Subtlety Rogue Raid Guide
Subtlety Rogue Raid Guide
11.0.2 - The War Within
Last Updated:October 6, 2024|Change Log|FAQ
Welcome to the Subtlety Rogue Raid guide for the World of Warcraft patch 11.0! This guide covers everything you need to know to understand your character! Are you starting out and leveling up from 70? Check out the leveling guide!
Overview
Subtlety Rogue
Subtlety RogueRaid
Hero Talents
Subtlety Rogue
- Trickster and Deathstalker are both solid choices for Subtlety Rogues in Mythic+, each bringing their own small niche. Trickster fills in a weakness that Subtlety struggles with; passive cleave. Deathstalker on the other hand, favors sticking to the one target with Deathstalker's Mark. Trickster provides bigger burst windows with lower amounts of consistent damage. Deathstalker on the other hand, provides more consistent damage with your cooldowns being more spread out.
Trickster
Deathstalker
- There are two core mechanics you need to understand in order to play Trickster optimally.
- Fazed
- This is the first core mechanic of the Trickster hero talent tree. It interacts with most of the other talent nodes, and most notably, causes your target to not parry your attacks and take 5% more damage from you.
- Smoke Causes you to take less damage from Fazed targets.
- Surprising Strikes Your combo point generators do more damage to Fazed targets.
- No Scruples Your finishing moves have a higher critical strike chance against Fazed targets.
- This is the first core mechanic of the Trickster hero talent tree. It interacts with most of the other talent nodes, and most notably, causes your target to not parry your attacks and take 5% more damage from you.
- Unseen Blade
- This is the second mechanic you need to understand and is the trigger for the first mentioned mechanic Fazed.
- Every 20 seconds your Backstab and Shadowstrike will trigger Unseen Blade and apply Fazed to your target.
- Devious Distractions causes your Secret Technique to apply Fazed to any targets hit.
- Disorienting Strikes Using Secret Technique will make your next twoBackstabs or Shadowstrikes ignore the cooldown of Unseen Blade.
- Thousand Cuts your auto attacks has a chance to reset your Unseen Blade cooldown.
- Flawless Form is a buff that you get whenever you use Secret Technique or trigger Unseen Blade.
- This is the second mechanic you need to understand and is the trigger for the first mentioned mechanic Fazed.
- Other than the basic mechanics of Trickster there are two noteworthy talents that impact how to play the game:
- Nimble Flurry
- This is the most gameplay changing talent for Trickster. It makes your Eviscerate, Shadowstrike, Backstab and auto-attacks cleave 7 additional targets while Flawless Form is active.
- Coup de Grace
- After 4 Unseen Blade activations your next Eviscerate will count as if it used with 5 more combo points and give you 5 stacks of Flawless Form if your target was Fazed.
- Nimble Flurry
- Deathstalker's Mark is the core mechanic to how this hero talent tree plays out.
- Shadowstrike used from Shadow Dance or Stealth applies 3 stacks of Deathstalker's Mark to unmarked targets, you can only have one mark up at a time.
- Spending 5 or more combo points consumes 1 stack of your Deathstalker's Mark dealing damage increasing the damage of your next Shadowstrike or Backstab.
- There a few talents that interact with your Deathstalker's Mark:
- Shadewalker
- Reduces the cooldown of Shadowstep whenever you consume a stack of Deathstalker's Mark.
- Clear the Witnesses
- Whenever you apply a new Deathstalker's Mark your next Shuriken Storm does extra plague damage and generates an extra combo point.
- Hunt Them Down
- Your auto-attacks do extra plague damage to your marked target.
- Singular Focus
- Your damage dealt to targets other than your marked target causes your marked target to take a small amount of that damage.
- Darkest Night
- After you have consumed all stacks of Deathstalker's Mark your next Eviscerate cast with maximum combo points will be a guaranteed critical strike with 60% increased damage and reapply Deathstalker's Mark.
- Shadewalker
- Other talents that do not interact directly with Deathstalker's Mark but are still worth mentioning are:
- Lingering Darkness
- After your Shadow Blades expires you deal 30% more shadow damage for 30 seconds.
- Corrupt the Blood
- Gives your Rupture an extra dot component.
- Fatal Intent
- Abilities cast on targets above 20% health can apply a stack of Fatal Intent which deals damage whenever the target falls under 20% health.
