Cataclysm Classic Combat Rogue Rotation and Cooldowns

What Poisons you use as an Combat Rogue is relatively set in stone, we will always be using Instant Poison on our main-hand weapon and Deadly Poison on our off-hand weapon. When it comes to our thrown weapon for situations we are casting Fan of Knives Wound Poison will in most situations deal more damage but Deadly Poison will out perform Wound in a situation where the mobs you are AoEing live long enough to reach 5 stacks of Deadly Poison.

If you have not already, we recommend reading the Spells Summary page first. Knowing how each spell and ability works in detail will greatly increase your understanding of the topics discussed on this page.

Combat Rogue focuses on maximizing our time spent in Deep Insight while casting as many Sinister Strikes as possible to generate Combo Points for our Eviscerate and Slice and Dice abilities.

1. Cast Tricks of the Trade on cooldown;
2. Cast Sinister Strike to build Combo Points;
3. Use Revealing Strike to build out first, second or third Combo Point in a situation where your next finishing move will be Eviscerate. Ideally we want to use Gouge to build out fourth/fifth point.
4. Apply Slice and Dice once you have reached 5 Combo Points. Make sure you always have Slice and Dice active;
5. In a situation where you need to generate a 4th or 5th Combo Point and you will not Energy cap cast Gouge to build an extra Combo Point;
6. Cast Eviscerate if you have 5 Combo Points and Slice and Dice is already active.

You will typically follow the Single-Target rotation highlighted above but it is important to understand how to initiate combat with the boss as it is crucial to get into Deep Insight as quickly as possible while also putting your cooldowns on cooldown so you can take full advantage of Restless Blades.

1. Use your Potion of the Tol'vir pre-pull;
2. Cast Sinister Strike;
3. Use the first Combo Pointto apply Slice and Dice;
4. Cast Adrenaline Rush once we have spent some Energy so we can start to build Bandit's Guile and Combo Points;
5. Cast Revealing Strike;
6. Cast Sinister Strike until you reach 5 Combo Points;
7. Spend your Combo Points; on Eviscerate;
8. Repeat the highlighted rotation until you reach Deep Insight and then cast Killing Spree then return to the Single Target rotation highlighted above.

Combat Rogue is the most capable of all Rogue specializations when it comes to dealing AoE damage thanks to Blade Flurry. Your rotation should stay the same as your Single target rotation only with Blade Flurry active until you are facing 10 or more mobs at that point switch to spamming Fan of Knives.

Combat Rogues has some powerful DPS cooldowns that when utilized properly will greatly increase your DPS so understanding how they function will allow you to optimally use them.

1. Adrenaline Rush — increases your Energy generation by 100% and your Melee Attack Speed by 20% for 15 seconds. This allows for you to cast many more Energy spending abilities while this is active and should be utilized early and often to maximize its benefit, it pairs incredibly well with damage increases like Potion of the Tol'vir. While it may feel like a waste to use this during Bloodlust as you will likely have more Energy than you can spend the added Attack Speed still yields a DPS increase when paired with Bloodlust type effects. It is important to use Adrenaline Rush first when starting a boss fight to enter Deep Insight as quickly as possible.
2. Killing Spree — causes you to deal massive amounts of Physical Damage to your target every 0.5 seconds for 2.5 seconds and increases your Damage done by 20% during its duration. Try to use this ability when you are low in Energy as you will be regenerating Energy during the 2.5 seconds and will not be able to spend any during this duration as you will be too busy Killing Spree-ing.
3. Redirect — while not a traditional cooldown, Redirect is incredibly important as Combat as it allows you to transfer your Bandit's Guile from target to target, so when switching targets always try to Redirect if possible.