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Combat Rogue Guide — Class Guides · WoW Forever

Sustained weapon damage: weapon specializations, Blade Flurry and Adrenaline Rush. The usual leveling tree.

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. More about the rogue

Class
Rogue
Roles
Damage
Used for
Raids and dungeons, Leveling
Top talent
Adrenaline Rush
Popular builds
2
Version
WoW Forever

How to play

Combat in WoW Forever is steady melee damage: Hack and Slash gives a bonus based on your weapon type, Blade Flurry and Adrenaline Rush are held for burst, Riposte punishes parries, and Flawless Execution makes Eviscerate cheaper. Puncturing Wounds lets Backstab builds gain extra combo points.

Keep Slice and Dice up, Sinister Strike (or Backstab with daggers) to five points and Eviscerate. Use Adrenaline Rush and Blade Flurry together with trinkets.

Combat is the safest rogue tree for leveling: Lightning Reflexes, Riposte and Blade Flurry handle tough pulls.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Forever.

Rotation and priorities

  1. 1Slice and Dice first, and keep it up.
  2. 2Sinister Strike to build, or Backstab from behind with daggers.
  3. 3Eviscerate at five combo points.
  4. 4Adrenaline Rush and Blade Flurry together.
  5. 5Riposte after you parry; Kick casters.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Hack and Slash works with any weapon type.
  • Simple, forgiving priority.
  • Safe leveling.

Weaknesses

  • Less burst than Assassination.
  • Fewer tricks in player-versus-player fights.
  • Damage capped by Energy.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

  1. 1

    Hitto the cap

  2. 2

    Agility

  3. 3

    Critical strike

  4. 4

    Weapon skill

  5. 5

    Attack power

  6. 6

    Strength

What to look for

  • Choose weapons for Hack and Slash: swords and axes for extra attacks, daggers and fist weapons for crit, maces to ignore armour.
  • A slow main hand for Sinister Strike, a fast off-hand for poisons.
  • Agility and hit.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

  • Assassination
  • Combat
  • Subtlety

  • Hack and Slash Duelist

    DamagePvE
    18/33/0

    Steady Combat damage: Hack and Slash grants weapon bonuses, Blade Flurry and Adrenaline Rush are held for burst, and Riposte punishes parries.

    • Cold Blood 1/1
    • Blade Flurry 1/1
    • Weapon Expertise 2/2
    • Aggression 3/3
    • Adrenaline Rush 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

  • Riposte Wanderer

    DamageLeveling
    15/36/0

    Combat leveling: Lightning Reflexes and Riposte keep you safe, Hack and Slash and Dual Wield Specialization speed up kills, and Blade Flurry handles pairs.

    • Flawless Execution 1/1
    • Blade Flurry 1/1
    • Weapon Expertise 1/2
    • Aggression 3/3
    • Adrenaline Rush 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycrafting

Key talents

  • Adrenaline Rush · top talent, up to 1

    Increases your Energy regeneration rate by 100% for 15 sec.

  • Deflection · tier 2, up to 3

    Increases your Parry chance by 6%.

  • Endurance · tier 3, up to 2

    Reduces the cooldown of your Sprint and Evasion abilities by 60%.

  • Riposte · tier 3, up to 1

    A strike that becomes active after parrying an opponent's attack. This attack deals 150% weapon damage and disarms the target for 6 sec.

  • Flawless Execution · tier 4, up to 1

    Reduces the Energy cost of your Eviscerate ability by 10.

  • Dual Wield Specialization · tier 4, up to 5

    Increases the damage done by your off-hand weapon by 25%.

  • Blade Flurry · tier 5, up to 1

    Increases your melee attack speed by 20% and your melee attacks strike an additional nearby opponent. Lasts 15 sec.

  • Hack and Slash · tier 5, up to 5

    Gives your melee weapon attacks a benefit depending on the weapon. Axe/Sword: Your successful melee attacks have a 5% chance to trigger an extra attack on the target. Dagger/Fist: Increases your critical strike chance by 5%. Mace: Your attacks ignore 15% of your target's armor.

  • Weapon Expertise · tier 6, up to 2

    Reduces the chance for your attacks to be Dodged or Parried by 2%.

  • Aggression · tier 6, up to 3

    Increases the damage of your Sinister Strike, Backstab, and Eviscerate abilities by 6%.

Combat abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.

What WoW Forever changed

New talents in this tree

  • Puncturing WoundsIncreases the critical strike chance of your Backstab by 30% and your Mutilate by 15%, and gives Backstab a 45% chance to add an additional Combo Point.
  • Flawless ExecutionReduces the Energy cost of your Eviscerate ability by 10.
  • Hack and SlashGives your melee weapon attacks a benefit depending on the weapon. Axe/Sword: Your successful melee attacks have a 5% chance to trigger an extra attack on the target. Dagger/Fist: Increases your critical strike chance by 5%. Mace: Your attacks ignore 15% of your target's armor.

Classic Era talents the class no longer has

  • Improved Backstab
  • Dagger Specialization
  • Mace Specialization
  • Sword Specialization
  • Fist Weapon Specialization

Spells

Changed: Backstab.

Related

Other rogue specs: Assassination, Subtlety