Subtlety Rogue DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — The War Within (11.2.5)

1. Start off in Stealth and have Instant Poison applied.
2. Cast Flagellation when all conditions are met.
   Click to expand conditions.

   • You have more than 5 combo points.
   • Shadow Blades is ready.
   • You have 1 charge and less than 10 seconds left on your second charge of Symbols of Death.
   • You have 1 charge and less than 30 seconds left on your second charge of Shadow Dance.
   • Secret Technique is ready.
3. Cast Symbols of Death and Shadow Dance.
4. Cast Shadow Blades during Flagellation and Shadow Dance.
   Do not cast them if Flagellation has less than 25 seconds left of its cooldown.
5. Cast a Combo Point spender at 6 or more combo points with the following priority:
   Click to expand priority.

   During Shadow Dance:

   • Cast Eviscerate when Darkest Night is up.
   • Cast Cold Blood before Secret Technique if Shadow Blades is active.
   • Cast Secret Technique.
   • Cast Coup de Grace.
   • Cast Eviscerate.

   Outside of Shadow Dance:

   • Cast Eviscerate when Darkest Night is up.
   • Cast Rupture if it is not up or has less than 9 seconds left.
   • Cast Coup de Grace.
   • Cast Eviscerate.

   When Flagellation has less than 10 seconds left of its cooldown it is beneficial to stop using finishers at all, so no Coup de Graces or Eviscerates, this is to build up as many Shadow Techniques stacks as possible for the upcoming big burst.

6. Build Combo Points with the following priority:
   Click to expand priority.

   During Shadow Dance:

   • Cast Shuriken Storm if you have the Season 3 4-piece bonus active and you have Shadow Blades active.
   • Cast Backstab when Premeditation is up for a stack of Danse Macabre.
   • Cast Shadowstrike

   Outside of Shadow Dance:

   • Cast Vanish and use one Shadowstrike.
   • Cast Shuriken Storm when Clear the Witnesses is up.
   • Cast Backstab.

After you've cast Flagellation you want to press Shadow Dance and utilize Premeditation before casting Shadow Blades. During Shadow Blades, cast your second Shadow Dance immediately when the first one fades but don’t refresh your Symbols of Death until Secret Technique has less than 10 seconds left of its cooldown so it benefits from Supercharger. This is the reason a macro with both Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death is not recommended unless you also have the keybound separately.

Cold Blood is best used on the second Secret Technique during your Shadow Blades as you will have more stacks of the Flagellation buff. If you were to macro Cold Blood and Secret Technique together you would often end up with Cold Blood on cooldown in Shadow Blades windows and thus lose out on damage, therefore it is not recommended to macro them unless you also have them keybound separately.

Cold Blood is best used on the second Secret Technique during your Shadow Blades as you will have more stacks of Flawless Form as well as more stacks of the Flagellation buff. If you were to macro Cold Blood and Secret Technique together you would often end up with Cold Blood on cooldown in Shadow Blades windows and thus lose out on damage, therefore it is not recommended to macro them unless you also have them keybound separately.

Whenever you are casting Coup de Grace your target should be affected by Fazed, however this debuff should naturally be on the target without requiring any extra thought if you follow the recommended rotation.

If you are a returning player note that the supercharged combo points from Supercharger do not work in the same way as old echoing reprimand, it buffs any finisher you do with +3 combo points so keep following the 6 or more rule listed above, even when you have supercharged combo points.

1. Start off in Stealth and have Instant Poison applied.
2. Always target and auto-attack the mob with Deathstalker's Mark for Hunt Them Down.
3. Cast Flagellation when all conditions are met.
   Click to expand conditions.

   • You have more than 6 combo points.
   • Shadow Blades is ready.
   • You have 1 charge and less than 10 seconds left on your second charge of Symbols of Death.
   • You have 1 charge and less than 30 seconds left on your second charge of Shadow Dance.
   • Secret Technique is ready.
4. Cast Symbols of Death and Shadow Dance.
   Do not cast them if Flagellation has less than 25 seconds left of its cooldown.
5. Cast Shadow Blades during Flagellation and Shadow Dance.
6. Cast a Combo Point spender at 6 or more combo points with the following priority:
   Click to expand priority.

   During Shadow Dance:

   • Cast Cold Blood before Secret Technique if Shadow Blades is active.
   • Cast Secret Technique.
   • Cast Coup de Grace.
   • Cast Black Powder if you have 4 or more targets.
   • Cast Eviscerate.
   • Cast Black Powder.

