Cataclysm Classic Combat Rogue Leveling

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Your first talent unlocks at Level 10.

Improved Sinister Strike increases the damage dealt by our primary Energy spending and Combo Point generating ability Sinister Strike which we will be casting a ton while leveling.

Improved Sinister Strike increases the damage dealt by our primary Energy spending and Combo Point generating ability Sinister Strike which we will be casting a ton while leveling. Precision increases our chance to hit, as a Rogue especially when Poisons are unlocked benefit massively from Hit Rating due to the amount of number of attacks it takes to kill an enemy as a Rogue.

Improved Sinister Strike increases the damage dealt by our primary Energy spending and Combo Point generating ability Sinister Strike which we will be casting a ton while leveling. Precision increases our chance to hit, as a Rogue especially when Poisons are unlocked benefit massively from Hit Rating due to the amount of number of attacks it takes to kill an enemy as a Rogue. Revealing Strike will not replace Sinister Strike as our primary Combo Point generating ability but should be used to generate the fifth Combo Point before casting Eviscerate when possible.

Improved Sinister Strike increases the damage dealt by our primary Energy spending and Combo Point generating ability Sinister Strike which we will be casting a ton while leveling. Precision increases our chance to hit, as a Rogue especially when Poisons are unlocked benefit massively from Hit Rating due to the amount of number of attacks it takes to kill an enemy as a Rogue. Revealing Strike will not replace Sinister Strike as our primary Combo Point generating ability but should be used to generate the fifth Combo Point before casting Eviscerate when possible. Combat Potency will be a large source of our Energy regeneration while leveling, especially if you find yourself using faster weapons.

Adrenaline Rush increases our Energy regeneration rate by 100% and our Attack Speed 20% for fifteen seconds. This is by far the largest DPS cooldown as a Combat Rogue and utilizing it early and often will greatly increase your kill speed while leveling.

Adrenaline Rush increases our Energy regeneration rate by 100% and our Attack Speed 20% for fifteen seconds. This is by far the largest DPS cooldown as a Combat Rogue and utilizing it early and often will greatly increase your kill speed while leveling. Savage Combat increases the Physical Damage your target takes by 4% while one of your Poisons is active on the target which is an absolutely massive damage increase almost entirely passively. It also increases our Attack Power by 6%.

Adrenaline Rush increases our Energy regeneration rate by 100% and our Attack Speed 20% for fifteen seconds. This is by far the largest DPS cooldown as a Combat Rogue and utilizing it early and often will greatly increase your kill speed while leveling. Savage Combat increases the Physical Damage your target takes by 4% while one of your Poisons is active on the target which is an absolutely massive damage increase almost entirely passively. It also increases our Attack Power by 6%. Bandit's Guile causes our Sinister Strike and Revealing Strike abilities to grant you a combat insight buff, like Deep Insight. It is important to maintain these buffs as often as possible as they are a massive increase to your damage by using abilities you would already be using.

Adrenaline Rush increases our Energy regeneration rate by 100% and our Attack Speed 20% for fifteen seconds. This is by far the largest DPS cooldown as a Combat Rogue and utilizing it early and often will greatly increase your kill speed while leveling. Savage Combat increases the Physical Damage your target takes by 4% while one of your Poisons is active on the target which is an absolutely massive damage increase almost entirely passively. It also increases our Attack Power by 6%. Bandit's Guile causes our Sinister Strike and Revealing Strike abilities to grant you a combat insight buff, like Deep Insight. It is important to maintain these buffs as often as possible as they are a massive increase to your damage by using abilities you would already be using. Killing Spree deals a ton of burst damage over the course of two and a half seconds, this ability should be used on cooldown but especially when fighting multiple enemies at once.

As we leave the Combat tree we will head into the Assassination tree, the first talent we will be taking is Deadly Momentum increases the Critical Strike rating of your next damaging ability by 40% for fifteen seconds after killing an enemy, but more importantly it causes your Slice and Dice and Recuperate abilities to be instantly refreshed to their original duration.

