Cheap Shot is at level 26 and stuns your opponent for a short time.
• Garrote is at level 40 and causes your opponent to bleed.
• Rupture is level 46
• Bleed 'em till they die! Stealth to Garrote, then Sinister Strike until 5 CP, then Rupture. This one keeps attacking Rogues from stealthing. Of course, it'll work against you, too. Bleeds are also great when fighting mobs that will run away. They will run and die.

Goto >> Top - Info - Race - Combat - Assassination - Subtlety - Gear - Tips - Level Faster

Level 85 Assassination Rogue Leveling Build (31/3/7)

Does being the "poison using assassin" appeal to you? Then this is your specialization. It's probably the best spec for raiding and is good for PvP. It's a little low on Energy until you get into the Venomous Wounds talent, at 61, so some people start with Combat and then switch at level 61.

This spec requires daggers. If you don't like daggers than go elsewhere.

Always remember to have your weapons poisoned, instant on the main hand, deadly on the off-hand. A lot of your damage comes from the poisons, far more than from Combat or Sub, and if you forget to poison your blades you will gimp yourself.

1. Mutilate becomes the "bread and butter" strike at level 10.
2. Assassin's Resolve is a sweet ability, combining a higher energy cap and extra damage when using daggers.
3. Improved Poisons increases the chance of successfully hitting with Instant and Deadly poisons.
4. Mastery: Potent Poisons increases poison damage, Each point of Mastery from your gear and buffs will add to the bonus poison damage of this ability.

In this build we're going for our 31 points (and Vendetta) ASAP to get you into the option of taking talents from the other trees. This build is built around questing, though I'll add notes for if you're PvPing or dungeoning. Just take the talents in order.

Weapon speed - Slow in the main-hand, fast in the off-hand. Poisons: Instant in the main-hand, deadly in the off-hand for long fights (eg. bosses.) Heck, deadly on the off-hand for all fights.

(view this build)

Assassination (31 Points)

1. Deadly Momentum - Rank 2/2 - After killing an opponent that yields experience or honor, the critical strike chance of your next attack within 10 sec is increased by 40% and your Slice and Dice and Recuperate abilities are refreshed to their original duration.
2. Coup de Grace - Rank 3/3 - Increases the damage done by your Eviscerate and Envenom abilities by 20%.
   
   
3. Puncturing Wounds - Rank 3/3 - Increases the critical strike chance of your Backstab ability by 30%, and the critical strike chance of your Mutilate ability by 15%.
4. Quickening - Rank 2/2 - All healing effects on you are increased by 20% and your movement speed is increased by 15%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
   
   
5. Cold Blood - Rank 1/1 - When activated, generates 25 Energy and increases the critical strike chance of your next non-periodic offensive ability by 100%.
6. Deadly Brew - Rank 2/2 - When you apply Instant, Wound, or Mind-Numbing Poison to a target, you have a 100% chance to apply Crippling Poison (which is quite nice for PvP.)
7. Vile Poisons - Rank 2/3 - Increases the damage dealt by your poisons by 20% and gives you 100% of the normal chance of applying poisons from your equipped melee weapons when you use the Fan of Knives ability.
   
   
8. Seal Fate - Rank 2/2 - Your critical strikes from abilities that add combo points have a 100% chance to add an additional combo point.
9. Vile Poisons - Rank 3/3 - finishing this off
10. Lethality - Rank 2/3 - Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Sinister Strike, Backstab, Mutilate and Hemorrhage abilities by 30%.
    
    
11. Overkill - Rank 1/1 - While stealthed, and for 20 seconds after breaking stealth, you regenerate 30% additional energy.
12. Murderous Intent - Rank 2/2 - When you Backstab an enemy that is below 35% health, you instantly recover 30 Energy.
13. Master Poisoner - Rank 1/1 - Increases the spell damage taken by any target you have poisoned by 8%, causes your Envenom ability to no longer consume Deadly Poison, and reduces the duration of all Poison effects applied to you by 50%.
14. Lethality - Rank 3/3 - finishing this off
    
    
15. Venomous Wounds - Rank 2/2 - Each time your Rupture or Garrote deals damage to an enemy that you have poisoned, you have a 60% chance to deal 675 additional Nature damage and to regain 10 Energy. If an enemy dies while afflicted by your Rupture, you regain energy proportional to the remaining Rupture duration.
16. Cut to the Chase - Rank 3/3 - Your Eviscerate and Envenom abilities have a 100% chance to refresh your Slice and Dice duration to its 5 combo point maximum.
    
