1. June 4, 2016  

    [Guide] Combat Rogue - The top kek DPS, In depth guide


    Ola, I am Fluffybully/FluffyInsect, and I have been playing purely combat rogue since I started playing WoW.

    The purpose of this topic is trying to teach new rogue players or oldies on how to roggir my way. And by that I mean telling you everything that I do and know.
    If you wish to see my armory, you may look here: Fluffyinsect <-- Armory link. Click on it lol
    Also if you are interested in my current talent build, glyphs and gear, that is where you should look or find me somewhere in WoW and inspect me :3(i won't bite you but I might have my troll gear on).
    Please keep the discussion clean from trolling and flames. Constructive criticism is appreciated but only if it's legit.

    I am not so active ingame nor on the forums anymore but you may find me lurking around in Discord:
    https://discord.gg/zSBhyQRHYN

    And please. Make sure to read everything before you ask me a question that might be answered already in this guide. It gets annoying to repeat the same stuff 100x over and over again, cause people're too lazy to read. Also beware that Spreadsheets and sims do not accurately calculate the output. You should take them with a grain of salt and more of a "guideline" just like this guide is.

    Content

    1. Rogue
      1. The 10 Commandments of Rogue DPS
      2. Energy Management and Pooling
      3. Know your enemy to avoid death
      4. Weapon Selection and Specialization
    2. Stats
      1. The way of combat spec:
      2. So many choises what the fak do I persue
      3. Going end-game
    3. Talents, Glyphs, Poisons and rotation
    4. Enchants, Gems, Consumables, Professions and Races
    5. Useful macros
    6. BiS gear and spreadsheets
    7. Rogue's arsenal of buffs, debuffs and utility
    8. Useful addons for rogues
    9. What's still broken


    1. Rogue
    Spoiler: Show


    So the question is why one should play a rogue when most of guilds have the rogue class as "Closed or Low"? Well here're my reasons why I play it:
    - It's fun
    - It's a bit challenging due to combo points and energy as a resource
    - U can't brain-afk cuz the DPS drops instantly or you die, unless you're a god
    - Tons of dmg, tons of CC and tons of survival abilities
    - It takes a bit of skill, awareness, clever decision making and a little bit of luck to properly play it. It's not just 1-2-3 buttons facesmash like a retribution paladin
    - Proper talent choices, gear selection, and ability usage are all crucial to maximizing damage output in a raid situation


    a. The 10 Commandments of Rogue DPS

    Success as a raiding rogue results from adherence to the 10 commandments of rogue DPS. If you do not follow these guidelines, the DPS optimizations in the remainder of this article will be of little worth to you.

    1# Don't die.
    2# Don't do anything that risks wiping the raid.
    3# Maximize your time on target or multiple targets
    4# Don't let your energy cap out.
    5# Don't let SnD drop.
    6# Use the spreadsheets under BiS section to figure out your best gear combination, gems and rotation
    7# Use your cooldowns.
    8# Don't use a slow Off Hand weapon
    9# Do proper boss tactics as ordered by your leaders unless you know better
    10# DPS from behind. Having parries = bad
    11# Failing any of the previous rule will result you becoming a laughing stock


    b. Energy Management and Pooling

    As a rogue, energy is your lifeblood. Proper energy management means the difference between 100% Slice and Dice up-time and letting it drop for 2-3 seconds every cycle. There are several basic tactics to keep in mind, and then there are some more advanced techniques which you can work in on more DPS-sensitive fights.

    You begin any fight with 100 energy and regenerate energy at a rate of 25(Talented) every 2 seconds. Adrenaline Rush provides an extra 100% energy regeneration for 15 seconds per use, or 50 energy every 2 seconds. It is vital to note that your energy will always cap at your original base of 100. If you gain more energy at any time than it takes to reach this cap, the remaining energy will go to waste, effectively costing you DPS. Thus, it is very important that you never let your energy surpass the cap. The safest way to avoid this situation is to simply spend all of your energy as you receive it. If you never have more energy than the amount required to Sinister Strike, then you are theoretically immune to capping your energy.

    However, it is not always necessary or optimal to spend your energy immediately as you receive it. As long as your energy doesn't tick over 100, it is not wasted and can be used at your convenience. The technique of intentionally allowing energy to accumulate without spending it is called "energy pooling" (also known as "energy queuing") and has many applications. For combat rogues, energy pooling is most commonly used when you reach enough CP to refresh your Slice and Dice, but still have several seconds left on your previous Slice and Dice buff. Pooling at this time effectively gives you more energy to spend on the next iteration of your cycle. This is useful particularly for combat rogues because most cycles count on Combat Potency to provide a certain amount of extra energy per cycle. In the event that you have bad luck on Combat Potency procs during your cycle, the energy you pooled before your Slice and Dice helps you complete the cycle without letting Slice and Dice drop.

    For that same reason we get Expertise Capped. A dodged Ability will burn only 20% of the energy, but in that meantime the waste GCD might get you Energy capped.


    c. Know your enemy to avoid death

    One of the advantages rogues have over other melee DPS classes is a high degree of survivability. Putting Sprint, Evasion, Cloak of Shadows and Feint to rigorous use separates good rogues from those who spend most of the fight eating cobblestone. Your use of each ability will depend heavily on the fight in question, and you should make every effort to figure out the optimal way to use these cooldowns to maximize your survival.

    Cloak of Shadows, for example, should be used as much as possible to negate incoming magic damage and harmful debuffs. When learning a new fight, one of the first things you should do is to learn which of the boss's spells/debuffs may be and when they should be Cloaked.

    Evasion is much more situational; however, it can and should be used where possible, since most raid targets are likely to kill you if they land a melee swing.

    Sprint may be activated any time you need to cross a significant distance to get back into melee range, thus reducing your time off the target and increasing your overall DPS. It may also be used to escape AoE effects, or to cross any distance quickly to accomplish a non-DPS objective.

    And lastly Feint may help reduce the pressure from your healers when the raid is already taking a lot of AoE damage. It can also be used to maximize your DPS on fights where others need to run away(Sindragosa).

    d. Weapon Selection and Specialization

    Before considering any weapon choices or talent builds, it is worth examining the way weapon specializations and Dual Wield interact with one another. Each hand obtains the benefit of a weapon specialization talent only if the weapon in that hand is of the type corresponding to the specialization. For example, if you take 5 points in Close Quaters Combat, and equip a fist in your main hand, all of your main hand attacks will receive the 5% increased critical strike chance. However, if you equip a mace in your off hand, then no matter what type of weapon you have in your main hand nor other specializations you have taken, your off hand attacks will crit at your normal rate (this might not necessarily match your character panel crit rate, which is always calculated based on your main hand).

    There are two caveats also worth noting. First, your main hand specialization affects all attacks made by your main hand, including special attacks and finishers. Second, the extra attacks granted by Hack and Slash is always performed using your main hand weapon, regardless of which weapon caused the proc. As a result, if you combine Hack and Slash Specialization with another weapon specialization and equip a sword in your off hand with the other specialized weapon type in your main hand, your off hand attacks will proc extra main hand attacks which will receive the benefit of your second specialization. By way of example, if you take both Close Quaters Combat and Hack and Slash specializations, and equip a main hand fist with an off hand sword, your extra attacks will gain the 5% increased critical strike chance from your Close Quaters Combat.
    Main hand weapon:
    Should be your slowest and highest DPS weapon that you have. The main reason for that is Instant Poison. The slower your weapon is the more chance it has to proc the Poison itself(Only base weapon speed counts not hasted via talents, haste gems etc..)
    Table click below
    Spoiler: Show



    The 2nd reason being Sinister Strike damage scaling via Main hand weapon and lastly, if you go for the Hack and Slash spec all of those Extra Attacks'll proc with your Main hand only.


