Rogue Guide

The complete guide to playing a rogue in World of Warcraft.

Table of Contents

• Rogue Race Choices
• Rogue Abilities
• Guide to Leveling
• Item Goals
• Rogue Talents
• Rogue Profession Choices
• End Game PvP Rogue Roles
• End Game PvE Rogue Roles
• Helpful Mods for Rogues

Class Overview

The Rogue is a character defined by his lack of presence. By the time you see the Rogue it's usually too late. The Rogue specializes in very fast, very powerful attacks, though there is a variety of Rogue that prefers a more consistent pounding damage. While a Rogue may be somewhat fragile and easy to take down, the strength of a Rogue comes from its ability to choose its battles, and to start them at its leisure. The Rogue is a versatile fighter with many stuns, bleeds, high damaging and stealth openers in its array of skills. The best way to fight a Rogue is to find it before it kills you.

Playable Races

Alliance:

Humans:

Humans are a typical jack of all trades race, very well suited to most roles and tasks. As a Rogue the human typically can make good use of its racial abilities against other Rogues and in specific roles.

The human racial abilities that a Rogue makes specific use of are Perception and Sword specialization. Nothing is more valuable than to be able to see another Rogue before he sees you, as between Rogues that is often enough to decide the fight. Since most Rogues will offhand a sword weapon, Rogues benefit from the additional +5 to sword skill, which translates to better chance to hit with the weapon.

Night Elves:

The night elves, above all other races, are characterized by their agility and grace. To be a Rogue, one has to be stealthy and quiet, manipulative and cunning, all an outstanding quality of the average night elf.

The two abilities that may stand out for a Rogue are Shadowmeld and Quickness. At first shadowmeld seems somewhat useless for a Rogue, but having a second stealth on a second cooldown may be enough to save you when a Horde gank squad comes around your grinding or farming area. Though having to remain stationary limits the usefulness of the ability it is just another type of precaution in the Rogues’ sneaky defense. Quickness adds 1% dodge, which is a primary form of damage mitigation for a Rogue. In other words, the Rogue’s armor being leather, better to not get hit at all than get hit for less.

Dwarves:

The Dwarves are a hardy race, and make use of their diminished size to remain hidden and perform their role. Though not very well suited to be Rogues, and their racial abilities do not lend themselves readily to the Rogue’s repertoire but can still add that pinch of flavor that a player needs to enjoy the game.

The primary skill for a dwarf Rogue to be concerned with is Stoneform. The Stoneform effect will increase your armor by 5% as well as make you immune to bleed, disease and poison effects, which is very useful for a Rogue that needs to vanish and stay vanished. However, some would consider the reduction to 70% movement speed a hindrance to the Rogue with other places to be than in involuntary combat. The gun specialization for a Rogue is arguable, though from time to time having a decent ranged weapon is invaluable when someone is trying to run away from you, which with a Rogue does occasionally happen.

Gnomes:

The gnomes are one of the ideal Rogue races. Their considerably small size and stature lends themselves to staying hidden. You might stand right on top of one and miss it for lack of looking down. Another interesting mechanic of World of Warcraft that a gnome makes use of is the ability to squeeze through small areas, which as a Rogue that kind of mobility and freedom is invaluable.

Escape Artist is likely the first ability to catch anyone’s eye. Since the Rogue relies on proximity to target snare breaking effects are invaluable, especially against a class such as the druid or mage. Being able to break a snare without using the vanish ability allows you to save it for when you really need it. Another ability that a Rogue can benefit greatly from is the racial +15 to engineering skill. Most players would do well to pick a crafting profession their first time through, but many engineering items can be a great supplement to Rogue abilities. Being able to net a running player, toss bombs on them, damage and debuff them in unorthodox ways allows engineering to lend itself to the Rogue play style.

Horde

Orcs:

The orc race is a race of politics, betrayals, assassination and brute strength. The orc Rogue is a brutal enemy, a foe who strikes without mercy at the weakest target to take it down.