    
17. Vendetta - Rank 1/1 - Marks an enemy for death, increasing all damage you deal to the target by 20% and granting you unerring vision of your target, regardless of concealments such as stealth and invisibility. Lasts 30 sec.

1. Precision - Rank 2/3 - Increases your chance to hit with weapon and poison attacks by 4%.

1. Relentless Strikes - Rank 3/3 - Your finishing moves have a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy.
2. Nightstalker - Rank 2/2 - Increases your speed while stealthed by 15% and reduces the cooldown of your Stealth ability by 6 sec.
   
   
3. Opportunity - Rank 3/3
   Increases the damage dealt with your Backstab, Mutilate, Garrote and Ambush abilities by 20%.

Glyphs

You'll get one glyph slot for Prime, Major, and Minor glyphs at level 25 and then one more of each at levels 50 and 75. Glyphs are learned, not installed (like gems,) and can be swapped. Learn 'em all and swap them as the need arises. Up to level 80 you will need one dose of Vanishing Dust to make one swap, from level 81 you will need one dose of Dust of Disappearance to make one swap.

Notes:

1. At 85 you can respec to whatever, obviously. ;)
2. If you drop Deadly Momentum and 1 pt from Deadly Brew and put those three points into Ruthlessness then you have a fine DPS build.

Rotations:

• Low level: Open with Gouge, hop behind and backstab, SS to 2 or 3 combo points, Eviscerate.
• Level 8+: Open with Ambush, then Sinister Strike until 4 or 5 combo points (CP) are reached, then Eviscerate. Frequently you will have only 1 or 2 CPs before you eviscerate.
• Level 10+: same, but use Mutilate instead of Sinister Strike
• If the fight is a bit longer, such as in a dungeon/raid, build up four CPs then hit Slice and Dice. Try to keep SnD up at all times.
• Cheap Shot is at level 26
• Garrote is at level 40
• Rupture is level 46
• Bleed 'em till they die! Open with Garrote, then Mutilate, then Rupture. This one keeps attacking Rogues from stealthing. Of course, it'll work against you, too. At higher levels you will want to have at least one of your bleeds up at all times, since a chunk of your Energy regen comes from the bleeds (Venomous Wounds.)  

Click here to get to 85, fast

Goto >> Top - Info - Race - Combat - Assassination - Subtlety - Gear - Tips - Level Faster

Level 85 Subtlety Rogue leveling Build (7/2/32)

Like the shadows? Feel that a Rogue should be sneaky, attack from stealth with a brutal Ambush, and then disappear back into the shadows? Then Subtlety is your specialization. This is very much a burst spec and isn't quite so hot for long fights. With 4.0 Ambush is brutal and Sub seems to be much more desireable than before. Many times you will be able to Shadowstep > Ambush > Eviscerate > next mob.

This tree is somewhat energy starved until points are spent in Energetic Recovery. For this reason many people will level as Combat until 35-40, when they can pick up the Energetic Recovery talent.

Shadowstep is a short range teleport that puts you right behind your opponent, in perfect position for that brutal ambush. It's also good for getting up on ledges when your opponent is otherwise inaccessable.

Weapon choice: Note that Ambush no longer requires daggers, but a dagger in the main-hand is required for Backstab. Using anything other than a dagger in the main-hand will decrease your ambush damage, but your Eviscerate and Hemos will hit harder. Overall damage between dagger in the main or a sword/mace/axe seems to be close enough.

Whether or not you use daggers, slow in the main-hand is good, fast in the off-hand is probably best and, for the moment, this means a dagger.

Sap is useful for getting into position for a proper Ambush if Shadowstep is on cooldown.

