Rogue Class Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King
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
- 5
- Version
- WoW Wrath of the Lich King
How the rogue plays
Rogues in Wrath gain Fan of Knives (area damage with your thrown weapon), Tricks of the Trade (sends your threat to another player and raises their damage), Dismantle, and Killing Spree for Combat.
The core is unchanged: build combo points with Energy, keep Slice and Dice up and spend the rest on finishers. Each spec has its own builder: Mutilate, Sinister Strike, or Backstab and Hemorrhage.
Tricks of the Trade on the tank or the top damage dealer makes rogues welcome in every raid.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Top single-target damage.
- Tricks of the Trade boosts a raid member's damage.
- Cloak of Shadows, Vanish and stuns.
Weaknesses
- Fan of Knives is the only real area damage.
- Leather armour and melee range.
- Energy caps how fast you can act.
Specializations
The specs compared
Each spec rated from 1 to 5 at what it does in WoW Wrath of the Lich King. 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
Hunger For Blood - Combat
Damage · 2 builds
Sustained weapon damage: weapon specializations, Blade Flurry and Adrenaline Rush. The usual leveling tree.
Top talent:
Combat guide
Killing Spree - Subtlety
Damage · 2 builds
Stealth and openers, with control and burst for player-versus-player fights.
Top talent:
Subtlety guide
Shadow Dance
Gear
- Leather with Agility, hit, expertise, haste and armour penetration.
- Hit to 8% (263 rating) for special attacks, less Precision; poisons count as spells and want more.
- Expertise toward 26 to stop dodges.
Each spec guide ranks its stats and says what to look for on its gear.