    Off hand weapon:
    This should be your fastest hitting weapon. Anything between 1.2-1.5 speeds. The main reason here is once again poison to be more precise Deadly Poison. Once your Deadly Poison reaches 5 stacks on a target then you every next Deadly Poison refresh'll have a 30% chance(up to 50 with talents) to also apply your Main hand poison once again. So what you get is both MH and OH weapons to apply Instant Poison.
    Next is Combat Potency. The faster you hit the more energy'll you gain. Therefore more Sinister Strikes = more finishers = more damage
    And lastly once again, if you're Hack and Slash specialized, then the more Off hand hits you manage the more H&S procs you'll gain.

    Rogue damage done by spells
    Melee swings(Hack and Slash counted in) --> Instant Poison IX --> Sinister Strike --> Rupture/Eviscerate --> Deadly Poison IX
    Spoiler: Show




    2. Stats
    Spoiler: Show


    Quick References
    Stat Conversions
    Stat Rating per 1%
    Agility 83.116(for 1% crit)
    Crit chance 45.864
    Hit rating 32.786
    Experise 32.790
    Haste rating 32.850
    Armor Penetration 13.986
    Hit Table
    Base boss Hit table Percent Chance
    Crit Conversion Physical -4.8%
    Crit Conversion Magical -3%
    Dodge 6.5%
    Parry 14%
    Special Miss 8%
    Poison Miss 17%
    Dual Wield Miss 27%
    Glancing hits 24%

    Strength
    One point of strength gives you 1 point of attack power and nothing else. Therefore we rogues consider this stat more or less worthless

    Attack Power
    Attack Power is the basis of the size of all your attacks. The more AP you have, the harder every strike hits. Attack power increases the DPS of your main hand and off hand damage ranges, the direct damage of normalized weapon-based special attacks, and the direct damage of straight AP-modified attacks.Slower weapons scale better with AP.

    Agility
    Agility gives us 1 AP per 1 point of Agility. It also increases our chance to critically hit an opponent, just like critical strike rating does but with a different conversion. For every 83.116 points of agility, our critical strike chance is increased by 1%.
    Agility also increases your chance to dodge attacks which can help somewhat in survival situations.

    Critical strike
    Critical strike rating increases your chance to critically hit an opponent. You need 45.864 points of critical strike rating for a 1% increase in critical strike chance. Your critical strikes have a basic damage bonus of 100%. However this is further increased by the meta gem and talents. From 50% to up to 193%. Rogues's damage scales very well with critical strike.

    Hit Rating
    Your hit rating decreases your chance to miss a target with your attacks and abilities. For every 32.786 points of hit rating, your chance to miss with your attacks is reduced by 1%. Hit rating reduces the miss chance of white, yellow and green hit tables simultaneously. After the miss chance of the yellow table reaches 0%, hit rating continues to remove miss chance of the white table dat being 27% for us dual wielders.
    For white attacks, hit rating increases the Crit Cap. This is explained in the Crit cap section beneath.
    Hit rating also helps with energy due to our talents. And lastly since our damage comes mostly from melee hits it's the most important stat for a rogue.

    Yellow no miss Hit: 99 with Precision
    Poison no miss Hit: 315 with Precision 237 with a Shadow Priest or Boomkin + Precision. But there won't be always one in party/raid.
    White no miss Hit: 722 with Precision

    Haste
    Haste rating increases the rate of your auto melee attacks. For every 32.850 points of haste rating, your attack rate is increased by 1%. Contrary to a common misconception, this does not decrease your swing timer by the hasted percentage but rather increases the frequency of your strikes. Consequently, with 20% haste, you cannot simply take 20% off your swing speed to calculate its effects. Rather, you are performing 20% more swings in the same amount of time, effectively granting you a swing speed reduction of 16.67%.
    Haste rating does not decrease your GCD since we're a melee class.
    Haste is very important for us since once again most of our damage comes from auto hits. It also helps us with energy regeneration via talents and other various talents that scale well with haste like Hack and Slash.

    How weapon attack speed is calculated?
    Attack speed = "current attack speed" / (("Percent increase or decrease" / 100) + 1 )

    Example
    Weapon speed = 2.6
    Slice and Dice = 40%
    Blade Flurry = 20%
    Icy Talons = 20%
    Attack speed = 2.6 / ( (40 / 100) + 1 ) = 1.85
    Attack speed = 1.85 / ( (20 / 100) + 1 ) = 1.54
    Attack speed = 1.54 / ( (20 / 100) + 1 ) = 1.28

    Expertise Rating
    Expertise rating reduces the chance an opponent will dodge or parry your attacks. For every 32.79 points of expertise rating, your opponent’s chance to dodge or parry your attacks is reduced by 1%. Please note that expertise rating actually increases your expertise points. 32.79 points of expertise rating grant you 4 points of expertise which in turn grants you a 1% dodge/parry reduction. As you should not stand in front of a mob, the parry reduction is irrelevant.
    For white attacks, expertise rating increases the Crit Cap as long as there's still a chance for the NPC to dodge.

    Armor Penetration Rating
    Armor Penetration Rating effectively increases the damage dealt by most of your attacks by reducing the damage reduction incurred from a target’s armor. Every 13.986 points of armor penetration rating grants you 1% armor penetration. This percentage reduction is not applied to your target's total armor, but rather a part of it. Due to game balancing mechanics, a certain amount of a target's armor cannot be affected by the reduction. The maximum affected armor that can be removed is referred to as the "ArP effectiveness cap".

    Armor Values and Damage Scaling
    Debuffs Boss Armor Damage done 0% ArP Boss Armor with 100% ArP Damage with 100% ArP
    None 10643 58.87% 2017.83 88.30%
    5SA/Expose Armor 8414.4 64.42% 498.77 96.83%
    5SA/Expose Armor,FF 8088.68 65.32% 314.95 97.97%
    5SA/Expose Armor,FF,ST 6470.94 70.18% 0 100%
    SA = Sunder Armor
    FF = Faerie Fire
    ST = Shattering Throw

    From what buffs and debuffs does a rogue benefit from? Well tl;dr pretty much everything that is not spell power.
    Buff/Debuff Talent/Ability
    Major Armor Debuff Sunder Armor, Expose Armor
    Minor Armor Debuff Farie Fire, Farie Fire(Feral), Curse of Weakness
    Physical Vulnerability Debuff Savage Combat, Blood Frenzy
    Melee Haste Buff Improved Icy Talons, Windfury Totem
    Melee Critical Strike Chance Rampage, Leader of the Pack
    Attack Power Buff Blessing of Might, Battle Shout
    Attack Power Percentage Buff Unleashed Rage, Abomination's Might, Trueshot Aura
    Bleed Damage Debuff Mangle(cat,bear), Trauma
    Spell Critical Strike Chance Buff Moonkin Aura, Elemental Oath
    Spell Critical Strike Chance Debuff Improved Scorch, Winter's Chill, Improved Shadow Bolt
    Spell Damage Debuff Ebon Plaguebringer, Earth and Moon, Curse of Elements
    Spell Hit Debuff Improved Faerie Fire, Misery
    Haste Buff (All types) Improved Moonkin Form, Swift Retribution
    Damage Buff (All types) Arcane Empowerment, Ferocious Inspiration, Sanctified Retribution
    Critical Strike Chance Debuff (All types) Heart of the Crusader, Totem of Wrath, Master Poisoner
    Percentage Stat Buff Greater Blessing of Kings
    Additive Stat Buff Mark of the Wild
    Strength + Agility Buff Strenght of Earth Totem, Horn of Winter

    a. The way of combat spec:

