One Rogue's Journey

G’morning all. I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. I myself am at the end of a nice three day. I don’t have a whole lot to talk about today as it was a bit of a boring week. I did some PvP last night and I can once again confirm that PvP is only fun with a premade group of people and several beers, at least to me. Maybe I’m just bad, wait, no, scratch that, I really am just bad. Meh, c’est la vie. Speaking of me being bad, let’s get to the list shall we?

Last Week’s Results

• Achievments

Honestly, I totally forgot that I said I would get that achievement. Yeah, I know, total win.

• Blog-related

Half credit on this one. I finished the leveling guide (which I think turned out pretty well) but the 10 commandments are still up on my drawing board. I’d look for them this week if I were you.

This Week’s List

• Professions

Something weird came over me and I actually did some fishing – a lot of fishing actually. I’m sitting at ~350. Let’s see if I can hit 400 this week.

• Macros

I received an email this weekend with some cool macros in it that use /run and some of the LUA functions. I’m going to dig deeper into those and see if I can write something really cool. You know, for the children.

Happy Friday my friends. And what a great Friday it is, Love is in the Air and [insert a joke about a stone that may or may not be made of ice or and ice-like substance and the fact that while left unattended it may have melted here], oh wait, I got one: Some melting occurred, the ice stone was involved, that’s about all we know (source).

I received an email the other day with a question about macros that made me realize that I should take an opportunity to step back for a minute and explain some of the basics about what macros can and can’t do.

Is it not possible to macro 3 sinister strikes afetr an ambush to build the 5CP’s to use a finishing move. something like
/cast ambush
/cast sinister strike, sinister strike, sinister strike
/cast eviscerate

Short answer: no. Long answer: no, not in a single button push. The reason for this is the Global Cooldown (GCD). Most actions in game trigger the GDC which means you have to wait 1.5 seconds (baring haste) 1 second for rogues and cat druids to use another ability. That said, you could get the functionality you are seeking in a single button, you would just have to press the button 5 times, that macro would look like this:

While that would work, I don’t really recommend it as it has other problems, namely that after the eviscerate you’re back at Ambush which you will be unable to use in the middle of a battle without Vanishing.

secondly, why will backstab or dismantle not work in the following?
/cast pick pocket
/cast ambush
/cast backstab
/cast dismantle

This is the same reason as before, with the GCD. The reason pick pocket works is because it does not trigger the GDC. Since it is not a damaging ability (and has no use in PvP) Blizzard probably feels like there is nothing wrong with macroing it to our openers.

I hope that clears some things up. Have a great weekend.

I got curious the other day and decided to check out my /played. I jumped a little. While it certainly isn’t extremely high, for only playing my character for a little over a year, it’s not exactly low. Anyway, I thought this would be a fun (I hope) little conversation starter for today.

My /played

What’s your /played?

There’s a lot to say on this topic so let’s jump right into it. I received the following emails recently:

My main is a Ret Paladin and I consider myself to be a pretty fair player, but I’m looking to start a Rogue for some REAL Melee DPS. Do you have any suggestions for a leveling guide specifically for Rogues? Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Well I know a certain Ret Paladin that would probably disagree with you on the whole “real” melee DPS thing but you’re not going to get a lot of argument out of me. I have a lot of love for our melee brethren but as Rogues we are kings among men and don’t you ever forget it!  As for a guide, keep on reading and be enlightened.

Im a new and noob rogue. I am currently at level 39 and have had a great time. I would like to level using DW SWORDS. Two things I need help with, if you can help; it would be great. 1. Talent Points, which to choose by level and 2. Rotations for Combat SWORDS depending on new talents by level (if it changes). If you believe that DW SWORDS is not the way to go; I will take any suggestion you have. Thank you for the great post and interesting reading .. Keep up the good work.

A quick answer to your question, yes I believe swords are the easiest way to level. You should, however, use whatever weapons you have the best of at the time. I’m going to be going deeper into specs a little farther into the guide.

