Rogue talents

Classes
Class races	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Ev	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Quests	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Abilities	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Trainers	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Armor sets	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Useful macros	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Class Halls	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior

Rogue talents are divided into the three trees: Assassination, Combat, and Subtlety.

Assassination

This is a tree based on large amounts of burst damage, in contrast to the sustained DPS found in the Combat tree. It makes your poisons less resistible and enables you to rack up more combo points in combat, allowing you to unleash more finishing moves. It's very effective end game in both instances and PvP due to larger, more frequent crits and more effective poison applications.

Talent	Requirements	Ranks	Description
[Improved Eviscerate]	None	3	Increases the damage caused by your Eviscerate ability by 7/14/20%.
[Remorseless Attacks]	None	2	After killing an opponent that yields experience or honor, gives you a 20/40% increased critical strike chance on your next Sinister Strike, Hemorrhage, Backstab, Mutilate, Ambush, or Ghostly Strike. Lasts 20 sec.
Malice	None	5	Increases your critical strike chance by 1/2/3/4/5%.
Ruthlessness	Assassination 5	3	Gives your melee finishing moves a 20/40/60% chance to add a combo point to your target.
Blood Splatter	Assassination 5	2	Increases the damage done by your Garrote and Rupture abilities by 15/30%.
[Puncturing Wounds]	Assassination 5	3	Increases the critical strike chance of your Backstab ability by 10/20/30% and the critical strike chance of your Mutilate ability by 5/10/15%.
[Vigor]	Assassination 10	1	Increases your maximum Energy by 10.
[Improved Expose Armor]	Assassination 10	2	Reduces the energy cost of your Expose Armor ability by 5/10.
[Lethality]	Assassination 10 Malice 5	5	Increases the critical strike damage bonus of all combo moves that do not require stealth by 6/12/18/24/30%.
[Vile Poisons]	Assassination 15	3	Increases the damage dealt by your poisons and Envenom ability by 7/14/20% and gives your damage over time poisons an additional 10/20/30% chance to resist dispel effects.
[Improved Poisons]	Assassination 15	5	Increases the chance to apply Instant and Deadly Poison to your target by 2/4/6/8/10%.
[Fleet Footed]	Assassination 20	2	Reduces the duration of all movement impairing effects by 15/30% and increases your movement speed by 8/15%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
[Cold Blood]	Assassination 20	1	(Active) When activated, increases the critical strike chance of your next offensive ability by 100%.
[Improved Kidney Shot]	Assassination 20	3	While affected by your Kidney Shot ability, the target receives an additional 3/6/9% damage from all sources.
[Quick Recovery]	Assassination 25	2	All healing effects on you are increased by 10/20%. In addition, your finishing moves cost 40/80% less Energy when they fail to hit.
[Seal Fate]	Assassination 25 Cold Blood 1	5	Your critical strikes from abilities that add combo points have a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to add an additional combo point.
Murder	Assassination 25	2	Increases all damage caused against Humanoid, Giant, Beast, and Dragonkin targets by 2/4%.
[Deadly Brew]	Assassination 30	2	When you apply Instant, Wound, or Mind-Numbing poison to a target, you have a 50/100% chance to apply Crippling poison.
[Overkill]	Assassination 30	1	Abilities used while stealthed and for 6 seconds after breaking stealth cost 10 less energy.
[Deadened Nerves]	Assassination 30	3	Reduces all damage taken by 2/4/6%.
[Focused Attacks]	Assassination 35	3	Your melee critical strikes have a 33/66/100% chance to give you 2 energy.
[Find Weakness]	Assassination 35	3	Offensive ability damage increased by 2/4/6%.
[Master Poisoner]	Assassination 40	3	Increases the critical hit chance of all attacks made against any target you have poisoned by 1/2/3% and reduces the duration of all Poison effects applied to you by 17/34/50%.
[Mutilate]	Assassination 40 Overkill 1	1	(Active) Instantly attacks with both weapons for an additional 44 for each weapon. Damage is increased by 20% against poisoned targets. Awards 2 combo points.
[Turn the Tables]	Assassination 40	3	Whenever anyone in your party blocks, dodges, or parries an attack your chance to critically hit with all combo moves is increased by 2/4/6% for 8 sec.
[Cut to the Chase]	Assassination 45	5	Your Eviscerate and Envenom abilities have a 20/40/60/80/100% to refresh your Slice and Dice duration to its 5 combo point maximum.
[Hunger for Blood]	Assassination 50	1	(Active) Enrages you, increasing all damage caused by 5%. If used while a Bleed effect is afflicting you, it will attempt to remove it and refund 15 energy. This effect can be stacked up to 3 times. Lasts 30 sec.

