INFINITE Energy for 15 full seconds. That's enough time for a five point
Sinister Strike/Eviscerate combo, with some time left over to beat down. This
ability allows you to kill mobs you normally wouldn't have a prayer of
killing, including higher level Elites and bosses. There is not a better
skill for PvE, end game raiding, you name it. Just don't use it in PvP
until you're certain a player can't get away from you.
Backstab: Well, if you aren't using Ambush, you aren't using Backstab. While
this ability doesn't hit as hard, you can use it while not stealthed.
Not terribly useful while soloing, since you'd have to Gouge to use it, but
it's a little more useful in PvP, where circle strafing might reveal your
opponent's back. Of course, if you still wanna be a dagger kind of guy,
you will get a lot of mileage out of this in raids, especially with its
ridiculously high critical rate.
Blade Flurry (Talent): Another amazing skill. Not only does it increase
your attack speed by 20% for 15 seconds, but it also allows you to hit a
second nearby enemy in combat! This is the closest thing to AoE as a Rogue
gets, and allows you to dispatch multiple mobs both safely and quickly.
Also great for farming instances, since, again, you can fight multiple mobs
at a time, especially combined with Slice and Dice. Much more useful than
you think. An awesome PvE talent.
Evasion: For 15 seconds, your dodge ability goes through the roof! Dodge rates
over 70% are easily attainable with this skill, giving it a variety of uses.
Combined with Adrenaline Rush, this skill allows you to take on challenges
that others wouldn't have a prayer of completing. Just don't ever, EVER
use this in PvP against a Warrior, unless you like getting your face
smashed in. Also good to use if you're about to die. Turn it on and run.
Feint: Only useful in instances, but extremely useful in instances. The
higher ranks of this allow you to continually beat on mobs without worrying
about drawing aggro. Feint is very essential for keeping you alive (and
your group, since your job is to kill things quickly).
Gouge: The damage it deals is irrelevant. It's a 4-second Incapacitate
effect that allows you time to Backstab or run away. The only other real
use it has is for interrupting spells, but the Energy cost is kind of steep.
Since leveling is a bit simpler without daggers, the only other real use for
this skill is running away. Outside of PvP, you really don't need it.
Kick: Now here's a much more useful skill than Gouge. Again, the damage
doesn't matter, but it's another way a Rogue can interrupt spellcasting.
You won't use it all the time, but it deserves a place on any hotbar,
because spells can really wreck your day.
Riposte (Talent): At first glance, it really doesn't seem like that much.
However, Riposte is arguably THE best overall combat skill in the game, for
ANY class. For a measly 10 Energy, you get to strike back at your opponent
for 150% of your main hand weapon damage after a successful Parry.
Unmodified, your Parry chance is about 10%, so you'll have a chance to use
this skill 10% of the time. In addition to the very large chunk of damage
this skill deals, you get a 6 second disarm, which is EXTREMELY powerful.
Many Humanoid mobs use weapons, and disarming them greatly reduces both the
number of times you get hit and the amount of damage you take. In PvP, a
Rogue without a main hand weapon is worthless, and it is the only way you
can take down a good Warrior or Shaman. Use it a few times and you'll turn
into a believer.
Sinister Strike: Learn to love this skill, as you'll be using it about
95% of the time. Now here's why slow weapons, and in particular non-daggers,
are so useful for Rogues: Sinister Strike is an instant attack. What that
means is the speed of the weapon in question has no bearing on when
Sinister Strike hits or how much damage it deals. It depends entirely on
your damage range. If you have two 40 DPS weapons, with one attacking at
1.8 speed, and one attacking at 2.5 speed, the 2.5 speed weapon will deal
a lot more damage. Imagine that attack crits and the damage spread is even
wider. Due to the fact that you will be using Sinister Strike so often,
a slow main hand is by far your best choice.