Hardiness stands out as being invaluable to the orc Rogue, as this passive ability will give them the upper hand in fights against other Rogues and sometimes hunters as well. Between Rogues, careful timing of stuns is often the difference between win and lose so being able to break up that timing is an incredible advantage. The other Rogue ability of use to an orc is Blood Fury. When you want to hit hard, you can activate Blood Fury for a 25% bonus to your attack power and get that extra damage you need. However, with blood fury it comes with a considerable price. For the duration of Blood Fury heals on the Rogue will be less effective, meaning he may not survive long enough to effectively use his ability. After the buff wears off, the Rogue is debuffed with -25% attack power for 15 seconds. An orc Rogue needs to be able to kill his target quickly to be effective with his abilities.

Undead:

The undead Rogue is merciless and cruel, and attacks without remorse. The forsaken are jaded to life and as such are quick to end it without pity. The undead is possibly the strongest Rogue race for the Horde, considering their racial abilities.

The undead Rogue’s most useful ability is Will of the Forsaken. This ability grants immunity to, or breaks the effect of sleep, fear, and charm effects. This ability is almost overwhelmingly useful as many classes primary forms of defense are the ability to fear or charm the enemy. This ability is often used as a debuff breaker, but with proper timing and anticipation can be used to prevent the debuff from even taking place, however with a 5 minute duration for the effect it can be very difficult to use it that way. Another useful Rogue racial ability is the ability to cannibalize, or regenerate health by feeding off of corpses. In PVP combat you don’t know where your next heal is going to come from, so the ability to regenerate some health from the corpse of your latest victim may save you in your next encounter. It’s also useful to minimize downtime during grinding or farming periods.

Troll:

The trolls are an outcast race of Azeroth. Though they claim an affiliation with the horde based on honor, they take great pride in their own tradition of combat. With barely even a home to call their own they cling strongly to what is still theirs. The hilt of a dagger or sword is not unfamiliar to a troll and many will use them as Rogues, with great precision and deadly force.

The showcase troll ability is berserking, a scaling increase in attack or casting speed dependant on the health of the user. Depending on your health level you can expect between a 10% and 30% increase in attack speed. Here’s where it gets tricky. A dagger Rogue that relies on single hit massive damage does not benefit very much from this ability, while a combat Rogue that prefers a flurry of attacks over pinpoint stabbing precision may appreciate the increased attack speed. Another racial trait to be aware of the +5% damage bonus to beasts. If the Rogue picks up a skinning profession this talent may have noticeable benefit to productivity and leveling. Finally, like the dwarf the usefulness of the +5 to bows skill is arguable, but may come in handy in a pinch.

Note: (all abilities are described with their effects at level 60)

Stealth
Allows the Rogue to sneak around, but reduces your speed to 70% of normal. Lasts until cancelled.

The ability that practically defines the Rogue, stealth, allows the Rogue to be completely invisible to the enemy, and even ungrouped friends. This ability gives the Rogue the advantage of being able to pick and choose their fights in most cases, as well as the ability to start with an advantage of both surprise and a choice of openers. This ability also has great utility in that it allows to the Rogue to accomplish several unique roles. The Rogue can scout enemy territory without being detected, can go AFK in relatively unsafe places, and in some cases even farm bosses with other Rogues and druids by skipping the enemies in between.

Openers:

These are abilities commonly used from stealth to begin the fight to the Rogue’s advantage.

Cheap Shot
Stuns the target for 4 sec. Must be stealthed. Awards 2 combo points.

Cheap shot is a safe opener against most classes except the mage, who can blink out of most stuns. It will give you a few seconds to decide what you want to do, especially if you’ve used cheap shot after having to vanish from someone. The extra combo point makes applying kidney shot easier, as well as giving your eviscerate more punch when you need to use it fast.

Ambush
Ambush the target, causing 250% weapon damage +290 to the target. Must be stealthed and behind the target. Requires a dagger in the main hand. Awards 1 combo point.

This is preferred opener for most dagger Rogues, as it has the potential to do more damage than any ability with the exception of a critical eviscerate. With the improved ambush talent this ability is preferred for leveling as you can deal roughly 25%-50% of an enemy’s health in damage in a single hit.

Garrote
Garrote the enemy, causing 438 damage over 18 sec. Must be stealthed and behind the target. Awards 1 combo point.