1. Shadowstep is your level 10 ability. Appear behind your opponents in position for a brutal Ambush.
2. Master of Subtlety - attacks from Stealth, and shortly after, do more damage.
3. Sinister Calling - 25% more Agility and more damage from Backstab and Hemorrhage.
4. Mastery: Executioner - Increases damage (and effects) from finishing strikes. Additional Mastery Rating increases this.

Daggers are recommended, since you get better Ambushes with them, but they aren't required. If you like to Backstab a lot then you need a dagger in the main hand. This build, like the others, gets to the top talent Shadowdance as quickly as possible.

Cataclysm Subtlety Rogue (7/2/32)

Subtlety (32 Points)

1. Improved Ambush - Rank 3/3 - Increases the critical strike chance of your Ambush ability by 60% and its damage by 15%.
2. Relentless Strikes - Rank 2/3 - Your finishing moves have a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy.
   
   
3. Opportunity - Rank 3/3- Increases the damage dealt with your Backstab, Mutilate, Garrote and Ambush abilities by 30%.
4. Initiative - Rank 2/2 - Gives you a 100% chance to add an additional combo point to your target when using your Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot ability.
   
   
5. Hemorrhage - Rank 1/1 - An instant strike that deals 110% weapon damage (159.5% if a dagger is equipped) and causes the target to take 30% additional damage from bleed effects for 1 min. Awards 1 combo point.
6. Energetic Recovery - Rank 3/3 - Empowers your Recuperate ability, causing its periodic effect to also restore 8 Energy.
7. Find Weakness - Rank 2/2 - Your Ambush, Garrote, and Cheap Shot abilities reveal a flaw in your target's defenses, causing all your attacks to bypass 50% of that enemy's armor for 10 sec.
   
   
8. Premeditation - Rank 1/1 - When used, adds 2 combo points to your target. You must add to or use those combo points within 20 sec or the combo points are lost.
9. Honor Among Thieves - Rank 3/3 - Increases the critical strike chance of all party and raid members by 5%. When any player in your party or raid critically hits with a spell or ability, you have a 100% chance to gain a combo point on your current target. This effect cannot occur more than once every 2 seconds.
10. Relentless Strikes - Rank 3/3
    
    
11. Preparation - Rank 1/1 - When activated, this ability immediately finishes the cooldown on your Evasion, Sprint, Vanish, and Shadowstep abilities.
12. Sanguinary Vein - Rank 2/2 - Increases your damage dealt to targets who are afflicted with a Bleed effect by 10%.
13. Elusiveness - Rank 2/2 - Reduces the cooldown of your Vanish and Blind abilities by 60 sec and your Cloak of Shadows ability by 30 sec.
    
    
14. Slaughter from the Shadows - Rank 3/3 - Reduces the energy cost of your Backstab and Ambush abilities by 20, and the energy cost of your Hemorrhage and Fan of Knives abilities by 6.
15. Serrated Blades - Rank 2/2 - Your Eviscerate has a 20% chance per combo point to refresh your Rupture on the target to its original duration.
    
    
16. Shadow Dance - Rank 1/1 - Enter the Shadow Dance for 6 sec, allowing the use of Sap, Garrote, Ambush, Cheap Shot, Premeditation, Pickpocket and Disarm Trap regardless of being stealthed.

Assassination (7 Points)

1. Lethality - Rank 3/3 - Increases the critical strike damage bonus of your Sinister Strike, Backstab, Mutilate and Hemorrhage abilities by 30%.
2. Coup de Grace - Rank 2/3 - Increases the damage done by your Eviscerate and Envenom abilities by 14%.
   
   
3. Quickening - Rank 2/2 - All healing effects on you are increased by 20% and your movement speed is increased by 15%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.

1. Precision - Rank 2/3
   Increases your chance to hit with weapon and poison attacks by 4%.

Glyphs

You'll get one glyph slot for Prime, Major, and Minor glyphs at level 25 and then one more of each at levels 50 and 75. Glyphs are learned, not installed (like gems,) and can be swapped. Learn 'em all and swap them as the need arises. Up to level 80 you will need one dose of Vanishing Dust to make one swap, from level 81 you will need one dose of Dust of Disappearance to make one swap.

