Welcome to The War Within Rogue Guide. In this comprehensive guide, we will cover everything you should know about mechanics to improve your skill and smooth in-game experience. We hope you can find a lot of helpful information below! Without extra words, allow us to present: Rogue! We also suggest reading our TWW Mythic+ Guide to prepare your Rogue for upcoming adventures.
The War Within Rogue Overview
Rogue is a class that uses Energy for its abilities. His attack can be divided into two categories: builders to generate combo points and finishers to spend them. This class has one of the highest APMs in the game so we wouldn’t recommend it for new players. Nevertheless, Rogue is also one of the most interesting classes to play because of his iconic Stealth ability, which allows them to sneak around parts of the world that are not accessible to the rest of the classes.
Rogue Strengths and Weaknesses
Every class has its own pros and cons, which may impact the way you play the game. Let’s see the detailed breakdowns of the advantages and disadvantages of the Rogue class in The War Within.
| Assassination | Outlaw | Subtlety | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strengths | ✅ Awesome single-target damage focused on poison and bleed DOT effects; ✅ Slow-paced spec that is good for new players; ✅ Good kit of mobility, utility, and saves. | ✅ Outstanding AoE damage with just a regular single target rotation, thanks to Blade Flurry; ✅ Fun and fast-paced spec; ✅ Good kit of mobility and utility. | ✅ Good single-target damage; Sustained AoE; ✅ Fairly fast-paced spec built around short and regular cooldown windows; ✅ Awesome kit of mobility and utility. |
| Weaknesses | ⛔️ Weak AoE; ⛔️ Does not have any special buffs. | ⛔️ Coldown-reliant class; Blade Flurry is target capped at 5 targets; ⛔️ Roll the Bones brings an element of randomness to Outlaw rotation. | ⛔️ Mistakes lead to huge DPS loss; ⛔️ No impressive burst in AoE. |
The War Within Rogue Changes
The changes in The War Within brought some fresh air into both class and spec talent trees, allowing for more damage increase options. Among the all-specs-changes, we can mention that Cut to the Chase is now the baseline talent. Acrobatic Strikes now grant additional auto-attack damage and move speed instead of melee attack range. Nightstalker talent was completely removed.
Each spec has also received a bunch of new talents and changes to their spec trees. For example, Assassination Rogue now has Sanguine Stratagem, Outlaw Spec no longer has Sepsis talent, and Subtlety Rogues can now use Double Dance to add an extra charge to Shadow Dance for additional damage.
By the way, one very important addition, that is available to all classes, is the Warbands. This is a new feature that allows you to transfer resources to your alts, share gear, and use Warband Bank. You can get access to this bank with the help of our team and deal with your resources in no time.
The War Within Rogue Abilities
In World of Warcraft Rogues possess significant defensive and utility abilities that secure strong survivability and versatility of this class. Cloak of Shadows, for example, provides a brief immunity to magical effects, while Evasion drastically increases dodge chance, helping them avoid physical attacks. Feint reduces area-of-effect damage taken, and Vanish allows them to escape combat or re-enter stealth. Additionally, Smoke Bomb creates a cloud that prevents ranged attacks.
But that’s not all. In The War Within, Blizzard introduced the newest Hero Talent Trees, offering even more talents in addition to spec and class trees. The Hero talents are not expected to provide any massive damage gain, as this is mostly a passive tree. But, they promise to be fun and convenient. In our detailed Hero Talent Trees Guide you can read more about the tree talents, tested in TWW Alpha and Beta.
The War Within Rogue Rotation
Rogue’s potential performance depends on how well you manage your spell rotation. We can provide a few tips on things you need to focus on while playing this class, but the rotational priorities should be adjusted to each spec.
- Maintain Mobility. Always stay on the move to avoid becoming an easy target. Use Shadowstep to close gaps and stay on your target quickly, and Sprint to increase your movement speed when you need to escape or reposition.
- Maximize Burst Windows. Use Shadow Dance to access Cheap Shot and Ambush for high damage, and follow up with Eviscerate to maximize burst.
- Keep Up Pressure. Continuously apply pressure with your damage over time abilities. Use Rupture to keep a bleed on your target, ensuring they take consistent damage, and use Poison abilities like Wound Poison to reduce their healing received.
- Control the Enemy. Use your crowd control abilities effectively to lock down your opponents. Kidney Shot and Cheap Shot are excellent for stunning targets, while Sap can disable enemies before a fight begins.
The War Within Rogue Leveling
The most convenient way to level up your Rogue is doing that as an Outlaw. This spec provides players with simple rotation and decent damage during the leveling process. It also allows you to survive longer and be flexible depending on the situation.
The fastest way to level up is to set up a party of 3 DPS, 1 healer, and 1 tank and run dungeons over and over again. In this case, you spend less time traveling around the world, increasing the amount of exp you gain.
Another option is to level up via the quests. In this case, there are two expansions that work well. They are Warlords of Draenor and Legion. Zones of these expansions contain a lot of quests packed together, which saves you a lot of time and makes it possible to earn a lot of experience in the shortest amount of time.
Our team can assist you via our Power Leveling service, and you will not have to worry about which quest to pick, which timeline to choose, and so on. It’s very convenient, but what’s more important, it is very fast.
