Rogue Talents

This page is formatted with rogue talents listed by skill and tier. Comments follow talents in italics.

Assassination

Tier 1 - Malice/Remorseless Attacks

Improved Eviscerate

Increases Eviscerate damage by 5% per rank for up to 3 ranks
This is a key Talent in many builds. 15% more damage to your most used Finishing move and you cannot go wrong.

Malice

Increases your critical strike chance by 1% per rank for each of 5 ranks
This is a great Talent for builds where critical hits are important.

Remorseless Attacks

After killing an opponent that yields experience, gives 8% critical strike chance per rank for each of 5 ranks on your next Sinister Strike, Backstab, Ambush, or Ghostly Strike
This is useful when you are killing a large number of relatively weak enemies.

Tier 2 - Improved Slice and Dice/Murder/Ruthlessness

Improved Slice and Dice

Prereq: 5 pts in Assassination

Increases duration of Slice and Dice by 15% per rank for each of 3 ranks
This is of very limited use. The default duration of Slice and Dice seems to be just fine.

Murder

Prereq: 5 pts in Assassination

Increases chance to hit with Sap, Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot by 3% for 1 rank or 5% for 2 ranks
This is quite useful. You want a high chance of your openers hitting.

Ruthlessness

Prereq: 5 pts in Assassination

Critical strikes from abilities that add combo points have a 20% chance per rank for each of 5 ranks, of adding an additional combo point
Another good one. More combo points means faster finishers for more damage.

Tier 3 - Lethality/Improved Expose Armor/Relentless Strikes

Lethality

Prereqs: 5 pts in Malice, 10 pts in Assassination

Increases critical strike damage of Sinister Strike, Gouge, Backstab, Ambush, Ghostly Strike, or Hemorrhage by 6% per rank for each of 5 ranks
Very very useful. Rogue crits are in the 75-200% extra damage range. Rogue crits seem to happen about 10% of the time at the default rate. Mix that with crit chance boosting Talents and you can do monster damage.

Improved Expose Armor

Prereq: 10 pts in Assassination

Increases armor reduction of Expose Armor by 15% per rank for up to 3 ranks
Expose Armor has limited use as it does not stack with the Warrior armor class reduction talent. You have better things to spend both combo points and Talent points. Give this one a pass.

Relentless Strikes

Prereqs: 3 pts in Ruthlessness, 10 pts in Assassination

Finishing moves have a 20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy
There are mixed schools of thought on this one. More energy is good. It may be a bit buggy with some finishing moves not triggering this Talent. Needs more observation.

Tier 4 - Improved Instant Poison/Vile Poisons/Improved Eviscerate

Improved Instant Poison

Prereq: 15 pts in Assassination

Increases chance to apply Instant Poison by 2% per rank for up to 5 ranks
Not so useful a skill. Applying poisons does not appear to be a problem.

Vile Poisons

Prereq: 15 pts in Assassination

Increases damage dealt by your poisons by 3% per rank for up to 5 ranks
This is a semi-useful Talent. It does increase your overall average DPS when using Poisons. It is often easy to find more valuable places to put your Talent points. Many builds use one point to get to Cold Blood.

Tier 5 - Cold Blood/Improved Deadly Poison/Improved Kidney Shot

Cold Blood

Prereq: 20 pts in Assassination

Instant cast

3 minute cooldown

Increases the critical strike chance of your next Sinister Strike, Backstab, Ambush, or Eviscerate by 100%
Guaranteed crits. What more needs to be said? This is a key talent in the Assassination tree.

Improved Deadly Poison

Prereq: 20 pts in Assassination

Increases the chance to apply Deadly Poison to your target by 3% per rank for up to 5 ranks
See the Improved Instant Poison Talent discussion. Same applies here. Only for poison fanatics.

Improved Kidney Shot

Prereq: 20 pts in Assassination

Reduces cooldown of Kidney Shot by 2s/4s/5s for ranks 1/2/3
Good for stun based builds. Otherwise it is very far into the tree to improve a skill that would be used in place of Eviscerate.

