Rogue Guide

8217;s but definitely at 50 and 35. I will get 2 hits off 2 seconds faster than if I just did SS alone. These oddball energy numbers usually occur when you miss a special attack.

In PvP I only use it if I really need a combo point. I’ll use it when CS only gives me 2 combo points, when SS or gouge misses or when CS gives me no combo points at all.

If I’m in an instance and my main tank is poor at holding aggro, I will use hem instead of SS to generate less hate giving him a 7 point per hit boost at the same time.

Premeditation- I tested this a lot in beta. I hated it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to start out with 2 extra combo points. If you have initiative as well, there is a chance that you will be opening with CS and immediately doing an eviscerate right afterwards. That is a great thing. And yes, it works on players.

What I don’t like is that it is a huge investment. Targets move around. It actually has a casting time. The cooldown is a little long. It’s a really nice talent but I just don’t understand why they put it at the bottom of the tree. In fact when they put it at the bottom of the tree, I made it a point to pick it up again to see if they somehow improved it and it was no different.

It would be really nice to couple this with cold blood and preparation. It just isn’t in the cards though. I think that’s probably why they moved it to the bottom.

TALENT BUILDS

PvP Build (My Build)

Assassination Talents (21 points)

Improved Eviscerate - 3/3 points
Malice - 5/5 points
Remorseless Attacks - 1/5 point
Murder - 2/2 points
Ruthlessness - 3/3 points
Lethality - 5/5 points
Relentless Strikes - 1/1 point
Cold Blood - 1/1 point

Combat Talents (5 points)

Improved Sinister Strike - 2/2 points
Improved Gouge - 3/3 points

Subtlety Talents (25 points)

Master of Deception - 5/5 points
Camouflage - 5/5 points
Elusiveness - 1/5 point
Initiative - 5/5 points
Improved Sap - 3/3 points
Improved Rupture - 3/3 points
Preparation - 1/1 point
Improved Cheap Shot - 2/2 points

I’ve made some subtle changes to this build over the last year. My most recent change is dropping 4 points in elusiveness, maxing out gouge and maxing improved rupture. I find myself using rupture more and more. I find myself dueling and solo PvPing less and less. I was left with one extra point. I could have put it into precision but I do still love elusiveness. 30 seconds isn’t much. Put the point wherever you like.

I like this build better than any combination in the game and I’ve tried them all. You can call it the “Osiris Build”. Good lord, please don’t. I’m happy to serve my community and I don’t need my ego stroked by naming something after me.

There are a lot of changes that you can make here. The core of it is cold blood and preparation. This leaves you a lot of room to play around. I actually tested a version of this with opportunity and improved ambush. I didn’t like it. Even with a weapon switching macro, I just don’t feel great about ambush over cheap shot. I like control and I like getting to eviscerate as quickly as possible.

I’ll get into how to use this build in PvP when we get to the PvP section.

Ambush/Backstab Build

Assassination Talents (21 points)

Improved Eviscerate - 3/3 points
Malice - 5/5 points
Remorseless Attacks - 1/5 point
Murder - 2/2 points
Ruthlessness - 3/3 points
Relentless Strikes - 1/1 point
Lethality - 5/5 points
Cold Blood - 1/1 point

Combat Talents (8 points)

Improved Gouge - 3/3 points
Lightning Reflexes - 2/5 points
Improved Backstab - 3/3 points

Subtlety Talents (22 points)

Master of Deception - 5/5 points
Opportunity - 5/5 points
Improved Ambush - 3/3 points
Initiative - 5/5 points
Improved Sap - 3/3 points
Preparation - 1/1 point

This is very similar to my PvP build. It has cold blood and preparation. I merely sacrificed a few things so that I could get improved ambush, improved BS and opportunity. Many people will argue that seal fate is a no brainer when it comes to this type of build. I strongly disagree. While I do agree that seal fate is a nice way to make up for the lack of combo points built with CS and SS, I don’t agree with putting a bandaid on a broken arm. A dagger build really isn’t a broken arm, but in doing this type of build you are dedicating yourself to doing big burst damage hits. They don’t happen as often as SS does because of the energy costs, but when they land they are huge. Seal fate is by no means a crappy talent. I just think the points are better spent elsewhere. I see a dagger rogue as a very calculating assassin. If you want to rush to do as many eviscerates as possible, don’t go with daggers, because seal fate simply isn’t going to make up for the slow speed of your combo building.

I don’t like these builds for PvP. I extensively tested these builds and found that the best combination I could