Notes:

1. Nightstalker reduces stealth cooldowns and increases stealthed speed.
2. Waylay is pretty much a PvP talent.
3. Cheat Death is a nice PvP talent
4. There's an ongoing argument on Backstab Vs Hemorrhage. If you're always at the opponent's back (which you should be in raids & dungeons) then Backstab does more damage overall. For leveling and PvP Hemo is much better since you don't have the positioning issues and the energy usage is less and you can use harder hitting weapons. Glyph of Hemo also adds a bleed effect which has its uses while leveling and is great Vs stealthy types in PvP.
5. Glyph of Blind (major) has definite uses in PvP and groups because it wipes effects which will break the blind, such as bleeds. Otherwise your Garrotes and Ruptures (or the other guy's) will break your Blind.

Leveling with Subtlety is nice, especially with the buffed damage, 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 do't have to switch builds.

Click here to get to 85, fast

Goto >> Top - Info - Race - Combat - Assassination - Subtlety - Gear - Tips - Level Faster

Gear, Stats, Etc.

So which stats?

1. Agility is, by far, the best for any of the trees, especially at higher levels, and most expecially for Subtlety with their Sinister Calling ability. Your Leather specialization (at lev 50) adds more Ag.
2. Stamina should be stacked at lower levels until survival is not an issue.
3. Strength has no use and should be skipped.
4. Spirit and Int are useless to all Rogues.
5. You should wear Leather Armor in all slots. Your Leather specialization (at 50) gives even more reason for that.

Other Stats:

• Hit Rating - Precision will help a lot here. For leveling and PvP (Vs same level mobs & players) 5% Hit rating is enough to make sure you hit with your main attacks. Once you start Raiding you will need 8% for your specials and 17% for your poisons (they count as spells.)
• Haste Rating - Good for all Rogues. Mobs die too fast while Quest leveling for this to be a lot of use. Raiding and PvP are another story.
• Crit Rating - The more the merrier. Always. This is the best secondary stat for Sub.
• Mastery rating - obtained at level 80. Great for Assassination, fair for Combat, and poor for Subtlety.
• Attack Power - Great for all Rogues.
• Resilience is essential for PvP, Useless otherwise.

Notes:

• At lower levels stack Stamina. With First Aid, enough Stamina, the new Recuperate ability and the 4.0 damage you should be able to level quickly and have very little downtime.
• Past the lowest levels Agility is the all important stat. It adds to your damage and your defenses. It's the most important stat for any flavor of Rogue.
• Stamina is very important for questing/PvP, less important for dungeoning since the other guy is taking all the damage. Otherwise, since you will be face to face (or back) to the opposition 100% of the time, and since you have little in the way of heals, you need to have enough health to survive.

Gearing a rogue is, like with most other melee classes during the leveling process, all about maximizing damage while leaving just enough stamina for a reasonable health.  In this case your primary statistics will be agility, Haste, +critical, and +hit.

• ...of the monkey gear is perfect for Rogues. "...of the bandit," once you hit your 60s, is better. Cataclysm gear is obtainable at 77 and is a whole lot better than any other non-cata gear you'll get without PvP or level 80 raiding.
• At low level, when gear has only a point or two of this or that stat, stick to stamina. You get a lot more bang for the buck with stam gear, at low level, than the way over-priced agility gear. A couple of points of Agility will do nothing for you, while a couple of points of Stam may mean avoiding a corpse run.
• After the late teens, what comes first is agility. It combines all the damage stats and improvements desired rolled up into a single stat choice, and even shows up on 90% of leather armor to boot.  Increasing +critical, dodge, and attack power are second to agility.
• If you're doing too many corpse runs then you're either fighting stuff that's too high, doing a lot of PvP, need to practice some skills, and/or need to get more Stamina.
• Second comes the individual stats such as +hit and +critical. Often you’ll find these in greater amounts on items with higher numbers of stamina or other single stats – Whether this makes them worthwhile to equip or not is up to you.

• At level 70 do enough Battleground PvP to get your level 70 epic arena gear from the arena legacy vendors. It doesn't take a lot of honor points to get this stuff. This will keep you well geared for anything until level 77.
• At level 77 start grabbing Cataclysm green gear. The damage and stats are way better than anything else you be able to easily get. Put away your heirlooms, too. Send your level 80 heirlooms to your alts, you won't use them anymore. Keep the 85 stuff (eg: Cloak and Helm from your guild vendor.)
• At 81 put your level 85 Heirlooms back on.