Tier 7 - Vigor

Vigor

Prereq: 30 pts in Assassination

Increases your maximum Energy by 10 The best of the 30 point Rogue Talents. That's not saying much.

Combat

Tier 1 - Improved Gouge/Improved Sinister Strike/Lightning Reflexes

Improved Gouge

Increases duration of gouge by 0.5s per rank for up to 3 ranks
Gouge is one of the Rogues few means of CC. This can improve that ability. However, most people play Rogues as damage machines.

Improved Sinister Strike

Reduces the Energy cost of your Sinister Strike by 3 for 1 rank or 5 for 2 ranks
Almost every Rogue should have this Talent. There are very very few builds that will not have this. You will probably use this skill more any other skill. Making it cheaper is good buy it first.

Lightning Reflexes

Increases chance to dodge by 1% per rank for each of 5 ranks
Very good Talent for a defensive Rogue. Not a bad overall Talent.

Tier 2 - Deflection/Improved Backstab/Precision

Deflection

Prereq: 5 pts in Combat

Increases parry chance by 1% per rank for up to 5 ranks
Another good Talent for a defensive Rogue and a pre-req for Riposte.

Improved Backstab

Prereq: 5 pts in Combat

Increases the critical strike chance of backstab by 10% per rank for up to 3 ranks
This is a great skill for a Rogue in a group. You will be backstabbing your heart out come instance groups. Not so useful in one on one combat however.

Precision

Prereq: 5 pts in Combat

Increases chance to hit with melee weapons by 1% per rank for each of 5 ranks
This is a decent Talent for a Combat build Rogue.

Tier 3 - Improved Evasion/Improved Sprint/Riposte

Improved Evasion

Prereq: 10 pts in Combat

Increases the duration of evasion by 2s for 1 rank or 4s for 2 ranks
A nice to have kind of skill. Preparation is better in every way however.

Improved Sprint

Prereq: 10 pts in Combat

Reduces cooldown of your Sprint by 30 seconds per rank for each of 3 ranks
See Improved Evasion.

Riposte

Prereqs: 5 pts in Deflection, 10 pts in Combat

10 Energy

Instant Cast

6 second cooldown

5 yd range

A strike that becomes active after parrying. Deals 150% weapon damage and disarms the target for 6 seconds
Good for a defensive build Rogue. Only useful when fighting one on one.

Tier 4 - Dagger Spec/Dual Wield Spec/Improved Kick

Dagger Specialization

Prereq: 15 pts in Combat

Increases critical strike chance with daggers by 1% per rank for up to 5 ranks

Dual Wield Specialization

Prereq: 5 pts in Precision, 15 pts in Combat

Increases the damage done by your offhand weapon by 10% per rank for up to 5 ranks

Improved Kick

Prereq: 15 pts in Combat

Gives your kick 50% chance per rank, for each of 2 ranks, to silence the target for 2 seconds

Tier 5 - Blade Flurry/Fist Weapon Spec/Mace Spec/Sword Spec

Blade Flurry

Prereq: 20 pts in Combat

25 Energy

Instant cast

2 minute cooldown

Requires melee weapon

Increases attack speed by 20%. Attacks strike an additional nearby opponent. Lasts 15s

Fist Weapon Specialization

Prereq: 20 pts in Combat

Increases critical strike chance with fist weapons by 1% per rank for up to 5 ranks

Mace Specialization

Prereq: 20 pts in Combat

Gives a 1%/2%/3%/4%/6% chance for ranks 1/2/3/4/5 to stun your target for 3 seconds with a mace.