I’m going to divide this guide up into level ranges of 10.  I’m going to go through each ability to get as you level through the range and give you some tips on how and when to use it.  As well, at the end of each section there will be a link to a spec. I find combat to be the easiest spec to level as, so I’ll be focusing on that. This guide will be focused on solo leveling.

After that I’m going to be providing some general tips that will help you turn from just another rogue into a blazing shadow of death.

Level 1-10

Your first few levels as a brand new denizen of the shadows will involve Sinister Striking to 5 combo points and then Eviscerating and well, that’s about it. Not overly exciting, I know, but luckily these levels go by pretty quickly.

At level 4 you get Backstab and since you start with a dagger go ahead and begin using stealth to get behind a mob and open with it. You also receive Pick Pocket so don’t forget to give that a try but it’s overall usefulness doesn’t really start until later.

At level 6 you receive Gouge. Using this you can stun an enemy and get around to backstab outside of an opener. While this is a good strategy and you should experiment with it, often times it is faster to just sinister strike and eviscerate at these early levels.

At level 8 you receive Evasion, which is a wonderful ability. It’s only on a three minute cooldown now so don’t be afraid to use it whenever you think your in trouble, especially if you find yourself engaged with multiple mobs.

Level 10 is a big one, you receive Sap, Slice and Dice and Sprint. Sprint is great for getting away when you find yourself in trouble or for just decreasing travel time during those tough pre-mount levels. Slice and Dice will become a staple in the end game but, when leveling, fights hardly ever last long enough for it to be really effective.  Don’t be afraid to throw a one combo point SnD at the beginning of some harder mob fights though.  Sap can be a real help when used properly, turning a three or two mob pull into a one or two mob pull can make an impossible quest simply challenging.

At level 10 you also get the ability to dual wield so grab yourself an offhand ASAP and put that shiny new talent point into Dual Wield Spec.

Level 11-20

Dual Wield is a nice addition and you should feel yourself taking things down a bit quicker nowadays (not a whole lot because of the miss chance but it’s nice nonetheless).

At level 12 you pick up Kick which is nice for dealing with those pesky caster mobs.  Don’t ignore this ability! One avoided spell makes a huge difference at this stage in the game.

Level 14 brings Expose Armor and your first true opener – Garrote. Expose Armor is pretty weak in a short fight and you’re better off using your combo points for something damaging. Garrote can be extremely useful when fighting casters due to the silence, so keep that in mind.

Level 16 brings Feint and Pick Lock. Feint is completely useless for solo leveling (arguable just completely useless overall) but don’t ignore Pick Lock. Picking locks is a very useful skill and you should start leveling it right away. The easiest way is through lockboxes, and you find them from Pick Pocket. Use this macro for your openers:

Replace Garrote with your with your opener of choice and you shouldn’t have any trouble with your Pick Lock skill.

Level 18 brings Ambush and if you’re still using a dagger this becomes your opener of choice.

Level 20 brings Rupture and Dismantle. Rupture, like Slice and Dice, is a staple late game but you won’t find much use of it in your solo leveling. Dismantle, however, is a dream come true. Pop Dismantle – and then Evasion when it wears off – and you have 25 seconds of taking majorly less damage.

Suggested build at level 20

Level 21-30

Level 22 will see your number of deaths drop dramatically because you receive Vanish. Don’t be scared to use this baby, it’s a wonder. What the hell is a corpse run? You also receive Distract at this level which has some nice uses when it comes to breaking apart patrols (more on this later).

Level 26 brings Cheap Shot, which will quickly become your opener of choice (don’t forget your Pick Pocket macro!). A stun and two combo points?  Tasty.  If you find yourself not taking that much damage and you’re still using a dagger then Ambush might still be a better choice, but a stunned enemy is an enemy doing no damage, and the less damage you take the less downtime you have and thus the faster you level.

At level 30 you receive the second step in a nice stun lock, Kidney Shot. Once again you’re going to find yourself with a decision, to stun or do damage. This really boils down to how much damage the mobs are dishing out.  Experiment with whichever combination of moves (get it, combo moves!) gives you the least amount of downtime.