- Bait and Switch
- Turns your Evasion into a damage reduction spell for magical damage as well as Cloak of Shadows into a physical damage reduction spell. The most interesting part is Evasion reducing magic damage due to the amount of magic damage in raids.
- Lingering Darkness
Talents
Subtlety Rogue
Deathstalker - Invigorating Shadowdust
Deathstalker Single Target - Dark Brew
Deathstalker Cleave/AoE - Dark Brew
Trickster Single Target - Invigorating Shadowdust
Gameplay Altering Talents
Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation and Deep Dive sections below.
Spec Tree
- Invigorating Shadowdust
- Turns your Vanish into a spell that reduces the cooldown of your other class abilities by 30 seconds. This is a big change in how the class plays so it can be very difficult to adjust to.
- Shadow Dance
- Shadow Dance puts you in a stance where you can use all your stealth abilities while buffing your damage for its duration. This is your bread and butter spell for your cooldown windows and is a major contributor to your core gameplay.
- Danse Macabre
- This talent makes it so each unique spell cast during Shadow Dance buffs your damage by 6%.
- Shadowcraft
- This talent modifies your Symbols of Death to generate double combo points from Shadow Techniques and causes your finishers to generate combo points if you have enough to fill your combo point bar. This turns Symbols of Death into a strong cooldown which you should use as often as possible.
- Shadow Blades
- Shadow Blades causes most of your damage to be increased by 20% and all your combo point generators to generate full combo points.
- Flagellation
- Flagellation stacks up to 30 stacks based on combo points spent and buffs your finisher damage for its duration.
- Secret Technique
- Your biggest damage finisher for both AoE & single target situations.
- Weaponmaster
- Gives your Backstab and Shadowstrike a chance to hit again. This causes your combo point generation to be less scripted and is something you need to pay attention to.
Class Tree
- Cold Blood
- Cold Blood is always used in combination with Secret Technique for strong burst damage.
- Without a Trace
- Gives Vanish a second charge which is important for Invigorating Shadowdust.
- Cheat Death
- Your strongest defensive utility that lets you play aggressively with no fear of dying.
Hero Talents
- Lingering Darkness
- This is your default pick for all scenarios since Symbolic Victory is significantly weaker numerically.
- Bait and Switch
- This is your default pick or almost all scenarios, Ethereal Cloak may have some value but it's very niche and Bait and Switch is solid all around.
- Shadewalker
- This is your default pick since Shroud of Night does not do anything in raid encounters.
- Momentum of Despair
- This is your default pick for most scenarios, Follow the Blood is the other option. Currently Momentum of Despair seems to be a bit stronger numerically.
When to use this Spec
Use this spec if you prefer the gameplay cycle of Dark Brew over Invigorating Shadowdust.
Talent Adjustments
Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.
Spec Tree
- Added
- Gloomblade
- Makes your Backstab stronger.
- Finality
- Makes both your Rupture and Eviscerate stronger.
- Dark Brew
- Converrts your Bleed and Nature damage to Shadow damage and increases it by 10%.
- Shadow Focus
- Reduces the energy cost of spells in Shadow Dance.
- Gloomblade
- Removed
- Invigorating Shadowdust
- The Rotten
- Swift Death
Class Tree
- Added
- Vigor
- Thistle Tea
- An energy generating spell and damage cooldown baked into one. Therefore, you want to use it both inside of your cooldown windows and as an energy restoring spell.
- Removed
- Without a Trace
- Subterfuge
Hero Talents
Changed Trickster to Deathstalker for more info visit the Hero Talent section above.
- Lingering Darkness
- This is your default pick for all scenarios since Symbolic Victory is significantly weaker numerically.
- Bait and Switch
- This is your default pick or almost all scenarios, Ethereal Cloak may have some value but it's very niche and Bait and Switch is solid all around.
- Shadewalker
- This is your default pick since Shroud of Night does not do anything in raid encounters.
- Momentum of Despair
- This is your default pick for most scenarios, Follow the Blood is the other option. Currently Momentum of Despair seems to be a bit stronger numerically.
When to use this Spec
Use this spec if you prefer the gameplay cycle of Dark Brew over Invigorating Shadowdust and have 2+ consistent targets, like on Silken Court.
Talent Adjustments
Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.
Spec Tree
- Added
- Replicating Shadows
- Added Replicating Shadows to make your Rupture hit an additional target.
- Finality
- Makes both your Rupture and Eviscerate stronger.
