[Rogue] Combat Rogue Guide

Heya folks,

I thought i'd rattle up a little Guide for PvE Combat Rogues and cover the basics. I hope this will be helpful for our current raiding Rogues, and also for anyone with an alt, or thinking of rolling one.

Spec

Combat 18/51/2 or Combat 15/51/5

Spending talent points on Vile Poisons would be the most favoured option, it increases poison damage by 20%, on top of that poison damage scales with AP.

Relentless Strikes is a handy tool also, Higher Energy Regen can be helpful, with the up keep of SnD & Rupture, Relentless Strike procs can help you keep this cycle up more efficiently while also allowing to add more Eviscerates.

The weapon specialisation is of course your choice, you will spend five points on one specialisation. CQC is arguably the best, but really it's down to whatever weapons you pickup. Always choose the specialisation which suits your main hand.

Sword/Fist of a slow speed should be in the MH, while faster weapons should be in the OH.

Combat Daggers is not viable, and Combat Mace is something to look at in the future, due to poor itemisation it's not really competitive right now.

Poisons

WP/WP or WP/DP. WP/DP being the most optimal of the two.

Poisons are affected by several elements including AP, Hit, Haste & Weapon Speed. The favoured setup will be WP/DP due to the high proc rate WP(Close to 100% if using a MH of 2.60 speed) has and the ticking damage from DP.

You should never use Shiv, not even if DP is going to drop.

Using IP, AP or any other Poison apart from the above is not currently optimal. Although Poisons were changed to PPM procs, they still have an internal proc percentage, WP being much better than either IP or AP.

Damage Cycle

SnD > Rupture > Eviscerate.

SnD is the main priority, it should not ever drop. Second priority is Rupture, in an ideal world you would have SnD & Rupture up constantly using 4/5 CP. If both are up, use Eviscerate.

As a Combat Rogue, we rely heavily on CD's. Blade Flurry, AR & Killing Spree. The trick to maximising DPS is to use them at the very best moment. You don't use KS at the start of the fight, the loss in DPS is massive, use in accordance with your procs, SnD & Ruptures, remember KS is also affected by Attack Speed.

If you know when BL will be used, make sure Blade Flurry is available, and then pop a haste pot = happy times. Try and pop AR when you are at the lowest percent of energy possible and also while SnD & Rupture are still up.

Do not use Envenom.

Gems

AP or Agility!?

Stacking AP is always good for obvious reasons. More AP means harder hits from physical damage and poisons. So the more attack power the better. You should gem for 32 AP if you are not a JC.

However, stacking agility, especially with highier tier gear is recommended. Using 16 Agility gems you will gain 16 AP and 0.19% Crit. The extra crit you have will add to Rupture ticks which will CRIT with the T8 set bonus. With the T8 set bonus stacking Agility will be preferred. If you do not have the T8 set bonus, stack AP.

Enchants

Be.Imba is a great website for advising you of which enchants to go for.

Agility, AP or Crit enchants are usually the norm, while for your weapons you should get Berserker.

You can download Aldriana's spreadsheet from here.

For a more in-depth look at Rogues, visit Elitist Jerks. If it's viable, it's there.

MAXDPS & WoW-Heroes are also quite handy performance analizers.

That's all for now, if there are any questions by all means ask.

Cheers!

Damage Cycle

SnD > Rupture > Eviscerate.

SnD is the main priority, it should not ever drop. Second priority is Rupture, in an ideal world you would have SnD & Rupture up constantly using 4/5 CP. If both are up, use Eviscerate.

As a Combat Rogue, we rely heavily on CD's. Blade Flurry, AR & Killing Spree. The trick to maximising DPS is to use them at the very best moment. You don't use KS at the start of the fight, the loss in DPS is massive, use in accordance with your procs, SnD & Ruptures, remember KS is also affected by Attack Speed.

If you know when BL will be used, make sure Blade Flurry is available, and then pop a haste pot = happy times. Try and pop AR when you are at the lowest percent of energy possible and also while SnD & Rupture are still up.

Do not use Envenom.

Zemi, I try to use the above rotation cycle when specced as a Combat Rogue.

What do you think?

Neil