Macros

You have a Pickpocket skill, here's an easy way to make sure you use it. Open up your macro creater, create a new one, and add this code:

• #showtooltip Ambush
• /cast Premeditation (if you have it. This adds 2 combo points before your attack)
• /cast Pickpocket
• /cast Ambush (Or use Cheap Shot or Garrote, or make one for each.)

The above macro will pickpocket your opponent and then attack. If it can't have its pockets picked then the macro will just attack. The automatic pocket picking will result in several gold over the long haul as well as a few other items, such as lockboxes and potions.

1st Aid Macro
(change the bandage type to whatever bandage you are using)

/cast Gouge
/stopcasting
/use [target=player] Heavy Netherweave Bandage

Goto >> Top - Info - Race - Combat - Assassination - Subtlety - Gear - Tips - Level Faster

Lockpicking

With 4.0 you will gain the lockpicking skill from your trainer and you will be automatically able to pick locks up to 5x your level. The lockpicking quests are now obsolete and you will not be able to access them anyway. The Glyph of Pick Lock makes the lockpicking instant.

Poisons:

Like spells, poisons now scale with your level. You used to have to make them and then you used to have to buy different levels of poisons. Now you just buy the one Instant Poison, for example, and you do not have to buy IP 2 or 3 or 9 or whatever.

A poison quest used to be required, now you just get the skill from your trainer. The poison quest can still be done, but it is not necessary. If you want to get the quest talk to the head Rogue trainer in Orgrimmar or Stormwind.

Always have your weapons poisoned. While this is far more important for Assassination than Combat or Sub, it's still added damage and control for those two.

• Instant poison is your default for both weapons, get it at level 10.
• Cripping poison (level 20+) on your off-hand weapon is great when fighting mobs (or players) that run away or hop around. The Deadly Brew talent from Assassination automatically applies this.
• Deadly Poison (level 30+) is for long fights, such as dungeon bosses or Elites that you might be soloing. I suggest that Assassination Rogues use it when leveling (on the off-hand.)
• Wound poison (level 32+) has minor use while leveling, but it's good if your opponent is getting healed by someone, such as in PvP. The healing debuff on wound poison was nerfed to the point of near uselessness, but has been restored in patch 4.3.

Stunning Moves & Interrupts

Practice these all the time. Of course, if your timing is off and/or the lag monster gets you then you aren't interrupting anything. In general, none of these will work on boss mobs, though they will work on most elites and players.

Sap - Level 10

• Stuns your target for some time. Great for setting up ambushes and such. Great in dungeons when you need to hold a mob before the fight starts.

Kick - Level 14

• Interrupts spells, but does not stun. Use this often against casters. It will also block some of their casting for a few seconds.

Gouge - level 16

• Causes a small amount of damage, stuns the opponent for 4 seconds, and takes you out of combat. It will interrupt spells.
  • Run up to mob, gouge, hop behind, and backstab.
  • Spellcasting happens > Gouge

Cheap Shot - Level 26

• Opens your attack by stunning the opponent for a short time. This gives you a bit of time to beat on the opponent in safety.

Kidney Shot - Level 30

• Stuns your opponent for a few seconds. Also interrupts casting.
• a minor stun lock is Cheap shot > strike until you have up to 5 combo points > Kidney Shot.

Blind - level 34

• Blinds the target which causes it to wander aimlessly for a few sconds. Interrupts spells and any damage to the target will break the effect. Glyph of Blind will remove damage over time effects when blinding the target which makes the effect stick better. Examples of such DoTs are your Rupture, Garrote, and Deadly Poison. These do need to be removed for Blind to be effective.

Dismantle - Level 38

• Removes weapons, shields, and carried items from the opponent for a few seconds. It is not a stun, but melee types will be greatly inconvenienced. Using this against tougher mobs will make them do much less damage to you.