- Dark Brew
- Converrts your Bleed and Nature damage to Shadow damage and increases it by 10%.
- Shadow Focus
- Reduces the energy cost of spells in Shadow Dance.
- Replicating Shadows
- Removed
- Invigorating Shadowdust
- The Rotten
- Swift Death
Class Tree
- Added
- Vigor
- Thistle Tea
- An energy generating spell and damage cooldown baked into one. Therefore, you want to use it both inside of your cooldown windows and as an energy restoring spell.
- Removed
- Without a Trace
- Subterfuge
Hero Talents
Changed Trickster to Deathstalker for more info visit the Hero Talent section above.
- Lingering Darkness
- This is your default pick for all scenarios since Symbolic Victory is weaker.
- Bait and Switch
- This is your default pick or almost all scenarios, Ethereal Cloak may have some value but it's very niche and Bait and Switch is solid all around.
- Shadewalker
- This is your default pick for all raid scenarios since Shroud of Night does not do anything for you.
- Momentum of Despair
- This is your default pick for most scenarios, Follow the Blood is the other option that may find use in scenarios where you can consistently keep 3 Ruptures up.
When to use this Spec
Use this spec if you prefer the gameplay of Trickster over Deathstalker or if there is a fight with a bunch of passive cleave.
Talent Adjustments
Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.
Hero Talents
Changed to Deathstalker to Trickster for more info visit the Hero Talent section above.
- No Scruples
- This is your default pick for all scenarios since Cloud Cover is not very good.
- Thousand Cuts
- This is your default pick for all scenarios since Flickerstrike seems more like a PvP Talent.
- Smoke
- This is your default pick for all scenarios since Mirrors is worse in comparison.
- So Tricky
- Although not very useful for raiding, the alternative is even more useless.
Rotation
Subtlety Rogue
Tier Set
- 2-Set: Symbols of Death increases the damage of your next Secret Technique by 20%.
- 4-Set: Secret Technique increases the damage of your other finishing moves by 16% for 7 sec.
Single-Target
Invigorating Shadowdust
Deathstalker
Opener
- Your main goal with your cooldowns as a Subtlety Rogue is stacking as many of them as possible for maximum burst potential. There are a few priorities and rules when it comes to using your cooldowns as efficiently as possible.
- Use your Treacherous Transmitter early to see what your trigger is and then complete the task before your burst.
- The third Shadowstrike may be skipped depending on Weaponmaster procs.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
The rotational priority for Subtlety Rogue changes based on whether you have Shadow Dance active or not:
Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Eviscerate as your first finisher if above 5 combo points with 4 Escalating Blade stacks if your target is Fazed.
- Cast Secret Technique as your first finisher if above 5 combo points with less than 4 Escalating Blade stacks or if your target is not Fazed.
- Cast Shadowstrike if under 5 combo points.
No Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Slice and Dice if it's not active.
- Cast Rupture inside of a pandemic window (30% of the spell's original duration).
- Cast Eviscerate with less than 4 Escalating Blade stacks with 6+ combo points.
- Cast Black Powder if you have 4 Escalating Blade stacks with 6+ combo points.
- Cast Backstab.
Cooldown Usage
- Flagellation with 6+ combo points with Shadow Blades ready.
- Shadow Blades is typically used together with your next spell after Flagellation.
- Symbols of Death on cooldown except if the buff is already active with more than 3 seconds left to not waste duration if you reset its cooldown with Invigorating Shadowdust
- Thistle Tea is normally paired with your Shadow Dance to buff your finisher damage. The most optimal usage is for it to give you energy and buff your Shadow Dance damage at the same time.
- Shadow Dance is almost always used together with Symbols of Death.
- Cold Blood should only be used together with Secret Technique. Exception may occur where you would use it towards the end of a fight when Secret Technique is on cooldown.
- Vanish together with Invigorating Shadowdust when all of Symbols of Death, Shadow Dance, Flagellation, Shadow Blades and Secret Technique are on cooldown. This is almost always after your first Secret Technique in your cooldown window.
Opener
- Your main goal with your cooldowns as a Subtlety Rogue is stacking as many of them as possible for maximum burst potential. There are a few priorities and rules when it comes to using your cooldowns as efficiently as possible.
- Use your Treacherous Transmitter early to see what your trigger is and then complete the task before your burst.
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
The rotational priority for Subtlety Rogue changes based on whether you have Shadow Dance active or not:
Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Eviscerate as your first finisher with 5+ combo points. Always build to 7 combo points with Darkest Night buff active.
