WoW Rogue Guide

Rogues are the serious damage-dealers, the killers, the stealthy assassins of Azeroth. In this WoW Rogue guide I'll explain who would want to play a Rogue, and how to make your Rogue as deadly as possible.

If you play a Rogue you will be a master of stealth. You'll see from this WoW Rogue guide that they specialise in sneaking up and taking opponents unawares, then attacking to deal devastating damage. In fact, Rogues can deal the most melee damage out of any class in WoW. And they are the most feared characters in Player versus Player (PvP).

If you want a character who is always in the thick of things and always taking

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risks. Moving in close to kill opponents as swiftly as possible, preferably without even being seen. Then the Rogue is for you.

From a roleplaying perspective Rogues are something of loners, the lone wolves of Azeroth. They are the typical criminals - skilled in stealth, lockpicking, poisons and Alchemy, hand-to-hand brawling, and of course the methods of silent attack and assassination. They attack with poisoned weapons and use stuns and blinding powder to incapacitate the enemy.

I want to mention in this WoW Rogue guide, that much like Hunters who attack from afar, Rogues are unpopular with many, who would prefer a 'clean fair fight'. Because they are so dangerous they are often targeted out in PvP to be killed as quickly as possible. But if this doesn't bother you (it's easier said than done to catch and kill a Rogue), playing a Rogue can be the most fun character in the game - very effective in questing alone or in PvP groups.

While unpopular, Rogues are also very much in demand in most questing groups for their stealth skills which allow them to scout out dungeons, as well as their combat skills.

Developing Your Rogue

Follow the tips in this WoW Roue guide to develop your Rogue into one of the most dangerous characters in WoW. Here's a brief WoW Rogue guide to statistics.

Firstly, when developing your abilities and choosing gear that enhances them, always focus on Agility with your Rogue. Agility is preferable even to Stength for a Rogue. Enhancing Stealth and Dodge skills. Stamina is also important, especially later in PvP, where you need to be able to last long battles.

The Rogue cannot wear heavy armour - one disadvantage for a character always in close combat. But they make up for it by being very hard to hit. You cannot waer more than cloth or leather armour as a Rogue, and cannot wield two-handed weapons. At level 10 you can get dual wield, which allows you to attack with two weapons - excellent for serious burst damage. And at level 20 Rogues can learn Poisons - the combination of 2 weapons and Poison is one of the things that makes them WoW's premier damage-dealers.

A tip for poisoning is to always find a very fast off-hand weapon, which strikes more often and therefore gives you more chance of applying the poison to the enemy. While the first hand weapon just deals serious damage.

WoW Rogue guide to Talents

Each Talent Tree for the Rogue takes you down a different route of how to deal damage. They all focus on dealing damage, just through different methods. The three trees are Assassination, Combat and Subtlety.

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Assassination Rogues focus on dagger and poison for massive instant burst damage from behind. If you are going to invest any points into this tree then you should really head towards a Mutilate Build, which is the best ability in the Assassination tree. Mutiliate needs 40 points spent in Assassination (don't worry there are plenty of other excellent assassin skills before you reach it). It allows you to attack with both weapons simultaneously for massive burst damage, increased dramatically if you poison the victim too. And then build up huge combinations of blows that simply destroy targets. For this WoW Rogue guide, I'd say Assasination is the best Talent Tree if you want to play a true Rogue.

The Combat talent tree builds the Rogue up as more of a powerul fighter with swords - better for lasting in slightly longer battles, and dealing out sustained high damage to opponents. With lots of cool abilities like Improved Slice and Dice, Blade Fury, Blade Twisting, Killing Spree, etc. These all make you a real melee combat killer. It's a great tree to develop for solo questing, where you will get drawn into more long-term battles. Although assassination allows you to build up more combo points, which allow you to deal more massive short-term damage.

On the other hand, a disadvantage to the Assassination tree is that if the opponent is immune to Poison, or can shake it off, then you deal a lot less damage. Combat Rogues don't have this problem. So for players reading this WoW Rogue guide who are newer to WoW, I'd recommend following the Combat Tree.

Subtlety builds up the side of Rogues that leap out of the darkness to deal incredible amounts of bloody damage, then disappear again just as quickly. A very powerful set of skills for the end game and PvP.

This tree is excellent combined with either Combat or Assassination. A word of warning, it really is a tree for the end game, and it doesn't help you as much as the others as you are leveling and progressing through the game because the best skills are right at the end and require a lot of points invested before you get them - these are Honour Amongst Theives, Premeditation, etc. Again, as this WoW Rogue guide is more for players new to the game I'd recommend the Combat Tree to begin with.

So it really depends on  how new you are to the game, and then what type of Rogue you want to roleplay. The nasty, silent assassin is Subtlety and Assassination. The furious, graceful but silent killer is more Combat tree.

That's all for this WoW Rogue guide, but for more advice on Rogue Skills and Professions, check out the WoW Rogue Guide Part 2 here: Rogue Leveling Guide

Are you leveling too slow and is your character poor?

If your answer to the above question is yes, then I strongly recommend that you check out Zygor's Leveling Guide

This regularly updated, essential guide includes both Horde and Alliance power leveling guides, professions guide, beginners guide, class quest guide, class talent and gear guide, mount guide and more. Click Here to go check it out now!