Subtlety Rogue DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — The War Within (Season 1)

If you are new to the spec and the information below seems too overwhelming, you can check out the Easy Mode page, which has all relevant info in condensed form.

This page only discusses Rogue rotation in PvE situations. If you are looking for information regarding PvP, we recommend you check out the Rogue PvP page instead.

Always open while in Stealth and make sure you have applied Instant Poison.

The changes to Rogue in The War Within have brought some much-needed quality of life to Subtlety. Subtlety no longer needs to manually refresh Slice and Dice or rely on the old version of Premeditation thanks to Cut to the Chase becoming baseline for all three specs. For Subtlety Rogues, this means that pressing Eviscerate will automatically apply Slice and Dice and extend it for you!

Subtlety Rogue now plays as a 90-second spec. Every 90 seconds, you will use Flagellation with Shadow Blades, your on-use trinket as well as 2 charges of both Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death. Getting as much out of these burst windows is the key to playing Subtlety Rogue.

1. Try to always begin while in Stealth.
2. Cast Rupture if not up or has less than 9 seconds remaining on the duration. Do not cast it during Shadow Dance or when Supercharger is active.
3. Make sure Fazed is applied on the target before using Coup de Grace.
4. Cast Shadow Blades together with Flagellation.
5. Cast Cast Symbols of Death and Shadow Dance at the same time with low combo points. You want make sure you always use two of these during your Flagellation and Shadow Blades window, so don't use them if Flagellation has less than ~25 seconds left on its cooldown.
6. Cast Make sure you do not cast Symbols of Death until your previous Symbols of Death buff has less than 3 seconds left.
7. Cast Cold Blood is always used with Secret Technique.
8. Cast Secret Technique as your first finisher during every Shadow Dance with 6 or more combo points.
9. Cast Vanish on cooldown with low combo points.
10. Cast Eviscerate to spend combo points when you have 6 or more.
11. Cast Shadowstrike whenever you can, otherwise use Backstab to build combo points.

Most of the time the Supercharger empowered points should be up during Shadow Dance, but for the times where they are not try to avoid using them on Rupture as its damage does not scale with combo points spent, only the duration. If you are a returning player note that the supercharged combo points do not work in the same way as old echoing reprimand, it buffs any finisher you do with +3 combo points so keep following the 6 or more rule listed above, even when you have supercharged combo points.

It is a small gain (~0.6%) to use Cold Blood on the second Secret Technique during your burst rather than macroing them together, but feel free to macro them to start of with before you get more comfortable with the rotation.

This Priority List is assuming you are playing the recommend Trickster build and not Deathstalker, you can find the changes for Deathstalker further down the page.

1. Try to always begin while in Stealth.
2. Cast Rupture if not up or has less than 9 seconds remaining on the duration on your main target. Do not cast it during Shadow Dance.
3. Cast Shadow Blades together with Flagellation.
4. Cast Cast Symbols of Death and Shadow Dance at the same time with low combo points. You want to use two of these during your Flagellation and Shadow Blades window, so don't use them if Flagellation has less than 40 seconds left on its cooldown.
5. Cast Vanish on cooldown with low combo points.
6. Cast Cold Blood with Secret Technique always. You can macro these together as well.
7. Cast Secret Technique as your first finisher during every Shadow Dance.
8. Cast Eviscerate to spend combo points when you have 6 or more if Flawless Form is up.
9. Cast Black Powder to spend combo points when you have 6 or more if Flawless Form is NOT up or there is more than 12 targets.
10. Cast Backstab if Flawless Form is not up and you are not in Shadow Dance.
11. Cast Shadowstrike whenever you can, otherwise use Shuriken Storm to build combo points.

4.

Subtlety Rogue Opener and Burst Sequences

Trickster
Single-Target and Multi-Target (AoE) opener Deathstalker
Single-Target Opener Deathstalker
Multi-Target (AoE) opener

4.

Trickster Single-Target and Multi-Target (AoE) opener

Due to Nimble Flurry the burst and opener sequence of Trickster Subtlety Rogues is the same on both Single-Target and Multi-Target (Aoe)

1. Begin while in Stealth.
2. Cast Shadowstrike.
3. Cast Flagellation.
4. Cast Eviscerate.
5. Cast Vanish.
6. Cast Shadowstrike.
7. Cast Rupture.
8. Use your Potion, on-use trinket, cast Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death.
9. Cast Shadowstrike.
10. Cast Secret Technique.
11. Cast Shadow Blades.
12. Cast Shadowstrike.
13. Cast Eviscerate.
14. Repeat Shadowstrike into Eviscerate (or Coup de Grace) until Shadow Dance ends and then cast another Shadow Dance.
15. Cast Symbols of Death to refresh the buff when Secret Technique has less than 10 seconds remaining on its cooldown.
16. Cast Secret Technique with Cold Blood.
17. Continue on with your rotation.

