Subtlety Rogue Pre-Patch Guide for WotLK Classic

Rogues in general have some amazing changes coming their way in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, but 2 of the 3 most important changes only take effect after the expansion releases. For the pre-patch, all Rogue specs can enjoy the implementation of their poisons now scaling with Attack Power.

While Subtlety does bring the Hemorrhage debuff to the raid, they really do not perform as well as Combat or Assassination in PvE. You can still raid as one if you choose to and enjoy it, it simply is not considered "competitive" when compared with the other specs.

The talent tree listed above uses the points available at Level 70 to get as many of the desired talents as possible, but it still falls short. The Subtlety tree has a lot of "filler" talents in it, which means that they do not contribute to your damage output, but are instead only taken to get deeper into the tree.

At Level 70, you will only have access to 2 of your 3 major glyph slots.

For your major slots, you will want to use the Hemorrhage and Slice and Dice glyphs.

1. Hit Rating to cap;
2. Expertise;
3. Agility.

For Subtlety Rogues, the majority of secondary stats are fairly similar in their priority, with Hit, Expertise, and Agility taking priority over the others. Point-for-point, these 3 are the strongest stats for Subtlety in the pre-patch.

The rotation as a Subtlety Rogue is slightly more complicated than that of Assassination, but there is far less reliance on a proper opener. It is almost entirely based on the uptime of your Slice and Dice, Rupture, and, if there are no Warriors in your group, Expose Armor.

You should aim to only use your finishing moves with 4 or 5 combo points, however there may be instances when you have to refresh a buff with fewer.

1. Maintain Slice and Dice;
2. Maintain Rupture;
3. If you have spare combo points, you can use these on Eviscerate. This will happen often during Shadow Dance.

If you are applying Expose Armor, you should not expect to have full uptime on Rupture.

1. Maintain Expose Armor*;
2. Maintain Slice and Dice;
3. If you have spare combo points, you can use these on Rupture.

*If you have the Expose Armor glyph, you will only need to use Expose Armor with 1 or 2 combo points. If you do not, you will need to use it with 4 or 5 combo points.

The best weapon for Subtlety is the legendary Warglaive of Azzinoth, despite this not allowing you to use Ambush during Shadow Dance.

If you do not have the Warglaives, then you should use a slow mainhand dagger, such as Crux of the Apocalypse or Shiv of Exsanguination.

For your offhand, if you do not have the Warglaives, you want a fast, high DPS weapon of any type. You should aim to use one with a speed of 1.3-1.5, such as Fang of Kalecgos or Blade of Savagery if you are a Human.

The gems you choose to use will depend on the gear you have, but for the most part, you should aim to fill the slots with the following:

• Meta: Relentless Earthstorm Diamond
• Red or Blue: Shifting Shadowsong Amethyst
• Yellow: Glinting Pyrestone
• Red: Delicate Crimson Spinel or Glinting Pyrestone

You should only aim to use purple gems to activate your meta gem, which requires a minimum of 2 slotted.

The gems you choose to use should never "waste" Hit Rating by overcapping you.

For your enchants, you should use the following:

Slot	Enchantment
Head	Arcanum of Ferocity
Shoulders	Might of the Scourge
Back	Enchant Cloak - Greater Agility
Chest	Enchant Chest - Exceptional Stats
Bracers	Enchant Bracer - Assault
Gloves	Enchant Gloves - Superior Agility
Legs	Nethercobra Leg Armor
Feet	Enchant Boots - Cat's Swiftness
Ring	Enchant Ring - Striking
Melee Weapon	Enchant Weapon - Mongoose

Spicy Hot Talbuk is your best well-fed buff if you are not hit-capped, Grilled Mudfish if you are hit capped, to give you as much Agility as possible.

Flask of Relentless Assault is your typical go-to flask of choice.

Elixir of Major Agility is our best choice for your in-fight potion.