Classic Rogue DPS Spell Summary

This page will list all the relevant skills for a Rogue and explain what they do. It is recommended that you read through this page in order to have a better understanding of the rest of this guide.

Rogues have some abilities that can only be used from Stealth.

• Ambush is a dagger only ability. If you are using the dagger build for Rogue, then this will be your opening ability.
• Garrote is a bleed that you will be using as an opening ability if you are using the sword build for Rogue.
• Sap is one of your best CC abilities, however it only works on humanoids that are not in combat. You may only sap 1 target at a time, and any damage will end the sap effect on the target.
• Cheap Shot is a very powerful stun that, along with the rest of a Rogue's kit, will help you stun lock most targets.

Sinister Strike is your main combo point generator for the sword Rogue build. It costs 45 Energy, which is reduced to 40 if you take Improved Sinister Strike. This ability awards 1 combo point when used.

Backstab is your main combo point generator for the dagger Rogue build. It costs 60 Energy and can only be used if you are behind the target. There are talents that passively buff Backstab which make it very strong, such as Improved Backstab and Lethality. This ability awards 1 combo point when used.

Eviscerate is your main combo point dump. It costs 35 Energy and deals very high base damage, which is further increased by your Attack Power. You want to use this at 5 combo points.

Rupture is a combo point dumping bleed. It costs 25 Energy and ignores armor, making it useful for bosses with a high amount of armor. It does take up a debuff slot, so it is difficult to use in a 40 man raid group. You should coordinate this with your raid leader. Rupture can not critical strike.

Slice and Dice is a very powerful buff that increases your melee attack speed by 30%. It lasts longer for each combo point you spend on it. There is a talent that increases the duration of Slice and Dice called Improved Slice and Dice, that increases it by up to 45%. You want to maintain this buff 100% of the time.

Riposte is a solid pick for leveling and open world content or even some PvP scenarios, although only useful when getting meleed. After leveling to 60, this talent is not commonly chosen.

Blade Flurry is a talent that you definitely want to get. It increases your attack speed by 20% for 15 seconds and also causes your attacks to strike an additional nearby enemy. This cooldown costs 25 Energy as well.

Adrenaline Rush is a talent that is very powerful. It increases your Energy regeneration by 100% for 15 seconds, meaning, instead of gaining 20 Energy every 2 seconds, you gain 40 Energy every 2 seconds.

Cold Blood is not a commonly used talent, however if your build does use this talent, it is best to use it with a 5 combo point Eviscerate.

Expose Armor is a finishing move that reduces the armor of a target at the cost of 1 debuff slot on the target. This does not stack with Sunder Armor from Warriors, however. The more combo points you spend on this, the more armor it will reduce, but the duration stays the same at 30 seconds, no matter how many combo points you spend on it.

Hemorrhage is an ability that shines in PvP, since it increases the Physical damage that the target takes. Hemorrhage also is the lowest cost combo point generator, meaning you are able to generate combo points using it a lot faster, since you will spend less Energy on it. This enables you to get to 5 combo points a lot quicker than with Sinister Strike or Backstab.

Preparation is a talent that finishes the cooldown on all your Rogue abilities, including talents like Cold Blood, Adrenaline Rush, and Blade Flurry, although the only popular build that runs Preparation only runs the other talent cooldown Cold Blood for PvP. This setup allows you to get off 2 Cold Bloods in your opener. This Ability does NOT break Stealth. You can also use this to get an emergency Vanish off, basically giving you 2 Vanishes in a fight.

Ghostly Strike is not a very commonly run talent, since if you are running a Subtlety build in order to get to talents like Hemorrhage or Preparation, then there are other better talents you can get for the 20 points required to get these talents.

Premeditation is a talent that requires a heavy investment of 30 points in the Subtlety talent tree. This cooldown is not nearly as strong as the other cooldowns in the other talent trees and is not commonly run in PvP or PvE.

Kidney Shot is a finishing move that costs 25 Energy and stuns the target for a duration based on the amount of combo points you spend on it. It has a 20 second cooldown. There is a talent supporting this ability called Improved Kidney Shot, which makes Kidney Shot increase the damage the target takes from all sources while it is affected by your stun.

Gouge is a 10 second cooldown that incapacitates the target for 4 seconds. Any damage will remove this effect. It awards 1 combo point when used. With Improved Gouge, your Gouge will incapacitate the target for a total of 5.5 seconds, which will allow you to drop combat and get a re- Stealth, instead of having to Vanish.

Cheap Shot is only usable from stealth and stuns the target for 4 seconds. It awards 2 combo points when used and costs 60 Energy. This is incredibly powerful in PvP, due to the long stun and the 2 combo points, instead of the usual 1 from other generators.

Sprint is a movement speed cooldown that increases your movement speed by 70% for 15 seconds. Using this ability does not break your stealth. The talent passive support for Sprint, Improved Sprint, removes all movement impairing effects when it is maxed out.

Blind is a CC ability that blinds the target, disorienting them for 10 seconds. This ability requires Blinding Powder in order to be used. Any damage that you use will break your Blind meaning, in a group, you want to make sure to communicate that you are casting Blind on a target and you want to make sure that you do not apply any DoT effects on the target, like Garrote.

Vanish is a 5 minute CD that removes threat and immobilizing effects when used. You can use this when your threat is too high or when you are slowed. You can also use this to completely escape an encounter, whether it is a PvE or PvP fight. Vanish will also remove any movement impairing effects, like slows or roots, but will NOT remove any DoT effects, meaning you want to use this ability without a DoT effect on you.

Evasion is a 5 minute CD that increases your dodge chance by 50% for 15 seconds. You can use this in solo leveling when you pull too many mobs, or in group content like dungeons when you need to tank a boss after a tank dies.

Distract allows you to distract enemies by attracting their attention for 10 seconds. Using this ability does not break Stealth. This is very useful because a mob's chance to detect you is heavily reduced when you are behind an enemy. This allows you to change which direction the enemy is facing.

Pick Pocket is an ability that requires you to be Stealthed and within 5 yards of the target. Pickpocket is only usable on monsters that have pockets, which means most humanoids can have their pockets picked and most beasts cannot. This cannot be used on other players. If you are successful in pickpocketing an enemy, then you will receive coins and a chance at a junkbox. The level ranges for each Junkbox are:

• NPC Level 22-32: Battered Junkbox
• NPC Level 32-42: Worn Junkbox
• NPC Level 42-52: Sturdy Junkbox
• NPC Level 52-60: Heavy Junkbox

These junkboxes can contain potions, junk items, gems, recipes, green gear, and many more items.

Pick Lock is used to open the Junkboxes that you receive from pickpocketing.

• Ornate Bronze Lockbox: 1
• Heavy Bronze Lockbox: 25
• Iron Lockbox: 70
• Strong Iron Lockbox: 125
• Steel Lockbox: 175
• Reinforced Steel Lockbox: 225
• Mithril Lockbox: 225
• Thorium Lockbox: 225
• Eternium Lockbox: 225