so i came back to play my rogue.
i have a ret paladin and a mage and i noticed there was things that took time to learn.
things you might have known because you played the game for a long time.
or perhaps you are an ARENA god.
What are your best TOP 5 tips as playing a rogue.
The criteria.
nothing obvious like “learn rotation”
or get good. but stuff you really feel is unique to your experience.
EDIT
also bonus points on why you love rogue above all other classes and why.
Tell us your story
As a pure DPS class there are going to be times where your preferred spec may not be the most viable in PvE or PvP. Different specs also have different things they excel at and will make you a much better rounded player.
Rogues used to have a rule of you played the spec of whatever weapons you had. Example being if you had a Higher Ilvl sword than dagger you would play outlaw over the other two specs. While its not as bad now due to loot specs say someone gets a weapon that you dont need for Sin but its a higher ilvl. ( This only applies to PvE)
in Arena learn to use arena 123 macros
I personally use target arena 123, focus arena 123 and blind arena 123 macros.
In PvP dont be afraid to run away and reset/restealth.
One thing I had a hard time adjusting to was doing an opener as rogue/mage and then resetting. I was used to the “stay in and continue fighting” style.
I will add to this by saying all three specs play very differently. Outlaw has very high actions per minute while Assassination is probably the slowest spec in the game.
I have always mained a rogue because of stealth. I feel it is simply the single best ability in the game.
Get familiar with unusual parts of your kit, like Distract. They have their uses and when well used separate you from other players. And don’t be afraid to lose personal damage for stuns and control.
Biggest game-changer for me though was making a mouseover Pickpocket macro. First used it during WoD coin farming, and I can’t imagine life without it now.
Use your cooldowns. A lot. Though it was 2m CD, it’s not. Every CB spent reduces it. You can use Adrenalin Rush ever 2-3rd pack in M+
Roll The Bones — Install WA for the ability to track good rolls vs bad. You don’t want to accidently override good rolls.
Use keybinds.
Use vanish+ambush as part of your rotation.
My rogue WA’s:
Shroud Countdown.
Roll the bones reminder pop up (Bigger in size)
Roll the bones tracker (on the side to see if its good or not)
Pistol Shot proc tracker pop up (I use WA, but can also set up TellMeWhen).
Slice and Dice tracker (I use WA, but can also set up TellMeWhen).
Flagelation tracker (as I am Venthyr)
(TellMeWhen) Couldn’t find WA for that, so I set up addon to track Prey on the Weak talent (10% damage for 6 seconds after stun)
I use simple keybinds.
1-6
Q E R T F G
My layout - https://imgur.com/a/ru113Oh
So, my entire rotation is keybinded. A lot of utility are clickable
ToT (threat ability) is a focus macro.
Why do I play Outlaw?
I love it. I do a lot of M+. I also raid mythic in Outlaw.
It’s a very fast paced spec. It’s a lot of clicking.
I love rogue’s defensives. Cloak of shadows is REALLY good. So is Evasion.
Go with engineering. Get Nitro Boots for 2nd mobility buff. Battle rez is nice too!
Wormhole OP
Soooo much of rogue is conditional on opponents and situation, you’ll be best served by spamming skirmishes and randos until you get comfy. A few weird tips I can think of though (some PvP some PvE some RBG)
you can distract people off bridges, cliffs etc, especially if they are mounted. You can also use it to break off a charge and split teams
full blind is long enough to drop the enemy out of combat - you can actually reset and sap them after the blind for comically long CC (say a healer with trinket down so you can blast their dps for 12 seconds straight)
as outlaw I mix and match poisons depending on comp - most often using instant and crippling but also mind numbing (especially in pve)
disarm affects hunters but not ret pallies
cloak however soaks an entire ret burst since it is all magic
in pve don’t save cds for bosses - most rogue abilities can reduce CD time through actions - use them nonstop pretty much
you can use smoke bomb to kill burst on you and your team - see your healer getting lined up? Bomb on him and give him 5-6 seconds to catch you both up and kill their CDs - it’s not just an offensive CD
you only need one dagger and one sword/1h for both sub and outlaw - so don’t worry about 3 weapons unless you are in love with mut
In pve weapon type does matter, but in pvp using a sword off hand for sub could actually be a dps increase based on the stats of said weapon. Last season there was a fist weapon with vers mas which gave us a 1% dps increase (lol). This season I don’t really think it matters though since there is no vers mas, thus using double daggers is slightly better. If you wanna use a sword off hand though ( or dagger off hand for outlaw) then go for it, the damage loss is so small that it won’t matter. As a rogue you will always win off of good goes, 1% dmg loss won’t help you win lol.
I get that, but is there anything to back it up? Because when I sim you for example with your current gear, I get 8,020 DPS. If I drop your offhand to a 233 sword (vs your 239 dagger, so already a 6ilvl drop), your dps drops to… 8,002. 18 dps difference for a lower ilvl 1h sword.
So I think the point stands that the amount of conquest and honor needed to get a 3rd weapon, and upgrade that weapon just to eek out 18 extra dps (0.2% increase) far outweighs the benefit of say, getting all of your other gear possible first, and being able to enjoy both Outlaw and Sub with just 2 weapons.
