Rogue Class Guide — Class Guides · WoW Classic
A leather-wearing melee fighter who builds combo points with Energy and spends them on finishing moves. Rogues open from stealth, stun and blind enemies, and poison their weapons.
- Roles
- Damage
- Specializations
- 3
- Popular builds
- 6
- Version
- WoW Classic
How the rogue plays
Rogues are melee damage built on Energy and combo points. Energy refills at a fixed rate; builders such as Sinister Strike and Backstab spend it to add combo points to the target, and finishers such as Slice and Dice, Eviscerate and Rupture spend up to five. Keeping Slice and Dice up while spending the rest on Eviscerate is the heart of rogue damage.
Stealth decides how fights start. You choose the opener (Cheap Shot to stun, Ambush or Garrote for damage) and then chain Gouge, Kidney Shot, Blind and Sap to keep enemies out of the fight. Vanish, Evasion and Sprint get you out when it goes wrong.
Rogues coat their weapons with poisons they make themselves: Instant Poison for damage, Crippling Poison to slow, Mind-numbing Poison against casters, Wound Poison against healing. Keep a stack of each in your bags.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Strong single-target damage in raids.
- The best control in the game: stuns, Sap, Blind and Gouge.
- Stealth lets you skip fights and pick every engagement.
- Lockpicking and Pick Pocket bring steady gold.
Weaknesses
- Leather armour and no healing beyond bandages: you rely on not being hit.
- Weak area damage: Blade Flurry only adds one target.
- Energy caps how fast you can act: gear raises each hit, not the number of hits.
- High threat in raids, with only Feint and Vanish to drop it.
Specializations
The specs compared
Each spec rated from 1 to 5 at what it does in WoW Classic. Single and several targets mean damage for damage specs, healing for healers and threat for tanks; a spec's own guide names its ratings for its role.
| Rating |  Assassination |  Combat |  Subtlety |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single target | |||
| Several targets | |||
| Survivability | |||
| Utility | |||
| Solo and leveling | |||
| Ease of play |
- Assassination
Damage · 1 build
Crits, poisons and stronger finishing moves.
Top talent:
Assassination guide
Vigor - Combat
Damage · 3 builds
Sustained weapon damage: weapon specializations, Blade Flurry and Adrenaline Rush. The usual leveling tree.
Top talent:
Combat guide
Adrenaline Rush - Subtlety
Damage · 2 builds
Stealth and openers, with control and burst for player-versus-player fights.
Top talent:
Subtlety guide
Premeditation
Gear
- Leather with Agility, hit and crit; rogues can't wear mail.
- One-handed daggers, swords, maces and fist weapons in either hand.
- Hit to 9% for special attacks, counting Precision's 5%. Humans get +5 skill with swords and maces, and Edgemaster's Handguards add skill with daggers and swords.
- Crusader on both weapons, Agility on gloves.
Each spec guide ranks its stats and says what to look for on its gear.
Rogue class quests
The quests that unlock class abilities, by the level each route starts at.
- 20Poisons