Random procs from Shadow Techniques can make it so that there is more or less finishers than listed above.

When doing your burst rotations outside of the opener do the same thing except start with a Flagellation at full combo points and then go from step 7.

4.

Deathstalker Single-Target opener

1. Begin while in Stealth.
2. Cast Shadowstrike.
3. Cast Flagellation.
4. Cast Eviscerate.
5. Cast Vanish.
6. Cast Shadowstrike.
7. Cast Rupture.
8. Use your Potion, on-use trinket, cast Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death.
9. Cast Shadowstrike.
10. Cast Secret Technique.
11. Cast Shadow Blades.
12. Cast Shadowstrike.
13. Cast Eviscerate.
14. Repeat Shadowstrike into Eviscerate until Shadow Dance ends and then cast another Shadow Dance.
15. Cast Symbols of Death to refresh the buff when Secret Technique has less than 10 seconds remaining on its cooldown.
16. Cast Secret Technique with Cold Blood.
17. Continue on with your rotation.

Random procs from Shadow Techniques can make it so that there is more or less finishers than listed above. Remember Always use Darkest Night with an Eviscerate as soon as possible, regardless of how many targets there are.

When doing your burst rotations outside of the opener do the same thing except start with a Flagellation at full combo points and then go from step 7.

3.1.

Subtlety Rogue Deathstalker Specific Rotational Changes

Below are the rotational changes for when using the Deathstalker Hero Talent Tree.

1. Cast Shuriken Storm in single target when Clear the Witnesses is up outside of Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death windows.
2. Always build to 7 combo points when Darkest Night is up.
3. When Darkest Night is up, only use Eviscerate.
4. Always cast a 7 Combo Point Eviscerate when you have Darkest Night up, even in AoE, and regardless of target count.
5. Use Shadowstrike once during Shadow Dance to utilize Premeditation, but otherwise build with Shuriken Storm in AoE scenarios.

4.

Deathstalker Multi-Target (AoE) opener

1. Begin while in Stealth.
2. Cast Shadowstrike.
3. Cast Flagellation.
4. Cast Eviscerate to activate Slice and Dice.
5. Cast Shuriken Storm.
6. Cast Rupture on your main target.
7. Use your Potion, on-use trinket, cast Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death.
8. Cast Shadowstrike.
9. Cast Secret Technique.
10. Cast Shadow Blades.
11. Cast Shuriken Storm.
12. Cast Eviscerate to use Darkest Night.
13. Repeat Shuriken Storm into Black Powder until Shadow Dance ends.
14. Cast Shuriken Tornado.
15. Cast Black Powder
16. Cast Eviscerate.
17. Cast Symbols of Death to refresh the buff when Secret Technique has less than 10 seconds remaining on its cooldown.
18. Cast Secret Technique with Cold Blood.
19. Continue on with your rotation.

Random procs from Shadow Techniques can make it so that there is more or less finishers than listed above. Remember always use Darkest Night with an Eviscerate as soon as possible, regardless of how many targets there are.

When doing your burst rotations outside of the opener do the same thing except start with a Flagellation at full combo points and then go from step 7, if Shuriken Tornado is not ready then just continue on without it.

3.2.

Subtlety Rogue Deathstalker Specific Rotational Changes

Below are the rotational changes for when using the Deathstalker Hero Talent Tree.

1. Cast Shuriken Storm in single target when Clear the Witnesses is up outside of Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death windows.
2. Always build to 7 combo points when Darkest Night is up.
3. When Darkest Night is up, only use Eviscerate.
4. Always cast a 7 Combo Point Eviscerate when you have Darkest Night up, even in AoE, and regardless of target count.
5. Use Shadowstrike once during Shadow Dance to utilize Premeditation, but otherwise build with Shuriken Storm in AoE scenarios.

Aim to use your Tempered Potion with Bloodlust/ Heroism and your other cooldowns, such as Shadow Blades. In most encounters, you will want to use it at the start of the fight.

Keep in mind that the potions have a 5-minute cooldown, so if the encounter is longer than that, remember to use it again whenever the extra damage is useful.

Racial abilities such as Blood Fury, Fireblood, Ancestral Call or Berserking can be macroed into your Shadow Blades without any issues.

