As a Rogue, you’re mostly going to be relying on the strength of your dagger for your damage. There are a select few daggers pre-Molten Core that are considered acceptable. For starters, the Barman Shanker which drops off of Plugger Spazzring in Blackrock depths, the almost identical dagger keris of zul’Serak which drops from Warmaster Voone in Lower Blackrock Spire. An upgrade from both of those, however, would be the Lobotomizer, an Alterac Valley exalted level purchasable dagger, and glacial blade, available before lobotomizer.

In terms of off hands, Rogue preferences vary. For a dagger Rogue, preference is almost always given to offhand weapons with better stats than DPS, so you may find the occasional Rogue off handing a green dagger just because it has +30 attack power on it. A dagger with decent DPS that has +attack power bonus on it is Bonescraper, which can drop from Baron Rivendare.

For combat Rogues, suitable swords may be found in the form of the dal’rend set: Dal’rend’s Sacred Charge and Dal’Rend’s Tribal Guardian , which drops off of Warchief rend blackhand in Upper Blackrock Spire but is relatively hard to get both of them without doing many runs. The only other alternative would be to get lucky and loot a sword of zeal or buy one off the auction house, though they tend to be pretty expensive. Krol blade is a decent sword for a sword Rogue, either main hand or off but for the price is probably not worth buying.

There are two easily obtainable rings every Rogue should have, painweaver band from General Drakkisath in Upper Blackrock Spire and Don Julio’s band from Alterac Valley exalted rewards. They add a decent amount of attack power and both of them have a +1% crit bonus.

There are relatively few options in terms trinkets, but the ones available are fine so it honestly just makes things a lot simpler. The best trinket is one that you will get from the second part of the Warlord’s command quest line, obtainable in kargath. The trinket Blackhand’s breadth adds 2% crit and it’s a nice boost, considering the alternatives. Another trinket is one that can be obtained in the high 40s from a hinterlands quest. The trinket is called rune of the guard captain, which gives +1% to hit and +20 attack power. This is a pretty safe and beneficial combination, and many combat Rogues prefer the trinket called Hand of Justice which drops from General Angerforge in Blackrock Depths. The trinket grants +20 attack power and a 2% chance to gain an extra attack, pretty ideal for a combat Rogue, especially one with the sword specialization talent.

Consumables

Ideally, a Rogue will have a LOT of Heavy runecloth bandages. Every stun almost is an opportunity to bandage a bit if needed, and especially when blind powder is handy it gives just enough time to get a full bandage in. If a paladin isn’t too particularly clever you can bandage while he shields and heals himself, for example.

Another ideal item to have is of course, Major Healing Potions. Obviously these are expensive, so an alternative is night dragon’s breath and whipper root tuber from felwood, collectable as part of a quest. These might heal for smaller amounts but are all on separate timers, so a potion and each of these may be used without a cool down.

The most common consumables that no Rogue should be without are their poisons. Most Rogues as a rule have crippling poison on one of their weapons at all times in PVP. A Rogue is nothing with close range to its target, and crippling poison ensures that this is almost always the case. Instant poison is a good all around poison to use, and if you aren’t in a stunlock mood you might try a combination of deadly poison and rupture to put maximum damage over time on the target, which isn’t mitigated by armor or affected by my range once the enemy is afflicted. Wound poison is not particularly useful, as attacks like mortal strike have a much greater affect on healing done to the target. Mind numbing poison can be useful against casters, especially ones that can heal.

Talents probably have more of a direct affect on how a Rogue is played than the very abilities a Rogue uses. Rogue talents are set up such that there are a few very preferred builds that all include similar talents to be effective. Here we’ll name and identify some of them for their primary talents and discuss interchangeable talents.

These are what most Rogues would agree are the 3 most viable talent builds.

DAGGER BUILDS

The staple of almost any dagger build is the inclusion of the talents “Improved Backstab,” which increases Backstab critical chance by 30%, “Malice,” which increases your critical chance by 5%, and “Lethality,” which increases critical strike bonus damage of most Rogue abilities by 30%. Notice that the talents improved backstab and Lethality are a necessity, as the dagger build gets its damage from consistent backstab criticals, on which Lethality improves the damage bonus by 30%, a very large amount. The issue with this is then that any Rogue build which relies on critical damage MUST have Lethality to be effective, thus limiting your options as you stray from the assassination tree.

