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I'm not looking for the best spec, but for the one that doesn't suck and that I will like it.
So what I mean to ask is how does each spec play like? And which are good enough for leveling, which are good enough for pve, and which are good enough for pvp?
As for PVE there's Assassination and Combat. Assassination is easy as hell, doesn't need arp cap, but it's not really popular in raids cause combat brings 4% physical damage. Assassination dps isn't bad, it's quite ok.
Combat is preferred in endgame gear cause of the buff and it beats assassination in dps.
PVP it's pretty much just sub. Other's might be fun like full pve combat to burst people in BGs but that's all it'll do.
Thanks for the help, this really helped me!Quote:
Originally Posted by dolcokidol
PvP - Sub or assa. Sub is more control and burst, assa has similar playstyle to a warrior. I'd suggest sticking to sub and learning it properly
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PvE - Combat or assa.
Combat: Better damage on end-game encounters (pp hc/lod/ruby hc) and better damage once you start getting some proper gear (8% hit, 26 expertise and 80%+ arp). Brings a unique raid buff. 95%+ of pve rogues play combat
Assa: Better damage if you're fresh to the raiding scene. Isn't as gear dependent as combat and has plenty of easy alternatives when it comes to gearing up. Combat is a lot stricter on gear/stats if you want to pull proper numbers, assa has more freedom (items like WFS, Herkumi, t10 gloves+pants from VoA which are all easy to get scale a lot better on assa than on combat. Also daggers are a lot easier to get since you don't have any competition on them). Also brings a raid buff (Master Poisoner) but it is the same that's applied by rets, which will be part of every raid anyway.
Both specs work, both pull numbers, both have similar skillcaps. It's up to you.
Here's the good stuff:
Combat
Very straightforward, very little wind up to get going, good all around. Basically you spam Sinister Strike and keep up Slice and Dice and then either max combo Rupture (if the encounter isn't over in a matter of seconds, that is) or Eviscerate. It is true, Combat rogue wants Armor Penetration in the end game (like, very very late end game), however crit cap builds with a touch of haste works very well and is much more available than the sought after DBW and STS trinket you need for the cap (the alternative is soft cap build with NES).
Signature moves:
- Blade Flurry, which will make your melee attacks hit the closest target to your actual target and give 20% haste rating
- Killing Spree, which will increase damage by 20% for the whole duration and will automatically attack close targets on the back with both weapons at the same time (yep, you can double the effect with Blade Flurry activated)
- Adrenaline Rush, which doubles energy regeneration for 15 seconds
- Savage Combat is a passive talent that will increase physical damage dealt to targets you have poisoned by 4%
Assassination
Needs wind up, is deceptively difficult to play. Sin rogues need to apply 5 stacks of Deadly Poison in order to unlock their true damage potential, thus why it is definitely a raiding spec. Use Mutilate to build up combo point, Slice and Dice will always be up because of Cut to the Chase talent, and all you have to do is to try and keep Envenom up for as long as you can to ensure max poison procs. In the very end game, it is possible to have both Rupture and Envenom up at the same time with some lucky crits. Playing Sin Rogue well and maxing his dps means you have to master his signature moves;
- Hunger for Blood, will increase damage dealt by 5%, lasts 1 minute and requires your current target to have an active bleed effect to use
- Overkill, when coming out of stealth you gain 30% energy regeneration, this can be achieved by starting the encounter while stealthed and using Vanish to refresh the buff every 3 minutes
- Cold Blood. will make your next ability crit chance 100%
- Master Poisoner is a passive talent that will increase crit chance of all attacks dealt to a target you have poisoned by 3%
- Turn the Tables, a lesser known fact about Sin rogues is that this talent - while active - will also increase critical chance of everyone in the raid who uses spells that generate combo points (thus other Rogues, even if they don't have the talent, and cat Druids)
Subtetly
Sorry, I don't play this spec and it's mostly for PVP anyway.
Levelling:
Combat is hands down the easiest and most straightforward although experienced people prefer levelling as Subtetly due to oneshot potential and much more mobility overall, also the stronger stealth can be valuable. Since you're asking questions I think Combat is the most suitable spec for you.
PvE:
Do not bring a Sub rogue into any serious dungeon or raid, this spec is all about burst and control and the DPS is garbage. Combat spec is best for non-stationary encounters, or anything that involves switching target at all, it is somewhat harder to gear than the Sin rogue because everyone and their mothers will roll for your ArmPen gear and DBW/STS are very contested trinkets. Sin Rogues do very well into tank and spank fights where you can never lose your Deadly Poison stacks on the main target, they use Daggers, which are much less contested than Swords/Maces/Axes, and want crit/haste/AP trinkets. Overall Combat and Sin rogues will have very similar dps on equal gear, any difference is dictated entirely by the nature of the fight: tank and spank fights will favor Sin rogues, fights where there's a lot of moving and target swapping will favor Combat rogues.
Stat priority:
Combat: Hit (softcap)/Expertise (softcap), then Armor Pen (1400, hard cap) or stack Crit/Agility with a touch of Haste until DBW and STS drop.
Sin Rogues: Hit (softcap)/Expertise (softcap), then Haste>Attack Power>Crit>ArmorPen, also it's very ok to get some extra Hit since it will improve the rate at which your poisons apply with the Off Hand.
For pve low gear > go assassination and just build haste. No need for armor pen.
For Combat > go when you get better gear as you require armor pen + axe/sword. Daggers are quite bad for combat...
For pvp you can go any spec you want. Assassination is killing people in stun lock, combat is killing people in a single killing spree bceause of 100% armor pen and subltelty is to go because of utility.
Combat is good from the start, use a rupture talent build. Prioritize rupture on bigger elites/bosses, eviscerate on smaller trash. You don't have to worry about ArP when you're still gearing for up to 245 items. 251 items and above start prioritizing ArP as passive, don't gem ArP yet, keep using agility gems. Still, you shouldn't pass on good upgrades even if they don't have ArP. Work on your gear. When your passive ArP is closing in on 700, start gemming for Arp, as at this point ArP > agility gems.Quote:
Originally Posted by Overloard99
At lower ilevels (before ArP becomes the key stat) haste means more weapon swings -> more 15 energy procs from offhand, and more poison hits. Crit means more combo point procs from SS, and you skills have higher chance to do more damage. At lower ilvl ArP won't benefit you as much as other stats.
Yes, bleed scales pretty well with attack power +glyph for more bleed seconds. I've even seen pvp rogues taking full attack power gems for bleed/garrote damage instead of armor pen. They say it works good against plates. While some still consider 45-50% armor pen in pvp better as they do not use bleeds. But that's just opinions.Quote:
Originally Posted by OhieMitzen
Also considering that every gem costs like 300-400 gold, that will be really hard for me...
I think the bleed/poison vs ArP in pvp comes down to their gear level and the gear they have access to, and of course, the build. Personally, it's REALLY exciting seeing plates die due to loads of poison/bleed damage, and being able to do exactly nothing about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Overloard99
for best balance do not spend any talents
The only downside of bleed/wound poison is that you cannot use blind/gouge that good. They will just last 1 second. So it means you gotta be really fast to not get noticed while doing vanish.Quote:
Originally Posted by Terrato137