Detailed rogue abilitiesedit
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Abilities
Opening Moves
These attacks can only be performed if the rogue is stealthed. Performing one of these moves (with the exception of Sap and Premeditation) cancels stealth, so you typically can only get one opener in per fight. Unless noted otherwise, each of these attacks grants one combo point if it hits.
- Ambush
- This is the reason rogues like daggers - it is a hard-hitting high-damage attack, dealing 275% weapon damage plus a flat bonus. It requires that the rogue have a dagger in his main hand, and that the rogue be behind his target and stealthed. The damage from this skill is affected by armor, so Ambush is best used against low-armor targets, typically spellcasters, rogues, or druids.
- Garrote
- This attack afflicts the target with a bleeding effect, causing a flat amount of damage over 18 seconds. It requires that the rogue be behind his target. The damage caused is bleeding damage, and therefore is not reduced by armor. Because the damage occurs repeatedly, this effect prevents enemy rogues from stealthing and prevents enemy players from bandaging or doing any action that requires them to be outside of combat. The damage over time from this attack is about 25% higher than Ambush (Source: damageMeter experiments) WARNING: IF using Garrote, be prepared that you will NOT be able to Gouge/Backstab because the DoT cancels Gouge. This should be noted when soloing, since it can potentially break your combat routines.
- Cheap Shot
- Cheap shot is arguably the most versatile opener. It stuns the target for 2 seconds, and grants two combo points (three with talents) instead of one. Unlike ambush and garrote, the rogue need not be behind his target. Cheap shot is useful more often than not; it is a poor choice only against enemies which are immune to stun, or which can easily escape stun, such as mages which can Blink out of a stun.
- Sap
- This opener isn't really an opener - it deals no damage, grants no combo points, and doesn't activate auto-attack. Instead, it causes your target to become incapacitated for a long period of time, allowing you to fight other enemies or pursue other goals without that target interfering. Sap can only be used on humanoid targets, and cannot be used on a target which is in combat. It is most useful in instances, to separate monsters from their companions so that the player's group can fight them in smaller groups.
- Premeditation
- When used, it grants two combo points on the rogue's current target. It can only be used while stealthed and within a 20 yard range of the target, but does not remove the rogue from stealth when cast. Essentially, this enables the rogue to gain 3-5 combo points from his opener alone.
Combat Abilities
These abilities are your bread and butter in normal combat.
Many of these abilities are also combo moves, meaning that they grant combo points when they connect.
- Vanish
- Allows the rogue to vanish from sight, entering an improved stealth mode for 10 sec. Also breaks movement impairing effects. If you're PvPing, try to save this 5 minute timer for when it counts most... such as when a Mage uses Frost Nova on you (although generally Cloak of Shadows, shown below, or Gnomish Escape Artist are better suited for such a situation. Vanish is best used when either you make a mistake with your opening move and want to try again, or when your best chance for survival lies in simply going away).
- Sinister Strike
- This is the basic rogue attack. It causes weapon damage plus a flat bonus, with no side-effects or disadvantages. It has no cooldown, and doesn't take large amounts of energy to cast.
- Sinister strike is an instant strike, and as such benefits greatly from non-dagger weapons with a high base damage. Note that the speed of the weapon does not affect damage, just the high damage range.
- Backstab
- This is the other reason that rogues like daggers. Backstab causes 150% weapon damage plus a flat amount, and grants one combo point. It isn't quite as damaging as ambush, but it also doesn't require stealth. If you have a party member to tank a monster, then you can let fly backstab after backstab until it dies. Even by yourself, you can gouge or stun a monster, slide around behind it, and backstab. Backstab has a large energy requirement, and generates a lot of threat from monsters.
- Backstab is an instant strike, and as such benefits greatly from weapons with a high base damage.
- Gouge
- This skill grants a combo point, causes a trivial amount of damage, and incapacitates the target for a short time. It requires that the rogue be in front of his target, and is on a 10 second cooldown. It is most useful for cancelling spellcasting, or to set the target up for a backstab.
- Note that with the full number of points in the Improved Gouge talent, you have a net gain in energy when you use this skill.
- Evasion
- This ability improves the rogue's dodge chance by 50% for 15 seconds. It is on a 5 minute cooldown. This ability buys you a few more seconds to kill your target or get away - be certain to make that time count.