    Hit rating --> Expertise --> Critical chance/Haste/Attack power --> Armor penetration -->

    Hit rating: at least 315 w/o talents!! (You will not always have a bloody shadow priest in your party/raid)
    Expertise: 26/26 w/o a question to get rid of the dodged hits.
    Armor Penetration: ARP ain't so important right now. However Soft-ARP cap is Your flat ArP + trinket proc ArP depends on the trinket that you plan to get(Grim Toll, Mjolnir Runestone and Needle-Encrusted Scorpion).
    Haste/Attack Power:Option A: Going AP/Haste build. Yes it works and yes it's damn good early when you lack ARP gear. Faster hits for the poison and talent procs
    Crit: Option B(Aim above 35% crit unbuffed): Going crit/agility build. You'll wage your luck and your DPS on critical hits and SS Glyph procs.

    Above as you can see I made critical chance value bein better compared to armor pen after the soft cap. You may have gear that has a lot of armor pen but superb low crit/haste bonuses. So you sure might hit more with Arp but the lack of crit rating'll make it meh due to the Sinister Strike glyph having a chance to give you an additional combo point and the most important part your crits aren't 200%(poisons be 186%) but all normal combo point generating abilities hit for 293%, Melee auto attacks are 248%. Those crit multipliers're calculated with talents and the meta gem.
    Haste and AP are also good as low ARP values're like meh in terms of damage increase. After all more hits = more poions and talents procs once again.

    So the general idea is such(example):

    Get 315 hit, 26/26 expertise and at least 35% crit chance UNBUFFED. I'd give the 35% crit chance a higher priority over more armor pen. I also RECOMMEND getting the crit/agility food and Agility/Crit battle elixir instead of the flask.

    What do you gem? You gem 10 agi + 10 crit and or 20 agi whilst trying to get the socket bonuses. Or if you're going for haste/AP build. 20 AP + 10 haste gems/20 haste gem.

    b. So many choises what the fak do I persue

    Hit -> Armor Pen/Crit/Haste --> AP

    Hit rating: 237(8% w/o talents) --> 315+ being recommended
    Armor pen: A: Push for the hard armor pen cap as close as possible. 80%+ being the goal. If that's not doable go for option B + C and/or further boosting your hit chance[/color]
    Crit rating: B: Pushing into the crit cap. 60%+ crit whilst buffed
    Haste: C: Smash faster, for obvious reasons and cuz your gear is still messed up.

    So nao you need to chose something. Now I assume that you no longer need to go for 10 man raids. In that case you can sacrifice hit rating from 315 back down to 237. Either you go for ARP gems and gear, crit/agility set or continue the AP/Haste set. It once again depends on the gear you've collected. The crit set will standout the most, followed by ARP and haste setup.

    c. Going end-game

    Hit rating - Armor pen --> Crit --> Haste

    So the question is what should you go for? Well that decision is entirely up to you, but 1st get the ARP to 1400. Then..., you want more crits? Go for Agility(Watch out for crit cap). More auto attacks? Go for haste. Want to get overall more procs(talents, poisons), less missed auto hits? Go for hit rating. The end winner in this fight is RNG.

    Altho according to Sims: Haste --> Crit --> Hit
    Tests on my personal server: Crit --> Haste --> Hit

    However beware of the crit cap, if you plan to go for more crit via agility path. Crit cap is explained below.

    Critical chance and the CRIT CAP

    Spoiler: Show

    What is crit cap?"

    "When we use the term critical strike cap (hereon referred to as "crit cap") we are actually referring to one of several crit caps the Rogue has. The one that interests us the most is the white crit cap, which is the point when white hits no longer benefit from additional crit. This means that the value of crit is severely reduced relative to other stats."
    TL;DR: Crit cap is when your critical strike rating starts to become worthless for auto attacks

    Knowing how to deal with the crit cap is one of the many things that separates a newbish rogue versus the good one. Be it with gear, gems or even consumables.

    So how do I know my crit cap?
    Well it's just a simple formula: 100% - 24%(Glancing hits) - X(Dodge chance) - X(Miss chance) +4.8% CRIT SUPPRESSION
    You may as-well use this macro ingame. It'll print out your crit cap:(It assumes you got 2/2 Weapon expertise and 5/5 Precision)
    /script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage ("White Crit Cap: "..(0.808-(math.max(136-GetCombatRating(24),0))*0.000305-(722-GetCombatRating(6))*0.000305)*100)



    CRIT SUPPRESION: Every boss has a 4.8% crit suppression meaning that the actual HARD CRIT CAP is not 100% but actually 104.8%. If you're a rogue did you ever wonder where did the 3% paladin crit debuff get lost? Exacly it gets lost here.

    As we can see having low hit rating and expertise does effect our DPS in a big way. As far as I could see most of Warmane bis combat rogues got around 55% crit cap. My rogue will rekk the rogue that has tons of crit but their crit is being worthless due to the crit cap.

    That's why I always said: Hit rating is useful, always was and always will be on a rogue. It's a stat above all others as it affects your effective critical chance, talent procs and poison procs.


    3. Talents, Glyphs, Poisons and rotation
    Spoiler: Show


    Glyphs
    Mandatory Glyph Explanation Situational Glyphs Explanation
    Sinister Strike This is your main Glyph. At 50% crit chance you have 25% chance for an extra CP. It's your bread and butter for combat spec. Killing Spree Reduces Killing Spree CD by 45 sec. Quite a huge DPS and damage boost Glyph on longer fights.
    Rupture Plus 2 extra ticks of Rupture. Extra damage is extra damage. A glyph any non-BiS rogue should go for.
    Eviscerate Plus 10% chance for Eviscerate to land a Critical hit. Choose this Glyph, if you're BiS and plan to go Eviscerate only rotation.
    Fan of Knives Plus 20% Damage to Fan of Knives. Extremly good on AoE fights. Such as Physical realm 25H Halion. It's also good when you are clearing trash mobs, as they get pulled in packs of 4+ you will mostly spam FoK.
    Glyph of Tricks of the Trade You should go this glyph, if the raids hunters won't slack and you have another rogue to trade Tricks.
    If you trade tricks non-glyphed tricks on CD'll give you aproximently 3% damage boost. Gylphed TotT on the other hand'll give you 5% damage boost it's like a free Hunger for Blood. If the tanks are having trouble maintaining aggro, this Glyph'll help them a lot.
    Glyph of Expose Armor You should use this Glyph, if you're in raids who contain no Warriors or Warriors whose don't use Sunder Armor. It's almost a 10% Physical DPS boost. Worth way more than Eviscerate/Rupture Glyphs.
    You don't swap out Sinister Strike for anything ever, it's simply too good. Every other major glyph is utter garbage. As for minor glyphs. Get w/e you wish xD.
    U use situational glyphs depending on your raid comp. Here're few setups:
    - Raid comp 1; Normal raid Sunder armor is present, tank has no issue with aggro and you can trade Tricks with another rogue: Sinister Strike, Killing Spree and Glyph of Tricks of the Trade
    - Raid comp 2; Sunder armor is present but you can't trade tricks with another rogue: Sinister Strike, Killing Spree and Rupture or Eviscerate
    - Raid comp 3; Sunder armor's up, a fight where a lot of AoE is needed: Sinister Strike, Killing Spree and
    Fan of Knives
    - Raid comp 4; Tank can't maintain aggro, no sunder arrmor: Sinister Strike, Glyph of Tricks of the Trade and Glyph of Expose Armor. It's a very unlucky raid comp so to say :'). But going any other Glyphs means a chance of wiping and raid doing 10% less Physical damage.

