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

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: Raids and dungeons, Player versus player
Top talent: Shadow Dance
Popular builds: 2
Version: WoW Wrath of the Lich King

How to play

Subtlety in Wrath is built for arenas: Shadow Dance lets you use stealth openers in combat for a few seconds, Shadowstep and Preparation give mobility and second cooldowns, and Honor Among Thieves gives you combo points when your group crits.

Shadow Dance turns a fight into a chain of Ambushes and Cheap Shots; between them, Hemorrhage or Backstab, Kidney Shot and Eviscerate.

In raids Subtlety falls behind Assassination and Combat.

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

1Open from stealth with Premeditation and Cheap Shot or Ambush.
2Hemorrhage or Backstab to build; Honor Among Thieves adds more.
3Shadow Dance for repeated Ambushes and Cheap Shots.
4Kidney Shot, Blind, Gouge and Sap for control; Rupture and Eviscerate to finish.
5Shadowstep, Vanish and Preparation for cooldowns.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Shadow Dance gives unmatched burst and control.
Shadowstep and Preparation for mobility.
Honor Among Thieves feeds combo points.

Weaknesses

Weak in raids.
Demanding to play.
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
Attack power
4
Critical strike
5
Armour penetration
6
Stamina

What to look for

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

Builds

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

Assassination
Combat
Subtlety

Subtlety
DamagePvE
2051
20/0/51
Raid damage with 51 points in Subtlety, down to Shadow Dance, and 20 in Assassination.
- Honor Among Thieves 3/3
- Shadowstep 1/1
- Filthy Tricks 1/2
- Slaughter from the Shadows 5/5
- Shadow Dance 1/1
Glyphs: Glyph of Eviscerate (major), Glyph of Rupture (major), Glyph of Tricks of the Trade (major)
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting
Subtlety Gladiator
DamagePvP
1256
12/3/56
Arena and battleground damage with 56 points in Subtlety, down to Shadow Dance, and 12 in Assassination and 3 in Combat.
- Honor Among Thieves 3/3
- Shadowstep 1/1
- Filthy Tricks 2/2
- Slaughter from the Shadows 5/5
- Shadow Dance 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Shadow Dance · top talent, up to 1
Enter the Shadow Dance for 6 sec, allowing the use of Sap, Garrote, Ambush, Cheap Shot, Premeditation, Pickpocket and Disarm Trap regardless of being stealthed.
Master of Subtlety · tier 6, up to 3
Attacks made while stealthed and for 6 seconds after breaking stealth cause an additional 10% damage.
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 20 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 10%.
Waylay · tier 8, up to 2
Your Ambush and Backstab hits have a 100% chance to unbalance a target, increasing the time between their melee and ranged attacks by 20%, and reducing movement speed by 50% for 8 sec.
Honor Among Thieves · tier 9, up to 3
When anyone in your group critically hits with a damage or healing spell or ability, you have a 100% chance to gain a combo point on your current target. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.
Shadowstep · tier 9, 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.
Filthy Tricks · tier 9, up to 2
Reduces the cooldown by 10 sec and energy cost by 10 of your Tricks of the Trade, Distract and Shadowstep abilities and reduces the cooldown of Preparation by 3 min.
Slaughter from the Shadows · tier 10, up to 5
Reduces the energy cost of your Backstab and Ambush abilities by 20 and the energy cost of your Hemorrhage by 5, and increases all damage done by 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.