Level 30 is also when you can first pick up Blade Flurry if you’re following my spec, which is beautiful for burning down two mobs at once.

Suggested Level 30 Build.

Level 31-40

Hurray you have a mount! There’s not a whole lot new at these levels, mostly just improvements on what you already have.

At level 34 you get Blind which is a nice source of temporary crowd control and can also be used on a single mob to give you a moment to bandage (Gouge is also great for this).

If you’re following my spec you can pick up Adrenaline Rush at 40. You will love this ability. Do not be afraid to use it and use it often. See the tips below for more on AR.

Suggested Level 40 Build.

Level 41-60

I combined this brackets because there are literally no new abilities in these 20 levels, but that’s OK. You have a number of tricks up your sleeve at this point and plenty of levels to practice them.

At level 60, following my spec, you’ll get Killing Spree. Combine this with Blade Flurry to really devastate a group of mobs.

Suggest Level 50 Build.

Suggested Level 60 Build.

61-70

At level 62 you receive Envenom, throw this in the “not used while leveling” pile because you’ll rarely even be using Deadly Poison.

Level 64 brings Deadly Throw, decent for chasing down those mobs that like to run for help.

Level 66 brings the real gem, Cloak of Shadows. Poisoned, Diseased, Cursed? Not anymore. That caster mob winding up for a big old spell of doom? Well, you should probably just kick them but sometimes it’s fun to just watch their spell get resisted.

At level 70, you get Shiv. One more for the not used while leveling pile.

Suggest Level 70 Build.

Level 71-80

The home stretch and the best set of leveling zones yet.

Level 75 brings Tricks of the Trade, another “not used while leveling” skill but a great skill nonetheless.

Level 80 means Fan of Knives and the joys of being a sprinkler.

A note about builds

I would like to say that the builds I have presented are not 100% you-must-absolutely-use-these-builds-or-you-will- fail-horribly. It’s been awhile since I leveled my rogue and I’m going from my memory and providing what I feel was the best way for me.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

• Deflection and Riposte

I did not use these talents when I leveled so I do not feel like I can speak knowledgeably on their overall usefulness. While they are absolutely terrible in end game PvE, it is possible that during solo leveling they might be helpful. Feel free to experiment. If you wish to pick them up, I recommend dropping Precision.

• Remorseless Attacks and Improved Evisercate

These are great talents for leveling, so why did I put them off for so long.  Simple – my builds are designed to get you to your big point abilities (Blade Flurry, AR, Killing Spree) as quickly as possible as I feel these make a huge difference.

• Weapon Spec

I have sword spec in my builds. As I said earlier you can (and should) use the best weapons you have available. Obviously, replace those points with the spec of your choice.

A Few Tips of High End Roguery

• You > Patrols

Say there is a patrol of three or four mobs and you only need to kill one of them. Sounds like a tough task huh? Not for a rogue. Use distract. If you throw your distract in such a way that only the mob you want is hit by it then the rest of the patrol will continue on, leaving your target all alone. If you have trouble doing this, distract the group and sap your target, after the distract wears off, the group will walk off, leaving your sapped target prime for the stabbing.

• The Old Burn and Run

Quest mob surrounded by a few adds and they aren’t patrolling? No problem. Pop Evasion to help you stay alive and burn the mob down using AR (don’t forget to sap one of the ads if you can). When the mob is dead grab your quest item (if need be) and Vanish. Done and done.

• Boy that guy hits hard

Here’s a strategy for taking down a particular tough mob. Open with Cheap Shot, pop AR and Blade Flurry and build as many combo points as you can. Right as Cheap Shot wears off, hit him with a Kidney Shot. When that’s done, use Dismantle if you can and after that Evasion. Use a health potion if you have to and don’t forget to Blind or Gouge and bandage for that little bit extra.

• Live to fight another day

Don’t be too proud to Vanish. A corpse run is a huge time waster.