Sprint: Simply put, a brief run speed buff. Lowbies will probably use this
skill a lot simply as a means to get around the world more quickly, but
other than that, it makes for a good escape move, although most mobs will
Daze you, drastically reducing or negating the run speed boost you get.
The usefulness is very limited, but again, you need this skill for those few
times that you will need to run away.
SUBTLETY:
Blind: An attack that briefly causes the victim to wander around like a moron
for a few seconds, giving you time to either bandage, run away, or ignore it.
Blind only has a few uses, such as getting away, short-term crowd control
(although if you're only dealing with two mobs, Blade Flurry will probably
be more than sufficient to dispatch them both), or holding a player in place
long enough for multiple buddies to gather around and gank him to kingdom
come.
Disarm Trap: You have to be able to see the trap to disarm it. Very rarely
useful, but if you're going to raid or PvP, it's a skill you can't possibly
do without.
Distract: Useful, but not overly so. This gives a chance that mobs in
the area of effect will look at the target area for a few seconds, which
may allow you to sneak by or behind the mob(s) in question. It is also
potentially useful to draw a mob away from a crowd, since Distracted enemies
will not move while they are distracted.
Ghostly Strike (Talent): At first glance, this sounds pretty good. 125%
weapon damage? Good. A combo point? Good. A 7 second dodge buff? Cool!
Where do I sign? Unfortunately, this is a talent, one, it has a 20-second
cooldown, two, and it costs 50 Energy, three. All-in-all, it's drastically
overshadowed by other skills. Don't bother with it.
Hemorrhage (Talent): With the latest talent changes, this one is actually
worth a second look. Due to the Attack Power normalization - read, "Nerf" -
at higher Attack Power numbers, you get a higher output out of this than
you will with Sinister Strike. However, the talents required to get to
Hemo aren't as useful in raiding as, say, the entirety of the Combat tree.
The damage bonus is more important for everyone else than it is for you,
since 30 strikes go pretty quickly with 40 people. At least one rogue in
your raiding crew ought to spec Hemo. If that's not you, pass on it.
Pick Pocket: Rip coins and occasionally some junky items from unsuspecting
Humanoid mobs, no muss, no fuss. Fortunately, you don't have to split your
spoils with groups, but other than getting some Junkboxes for picking locks,
or for a Ravenholdt quest, Pick Pocket isn't really all that necessary.
You'll also look really stupid if you get caught, which breaks your stealth.
Premeditation (Talent): A now Instant cast that adds two combo points to your
target. I'd much rather just spend that time smashing face. Add in the
fact that getting this talent means you definitely cannot get Adrenaline
Rush and it seems pretty clear that you don't need this talent. It does
have interesting uses, just not great uses.
Preparation (Talent): Any talent that immediately ends all your cooldowns
can't immediately be ignored, but in PvE, Adrenaline Rush is much, much
better. If you want to respec to bash some heads in PvP, I'll go ahead
and say this talent is a must-have. Otherwise, you can safely ignore it.
Safe Fall: Find a high place to jump off and get your non-Rogue friend to
jump too. If you're high enough, you just might survive while he just might
die. For a few minutes, you'll have a good laugh. That said, you can fall
a LOT further before dying with this skill, which means you can take
shortcuts or escape from enemies by jumping off of high places. Since
there's only one rank, go ahead and get it.
Sap: Useful at early levels, semi-useful in PvP, worthless anywhere else.
Once you start hitting instances, you'll be relying on Mages, Hunters,
Priests, and Druids for crowd control, and Warriors, Druids, and occasionally
Paladins or Shamans for tanking, so you rarely need to use this skill.
Stealth: At the risk of stating the obvious, you'll be using this skill
a great deal. Just don't forget you can't Stealth if you're in combat.
Use this to start fights and avoid fights. Just do it!
Vanish: Also critically important to have. Every time you go into a town,
make sure you have a full stack of Flash Powder! You will be very, very
sorry if you're lazy - like me - and find yourself in a life-or-death
situation...and no Flash Powder. Don't let this happen! As for uses,
you can use this skill both offensively (to Cheap Shot or Ambush again) or
defensively (to get away or to break roots and snares). Unlike the Feign
Death ability Hunters get, Vanish has a five-minute cooldown, so use it
when it matters most.
