Long time player that wants to learn a rogue. For a brand new rogue that wants to primarily pvp, which spec do you recommend learning first? I’m don’t care about which is best because I’m going to suck at first. I just want advice for the first spec to learn so I can get to grips with the overall playstyle of the class.
Thanks
Each spec has a distinctive playstyle. None of them really share the same functions. Just pick one and learn.
Assassination (generally speaking) is a great beginner-rogue pick, both during the leveling process and as a max-level toon. It can feel a bit energy starved in long 1-on-1 fights, but it doesn’t have a lot of cooldowns to juggle like Subtlety and it’s a bit “calmer” than Outlaw.
None of the specs are good for beginners. Just gotta dive in.
Agreed Assassination is the easiest for beginners because it does not have high APM like Outlaw or the stealth window line ups of Sub.
No, instead it has the kingsbane window every minute meaning you need to be skilled enough to know to time your dots and have them up prior while dealing with maintaining your energy levels as you cant let it drop uncontrollably.
So yea, every spec has its challenges and youre downplaying Sin.
Assassination for Pure Unstoppable damage, and subtlety for more control and less pressure outside of burst
I say sub. If you want to learn the class and not a specific class, sub does it best. Very focused around DRs, kill windows, win conditions. The higher you go, the less room for error. Yes, this kind of thinking is important for assa/outlaw, but if you can get a hand of the rogue mindset as sub, you will be amazing at assa and outlaw.
Play what you gravitate towards. There is lots of finesse for us regardless of the specialization. Take your time, don’t be hard on yourself and take breaks if you get frustrated with stuff. Welcome to our ways! Keep your blades sharp and senses keen!
Assassination let’s you pick up the basics of the class, so I would 100% start there. Once you start getting used to using your CC etc, I would then start looking at Sub. I HATE Outlaw with a fiery passion so haven’t ever touched it but, I do know that it’s meant to be the hardest spec to play correctly.
This is coming from a relatively new-ish Rogue, but Sub is just going to frustrate the hell out of him. In your CD windows you do okay damage but outside of them you’re hitting like a wet noodle. Forgot a CD? Your DPS is trash. Forgot a stun? You’re dead. Forgot… anything? Good luck.
I stopped playing my Rogue because Sub is my favorite spec in the game but the skill ceiling is way too high. Unless you’re playing with people who know you’re there to set them up it’s a frustrating endeavor that has zero room for error.
Sin is very straight forward and even Outlaw is easier than Sub. It’s amazing playing either of those specs and how streamlined they are comparatively. Sub currently has too many buttons and too many things you can mess up to be successful in PvP without being an R1 player, and one of the worst parts is you’ll lose a round and won’t really be able to pinpoint what exactly you did wrong.
I wound up rolling a Feral druid for PvP. I’m not a fan of the Sin gameplay for PvP and Outlaw has too much RNG for my liking. Feral gives you Sin DoTs on steroids while also maintaining good DD and a lot more survivability.
Sub is arguably the most challenging class/spec in the game to play optimally. Other specs might have a longer list of buttons to press in a ramp-up period (looking at you, Unholy DK), but Subtlety Rogue is straight up a challenge despite the deceptively easy “rotation”.
@OP
I have to say, every time I read the title, I read it as a NEW question about rogues and I’m thinking “What has Blizzard screwed up today?”.
To answer your question. For solo play, I’d suggest Subtlety because PvP is about the burst opportunity. I feel Sub is best for this.
I keep hearing sub is the most complex.
In a typical 1v1 what does the opener look like for Assassination vs Subtly?
Then what does the burst sequence look like (If different?)
All three specs are convoluted at the moment, making them way more complex than they used to be or need to be.
Sin is a great beginner spec. It does great single target damage with a very straight forward rotation. It’s learning curve is gentle, with AoE being well integrated into your normal rotation, buff maintenance is also straight forward, and it’s primary DPS CDs are easy to understand and implement.
The amount of buttons you need and the pace at which you push them are low relative to the other spec.
I highly suggest Sin as your first spec. It will teach you the fundamentals of all Rogue specs while not overloading you with the specifics of the specialization.
Assassination does have other layers of complexity like pooling energy, Envenom windows, etc.
But the complexity of Assassination is very gentle compared to Sub or Outlaw. Sub requires understanding stealth/shadow dance windows. And the other layer of complexity for Sub is what to do when you do not have vanish/shadow dance up.
Outlaw complexity is about energy, CDR, combo point and CD management and it can be overwhelming if you have never played a Rogue.
Experienced Sub or Assassination players have no problem transition to Outlaw. But a non Rogue player stepping into Outlaw is going to hit a brick wall.
“Rogue is the least played class”
also you guys whenever someone new comes along
“Yeah rogue is insanely hard”
Clown stuff. Its a class that has an actual learning curve. Just dive in and play it.
But… least played class and complexity would go hand in hand? There’s a reason Paladins are one of the most popular classes.
Yes it has a learning curve but it is far and beyond any of the other classes for sure.
Rogue is hard. That’s why it’s among the least played. Those two things are related.
And furthermore this person asked for the easiest spec to play so they could have the best learning curve. This is a subject that could be asked of ANY class in WoW and get a similar response.
For instance if you were to ask which Warrior Spec is a good beginner spec I would say Arms. For much of the same reasons I say Sin when asked about Rogue.
Lower APM with very straightforward rotation and buff management with easily implemented DPS CDs.