Rogue raiding specs.

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Prior to last nights Naxx run we had a new rogue who was going in to do a bit of DPS, and was seeking some advice on some SOTN (Squeezing of the nuts) to make sure that she didn’t let the raid down by under-performing. This brought me to questions the various specs and how well they will be for raiding.

First off, let me give the greatest bit of raiding advice for a rogue I may ever give.

DO NOT RAID IN SUBTLETY.

I may stand corrected if anyone wishes to provide a working raiding build and setup, but the custom spec build used here was very un-optimized, even for PVP, never mind soloing or raiding.

After some extensive testing and talent checking, it just was not viable for individual DPS.

Subtlety is the PVP build, and is designed around burst damage. You open with a big hit (ambush) and you close with a big hit (Eviscerate.) the damage in between, from what I could see, was sub-standard. On a level 80 target dummy in full heroic/pvp/crafted epics and blues was just over 700.

We tried playing with attack combos (testing rupture and eviscerate for finishers, applying hemorrhage in the middle etc.) and through the wonders of recount, came up with the following info for her build.

Ambush was hitting for under 4k (was not optimized for it though.)

Hemorrhage, whilst it applied a dot and gave a nice debuff (+75 damage to next 20 hits on target) spamming it was highly inefficient, and a single sinister strike was doing about the same damage as the hemorrhage brought forward – without talents or a glyph.


Rupture – whilst talented – was only pulling about half the damage of an eviscerate.

The first obstacle we came across when looking to get this DPS up, was the weapon combination. Dagger main hand, new + enchanted PVP offhand sword. This threw a Mutilate spec out of the window (I am informed this is the highest single target damage build – and after some testing on my own rogue, tend to agree, although I have not seen it in a raid, ever, as raiding rogues tend to still be combat spec like in TBC.I decided the best build would be a modified Combat dagger raiding build (Wowwiki cookie cutter build.)

The dagger (epic) has good stats, good dps, and compared to any non epic sword we could have gotten, had about the same one-hit damage (250-300, or thereabouts.) It was not ideal for a combat build, but it was going to have to do. After speccing we took to the dummies again. Ambush opener (may as well, there’s a dagger and some points in talents to boost it.) Sinister strike through, and eviscerate finisher. Plain and simple. This on its own boosted to a consistent 1100 DPS. Throw in adrenaline rush when it’s cooled down, and doing my favourite: Trinket + blade flurry + Killing spree, this provided bursts of damage peaking to 2k – providing a sustained 1200-1300 DPS on said target dummy.

Her +hit was virtually non existent before, she now has 5% +hit chance thanks to Precision she took to Naxx and ended the run with recount displaying an average of 1600 DPS. Low for Naxx requirements, but that’s a huge boost to what it was previously. She also got a shiny epic dagger which means she has mutilate build options available.

I’m sure there are better more optimal builds out there, but considering my own rogue is only 76, I think this is quite good. My rogue in quest blues/greens with a pair of Saronite daggers averages just under 900 DPS when soloing – I am very very curious to see how this build with someone epic-clad would do against a raid boss.

Any hints or tips from out there? Please feel free to provide J

-V