WoW Classic Sword Rogue Leveling Talent Build from 1 to 60

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Your first talent unlocks at Level 10.

1. Levels 10 & 11 — 2 points in Improved Sinister Strike
2. Levels 12 to 14 — 3 points in Improved Gouge
3. Levels 15 to 19 — 5 points in Deflection

Improved Sinister Strike is a very powerful talent that also helps reduce the cost of Sinister Strike from 45 energy to 40 when you have 2 points in the talent. Improved Gouge increases your Gouge duration from 4 seconds to 5.5, which is fantastic when you want to stun the target and bandage yourself or pool energy while maintaining a healthy life amount. Deflection is a means to get Riposte but also helps you proc Riposte, it is a powerful defensive talent that later turns a bit more offensive.

1. Level 20 — 1 point in Riposte
2. Levels 21 & 22 — 2 points in Endurance
3. Levels 23 & 24 — 2 points in Improved Sprint
4. Levels 25 to 29 — 5 points in Precision

Riposte is fantastic when you are questing or when you pull aggro in dungeons. It not only deals a significant amount of damage but also disarms the target. Endurance significantly decreases the cooldown of Sprint and Evasion, which increases your survivability and decreases your travel time. The reduced cooldown on Sprint is also desirable to make travel less time consuming in WoW Classic. Improved Sprint is good for escapes and to counter movement impairing effects. Precision is a required talent for nearly all builds since your chance to hit is such an important stat.

1. Level 30 — 1 point in Blade Flurry
2. Levels 31 to 35 — 5 points in Dual Wield Specialization
3. Levels 36 to 38 — 3 points in Aggression
4. Level 39 — 1 point in Weapon Expertise

Blade Flurry allows you to not only DPS more than 1 target at once, but it also increases your attack speed making it a strong single-target cooldown as well. Dual Wield Specialization is a major DPS increase and is a staple in nearly all Rogue builds. Aggression is very powerful for the sword leveling build since Sinister Strike is your main combo point generator as a sword Rogue. Weapon Expertise is not only a means to get to Adrenaline Rush but also provides more weapon skills, which is one of your strongest stats.

1. Level 40 — 1 point in Weapon Expertise
2. Level 41 — 1 point in Adrenaline Rush
3. Levels 42 to 46 — 5 points in Malice
4. Levels 47 to 49 — 3 points in Improved Slice and Dice

Adrenaline Rush increases your energy generation rate from 20 to 40 energy every 2 seconds. This is your strongest DPS cooldown and something that you want to utilize with Blade Flurry and multiple mobs for maximum damage. Malice is one of the stronger early talents in the Assassination tree, making it a strong choice to access the rest of the tree. Improved Slice and Dice significantly increases the uptime of Slice and Dice, which is a very powerful buff that you will be trying to keep up as much as possible (the talent allows you to keep a high uptime while spending less combo points on refreshing the buff). You can choose to talent into Improved Eviscerate instead of Murder, as the choice between the 2 is fairly close; Murder is, however, slightly more niche of a choice. Improved Slice and Dice is also something that can be swapped out and you can use both Murder and Improved Eviscerate together in the place of Improved Slice and Dice, if you do not plan on doing dungeons and instead plan on world leveling.

1. Levels 50 & 51 — 2 points in Murder
2. Level 52 — 1 point in Relentless Strikes
3. Levels 53 to 57 — 5 points in Lethality
4. Levels 58 to 60 — 3 points in Ruthlessness

Murder is a niche option. However if you are consistently fighting against Humanoid, Giant, Beast, or Dragonkin targets then this is a good option. If not, then you can put the points into Improved Eviscerate instead. Relentless Strikes is something that you want to use your finishing moves at 5 combo points only in order to fully take advantage of. Lethality is a strong talent that really shines the more critical chance you get and is great when paired with Malice. Ruthlessness is what you can finish off your talent tree with. However, you can also choose to take 1 point from Weapon Expertise and the 3 points from Ruthlessness and put those 4 points into Sword Specialization instead.

You start with Sinister Strike, Eviscerate, and Throw, with the ability to buy Stealth from your class trainer when you get 10 copper (which you can choose to wait with until Level 4).

