Rogue PvP Guides for TBC Classic

Rogues are one of the most versatile and fun classes you can play in PvP for The Burning Crusade Classic. They excel in every department of PvP, from being a top-tier Arena class to being one of the strongest open-world PvP or Battleground classes. With insane mobility from Shadowstep, powerful defensive abilities such as Cheat Death and Cloak of Shadows, and an arsenal of different Poisons with weapon swapping and the use of Shiv, they are also one of the strongest and highest skill-cap classes to play. Rogues in Arena for TBC Classic generally play Subtlety as the overall kit is absolutely insane.

In our Subtlety Rogue PvP guide we will go over the spec in-depth and look at DPS rotations, common openers, and tips and tricks.

If you are playing Rogue in TBC Classic and want to PvP, Subtlety is the way to go. There are two popular builds for Rogues in PvP; one is with Improved Expose Armor and the other is without. If you play a healer + Rogue Arena team or potentially a double Physical DPS Improved Expose Armor will be very valuable. Otherwise, you can skip it for an extra 2 points in Vile Poisons. If you are more focused on playing world PvP and BGs then maybe the build without Improved Expose Armor is for you.

It is a good idea to use spells like Garrote over Cheap Shot for targets like Mages as they can Blink out of a Cheap Shot but the Garrote will silence them. You should consider swapping in an off-hand against a caster to Shiv a Mind-numbing Poison on them as well. This will greatly slow down their cast speed. A well-timed Cloak of Shadows is also very important when playing against casters in general. Using Shadowstep as a gap-closer is a great way to get an advantage against ranged classes.

When playing against Melee as a Rogue you have a lot of tools to help survive. Evasion comes to mind as one of your strongest defensive abilities, but be warned if you play against an Arms Warrior they will be able to Overpower you after you dodge their attack. Using Ghostly Strike is a very nice ability as well as it does strong damage and gives you a bit more survivability. When playing against melee it is recommended to use Crippling Poison in your off-hand. You will be able to kite and "deadzone" many melee with proper usage of Crippling Poison. An example of this is "deadzoning" a warrior so they cannot intercept you, allowing you to pool Energy without taking damage or wait for your next Kidney Shot. Against Plate targets or targets with heavy amounts of Armor it is more beneficial to use abilities like Rupture as Eviscerate will do substantially less damage.

Playing against other Rogues is probably one of the hardest things about playing a Rogue in PvP. For starters, some things to remember about Rogue vs Rogue is to keep bleeds on your target if they can potentially Vanish. Having a bleed up will not allow them to stay in stealth for more than 1-2 seconds after a Vanish. The opener is also extremely important; many Rogues will trinket on a Kidney Shot and open on you after. In scenarios like this you can use Blind on them and get a full re-stealth and Sap. This matchup is very tricky and you will only get better at it with experience. Be careful when playing against a Rogue if they have Evasion active — there will be a 25% chance that Blind misses as it counts as a ranged attack.

When playing against a healer it is a good idea to swap between multiple off-hand weapons. Having Mind-numbing Poison available as well as an off-hand with Wound Poison to keep 5 stacks up is very strong. Stacking Poisons correctly and pooling Energy for interrupts and damage bursts in small windows can lead you to a kill against them.

If you are interested in learning what gear you should be going after to maximize your PvP potential as a Rogue, please consult our guide for it below:

If you are interested in learning more about a variety of Arena compositions featuring a Rogue and its relative strength in PvP, please consult our guides on them below: