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WoW Classic (Vanilla!) is back with Season of Discovery, and rogues get some shiny new runes to enjoy! Gather round for the Rogue DPS guide for phase 1 of WoW Classic: Season of Discovery (SOD). This guide will cover all you should know to maximize your damage at level 25 for the Blackfathom Deeps 10-man raid.
We will cover the following sections within this class guide, feel free to click on any item on the list to jump right into the action:
Stat Priority
Professions
Consumables
Best Rogue Races in SOD
For the Alliance in Classic WoW: Season of Discovery, the optimal choice for PvE raid scenarios is and has always been Humans. This preference stems from the significant advantages provided by Sword Specialization and Mace Specialization. These specializations increase your expertise with the weapons and therefore lower the amount of +Hit % gear you need by about 3%.
On the Horde side, Orcs stand out as a versatile choice for both PvE and PvP scenarios. The additional cooldown, Blood Fury, and heightened resistance to crowd control through Hardiness make Orc Rogues formidable contenders in various situations.
Another option for the Horde are Troll Rogues, as they exhibit get the Berserking ability. This racial trait proves especially valuable during encounters where increased attack speed can influence overall damage output positively. To use it efficiently, ensure you trigger Berserking when low health to gain a larger attack speed increase. Additionally, Beast Slaying helps during the leveling phase, even though its relevance diminishes in the later stages of end-game content.
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PVE Rotation for Rogues in WoW Classic SOD
The rotation for daggers versus sword or mace rogues is different mainly based on the addition of Saber Slash for the sword and mace rogues. Here are the recommended rotations in a PvE setting for rogues in Season of Discovery:
Dagger Rogue Rotation
Repeat this rotation while keeping Slice and Dice active, and time your Envenoms to consume the most amount of Deadly Poison douses (up to 5) as possible without capping energy.
Sword or Mace Rogue Rotation
As with the dagger rotation, repeat this rotation while keeping Slice and Dice active, and time your Envenoms to consume the most amount of Deadly Poison douses (up to 5) as possible without capping energy.
In scenarios where there are multiple enemies and they will be alive for more than 12 seconds, you can stack Saber Slash on an enemy until 3 stacks of bleed, refresh your slice and dice, then move to other enemies and repeat. Keep up bleeds on any enemies that will survive for long enough for the bleed to run its duration.
Rogue Stat Priority
Understanding the optimal stat priority is crucial for maximizing the effectiveness of your Rogue in World of Warcraft Classic: Season of Discovery. While individual gear and playstyle may slightly influence priorities, here’s what stats you should prioritize getting first.
1.Weapon Skill
2.Hit Chance
4.Attack Power
5.Critical Strike Chance
6.Strength
Tips for Gearing:
Remember that individual preferences and playstyles can influence stat priorities. The first thing to focus on is getting Hit % wherever you can, then focus on that sweet, sweet Agility and Attack Power.
Best DPS Rogue Runes
While runes and damage parsing are still incomplete, we can infer the value of each rune based on how well they synergize with the talents you choose and the skills and weapon types you prefer to use.
Best Runes for Dagger Rogues in Phase 1
Dagger rogues at level 25 looking for a great setup for raid should consider this setup:
Mutilate only works with daggers, and it excels when the target is already poisoned. Mixing this with Deadly Brew will mean you may use 2x Instant Poison on your daggers, and also apply Deadly Poison on every application of Instant Poison. Envenom then becomes your finisher as you’ve been stacking up Deadly Poison stacks using Deadly Brew.
In later levels, you will go further into the Assassination to improve your poison applications.
Best Runes for Sword and Mace Rogues in Phase 1
Sword and Mace rogues at level 25 will want to consider swapping out Mutilate for Saber Slash:
Deadly Brew and Envenom are still the best runes at level 25 to use from a raiding and PvE perspective. Mutilate only works with daggers, and Saber Slash allows you to apply a bleed damage over time that you will want to keep active on the target.
Best Talent Specializations for Rogues in SOD
The following are our two suggested builds, depending on if you want to use daggers or swords/maces. There are many variations of these builds that will work, but this should be a good starting point to focus on once you are ready to do dungeons and raid.
Dagger Rogue Talent Build for Season of Discovery
As explained later in this guide, Hit % is imperative to any rogue’s stat priority. We don’t want to be wasting 60 Energy Mutilates and missing them. For this reason we will want to make our way to the Precision talent. We put the first 5 points into Lightning Reflexes for survivability since Sinister Strike and Gouge are not used.
5 Points in Precision is then taken to increase Hit by 5%, and another 3 points in Improved Backstab for a 30% increased crit chance, which also applies to Mutilate.
For the final 3 points, take advantage of “Opportunity” in the Subtlety tree, which increases the damage dealt when striking from behind with Backstab, Garrote, or Ambush abilities by 12%. You will be using Mutilate instead, but Mutilate scaled of any talent that affects Backstab - so this affects Mutilate too.
Combat Swords or Maces Rogue Talent Build for Season of Discovery
The sword or mace rogue at level 25 will want to start in the Combat tree for the same reasons as the dagger rogue: Hit %. The Combat tree also gives Improved Sinister Strike to reduce the energy cost of it.
Take the Improved Sinister Strike points, 3 in Lightning Reflexes, then take the 5 points in Precision for your additional 5% Hit.
After this, the next 5 points in the Combat tree do not really give you any offensive gain, and you only have 6 points left. For this reason, we put the next 5 points in the Assassination tree into Malice. For the final point, add one to Improved Slice and Dice to help keep it up longer.
Best Professions for Rogues
The two best professions for rogues in Season of Discovery are Leatherworking and Engineering. Of course to supply Leatherworking thoroughly, you make want Skinning as your secondary profession rather than engineering. If you may afford to go both Leatherworking and Engineering, then go for it.
Engineering boasts several benefits in SOD, the same as always:
Leatherworking brings:
Where Leatherworking really shines is the ability to craft and use extremely powerful items in early phases, such as the Void-Toucher Leather Gloves. These gloves give much-needed hit %, the most important stat for any rogue to stack until yellow hit cap.
Other suitable options are shared with most other classes, such as alchemy allowing you to make your own potions. However, none of these other professions shine quite like Leatherworking and Engineering for rogues in SOD.
Rogue Raid Consumables for Level 25 BFD
The following are all consumables rogues can use at level 25 to help improve damage or survivability in WoW Season of Discovery:
Offensive Consumables
Defensive Consumables
Best in Slot Gear Rogue DPS
We’re currently building our BiS lists for the first phase of Season of Discovery, check back soon and we’ll provide a link to it here.
