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[Milanah_6538907]

Introduction



This guide will be a short overview about Subtlety Rogues at lvl 85. Rogue Playstyle changed a lot since the release of Cataclysm and we got new abilities like Smoke Bomb, Redirect and Combat Readiness which lead together with a few changes on the old abilities and talents to a different way of how to play Rogue now. I will be focusing on Subtlety in this guide because it is the only spec you can really go for at the moment.



Gearing



Gearing as Rogue is quite easy in Cataclysm due to the fact agility is the strongest Stat with Crit following.The Season 11 set has the most agility apart from Dragon Soul Heroic Gear and there are a few PvE pieces that are nice to have in PvP but not necessary:

• http://www.wowhead.c...vial-of-shadows
• http://www.wowhead.com/item=77026

If you do not have the possibility of getting them on heroic you can also take the non-heroic ones since you don't lose agility by using the T13 Legs.


My advice is that if you're not that much experienced in PvP you should wear as much resil as you can get with the gear. However, do not gem resilience because of that. Most rogues who use PvE gear in arena are often very experienced and can manage their cooldowns better.



All in all you take most of the Season 11 Gear and depending on how much resil you wanna run you can change a few parts with the PvE ones.



Here are a few links to give you an overview about the Setups you can run:

• http://chardev.org/?profile=302202  20 Expertise + Max Crit PvP
• http://chardev.org/?profile=302213  20 Exp + Max Crit + T13 Legs

As non-human you just have to take the Insignia instead of the On use Pvp Trinket. If you can't get Vial of Shadows, not even from the Raid Finder, just take the Procc PvP trinket with agility.
All my setups here are using Stage 1 of the Legendary Daggers since they are obtainable to everyone that has 10k Gold and a rnd group that lets him steal the required item.

You might have to change your reforging a bit if you got the heroic pieces. I'm just doing the non-heroic version now because literally everybody can get them.


If you dont want to use one of these Setups and create your own one you have to watch out for certain things: You always have to get atleast 5% Hit, which means 601 Hit Rating. After you reached this amount you can either go for 20 Expertise to remove rng dodges you sometimes get from casters if you're not standing behind them and reforge to max crit after or you can just reforge max crit right after you hit the 5% Hit rating. With Season 11 Gear however, i recommend you to go for 20 Expertise since it's just so easy to get with the Legendary Daggers(or lower stages) and the rest of the PvP Gear.



Gems

Meta: Agile Shadowspirit Diamond (54 Agi + 3% Increased Critical Damage)

Red:Delicate Queen's Garnet (50 Agi)

Blue: Not worth it in any setup.

Yellow:Lucent Lava Coral (25 Agi + 25 Resil, actually only needed when using lots of PvE gear like 2 Pc T13 + Vial + Daggers.)



Due to thefact that Agility is by far the strongest stat you can go for you mostly just gem 50 Agi in every Slot. Resilience is no stat you even have to gem because like i already mentioned above you already got about 4k-4,2k(Depending on 2nd trinket) Resi without gems.



Enchants



To enchant your Rogue you do not have to choose between that many possible enchants. There are a few parts where it depends on your talents and your personal style. One part is for instance enchanting your cloak. You can either take the 22 Agility enchant or 70 Spell Penetration, depends on your Spec. If you specced intowaylay 2/2 you do not really have to get the Spell Penetration enchant because it's just needed to negate the poison resists sometimes which just become important if you want to slow your target or focus.



Another part is the choice of your leg enchant: Both do not have that much of a difference, one of them just focuses on the offense and the other one is focusing on both offense and defense. The difference of Attack Power and Critbetween these both is that low that it makes more sense to take the Charscale Leg Armor. (Exact difference is about 40 AP and ~0,1% Crit)



Head:Arcanum of Vicious Agility http://www.wowhead.com/item=68769/

Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Vicious Agility http://www.wowhead.com/item=68774

Cloak: http://www.wowhead.com/item=52745 or http://www.wowhead.com/item=44457

Chest:Enchant Chest - Peerless Stats http://www.wowhead.com/item=52779

Wrist:Enchant Bracer - Agility http://www.wowhead.com/item=68784

Gloves:Enchant Gloves - Major Agility http://www.wowhead.com/item=38967

Waist: Ebonsteel Belt Buckle http://www.wowhead.com/item=55054

Legs: Charscale Leg Armor - http://www.wowhead.com/item=56551

Boots:Enchant Boots - Major Agility http://www.wowhead.com/item=52757

If you'reEnchanter: Enchant Ring - Agility http://www.wowhead.com/spell=74216

Main Hand:Enchant Weapon - Landslide http://www.wowhead.com/item=52776

Off Hand:Pyrium Weapon Chain - http://www.wowhead.com/item=55057





Talents & Glyphs



As Subtlety Rogue you have 3 different specs that are viable in arenas, all of them are pretty much the same with a few changes:

• http://www.wowhead.c...MhfZZcGfcdkcRho Standard Backstab Spec
• http://www.wowhead.c...hdZbZcGfcdkcRho Backstab Spec with Imp. Recup
• http://www.wowhead.c...hbZbZcGccducRho Hemo Spec with Imp. Recup

The Standard Backstab Spec is probably the most common spec being used at the moment, a few Rogues might go for the Imp.Recup Spec in 2s for more survivability. The Hemo Spec is a spec i haven't tried yet because i don't like to only use Hemo. This spec is focusing on a fast Combo Point Build to get SnD+ Recup up all the time and still getting enough CP's to finish with Kidney Shot or Eviscerate. However, this spec isn't meant to do real pressure without Shadow Dance due to the amount of damage that Hemo does.



Prime Glyphs:

• Glyph of Backstab ( Glyph of Slice and Dice if you're running Hemo Spec)
• Glyph of Shadow Dance
• Glyph of Hemorrhage

Major Glyphs:

• Glyph of Garrote
• Glyph of Blind
• Glyph of Preparation

Minor Glyphs:

• Glyph of Distract
• Glyph of Blurred Speed/ Glyph of Safe Fall ( Blurred Speed is quite nice for RBG so you just can run over the water in Arathi Basin if there is no Shaman/DK)
• Glyph of Poisons

Macros



Backstab +Startattack:

#showtooltipbackstab

/startattack

/cast Backstab



Hemorrhage+ Startattack:

#showtooltip Hemorrhage

/startattack

/cast hemorrhage





ShadowDance + Premed Garrote

#show Shadow Dance

/cast Shadow Dance

/cast premeditation

/cast Garrote



ShadowDance Focus Sap

/cast Shadow Dance

/cast [@focus] Sap



Blind Arena1/2/3

/cast [@arena1/2/3] Blind



Shadow Dance+ Premed Cheap Shot

/cast Shadow Dance

/cast Premeditation

/cast CheapShot



FocusDismantle

/cast [@focus] Dismantle



Focus Sap

/cast [@focus] Sap



Kidney Shot+ Stopwatch

/cast Kidney Shot

/sw 25

/sw play



Standard Tricks Macro ( Instead of x insert the name of the player you want to tricks)

/cast [@x] Tricks of the Trade



Hemo while unstealthed, Premed Cheap Shot while in Stealth, Vanish or Shadow Dance

/cast [stance:0] Hemorrhage

/cast [stance:1/2/3] Premeditation

/cast [stance:1/2/3] Cheap Shot



Focus Kick

/cast [@focus] Kick



FocusShadowstep

/cast [@focus] Shadowstep



PoisonMacro

/use [nomodifier] Wound Poison; [modifier:ctrl] Instant Poison IX; [modifier:delete]Deadly Poison IX; [modifier:alt] Mind-numbing Poison; [modifier:shift]Crippling Poison

/use[button:1] 16; [button:2] 17; [button:3] 18

(button:1 is left mouse, button:2 is right mouse and button:3 is middle mouse)



Focus Gouge:

#showtooltip Gouge

/cast [target=focus] Gouge





Random Sapagainst other stealthed Rogues/Druids

/targetenemyplayer

/cast Sap

/cleartarget



Cheap Shot+ Premedition:

#showtooltipCheap Shot

/cast Premeditation

/cast Cheapshot





Garrote +Premedition:

#showtooltip Garrote

/cast Premeditation

/cast Garrote



Ambush +Premedition:

#showtooltipAmbush

/cast Premeditation

/cast Ambush



DeadlyThrow + Throw @ same bind:

#showdeadly throw

/cast deadly throw

/cast throw



Redirect Focus Kidney

#showtooltipRedirect

/castsequence [@focus] reset=20 Redirect, Kidney Shot



SafeStealth (Lets you spam this bind without breaking Stealth instantly)

#showtooltipStealth

/cast [nomodifier] !Stealth

/cancelaura [modifier] Stealth



SpamDistract without losing the circle

#showtooltipdistract

/cast !distract



Interface & Bindings



http://imageshack.us...0412233847.jpg/



My Interface is pretty much a copy of what Neilyo's using. One fact I really like about this setup is that you have every important cd twice in your bars, right near of each other so you can see the cd way faster in the game which could makethe difference between losing and winning. The less important abilities without cd or a cd you actually do not use that often are on the right-hand side of the interface so the focus lies only on the important ones. I also moved my frames a bit to the middle of the screen because i don't like them being on the top left of the screen as rogue because you always have to look at them to see how many CP's you got on your target and so on.