1. Maintain the Slice and Dice buff.
2. Use Eviscerate at 5 combo points.
3. Use Backstab with a dagger until you get level 10 and can buy your Sword Weapon Mastery from a trainer.
4. Use Gouge whenever you can in order to minimize the damage that you will take. You can pool Energy, use Gouge, then go behind your target to Backstab them until you start using Swords, in which case you will pool to use Sinister Strike instead.
5. Use Vanish if your threat is too high and you are in danger of pulling aggro.
6. Use Sinister Strike to build combo points.

As a Rogue, you have limited AoE. Your 2 ways to do AoE are either the talent Blade Flurry or the explosives from the Engineering skill.

While leveling, Rogue gains a huge power spike when they complete their level 20 class quest and get access to Poisons and Thistle Tea.

Leveling Information

Rogue Quests

Check out how to gain access to powerful upgrades for your Rogue by completing their class-specific questline!

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• At Level 4, buy Backstab and Stealth, which pair well together, as Stealth allows you to open up on aggressive mobs using Backstab.
• At Level 6, buy Rank 2 Sinister Strike, and Gouge, which is your first CC ability and is great when paired with Backstab.
• At Level 8, buy Evasion and Rank 2 Eviscerate. Evasion is a great emergency survivability cooldown.
• At Level 10, buy Slice and Dice, Sprint, and Sap. Slice and Dice is used early in leveling with 1 combo point since mobs will not survive long enough to warrant more combo points used. This changes if you are doing a dungeon or a boss. Since you do not have a mount before Level 40, Sprint is a great mobility cooldown that cuts down on your travel time. Sap is a strong CC ability that allows you to safetly pull Humanoids that are grouped together.
• At Level 12, buy Rank 2 Backstab (if you have not purchased Sword Specialization from the Weapon Master). Also buy Kick.
• At Level 14, buy Rank 3 Sinister Strike and Garrote. Garrote is your stealth opener for the sword build.
• At Level 16, buy Rank 3 Eviscerate and Feint.
• At Level 20, buy Rank 3 Backstab (if you have not purchased Sword Specialization from the Weapon Master), Rank 2 Stealth and Crippling Poison. Make sure you purchase your Instant Poison as well.
• At Level 22, buy Rank 2 Garrote and Rank 4 Sinister Strike. If you have money to spare, also buy Distract and Vanish.
• At Level 24, buy Rank 4 Eviscerate.
• At Level 26, buy Cheap Shot. If you have extra money, then buy Rank 2 Kick.
• At Level 28, buy Rank 2 Instant Poison.
• At Level 30, buy Rank 2 Garrote, Rank 5 Sinister Strike, and Deadly Poison. If you are on a PvP server, it is recommended that you buy Kidney Shot.
• At Level 32, buy Rank 5 Eviscerate. If you have the money, then buy Wound Poison.
• At Level 34, buy Rank 2 Sprint, Blinding Powder, and Blind.
• At Level 36, buy Rank 2 Instant Poison.
• At Level 38, buy Rank 4 Garrote, Rank 6 Sinister Strike, and Rank 2 Deadly Poison.
• At Level 40, buy Rank 6 Eviscerate. If you have extra money, then buy Rank 2 Feint, Rank 2 Wound Poison, and Rank 3 Stealth for the decreased movement speed penalty.
• At Level 42, buy Rank 2 Vanish and Rank 3 Kick if you have the extra money for either ability. They are not necessary to upgrade.
• At Level 44, buy Rank 4 Instant Poison.
• At Level 46, buy Rank 4 Garrote, Rank 7 Sinister Strike, and Rank 3 Deadly Poison.
• At Level 48, buy Rank 7 Eviscerate. If you have extra gold, then buy Rank 3 Wound Poison.
• At Level 50, buy Rank 2 Crippling Poison. If you bought Kidney Shot, then buy the Rank 2 version now.
• At Level 52, buy Rank 5 Instant Poison.
• At Level 54, buy Rank 5 Garrote, Rank 8 Sinister Strike, and Rank 4 Deadly Poison.
• At Level 56, buy Rank 8 Eviscerate and Rank 4 Wound Poison.
• At Level 58, buy Rank 3 Sprint. If you have extra gold, buy Rank 4 Kick.
• At Level 60, buy Rank 6 Instant Poison, and Rank 4 Stealth.

At level 16 your class trainer will offer you a quest to unlock the Pick Lock skill.

Endgame Information

Rogue Guides

Finished Leveling? Check out the rest of our Rogue Guide to learn how to maximize your gameplay!

Rogue Endgame Guides

Sellin

Guide Author

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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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