Your health pool isn’t really the issue here. I think there was some confusion—this isn’t about Rogue survivability, but about how rune design forces bad trade-offs that don’t exist for other classes. Right now, Rogues don’t get real playstyle choices—they get forced into picking which part of their spec they want to cripple.
The main issue is that rune placement forces PvP Rogues into choices that don’t make sense. Quick Draw, for example, competes with Deadly Brew and Slaughter from the Shadows in the chest slot, meaning taking a ranged slow kills sustain. The simplest fix would be moving it to the back slot, where it would instead compete with AoE-focused runes like Crimson Tempest, Blunderbuss, and Fan of Knives. That way, PvP Rogues have to choose between single-target utility or AoE pressure instead of being forced to gut their sustain.
Another major issue is Between the Eyes competing with Envenom in the legs slot. This forces PvP Rogues to choose between having a stun or doing real damage, which is a bad trade-off. The better fix would be moving Between the Eyes to the wrist slot, where it would compete with Carnage, Unfair Advantage, and Cut to the Chase. This would make the trade-off between extra sustain (Carnage) and control (Between the Eyes) instead of forcing Rogues to pick between CC and a functional finisher.
Shadowstrike, though, is an even bigger issue—it’s a dead rune in its current state. It competes with Cutthroat in the same slot, which means that if you take Shadowstrike, you cannot take Cutthroat, and Backstab remains positional. That’s an immediate problem because it forces Rogues into Sinister Strike spam, even if they don’t want to play that way. Without Cutthroat, Backstab is nearly useless in 1v1 fights because the moment your target turns to face you, you can’t use it anymore. Unless you waste a Kidney Shot just to land one hit, you’re locked out of your own rotation.
This makes Shadowstrike completely non-viable for any build that wants to use Backstab. And since Shadowstep already exists in the Waist slot, there’s almost no reason to take Shadowstrike at all—you can just run Shadowstep and manually use Ambush or Backstab instead, without breaking your entire spec. Compare this to other openers like Mutilate or Saber Slash. Those fit smoothly into their intended builds, but Shadowstrike actively ruins the synergy between openers and combo point generators because it locks you into Sinister Strike.
At that point, what is Shadowstrike even for? If you want armor penetration, Mutilate or Saber Slash are better choices. If you want a teleport, Shadowstep does it better and doesn’t force you into a broken rotation. Shadowstrike doesn’t offer meaningful build variety—it’s just a trap rune that ruins your combo generation.
The easiest fix? Either move Shadowstrike to a different rune slot so it doesn’t compete with Cutthroat, or make it grant a 5-second buff where Backstab can be used from any direction. Otherwise, no serious Rogue will ever take it.
These changes don’t remove trade-offs, they just fix broken rune placements that force players into bad choices. You still have to choose between offense, sustain, and utility, but no build gets crippled just for picking a rune. Does that make more sense? Which part do you actually disagree with?