• Poisons

Wound/Wound is your combination of choice. Don’t forget your poisons! They help a lot.

Leveling Addons

Addons are not required to level. Some people like to simply enjoy the quests and level at a leisurely pace. If that’s you, more power to you. To me, most of the fun is in the end game and I’m trying to get there as soon as possible.

If you’re like me you can’t level any faster than using the combination of Lightheaded, Tour Guide and Cartographer.

Whoo, that was wordy. I hope to see a lot more up and coming shadow denizens. Any questions?

This week was a lazy week for me as I managed to do nearly none of the things I had set out to do. C’est la vie. I won’t do much rambling today because there is something exciting this week: a ninja patch! That’s right, patch 3.0.9 is supposedly going live tomorrow and there are a few changes that are mighty interesting to us, my stabby brethren (and sisteren, is that a word? It is now.). So let’s take a look at these changes before jumping into the list.

• Hunger for Blood (Assassination): Now increases damage 5% per stack, (up from 3%.)

Looks like they are buffing HfB to it’s 3.1 15% early. Very nice for Mutilate rogues, of course, they won’t be too happy about the next change.

• Mutilate damage will now do 20% increased damage against poisoned targets, down from 50%.

Ouch, that one stings. My thoughts are that this change is going to balance out with the HfB to maybe only be a slight nerf but I haven’t really done the math to confirm that. I’m sure we’ll hear plenty from the community once the patch drops.

• Mind Numbing Poison now reduces cast time by 30%, down from 60%.

A nerf to Mind Numbing is not surprising considering they made the same nerf to Curse of Tongues and Slow. It’s sad, but fair across the board.

• Slice and Dice: This ability now increases melee attack speed by 40%, up from 30%.

Now this is something we can all be excited about. Hello 10% more white damage. As a combat rogue my white damage is about 50% of my DPS so, to me, this is a flat 5% DPS increase. Tasty. Mutilate rogues will probably see a similar increase and it’s possible that this, in conjunction with the HfB change, will balance out the hit that Mutilate took.

So this looks like the first step to tuning down the burst damage of rogues while turning up the sustained damage. Changes to slice and dice are a great way to effect PvE while having a limited effect on PvP. Crazy and surprising ninja patch over all though.

Last Week’s Results

• Achievements

So, I said I would do all the critter based achievements and in the end I only did Pest Control. What can I say, I apologize for nothing.

• Professions

I actually did a fair amount of fishing, making my way up to Artisan. And yes, it was every bit as painful as I originally thought it would be.

• PvP

OK, so I never even thought about going into Wintergrasp. See my previous comment about apologizing for nothing.

This Week’s List

• Achievements

To All The Squirrel’s I’ve Loved Before. Maybe I’ll do better if I only try for one at a time.

• Blog-Related

Finish writing my Rogue Leveling Guide and the 10 Rogue Commandments. Look for those this week!

So what’s everyone else up to this week and how do you feel about the patch?

Friday, Friday, Friday, it’s the greatest of all days, sort of. Technically I think Saturday has a leg up on it overall. But that is neither here nor there, well I suppose it could be here depending on how you look at it, but I’m not going to look at it that way. OK, I need to stop right there, it’s clear I haven’t had enough sleep, here’s a macro for you – cram it in your facehole!

Simple, no? Gouge and quick bandage (of course repacing Heavy Frostweave with whatever bandages you currently have). Great for leveling. I don’t actually use this macro but I have seen it floating around and it can definitely be useful.

I’m currently working on a Rogue leveling guide, look for that next week!

So we’ve gotten a glimpse of some of the planned changes for our favorite stabbity class in 3.1. I, for one, am extremely excited. I feel they are a step in the right direction all around. Granted these aren’t all the changes and they may go away or be tweaked at anytime, after all 3.1 is still a ways away (I’m guessing 2 months or so, write it down: Zaltu says patch 3.1 in early April), but they still give me a warm feeling inside. Let’s go down the list and discuss shall we? Yes, let’s.