Addons

As far as I'm concerned I don't use any major addons like Pitbull and Bartender, mostly little ones to change the appearance of the game. Here is a list of Addons I can recommend:

• OmniCC: It turns all the standard analogue cooldowns into digital ones (http://www.wowinterf...836-OmniCC.html)
• MoveAnything: Makes you able to move all your frames around and hide some of them. You can also use scripts for that but i guess for non-tournament player this is easier.( http://www.wowinterf...veAnything.html)
• PortraitTimers: Displays important CC's or Cooldowns on the portrait of your target, such as Hand of Freedom, Kidney/Cheap Shot, Blind and so on.

   ( http://www.wowinterf...raitTimers.html)

• Icicle: Displays Cooldowns above the opponents nameplates.

   ( http://www.wowinterf...148-Icicle.html)

• Tidy Plates: Nameplate Addon (http://www.wowinterf...TidyPlates.html)

This is just a short list of Addons I'm using for my rogue. If you want a bigger list I recommend you to take a look at the Hydramist Addons Guide which u can also find in the Guides Section.



Abilities



Here I will explain you the most important abilities and their Usage to make them mostefficient.



Vanish: One of the most important abilities you got. It lets you get out of the fight in dangerous situations aslong as you're having control over your character and no Faerie Fire on yourself. With the change in Cataclysm this ability was improved a lot because now you do not have to take that much care about the timing to use it due tothe fact it does now let you stay in stealth for 3 seconds, no matter what's happening in this time.



Shadowstep: The Ability that lets you take so much control about the game in both offensive and defensive situations. You caneither step to the focus target and kick it full on its cast or rather step toan opponent near a pillar and hide behind that. Also you can avoid some spells if your timing on Shadowstep is correct such as Charge, Heroic Leap, Feral Charge.



Backstab/Hemorrhage: Your Combo Point Generator and standard damage ability. Hemorrhage is either used to just get many ComboPoints in a short time or like in the Hemo only spec as main damaging abilityoutside of Shadow Dance. Backstab is virtually the same but it requires you  to stand behind the target which can be hardsometimes, standing in a Frost Nova or Entangling Roots or any other MovementImpairing Effect.



Gouge: 4 Second CC with a 10 SecondCooldown that breaks from damage and requires you to stand in front of your target. It's a very nice ability to take out an opponent for a few seconds to let your mates recover a bit in dangerous situations. With the talent Sanguinary Vein you can use it even with bleeds up on your target without breaking it.



Cloak of Shadows: Your most important defensive cooldown against casters, it makes you immune to anyincoming Spell. After the release of Cataclysm this ability changed a bit. It now provides 100% Immunity instead of just 90% in WotLK.



Redirect: A new ability that was introduced with the release of Cataclysm.It takes the Combo Points of your current target and transfers it to your new target. It's the perfect ability for switches during the game or some focus cc. For instance you can redirect to another target in order to switch on that target with Kidney Shot and maybe drop a Smoke Bomb or you can also redirect your Combo Points to your focus target to get more CC on the healer or rather peel of some Dps in the game to help your healer.



Smoke Bomb: The 2nd of 3new abilities that Cataclysm brought and in my opinion the strongest. It's anability where you can prevent everybody standing outside of it to cast into the Smoke Bomb. Both, heals and offensive spells won't be able to be casted as long as the target is in the Smoke Bomb. But it also works the other way round, if you drop a Smoke Bomb the opponents that are inside of it cannot cast any heals or casts out of the Bomb as long as it is active or until they run out. That makes it useable in an offensive way as well as in a defensive way.



Combat Readiness: The lastability that came with Cataclysm is a stacking defensive Cooldown that only works for physical damage. It's a bit like the Warrior's Shield Wall with the advantage that we don't have to switch any stance and switch weapons for it. Activating Combat Readiness will give you a buff that lasts for 20 seconds and every time you get physical damage in this time you get one stack more up to a maximum of 5 which gives you a 50% Damage Reduction. However, this ability has an Internal Cooldown of 1 second, so it will take about 5 seconds to reach the maximum amount of stacks you can get.



Kidney Shot: The ability that makes us so annoying for everybody. Being stunned for 6 seconds aboutevery ~25 seconds is something that no one likes. Always get a Kidney Shot up before dropping a Smoke Bomb to force either a trinket or land the kill on your target. Also to prevent the target from walking out with freedom or just alittle jump making your bomb useless.