SEAL FATE BUILD (often known as 31/8/12 or 30/8/13)

One of the most common dagger specs, seal fate is characterized by the 25 point talent in assassination called “Seal Fate.” This build is the best talent build for maximum output burst damage. With the combo point build up generated by Seal Fate and talent “Cold Blood” a smart Rogue can possibly dish out a 4k damage combo in the space of 4-5 seconds.

The important end talents to note are Seal Fate in assassination, improved backstab in Combat, and improved ambush in subtlety. The interchangeable end talent points are either 1 point in vigor in assassination, and extra 10 max energy, or a third point in improved ambush in subtlety, yielding 45% extra critical chance instead of 30%. Many Rogues prefer vigor, as with careful timing of energy ticks an extra 10 energy can make the difference in a pure stun lock, or efficient opener combo. Whereas with only 2 points in improved ambush it still has the same critical strike chance as improved backstab.

Besides these end points there are several interchangeable points in the build, though many are preferred as one talent or another there are several that are purely preferential.

The assassination tree starts with 5 points in Malice (+5% critical rate), a requirement for this build, and usually 3 points in improved eviscerate (+15% eviscerate damage). Abilities that improve damage done are essential to the dagger Rogue as they prefer to damage as quick as possible, leaving the enemy little to no time to react. Ruthlessness (60% chance to add a combo point on finisher) and relentless strikes (20% chance per combo point on finisher to add 25 energy) is also preferred, as the 25 energy bonuses from using a 5 point kidney shot can help you get the necessary backstabs off quickly, and possibly even have enough energy to continue the lock with a gouge when kidney shot wears off. Once points are placed in Lethality (30% critical damage bonus for most Rogue specials) you have more leeway with your choices to customize to your preference. At this point the goal is to reach Seal Fate (ability criticals have 100% chance to add an extra combo point) and maybe Vigor (+10 Max energy), depending on your preference. At this point you can either put points into vile poisons (+15% poison damage), improved instant poison (instant poison proc chance increased 10%), or you can take talents from earlier in the tree. You now have 3 points to use before you get to cold blood, and so here is where many Rogues’ preferences come into play. You have murder (+3% chance to hit on openers and sap), Remorseless attacks (after killing a mob or player, 40% extra critical chance on most Rogue abilities for the next 20 seconds), improved expose armor (+45% additional armor reduction from expose armor) and improved slice and dice (+45% duration on the slice and dice ability).

There’s a lot of division on preference here just because these talents here have very different uses and at times can dictate what you do better against and what you don’t. For instance, improved slice and dice gives you higher white damage output for a longer period of time than usual. What this really means is that you get the original effect for less combo points. This talent is more noticeable as a PVE benefit, however. Murder is good for the Rogue that hates missing, that needs that crucial sap/opener/damage. For a Rogue with a decent amount of +hit% stat, it’s a noticeable benefit. Remorseless attacks is interesting, and very debatable. It requires the killing of a mob that either gives experience or honor, so at level 60 is not exploitable to guarantee a critical opener, but in a hectic PVP battleground or chain pulling an instance this talent may come into play substantially to basically hop from victim to victim, though the spree is not likely to last long if the Rogue is without heals. Finally expose armor is a favorite among dagger Rogues that like to duke it out with Warriors and Paladins. Considering the damage mitigation from armor they get having expose armor on them is like extra damage waiting to happen, and is a nice advantage considering that a plate wearer can be a tough nut to crack for a Rogue.

Back to the talent build, assuming you’ve picked your 3 points you now have enough points in the assassination tree to pick the cold blood (100% of Rogue abilities when activated) talent. At this point you still need 4 more points in order to put points into seal fate. So you have your choice of earlier talents, improved deadly poison (15% increase chance to apply deadly poison), and improved kidney shot (reduce cooldown on kidney shot by 5 seconds). Improved kidney shot is preferred because it is almost essential in order to carry off an extended stun lock. However, many seal fate build Rogues will take other options, relying on brute force or mitigation to make up for the lack of stuns. Improved deadly poison is generally not preferred, because deadly poison will impair your ability to gouge your opponent and stun them for an easy backstab. After those points are chosen 5 points in seal fate completes the assassination tree, unless vigor is desired.