- Cast Secret Technique as your second finisher with 5+ combo points.
- Cast Shadowstrike if under 5 combo points.
No Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Eviscerate with 7+ combo points with Darkest Night buff active.
- Cast Slice and Dice if it's not active.
- Cast Rupture at earliest inside of a pandemic window (30% of the spell's original duration). Do not overwrite Finality Ruptures.
- Cast Eviscerate with 5+ combo points.
- Cast Shuriken Storm with Clear the Witnesses active.
- Cast Gloomblade.
Cooldown Usage
- Flagellation with 6+ combo points with Shadow Blades ready.
- Shadow Blades is typically used together with your next spell after Flagellation.
- Symbols of Death on cooldown.
- Thistle Tea is normally paired with your Shadow Dance to buff your finisher damage. The most optimal usage is for it to give you energy and buff your Shadow Dance damage at the same time.
- Shadow Dance is almost always used together with Symbols of Death.
- Cold Blood should only be used together with Secret Technique. Exception may occur where you would use it towards the end of a fight when Secret Technique is on cooldown.
- Vanish without Invigorating Shadowdust when you are not in Shadow Dance with low combo points.
Multi-Target
Trickster
Deathstalker
Opener
- Your main goal with your cooldowns as a Subtlety Rogue is stacking as many of them as possible for maximum burst potential. There are a few priorities and rules when it comes to using your cooldowns as efficiently as possible. The Trickster opener does not change with an additional target.
- Use your Treacherous Transmitter early to see what your trigger is and then complete the task before your burst.
- The third Shadowstrike may be skipped depending on Weaponmaster procs.
2 Target Priority List
Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Eviscerate as your first finisher if above 5 combo points with 4 Escalating Blade stacks if your target is Fazed.
- Cast Secret Technique as your first finisher if above 5 combo points with less than 4 Escalating Blade stacks or if your target is not Fazed.
- Cast Shadowstrike if under 5 combo points.
No Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Slice and Dice if it's not active.
- Cast and maintain Rupture inside of a pandemic window (30% of the spell's original duration) on both targets.
- Cast Eviscerate with less than 4 Escalating Blade stacks.
- Cast Black Powder if you have 4 Escalating Blade stacks.
- Cast Shuriken Storm.
- Cast Backstab if your target is not Fazed.
Opener
- Your main goal with your cooldowns as a Subtlety Rogue is stacking as many of them as possible for maximum burst potential. There are a few priorities and rules when it comes to using your cooldowns as efficiently as possible.
2 Target Priority List
Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Eviscerate as your first finisher with 5+ combo points. Always build to 7 combo points with Darkest Night buff active.
- Cast Secret Technique as your second finisher with 5+ combo points.
- Cast Shadowstrike if under 5 combo points.
No Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Eviscerate with 7+ combo points with Darkest Night buff active.
- Cast Slice and Dice if it's not active.
- Cast Rupture at earliest inside of a pandemic window (30% of the spell's original duration) on both targets. Do not overwrite Finality Ruptures.
- Cast Eviscerate with 5+ combo points.
- Cast Shuriken Storm.
AoE
Trickster
Deathstalker
Opener
- Your main goal with your cooldowns as a Subtlety Rogue is stacking as many of them as possible for maximum burst potential. There are a few priorities and rules when it comes to using your cooldowns as efficiently as possible. The Trickster opener does not change with additional targets.
- Use your Treacherous Transmitter early to see what your trigger is and then complete the task before your burst.The third Shadowstrike may be skipped depending on Weaponmaster procs.
4+ Targets Priority List
Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Eviscerate as your first finisher if above 5 combo points with 4 Escalating Blade stacks if your target is Fazed.
- Cast Secret Technique as your first finisher if above 5 combo points with less than 4 Escalating Blade stacks or if your target is not Fazed.
- Cast Shadowstrike if under 5 combo points.
No Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Slice and Dice if it's not active.
- Cast and maintain Rupture inside of a pandemic window (30% of the spell's original duration) on priority targets.
- Cast Eviscerate with less than 4 Escalating Blade stacks with 5+ combo points.
- Cast Black Powder if you have 4 Escalating Blade stacks or Flawless Form missing with 5+ combo points.
- Cast Backstab if Flawless Form is missing to activate it.
- Cast Shuriken Storm.
