Season of Discovery Combat Rogue Tank Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
On this page, you will learn how to optimize the rotation of your Combat Rogue Tank, depending on the type of damage you will be tanking in WoW Classic - Season of Discovery. We also have advanced sections about cooldowns, procs, etc in order to minmax your survivability and DPS.
Introduction
As a Combat Tank in Season of Discovery you have many tools to not only deal massive damage, but to actively mitigate damage and build a considerable amount of threat. Combat operates off of a list of priorities as opposed to a DPS rotation but we have updated this list below to reflect what your rotation should look like to maximize buff uptime and do as much threat as possible including abilities added in Season of Discovery via the Rune Engraving system.
While it is not required Engineering is a great tool to have as a Rogue not
only because of the many toys and gizmos associated with it but bombs such as
Solid Dynamite can are essentially free damage and help with the issues
Rogue deal with due to a lack of consistent AoE damage. Even with the addition
of
Fan of Knives Rogue AoE can still be quite limited so any additional
source of AoE damage especially at max level is a great benefit. Bombs are typically best
used on the pull to help establish aggro and so you can get multiple
uses in an encounter, however if you know a fight will have multiple targets
always try to keep the cooldown ready for when there are multiple targets to hit.
Saber Slash Rotation
This rotation assumes that you are using the Combat Saber Slash Tank build.
- Ensure you have
Instant Poison applied to both of your weapons before combat. If your group lacks a source of
Improved Expose Armor then apply
Sebacious Poison to your main-hand.
- Cast
Saber Slash to generate combo points.
- Cast
Blade Flurry for the bonus Attack Speed unless more mobs will spawn before the cool down is finished. If an encounter has adds that spawn save this cool down to better handle these adds.
- Cast
Blade Dance to establish the buff, refresh as soon as you get 5 more combo points.
- Cast
Slice and Dice to spend extra Combo Points if
Blade Dance is active.
- Cast
Eviscerate if you find yourself with extra combo points and
Blade Flurry and
Slice and Dice are active.
- Cast
Riposte any time you parry if the mob is able to be disarmed.
- Cast
Tease should you lose threat or need to taunt a mob.
- If you find yourself out of range, do not hesitate to use
Shadowstep to close the gap to your target especially if you do not have threat on it.
Multi-Target Rotation
With the addition of the Back Rune slot Rogue has three new abilities to deal consistent AoE damage but
we typically recommend Fan of Knives. As a Tank Rogue it is crucial especially while tanking multiple
mobs to maintain
Blade Dance so keep this in mind but in a situation where you are focused on generating
as much AoE threat as possible you should be spamming Fan of Knives anytime you are fighting 3 or more mobs.
Cool down Usage
Sprint
Sprint increases your movement speed by 50% for 15 seconds, this has great uses
both in and outside of combat and can be used to both travel the world more effectively or close the
gap in some type of combat scenario.
Evasion
Evasion is an incredibly useful tool that greatly increases your dodge chance
and will allow you to avoid massive amounts of incoming physical damage. This is incredibly
useful as a Tank and should be used in any situation where you feel your healer is unable to
keep up with the damage you are likely to take.
Vanish
Vanish will instantly send you back into stealth clearing any rooting or
slowing effects in the process. This ability however will reset your threat which can
greatly complicate things as a tank especially if your
Tease ability is not off cooldown.
Utility Spells
Shadowstep teleports you behind your current target and increases your movement
speed by 70% for 3 seconds. This is a great way to close the gap when an enemy is running
or move to a target quickly to interrupt an ability you otherwise may not have been able to reach
in time.
Kick interrupts spell casting and should be utilized as often
as possible to lessen incoming damage both when playing solo to maximize your up time
or in a group to lessen the burden on your healer.
Gouge is a brief incapacitating ability that stops spell casting and
renders the target unable to act for a few seconds, make sure to take advantage of this
to either stop incoming damage, interrupt a spell cast or use it to create distance between
you and an enemy in an emergency situation.
Redirect will allow you to move your combo points from your previous target
to your current target, this only works on unspent combo points and if you generate a combo point
on your new target before redirecting then you will be unable to move your previous ones to the new target.
As a tank target swapping is a constant so make sure you have this on a comfortable key to press.
Kidney Shot is a stun that will consume your combo points, its duration depending on
how many combo points you spent. This is a great way to interrupt spell casting in a situation
where
Kick or
Gouge is not available or just to crowd control and otherwise
dangerous enemy.
Cheap Shot is a stun that can only be used exiting stealth, your target
will be stunned for 4 seconds and you will be awarded two combo points to the target.
Combo Points
Combo Points are a resource that Rogues generate by using 'generating' abilities,
in the highlighted build above the majority of your combo points will be generated by
Saber Slash in an effort to maximize your up time of
Blade Dance. Extra
combo points can be spent on
Slice and Dice but the maintenance of the
Blade Dance
buff is by far the most important thing you can do with your combo points as a Tank Rogue.
Changelog
- 24 Aug. 2024: Updated for Saber Slash change.
- 07 Jul. 2024: Updated for Phase 4.
- 02 Apr. 2024: Updated for Phase 3.
- 11 Feb. 2024: Updated for Phase 2.
- 15 Dec. 2023: Guide updated.
More Classic Rogue Guides
More Season of Discovery Class Guides
Classic Dungeon Guides
Classic Profession Guides
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This guide has been written by Sellin, a former top 10 US raider and current season and several time Gladiator, long time WoW Player and passionate about all things Warcraft and Theorycrafting. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him on Twitch.
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