Combat

Whereas the other two trees tend to focus on openers and high burst damage, the Combat tree focuses on consistent white (auto-attack) damage to provide sustained DPS. Rather than requiring stealth and relying on powerful openers, you can simply run up to most targets and quickly hack away at them. As such, Combat tends to be the best tree for fast leveling, since you can move quickly from one enemy to the next with very little downtime instead of trying to sneak up on enemies.

It also features a great number of early skills such as Riposte, Deflection, and Lightning Reflexes that can complement other builds. No Rogue should go without 5 points in the first-tier Dual Wield Specialization in order to increase their DPS.

Talent	Prereqs	Ranks	Description
[Improved Gouge]	None	3	Increases the effect duration of your Gouge ability by 0.5/1/1.5 seconds.
[Improved Sinister Strike]	None	2	Reduces the Energy cost of your Sinister Strike ability by 3/5.
Dual Wield Specialization	None	5	Increases the damage done by your offhand weapon by 10/20/30/40/50%.
[Improved Slice and Dice]	Combat 5	2	Increases the duration of your Slice and Dice ability by 25/50%.
Deflection	Combat 5	3	Increases your Parry chance by 2/4/6%.
Precision	Combat 5	5	Increases your chance to hit with weapon and poison attacks by 1/2/3/4/5%.
[Endurance]	Combat 10	2	Reduces the cooldown of your Sprint and Evasion abilities by 30/60 sec and increases your total Stamina by 2/4%.
Riposte	Combat 10 Deflection 3	1	(Active) A strike that becomes active after parrying an opponent's attack. This attack deals 150% weapon damage and slows their melee attack speed by 20% for 30 sec. Awards 1 combo point.
[Close Quarters Combat]	Combat 10 Dual Wield Specialization 5	5	Increases your chance to get a critical strike with Daggers and Fist Weapons by 1/2/3/4/5%.
[Improved Kick]	Combat 15	2	Gives your Kick ability a 50/100% chance to silence the target for 2 sec.
[Improved Sprint]	Combat 15	2	Gives a 50/100% chance to remove all Movement Impairing effects when you activate your Sprint ability.
Lightning Reflexes	Combat 15	5	Increases your Dodge chance by 1/2/3/4/5%.
[Aggression]	Combat 15	5	Increases the damage of your Sinister Strike, Backstab, and Eviscerate abilities by 3/6/9/12/15%.
Mace Specialization	Combat 20	5	Your attacks with maces ignore up to 3/6/9/12/15% of your opponent's armor.
[Blade Flurry]	Combat 20	1	(Active) Increases your attack speed by 20%. In addition, attacks strike an additional nearby opponent. Lasts 15 sec.
Sword Specialization	Combat 20	5	Gives you a 1/2/3/4/5% chance to get an extra attack on the same target after hitting your target with your Sword.
[Weapon Expertise]	Combat 25 Blade Flurry 1	2	Increases your Expertise by 5/10.
[Blade Twisting]	Combat 25	2	Increases the damage dealt by Sinister Strike and Backstab by 5/10%, and your damaging melee attacks have a 10% chance to Daze the target for 4/8 sec.
Vitality	Combat 30	3	Increases your Energy regeneration rate by 8/16/25%.
[Adrenaline Rush]	Combat 30	1	(Active) Increases your Energy regeneration rate by 100% for 15 seconds.
[Nerves of Steel]	Combat 30	2	Reduces damage taken while affected by Stun and Fear effects by 15/30%.
[Throwing Specialization]	Combat 35	2	Increases the range of Throw and Deadly Throw by 2/4 yards and gives your Deadly Throw and Fan of Knives abilities a 50/100% chance to interrupt the target for 3 sec. 5/10%.
[Combat Potency]	Combat 35	5	Gives your successful off-hand melee autoattacks a 20% chance to generate 3/6/9/12/15 Energy.
[Unfair Advantage]	Combat 40	2	Whenever you dodge an attack you gain an Unfair Advantage, striking back for 50/100% of your main hand weapon's damage. This cannot occur more than once per second.
[Surprise Attacks]	Combat 40 Adrenaline Rush 1	1	Your finishing moves can no longer be dodged, and the damage dealt by your Sinister Strike, Backstab, Shiv, Hemorrhage, and Gouge abilities is increased by 10%.
[Savage Combat]	Combat 40	2	Increases your total attack power by 2/4% and all physical damage caused to enemies you have poisoned is increased by 1/2%.
[Prey on the Weak]	Combat 45	5	Your critical strike damage is increased by 4/8/12/16/20% when the target has less health than you (as a percentage of total health).
[Killing Spree]	Combat 50	1	(Active) Step through the shadows from enemy to enemy within 10 yards, attacking an enemy every .5 secs with both weapons until 5 attacks are made. Can hit the same target multiple times. Cannot hit invisible or stealthed targets.