Trickster Eviscerate or Black Powder
- Black Powder Only replaces Eviscerate with 10+ targets or whenever Flawless Form buff is missing.
Opener
4+ Targets Priority List
Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Eviscerate at 7 combo points with Darkest Night buff active.
- Cast Secret Technique as your second finisher with 5+ combo points.
- Cast Black Powder at 5+ combo points.
- Cast Shuriken Storm if under 5 combo points.
No Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Eviscerate with 7+ combo points with Darkest Night buff active.
- Cast Slice and Dice if it's not active.
- Cast Rupture at earliest inside of a pandemic window (30% of the spell's original duration) on all priority targets. Do not overwrite Finality Ruptures.
- Cast Black Powder with 5+ combo points.
- Cast Shuriken Storm.
Deep Dive
Subtlety Rogue
Trickster and Deathstalker specific rotational niches.
Trickster
- Trickster comes with some pretty specific rotational changes which may seem very unintuitive, such as using Black Powder single target.
- The reason you want to sometimes opt out of using Eviscerate is because of Coup de Grace.
- You want to make sure to have Coup de Grace ready for every time you use Shadow Dance to maximize your burst damage windows.
- Coup de Grace should only be used with Fazed up on your target to not miss out on the Flawless Form stacks. This means that you sometimes have to use Secret Technique before Eviscerate regardless if you have 4 Unseen Blade stacks already.
- There are multiple variations for how to start your Shadow Dance rotation, the following examples are going to be your most normal cases you should look towards achieving.
- You want to make sure to have Coup de Grace ready for every time you use Shadow Dance to maximize your burst damage windows.
Deathstalker
- Deathstalker while not as complicated rotational changes as Trickster still comes with a few optimizations such as:
- Always building to maximum combo points when Darkest Night is up.
- Always using Eviscerate as your first finisher whenever Darkest Night is active, even on AoE.
- Using Shuriken Storm, even for single-target when Clear the Witnesses is up.
Invigorating Shadowdust Optimizations
- Invigorating Shadowdust is a very "love it or hate it" talent because of its many ways to be played depending on fight timers. It can be very confusing starting out as a Subtlety Rogue with this talent due to the high APM and the importance of pressing the right spells in your cooldown windows.
- Invigorating Shadowdust is unique because it allows you to adjust your cooldown timers based on where you need your damage the most. This adds both depth and planning. This means you need to thoughtfully plan your cooldowns ahead of time.
- As of 11.0 however Invigorating Shadowdust seems to have become simpler where you would almost always just hold your cooldowns for Shadow Blades and play the spec as a 90 second burst profile.
- The Invigorating Shadowdust build for both Trickster and Deathstalker wants to use 3 Shadow Dances in your Flagellation windows. This means that there will be one Symbols of Death use in-between your cooldown windows without Shadow Dance.
Eviscerate vs Black Powder
- When to use Eviscerate over Black Powder might seem obvious or easy if you simply refer to your priority. However, the reality is not as black and white.
- A lot of people who play Subtlety Rogue see a bunch of targets and instantly start pressing Black Powder without much thought behind it, however, there are situations where you would want to press Eviscerate, even if at the cost of DPS.
- Priority damage to your main targets is often more useful than so called "pad damage" to targets of lesser importance, which is your main consideration when deciding what finisher you decide to use.
- As a Trickster however, this is much less of a thought than it is for Deathstalker since you use Eviscerate almost always for all scenarios.
Secret Technique Intricacies
- Secret Technique is your hardest hitting spell, so it's important that you understand how it works and some common mistakes.
- Secret Technique has an initial instant damage part and two delayed shadow clone attacks, one of them being delayed by 1 second and the other by 1.3 seconds. To clarify, this means that the latest time you can press Secret Technique to get its full damage in your Shadow Dance window is 1.3 seconds before it ends. This is very important since you lose a lot of damage not getting the damage inside of your Shadow Dance.
Understanding Danse Macabre
- Danse Macabre is very straightforward in its function. However, there are a few misconceptions about how to maximize its effectiveness. Although it may be tempting to gain as many stacks as possible before using your Secret Technique, this is typically not the best approach, especially with the addition of the new tier set.
- For most scenarios, Secret Technique should either be your first or second finisher in Shadow Dance during your cooldowns.
Understanding Mechanics
Rotational min-maxing is just one aspect of mastering a specialization, but there are numerous other key mechanics that influence your performance. Use the following guides to improve them.