Shadowdance

• This top tier Subtlety talent isn't a stun by itself, but it does allow the use of Cheap Shot (CS) while out of stealth, so it allows more stuns.
  • Shadowdance CS/Ambush > Eviscerate > Ambush ? Ambush > Kidney Shot or Evisc.

Distract

• Distract is neither an interrupt nor a stun, but it does turn and stop non-player opponents, for about 10 seconds, allowing you to slip past them or set them up for an attack.
• It does not break stealth, either yours or the opponent's.

Enchants and Gems

Enchants -Unless you have lots of extra gold don't worry about enchants. They are more useful, even necessary, in raiding and PvP, but they are an expensive luxury while leveling. If you have the gold then look for Agility, Stamina, Attack Power, Hit Rating, and Stamina. More or less in that order. Yes, Stam is listed twice.

That said, some low level Stamina enchants are available, on scrolls, for very little cash. It's cheap HP which means better survivability.

Gems - You won't find too many pieces of gear that require gems while leveling, but there are a few. If you can afford it then look for Agility, Crit rating, Hit Rating, and Stamina.

Goto >> Top - Info - Race - Combat - Assassination - Subtlety - Gear - Tips - Level Faster

Leveling Notes and Tips

Click here to get to 85, fast

At low level Stamina is the only stat you're interested in. After the mid/high teens Agility starts to appear in numbers high enough to be worth stacking. Don't drop the Stam for agility though.

Gouge is your friend. Before you get Garrote, you can run up to an opponent, Gouge, run/jump behind, and backstab. Forget stealth, unless you're avoiding something (or someone.) If you're in trouble then Gouge and run.

Ambush is a nice, big whack from behind. it no longer requires daggers, but it hits for more if you're using them, and you have to be behind the opponent.

Cheap Shot - Run up, stealthed, and whack. Use whatever weapon you have and you don't have to be behind the opponent.

Stun-locking - The idea is to lock up your opponent so that he/she/it is always stunned or incapacitated. One basic routine is...

• Cheap shot (strike, strike) to Kidney shot (strike, strike) to Gouge, jump behind and Backstab to Blind (move behind, as necessary) & backstab.
• Cheap Shot is an opener
• Kidney shot is your finisher
• Gouge and Blind take you out of combat and stun the opponent, but your bleeds will break both. Glyph of Blind fixes that issue with Blind.

Picking Pockets - You might as well pick the pockets of all humanoids you come across. The cash doesn't amount to much, but you also find potions and the occasional odd item, not to mention lockboxes to use to practice your lockpicking skill. See above for the pickpocket macro.

Eviscerate - Your standard finisher. Open, strike, strike, strike, BOOM! Keep an eye on the Mob's health, often you won't be able to get to 5 combo points before using Eviscerate.

Gold - Making plenty of gold isn't a problem, it just requires a bit of work. Here's our gold guide and here's our 1k gold in 30 days (from scratch) project.

• Skip the agility gear at low levels and buy Stamina, instead. It's way cheaper and you get a lot more bang for the buck. You won't notice 5 points of agility, but 5 points of Stam will save your butt.
• Skip enchants, except maybe cheap Stam, and save for your mounts. if you follow our guide then all your mounts should be pocket change, even at level 20.

Professions

Professions - While leveling, unless you already have a ton of cash, skip all of the crafting professions. They are way too expensive. Yeah, there is some nice gear to be had with leatherworking and tailoring is the only one that's useless (since you don't use cloth armor,) but they're all expensive to level up. Unless you're rich I suggest you stick with mining, herbalism, and skinning (pick any two.) Work those hard, sell all of your stacks of ore/herbs/skins on the Auction House, and you will have enough gold to buy your mounts and some decent items.

If you have to pick up crafting skills, consider:

• Skinning and Leatherworkng
• Herbalism and Alchemy or Inscription
• Mining and Jewelcrafting

Keep in mind that ...

• Mining adds to Stamina
• Herbalism has a small, but nice, heal and with 4.0 that heal hastes you.
• Skining adds a bit to crit rating

At top level most professions have certain self-only items that add 80 points or so to your best stat (Agility.)