Sword Specialization

Prereq: 20 pts in Combat

Gives a 1%/2%/3%/4%/6% chance for ranks 1/2/3/4/5 to get an extra attack after dealing damage with your Sword

Tier 6 - Aggression/Throwing Weapon Spec

Aggression

Prereq: 25 pts in Combat

Increases damage of Sinister Strike and Eviscerate by 2% per rank for up to 3 ranks

Throwing Weapon Specialization

Prereq: 25 pts in Combat

Increases the damage of your throwing weapons by 10% for 1st rank and range by 10 yds for 2nd rank

Tier 7 - Adrenaline Rush

Adrenaline Rush

Prereq: 30 pts in Combat

Instant Cast

6 minute cooldown

Increases energy regen by 100% for 15s

Subtlety

Tier 1 - Camouflage/Master of Deception/Rapid Concealment

Camouflage

Increases speed while stealthed by 3% per rank for up to 5 ranks

Master of Deception

Reduces chance to be detected when in Stealth mode. 5 ranks of increasing effect

Rapid Concealment

Reduces cooldown of Stealth by 1s per rank for each of 5 seconds

Tier 2 - Elusiveness/Opportunity

Elusiveness

Prereq: 5 pts in Subtlety

Reduces the cooldown of your evasion, vanish, and blind abilities by 15 seconds per rank for up to 5 ranks

Opportunity

Prereq: 5 pts in Subtlety

Increases damage dealt with Backstab, Garrote, or Ambush by 4% per rank for each of 5 ranks

Tier 3 - Ghostly Strike/Improved Ambush/Improved Garrote/Initiative

Ghostly Strike

Prereq: 10 pts in Subtlety

50 Energy

Instant cast

20 second cooldown

5 yd range

Strike that deals 125% weapon damage, awards 1 combo point, and increases chance to dodge by 15% for 7 seconds

Improved Ambush

Prereqs: 5 pts in Opportunity, 10 pts in Subtlety

Increases critical strike chance of ambush by 15%/30%/40% for ranks 1/2/3

Improved Garrote

Prereqs: 5 pts in Opportunity, 10 pts in Subtlety

Increases duration of Garrote by 3 seconds per rank, but reduced damage by 5% per rank for each of 2 ranks

Initiative

Prereq: 10 pts in Subtlety

Gives a 15% chance per rank for each of 5 ranks, to add an addition combo point when using Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot

Tier 4 - Improved Rupture/Improved Sap/Improved Vanish

Improved Rupture

Prereq: 15 pts in Subtlety

Increases damage dealt by Rupture by 10% per rank for each of 3 ranks

Improved Sap

Prereq: 15 pts in Subtlety

Adds a 30% chance per rank, for each of 3 ranks, to return to stealth mode after using your Sap

Improved Vanish

Prereq: 15 pts in Subtlety

Increases movement speed while vanished by 10% per rank for each of 3 ranks

Tier 5 - Improved Cheap Shot/Improved Distract/Preparation

Improved Cheap Shot

Prereq: 20 pts in Subtlety

Reduces energy cost of Cheap Shot by 10 for 1 rank or 20 for 2 ranks

Improved Distract

Prereq: 20 pts in Subtlety

Increases radius of Distract by 3 yds for 1 rank or 5 yds for 2 ranks

Preparation

Prereq: 20 pts in Subtlety

Instant cast

10 minute cooldown

Immediately finishes the cooldown on your other Rogue abilities

Tier 6 - Hemorrhage/Setup

Hemorrhage

Prereq: 25 pts in Subtlety

35 Energy

Instant cast

5 yd range

Requires melee weapon

Strike that damages the opponent, awards 1 combo point, and applies debuff that increases physical damage taken by up to 3. Lasts for 30 strikes or 15 seconds.

Setup

Prereqs: 1 pt in Ghostly Strike, 25 pts in Subtlety

15% chance per rank for each of 3 ranks, of adding a combo point to a target after dodging their attack

Tier 7 - Premeditation

Premeditation

Prereq: 30 pts in Subtlety

10 Energy

1 second cast

2 minute cooldown

5 yd range

Requires Stealth

Adds 2 combo points to your target. Must engage target within 5 seconds or combo points are lost