Nerub-ar Palace
Subtlety Rogue
The following tips are mainly applicable to Heroic Bosses. Mythic tips are released after our progression concludes.
← Scroll for more Bosses →
Ulgrax
Bloodbound Horror
Sikran
Rasha'nan
Broodtwister
Nexus-Princess
Silken Court
Queen Ansurek
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- You can immune clear Stalker Netting on Heroic difficulty by using Cloak of Shadows and then using Sprint to clear as many webs as possible.
- You can utilize Shadowstep to make sure to not get devoured by Carnivorous Contest.
- Using double Vanish in the opener here to squeeze in another cooldown set due to awkward boss phase timing.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
If you're assigned to Group 1 and want to do add damage:
If you're assigned to Group 2 and want to do add damage:
If you're assigned to Group 2 and you play for add damage with Invigorating Shadowdust.
Defensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- You can use Shadowstep to raid members on the other side of the Spewing Hemorrhage if you are split up.
- You can immune Goresplatter with Cloak of Shadows to keep DPSing the boss, saving a lot of downtime.
- If your raid needs more damage on the adds, considering either holding your cooldowns for them. Going for Dark Brew over Invigorating Shadowdust means that you will have Shadow Blades for every add wave assuming you hold it on pull. You can still play Invigorating Shadowdust and just hold your cooldowns aswell.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Cloak of Shadows is very strong to negate Phase Blades.
- Make sure to use Feint for the Shattering Sweep.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Utilize Shadowstep if you get targeted by Spinneret's Strands to break the tether fast.
- Shadowstep the Web Reave pull if you accidentally get pulled off the side.
- Save Sprint for the boss intermissions.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- You can use Cloak of Shadows to quickly cleanse yourself from Unstable Web.
- Make sure to keep good awareness for the Experimental Dosage to make sure you break the eggs, saving Sprint for this mechanic is very helpful.
- After breaking eggs, make sure to look out for the Poison Burst cast and use Kick.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- If you get hit by multiple Twilight Massacres, consider using Cloak of Shadows as it is very dangerous.
- Look out for raid members being affected by Queensbane as it can be very deadly to get hit with multiple of these. If you do get hit, consider using Cloak of Shadows.
- The main thing to keep an eye out for on this boss is the position of each Nether Rift. Normally your tank would position the boss in a way where you are safe, but be prepared to use either Shadowstep or Sprint incase they are placed poorly.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- Stinging Swarm needs to be dispelled and hit the boss 3 times, position carefully to not get hit by this to make the dispelling smooth.
- The boss gets affected by Stinging Delirium after the 3 dispells, try to maximize the damage in this small window by using a Shadow Dance even though it might not be optimal for your cooldown timings.
- Try to always plan your damage to atleast have a Shadow Dance for when Anub'arash gets Entangled.
- You can use Shadowstep[/wow-spell the [wow-spell id=441634]Web Vortex to break the Binding Webs instantly.
Offensive Cooldown Usage
Boss Tips
- You can remove the Silken Tomb root by using either Cloak of Shadows or Vanish which can be helpful if you are rooted out of position.
- Using Shadowstep for the Wrest casts allows you to maintain uptime and not lose any dps in either of P2 and the P2 intermission. Using Shadowstep on the boss during the intermission shield phase puts your character at her back and not inside of her.
- If you are playing Trickster, make sure to position yourself properly in P3 to ensure you are hitting all the Gloom Hatchlings with Nimble Flurry.
- You can use Shadowstep to avoid the Frothing Gluttony rings to avoid using a portal. If you decide to do this, make sure to have somebody you trust in a Shadowstep macro, EG: /cast [@Trustworthyperson] Shadowstep
Stat Priority
Subtlety Rogue
Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Raid boss fights as a Subtlety Rogue. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.
Higher Item level items are better in most scenarios. For an accurate representation of what item to equip you should use Simcraft! A static "Stat Priority" is just a starting point and can easily shift depending on your individual gear.
- All secondary stats are affected by diminishing returns. Click here to learn more!
Tertiary
- Avoidance - Avoidance works similarly to Feint, as it provides you with passive AoE damage reduction. Therefore, due to the significant amount of avoidance you already receive from Feint, it loses value compared to other classes.
- Leech - Provides additional healing through damage dealing. Great stat for staying alive and healthy.
- Speed - Speed is the worst out of the three tertiary stats because you are already very fast, it is of course better than nothing.
