Combat Rogue Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King

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: Killing Spree
Popular builds: 2
Version: WoW Wrath of the Lich King

How to play

Combat in Wrath is the armour penetration rogue: Killing Spree teleports between targets striking many times, Savage Combat raises damage on poisoned targets, Prey on the Weak raises crit damage, and Blade Flurry and Adrenaline Rush stack for burst.

The priority is simple: keep Slice and Dice up, Sinister Strike to build, and Rupture or Eviscerate to spend. Combat is the top rogue late in the expansion, as armour penetration gear piles up.

It is also the most forgiving rogue for leveling.

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 Wrath of the Lich King.

Rotation and priorities

1Slice and Dice kept up.
2Sinister Strike to build combo points.
3Rupture at five points if the target lives long enough, Eviscerate otherwise.
4Killing Spree, Adrenaline Rush and Blade Flurry with trinkets and Heroism.
5Tricks of the Trade on the tank; Fan of Knives on packs.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Top rogue damage late in the expansion.
Killing Spree and Blade Flurry hit several targets.
Forgiving.

Weaknesses

Needs armour penetration to peak.
Weaker in arenas.
Melee only.

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
Hitto 263 rating
2
Armour penetrationlate in the expansion
3
Expertise
4
Agility
5
Haste
6
Attack power

What to look for

A slow main-hand sword, mace or fist weapon and a fast off-hand.
Hit and expertise first, then armour penetration.
Armour penetration gems once you have a lot of it.

Items worth chasing

Deathbringer's WillA trinket that procs Strength, Agility or haste.
Mjolnir RunestoneA trinket that procs armour penetration.
Grim TollA trinket with hit and an armour penetration proc.

Builds

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

Assassination
Combat
Subtlety

Combat Raider
DamagePvE
2051
20/51/0
Raid damage with 51 points in Combat, down to Killing Spree, and 20 in Assassination.
- Adrenaline Rush 1/1
- Surprise Attacks 1/1
- Savage Combat 2/2
- Prey on the Weak 5/5
- Killing Spree 1/1
Glyphs: Glyph of Killing Spree (major), Glyph of Tricks of the Trade (major), Glyph of Rupture (major)
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting
Combat Leveling
DamageLeveling
1457
14/57/0
Leveling with 57 points in Combat, down to Killing Spree, and 14 in Assassination.
- Unfair Advantage 2/2
- Surprise Attacks 1/1
- Savage Combat 2/2
- Prey on the Weak 5/5
- Killing Spree 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Killing Spree · top talent, up to 1
Step through the shadows from enemy to enemy within 10 yards, attacking an enemy every .5 secs with both weapons until 5 assaults are made, and increasing all damage done by 20% for the duration. Can hit the same target multiple times. Cannot hit invisible or stealthed targets.
Weapon Expertise · tier 6, up to 2
Increases your expertise by 10.
Blade Twisting · tier 6, up to 2
Increases the damage dealt by Sinister Strike and Backstab by 10%, and your damaging melee attacks have a 10% chance to Daze the target for 8 sec.
Vitality · tier 7, up to 3
Increases your Energy regeneration rate by 25%.
Adrenaline Rush · tier 7, up to 1
Increases your Energy regeneration rate by 100% for 15 sec.
Combat Potency · tier 8, up to 5
Gives your successful off-hand melee attacks a 20% chance to generate 15 Energy.
Unfair Advantage · tier 9, up to 2
Whenever you dodge an attack you gain an Unfair Advantage, striking back for 100% of your main hand weapon's damage. This cannot occur more than once per second.
Surprise Attacks · tier 9, up to 1
Your finishing moves can no longer be dodged, and the damage dealt by your Sinister Strike, Backstab, Shiv, Hemorrhage and Gouge abilities is increased by 10%.
Savage Combat · tier 9, up to 2
Increases your total attack power by 4% and all physical damage caused to enemies you have poisoned is increased by 4%.
Prey on the Weak · tier 10, up to 5
Your critical strike damage is increased by 20% when the target has less health than you (as a percentage of total health).

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.