Rogue

Overview

At home in the shadows and skilled at disappearing from sight, the Rogues of Azeroth are most comfortable when acting in the background. Twisting events to their favor, striking only when advantage is greatest: this is where a Rogue excels. With their cunning tricks, physical abilities, and mastery of concealment and disguise, Rogues have no trouble finding employment as thieves, cutthroats, spies, and assassins.

The Rogue is a very involved and fun class to play. Your effectiveness depends on how well you learn to use the Rogue. There is a lot to take in, but players can master the Rogue with knowledge and experience. Rogue's abilties fall into two major categories, damaging attacks and utility. These are described in the following sections.

Rogue Damage Abilties

Rogue Utility Abilties

Quests

Poisons : Quest walkthrough and general info.
Poisons

Talents

No guide would be complete without a discussion of the class' talents. This is such a large topic it has a section of its own.
Rogue Talents

Rogue Talent Templates:
Group Rogue template
Ass/Sub Builds
Balanced Rogue Build
DoT Rogue Build

Leveling guide

Level 1-9

In this level range your role is pretty much as a light tank. Stealth works very poorly with mobs even one level above you. You will do large amounts of damage in short periods of time however and will be fine. If you manage to get adds you should quickly consider running.

At these levels, Sinister Strike is a Rogues bread and butter skill. Evisceration is the only 'finishing' attack that is available in this level range. Backstab is another useful skill while grouping when another player has the mobs attention. Gouge and Evasion become available in this level range.

The key to success as a low level Rogue will be your weapon. Rogues start out with training in Daggers. In order to train more weapons you must visit a major city and spend 10 silver to learn the new weapon skill. It is suggested that you just stick with daggers for the first 10 levels. Following is a list of low level easily obtainable daggers:

Thottbot lists 22 daggers between the levels of 1 and 9. 3 are available from vendors, 1 craftable, 6 are quest rewards, 11 are random drops and 3 have no documented source. Of the 22, 9 are listed as green items, 2 are grey items and the rest are all yellow items. 8 Daggers are discussed below.

The Copper Dagger is a craftable dagger that can be used at level 6. It has a 5DPS capability.

For the Horde the Jagged Dagger is a very good quest reward for a level 8 quest. +1 Str and 6 DPS.

The Ceremonial Knife is another Horde quest reward that could prove to be useful, if not as good as the jagged dagger. 5.4 DPS with no stat bonuses. This is the reward from a level 12 quest that is the 4th in a quest line.

The Pruning Knife is the first questable dagger available to Night Elves on Teldrassil. It is a 4.1DPS weapon from a quest that is first available at level 6.

The Long Bayonet is available through a quest in Elwynn Forest at level 7. It provides 4.4 DPS to its user.

For random drops the Carving Knife is fairly common and nice for a level 6 item. It provides +1 Str and 5.9 DPS for level 6. The Curved Dagger is a nice drop for a level 9 dagger. It provides +1 Agi and 7.2 DPS. It should be fairly easy to obtain in Ragefire Chasm.

The Stonesplinter Dagger is a random drop from Troggs in Loch Modan. It provides +1 Agi and 7DPS at level 8 or higher.

In summary go with whatever drops until level 6. At this point try to get a crafted Copper Dagger. Try to get a Carving Knife or a Curved Dagger as you level. If you are Horde, getting the Jagged Dagger is a very good idea. If starting as a Gnome/Dwarf a Stonesplinter Dagger makes a nice alternative if it can be found.

Level 10-19

At level 10 the Rogue gains Dual Wield, Sap, Sprint, and a second 'finishing move' Slice and Dice. Damage is increased by about 10-15% through the use of Dual Wield. Sap provides the Rogues major form of CC throughout his career. Sprint in combination with Evasion provide the basis for a Rogues escape abilities.

The Rogue is still pretty much a light tank in this level range as he was in the first level range. At level 18, when gaining Ambush, the Rogue can start to effectively experiment with some stealth to gain an upper hand on his foes.

Later in this level range Rogues gain Kick, Garrote, Expose Armor, Feint, Pick Locks, Ambush, and Parry. Kick provides spell interruption. Garrotte is a from stealth DoT opener. Expose Armor is a widely disparaged 'finishing. move that reduces the targets armor. Feint is an aggro reducing ability that has limited utility. Pick locks is useful for getting items/money, your guildmates will request help in this area quite often. Ambush is a from stealth opening move that does a large amount of damage all at once. Parry provides a melee defensive ability.

Level 10 is the level where all classes start to earn Talent Points and the Rogue is included. One common build is the Group Rogue template. To start with, Improved Sinister Strike is perhaps the biggest bang for the buck at low level. Obtaining mastery of deception at a low level could be good for pickpocketing to gain cash faster. This path also leads to obtaining Improved Sap earlier in your career. This is one of the most important group skills for instances.