Gear
Subtlety Rogue
Best in Slot
Farmable Alternatives
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Beyond's Dark Visage | The Bloodbound Horror |
| Neck | Silken Advisor's Favor | The Silken Court |
| Shoulder | K'areshi Phantom's Shoulderpads | Rasha'nan |
| Cloak | Consecrated Cloak | Crafting |
| Chest | K'areshi Phantom's Nexus Wraps | Broodtwister Ovi'nax |
| Wrist | Rune-Branded Armbands | Crafting |
| Gloves | K'areshi Phantom's Grips | Sikran, Captain of the Sureki |
| Belt | Devourer's Taut Innards | Ulgrax the Devourer |
| Legs | K'areshi Phantom's Leggings | Nexus-Princess Ky'veza |
| Boots | Fleeting Massacre Footpads | Nexus-Princess Ky'veza |
| Ring 1 | Seal of the Poisoned Pact | Queen Ansurek |
| Ring 2 | High Nerubian Signet | The Dawnbreaker |
| Trinket 1 | Treacherous Transmitter | Nexus-Princess Ky'veza |
| Trinket 2 | Mad Queen's Mandate | Queen Ansurek |
| Weapon | Blood-Kissed Kukri | The Bloodbound Horror |
| Weapon 2 | Blood-Kissed Kukri | The Bloodbound Horror |
Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Whispering Mask | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Neck | Trailspinner Pendant | Mists of Tirna Scithe |
| Shoulder | Undying Chill Shoulderpads | Necrotic Wake |
| Cloak | Swarmcaller's Shroud | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Chest | Freshly Embalmed Jerkin | The Necrotic Wake |
| Wrist | Unbreakable Beetlebane Bindings | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Gloves | Wharf Warden's Gloves | Siege of Boralus |
| Belt | Shadow Congregant's Belt | The Dawnbreaker |
| Legs | Gauzewoven Legguards | Ara-Kara, City of Echoes |
| Boots | Whisperer's Echoing Steps | City of Threads |
| Ring 1 | High Nerubian Signet | The Dawnbreaker |
| Ring 2 | Devout Zealot's Ring | The Dawnbreaker |
| Trinket 1 | Skardyn's Grace | Grim Batol |
| Trinket 2 | Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj | The Dawnbreaker |
| Weapon | Stitchflesh's Scalpel | The Necrotic Wake |
| Weapon 2 | Stitchflesh's Scalpel | The Necrotic Wake |
Trinkets
Below you can find active and passive alternatives to our recommended trinkets. Do note that some trinkets are better than others depending on the raid boss.
Active Trinket alternatives
- Treacherous Transmitter
- This is your strongest active option when playing Invigorating Shadowdust and should always be used if possible.
- Skardyn's Grace
- This is a strong alternative to Treacherous Transmitter when you are playing the Dark Brew talent loadout since it utilizes 2 minute cooldowns.
- Mad Queen's Mandate
- This is your strongest second active to use together with Treacherous Transmitter. Double on-use can look scary to some, this trinket however is simply a press and forget whenever it's available.
Passive Trinket alternatives
Currently the passive trinkets are quite weak and you can play whichever one you have, remember to sim your own character.
- Void Reaper's Contract
- Solid passive alternative, gains some extra value in execute heavy fights.
- Empowering Crystal of Anub'ikkaj
- Solid passive alternative, procs random stats.
- Dead-Eye Spyglass
- Solid passive alternative. Can proc on targets you may not necessarily want to hit.
- Bottled Flayedwing Toxin
- Solid passive alternative, loses a bit of value in cleave situations.
Embellishments
- 2x Duskthread Lining
- It is a good choice if you have over 80% health most of the time and during your cooldowns which is easily achievable thanks to Exhilarating Execution. It works very well for both single-target and AoE scenarios, which makes it very versatile while also providing a small defensive benefit.
- The optimal slots to craft on are Wrists, Boots, Waist, or Cloak depending on your available gear.
- 2x Elemental Focusing Lens
- This embellishment performs very well in single-target fights, if your only intent is to do single-target damage, it is a solid option.
- The optimal slots to craft on are Wrists, Boots, Waist, or Cloak depending on your available gear. Crafting a weapon with this embellishment is also solid if you are not raiding mythic.
Remaining Sparks
- Crafted items are 636 item level and regular items are 639 on max item level therefore it's not beneficial to equip crafted items outside of your 2x embellishments unless you don't have access to other high item level gear on that slot.