- Kick
- This is the rogue's main anti-caster ability. It cancels spells which are mid-cast, and prevents the caster from casting any spells from that school for a few seconds. As of 3.0.8, This causes no damage.
- Feint
- This ability reduces the rogue's threat level on his current target. It won't make a monster lose interest and go home, but it can make him decide to go bother a different party member. Rogues can build up threat faster than almost any other class, so the ability to reduce threat levels is critical, helping your tank to maintain the monsters' focus.
- Ghostly Strike
- This ability is available as a talent on the Subtlety tree. It causes 125% weapon damage, and grants you a 15% bonus to dodge for 7 seconds. It grants 1 combo point, and has a 20 second cooldown. It is kind of like a lightweight evasion designed for more regular use.
- Riposte
- This ability is available as a talent on the Combat tree. It cannot be cast unless you have recently parried an attack. When cast, it causes 150% weapon damage and slows the target's attack speed by 20% for 30 seconds. It has a 6 second cooldown, and costs very little energy to cast. Riposte is most useful against warriors, hunters, paladins, and other rogues; slowing their attacks takes much of their bite away.
- Blade Flurry
- This ability is available as a talent in the Combat tree. It increases your attack speed by 20% for 15 seconds. In this period all attacks strike an additional nearby opponent. It has a 2 minutes cooldown.
- Cold Blood
- This ability is available as a talent in the Assassination tree. It increases the critical strike chance of the next offensive ability by 100%; the next hit is guaranteed to be a critical strike. Note however that there is some confusion about this ability since the wording only indicates a doubling of the chance of a critical strike.
- Preparation
- This ability is available as a talent in the Subtlety tree. It immediately finishes the cooldown on all other Rogue abilities.
- Many rogues consider this talent a necessity for PvPing, as being able to use your cooldowns that much more often is invaluable.
- Blind
- This ability blinds the target, making the target wander at 40% move speed disoriented for up to 10 seconds. If the target is attacked the blinding effect is removed. This ability has a long range, and can thus be used as a long distance kick to disrupt spell from being cast. Blind is also very useful in PvP; either blind or gouge the opponent, and use the break to bandage yourself. This ability has a cooldown of 3 minutes.
- Hemorrhage
- This ability is available as a talent in the Subtlety tree. It is an instant strike that deals 110% weapon damage, and also increases physical damage dealt to the target by up to 11 (18, 25 and 42 for ranks 2, 3 and 4 respectively). It lasts 10 charges or 15 sec, and awards 1 combo point. It has no cooldown.
- Adrenaline Rush
- This ability is available as a talent in the Combat tree. It instantly increases the Energy regeneration rate by 100% for 15 seconds. It has a 5 minutes cooldown. The effect causes your energy to regenerate by 40 per tick, instead of the usual 20 per tick, it does not give you 20 energy every half tick.
Finishing Moves
These kinds of moves are unique to the rogue, and require the rogue to have saved up a number of combo points. When activated, the finishing move uses all available combo points (such that more points makes the abilities more effective).
- Eviscerate
- This is the most common, most reliable finisher - direct damage, no secondary effects. Damage from eviscerate is affected by armor; against heavy-armored foes, you'll get more damage out of rupture.
- Kidney Shot
- Stuns the target for a number of seconds equal to the number of combo points used. Useful with Cheap Shot and Gouge to keep a target stun locked.
- Expose Armor
- This finishing move reduces the target's armor for 30 seconds, with more combo points increasing the amount reduced. This skill is most useful against elite foes, when working in a group; the combo points spent on exposing armor are usually better spent on damaging the enemy. Also, this skill does not stack with the warrior's Sunder Armor skill. The maximum potential of expose armor is less than that of sunder armor, but because sunder armor is stacked, any level of expose armor typically prevents a warrior from using sunder armor at all on that target, this is typically a very bad thing since sunder armor is one of a warriors main tools for holding aggro. If you are with a warrior who is tanking DON'T use Expose Armor EVER!!!
- Rupture
- This finishing move causes bleeding damage, similar to garrote. It is used for similar purposes, but it does much more damage than garrote, and is therefore more attractive for casual use. The number of combo points invested in a rupture determines how long the effect lasts, but the damage per second which the skill inflicts is constant. As such, one or two point ruptures can be more effective than full 5 point ruptures; by the time a two point rupture expires, thr rogue typically has another two combo points, allowing him to renew the effect and maintaining the rupture damage continuously.