Blind: The only real CC a Rogue has apartfrom Sap and a few little ones that are way shorter. With the Glyph of Blindit's way easier for Rogues to blind anyone because the Glyph removes all DoT'sfrom the blinded target so it doesnt break from it. If possible, try to get aSap on the blinded target after.



Shadow Dance: The Ultimate of Subtlety. It lets you do every ability you actually just could do while stealthed for 8 seconds such as Sap, Ambush, Garrote and Cheap Shot( Just to mention the most important ones). This ability can be used in so many ways,either to help your mates by taking out the opponents or doing some heavy pressure on the main target.









Tips and Tricks

• Shadow Dance can also be used to get a Sap onto your focus target after a blind or maybe a Smoke Bomb because when you're dropping a Smoke Bomb the healer has to run in and if he does that and it takes about 4-5 seconds until he reaches it you can very likely get a Sap on him.
• Try to always know where your focus is standing at the moment because it can help you to kill your target or to get away when you're in trouble by using Shadowstep on your focus. This together with running around the pillar after the defensive Shadowstep can help you to survive in dangerous situations.
• Communication is essential to be successful in PvP. Try to coordinate your CD's with your teammates in order to get a kill by using Shadow Dance + Smoke Bomb and maybe a Shadowfiend from your Priest and so on.
• Tell your teammates about the usage of certain CD's of you and your opponents, both will help your team to win a game.
• You should always know about the amount of defensive CD's left when you're about to go offensive, if you do not have Cloak against some MLS or any other Castercleave you shouldn't be that offensive and maybe run open field. Rather stay back and let them come and wait for more defensive CD's.

For further questions just leave a comment or u can whisper Maajty on talnivarr or me ingame. I will update this guide during the next weeks when all the new gear is available.

Edited by Milanah_6538907, 04 January 2012 - 10:40 PM.

[Maajty]

exdee
#1

[Phewz]

noob noob

Edited by Phewz, 02 December 2011 - 09:40 PM.

[Ralgog]

User has been infracted for this post.

-pawzz

[HeheBiggielol]

Very in-depth and precise guide , alot of effort was put in well done a 2 thumbs up for me <3

Edited by HeheBiggielol, 02 December 2011 - 09:49 PM.

[Milanah_6538907]

Ralgog, on 02 December 2011 - 09:43 PM, said:

tldr

so in your opinion a guide should probably like 5 lines long?

Edited by Milanah_6538907, 02 December 2011 - 10:05 PM.

[Maajty]

Chill guiser

Edited by Maajty, 02 December 2011 - 09:55 PM.

[cubas]

HeheBiggielol, on 02 December 2011 - 09:51 PM, said:

Extremely rude comment, i dont except this from the guy who made this guide. you have gone down in my books now well done, a thumbs down. very dissapointing.

lol

[droolingmoron]

=)

[Gambino6]

Milanah_6538907, on 02 December 2011 - 09:49 PM, said:

so in your opinion a guide should probably like 5 lines long?

Its not that it was to long, its just he can't read because hes stupid teheh

[RollinSix]

gonna get r1 after reading this guide

thx alot m8

[Klöjvert]

Maajty, on 02 December 2011 - 09:29 PM, said:

exdee
#1

^^ xP

[guldwarden]

Very nice guide! Would like a bit more tips and tricks on how to use your Shadow Dance, cause when I'm using it it feels like I'm always out of energy, my energy regen also feels very slow. I botted my rogue to 85 so haven't played more than maybe 10h playtime so I'm not very good at rogue, my damage seems fine and I can peel somewhat well too Just gotta learn how to use Shadow Dance offensively really, feels like I'm only using it defensivly, to double cheap shot, or cheap shot melee garotte caster etc

EDIT: I also try to keep my Recuperate up ofc Also, how do you open? Garotte > kidney on casters and cheap shot > kidney on melees or? Or do you use the combo points for recuperate instead of kidney? I'm kinda clueless at this point

Edited by guldwarden, 02 December 2011 - 11:44 PM.

[Maajty]

guldwarden, on 02 December 2011 - 11:37 PM, said:

Very nice guide! Would like a bit more tips and tricks on how to use your Shadow Dance, cause when I'm using it it feels like I'm always out of energy, my energy regen also feels very slow. I botted my rogue to 85 so haven't played more than maybe 10h playtime so I'm not very good at rogue, my damage seems fine and I can peel somewhat well too Just gotta learn how to use Shadow Dance offensively really, feels like I'm only using it defensivly, to double cheap shot, or cheap shot melee garotte caster etc

EDIT: I also try to keep my Recuperate up ofc Also, how do you open? Garotte > kidney on casters and cheap shot > kidney on melees or? Or do you use the combo points for recuperate instead of kidney? I'm kinda clueless at this point

First off, thanks!
Shadow dance, it's hard to say when or when not to use it.
As you said, it's really nice to use as a "peel" ability.
I use shadowdance whenever I can't vanish(cd or faerie fire on me), it's also nice to use on mages to get a garrote->stun, to sap out of another CC if you dont got vanish available etc.
About the "out of energy" thing, make sure to have recup up at all points when you swap(with or without dance) and "pool" energy before the swap.