Garrote is an ability that doesn’t see much use, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t have its uses. When fighting a Rogue, putting a DOT effect on him early is the best way to ensure he doesn’t try to vanish and to get away or use an opener. This is an alternative to cheap shot followed by rupture, as rupture will cost you those combo points from cheap shot. Another thing to consider is that for a sword Rogue it’s the only opener that will do anything to most bosses, since most are immune to stuns.

Damage abilities

These are abilities primarily used to deal damage and build up combo points.

Sinister Strike
An instant attack that causes 72 to 73 damage in addition to your normal weapon damage. Awards 1 combo points.

The basic damaging attack for a Rogue, this is the basic combo point builder. What this means is that in almost any situation you can consider your energy regen, which is 20 per tick, and know how long it will be before you have 5 combo points for a finisher, assuming you have the improved sinister strike talent, which makes the cost of the ability 40 energy. Using this knowledge to your advantage will allow you to better time stuns and gouges to allow the enemy minimal time to attack while you prepare your finisher. The most important thing to understand about sinister strike, as well as the backstab ability and ambush, is that these attacks are instant. This means that the most important stat on any main hand weapon is the maximum and minimum damage range. Your weapon speed is effectively the global cool down on all abilities, since you can sinister strike whenever you have energy, independent of the weapon’s own speed.

Backstab
Backstab the target, causing 150% weapon damage plus 210 to the target. Must be behind the target. Requires a dagger in the main hand. Awards 1 combo point.

Almost identical to ambush, except usable out of stealth, it is the primary damage dealer for most dagger Rogues. Coupled with the improved backstab talent it has the tendency to crit relatively consistently, dealing massive bursts of damage, especially against targets with little armor. Like sinister strike, this is an instant attack and its damage output is extremely dependant on the damage range of the dagger being used. Considering that this ability uses 60% of your energy gauge, its extremely important to time this ability to leave you with a little energy left over, either for a finisher or stun.

Riposte
A strike that becomes active after parrying an opponent’s attack. This attack deals 150% weapon damage and disarms the target for 6 sec.

This attack is only obtainable through the combat talent tree, so most dagger Rogues at least won’t have it. The damage works essentially the same as ambush and backstab. That is, it's an instant attack and weapon damage range determines how much it contributes to overall dps. The significant difference is that there is no talent that would enable it to crit with any consistency comparable to either of the other abilities. Though it deals a decent amount of damage for its 10 energy cost, the real value of this ability is in its disarm effect. This is extremely useful against warriors and Rogues, as they are likely the only ones who will be meleeing you in most cases. However be warned, many Rogues and warriors have either weapon chains or pieces of armor that have an immune to disarm equip bonus.

Finishers

Abilities that use combo points.

Eviscerate
Finishing move that causes damage per combo point.

This is a Rogue’s most potentially damaging ability, in most cases. Unless the Rogue is extremely well geared from raiding instances, it is the only ability that can break 2,000 damage dealt on a critical. A Rogue with cold blood will often wait until an enemy is low, and then use it to guarantee a critical eviscerate, which is necessary in most cases to prevent many healing classes and casters a chance to react and save themselves. What makes it great for people who can’t obtain epic quality gear is that the damage dealt is completely constant. That is, no weapon or stats will change the damage range done by eviscerate. Obviously this is good for the Rogue that just hit 60, as his eviscerate will do as much damage as the Rogue who has been raiding for a year.

Slice and Dice
Finishing move that increases melee attack speed by 30%. Lasts longer per combo point.

This ability is very similar to the warrior and shaman Flurry ability, which simply increases attack speed. However, the thing about slice and dice that makes it so much better than both of theirs is that it can be activated on demand, and in many situations kept up constantly. This ability is more suited to combat Rogues, however, as they get the most benefit to having increased white damage dps, considering that a combat Rogue’s offhand will deal 50% more damage.

Rupture
Finishing move that causes damage over time. Lasts Longer per combo point.

Rupture is ideal for keeping Rogues out of stealth, as well as keeping the pressure on the opponent. The damage dealt by rupture is considerable when one has improved rupture and uses it with 5 points. Combined with deadly poison this can be a very effective offense against warriors, as bleed effects ignore armor and tick for their regular amounts. However, keep in mind that certain stuns such as gouge will not stay when damage is being done to the target.