    Talents

    Weapon loadout: Got axe/sword weapons? Go for Hack and Slash. Got Dual fists or Fist + Dagger? Go for Close Quarters Combat. Got maces? Go for Mace Specialization.

    Poison personal preference: Here you have only 2 choices. You either go 4/5 Improved Poisons and 1/3Vile Poisons

    Example specs NOTE: All talent builds're for Axe/Sword weapons(change this, if you got diff weapon loadout)
    Spoiler: Show

    Focus on Rupture
    Spoiler: Show





    Focus on Eviscerate
    Spoiler: Show




    Poisons
    - Main HandInstant Poison IX, Wound Poison VII Use it at boss fights such as Anub'Arak, Champion Factions
    - Off Hand;
    >> Under normal circumstances you should use Deadly Poison IX Situation based
    >>Situation based;
    - when having using a slow weapon (ie, for FoK spam on multiple adds) Instant Poison IX
    - Anesthetic Poison IIFor Lich King, Saviana Ragefire --- Use that only, if you got no hunters or those hunters're complete imbeciles.

    Why not double Instant?
    Because the faster you hit the less chance you get to proc instant poison and also once Deadly Poison stacks get to 5, each next OH hit that reapplies it will also proc the other weapon's hand poison. Therefore double Instant poison would require you to equip a slow OH weapon but we don't want that.
    To get the idea: Does the NPC have 5 stacks of Deadly Poison on it? If yes you every next OH auto hit that DOES NOT miss has a 46%(30%flat +16% talents) chance to proc Instant Poison. You you get both your MH and OH hand to proc Instant Poison.

    Rotations:

    There are 2 rotations or cycles: Low Rupture and Eviscerate Only.


    High rupture rotation(low armor pen, low crit, under 50% no arp trinket)
    Firstly Rupture Glyph is non-debatable here. As per usual we keep up SnD. If SnD is up we go for 5CP rupture. The basic idea of High Rupture is that both SnD and Rupture are up most of the time. We use filler Eviscerates only if neither of them will drop. We do high prio on rupture upkeep due to our low armor pen, afterall Eviscerate damage will be meh at this point.

    Low rupture rotation
    Very similar to High Rupture. Except this time we greed for Eviscerates inbetween SnD and Rupture uptime. SnD uptime is still a prio as is 5 CP rupture. The main difference is we go for 4+CP Eviscerates as long as we have about 4s left on SnD and about 6s on Rupture. That means that we in a way gamble for the Ruthlesness talent proc and energy from Combat Potency. In worst case scenario we get out a 1 CP SnD refresh. And with some luck we might be able to refresh Rupture at 5 CP once again with minimum downtime(some downtime is fine, hence why we greed for Evis). It's also worth nothing that you can wait few secs for Rupture to drop before reapplying it.
    Low Rupture has the highest single-target damage output, if played properly.

    I can't exactly tell you how to Low Rupture, as rogue is a dynamic class and full of RnG. You greed for Eviscerates based on your energy regen and other procs. Shortly said you have to figure it on your own how to aproach that said rotation. I give you the concept, you have to master it on your own.


    Note: It is important for rupture to tick for the full duration. Do not refresh it before it fades. An
    add-on might help you keeping track of that (add-ons section). Blood splatter talent and Rupture Glyph're non-debatable for both high an low rupture rotations


    Eviscerate only rotation is straight forward: keep S&D up, and eviscerate whenever you have 4+ combo
    points. It's better to use this cycle only if you're near the hard arp cap (90%+ Arp) and got 60%+ Crit chance(That's NO EVI GLYPH) whilst buffed.
    This spec is the easiest to play with at high gear as you will have a lot of energy regeneration, especially if
    you have the 4 pieces of tier 10 gear.

    Which one is the best?
    At low gear always High Rupture.
    Once you have some better gear. Low Rupture
    And at BiS, Low Rupture will outperform on non-short single-target fights. Eviscerate outperforms on fights where you got lots of target switching and on short fights where you might get out only 3-5 Ruptures.

    Rotation for Soft-arp cap (Having ARP proc trinket)
    Rotation:High/Low rupture;
    You start off with Tricks of the Trade on the tank/random dps guy --> Pre-HastePot --> 1-2 Sinister Strike till you get at least 2 Combo points on the target then you go Slice and Dice followed by Blade Flurry -- >Killing Spree + Engi hands, Racial. After Killing Spree you go 2x Sinister Strike --> Adrenaline Rush --> spam Sinister Strike till you get 5 CP and use Rupture as the finisher. Now if you still have Slice and Dice and Rupture up plus both of them're gona last at least ~5+ sec more you should go for 4+ CP EviscerateAfter that you go 1-5 CP Slice and Dice and 5 CP Rupture again with Eviscerate in-between, if Slice and Dice is still up. Use Tricks of the Trade, Adrenaline Rush and Blade Flurry on cooldown.

    Rotation for Hard-arp cap (85%+ arp and ~55%+ crit)
    Rotation:Low rupture, Eviscerate only;
    You start off with pre-Tricks of the Trade on the tank/random dps guy and Pre haste pot --> 1-2 Sinister Strike till you get at least 2 Combo points on the target then you go Slice and Dice followed by Blade Flurry -- >Killing Spree + Engi hands,Racial. After Killing Spree you go 2x Sinister Strike --> Adrenaline Rush spam Sinister Strike till you get 5 CP and use Rupture as the finisher. Now if you still have Slice and Dice and Rupture up plus both of them're gona last at least ~5+ sec more you should go for 4+ CP Eviscerate. After that you go 1-5 CP Slice and Dice and 5 CP Rupture/Eviscerate again with Eviscerate in between, if Slice and Dice is still up. Use Tricks of the Trade, Adrenaline Rush, Haste pot and Blade Flurry on cooldown.

    For Eviscerate Only, replace all the Ruptures with Eviscerate. Basically, if SnD is up you finish with 4+CP Eviscerate. ]DO NOT GO EVISCERATE BUILD IF YOU GOT LESS THAN 95% ARP AND 60% CRIT WHILST BUFFED(EVI GLYPH)

    Eviscerate
    Rupture
    Raids having no warrior or warriors who won't use Sunder armor

    If your raid lacks a warrior or he sucks, you can and should switch your priority to SnD and Expose Armor improved with Glyph of Expose Armor. It's a ~10% DPS boost to all the melee DPS including yourself. Priority --> SnD --> Expose --> Rupture/Evi
    And just because u're in BiS gear does not mean u should ignore expose armor, if the warrior is being slacky. You'll lose 2-3% in Eviscerate/Rupture damage compared to up to 10% in all physical damage, if no sunder/expose armor is up.

    4+Cp Finishers?? Why not 5?

