Rogue Leveling

As ive mained a mage for a long time and started one in classic I decided I would have more fun playing a class ive always been interested in but never actually playing it (Rogue). I always secretly thought id have more fun on a rogue because it looked like my type of playstyle but it was always hard to leave my mage behind as I was so use to it, but now ive decided to start from scratch for my classic experience and take on the Rogue finally and so far ive had a blast (even tho I am still low level) however, I want to make sure I learn the class the best to my abilities and want some outside tips from the hardcore rogues out there on things I should make sure that I do or specific quests or just anything I need to know Rogue related. Best ways to level? professions choices? questing routes? rotation priorities? I’m going to level as combat swords as ive heard that is the best route till 60 and then I can pretty much do whatever? any info related to Rogues and being good at Rogue is helpful in any way. you can answer my questions here on the forums or on my twitch channel tues/Thursdays at 7pm at Rivalz20 and help me through my journey as a rogue. Thanks guys

Why not just look up rogue guides on youtube?

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rogue guides are I feel pretty helpful but I find getting everyday rogue player tips to be a realistic insight where as I feel a lot of youtube videos is more of a blanket statement.

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Herb/alch are not bad professions for rogues.

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Lvl with short swords and hit a lot with white damage. Pvp with daggers. There is no variability its a silly illusion. Spend most all of your time stabbing stuff, reg mobs are the xp that drive the engine in Classic. Plenty of guides.

Pro tip:

If you’re sneaking up on a mob DO NOT walk over a campfire.

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Hmm. So many professions choices. Its hard to choose

  1. Herb/alch = rogues learn to cook thistle tea. They also can use herb for fadeleaf. need herb for this

  2. Leatherworker = can make your own gear

  3. Engineering = bombs, target dummy, trinkets to heal yourself. Helmet early in game. Really expensive though

  4. Blacksmith = weapons are very expensive and you could make your own

  5. Enchanting = upgrade your own gear

Those are all great choices for rogues.
I have a hard time not choosing herb for the tea and fadeleaf. Engineering is awesome though.

I honestly think you cant go wrong with any. Although bs would be the worst of the choices I think

Also, for rogue, play what you find fun. Dont listen to the people that say do it this way it you are doing it wrong. If you find a playstyle boring, then its wrong. That is the only time i think you can be doing it wrong

For where to lvl, the night elf area is long but fun. The human area is a lot of back and forth between zones. The dwarf area requires you to hit some other areas before wetlands or you wont be high enough.

I think elf area is the easiest since you stay in one place for 8 levels…

except your horde…enjoy crossroads for 40 levels

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Killing bears and boars and stags at melee range is fun. Then when they are dead they’re right there to loot and skin. You have a ranged weapon in your throw to even pull them to you.

And leather armor is a natural fit for rogues. There is decent agility gear you can craft yourself fairly early in leathercrafting. I would go with skinning/leathercrafting. In fact I have.

You don’t have to be chasing all over for nodes, in fact in questing areas other non-skinning players will leave nodes for you.

miss miss dodge parry miss miss dodge dodge dodge miss

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This is a great idea if you want to be poor.

Get skinning no matter what.

fun class terribly slow leveling like warrior

Fast leveling just go combat swords. Level First Aid a lot and use instant poison, also get those 2 swords from quest rewards like at level 35-45 (One from RFD and the other from SM cath), that’s pretty much about it =P

Levelingarogueisfunbutyou’restrugglingatthelowlevels.Itgetseasierafter30

Don’t worry about your spec early on. “Combat swords” is known as being a good raid spec, but it relies on 5/5 sword spec which you won’t even get until level 35 minimum and ignoring every other tree. Combat as a tree (swords or not) is great to grind with, although you’ll want to put 11 points or so in Assassination for Malice (straight 5% crit), Murder (straight 2% damage increase) and relentless strikes to help with grinding. You’re realistically looking at getting close to level 50 by the time that anything like “combat swords” is really achievable. Until then you’re just spamming Sinister Strike with whatever weapon you have or using Backstab if you’re dungeon grinding.

Free blue weapons are nice, but those swords are 1.9 and 2.2 speed which are too fast to be great Rogue weapons. You can often pick up some BoE blues on the cheap around the low 30s (Zealot Blade is lvl 29 but pricy because of twinks) that hit harder. Don’t limit yourself to swords, either, it won’t make a difference until late game. As I mention above, though, daggers are only worth it if you can grind dungeons and guarantee that you’re able to position yourself in the back.

Skinning and another gathering prof. Mining is great especially in higher levels when you can start mining in dungeons. Herbalism is great because you can farm your own swiftthistle and fadeleaf. Either way you’ll want to drop one at 60 for engineering. :slight_smile:

Here are some suggestions based on my leveling experience thus far:

  1. Pick up dual gathering professions to start with so you can get gold for your first mount. I picked up herbalism and skinning. Skinning is especially nice since it essentially levels as you level.

  2. Keep your lock picking up to date and pickpocket every humanoid mob that you encounter. This includes mobs inside dungeons. I will make sure to stealth before every pull and pick everything I can before attacking. Many of these mobs will give you a junk box that will have mats for poisons and some silver inside.

  3. Shadowpanther(dot)net has a good guide for how to spend your talent points. Highly recommend it.

  4. Unless I’m grinding away on mobs that can’t hurt me, I will use gouge at every opportunity. Gives you a break from getting whaled on. I will let it run it’s full duration before attacking again so that it’s cooldown will be reset shortly after so I can use it again if necessary. Gouge is a super useful skill because it gives you time to bandage, but it can also be used to interrupt casts (even ones that kick can’t interrupt).

  5. When you get cheap shot and kidney shot, you can basically stunlock any regular mob. I’ll generally stealth up to a target, pickpocket if I can, cheap shot for the stun and 2 combo points, sinister strike, then gouge and wait, as soon as the gouge fades I’ll use another sinister strike, then immediately stun again with kidney shot. Just as that stun wears off I will gouge again. You end up taking very little damage so you can fight against enemies that are up to a few levels higher without too much trouble. Things can get difficult if they block or dodge your stuns, but that’s why you have your other skills.

  6. You should prioritize using swords. You want a slow main hand since sinister strike damage is based on your weapon damage. A slower weapon will do more damage than a faster one. You want a faster off hand since that will apply poisons faster. From 1-17 you’re pretty much at the mercy of whatever you can find, but once you get to Deadmines farm for a Cruel Barb. That sword will last you until 35 when you can get the quest for Scarlet Monastery that gives you Sword of Omen. At 39 you get a quest for Razorfen Downs that rewards you with Vanquisher’s Sword, and at 45 you get a quest for Maraudon that gives you Thrash Blade. Thrash Blade will probably last you until 60, or whenever you get Dal’rend’s.

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Undead rogues level fast. Few tips. Stagger cannibal/first aid so you’re consistently keeping health up.

Cloth pve mobs, open ambush. Anything else, open cs. Use sap on multi pulls. Don’t tank ever. Keep every fight 1v1 if you can.

Solo pve is a good time to practice energy management so you can unleash a big burst during ks. Don’t just ks when you can. Use it when you can have energy to dump after.

Rogue levels fast. It just takes a bit of finesse.