Kidney Shot
Finishing move that stuns the target. Lasts longer per combo point.

One of the Rogue’s most important abilities in PVP. Kidney shot makes knowing the cost of your abilities and timing your energy ticks a necessity, as against certain classes you want to be able to minimize the time the enemy has to attack you while still being able to maintain some burst damage. It is important to keep in mind that this ability is subject to diminishing returns.

Expose Armor
Finishing move that exposes the target for 30 sec, reducing armor per combo point.

This ability is most useful as a seal fate Rogue, since you’ll usually have a lot of extra combo points to work with. The armor reduction has a pretty noticeable effect against anything wearing plate, since warrior and paladin defense can mitigate a lot of the Rogue’s damage from backstab and eviscerate. The problem with this move is deciding whether the combo points are more valuable as armor reduction or flat out damage with rupture or eviscerate, or maybe even mitigation through kidney shot. Ultimately it’s very situational and depends on the fight.

Other combat abilities

Gouge
Causes 75 damage, incapacitating the opponent for 4 sec, and turns off your attack. Target must be facing you. Any damage caused will revive the target. Awards 1 combo point.

This move is possibly one of the dagger Rogue’s most important abilities. The stun is guaranteed to last 4 seconds, 5.5 seconds with talents, and provides the Rogue with an opportunity to easily get behind the enemy for a backstab. However, in PVP it has far more utility than to simply guarantee positioning. The gouge can be considered a combo linker, with its improved time you can regenerate 60 energy, more than the cost of the gouge, enabling you to extend your stun lock or damage combos just a little farther. Gouge is also extremely useful to give you breathing room, time to think even, or just a chance to run away out of range. It can even be used just to cancel spell casts or temporarily incapacitate someone when you are fighting 2 enemies. The usefulness of this ability is ultimately up to the creativity of the Rogue. As an added bonus, this attack adds a combo point, which assists greatly in stun lock combos. It's important to note the 10 second cooldown of this ability, however, so when you time your stun locks or whatever you use it for make sure you allow the stun to linger at least long enough to have it back up when you’ll next need it.

Kick
A quick kick that injures a single foe for 80 damage. It also interrupts spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 5 sec.

An incredibly useful tool against casters, kick gives the Rogue another counter against timed casts by being able to cancel it outright for a minimal energy cost. Kick not only cancels the spell being cast but also makes it so that all spells of that school are instantly set to a 5 second cool down. What this means that, if you kick a mage casting a fireball he will be unable to cast any fire spell for 5 seconds. However, he will still be able to cast ice and arcane spells. Similarly with priests, you may kick cancel a shadow spell only to find them still capable of casting a heal. Be weary of casters with offensive spells from multiple schools, particularly mages and warlocks because some players who are acquainted with the Rogue’s abilities may try to trick you by casting a different spell, allowing you to kick them, and then casting from the school they want. Even trickier druids and shaman will occasionally cast their hearthstone, pretending to be casting a nature spell.

Blade Flurry
Increases attack speed by 20%, in addition, attacks strike an additional nearby opponent. Lasts 15 sec.

This attack is another defining characteristic of the combat Rogue, as it can only be obtained through a talent high up in the combat tree. With its low cool down, this ability will find considerable use both in PVP and PVE since it will effectively double your total damage output for 15 seconds, albeit spread out between 2 targets. While that might seem to be more a PVE advantage, the effect will be extremely noticeable in group PVP situations where the enemies usually have significantly less hit points. Ideally you should pair this ability with your most damaging combos so that the total damage is also dealt to the additional target.

Adrenaline Rush
Increases your energy regeneration rate by 100% for 15 sec.

The 31 point talent for the combat tree, this ability provides huge ability use potential for 15 seconds. Essentially the 20 energy tick becomes a 40 energy tick, which plainly means you can sinister strike once every tick without running out of energy. The important thing to keep in mind about this ability is that any energy tick over your maximum is wasted energy, so it's important to keep your energy at 60 or lower throughout the duration of this ability. Do this either through damage abilities like sinister strike or various stuns and DOTs. This ability simply provides the Rogue with the means to “go nuts” with his abilities, which is where a lot of creativity will come into play.