The combat tree is the easiest to allocate for, as you only put 8 points into it in general for this build. The first 2 points should always be improved sinister strike (reduce the energy cost of sinister strike by 5). Even though backstab is the primary damager you will always need an attack for when you can’t get behind your enemy or just need that one last combo point. Decreasing the energy cost of this attack is vital for efficient combos. After that you can get a little choosy. Most seal fate Rogues prefer improved gouge (increase gouge effect duration by 1.5 seconds) because with this talent, the total gouge time is 5.5 seconds, enough time to get out of combat and restealth, a very tricky move that some Rogues live and die by, not to mention its obvious benefit in prolonging stun locks, and the fact that with 5.5 seconds you can regenerate the 45 energy cost of the move and more before it wears off. The alternative is putting points into lightning reflexes (increases dodge chance by 5%). Most Rogues prefer to have less dodge than normal simply because of the Warrior ability overpower, which almost guarantees them a critical against you if you dodge them. However, some Rogues are of the opposite opinion on this, preferring to only get hit by overpower by having as much dodge as possible, and dodge normal attacks. After you have allocated your first 5 points, the rest is very simple. 3 points in improved backstab (+30% critical chance on backstab) finishes the combat tree.

Finally, the subtlety tree at this point isn’t that hard to allocate either, as you only have 12 or 13 points to use here. First will be your choice between rapid concealment (5 seconds reduction on stealth cooldown), master of deception (reduce chance of enemy to detect the Rogue in stealth), and camouflage (increase stealthed movement speed by 15%). It is virtually a toss up between camouflage and master of deception, as many Rogues will swear by both. Rapid concealment is preferred for farming, as you can restealth immediately after killing monsters quickly. It also has a PVP use in much the same manner, for a quick kill and restealth. Beyond the tier one talents, if you are planning to go improved ambush as most do you will have to put your remaining points first in Opportunity Increase damage with backstab, garrote or ambush by 20%) and then either 2 or 3 points, depending on whether you took vigor, in improved ambush (+45% chance to critical with ambush). Notice that opportunity improves backstab critical damage as well as ambush damage, therefore it is a very detrimental talent to be without, though you may forgo improved ambush and opportunity altogether for other talents.

PREPARATION BUILD (known as 21/8/22)

The very basic concept of this build is exactly the same as the seal fate build, which is maximum burst damage through backstab. However, while seal fate relies on the combo point generation of the talent to make stun locks and additional eviscerate damage easier, preparation works to give the Rogue a little more versatility in his cooldown usage. I’m going to use the start of the Seal Fate build as a template and say that the talents are roughly the same in assassination up until cold blood, and that is the last talent you will take from assassination, spending only 21 points. Combat is exactly the same as in seal fate, although without improved kidney shot you may feel inclined to take lightning reflexes instead, although improved gouge is still useful in most situations. Going into subtlety, you have a lot of options once you’ve put points into opportunity. Elusiveness (reduced cooldown on evasion, vanish, and blind by 1.3 minutes) is useful but considering the goal is the talent preparation (ability that finishes cooldowns on all Rogue abilities when used) the talent points are better spent elsewhere. It is recommended that you base your template after opportunity around initiative (75% chance to add an extra combo point using ambush, garrote, or cheap shot.) As without seal fate you have to be a lot more sparing with your combo points. After initiative you have several options. The recommended one is improved ambush, as ambush is a significant source of burst damage against most classes, and a critical opener can be the difference between win or lose for some. Some alternative are ghostly strike (instant attack that deals 125% weapon damage and increases chance to dodge by 15% for 7 seconds) and improved vanish (movement speed during vanish increased by 30%). Ghostly strike uses a lot of energy but the damage output isn’t that high. This talent is really only suggestible if you’ve put points into lightning reflexes or have an otherwise high dodge rate. Improved vanish can be called a leveling talent, because while it may help you escape an enemy that tries to gank you it has no direct effect on your damage output or defense. Improved garrote (increase duration of garrote by 6 seconds but decreases the damage done by 10%) is often considered a “joke” talent, as this talent would seem to be seldom used. It would seem to have a practical application fighting a Rogue that’s sure to try and run away, but beyond that garrote’s use is altogether limited, and the fact that this talent reduces the damage done doesn’t work in its favor. The next talents to look at are improved rupture (increases rupture damage by 30%) and improved sap (gives 90% chance to return to stealth after using sap). Improved sap has a lot of PVE and PVP utility, though in both it is often outweighed by polymorph when it is readily available. Rupture is an extremely useful ability when coupled with deadly poison and the vile poisons talent, as damage over time effects ignore armor. As long as the Rogue can outlast his own DOTs they can deal significant damage to the enemy. The goal in this tree is simply to reach preparation, and after having put 5 points into opportunity it's mostly preference as to which talents you take. The strength of the preparation build is the ability to bring all your cooldowns to bear on your opponent, including cold blood, and do it again in the same fight. It is one of the most powerful specs for one on one fighting simply because of that reliance. But at the same time it can be said that a prep Rogue is relatively weak whenever preparation itself isn’t up.

