I know, leveling is stupid easy. Just stab and go….
That said, what’s the go to spec nowadays? I assume Outlaw or Sub? Imagine dots on Sin don’t work fast enough until higher levels at least. Never leveled a rogue.
If you do decide on Sin, your rotation for the first 50 levels is pretty much:
- Garrote
- Slice n Dice
- Mutilate
- Rupture
I don’t think I pressed Envenom once until somewhere in the mid 40’s.
2 Likes
Subtlety is pretty fun.
Assassination is almost unbearable for leveling. You won’t like it.
Outlaw isn’t my thing, so I stay away from it. But do give it a try. Many players love it.
1 Like
Whenever I played Assassination while leveling, I did the opposite. It was Mutilate x 2 > Eviscerate > Repeat. Mobs just didn’t live long enough for the bleeds to be effective. Whenever I’d run a dungeon, I felt totally useless.
1 Like
Outlaw is legit an auto attack simulator until the mid 50’s
1 Like
I leveled two Rogues to 90 using Assassination
I don’t think it is bad or unbearable. The key is that you have to really manage your energy and combo points to maximize when leveling with Assassination.
The thing is that for leveling any of the Rogue specs you don’t need to do 5+ combo point SND, Ruptures, etc as most mobs fall over.
As Assassination Rupture and garrote was enough to take down most mobs and I would start hitting another mob and the first mob would go down for the count. Or if they are close you can use Crimson Tempest for 2 mobs and go for a third.
So Assassination does best when it tags 3 targets with its DoTs kind of like how Outlaw tags three targets with Pistol Shot, funnel them and then finishes them with BF + Blade Rush.
Sub doesn’t have to tag multiple mobs like Outlaw or Assassination as opening from stealth with teleport shadowstrike is enough to finish most mobs. And if you need to you have Dance and Blades as backups later in leveling with ST.
1 Like
Outlaw during levelling is a poor choice. It’s a spec that relies on being in combat all the time.
Assa during levelling is just kinda eh. No point to level as a DoT spec.
So that leaves Sub, and Sub is honestly pretty easy - once you get Shadow Dance+Secret Techniques, you can blow up a mob or two every 20 seconds, which is closest to levelling tempo anyway.
1 Like
How so? Elobarate please. I’m currently dabbling with assassin rogue doing catch up. I’m level 70 and mobs drop like flies. I do sometimes have a little difficulty with elites (like the ones in. Dragonflight where you choose which black drsgon to support) but I think those mobs are a little overtuned for some classes to solo.
EDIT… lol WTFBBQ I just tried sub for leveling and its like cheating compared to assassination. There’s no comparison, yer right.
4 Likes
I’m glad you were able to find enlightenment. 
The thing that makes Assassination feel bad while leveling is that it’s a DoT spec (damage of time). At lower levels, there are two things working against this. First, mobs die before your poisons and bleeds have a chance to ramp up. Second is energy starvation. Energy regeneration is really slow and it can feel like you’re watching paint dry.
Around level 50-55 you begin picking up talents that help with both situations. At max level, you have the full tool kit. But Blizzard can’t quite get the balance and tuning right. Assassination is competitive based on the numbers but it’s doesn’t feel like it used to.
1 Like
Sadly I don’t think I am going with rogue. Got to level 78 and did a few dungeons. Man…every other mob sees through stealth now. I dunno what they were thinking as they continued to develop this game. It felt SO bad to have my stealth drop off every pull.
When it comes to 3 to 5 mobs for leveling Outlaw is still very good but Assassination is way faster taking on 5-8 mobs all at once.
Sub is very good at taking on mobs one on one but when it encounters multiple mob situations for leveling Black Powder is under powered if you don’t talent into it and the same is true with Shuriken Storm.
So the leveling speed if you were to compare all three specs vary based on the content you are doing.
Sub is faster doing newer content because there are more take down single target quests and completing shorter objectives with more clustered NPCS.
If you were doing TBC and WotLK questing via Chromie time that is where Sub is slowed down a lot because the mobs are spread out an you have a hard time using the shadow strike teleport. In comparison the newer zones have higher density of mobs and faster respawn times which is where shadow strike teleport shines.
For TBC and WotLK content Outlaw is the best for leveling because of the cleave and there are many quests that require cleave at lower levels and escort quests. Sub And Assassination do not have the energy to use Crimson Tempest/Shuriken Storm/Black powder aggressively.
But once Assassination obtains Crimson Tempest and supporting talent it surpasses Outlaw’s ability to take on more than one mob.
If you are doing time walking/leveling dungeons this is where Outlaw and Assassination outshine Sub becuase there are less restealths and you need double dance to do any meaningful damage in leveling/time walking dungeons as Sub.
If you are doing leveling PVP this is where Sub does better because it can rely on stealth to complete objectives to help your team win.
And if you are leveling hunting for rares the bleeds of Assassination means you can kite and defeat any elite. Sub can put out more burst with double dance but it does not have access to defensives to take on elites for a long period of time in the lower levels. A lot of elites in older content are immune to stuns (eg TBC) unlike newer content where elites can be stunned.
1 Like
I’ve leveled sin several times and prefer it. Feels great and fast. Kiting and dotting with bigger pulls feels better than waiting for energy. You should try that
1 Like
I suppose we each have our preference. But kiting and dotting is inherently not fast. Especially in low level dungeons.
If you are in low level dungeons why are you kiting stay with the group
1 Like
If you are tagging multiple mobs it can be.
It just depends really.
Sub excels in BFA, Systemlands, DF and TWW expansions because of hyper spawns and the shadowstrike teleport makes it way faster. You will gain XP faster just taking down mobs than even doing and turning in quest objectives.
But in other expansions where mobs are spread out Assassination tagging multiple mobs and using the new Blind and Gouge which do not break from bleeds makes completing objectives a lot faster.
It is legitimately pathetic. I would actually love to see a dev play Rogue, just from level 1-10 (because it’s enough to say it’s like that till 60’s) and then play any other class.
We’d probably still have to tell them what the problem is, they’re that god damn dense.
1 Like
I like how we get opportunity before you can even pistol shot lol
2 Likes
Lol I forgot about that, like it’s one level but still. That they haven’t even bothered to fix it is still funny to me.
1 Like