To learn more about how to play Subtlety Rogue in Mythic+, check our dedicated page below:

As a Rogue, most of your abilities need Energy to be used. Your Energy bar has a default capacity of 100 Energy and refills at a rate of 10 Energy per second. With Vigor, we have 200 Energy. Your Energy regeneration is increased by:

• Melee Haste (Haste on items + Haste-enhancing buffs).
• The Relentless Strikes passive, which guarantees your finishers restore 6 Energy per Combo Point.
• Shadow Techniques, which awards 4 Energy every time it procs. It also procs more often during Symbols of Death thanks to Shadowcraft.
• Vigor, if chosen as your Tier 3 talent.

The way Subtlety Rogue currently plays there is no need manage or think about your energy. Outside of Symbols of Death there will not be enough energy to cast a spell every single global, that is completely fine and normal. Conversely when Symbols of Death is up you can spam all of your globals thanks to the extra combo points you generate and spend via the passive from Relentless Strikes.

Shadow Dance is your "bread and butter" cooldown, and your damage output relies heavily on proper usage. Shadow Dance has 1 charge, or 2 when talented into Shadow Dance, each with a 1-minute recharge. However, the passive Deepening Shadows ensures that they will be available much more often than that. Each Combo Point spent will reduce the cooldown of Shadow Dance by 0.5 seconds when talented into Deepening Shadows.

You should aim to cast Shadow Dance when Symbols of Death is up, as that makes it so energy will not be an issue.

Rogues have the some of the best defensive capabilities in the game, which makes them a solid candidate for soaking required mechanics and dealing with heavy incoming damage.

• Feint reduces AoE damage taken by 40% for 6 seconds for only 35 Energy. When talented into Elusiveness, it also reduces all other damage by 20%. This is one of the most overpowered abilities in the game and a huge asset on fights with heavy raid damage.
• Cloak of Shadows removes all non-physical debuffs, followed by 5 seconds where all spells will miss. Cloak can be used for intercepting in boss fight mechanics or be used for damage gains, such as staying in and hitting the boss during an AoE that you would otherwise have to avoid.
• Cheat Death is a talent that allows you to escape lethal damage once every 6 minutes. The damage cannot exceed more than twice your maximum Health. Cheat Death is great for soaking mechanics that pierce immunities and damage reductions as it guarantees your survival. It is also great for encounters with bursty damage that might take you by surprise, as you get a free get-out-of-jail free card once every 6 minutes.
• Crimson Vial provides a respectable amount of healing on a very short cooldown. Useful for an extra bit of healing if you are low on Health or you are out of range of a healer.

Some of your personal buffs benefit from Pandemic, a mechanic that allows you to refresh early without penalty as long as the buff has less than 30% of its maximum duration remaining. The current timer will be added to the newly refreshed full-duration buff, allowing for a new buff longer than the maximum duration. Rupture can be safely refreshed at 8.4 seconds and Symbols of Death at 3 seconds.

The Pandemic timing from Rupture is based off of your current Combo Point value, rather than the duration of the original Rupture. So if you had a 2 Combo Point Rupture on the target, and refresh with a 5 Combo Point Rupture, the Pandemic value would be treated as a 5 Combo Point Rupture instead.

Ultimately, this is a specialization that rewards the initiated and informed but can be incredibly punishing to new players. Learning to focus on what is important and mastering the core concepts of a specialization is what leads to strong overall performances on the damage charts. Subtlety features three major concepts that form the central trinity of optimizing for success:

1. Resource Management;
2. Cooldown Usage;
3. Personal Initiative.

The key resources of Subtlety are Energy, Combo Points, Symbols of Death charges and Shadow Dance charges. The main goal of resource management is to minimize overflow and wastage of these resources. Often times, these resources will be at odds with each other; aiming for perfect Combo Point management may result in Energy cap, immaculate Energy management may result in Shadow Dance charge overflow, and so on. Perfect resource management is impossible, and therefore, becoming a seasoned Subtlety veteran is learning which compromises to make. Listed below is the priority of resources to help you minimize wastage:

1. Symbols of Death charges.
2. Shadow Dance charges.
3. Combo Points.
4. Energy.

While wastage is bad, not being able to use two charges of either Shadow Dance or Symbols of Deathduring your Flagellation window is worse than wasting a couple of seconds of Shadow Dance cooldown reduction by sitting at two charges when Flagellation is coming up very soon.

Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death are some of the least rigid cooldowns in the game currently, as it allows for a variety of different usages depending on player interpretation of the current situation. As mentioned earlier in the guide, it is imperative time your Shadow Dances well without compromising on being able to use two of them during your Flagellation window.

Your personal experience and instincts will play a large role in your ability to fully maximize output. Try to keep track of all your cooldowns as a whole. To maximize your damage output, you would benefit greatly from being able to learn timings for boss fights so you can plan your cooldowns accordingly.