As I said earlier, there's not a direct way to say "use it then, or use it then", it all comes with experience.
Just practise and you will know when to use it.


Edit:
About openers it all depends on how you decided to open.
If your open with a hard burst, ofc you want to stun the target so it's in place.

Other then that when I open I just use the combos I recieve to get recuperate up as fast as possible and not use kidney in the opener.

Edited by Maajty, 02 December 2011 - 11:51 PM.

[Momohxo]

Brilliant

[Milanah_6538907]

guldwarden, on 02 December 2011 - 11:37 PM, said:

Very nice guide! Would like a bit more tips and tricks on how to use your Shadow Dance, cause when I'm using it it feels like I'm always out of energy, my energy regen also feels very slow. I botted my rogue to 85 so haven't played more than maybe 10h playtime so I'm not very good at rogue, my damage seems fine and I can peel somewhat well too Just gotta learn how to use Shadow Dance offensively really, feels like I'm only using it defensivly, to double cheap shot, or cheap shot melee garotte caster etc

EDIT: I also try to keep my Recuperate up ofc Also, how do you open? Garotte > kidney on casters and cheap shot > kidney on melees or? Or do you use the combo points for recuperate instead of kidney? I'm kinda clueless at this point

Like maajty said, when u're peeling with shadow dance it actually doesnt matter how much energy you got. However, when u're just going for the kill u should probably pool up to  90 energy so you're not lacking energy while dancing. During the shadow dance you shouldnt just spam ambush, like when u dance and start with a cheap shot there, just go for one ambush -> eviscerate -> ambush - > garrote/ambush or if you go for a kidney before the dance: ambush ambush -> eviscerate -> garrote/ambush. Eviscerate with 5 points gives you 25 energy so you can probably get an additional ambush afterwards. Just spamming ambush doesnt give you any energy back so you're probably lacking energy after the 3rd.

When i open it always depends on the class, the remaining cds and the situation i'm in. if you have to peel you will for sure take the spell that locks out the class you're attacking the most. however, if you're going offensive u can choose what u wanna do, ambush into 6sec kidney or garrote into kidney or cheap shot into kidney shot.

[Rod]

tldr: bakstab bakstab shadow dance when kil moment profit

enjoy ur titles

[guldwarden]

Milanah_6538907, on 03 December 2011 - 03:59 AM, said:

Like maajty said, when u're peeling with shadow dance it actually doesnt matter how much energy you got. However, when u're just going for the kill u should probably pool up to  90 energy so you're not lacking energy while dancing. During the shadow dance you shouldnt just spam ambush, like when u dance and start with a cheap shot there, just go for one ambush -> eviscerate -> ambush - > garrote/ambush or if you go for a kidney before the dance: ambush ambush -> eviscerate -> garrote/ambush. Eviscerate with 5 points gives you 25 energy so you can probably get an additional ambush afterwards. Just spamming ambush doesnt give you any energy back so you're probably lacking energy after the 3rd.

When i open it always depends on the class, the remaining cds and the situation i'm in. if you have to peel you will for sure take the spell that locks out the class you're attacking the most. however, if you're going offensive u can choose what u wanna do, ambush into 6sec kidney or garrote into kidney or cheap shot into kidney shot.

alright thankies gonna try it out also just realised i hadn't specced into relentless strikes >.< ^^

[Callyfx]

i have a question.
for arenas, what poisons are u going to be using with the wound poison buff?
and for bgs, same question. which poisons?
i feel like wound is really powerful, but i hate playing without crippling,and mind numbing is way too good to miss out : /

[Milanah_6538907]

Callyfx, on 03 December 2011 - 04:15 PM, said:

i have a question.
for arenas, what poisons are u going to be using with the wound poison buff?
and for bgs, same question. which poisons?
i feel like wound is really powerful, but i hate playing without crippling,and mind numbing is way too good to miss out : /

Very likely wound/crippling and a 3rd wep for mind numbing. If you have a class that applies the ms debuff as easy as u do, you can swap over to mind numbing the whole time, or against castercleaves i will for sure use mind numbing