Subtlety Rogue Guide — Class Guides · WoW Burning Crusade

Stealth and openers, with control and burst for player-versus-player fights.

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: Player versus player, Leveling
Top talent: Shadowstep
Popular builds: 2
Version: WoW Burning Crusade

How to play

Subtlety is the arena tree: Shadowstep teleports you behind a target and strengthens your next attack, Preparation resets your cooldowns, Cheat Death saves you from a killing blow, and Premeditation and Sinister Calling strengthen openers.

Shadowstep into Ambush or Cheap Shot, then Hemorrhage or Backstab to five points and Kidney Shot. Cloak of Shadows and Vanish answer casters, and Preparation gives you each one twice.

In raids Subtlety deals less damage than Combat or Assassination.

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 Burning Crusade.

Rotation and priorities

1Sap one enemy and open on another with Premeditation, Shadowstep and Cheap Shot or Ambush.
2Hemorrhage or Backstab to five combo points.
3Kidney Shot to chain the stun, then Eviscerate.
4Blind the healer; Cloak of Shadows against casters.
5Vanish when losing, Preparation for a second round.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Shadowstep and Preparation give unmatched mobility and cooldowns.
Cheat Death survives a killing blow.
The strongest openers.

Weaknesses

Weak in raids.
Takes practice to chain stuns and cooldowns.
Little area damage.

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
Agility
2
Resiliencefor arenas
3
Stamina
4
Critical strike
5
Attack power
6
Hit

What to look for

Arena gear with resilience and Stamina, plus Agility.
A dagger main hand for Ambush and Backstab, or any weapon for Hemorrhage.
Crippling, Deadly and Wound Poison against players.

Builds

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

Assassination
Combat
Subtlety

Shadowstep Assassin
DamagePvP
2041
20/0/41
The popular arena rogue: Shadowstep reaches any target, Hemorrhage and Ghostly Strike keep pressure up, Preparation gives a second set of cooldowns and Cheat Death saves you.
- Preparation 1/1
- Premeditation 1/1
- Cheat Death 3/3
- Sinister Calling 5/5
- Shadowstep 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level
Ambush Stalker
DamageLeveling
1843
18/0/43
Subtlety leveling from stealth: Improved Ambush and Premeditation open every fight with a crit, and Shadowstep keeps the opener reliable.
- Preparation 1/1
- Premeditation 1/1
- Cheat Death 3/3
- Sinister Calling 5/5
- Shadowstep 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Shadowstep · top talent, up to 1
Attempts to step through the shadows and reappear behind your enemy and increases movement speed by 70% for 3 sec. The damage of your next ability is increased by 20% and the threat caused is reduced by 50%. Lasts 10 sec.
Heightened Senses · tier 5, up to 2
Increases your Stealth detection and reduces the chance you are hit by spells and ranged attacks by 4%. More effective than Heightened Senses (Rank 1).
Preparation · tier 5, up to 1
When activated, this ability immediately finishes the cooldown on your Evasion, Sprint, Vanish, Cold Blood, Shadowstep and Premeditation abilities.
Dirty Deeds · tier 5, up to 2
Reduces the Energy cost of your Cheap Shot and Garrote abilities by 20. Additionally, your special abilities cause 20% more damage against targets below 35% health.
Hemorrhage · tier 5, up to 1
An instant strike that deals 110% weapon damage and causes the target to hemorrhage, increasing any Physical damage dealt to the target by up to 13. Lasts 10 charges or 15 sec. Awards 1 combo point.
Master of Subtlety · tier 6, up to 3
Attacks made while stealthed and for 6 seconds after breaking stealth cause an additional 10% damage.
Deadliness · tier 6, up to 5
Increases your attack power by 10%.
Premeditation · tier 7, up to 1
When used, adds 2 combo points to your target. You must add to or use those combo points within 10 sec or the combo points are lost.
Cheat Death · tier 7, up to 3
You have a 100% chance that an attack which would otherwise kill you will instead reduce you to 10% of your maximum health. In addition, all damage taken will be reduced by up to 90% for 3 sec (modified by resilience). This effect cannot occur more than once per minute.
Sinister Calling · tier 8, up to 5
Increases your total Agility by 15% and increases the percentage damage bonus of Backstab and Hemorrhage by an additional 5%.

Subtlety 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.