Feint
Performs a feint, causing no damage but lowering your threat by a large amount, making the enemy less likely to attack you.

First off, it should be stated that this ability only has an effect in PVE combat. So if you have a preferred hot bar setup for PVP this ability doesn’t belong on it. What this ability does is permanently lower your threat by a set amount. This means that once used the monster is more likely to drop aggro on you in favor of someone else, or will be less likely to aggro you in the first place. However, this ability can be blocked or dodged just like any other, in which case if you were relying on this threat reduction you may need to ease your damage output to prevent getting aggro.

“Cooldown” Abilities

Blind
Blinds the target, causing it to wander at 40% of move speed disoriented for up to 10 sec. Any damage caused will remove the effect.

This ability is extremely useful for avoiding close calls, with the downside that it requires a somewhat expensive reagent. Blind has a 10 yard range so its use can vary from either giving yourself time to bandage yourself or extending a stun lock combo, to keeping an enemy from running away. The ability has the chance to break early, so you should be careful when relying on it for a timed cast like bandage or applying poisons, or even waiting to go out of combat to re-stealth.

Evasion
The Rogue’s dodge chance will increase by 50% for 15 sec.

This is the Rogue’s foremost defense against other Rogues and warriors, with an interesting exception. Warriors have an ability called overpower that allows them a guaranteed hit when their opponent dodges. Some have a talent for overpower that increases its critical rate by 50%. What this means is, against warriors dodge may make it easier for them to beat you. Some say that it’s better to use evasion and only get hit by overpower. It's extremely situational as to whether this ability should be used against a warrior. Against a Rogue however, it’s an extremely good defense if you are at a disadvantage. Against enhancement specced shaman and paladins this ability is a relatively good form of mitigation, although both are capable of keeping you busy until the effect wears off.

Sprint
Increases the Rogue’s movement speed by 70% for 15 seconds. Does not break stealth.

This move does not necessarily see its only use in combat. Sprint can be handy whenever you need a burst of speed. From just running from place to place to jumping across gaps, when you need a speed boost spring does the trick. Its uses in combat are many, as the Rogue has no other real way to close distance fast the way warriors do, and obviously ranged classes are in no desire to be in melee proximity. Be warned, when you have a slowing affect debuff it will slow your sprint speed too, so you may be better off waiting it out.

Vanish
Allows the Rogue to vanish from sight, entering an improved stealth mode for 10 sec. Also breaks movement impairing effects.

One of the Rogue’s signature abilities, this move allows the Rogue to re-enter stealth while in combat. Once vanish is used the Rogue is in an improved stealth for 10 seconds, which makes it harder than normal for enemies to see the Rogue than in normal stealth. This ability will also protect the Rogue against incoming spells, if done fast enough. The major weakness of the vanish ability is the susceptibility to DOT effects, as any damage done while in stealth will bring the Rogue out. For PVP purposes, vanishing effectively removes the Rogue from combat, allowing him to use another opener against his opponent. A Rogue specced for the preparation ability is capable of using an opener against his opponent 3 times in one fight. The first opener from stealth, to start the fight, the second after their first vanish, and the third from using preparation and vanishing again. It is for this reason that a preparation Rogue played properly is capable of beating any class one on one. Of course, one on one encounters can be somewhat rare on a populated server. In PVE this ability is supposed to remove you from combat temporarily, clearing all of the Rogue’s threat. However, at the moment the ability does not remove the Rogue from combat in raid instances. It is unknown whether this is a bug or intended.

The Rogue is a relatively painless class to level, considering that a Rogue is designed to kill mobs quickly. However, the best way to level any character or do anything for that matter is focus and commitment to the task at hand. The level ranges given are just a rough idea of what you can expect to be doing at any particular time. In most cases the mentioned zones will have a plethora of quests to finish for a lot of xp.

1-10

For horde or alliance Rogues this will consist of beginner area quests, though at this point a Rogue can kill mobs so easily that any gaps between quests will easily be filled by a little bit of monster killing. Gear has no particular significance at this level so you should feel free to equip whatever you can find, and perhaps save up enough cash to train in swords.