- Slice and Dice
- This finishing move grants the rogue a temporary boost to his melee attack speed. This significantly increases his auto-attack damage, and gives commensurately more chances for poisons to hit. In PvE this is the best finisher possible. You should keep it up all the time. It also has the benefit of continuing after your target is killed. When a target is nearly dead, you can use slice and dice, kill it, and then move on to another enemy still benefiting from those combo points.
Poisons
Poisons are temporary weapon enchantments, which have a chance on each hit to produce a special effect. Poisons previously disappeared upon zoning, but as of patch 2.01, they persist through zoning. Only rogues can create or apply poisons, and they cannot poison other players' weapons through a trade window. Poison skill is initially learned through a rogue quest, available at level 20. This quest grants the rogue one initial type of poison; further types are purchased from the rogue trainer.
- Instant Poison
- This poison has a chance to add nature damage to each hit with the weapon it is applied to. It has no side-effects or drawbacks.
- Anesthetic Poison
- This poison has a chance to add nature damage to each hit with the weapon it is applied to. The damage caused by this poison is slightly less than Instant Poison but generates no additional threat.
- Deadly Poison
- This afflicts the target with a poison effect, causing nature damage periodically. Its damage is less than an equivalent level of instant poison, but it actually deals damage more quickly than instant poison thanks to its higher application rate.
- Because deadly poison deals damage over time, it slows spellcasting, prevents rogues from stealthing, and prevents all players from bandaging. However, its continuing damage causes many forms of crowd control (polymorph, charm, freezing traps, etcetera) to break immediately. Deadly poison stacks up to 5 times, making it harder to remove with some spells.
- Crippling Poison
- This poison afflicts the target with a reduction in movement speed. It has no side-effects or drawbacks. It is a favorite poison for instances and PvP fighting, where the ability to prevent escape is key. Note that this is the only poison that does not expire after a certain number of charges have been expended (it will therefore last the entire duration unless otherwise removed).
- Mind-Numbing Poison
- This poison afflicts the target with a reduction in casting speed. It has no side-effects or drawbacks.
- Wound Poison
- This poison reduces the effectiveness of healing spells which affect the target, causing them to heal lesser amounts. It stacks up to 5 times, making it harder to remove with some spells.
After applying a poison to a weapon, it will be removed by using another temporary weapon buff on that weapon, by letting the time run out or by right-clicking on the buff.
Other Abilities
- Pick Pocket
- This ability allows the rogue to get some extra loot from an enemy NPC. The rogue must be stealthed and within 5 yards of his target to use this skill. If it is successful, a loot box will pop up, allowing him to choose which items to take; typically, this is a handful of silver, with a chance for odd monster-specific items or gems. If the skill is resisted, the monster immediately detects the rogue and aggros. Failure rates depend on relative levels, but the base failure rate seems to be around 5%.
- Many monsters have no pockets, and thus cannot be pickpocketed. Typically humanoid types will have pockets and beasts won't, but there are numerous exceptions. If a rogue attempts to pickpocket a monster who doesn't have pockets, the monster does not aggro. Enemy players cannot be pickpocketed. This ability was changed in Patch 1.2.0 to work on creatures both in and out of combat as long as the rogue is in stealth.
- The items received from picking pockets are not subject to group looting rules, so you always get all the items and 100% of the money. The money and items picked up with this ability are extras, in addition to the monster's normal loot when it is killed, so a rogue picking pockets is not depriving his companions of loot. Each monster has only a few items in his pockets when he spawns; if one rogue goes through an area, picking all the monsters' pockets but killing none of the monsters, then the next rogue through the area will find that all the monsters pockets are empty. For this reason, it is considered polite to kill every monster whose pockets you pick, unless you are in an instance; that way, the monsters will respawn and the next rogue through the area can pick their pockets as well.
- Sprint
- This skill increases the rogue's run speed dramatically for 15 seconds. It also doesn't break stealth when used, so it can help the rogue into or out of trouble equally.