    It's simple. Due to Sinister Strike Glyph. You can reach 4CP with 2 sinister strikes, then the 3rd sinister strike might be a waste of 1 combo point and the AP scaling of 5CP finisher can be ignored cuz you gona pump out more finishers that way especially with 4set.
    Examples of what combo points u might get:
    SS --> 2 CP SS --> 4 CP ---> SS 5 CP == 1 CP wasted if the next one procs the glyph
    1 CP from talent SS --> 3 CP ---> ss--> either 4 or 5 in both cases you don't lose a combo point
    1 CP from talent again --> SS --> 2 CP SS --> 4 CP next SS can be again a waste so we saved a combo point here again for the next cycle
    1 CP from talent once again --> SS --> 2 CP SS --> 5 CP I call dis hot streak as we get a nice 5 CP finisher w/o any combo points wasted.
    So we already saved 2-3 Combo points and with basically our next sinister strikes gives u a free either 4-5 CP finisher for free.

    No let's add the 4set proc.
    SS --> 1 CP SS --> 2 CP SS --> 4 CP next combo point can be a waste
    4 CP talent proc + 4set proc --> next CP might be a waste
    3 CP 4set proc --> SS --> 5 CP --> Hot streak nothing wasted

    The only exception to 4CP finisher is Rupture. As its DPE (Damage per Energy) makes it worth goin for 5 CP only
    In the end instead of 10 Eviscerates we might get out 15 or even 20. And all that's is free damage and DPS.
    And before any1 asks me why my vids don't show that.. let's say I kept this till now as my trump card to be above other roggs :p.

    Rogue rotation is very dynamic. The opening'll be always the same pre-TotT --> pre-pot --> 2-3cp SnD --->KS--> 4+cp Rupture but after that it depends on energy regain and CP gain from talents/glyphs. Sometimes u might be able to squeeze 2x 4+CP eviscerates sometimes none. So it's no big deal if even with Adrenaline rush u can't get in an Eviscerate it's just bad luck in dat case. Also you might not always have a 4+cp SnD. I for example have 1-5CP SnDs due to trying to squeeze in another Eviscerate or just bad energy regen.
    You simply need to master the energy regen and CP management in order to push max outa a rogue's DPS. But that takes a bit of time :3.


    Rupture or Eviscerate?

    Rupture:
    - Rupture will always do better sustained damage than Eviscerate. Rupture doesn't depend on crits that much to do dmg. While eviscerate does.
    - Rupture absolutely beats Eviscerate when there's a feral druid in the group. Ever seen constant 20k+ Eviscerates? Me neither but I did get constant 20k+ ruptures whilst having a feral druid in the raid grp due to Mangle.
    - Steady more consistent DPS .ie you will always have a tick that will crit
    - Rupture DPE (Damage Per Energy) is better. It might not always hit harder, it's that the energy cost for rupture is less and therefore when you average out the damage done by Eviscerate and Rupture and then compare it to energy cost, rupture usually wins.
    - Your raid group has a feral druid (Mangle debuff). + 30% damage to Rupture
    - Your enemy has enough HP to take the whole Rupture duration
    - You ain't close to BiS aka 60-70(Glyhped Evi crit chance). Is still awsm at BiS
    - Rupture ignores armor
    - Costs less energy than Eviscerate. 25 vs 35

    Eviscerate:
    - DO NOT GO EVISCERATE BUILD IF YOU GOT LESS THAN 65% CRIT WHILST BUFFED(AND EVI GLYPH)
    - Your raid doesn't have a feral druid
    - The enemy won't take all the rupture ticks
    - You're too lazy to bother with Rupture and SnD timings
    - 4x t10, if you get a lot of procs it's gona be really good. Your Eviscerate'll do up to 15% total dmg vs the usual ~8%.
    - No Expose armor or Sunder armor on the Mob'll result a lot less Eviscerate damage

    Rupture is still better than Eviscerate even in BiS gear.

    Here the prof: Evi + Rupture spec all in 1 glyphs included for data.
    Spoiler: Show


    NOTE: NPC armor is not included.

    NOTE: Rupture DPE is even higher with a bleed debuff on the target.
    Above applies only, if rupture ticks for the full duration.



    4. Enchants, Gems, Consumables, Professions and Races
    Spoiler: Show



    Regarding alternatives. Pick w/e you need. If you lack hit go get hit enchants and so on.
    Now for those who got tons of hit but lack crit chance. GO MONGOOSE imo it's a lot better while u're still under the crit cap.

    Gems

    - Red socket: Fractured Cardinal Ruby, Fractured Dragon's Eye, Delicate Cardinal Ruby, Delicate Dragon's Eye, Precise Cardinal Ruby, Precise Dragon's Eye
    - Yellow socket: Rigid King's Amber, Smooth King's Amber Rigid Dragon's Eye, Glinting Ametrine, Deadly Ametrine, Accurate Amertine
    - Blue socket: Nightmare Tear
    - Meta socket: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond
    Don't go for socket bonuses with silly random blue gems. But always keep either a Nightmare Tear or 1 blue + 1 yellow gem for the meta-gem bonus.
    You gem like this:
    I am ARP and min-hit capped(315) ---> Thrown in Agility, Agility + Crit, Agility + Hit, Haste gems
    I need ARP --> Throw in ARP gems
    I need hit rating --> Throw in Hit gems
    I need expertise --> Throw in expertise gems

    Do not Gem 40 AP gems into gear ever or any gem that contains AP + x something. You get more than enough AP from the gear itself. But men AP makes Eviscerate do more dmg. Please you're gona gem AP for something that deals 6-8% of total damage? Don't be pathetic just cause something makes pop a big number, does not mean yet that you should gem AP like you do SP on mages.


    Consumables

    - Scroll of Agility VIII
    - Potion of Speed, Haste Potion
    - Blackened Dragonfin, Fish Feast, Great Feast, Hearty Rhino, Rhinolicious Wormsteak, Snapper Extreme, Spiced Worm Burger
    - Flask of Endless Rage, Elixir of Deadly Strikes, Elixir of Expertise, Elixir of Armor Piercing, Elixir of Mighty Fortitude
    - Dragonbreath Chili
    - Global Thermal Sapper Charge, Saronite Bomb
    - Flame cap

    You should always bring your own food. The fish feast is probably the worst food u gona eat.
    If you need hit rating bring hit rating food, for crit agi food, for expertise expertise food and so on. Same goes for flasks/elixirs

    Professions


    Primary professions:

    Jewelcrafting + Engineering
    Engineering + Tailoring
    Tailoring + Jewelcrafting

    Engineering and Jewelcrafting are the best professions for PvE combat rogue.

    Secondary professions:

    Cooking
    Fishing
    First Aid

    Races

    From the best to worst. But in the end it doesn't really matter so just play w/e you like.

    Best on the horde side: Orc --> Troll --> Everything else
    Alliance side: Nelf --> Everything else
    Orc and troll do up to 100 DPS(No icc buff) more than other classes.
    BASE STATS
    Note: those're just lvl 1 stats. Stat gains're the same for each race. It's just that some races got higher starting base stats than others
    Races Night Elf Gnome Human Dwarf
    Agility 28 26 23 19
    Strength 18 16 21 23
    Races Blood Elf Troll Undead Orc
    Agility 25 25 21 20
    Strength 18 22 20 24
    Spoiler: Show

    Human
    Every Man For Himself This racial removes all movement impairing and control-losing effects on your character, and is on a 2 minute cooldown. A prime example of this is on Northrend Beasts in Trial of the Crusader when you are targetted with Frost Breath on Icehowl. Use this ability after you become stunned, and you will be freed from it. You can also use it to remove slowdowns like Frostbolt Volley. Some encounters have the control loss scripted where you cannot get out of it, like Putricide's Tear Gas.