11-20

Here’s where it starts to get interesting.

The horde has an early instance option called rage fire chasm, located in orgrimmar itself, in the cleft of shadow. This instance isn’t until roughly level 15-17 for most classes, but there are still many quests to be had in durotar or mulgore and particularly the barrens or silverpine will have quests of interest, as well as easily grindable monsters.

For the alliance you are without an instance for a little while longer, but there are many quests in loch modan and particularly good quest chains in westfall that will help you with your experience grinding.

21-30

At this point many horde and alliance will start leveling in the same places, doing the same instances etc. Obviously, this can be somewhat dangerous. But you’re a Rogue! That’s what it’s all about. Both horde and alliance tend to share the ashenvale stonetalon and one thousand needles zones, as they both have quests there for ranging through the 20s. Both factions may take an interest in each other’s home zone instances (Wailing Caverns, Dead Mines) though it may not be possible to obtain more than 1 or 2 quests for the opposite instance. As you reach 23-25 roughly both the alliance and horde will have Blackfathom depths open to them, which is actually a very entertaining instance with many useful drops for most classes.

Initially, alliance will want to do the Deadmines instance in westfall, as a major quest chain ends there and decent initial upgrades can be found. Afterwards ashenvale is a relatively safe place for the alliance to level, and as you get higher in the 20s duskwood is as well.

The horde will be eyeing Stonetalon Mountains as well as ashenvale, and one thousand needles becomes a viable leveling group towards the mid 20s as well, but first horde will have a productive instance in the form of Wailing Caverns, with several quests even being given right above the entrance. The instance isn’t as large as Deadmines, but is actually quite full with many bosses and even a large boss at the end that requires all the other bosses to be defeated.

31-40

Probably the most enjoyable level range in the game, this one is all about Scarlet Monastery. There’s a little something for everyone in scarlet monastery, and with 4 instances of varying levels most classes could pretty much level this whole range inside of it. Because of this it is usually extremely easy to get groups at any time of the day. If you’re planning on questing, the zones of Stranglethorn vale Desolace and shimmering flats section of one thousand needles are good places to go.

41-50

Most veterans will agree, this is the most annoying level range in the game. Though it may be, the addition of quests by blizzard shortly after release softened it up a bit. The first thing you’ll want to do if you’re done with Scarlet Monastery’s Cathedral is run Razorfen downs. A lot of people dislike this instance but it has several bosses and good gear available from it, though few quests. The instance is somewhat easy if you have a tank and healer that know what they’re doing. After Razorfen Downs you should be in the mid 40s, and you’ll be ready to do Zul’farrak. This would be a good time to take a break and do some quests, as several of the quests in hinterlands relate to an encounter in Zul’farrak as well as a chain quest or two that originates in tanaris, which is a great place to quest at this time as well. Along with tanaris the Badlands are suitable for questing at the beginning of the level range, dustwallow marsh and swamp of sorrows will help you along as well and there are a large number of quests from camp mojache in feralas. Towards the end of the level range you’ll likely want to start doing maraudon, a 47+ instance in desolace, as it has 3 sections all which contain invaluable upgrades for most classes, things you’ll be using until level 60 in many cases.

51-60

The home stretch. Though it requires more experience then probably the first 3 level ranges combined, it is probably the one you’ll notice the least. Who notices a little hardship when victory is so close?

You will probably still be doing maraudon by level 52, trying to get specific items unless you got really lucky on your previous runs, but at this point you can begin doing sunken temple in swamp of sorrows. Sunken temple contains mostly caster upgrades but if you’re a skinner you stand to bank pretty well off of it, as one of its sections is completely filled with green dragonkin. Sunken Temple is usually avoided once you can do Blackrock Depths however. On the other hand, Blackrock depths is probably the biggest 5 man instance in the game, there are a plethora of upgrades and items to get. Specifically, one of the best obtainable Rogue daggers outside of Molten Core and Battlegrounds drops off of Plugger Spazzring in the bar of Blackrock Depths, called the Barman Shanker.

At 58 (57 might be stretching it a bit) you can probably begin doing endgame instances such as Strathholm, Scholomance, and Blackrock spire and begin collecting your blue set from these instances.