As we leave the Combat tree we will head into the Assassination tree, the first talent we will be taking is Deadly Momentum increases the Critical Strike rating of your next damaging ability by 40% for fifteen seconds after killing an enemy, but more importantly it causes your Slice and Dice and Recuperate abilities to be instantly refreshed to their original duration. Quickening is a great way to benefit even more from our Recuperate ability and also gives much needed movement speed, throughout the leveling process we will be traveling a lot so the faster you can get there the faster you can level.

In your Prime Glyphs we recommend Glyph of Adrenaline Rush which increases the duration of your Adrenaline Rush ability. Glyph of Eviscerate which increases the critical strike chance of our Eviscerate ability which will act as our primary Combo Point finishing ability. For the third slot we recommend Glyph of Sinister Strike which gives your Sinister Strike ability a chance to add an additional combo point per cast.

For your Major Glyph slots we recommend Glyph of Blade Flurry that reduces the Energy penalty while having Blade Flurry active by 50%, most of the time while leveling we will be fighting multiple enemies and utilizing Blade Flurry will greatly increase our leveling speed. The next point will be spent in Evasion which increases the duration of one of our strongest cooldowns when it comes to mitigating incoming Physical damage. The last Glyph slot should be dedicated to Glyph of Sprint which makes our Sprint ability increase our movement speed by an additional 30%, Sprint should be used as often as possible to get around and maximize your uptime.

For your Minor Glyphs we recommend Glyph of Blurred Speed which allows you to walk on water with Sprint active. The next Glyph we recommend is Glyph of Safe Fall which greatly reduces the damage taken from fall damage. And last is Glyph of Distract which increases the range of your Distract ability.

1. Melee.
2. Use Sinister Strike to generate Combo Points and deal damage.
3. Use Eviscerate to spend your Combo Points and deal damage. This ability is best used with five Combo Points.
4. Use Stealth as needed to to avoid any unwanted encounters with enemies.
5. Use Evasion to mitigate incoming Physical damage, use this any time you are fighting more than one enemy at once that is attacking you.
6. Apply and keep Instant Poison active on your weapons.
7. Use Recuperate as needed to heal yourself, this ability is best used with five Combo Points but in any situation where you need to self-sustain it should be used.
8. Use Kick to interrupt any enemy spell casting.
9. Use Gouge as an impromptu interrupt or as a way to incapacitate your enemy for a short period of time.
10. Use Sprint early and often to get around and maximize your uptime against enemies. Remember you can use this to cross water thanks to Glyph of Blurred Speed.
11. Use Vanish to quickly re-stealth should you find yourself in danger. This ability will reset any mob you are engaged with if you are the only one on their aggro table.
12. Use Cheap Shot if you are in Stealth and need to stun your target, this should be your default opening ability while leveling to mitigate damage taken.
13. Use Revealing Strike to generate your fourth Combo Point when you are going to cast Eviscerate.
14. Use Kidney Shot as needed to stun your target and minimize incoming damage, while most of your Combo Points should be spent on Eviscerate or Recuperate do not hesitate to Kidney Shot if you need to stop incoming damage or interrupt.
15. Apply and keep Wound Poison active on your weapons to deal damage and keep Savage Combat active.
16. Use Blind to disorient your target for up to a minute, this can be used to disengage from an enemy or can even be used as an impromptu interrupt should you find yourself in danger.
17. Use Adrenaline Rush early and often to maximize your damage, the quicker you kill enemies the less damage you will take.
18. Use Cloak of Shadows to stop incoming Magic damage or become immune to incoming Magic effects.
19. Use Deadly Throw to deal damage to enemies you will not be able to otherwise reach or are fleeing. Keep in mind this ability can only be used with a throwing weapon equipped.
20. Use Killing Spree early and often to maximize your damage output, this ability is best used when you are already lower in Energy to avoid reaching Energy cap while it is active and wasting Energy.
21. Use Fan of Knives when fighting three or more enemies, keep in mind this ability can only be used with a throwing weapon equipped.
22. Use Combat Readiness to mitigate incoming Physical damage when being attacked.
23. Use Redirect to move your Combo Points from a target that using a finishing move would be overkill on, This is especially important as Combat as this also allows you to transfer your current combat insight to the new target.

Congratulations on hitting Level 85 in Cataclysm! Now that your leveling process is over, you can learn more about Level 85 Combat Rogue gameplay by reading our fully detailed guide below.