Cataclysm Classic Subtlety Rogue Talent Builds

Subtlety Rogue has a relatively straight forward talent build that focuses on maximizing our damage by utilizing Find Weakness as much as possible.

This spec goes is focused on maximizing your ability to deal damage, there is some slight variance depending on what you view as more important, this build opts for two points into Precision but these points can easily be shifted into Quickening if you feel the added healing effects or movement speed are needed and you are able to find Hit rating elsewhere.

In this section we will go over some of the key talents you will use when you are playing a Subtlety Rogue. Be sure to understand your most important talents as they are vital to play the build to its fullest strength.

• Improved Ambush — increases the damage done and Critical Strike chance by your Ambush ability which will act as our primary ability to leave Stealth with.

• Relentless Strikes — causes your finishing moves to have a chance per Combo Point to restore 25 Energy.

• Initiative — causes your Ambush, Garrote, and Cheap Shot abilities to have a chance to add an extra Combo Point to the target.

• Elusiveness — reduces the cooldown of your Vanish, Blind, Cloak of Shadows, and Combat Readiness abilities. The reduced cooldown on your Vanish ability will allow you more uptime on Find Weakness so make sure to Vanish early and often to utilize the increased cooldown reduction.

• Hemorrhage — acts as our primary Combo Point generating ability in situations where we are not able to Backstab, it also applies the incredibly important 30% Bleed Damage taken debuff that we will also be able to take advantage of due to our Rupture and the glyphed version of Hemorrhage.

• Find Weakness — after casting Ambush, Garrote, or Cheap Shot you will ignore 70% of the enemies armor for 10 seconds. Maximizing this buffs uptime is the primary focus as a Subtlety rogue to maximize our DPS.

• Energetic Recovery — causes your Recuperate ability to also restore Energy as well as health.

• Honor Among Thieves — increases the Critical Strike chance of all party and raid members by 5% and causes each of their Critical Strikes to apply a Combo Point to your current target, this effect can only occur once every two seconds.

• Preparation — instantly refreshes the cooldown of your Sprint, Vanish and Shadowstep abilities.

• Serrated Blades — causes your Eviscerate to have a 20% chance per Combo Point spent to refresh refresh your Rupture on the target back to its original duration.

• Shadow Dance — allows you to cast abilities that are typically limited to Stealth, allowing us to maximize our Find Weakness uptime and utilize Ambush which is our highest damaging ability per Energy spent.

Prime glyphs are new to Cataclysm, giving you a third "row" of glyphs you can use on your character. While there are a couple of different options to choose from, there are some very clear front runners for each specialization.

• Glyph of Backstab — causes your Backstab Critical Strikes to grant you 5 Energy. Energy is your single largest limiting factor as a Rogue so any extra Energy will greatly increase your damage output.
• Glyph of Hemorrhage — adds a bleed component to your Hemorrhage ability.
• Glyph of Slice and Dice — increases the duration of your Slice and Dice by 6 seconds, as Subtlety keeping your Slice and Dice buff active as often as possible is crucial so adding duration to the buff will make this much easier and allow you to spend more Combo Points on Eviscerates.

Major glyphs typically offer utility-based options and can be highly situational. For Subtlety there are a wide variety of Glyphs but we have highlighted what are typically the most useful.

• Glyph of Feint — reduces Energy cost of your Feint ability by 20.
• Glyph of Ambush — increases the range of your Ambush ability by 5 yards.
• Glyph of Sprint — increases the movement speed bonus of your Sprint ability by an additional 30%.

Minor glyphs typically provide very minor benefits. Your choices will typically depend on what quality of life increase is the most meaningful for you.

• Glyph of Poisons — causes your poison application to be 50% faster.
• Glyph of Safe Fall — greatly reduces your fall damage taken.
• Glyph of Blurred Speed — allows you to walk on water with Sprint active.