• Alchemy can make a number of useful chemicals to consume when needed. Take Herbalism with this, you'll save a ton of gold. You get a better effect from potions if you make them. Your buffing pots will add an extra 80 Ag.
• Enchanting? Very expensive to level, but can put some pretty nice buffs on things. Self-only ring enchants will add 80 total Agility to your rings.
• Engineering? If you're rich and want to ride on of those Mechano Hog Motorbike things eventually then get this profession. Synapse Springs is a nice wrist gadget.
• Inscription? It can be a nice money maker, if you work at it. Take Herbalism with this, you'll save a ton of gold. The Inscription shoulder enchant is great for your end-game gear.
• Jewelcrafting? Can be a good money-maker. Take Mining to go with it. You can make self-only gems, for your end-game gear, that will add a total of 81 agility.
• Blacksmithing? A couple of nice weapons and you get two extra gems slots, so you can pop in two more +40 Agility gems.
• Tailoring? Swordguard embroidery adds attack power
• Cooking can make interesting foods, some of which buff Agility (such as Warp Burgers.)
• Fishing can provide mats for cooking.
• First Aid is a very handy skill to have. Keep it maxed at all times.

More Stuff

• Healing - Unless you just aren't taking damage you should have Recuperate up at all times, especially if you have a Sutlety build (a talent lets your Recuperate restore energy.)
• Always have the biggest bags you can afford
• Make an Auction House alt and send anything (that isn't grey) to the alt instead of vendoring it. Vendor the grey junk.
• Questing is faster than grinding, except at the very lowest levels, but you do have to have a plan for your questing. Get a guide (see below) or study the in-game quest help thing and organize your quests to hit several at one time in the same place.
• Keep your weapons updated; the rest of your gear can fall behind a bit.
• Killing mobs of a bit lower level gives less XP but a lot less downtime, for a net XP per hour increase.
• Always log out at an Inn, to get the Rest XP when you come back.
  
  
• Level with a new friend for 3x XP. I hit level 42 in 12 hours played this way. People who are actually trying hard will go faster. I've seen people hit 85 in under three days with RAF, Heirlooms, and Dugi's guide.
  
  
• Dungeons (instances) are a great source of XP (especially if you get the associated quests ) and much better gear than you'll find while soloing. Depending on the teams you join they may also be a great source of irritation or fun. See our dungeon leveling guide for more info and "how not to fail" tips. For example:
  • Only attack what the tank is attacking.
  • Stay out of any goop on the floor unless your guys are creating it (such as healing circles.)
  • Stay behind the opponent at all times.
  • If you get aggro then either kill the mob or Vanish.
  • Keep Recovery and Slice and Dice up at all times for all Specs.
    
    
• PvP leveling (random battlegrounds) can work very well if your team wins. If your team isn't winning then the XP isn't so hot, though the game might be fun anyway. Honor points can be spent on gear as low as level 18.
  
  
• How to win in the BGs?
  • Warsong Gulch - the only thing that matters is the flags. Stay in a group and grab the other side's flag while keeping them from taking/keeping yours. Protect your flag-carriers and kill theirs.
    
    
  • Arathi Basin - If you can take and keep three flags/bases then you will win. If you take a base and everyone leaves to go to the next one then you will lose that base soon. If one person stays they can call for help when the other side comes to claim that base.
    
    
  • Eye of the Storm - Take and keep three bases and the flag captures won't matter (though they're fun.) The flag is only worth while if both sides have two bases and can't manage to take a third.
    
    
  • Alterac Valley - You have to take out the opponent's towers while protecting yours. When their towers are gone you kill their General in their base. Some teamwork is essential here. Big fights in the middle of the field are great fun, but otherwise hurt your cause (which is to win.)
    
    
  • Strand of the Ancients - You will be on both offense and defense. On offense, get into the tanks and attack the gate, don't fight in the field. If you're not driving then you need to protect a tank and don't fight in the field. Defense needs to kill the tanks and not fight in the field. The team that breaks the last gate and takes the relic, in the least amount of time wins. Fighting in the field doesn't help. Gathering bombs to blow up gates does help.
    
    
  • Random fighting in the field, for any BG, does not help your team.
  • The team with the best teamwork will win and winners get far more XP and honor than losers.