Subtlety

The Subtlety tree complements rogues who like to stay in the shadows. The tree is based on moving fast and staying hidden while racking up as many combo points in the opening move as possible, and providing more options for escape when things go wrong. With [Initiative] and [Premeditation] you can open combat with 4 or 5 combo points racked up, giving you an excellent edge at the start of a fight. Patch 1.12 greatly improved the appeal of the subtlety tree with the addition of [Serrated Blades] and [Deadliness], and the pre-expansion patch 2.01 introduced [Shadowstep] as a high level talent.

The Subtlety tree is generally regarded as the optimal PvP and battleground spec for rogues, with many talents designed for sneaking up on players and stacking high opening burst damage to dispatch them before they have a chance to react. However, with the addition of [Honor Among Thieves] in 3.0, Subtlety has also become a desirable spec for DPS in dungeons and end-game raids.

Talent	Prereqs	Ranks	Description
[Relentless Strikes]	None	5	Your finishing moves have a 4/8/12/16/20% chance per combo point to restore 25 energy.
[Master of Deception]	None	3	Reduces the chance enemies have to detect you while in Stealth mode. Master of Deception (Rank 3) improves your Stealth to that of a character three levels higher.
[Opportunity]	None	2	Increases the damage with your Backstab, Mutilate, Garrote, and Ambush abilities by 10/20%.
[Sleight of Hand]	Subtlety 5	2	Reduces the chance you are critically hit by melee and ranged attacks by 1/2% and increases the threat reduced by your Feint ability by 10/20%.
[Dirty Tricks]	Subtlety 5	2	Increases the range of your Blind and Sap abilities by 2/5 yards and reduces the energy cost of your Blind and Sap abilities by 25/50%.
[Camouflage]	Subtlety 5	3	Increases your speed while stealthed by 5/10/15% and reduces the cooldown of your Stealth ability by 2/4/6 sec.
Elusiveness	Subtlety 10	2	Reduces the cooldown of your Vanish and Blind abilities by 30/60 sec and your Cloak of Shadows ability by 15/30 sec.
[Ghostly Strike]	Subtlety 10	1	(Active) A strike that deals 125% weapon damage and increases your chance to dodge by 15% for 7 sec. Awards 1 combo point.
[Serrated Blades]	Subtlety 10	3	Causes your attacks to ignore 90/5.34 per level/8 per level of your target's Armor and increases the damage dealt by your Rupture ability by 10/20/30%. The amount of Armor reduced increases with your level.
[Setup]	Subtlety 15	3	Gives you a 33/66/100% chance to add a combo point to your target after dodging their attack or fully resisting one of their spells. This cannot happen more than once per second.
[Initiative]	Subtlety 15	3	Gives you a 33/66/100% chance to add an additional combo point to your target when using your Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot ability.
[Improved Ambush]	Subtlety 15	2	Increases the critical strike chance of your Ambush ability by 25/50%.
[Heightened Senses]	Subtlety 20	2	Increases your Stealth detection and reduces the chance you are hit by spells and ranged attacks by 2/4%.
[Preparation]	Subtlety 20	1	(Active) When activated, this ability immediately finishes the cooldown on your Evasion, Sprint, Vanish, Cold Blood, and Shadowstep abilities.
[7-30] Dirty Deeds	Subtlety 20	2	Reduces the Energy Cost of your Cheap Shot and Garrote abilities by 10/20. Additionally, your special abilities cause 10/20% more damage against targets below 35% health.
[Hemorrhage]	Subtlety 20 Serrated Blades 3	1	(Active) An instant strike that deals 110% weapon damage and causes the target to hemorrhage, increasing any Physical damage dealt to the target by up to 13. Lasts 10 charges or 15 sec. Awards 1 combo point.
[Master of Subtlety]	Subtlety 25	3	Attacks made while stealthed and for 6 seconds after breaking stealth cause an additional 4/7/10% damage.