• Hunger for Blood – instead of a self-buff, this ability can only be used when there is a bleed effect on the target. However, it has no stacks and grants a 15% damage bonus.

A very nice buff for our Assassination brothers and sisters. Keeping HfB up, while certainly not impossible, is a pain in the butt simply for the huge loss you get when trying to work back up to 3 stacks. Granted you can only have it up when your target has a bleed (I see a lot of mutilate rogues possibly leading with a 1 point rupture unless they have someone else in their party that can provide a bleed effect) but it’s much easier to keep up now and it gets a 6% damage boost. Win all around.

• Adrenaline Rush – the cooldown on this ability has been lowered.

Wonderful! They haven’t said by how much but any amount is great. My money is going on 4 minutes with the glyphed version taking it down to 3.

• Lightning Reflexes – reduced to 3 ranks. In addition to 2/4/6% dodge, this talent now also grants 4/7/10% passive melee haste.

So your standard combat build has 4 “throw away” points (provided you’re not combining weapons like fist/sword or mace/sword). Well 4 has become 1 because this new ability is just amazing. 10% haste! That’s 10% increase to your white DPS, which is a major part of our DPS. This is a great change, a big boost to the combat tree and I want it NOW…now dammit…give me the box!

• Killing Spree – while this ability is active, the rogue does 20% additional damage.

Why hello there Killing Spree! Welcome to my rotation. I sure will enjoy those poison crits while you’re active. This seems minor but don’t forget that auto attacks continue while you’re performing a killing spree and this 20% will carry over to any poison or sword spec procs that happen during it.

• Savage Combat – now causes 2/4% physical damage done.

What’s this? An increase in our utility? Am I dreaming? Well it is early in the morning and I am only half awake but regardless this is a great little buff. An extra 4% damage for our fellow meleeing friends…oh and I guess hunters too. Notice this puts savage combat ahead of Blood Frenzy but I have a feeling that ability will be getting a similar buff.

• Mace Specialization – this talent now grants haste in addition to armor penetration.

Armor penetration is the bastard child of stats right now and in turn maces became the bastard child of rogue weapons, so this is a nice boost for them. Will this cause a sudden influx of mace rogues? Probably not, but it’s a nice gesture nonetheless.

These are all a huge step in the right direction and I’m quite excited about them. You could say I’m feeling pretty giddy right now. Is giddy a bad choice of words? I suppose it sounds more like a school girl than the blood thirsty killing machine that is suppose to be a rogue…whatevs.

Bring on 3.1.

Enchants on your gear are like the cheese on your burger. That little extra something that adds to the awesome…unless you’re lactose intolerant.  Then they’re more like the lack of cheese on your burger, the thing left off to keep you from getting sick. Wait…that doesn’t make any sense. Forget the cheese.  Enchants are like the bacon on your burger.  What?  You’re a vegetarian? Then why are you eating a burger? Wait, now I’ve confused myself.

Let’s start over.

Enchants are like the hot fudge on your ice cream sundae. That little something extra that…hold on, that’s gonna cause an issue with the whole lactose thing again, isn’t? Dammit self, be better at metaphors! Actually, I guess they’re similes since I’m using “like”. Dammit self just be better at English! It’s the only language you speak you should be at least passable at it.

Let’s try this one more time.

Enchants are good.

Now we’re talking!  Nice work you smooth talker you.

Enchants are not just good, they’re important. If you’re 80 and looking to run some heroics, or maybe hop into some of this nice raiding content everyone seems so keen on, you’re going to have to magic up that gear a little bit. But which enchants do you choose? Have no fear, Uncle Zaltu is here to help you out with that very question. Side Note: Don’t ever call me Uncle Zaltu.

So let’s take a look at enchants for a PvE rogue, from top to bottom:

Head

It’s time to make friends with the Knights of the Ebon Blade because they have the Arcanum of Torment, your best option for your fancy new hat and they won’t give it up until you’re Revered.

While you’re working toward that, Arcanum of Ferocity from Cenarion Expedition Revered will do in a pinch.