SWORD BUILDS

The primary benefit of any sword build is some degree of consistency in damage dealing, as well as a few tricks and useful abilities provided by the Combat tree. The ability to disarm opponents who attack you and hit multiple targets at once through blade flurry put the combat Rogues in a unique position to defend themselves as well as more easily farm monsters for items and gold. The adrenaline rush talent makes up for the loss of cold blood by the sheer damage output that can be obtained when all the energy generated is put to use.

ADRENALINE RUSH BUILD (20/31/0)

From the Assassination tree, the Rogue talents’ blessing and curse is the Lethality talent. There is no Rogue build that does not benefit from this talent in a significant way. So as before, you can expect to take at least 15 points in assassination. Improved eviscerate is a must, 5 points into Malice. At this point you can decide whether or not to put the full 20 points into assassination or just 15 to get Lethality. If you spend only 15 points in Assassination you will have 5 points left over for either various talents in combat or a full bottom tier talent in Subtlety. This is not recommended however, as many of the leftover talents are novelty or utility, and do not serve much practical use in dealing damage and defeating your enemy. Many Rogues prefer the inclusion of 3/3 ruthlessness and relentless strikes. For the combat Rogue especially, the last 3 points of the tree are well spent on either improved expose armor or improved slice and dice, as the combat Rogue is well suited to dealing damage even through auto attack damage (often called “white damage” as the damage is not caused by specials).

Obviously, the rest of this build takes place in the Combat tree. Unlike dagger builds, no points in subtlety are required, as opportunity does nothing to improve the damage of sword abilities. The Combat tree should start off with 3/3 improved gouge and 2/2 improved sinister strike as before. And this is where we start delving into actual sword Rogue talents. From the tier two talents you should put 5 points each into Deflection (Increase Parry chance by 5%) and Precision (Increases melee chance to hit by 5%). These talents may seem somewhat insignificant but the importance of these can be explained by the talents that follow them. From the third tier after Deflection you should take Riposte (available after parrying, does 150% weapon damage and disarms the target for 6 seconds). This talent is extremely useful for fighting Warriors and other Rogues. Though many Warriors and Rogues have gauntlets with an immune to disarm effect on them, many times this ability will save your life. Also considering that it only costs 10 energy, the extra damage output attained is an added bonus. The next talent should be 5 points into Dual Wield Specialization (increases the damage done by your offhand weapon by 50%). If you’re coming from a dagger spec this may seem somewhat odd, as many dagger Rogues rely solely on backstab and ambush damage to subdue their opponent, but you may be interested to know that with this talent a Rogue will deal more white damage than a Warrior with dual wield spec (theirs is only 25% extra damage) with the same weapons. Add to this more damaging specials that don’t reset swing timers, and the ability to have 30% haste to attack speed constantly active, and an equivalently geared combat Rogue can blow away a fury Warrior in terms of constant DPS in a PVE situation.

The next talent you should take is blade flurry (Increases melee attack speed by 20% and attacks hit one additional target). This provides a lot of the sword Rogue’s unique ability as it is melee haste and hits 2 targets at the same time. The 20% haste stacks with Slice and Dice as well, allowing a huge attack speed boost when needed. The damage done is added directly to the second target, which can be a huge advantage considering that unlike the Warriors’ cleave, damage is copied directly including criticals.

At this point in the talent tree you have 3 options. Considering that many good weapons for a combat spec are hard to obtain, you may want to decide your weapon specialization based on what you have, or what you are soon to get. The three choices are Maces (5% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds), Swords (5% chance for an extra attack), and Fist weapons (+5% critical rate). All three are useful in their own right but mostly will be decided on based on whatever weapon you use anyway. The next talent to take after this is Aggression (increases sinister strike and eviscerate damage by 6%). This talent, coupled with improved eviscerate and lethality from Assassination, will add more punch to your sinister strikes and eviscerates. Finally you should take adrenaline rush (increases energy regeneration rate by 100% for 15 seconds). However, it is important to note that at this point you can take cold blood instead of Adrenaline rush. On the whole adrenaline rush will put out more damage, but it is very easy to circumvent in PVP, as the opponent can stun you, crowd control you or run away for the duration, rendering it useless. The cool down on adrenaline rush is also twice as long as cold blood’s, so that is important to take into consideration.