Don’t hesitate to spend some gold on the following items as they will ease your life drastically:
- Gunshoes — increase your movement speed on the ground;
- Goblin Glider Kit — having a few in your bags is always helpful;
- Light-Step Hoofplates & Comfortable Rider’s Barding — improve your ground mounts;
- Bear Tartare — killing monsters increases your speed;
- Drums of Deathly Ferocity — a Bloodlust effect;
- Spectral Flask of Power — The old flask will give you a pretty decent stat increase.
The War Within Rogue BiS Items
Among Rogues, Reshii Wraps is the best item choice in WoW The War Within. Its stat configuration well balances both burst windows and the steady damage, so you can slice through the damage more efficiently. In combination with your poison of choice or bleed build, it provides unparalleled reliability in dungeons and raids. Check out our full Reshii Wraps guide here.
Best Rogue Cartel Chip Items
Additionally, the current season has brought Turbo Boost event, allowing you to get items for Puzzling Cartel Chips. So, the best Rogue Cartel Chip purchases are:
| Spec | Best Cartel Chip Purchases |
|---|---|
| Assassination Rogue | |
| Outlaw Rogue | |
| Subtlety Rogue |
The War Within Rogue Stats
Primary and secondary stats play an essential role in shaping your gear choices, as each item has its own set of stats, and you need to choose what suits you best.
| Assassination | Outlaw | Subtlety |
|---|---|---|
| Mastery; Critical Strike; Haste; Versatility. | Versatility; Haste; Critical Strike; Mastery. | Critical Strike; Versatility; Mastery; Haste. |
The War Within Rogue Consumables
Consumables are essential in any encounter. They are amazing damage sources and can increase our primary and secondary stats, so you should never leave them behind.
Rogue Flasks in The War Within
Rogue Combat Potions in The War Within
Rogue Health Potions in The War Within
Rogue Weapon Buff in The War Within
Best Rogue Food in The War Within
Best Rogue Gems in The War Within
- Culminating Blasphemite;
- Masterful Ruby;
- Deadly Onyx;
- Quick Sapphire;
- Versatile Emerald;
- Versatile Onyx;
- Masterful Sapphire.
Rogue Best Enchants in The War Within
The War Within Rogue Best Race
The impact of race is minor. It is so insignificant that some pro players ignore this part. But if you like min-maxing during your gameplay, here are some tips for you.
Horde
Orc is the best race on Horde’s side. Blood Fury boosts your Attack Power when used. It is a nice addition to the rest of your burst abilities and trinkets. Hardiness is another passive ability Orcs have. Players find it useful in PvP as it reduces the duration of all incoming stuns. Still having them last for a shorter duration in a PvE environment is also very helpful.
Alliance
The best race by far for Alliance players is the Night Elf. Their racial ability, Shadowmeld, synergies with Rogue’s abilities well. You can use it to leave combat and gain Stealth in the midst of combat. This can be used both offensively and defensively to escape a dangerous situation or evade some mechanics.
Night Elves also have two passive abilities, Quickness, which grants you 2% extra movement speed and 2% dodge chance, and Touch of Elune increases Haste or Critical Strike by 1% depending on the times of the day.
The War Within Rogue PvP
Rogues in WoW PvP can show good results thanks to their burst damage, crowd control, and mobility. If you are preparing to enter the PvP area, the essential spells include Shadowstep, Kidney Shot, and Cheap Shot for control. Damaging abilities also matter, e.g. Eviscerate and Shadow Dance. Also, Bait and Switch work well as a defensive spell. They pair best with classes like Mages or Priests in arenas, and these combos provide strong synergy with their control and burst potential.
If you want to become the best among the PvP players, you will need to achieve the Gladiator Title, which is an uneasy task. But our team can help you with it, as our players are trained professionals.
The War Within Rogue Best Professions
Leveling up Engineering is a good option as it provides you with a battle resurrection device like Disposable Spectrophasic Reanimator. This profession is generally fun and allows you to craft interesting high-tech devices.
If you are looking for gold-making opportunities, Alchemy and Enchanting step out. Both professions provide players with the best consumables and enchants that will be needed during the whole expansion. For more detailed information check out our various in-depth The War Within Profession Guides.
The War Within Rogue Macros
If you need a simple but convenient tool to enhance your performance and ease the gameplay, then you need Macros. With their help, you can cast spells in the most comfortable way, which helps to minimize time spent on pressing buttons, which has a positive gameplay impact.
Rogue Macros
- Talent Macro. This one will allow you to have one button for whatever talent or spell you have selected in the tree:
- Blade Rush / Killing Spree
#showtooltip
/cast [talent:7/2] Blade Rush; [talent:7/3] Killing Spree
- Blade Rush / Killing Spree
- Cast Tricks of the Trade on your focus target:
#showtooltip
/cast [@focus][] Tricks of the Trade - Cast Marked for Death on your current mouseover enemy/nameplate: #showtoolti
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Marked for Death
- Cast Tricks of the Trade on your focus target:
- Applying Weapon Enchantments. This macro can be very useful for applying Shaded Sharpening Stone more easily. A left click on it will apply it to the main hand, and a right click to the off-hand.
#showtooltip
/use [button:1] Shaded Sharpening Stone
/use [button:1] 16
/use [button:2] Shaded Sharpening Stone
/use [button:2] 17
Thanks for reading our The War Within expansion guide for Rogue class. The War Within has major implications for the whole class, and we hope that our guide helps to understand all the nuances better.