Again the rogues weapons are the key to his success as his main role in a group is to do damage. Thottbot lists 30 daggers in the 10-15 level range

The Blade of Cunning is widely available from a variety of quests at level 10 for the Alliance and level 13 for the Horde. This dagger improves your Subtlety skill by one and does 6.7 DPS. The appropriate quest can be obtained from the Rogue Trainer in the race specific level 1-10 areas. At level 10 this is a good dagger to obtain. Gnome rogue spoiler

There are many green dropped daggers in this level range. They will not all be described here in an attempt to lessen confusion. Top DPS numbers for each level are as follows:
lvl DPS
10 6.7 The above mentioned Blade of Cunning
12 8.7 The rare Slicer Blade from Westfall.
13 8.9 Scrimshaw dagger as shown below
14 9.7+1 This is the Venom Web Fang that drops in Duskwood.
15 10 Big Bronze Knife as shown below
17 11.1 See below
18 15.3 See below
19 15.5 See below

Questable daggers include Scrimshaw Dagger at level 13 with 8.9DPS, Harpy Skinner at level 15 for the Horde with 9.6 DPS amd 3 Agi, Relic Blade at level 15 for the Alliance in Darkshore with 10DPS and 3 Sta.

The crafted Big Bronze Knife, aka BBK, is a viable alternative to dropped weapons. This weapon provides 3 Sta and 10DPS at level 15.

There are an additional 11 daggers listed for levels 16-19. In this range we start to see the first blue items.

Assassin's Blade, a rare drop off of Archmage Arugal in Shadowfang keep. This weapon provides 15.5 DPS, +3 Str and +4 Agi.

The Evocator's Blade is a caster weapon with 15.3 DPS and provides 4 Int and 2 Spi. It will be tough to pry this one from the Mage/Warlock in your party.

The Boss Sneed in The Deadmines drops the Buzzer Blade. This weapon is slightly inferior to the level 15 crafted dagger.

The Spikelash and Tail Spike daggers are identical daggers with 11.1 DPS, +2 Str and +2 Agi.

The crafted Pearl-handled Dagger is good to obtain at level 18 if you have not already obtained a better dropped item. This dagger provides 11.5 DPS along with 2 each of Agi and Sta.

Level 20-29

At level 20 the Rogue gains a 10% increase to his Stealth speed through the second rank of Stealth. The Rogue's poison quest becomes available at this level as well. Backstab improves in damage and the Rupture finishing move becomes available.

Later in this level range Rogues gain:
Vanish, an ability to go into stealth mode at any time with a 5 minute cooldown.
Distract, an ability that causes mobs to turn to face the distraction.
Detect Traps, should be self evident.
Cheap Shot, a stun stealth opener.
Instant Poison, instant poison damage.
Crippling Poison, a snare poison.
Mind-numbing Poison, a poison that increases a caster's cast times.
And an upgrade to all of his other abilities.

Only 6 new abilities will be gained by the Rogue past level 29. At this time the Rogue transforms into more of a Stealth fighter. Choices need to be made as to which Talent path the Rogue wishes to follow. ((Note add list of major talent builds here))

In this level range it is possible to take part in many instance groups. One key instance is the Deadmines. The Defias Brotherhood quest is a key to a Rogue's career. The reward is the Tunic of Westfall. This chest piece can easily last a Rogue until his late 20s. This quest is at the end of a long chain starting at Gryan Stoutmantle on Sentinal Hill in Westfall.

Again the Rogue's weapons are the key to his success as his main role in a group is to do damage. Thottbot lists 24 daggers in the 20-24 level range.

Superior Daggers level 20-24

Name	DPS	Speed	Max Damage	Stat bonus	proc	Source	Notes
Deadly Bronze Poniard	12.8	1.8	-	4 Agility	-	crafted	-
Battle Knife of <stat>	13.4	1.60 speed	-	random	-	random world drop	-
Wyvern Tailspike	13.6	1.8	-	-	2 DPS poison	Pridewing Patriarch in the Stonetalon Mountains	-
Naraxis Fang	13.7	1.6	-	-	2DPS poison	Naraxis in eastern Duskwood	-
Cross Dagger of <stat>	14.6	1.30 speed	-	random	-	random world drop	-
Flesh Piercer	15.2	2.0	-	-	1DPS bleed	Hillsbrad Foothills	-
Blackfang	16.3	1.5	-	-	-	random world drop	-
Doomspike	16.3	1.5	-	-	-	unknown	-
Prison Shank	16.7	1.8	-	-	-	Bruegal Ironknuckle in the Stockades	-
Talon of Vultros	16.7	2	-	-	-	named rare spawn Vulture in Westfall	-
Bite of Serra'kis	17.7	1.3	-	-	-	Old Serra'kis in Blackfathom Deeps	-
Meteor Shard	18.3	1.8	-	-	Firebolt	Archmage Arugal in ShadowFang Keep	-
Blackvenom Blade	18.9	1.80	-	-	-	Rohh the Silent in eastern Redridge Mountains	Rohn may be hard to find

Past level 25 the number of useful daggers starts to drop off. There are 6 useful daggers in the 25-29 range.