Simcraft
To find the best combination of gear available to you or identify the best possible upgrades, visit our Simcraft guide to learn how to utilize Simcraft easily and effectively.
Consumables
Subtlety Rogue
- Phials
- Flask of Alchemical Chaos -- maximum DPS.
- Flask of Tempered Versatility -- less DPS but more survivability.
- Food
- Feast of the Divine Day
- Combat Potion
- Tempered Potion
- Health Potion
- Algari Healing Potion -- a big burst of healing
- Weapon Stone
- Ironclaw Whetstone
- Augment Rune
- Crystallized Augment Rune
- Sockets
- Versatile Onyx
- Culminating Blasphemite -- Unique, use one of each gem color to enhance your Culminating Blasphemite.
- Masterful Sapphire
- Masterful Emerald
- Masterful Ruby
Enchantments
| Head | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Neck | Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Cloak | Enchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace |
| Chest | Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Avoidance Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Waist | Nerubian Gemweaver |
| Legs | Stormbound Armor Kit |
| Boots | Enchant Boots - Defender's March |
| Ring 1 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Mastery Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Ring 2 | Enchant Ring - Radiant Mastery Magnificent Jeweler's Setting 2x |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths |
| Weapon 2 | Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths |
You buy Nerubian Gemweaver from the Great Vault Vendor to add sockets to your Helm, Wrists & Waist.
Races
Subtlety Rogue
For min-maxing a Subtlety Rogue in raiding, different racial traits can provide a tremendous benefit to your character. If this is not your top goal, picking a race that fits your style works just as well.
- Hyper Organic Light Originator -- Mechagnome
- Not a very useful active racial. The two passive racials, however Emergency Failsafe and Combat Analysis are both quite strong, making Mechagnome a solid pick.
- Stoneform -- Dwarf
- Can dispel Magic and Bleed debuffs. Has been useful in the past on some bosses with Bleeds.
- Bull Rush -- Highmountain Tauren
- Charge forward and stun enemies for 1.5 seconds, not the most useful ability for raiding but you do get access to Mountaineer which is a passive versatility increase.
- Blood Fury --Orc
- Strong racial for damage, especially for Dark Brew builds, due to your Shadow Blades being a 2 minute cooldown.
- War Stomp -- Tauren
- Typically not the most useful spell for raiding but similar to dwarf, the Brawn Passive is the main reason why Tauren is a strong dps race.
- Spatial Rift -- Void Elf
- This ability can be quite nice as it acts similar to blink that you first shoot out as a projectile, then re-activate to teleport to the projectile's location. However, the reason why it's a strong dps race is Entropic Embrace.
- Will to Survive -- Human
- There are rarely any good use cases for this spell but it can happen. The main reason why human is a strong choice is thanks to the The Human Spirit passive. Keep in mind that Human scales further the more secondary stats you have so it may not be very good at the start of an expansion but rather later on.
Recommendation
In general, it's safe to say that if you care about min-maxing your DPS, you should go with the highest DPS racial. That being said, the story is a bit different if it's about progression raiding. Some help out massively to speed up the progression on certain bosses. Notably, Dwarf with their Stoneform helped out on Tindral Sageswift and Fyrakk the Blazing in the latest Race to World First by having easy access to dispelling yourself at crucial points of the fights mentioned.
Macros
Subtlety Rogue
Discover recommended macros for Subtlety Rogue during Raid encounters and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.
Mouseover Macros
Mouseover Rupture Macro - Casts on your mouseover or target if there are is no mouseover target present.
#showtooltip Rupture
/cast [target=mouseover,harm,exists,nodead] rupture; ruptureMouseover Kidney Shot Macro - Casts on your mouseover or target if there are is no mouseover target present.
#showtooltip Kidney Shot
/use [@mouseover,exists][]Kidney ShotMouseover Focus macro - very handy when selecting a focus target to make you not have to target it.
/focus [@mouseover,exists][]Focus Macros
Dps & Utility Macros
Addons
Subtlety Rogue
Below, you see a screenshot of the author's User Interface for their Subtlety Rogue, outlining which addons are used and how they are utilized in Raids to make your life easier.
Addons
WeakAuras
Changes this Patch
Subtlety Rogue
Patch 11.0.2
Patch 11.0
FAQ
Subtlety Rogue
Q: Why is my Energy so low that I can't hit my buttons sometimes?
Credits
Written By: Kush
Reviewed By: Stove