Subtlety Rogue Patch 9.2 Changes Analysis and Tier Set Thoughts

This page will go over how the changes in Patch 9.2, Eternity's End, will affect Subtlety Rogues, specifically how the changes might impact its playstyle, best Legendary choices, Covenants, and the like. If you are simply interested in what the current changes are for Rogues in Patch 9.2 in general, you can instead read our full list of changes to the entire Rogue class on our dedicated page below. For an additional list of content coming with Patch 9.2, you can also check out our Patch 9.2 Overview page.

Subtlety Rogues have not gotten changes to their base specialization, however the new Tier set and being able to equip two Legendaries will alter our play style slightly.

Talents for Subtlety Rogues have not received any changes and the current talent setups are unlikely to change even when you can equip your Tier set and two Legendaries.

Within the new Sepulcher of the First Ones raid that will be coming in Patch 9.2, every class will once again earn pieces of a gear set that is uniquely class-themed with its own two- and four-piece bonuses for every specialization. For Subtlety Rogues, these set bonuses currently are:

• Subtlety Rogue 2-Piece — Shadowstrike has a 15% chance to grant Shadow Blades for 5 seconds.
• Subtlety Rogue 4-Piece — Your finishing moves have a 3% chance per Combo Point to cast Shadowstrike at up to 5 nearby enemies.

The Subtlety Rogue 2-Piece provides us with very high uptime on Shadow Blades which feels great to play with. The set bonus is very self-explanatory, but the most important thing to know about is that getting a new proc on top of existing Shadow Blades buff extends the duration up to 20 seconds of Shadow Blades.

The Subtlety Rogue 4-Piece gives us decent amount of extra Combo Points, especially on AoE situations. Each Shadowstrike gives Combo Points and it works with Shadow Blades and Weaponmaster. The tier set proc Shadowstrikes do not, however, apply Find Weakness.

Overall the Subtlety tier set feels really fun, providing us with extra Combo Points which in turn leads into more Shadow Dances which, once again, gives us more resources.

In its current iteration, the Subtlety tier set is very strong, resulting in roughly 18% DPS increase on single-target.

Although there have been no changes to Covenant abilities or Soulbinds for Subtlety at this time, it should be pointed out that as of Patch 9.1.5 players may freely switch between Covenants provided they have obtained the Renowned achievement on any character of their account. The only requirement for this achievement is that you must reach Renown level 80 with any Covenant. This has opened up a lot of flexibility for Subtlety, allowing them to effectively choose the Covenant whose bonuses are most useful at a given time, though the choice for maximizing damage will still largely come to either Kyrian or Venthyr.

In addition, Conduits will be unlocking their final few ranks, though this will not alter gameplay in any substantial way.

Recall that in Patch 9.1, every class received a Legendary Power that was unique to each Covenant. For Rogues, these Powers were:

• Kyrian — Resounding Clarity — Echoing Reprimand now animacharges 4 Combo Points.
• Necrolord — Deathspike — Serrated Bone Spike has 2 additional charges and launches 1 additional Bone Spike at nearby enemies.
• Night Fae — Toxic Onslaught — When Sepsis expires on your target you gain Adrenaline Rush and apply Vendetta to your current target for 10 seconds.
• Venthyr — Obedience — Flagellation now also increases your Versatility by 0.5%. Each Combo Point spent while Flagellation is active decreases its cooldown by 1 second.

However, new in Patch 9.2 is the ability to eventually use a second Legendary Power, provided it is your Covenant-specific effect. In addition, this ability will be tied to a new Legendary Power that automatically switches to match your current Covenant, further encouraging the flexibility of freely changing Covenants that was introduced in Patch 9.1.5.

Subtlety Rogues will likely use Akaari's Soul Fragment for single-target and Finality for multi-target situations along with their Covenant-specific legendary.