Superior Daggers level 25-29

Name	DPS	Speed	Max Damage	Stat bonus	proc	Source	Notes
Honed Stilettos of <stat>	15.7	1.4	-	random	-	random world drop	-
Broad Bladed Knife	16.7	2.0	44	5 Stamina	-	Vendor in Duskwood/Hillsbrad	2 Gold 83 Silver 71 Copper
Daring Dirk	17.5	1.6	37	5 Agi	-	Vendor in Dustwallow Marsh / Stranglethorn Vale	2 Gold 88 Silver 25 Copper 3 Gold 20 Silver 28 Copper
Claw of the Shadowmancer	20.5	1.9	-	2 Int	35 damage shadobolt	rare world drop	-
Toxic Revenger	20.5	1.9	-	-	5 second 5DPS PBAoE	Vicious Fallout in Gnomeregan	Unique
Torturing Poker	21.2	1.7	-	-	+5-7 fire damage per hit	Interrogator Vishas in the Scarlet Monastery	-

Level 30-39

Superior Daggers level 30-39

Name	DPS	Speed	Max Damage	Stat bonus	proc	Source	Notes
Swinetusk Shank	23	1.50	45	6 Sta 4 Spi	-	Agathelos the Raging in Razorfen Kraul	-
Howling Blade	23.9	1.40	44	-	Reduces targets' attack power by 30 for 30 seconds	Skhowl, a random spawn Yeti in Alterac	-
Stonevault Shiv	24	1.50	47	7 Agi 3 Sta	-	Various mobs in Uldaman	-
Sliverblade	25	1.40	46	-	45 frost damage	various mobs in Scarlet Monastery	-
The Ziggler	26.5	1.70	59	-	10-20 Nature damage	Random world drop	-
Hypnotic Blade	26.8	1.40	49	8 Int 3 Spi	-	Arcanist Doan in the Library section of the Scarlet Monastery	A nice caster weapon, don't be greedy :)
Black Menace	29.7	1.50	58	-	30 Shadow Damage	Quest reward from In the Name of the Light quest in Scarlet Monastery	No reason not to get this one
Coldrage Dagger	29.7	1.50	58	-	20-30 Frost damage with 50% snare	Drops from Amnennar the Coldbringer in Razorfen Downs	-

Level 40-49

Superior+ Daggers level 40-49

Name	DPS	Speed	Max Damage	Stat bonus	proc	Source	Notes
Widowmaker	31.6	1.90	78	8 Agi 7 Str	-	random world drop	Nice slow dagger - Unique
Stealthblade	32.9	1.40	60	-	Each hit reduces threat on all enemies	Random drop in The Temple of Atal'Hakkar	Unique
Gut Ripper	33.9	1.80	80	-	Wounds for 95 - 121	Random world drop?	Epic
Searing Needle	33.9	1.80	80	-	60 Fire damage and increase future fire damage by 10	Random drop in Blackrock Depths	Would be fun to use with a fire mage around
Lifeforce Dirk	35.9	1.60	75	11 Sta	-	Quest reward from The God Hakkar quest in The Temple of Atal'Hakkar	Get this if you are still using the Black Menace
Shadowblade	38.9	1.40	71	-	110 - 140 shadow damage	Random world drop	Unique Epic

Level 50-59

Superior+ Daggers level 50-59

Name	DPS	Speed	Max Damage	Stat bonus	proc	Source	Notes
Barman Shanker	36.5	2.00	95	-	Target bleeds for 100 damage over 30 sec	Dropped by Plugger Spazzring in Blackrock Depths	Possibly the best main hand dagger in the game
Julie's Dagger	36.5	1.30	62	-	Heals wielder of 78 damage over 12 sec	Random drop, either world or in Blackrock Spire	-
Dire Nail of the XXX	36.7	1.50	72	+7-8 for two stats, +5 shadow resist	-	Drops from the Shade of Eranikus in The Temple of Atal'Hakkar	Unique
Keris of Zul'Serak	39.4	1.80	93	-	10 Nature damage every 2 sec and slows target's attack speed by 10% for 10 sec	Dropped by War Master Voone in Blackrock Spire	-
Finkle's Skinner	41.2	1.30	67	-	Skinning +10. +45 Attack Power when fighting Beasts.	Dropped by The Beast in Blackrock Spire	-