[Deadliness]	Subtlety 25	5	Increases your Attack Power by 2/4/6/8/10%.
[Enveloping Shadows]	Subtlety 30	3	Reduces the damage taken by area of effect attacks by 10/20/30%.
[Premeditation]	Subtlety 30 Preparation 1	1	(Active) When used, adds 2 combo points to your target. You must add to or use those combo points within 20 seconds or the combo points are lost.
Cheat Death	Subtlety 30	3	You have a 33/66/100% chance that an attack which would otherwise kill you will instead reduce your health to 10% of your maximum health. In addition, all damage taken will be reduced by up to 90% for 3 sec (modified by resilience). This cannot occur more than once per minute.
[Sinister Calling]	Subtlety 35 Premeditation 1	5	Increases your total Agility by 3/6/9/12/15% and increases the percentage damage bonus of Backstab and Hemorrhage by an additional 1/2/3/4/5%.
[Waylay]	Subtlety 35	2	Your Ambush critical hits have a 50/100% chance to reduce the target's melee and ranged attack speed by 20%, movement speed by 70% for 8 sec.
[Honor Among Thieves]	Subtlety 40	3	When anyone in your group critically hits with a damage or healing spell or ability, you have a 33/66/100% chance to gain a combo point on your current target. This effect cannot occur more than once per second.
[Shadowstep]	Subtlety 40	1	(Active) Attempts to step through the shadows and reappear behind your enemy and increases movement speed by 70% for 3 sec. The damage of your next ability is increased by 20% and the threat caused is reduced by 50%. Lasts 10 sec.
[Filthy Tricks]	Subtlety 40	2	Reduces the cooldown of your Tricks of the Trade and Distract abilities by 5/10 secs and Preparation by 2.5/5 min.
[Slaughter From The Shadows]	Subtlety 45	5	Reduces the energy cost of your Backstab and Ambush abilities by 3/6/9/12/15 and the energy cost of your Hemorrhage by 1/2/3/4/5.
[Shadow Dance]	Subtlety 50	1	(Active) Enter the Shadow Dance, allowing the use of Sap, Garrote, Ambush, Cheap Shot, Premeditation, Pick Pocket, and Disarm Trap regardless of being stealthed.

Key talents

This section outlines talents to really look out for. You won't be able to get them all.

• [Master of Deception] and [Camouflage] reduce the detection range and increase the movement speed for [Stealth].
•  [Malice] increases your critical strike chance, good in combination with [Seal Fate].
• [Seal Fate] gives you an additional combo point on critical strikes from abilities that give combo points.
• [Cold Blood] guarantees a critical strike on the next offensive ability.
• [Blade Flurry] increases attack speed by 20% and allows attacks to strike an additional nearby opponent. Lasts 15 seconds.
• [Preparation] resets most ability timers; eg. enabling the use of [Vanish] two times in a single fight.
• [Puncturing Wounds] increases the chance of critical backstabs and mutilates.
• [Improved Sinister Strike] decreases the energy cost of Sinister Strike.
• [Dirty Tricks] increases the range of sap and blind and decreases the energy cost.
• [Improved Slice and Dice] increases the duration of slice and dice, allowing rogues to maintain slice and dice at all times.
• [Mutilate], a dagger ability that deals heavy damage against poisoned targets and awards 2-3 combo points.
• [Shadowstep], in which you attempt to step through the shadows and reappear behind your enemy, as well as increase the damage of your next ability. Has many useful tactical applications.

Talent discussion

Factual information on specific talents should be added to the specific talent page
Discussion on Strengths and Weaknesses should be saved for the talk page

External links

World of Warcraft Community Site Rogue Talent Calculator

WorldofWar.se Rogue Talent Calculator

Wowhead Rogue Talent Calculator

Merciless Gilde Rogue Talent Calculator