Shoulders

I hope you like grinding rep because, unless you are a Scribe, your shoulder enchant comes from everyone’s favorite faction, the Sons of Hodir. At Honored you can grab the Lesser Inscription of the Axe but the real prize is at Exalted – the cleverly named Greater Inscription of the Axe.

If you happen to have chosen Inscription as one of your professions, then rejoice, for you can apply Master’s Inscription of the Axe (anyone else see a pattern? Nah, I guess I’m just imagining things) to your shoulders.

Cloak

If you’re a tailor, then you’ll be using Swordguard Embroidery and you’ll be damn happy for it.

The rest of us have a few options. Greater Speed can be pretty enticing but falls short of the other choices. For PvP you can’t go wrong with Shadow Armor (bonus points for having a cool name) but for the raiding rogue your best bet is Major Agility or, if you’re in a financial crunch, it’s cheaper alternative – Superior Agility.

Chest

Your options are pretty limited in the chest department. Powerful Stats is the best choice but is rather pricey so unless you have a best in slot chest or are swimming in Abyss Crystals, I’d go with the slightly less powerful (hehe, see what I did there?), Super Stats.

Wrists

Leatherworkers, slap on Fur Lining – Attack Power and call it a day (I really like these profession only enchants).

Everyone else, your best choice is Greater Assault but Expertise is a nice boost and a solid choice if you’re lacking in that particular stat.

Gloves

Once again Expertise and Precision are solid choices if you find yourself lacking in those stats. Crusher and Major Agility currently battle it out for the top spot. On my current spreadsheet Crusher comes out ahead just barely (about 0.05%) but I still prefer Agility for the other benefits it brings (namely scaling with Kings).

Ring – Enchater’s Only

Assault is your enchant of choice for both rings.

Weapons

This one is simple, Berserking is the king of rogue weapon enchants at the moment but if you’re strapped for cash the old Burning Crusade standby, Mongoose, still works pretty well.

Belt

Find yourself a friendly blacksmith and get yourself an Eternal Belt Buckle ASAP.

Legs

Find yourself a friendly leatherworker and get him/her to make you a nice Icescale Leg Armor.

Feet

Greater Assault and Superior Agility are both excellent choices for your shiny pair of boots but if you want to get the most bang for your buck, look no further than Icewalker.

Each enchant represents only a small fraction of stats overall but remember, even the smallest increase adds up in the long run. Keeping yourself in the latest and greatest enchants can be expensive but trust me, it’s more than worth it.

Don’t forget, you can read this post and tons of other great melee goodness on BigHitBox.com!

Greetings friends. Remember last week when I said there would be a big surprise/announcement this week? You don’t? Weren’t you paying attention? You weren’t? You don’t ever? Hmm…well that hurts. Still though, despite that I’m going to let you know all about it anyways.

I’ll like to announce the creation of BigHitBox.com, The Definitive Melee Blog. Several other melee bloggers and myself have come together to create a place for those of us that have to DPS while dealing with Whirlwind (have I mentioned I loathe that mechanic?). We’re still working on it but I highly recommend you pop over and check it out. I’m pretty damn excited about it.

Let’s get to work shall we?

Last Week’s Results

• Achievements

You can call me Elder Zaltu. Actually, on second thought, don’t call me that, I don’t like it, it’s silly. It’s certainly not the dignified title that “Merrymaker” is.

• Battlegrounds

Take that Alterac Valley! I bested you! I sucked it up and lost eleven 40 to 15 games in a row! That will show you…I guess. My wolf is pretty.

This Week’s List

• Achievements

I’m going to complete the three silly critter based achievements: To All The Squirrels I’ve Loved Before, To All the Squirrels I’ve Shard My Life With and Pest Control. Why? I don’t know, why do I do anything? Oh, that’s right, I’m an achievement whore.

• Professions

Once again I will think about leveling fishing and I will make at least one cast.

• PvP

I guess I’ll give Wintergrasp another shot. People seem to like it, how bad could it be?

What’s everyone else up to this week?