Hi, I was wondering why isn’t everyone using Night Elf for rogues? Being fairly new, just on top of my head I feel like Shadowmeld is so good as a second vanish for rogues, but I see a lot of people recommending other races and I thought everyone would be saying Night elf is the best with no hesitation. Is there a reason I shouldn’t use Night Elf to get Shadowmeld. I know Will of the forsaken is really good as well but idk… I feel like Shadowmeld could be so much better. I know there is no real downside to playing Night Elf other than missing out on other racials but I’m just wondering what is the reason you play something else instead of Night Elf considering how massive Shadowmeld can be for rogues. Thanks !
1 Like
The animations are awful. Especially the stealth animation
3 Likes
Dwarf all the way for the bleed/magic/curse removal
4 Likes
But isn’t Shadowmeld super useful as rogue?
3 Likes
can have uses. i assume itd set you out of combat and good to use the true stealth in a pinch if vanish was on CD.
probably free resets in pvp.
can also stop a big cast aimed at you.
i’d go human though. personal preference.
1 Like
Night Elves are amazing just due to their sheer amount of beneficial racials.
For example. My Rogue here gets Arcane Torrent, 1% Crit and -1% Arcane Damage.
My Night Elf gets Shadowmeld, 1% Crit or Haste, -1% Nature Damage, +2% Dodge, and +2% Movement Speed(+7% total in Stealth).
I’m really not sure of any race that has extra combat bonuses like that. Honestly, it’s surprising to me Quickness still exists.
That’s what I’m saying. I would think a big majority of rogues would use Night elves but they don’t so I wondered why.
1 Like
Because Dwarves are better.
5 Likes
Other classes will have great racial abilities on paper, sure…
but when I rolled this rogue I merely asked: “what’s the most shameful class to die by?”
“Sold. Female vulpera”
4 Likes
Their racials are pretty solid, and would suit a rogue just fine.
But God do I hate some of their animations.
1 Like
Yes, but then you’re forced to play a Night Elf. I’d rather give up the extra Vanish on a true 2-3 minute CD than to see my character doing those stupid side flips with their big, stupid, pointy ears while I’m jumping around.
1 Like
Shadowmeld → stealth is great, not gonna lie.
It doesn’t add enough damage in pve to matter. Once a boss encounter you get an extra shadowstrike instead of a backstab or gloomblade. That’s an extra chunk of damage over a 5 min boss fight adds marginal amounts of dps.
In pvp we already have a ton of ways to disengage and stealth again anyway.
Overall, I think people just like the aesthetics of their chosen race more than the racials.
That said, if you look at statistics for Arena, it does appear Night Elf has generally been the most popular Rogue race for Alliance.
Even now, if you look at the leaderboards.
2v2 - 23/31 of the Alliance Rogues are Night Elf. (though 2 of the 31 armory wasn’t working, so it might be 24 or 25)
3v3 - 7/8
RBG - 10/15 with 1 error.
Solo Shuffle is a bit much to check for me. Maybe if Blizzard makes their filters better or some external website pulls the stats with better filters. 
But, it does seem Night Elf is the popular choice for Alliance Rogues atm. At least for PVP.
Night Elf and the two Dwarf races are the best for rogue in PvP since hardiness doesn’t work with the trinket bonuses. I couldn’t tell you the pve best ones but I’m assuming night elf and troll on their factions.
I love this lol
why would you not play a pandaren rogue?
1 Like
I want to like them so bad but I find them too big, maybe female model is better.
1 Like
Between tauren and highmount tauren which one is better for rogue?
1 Like
Pretty sure Murker io has a few Nelfs at the top as their racials are in fact amazing for rogue.
Reset on Shadowmeld is massively OP as it does not Incur a 30sec cd like every other racial. And like some have posted it can help reset stealth to re apply a BUFFED garrotte if you’re assassination. Which can also silence and you have 3 seconds to use it via the talent that lets you use stealth abilities 3sec after stealth ends.
It needs to be brought in line with trinket use and incur the same CD as other racials.
But we have an abundance of Elf lovers playing, revenge for teldrassil or something.
1 Like
this guy gets it. garrote out of stealth with iron wire is wild. having two vanishes available is big. indiscriminate carnage comes off cd 5s into pull? you can get that meaty garrote out of stealth and keep a vanish to play with.