Immortality

While I would normally post this on my own guild's forums, they are down. I realize that this topic has probably been covered in other posts, possibly on the WoW forums. If you feel like linking to them, that would be excellent, but I am also open and eager to hear personal opinions of the denziens of this BB.

My little brother is 14 years old and is playing WoW on Skullcrusher(A). He chose a Human rogue and has since leveled him to 37 since Christmas. He bombards me frequently with questions about Rogues that I am unable to answer, having never played or researched the class seriously. I can fight them, I just don't know how to gear them basically.

From what I have seen, there are at least two main classes of rogues. Combat dps rogues, which concern themselves with SS and Eviscerating their targets like mad...and Backstab rogues, the sneaky bastards that sneak up on me and tear through my cloth skivvies like "whoa". I'm sure there are opinions of other class types, and I'm open to hearing them.

I know there are many opinions of what makes a rogue "good". Stats, for example...obviously int and spi don't benefit rogues very much. In terms of agi, str, stam, atk pwr, etc...what benefits rogues more? Do different stats benefit different types of rogues?(i.e. str being better for combat rogues, rather than loading up heavily on agi -- not saying this is true, just throwing an example out there).

I know these are some very general questions that could have very detailed answers. If you choose to respond, you can be as specific or vague as you want. Anything would probably help him at the moment, because all I can tell him is to look for weapons with high dps and gear with INT is pretty useless for him. So any general or detailed knowledge/info/tips would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Fawnlin
Lucid Mage

The weapons of choice for most rogues are either swords or daggers. Sword rogues tend to be combat specced and rely more on their "white damage" for dps while dagger rogues rely on burst dps. I'm not sure what your brother's focus is going to be (pvp or pve) but combat specced rogues (swords and daggers alike) tend to do better damage wise in pve. Dagger rogues who spec for burst dps are more geared towards pvp where you're not as concerned with sustained damage output that combat rogues can do. This doesn't mean that either spec is useless when it comes to the other play type. Any spec can be viable for both PvP and PvE assuming the person knows how to play.

As far as gear goes, Agility is the #1 stat for rogues as it provides attack power, dodge, crit and armor for us. If you're a dagger rogue (typically a 31/8/12, 30/8/13, or 21/8/22 build), you get Improved Ambush and Improved Backstab for increased crit chance on both. Now this is arguable to some people, but in my opinion if you've invested talent points in imp. ambush/backstab, then you can afford to lose a few points in crit and stack up on attack power instead. Since dagger rogues focus on burst damage, you want to hit as hard as possible. In order to do that, you need good AP.

Since you're brother is only level 37, I'd suggest going with a combat build as it's the best for leveling up/grinding in my opinion. Plus, the choices for good daggers is somewhat limited at lower levels compared to swords and maces. Once he gets higher up 50+, he might consider respeccing to daggers. An awesome talent to have when leveling up is remorseless attacks in the Assassination tree.

I'm sure some of the other rogues will chime in with their opinions, but I hope this helps a bit.

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"coming soon" - Level 60 Rogue (formerly known as Blackwidow)

Buff rogues.

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I Govern Through Service

Another Lucid member posting hehe.

As a fellow rogue, I agree totally with Blackwidow.

The only thing I would like to add is the build that I use, 31/20/0. For end game PvE I hold my own against those who are either combat specced or the cookie cutter BS 31-8-12. I also think it is highly viable in the PvP arena. I LOVE Seal Fate, I mean I love it. With my 32% to crit chance I reap the benfits of it all day. So in closing, give Seal Fate some love : )

If your bro ever wants more help, just get him to hop on vent dude, all of us rogues would be glad to answer any questions.

Chaden

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Chaden - lvl 60 Rogue
Veteran of Lucid

First of all, thanks so much for the quick and patient replies!

If you previous posters would be so kind as to indulge me with what skills make up the following builds, I would be very appreciative:

31/8/12
30/8/13
21/8/22
31/20/0

Blackwidow: You mentioned that 3 of the above builds are mainly dagger rogue builds. Are there combat rogue builds that differ heavily from these? If so, what are some examples?

I'm PvE combat sword specced, with a 20/31/0 build at the moment. It grabs a few of the better early talents in the assassination tree and focuses heavily on the combat tree, and as Blackwidow stated it relies more on sustained dps than burst damage. With a build like this you rely more on attack power than crit, since you want your white swings to be hitting as hard as possible. You'll also have improved Slice n Dice, which pumps out more dps as a finisher than Eviscerate does with good gear.

I had a Seal Fate (31/20/0 and 31/15/5) spec for a long time and enjoyed it alot too, and I think it's a good balance of PvP burst potential and sustained raid dps in PvE.

Find out if your brother likes sneaking around and playing the traditional rogue role, or if he enjoys just walking into a fight both arms swinging. Also, as Blackwidow mentioned, daggers are somewhat scarce while levelling up (at least when I levelled up last year), while the reverse is true once you hit level 60. He might be better off levelling up with swords and switching to daggers at level 60 when there are more weapons available to him.

I feel I should expand on what seal fate is all about and why I like it, just in case you were wondering.

Seal fate with 5 points in the talent gives you a 100% chance to add a combo point every time you crit doing a move that gives you talent points. So basically if I do a Sinister Strike, unbuffed, I have a 32% chance to get 2 combo points instead of 1. Fully buffed in a raid I am almost 40%. And like that one nef attempt when i pulled out absolutely every stop, I had an almost 50% chance to get 2 combo points for every SS.

Now add to that Ruthlessness which with 3 points give you a 60% chance to get a combo point after doing a finishing move I usually end up having 5 points in 2 attacks after doing an evisc which I then do again. And if relentless strikes procs ( 20% chance to restore 25 energy after a finishing move) I have a nice energy regen to continue.

I use thistle tea quite often in raids to keep that pattern going but a lot of times I end up doing a 3 pt Imp Slice And Dice while I restore my 110 energy (vigor ftw). I still do a lot of dmg doing this too since my AP buffed is pretty high (around 1200).

I have thought a lot about respeccing to the build that Darko uses as thats what a few of our rogues use too but I think I like the balance that 31-20 gives. Especially now that I am main handing the Claw of the black drake I will stay Seal Fate specced for a while.

My .02

Chaden

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Chaden - lvl 60 Rogue
Veteran of Lucid

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"coming soon" - Level 60 Rogue (formerly known as Blackwidow)

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The Jesus: ...you flash a piece out on the lanes, I'll take it away from you, stick it up your ass and pull the fucking trigger 'til it goes "click."
The Dude: Jesus.
The Jesus: You said it, man. Nobody fucks with the Jesus.

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"coming soon" - Level 60 Rogue (formerly known as Blackwidow)