- Pick Lock
- This skill allows the rogue to open locked doors, chests, and lock boxes. It is a gathering skill, like fishing or mining; the rogue must have it at or above a certain level to open certain types of locks. This skill typically doesn't advance quickly enough with casual use; rogues must occasionally go out on runs to improve their lock picking. Fortunately, your rogue trainer can point you to areas which contain footlockers at your skill level.
- Distract
- This useful ability allows you to designate a circular area at some distance. Any enemies within that circle will pivot to face the center of the circle, and remain facing that way for 10 seconds. This allows a rogue to spin a target around, preventing them from seeing the rogue and opening up their back for an ambush. Distract does not break stealth, and does not prevent the monsters from aggroing. Distract does not work on creatures which are in combat. When used against a player, it spins them around if they are auto-running (but not if they are holding down movement keys) but does not require them to face that direction for 10 seconds; the player can immediately change his facing. Distract can also be resisted.
- An uncommon use for distract is to break up a group of patrolling monsters. Aim the Distract so that it affects half of the patrol. That half will remain stationary while the other half continues patrolling. Engage the stationary half in combat before distract wears off or else they will run to join the rest of the patrol.
- Detect Traps
- This skill gives you a passive buff which enables you to see traps. The skill uses no energy, is instant cast, does not break stealth, and can be used while mounted. The ability to see traps is of limited use at this time, but useful in PvP against Hunters, and against the mines in Alterac Valley. This was changed into a passive skill in Patch 1.11, it was a self targeted castable buff with a duration of three minutes.
- Disarm Trap
- This skill allows you to disarm a trap, preventing it from going off. To disarm a trap you must first detect it (This is automatic, seeing in previous patching, detect traps was made into an innate ability for a rogue and not an activated one), then sneak up on it with stealth. If you come too close to the trap, you will trigger it, so approach only as close as you need to. Again, this is of limited use due to the lack of traps in the game at present.
Some good uses of Disarm Trap: Wooden Boxes in Stratholme, Hunter Traps in PvP, Land mines in Alterac Valley
New Expansion Abilities
Deadly Throw - Rank 1 Requires Level 64 35 Energy 8-30 yd range Instant cast (2 sec cool down) Requires Thrown Finishing move that reduces the movement of the target by 50% for 5 sec and causes thrown weapon damage plus additional damage per combo point:
1 point : 132-228 damage 2 points: 216-312 damage 3 points: 300-396 damage 4 points: 384-480 damage 5 points: 468-564 damage
35 Energy 5 yd range Instant cast Requires Melee Weapon Rank 1 (Requires Level 62): Finishing move that consumes your Deadly Poison doses on the target and deals instant poison damage. One dose is consumed for each combo point.
1 point: 168 damage 2 points: 335 damage 3 points: 503 damage 4 points: 670 damage 5 points: 838 damage
Rank 2 (Requires Level 69):
1 point: 204 damage 2 points: 407 damage 3 points: 611 damage 4 points: 814 damage 5 points: 1018 damage
Envenom ignores armor so in some cases will be more powerful than eviscerate.
- Garrote
- (now silences targets)
Rank 6: Requires Level 61 Rank 7: Requires Level 70 50 Energy 5 yd range Instant cast Requires Stealth Garrote the enemy, Silencing them for 3 seconds and causing (Rank 6: 666 damage; Rank 7: 978 damage) over 18 sec, increased by Attack Power. Must be stealthed and behind the target. Awards 1 combo point.
- Shiv
- - Rank 1
Requires Level 70 33 - 49 Energy 5 yd range Instant cast Requires Melee Weapon Performs an instant off-hand weapon attack that automatically applies the poison from your off-hand weapon to the target. Slower weapons require more Energy. Awards 1 combo point.
- Evasion
- - Rank 2 (now also improves chance to dodge ranged attacks)
Requires Level 66 Instant cast 5 min cooldown Increases the rogue's dodge chance by 50% and reduces the chance ranged attacks hit the rogue by 25%. Lasts 15 sec.
- Anesthetic Poison
- - Rank 1
Requires Level 68 Coats a weapon with poison that lasts for 30 minutes. Each strike has a 20% chance of reducing threat by a moderate amount. 120 charges.
Requires Level 66 Instant Cast 1 Minute Cooldown Instantly removes all existing harmful spell effects and increases your chance to resist all spells by 90% for 5 sec.
See [1]