Don't forget to get Dual Wield at level 10! You will ALWAYS be fighting
with two one-handed weapons, since you can't use two-handed weapons.
------------------
TALENTS AND BUILDS
------------------
Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you: you may be playing a Rogue,
but you may not be a rogue in the typically portrayed fantasy sense. Sure,
you will do your fair share of sneaking around, but backstabbing doesn't
necessarily have to be your calling card. Unlike basically every other
class, rogues are about doofus-smacking offense, and that's about it.
People who have followed my guide for a while are reading this for the first
time: since my guide was first written, way back in the day, rogue specs
are pretty close now. I still use swords, however, and here's my choice
build:
ASSASSINATION (17? Points):
3 Improved Eviscerate
5 Malice
3 Ruthlessness
1 Relentless Strikes
5 Lethality
COMBAT (33? Points):
2 Improved Sinister Strike
3 Lightning Reflexes
5 Deflection
5 Precision
1 Riposte
5 Dual Wield Specialization
1 Blade Flurry
5 Sword Specialization
2 Weapon Expertise
3 Aggression
1 Adrenaline Rush
1 Talent Point Left Over
What to do with that last point, you ask? There are a few viable options.
One in Murder is worth considering, as raids feature plenty of Humanoids,
Beasts, and Dragonkin for you to beat on. Vile Poisons is also worth
considering: one point adds up to about 600 extra damage on a full use of
Instant Poison VI. For Combat, you could put another point in
Lightning Reflexes, Improved Sprint, or Improved Kick. Use whichever feels
right for your given raiding status.
So now for the burning question:
"Why do you like Swords"?
Remember what I said earlier: you will Sinister Strike 95% of the time.
Most of your battles will be spent mashing whatever key Sinister Strike is
mapped to until you get to five combo points, where you will then most
likely press the Eviscerate key. You want the highest damage range possible,
especially when you add talents into the equation. Let's compare a
Core Hound Tooth to, say, a Brutality Blade. Both are level 60 Epic
weapons found in Molten Core. Now for stats:
Core Hound Tooth (Dagger): 1.6 speed
57-107 Damage (51.2 DPS)
+9 Stamina
+1% critical strike chance
+20 Attack Power
Brutality Blade (Sword): 2.5 speed
90-168 Damage (51.6 DPS)
+9 Strength
+9 Agility
+1% critical strike chance
I picked these two weapons since their DPS is almost identical, and +9
Strength and +9 Agility are about the same Attack Power bonus (I know they
aren't exactly, so don't email me about it), making that mod essentially
a wash.
Remember, everyone uses Sinister Strike at some point. At Rank 8, it adds
68 to however much damage you end up dealing. Without needlessly gumming
up the problem with things like Armor, let's just assume the mob doesn't have
any. As a base calculation goes, the Core Hound Tooth's Sinister Strike
will deal between 125 and 175 damage, or a 150 average. The Brutality Blade,
on the other hand, will deal between 158 and 236 damage, or 197, on average.
Since the Sinister Strike will hit at the exact same time with either weapon,
the Brutality Blade is clearly in the lead, by 47 damage, on average.
But wait! Aggressiveness adds 6% to Sinister Strike's damage. All of sudden,
the Core Hound Tooth deals between 132.5 and 185.5 damage, while the
Brutality Blade hits for between 167.48 and 250.16 damage. The averages
pan out to 159 versus 208.82 damage. Adding that 6% in means the Brutality
Blade is dealing, on average, 49.82 more damage per Sinister Strike.
Also consider the fact that five points in Lethality adds another 30% to
the critical strike damage of a Sinister Strike, and you see that in this
simple but fairly accurate model, non-daggers are CLEARLY your best choice
for leveling and the endgame.
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