    Sword SpecializationMace Specialization: Increases your expertise points by 3 when wearing a sword or mace in that particular hand. Simply put, this racial reduces the amount of expertise rating required to reach the cap which has the benefit of allowing a Human to acquire additional stats in place of expertise or to allow to have different best item combinations when using maces or swords. These 3 points contribute to 25 of the 214 required rating for the expertise cap, allowing you to only wear 189 rating and be capped on that hand. Note, that the bonus only effects the hand that the weapon is in. For example if your sword or mace is in the offhand, you will not get that expertise bonus for your main hand and special attacks if you are wearing an axe there. Sometimes you will be in a situation where your best weapon is not a mace or sword and the racial bonus in the main hand will not makeup the difference. Most of the time it's still best to use your best weapon in the main hand if it is an axe, since the DPS increase will overcome the 25 potential rating loss.

    Night Elf
    Shadowmeld: This is a useful tool to have in an aggro-sensitive environment. It temporarily removes you from all aggro-tables of all targets. Shadowmeld lasts indefinitely and is canceled upon any XYZ axis displacement, personal action, or if you take damage or become affected by a debuff. Once Shadowmeld is canceled, your will reappear on the aggro-tables where you once were with the same threat before you Shadowmelded. This ability does not reduce or remove your threat! Also, mobs will only ignore you if you are high enough level compared to the mob, and if you are far enough away from the mob. Shadowmeld is very useful if you are being targetted by a spell cast as well. If your Shadowmeld is successful before the cast has finished, your attacker will stop casting and target the appropriate player (or pet) based on the new aggro table. This also works if you are being melee'd or being hit with ranged attacks.

    Quickness: Your chance to be hit by ranged or melee is reduced by 2%. This ability does not work for spells. It might make you lucky if by chance you are targetted by a deadly physical attack.

    Nature Resistance: Your chance to be hit by nature spells is reduced by 2%. It helps to offset that if the incoming damage is frequent and small enough. It may also make you lucky if by chance you are targetted with a deadly nature attack.

    Orc
    Axe Specialization:Increases your expertise points by 5 when wearing an axe in that particular hand. Simply put, this racial reduces the amount of expertise rating required to reach the cap which has the benefit of allowing an Orc to acquire additional stats in place of expertise or to allow to have different best item combinations when using axes. These 5 points contribute to 41 of the 214 required rating for the expertise cap, allowing you to only wear 173 rating and be capped on that hand. Note, that the bonus only effects the hand that the weapon is in. For example if your axe is in the off hand, you will not get that expertise bonus for your main hand and special attacks. Sometimes you will be in a situation where your best weapon is not an axe and the racial bonus in the main hand will not makeup the difference. Most of the time it's still best to use your best weapon in the main hand regardless if it is an axe, since the DPS increase will overcome the 41 potential rating loss.

    Blood Fury: This ability increases your attack power by 322, Lasts 15 seconds, and is on a 2 minute cooldown. This buff scales with level, increases your attack power by (Level*4)+2 = 322 at Lvl80. Use it on cooldown.

    Hardiness: This reduces stun duration by 15%. Not a huge deal, but it is what it is.

    Troll
    Berserking: This increases your attack speed by 20% for 10 seconds, and is on a 3 Minute cooldown. Use it on cooldown.

    Beast Slaying: This increases your damage to beasts by 5%. An extremely overlooked racial, this acts as a multiplicative damage increasing modifier against any beast mob including bosses. Some boss examples include Maexxna and Icehowl.

    Da Voodoo Shuffle: This reduces the duration of movement slowing effects on you by 15%. Some bosses have slowing effects like Frostbolt Volley, so it helps a little if you have to move around when those are present.


    5. Useful macros
    Spoiler: Show



    Tricks of the Trade for Focus target
    Spoiler: Show

    #showtooltip
    /cast [target=focus] Tricks of the Trade

    Tricks of the Trade on mouse over
    Spoiler: Show

    #showtooltip
    /cast [help,exists] [target=mouseover,help,exists] [target=player] Tricks of the Trade

    Auto attacks fix for target switching
    Spoiler: Show

    #showtooltip Sinister Strike
    /equipslot 17 your_OH_wep_name
    /startattack
    /cast Sinister Strike
    /startattack
    /run local f = CreateFrame("frame",nil, UIParent); f:SetScript("OnUpdate", CombatLogClearEntries);

    Swiching weapons for Fan of Knives spam
    Spoiler: Show

    /startattack
    /cast Fan of Knives
    /equipslot 17 Slow_hard_hitting_wep_name
    /startattack

    Poisoning weapons
    Spoiler: Show

    #showtooltip
    /use [button:1] Instant Poison IX; Deadly Poison IX
    /use [button:1] 16; 17
    /click StaticPopup1Button1


    6. BiS gear and spreadsheets
    Spoiler: Show


    Weapons:
    For combat you should go highly preferable(From the best to worst)
    Sword + Sword/Sword + Axe/Axe + Sword/Axe + Axe
    Fist + Fist/Fist + Dagger
    Mace + Mace

    Of course if you got higher DPS fist + dagger than sword/axe combo you go with the fist/dagger spec.

    While you gear up. Always maintain a healthy hit rating, expertise, armor pen and crit chance ratio. Now I won't list what to get from beginning as there're so many possibilities of gear setups. Therefore you should adjust your gear via the spreadsheet below.


    Use the following spreadsheets to maximize your DPS via gear and gemming. Note: Spreadsheets and sims do not accurately calculate the output. You should take them with a grain of salt and more of a "guideline"
    Click me to download



    What T10 pieces to get. Why only 2 instead of all 4?
    The biggest mistake I see from player is donating normal/hc full usual 4set t10 gear. And then what I see full arp gems and having 5-7% hit chance. Do not get dat crap 1st. When going for T10 you should only get at most 3 pieces based on your other gear so that you don't end up starving on all the important stats. I highly recommend to get the 2set 1st as it punishes you less on losing important stats + you can do plenty of combinations around it. With 4set you're limited to either still gem only ARP or Hit rating.

    NOTE: THIS GEMMING IS FOR NON-ORC CLASSES. For Alliance the 1% hit via Heroic Presence and for Orc players using Axe Specilization, you should abuse that for your own gain.
    For 2set there are multiple options to go. You can go the one that I listed, or the alternative way. Meaning you go with Gunship Cloak and RS braces. You may and can change gemming to w/e more you want be it haste, hit or agility.
    2x T10

    2x T10 - Perfectly balanced, as all things should be


    4x T10

    4x T10- Perfectly balanced, as all things should be

    Having both full BiS 2set and 4set properly gemmed they're close in terms of DPS. The difference is only RNG. Who ever is more lucky'll pump more dps that's it.
    The frist 2 pictures I use 4set. The next two I use 2 set.
    RNG was okay, we did 1000 auto hits then stopped.
    We had all the buffs and dummy had all the debuffs that are beneficial to us. (That's the reason for the 14k+ DPS.) Could apply 30% buff but didn't bother.





