Hey everyone, I decided to roll a rogue (like half the player base haha) in Classic, but with the return of the talents trees I’m looking to build something more personal like I used to do when I started playing back on WotLK days. I’ve always loved the fantasy of thief classes dual wielding the dagger/sword combo in RPGs, and I’m looking for ways to make it work in a decent way so I can pull my weight in groups while still having fun playing something I like! So, let’s start with the build, intended to be solo/group viable since dual specializations aren’t a thing in Classic:
h ttps://classic.wowhead.com/talent-calc/rogue/005320105-3203052000550100231-03 (can’t post links, so just remove the space after the “h”)
My main concern here is about the Dagger Specialization talent: does it count for abilities as long as a dagger is equipped in the MH, or is the crit+ only applied to white attacks on both slots? Since I want to have a dagger at my MH to allow the use of Backstab/Ambush when in groups, this talent could be a big deal on DPS increase along with the increased crit from Improved Backstab. Otherwise, I would allocate those points somewhere else, like Parry/Riposte or Opportunity.
The second doubt I have is about the OH weapon: should I aim to get a fast sword or a slow one to complement the MH dagger? I sincerely have no idea how weapon speed affects overall DPS other than that slow, high dmg weapons usually are better for instant attacks or skills that deal raw weapon dmg.
Any input about those two points or better talent choices are appreciated!
Dagger spec will apply to special attacks as long as a dagger is in your main hand, since in Classic, all rogue special attacks use your main hand only.
Generally rogues want a fast offhand weapon (regardless of type) for better, more reliable poison procs.
3 Likes
Slow main hand for instant attacks, fast off hand for poison application.
4 Likes
Just thought i should point out that rogues, contrary to popular opinion, are one of the least played classes in the game (bottom 3 per faction).
1 Like
Is this overall or just at cap? When the census mods still worked warriors were number 1 followed by rogues. Could be all level 1 bank alts though.
Thanks for the answers guys, guess I’m the right way so far.
As for rogues being one of the least played, I am a little skeptical about that haha, at least on Mankrik I see a lot of yellow during my adventures. Priests and mages are the majority tho, they are everywhere you go!
1 Like
The census site showed warriors mages and priests at the top.
Rogues, from what I’ve seen, are in fact towards the bottom of the list. Warriors, mages and priests at the top. Then its the shaman/paladin and eventually warlocks, hunters, rogues and druids.
Subtlety rogues can PvP with just about any off hand, though Combat and Assassination have much more benefit to using a fast one. It wasn’t that rare to see a Sub rogue in Vanilla with a slow, hard hitting off hand to try for more burst.
1 Like
Just getting into Rogue myself. I never really played one back in Vanilla.
To echo a bit of what others have said…you want a hard hitting MH weapon because many of your instant abilities calculate their damage based on your MH weapon.
That doesn’t mean you should just look at DPS for MH. Look at the damage and speed. You can get a slow hitting high damage MH weapon with the same DPS as a faster weapon that doesn’t hit as hard per hit. But the slower weapon is a perfect choice because it enhances your combat damage calculation for abilities like Sinister Strike because one hit at a slow pace hits harder compared to a fast hitting dagger…thus your SS damage is higher. But here’s the thing… using SS doesn’t need to wait for a weapon swing. It can be used based on ability cooldowns and available energy. So by using SS (for example), you get the calculation advantage for the skill based on that higher damage (but slower speed) in your MH because SS ignores the speed of your weapon and looks purely at the damage your MH weapon dishes out. Ya feel?
Then you use an offhand that is lightning fast (dagger) so you can get your poisons to have more chance to proc.
You may eventually steer away from Sword\Mace MH + Dagger OH if you want to focus on things like Ambush & Backstab (need a Dagger MH for those).
I was thinking of going CHT(OH) and Brutality blade(MH) for the +2% crit as well as going SF in BWL. But I guess I have to go CHT (MH) to get the +5% crit from dagger specialization. Works for me. Now just have to acquire said weapons.