WotLK Classic Combat Rogue Spec, Builds, Talents, and Glyphs

Combat Rogues have 2 builds available to them: one focuses on single-target damage, with potential for AoE, while the other functions as a potential Hybrid build for the dual talent specialization feature that arrives with Wrath Classic.

Which weapon specialization talent you take depends on which weapons you have available. If your best weapons happen to be axes, then you should use 5/5 Hack and Slash—your goal should be to have the best weapons possible as opposed to targeting specific items to adhere to a specific weapon specialization.

If you were looking for a leveling-oriented build, please refer instead to our Rogue leveling guide.

The 20/51/0 build is the main Combat build that seeks to focus on solid single-target damage with the potential for AoE as necessary.

Your third glyph choice is dependent on whether you need to apply Expose Armor or not. If you do, you should use its glyph, and if you do not, you should glyph for Sinister Strike.

The Hybrid build focuses on finding a balance for Combat with the Assassination tree to forego single-target boss damage in favor of strong AoE. It takes talents to focus your build on funneling as much damage as possible into Fan of Knives and your Energy regeneration for as many casts of it as possible.

Despite losing out on boss damage, the AoE potential of this build is absolutely enormous and it places within the top damage dealers for AoE on large pulls.

The traditional Combat build features a number of talents that are integral to not only their damage output, but their role in the raid as well.

Combat Potency gives a solid boost to your Energy regeneration and works perfectly with the optimal weapon setups for Combat.

Savage Combat is one of the main pieces of raid utility this build brings in the form of a debuff that buffs all Physical damage dealt to a target.

The AoE Hybrid build foregoes the utility of Savage Combat and instead opts into full AoE damage.

Blade Flurry is a key part of this build, along with Adrenaline Rush, allowing you to push high amounts of burst AoE damage, with massive amounts of Energy regeneration through Vitality, Focused Attacks, and more.

With enough enemies around you, spamming Fan of Knives with the Focused Attacks talent will simply keep you constantly topped up with Energy to keep spamming it.

The standard builds for Combat use Close Quarters Combat due to the ideal BiS setup for Combat, but if you are still gearing up, it may be worth choosing another talent that buffs the damage dealt by the weapons you have available to you.

You should always tailor your talent choices to the weapons you have available to you, as it is far easier to swap your talents around.

For the single-target build, your major glyph choices are fairly simple, with a cooldown reduction on an important cooldown, bonus damage on our Fan of Knives for the moments where you need to AoE, and even more utility being added on to your Tricks of the Trade.

If you intend to apply Expose Armor, then you should be using Glyph of Expose Armor and Glyph of Slice and Dice. If not, these should be replaced with Glyph of Adrenaline Rush and Glyph of Tricks of the Trade. Glyphs are largely variable and at times down to personal preference with the only true rule being to keep Glyph of Killing Spree at all times.

For the AoE build, again, the choices are fairly straightforward, buffing the damage of your main damage source, as well as using the Vigor glyph for a large pool of Energy to burst with.

The Minor glyph choices for both builds are fairly lackluster in their effects and are simply quality of life improvements that we would recommend.