    Differences between BiS 2set and 4set:
    2 pieces T10
    - The choice to go either more hit, haste or agi gems
    - Better energy regain
    - More talent/poison procs (H&S, Combat Potency)
    - Higher crit Cap

    4 pieces T10
    - 4set bonus
    - More raw Crit chance for abilities and poisons
    - More finishing moves




    2t9 designed for pre-ToC raiding by Cozzolino

    7. Rogues's arsenal of buffs, debuffs and utility
    Spoiler: Show




    Firstly what buffs and utility do we rogues bring into a raid?

    - Tricks of the Trade - TotT = +15% and Threat Redirection for the duration
    - Savage Combat = +4% Physical damage to every1 that we've poisoned with any poison, that lasts a while or ticks damage, those being Wound Poison, Crippling Poison and Deadly Poison
    - Crowd control
    - Ability to dispel Enrages via Anesthetic Poison II
    - Our own good arsenal of defensive/survival abilities
    - Mass AoE control via either a lot of damage, healing reductions, enrage dispells or even slows.

    Weapon Swapping
    We rogues can and should weapon swap for various reasons.
    - To do even more AoE damage
    - To do mass AoE slows
    - Switch to weapons to quickly apply some Healing reduction or even remove a Enrage effect.
    There fore having 2 additional weapons in the bags 1 slow and 1 fast can be very helpful.

    For more AoE damage swap your OH with a preferably slow weapon enhanced with Instant Poison.
    For quick enrage dispels with Shiv have a OH weapon coated with Anesthetic Poison.


    Next I shall follow on how to use a rogue in each ICC boss and on Halion. For other instances go figure out yourself.

    Spoiler: Show

    Lord Marrowgar
    Open up normally. Save blade flurry for Spikes but don't use it before they spikes're out cuz u might get spiked yourself.
    On Bonestorm keep using Feint on cooldown to minimize the damage. The moment you have less %HP than the boss your crits gona do less damage.

    Lady Deathwhisper
    From Royal Bloodline perspective as we stack adds.(It's the most efficient way btw)
    Phase 1:
    Open up on the boss w/o TotT-ing and using Blade Flurry.
    You gona use tott and blade flurry for adds in this phase. If there're 3+ adds you spam Fan of Knives

    Phase 2:
    Use TotT to help giving TPS on Lady to the tank.
    Use feint when spirits might hit you. Normally 2 will kill you. With Feint u can tank 3 of them easily.

    Trough the whole encounter:
    If there's a Melee being mind controlled you can use Dismantle on him so he won't 2 shot every1. Note: Macro your Dismantle to stop attack you don't want to kill that guy. You can also help by blinding a MD-ed target.
    You prio adds over the boss.
    If a MD-ed guy attacks you pop Evasion/Cloak of Shadows to survive.

    Gunship Battle
    If in cannons: AFK spam 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-2 jump when your cannon's frozen
    If not in cannons: Jump on absolute zero to kill the mage. Help managing adds on your own ship with ToTt on the tank

    Deathbringer Saurfang
    DPS the boss NOT the adds unless you have a death's wish. Healers having trouble dealing with Mark of the Fallen Champion and you happen to have it on you? Spam Feint on CD it will help a lot. Screw the DPS cause, if you die the boss'll heal up and potentialy wipe the raid.

    Festergut
    DPS fiesta. Try to avoid the damn goo. If it hits you remove it with Cloak of Shadows. You can see the goo as a green puddle under you or under some1 else.
    On Pungent Blight if you got no stacks or only 1. You should use Feint to survive the damage.

    Rotface
    Mostly DPS fiesta. If you want to idk have a bit more damage on recount, u may save Blade flurry for a small ozee within the Meele grp.
    On ooze explosion only Feint'll reduce the damage taken.
    Ooze AoE damage can be reduced with Feint

    PP
    Phase 1:
    Open normally go all in.
    Stack on green when the time calls. USE FEINT when soaking the Green ozee damage.
    Orange ooze - Run away kite it. Use sprint if necessary.
    If TotT is up when an ooze is up use it on a DPS.

    Phase 2:
    Dodge Goo. If you get hit by it remove it with Cloak of Shadows
    Avoid Yellow bombs. If you get hit them by use Cloak of Shadows to remove the debuff.
    For oozes themselves same as u did in phase 1.

    Phase 3:
    Dodge Goo. If you get hit by it remove it with Cloak of Shadows
    Avoid Yellow bombs. If you get hit them by use Cloak of Shadows to remove the debuff.
    Don't stand in the damn slime pool.

    DO NOT USE CLOAK OF SHADOWS, IF ORANGE OOZE IS CHASING U AS IT WILL MAKE HER SWITCH TARGETS AND POTENTIALLY WIPE THE RAID

    Blood Prince Council
    We shall go by if they're empowered.

    You open with tott and Blade flurry 1st. To give the tank tons of TPS on both Valanar and Taldaram at the same time.
    Valanar:
    Empowered Shock Vortex: As a rogue you can keep DPSing the boss don't run away. Pop Feint before he finishes the.

    Taldaram:
    Pop Cloak of Shadows/Feint if the big orange ball is being annoying. Sprint away if the ball is goin on you.

    Keleseth:
    Don't be a DPS wh0re and AoE here.

    BQL
    Open and DPS normaly
    Use Cloak of Shadows to remove Swarming Shadows. If that is on CD run away from the raid with Sprint/Boots.
    Keep feint on CD for Twilight Bloodbolts.
    On air phase. PoP Cloak of Shadows.

    VDW
    CC the following: Mage, Skeleton
    Use tott only on Skeleton or Abomination.

    Sindragosa
    Open and DPS normally. You can get from 15-25 stacks depending on how good your healers are.
    Don't burn Cloak of Shadows till Blistering cold. When you get pulled in pop Cloak of Shadows then you go MAX MELEE RANGE and you wait 2 sec till the end of the blistering cast then you use FEINT and tank it. You won't die from it if you don't fail the timing.

    On phase 3:
    Drop stacks at a max of 15. Use feint on cooldown to mitigate the AoE damage. In phase 3 you don't tank the Blistering cold with feint due to Mystic Buffet and healers're being super busy healing the whole raid.

    The Lich King

    p1:
    Open up normally. DON'T BE DAMN DPS WHORE by FOK-ing the ghouls. Don't use Cloak of Shadows on Necrotic plague as it gets removed completely it doesn't transfer at it should. At 75% no longer burn TotT on the boss you gona save it this time. Pop sprint/rocket boots, if you get the plague.

    p1,5 and p2,5:
    Tott the Raging Spirits. 1st --> 3rd or 2nd --> 4th ask your raid leader for that, if he doesn't tell which ones you're on.

    p2: As long as all 3 valks're close together you can Spam FoK. If not then you go single target rotation.

    p3: If vile spirits're coming towards you, get behind the tank and just to be double sure pop Feint, when they're closing in cause 2 spirits gona kill you. With Feint u can Soak up to 3 safely.

    Trough the encounter: You won't spread for defiles don't u even dare. If LK casts defile on you, you're gona Sprint/Rocket boots outa the raid and immediately return to DPSing. 2 seconds're more than enuf to make a good distance from the Melee grp.

    Halion
    This time you don't burn Adrenaline rush and blade flurry on the opening.
    Now depending on whenever you're supposed to TotT the tank all the time or the small adds.

    I tott adds: ToTT and Adrenaline rush right before they get into range then you pop Blade Flurry as well. Then Spam FoK till 2 adds're left alive.
    I tott the boss: You use tott when u have to move to the other side again aka when the next meteor is falling down. The rest is the same adrenaline rush right before they get into range then you pop Blade Flurry as well. Then Spam FoK till 2 adds're left alive. Don't be an ***** and single target the boss only, just cause u're supposed to TotT the MT. If you get aggro on adds pop Evasion.

    Combustion/Consumption: Sprint/Rocket boots to the edge and remove the debuff with Cloak of Shadows if it's off CD.

    Inside shadow realm:
    Be carefull with Killing Spree timing so you won't get cutted or get the debuff on you while u're KS-ing the boss.
    If healers're having trouble keep Feint on CD to help mitigating the damage.
    If you're going outside in Phase 3 don't burn Blade flurry nor Adrenaline rush save them to AoE adds for max damage output.

    And the last but the most important thing is where are you for Phase 3.
    If you're inside you KEEP KILLING SPREE GLYPH.
    If you're outside YOU TAKE Fan of Knives instead of Killing Spree.

    8. Useful addons for rogues plus my UI
    Spoiler: Show


    As a rogue it's recommended to have some addon to track your buffs and debuffs on the boss, unit frames, threat meter and a boss encounter addon. Everything else is not necessary. I just got other addons to make stuff more pretty lol.

    Unitframes addons:


    Buff/debuff tracking addons:

    Threat meters:



    Boss encounter addons:


    Misc:


    My UI:
    As per some requests and for all the lazy roggs. U can download my UI. It has all u need more or less.

    Download
    How to install my UI:
    Funky's tutorial
    Or just copy everything and rename the folders YOURACCNAME and Yourcharactername to that what you've got.
    Preview:


    NOTE: Addons like recount,omen,.. and so on you need to go into their settings under the "Profiles" tab and just click trough profiles till you find the one that sets up things properly..
    Here's an example

    9. What's still broken
    Spoiler: Show



    As you can see rogue is quite a complicated class. It's not simply 1-2-3-4 button smashing, easy gearing and gemming. I hope that this guide'll help you improving your rogue knowledge, a bit of raw skill and pump higher numbers on the recount.

    If you want to ask/add anything contact me in game or here.
    A Fluffyinsect
    A Fluffybully
    A Fluffyfloff

    Credits to Selaya, Nemmish, Raziel, fellow roggirs such as Krone, DarkenedHue, Fyriel, Kuba, Suxus, Kreg and of course Elitist Jerks for helping me out.

    I hope you've gained a little bit of insight on how to play a combat rogue. I wish you to have a lot of fun with it and good luck!

    Sources: My own mind, other players, various websites, Elitist Jerks(http://web.archive.org/web/201405112...-updated-2310/ , http://web.archive.org/web/201405112...pdated-for-33/)

    Cheers

    Updates:
    6.1.2017 Added: Special spec, new bug reports
    9.1.2017 Missing melee hits, 4set T10 double proc and KS teleport range fixed
    6.2.2017 Glancing hits damage fixed, edited/improved some parts in the guide
    9.2.2017 BF + FoK OH hits fixed
    1.3.2017 Added: attack speed calculation, useful raid buffs, lil overall improvements here and there, blade flurry seems to no longer proc on a single target
    14.3.2017 Added my UI download link.
    31.3.2017 Made Glyph and Talent section a bit nicer
    8.7.2017 Fixed dead links and few other changes
    21.11.2017 Updated gear due to the expertise and crit cap fix.
    20.1.2018 Added race base stats and additional consumables
    18.3.2018 Updated 2pc/4pc comparison
    10.3.2018 Twisted around the gearing path
    6.5.2020 Fixed crit-cap macro
    16.5.2020 minor improvements2
    2.6.2020 added 2 more bis sets and some missing gems/enchants
    Edited: January 29, 2022

  2. June 4, 2016  

  3. June 4, 2016  
    Excellent guide! There's not a single point I disagree with.

    I highly recommand this guide to any rogue out here. Read this guide, adapt the information and it definitely will improve your gameplay!

    __________

    Since many rogues aren't bis geared a lil section of very good non-bis items would be great tho.

    In terms of their stats items like:

    Twirling Blades
    Frenzystrike Longbow

    are close to bis (imo).

    __________

    Anyways... well done! (:
    Edited: June 5, 2016

  4. June 5, 2016  
    It's kinda pointless to make a non-bis item list as there're a lot of good items that can be mixed together in many ways. Non-bis combat rogues simply have to pursue gear that gives hit rating, expertise rating and armor pen then tweak that gear with correct gems and consumables.

  5. June 5, 2016  
    - Sprint, Engineering Rocket boots (Swarming Shadows,
    If you use any kind of speed boost when you get swarming shadows, it will just cut the flames making it unneccessarily bigger.

    Other than that, pretty good guide

  6. June 5, 2016  
    It was meant mostly to get to the edge asap, so that you dun put teh flames in the melee grp in the 1st place.

  7. June 5, 2016  
    If you use any kind of speed boost when you get swarming shadows, it will just cut the flames making it unneccessarily bigger.

    Other than that, pretty good guide
    makes them more spaced out tho, making people accidentally walking into them take less damage

  8. June 6, 2016  
    Thank you for the guide. It is well written.

    I think it might be a good idea to explain what high/low rupture rotation means.

  9. June 6, 2016  
    makes them more spaced out tho, making people accidentally walking into them take less damage
    I don't think it works like that.. Speed boost creates small gaps in which you take 0 damage, while next yard you would take full damage, so if you're lucky you're gonna walk into the gap, if not, well, you know. All in all, it definitely increases the chance of being feared into the flames so it's not worth using sprint for that. Better save it for when you are returning to the boss after you've placed down the flames.

  10. June 6, 2016  
    Thank you for the guide. It is well written.

    I think it might be a good idea to explain what high/low rupture rotation means.
    Agreed and thanks. I've added explanations under 3rd paragraph.

  11. June 6, 2016  
    I don't think it works like that.. Speed boost creates small gaps in which you take 0 damage, while next yard you would take full damage, so if you're lucky you're gonna walk into the gap, if not, well, you know. All in all, it definitely increases the chance of being feared into the flames so it's not worth using sprint for that. Better save it for when you are returning to the boss after you've placed down the flames.
    Well yes and no, before the core patch stacked flames would cause multiple instances of damage per tick, making a stack of flame from an ***** who didn`t move especially dangerous. No idea whether this has been changed, nor whether this is actually working as intended tho

  12. June 6, 2016  
    i noticed you said don't use double instant poison, well the reason you don't also is because deadly poison applies instant poison(main hand) anyways once it applies a stack once it hits 5.

  13. June 6, 2016  
    i noticed you said don't use double instant poison, well the reason you don't also is because deadly poison applies instant poison(main hand) anyways once it applies a stack once it hits 5.
    Aye, true. I forgot to mention that thanks.

    Update: Added more addons and for those who ask/asked me what addons I use, it's all there nao.
    Edited: June 6, 2016

  14. June 6, 2016  
    Well I have only one thing to add, the immunity to Combat potency. An annoying little bugger, but still http://imgur.com/a/P3tkc
    Edited: June 6, 2016

  15. June 6, 2016  
    Well I have only one thing to add, the immunity to Combat potency. An annoying little bugger, but still http://imgur.com/a/P3tkc
    Are you sure it's not the dummy that's bugged? They're known to be bugged in some aspects.

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