   Outside of Shadow Dance:

   • Cast Eviscerate when Darkest Night is up.
   • Cast Rupture if it is not up or has less than 9 seconds left.
   • Cast Coup de Grace.
   • Cast Black Powder.
7. Build Combo Points with the following priority:
   Click to expand priority.

   During Shadow Dance:

   • Cast Shuriken Storm if you have the Season 3 4-piece bonus active and you have either 4 or more targets or Shadow Blades active.
   • Cast Backstab when Premeditation is up for a stack of Danse Macabre.
   • Cast Shadowstrike.
   • Cast Shuriken Storm.

   Outside of Shadow Dance:

   • Cast Shuriken Tornado (if talented)
   • Cast Vanish and cast Shadowstrike.
   • Cast Shuriken Storm.

After you've cast Flagellation you want to press Shadow Dance and utilize Premeditation before casting Shadow Blades. During Shadow Blades, cast your second Shadow Dance immediately when the first one fades but don’t refresh your Symbols of Death until Secret Technique has less than 10 seconds left of its cooldown so it benefits from Supercharger. This is the reason a macro with both Shadow Dance and Symbols of Death is not recommended unless you also have them keybound separately.

Cold Blood is best used on the second Secret Technique during your Shadow Blades as you will have more stacks of the Flagellation buff. If you were to macro Cold Blood and Secret Technique together you would often end up with Cold Blood on cooldown in Shadow Blades windows and thus lose out on damage, therefore it is not recommended to macro them unless you also have them keybound separately.

Cold Blood is best used on the second Secret Technique during your Shadow Blades as you will have more stacks of Flawless Form as well as more stacks of the Flagellation buff. If you were to macro Cold Blood and Secret Technique together you would often end up with Cold Blood on cooldown in Shadow Blades windows and thus lose out on damage, therefore it is not recommended to macro them unless you also have them keybound separately.

Whenever you are casting Coup de Grace your target should be affected by Fazed, however this debuff should naturally be on the target without requiring any extra thought if you follow the recommended rotation.

If you are a returning player note that the supercharged combo points from Supercharger do not work in the same way as old echoing reprimand, it buffs any finisher you do with +3 combo points so keep following the 6 or more rule listed above, even when you have supercharged combo points. These supercharged combo point do not expire, but they do reset down to 2 whenever you pull a raidboss or start a mythic keystone.

This is the opener you should do at the start of the pull as well as what you should be doing whenever your cooldowns are ready again.

1. Begin while in Stealth. (Skip if mid-fight)
2. Cast Shadowstrike. (Skip if mid-fight)
3. Cast Flagellation.
4. Cast Rupture.
5. cast Shadow Dance & Symbols of Death.
6. Cast Backstab, for Danse Macabre.
7. Cast Shadow Blades, use your Potion, Racial and on-use trinket.
8. Cast Secret Technique.
9. Cast Shadowstrike.
10. Cast Eviscerate.
11. Cast Black Powder.
12. Repeat Shadowstrike into Eviscerate (or Coup de Grace if its available) until Shadow Dance ends and then immediately cast another Shadow Dance.
13. Repeat Shadowstrike into Black Powder (or Coup de Grace if its available) until Shadow Dance ends and then immediately cast another Shadow Dance.
14. Repeat Shadowstrike into Eviscerate until Shadow Dance ends and then immediately cast another Shadow Dance.
15. Repeat Shuriken Storm into Black Powder until Shadow Dance ends and then immediately cast another Shadow Dance.
16. Cast Backstab as your first builder in the second Shadow Dance.
17. Cast Symbols of Death to refresh the buff when Secret Technique has less than 10 seconds remaining on its cooldown.
18. Repeat Shadowstrike into Eviscerate (or Coup de Grace if its available) until Secret Technique is ready.
19. Repeat Shadowstrike into Black Powder (or Coup de Grace if its available) until Secret Technique is ready.
20. Cast Secret Technique with Cold Blood.
21. Continue on with your rotation.

Random procs from Shadow Techniques combined with refunds from Shadowcraft can make it so that there is more or less finishers than listed above.

Whenever Coup de Grace is available use it instead of Eviscerate.

Whenever Coup de Grace is available use it instead of Black Powder.

When your Season 3 4-piece tier bonus is active you want to cast Shuriken Storm instead of Shadowstrike to build your combo points inbetween your Coup de Graces.

Whenever Darkest Night is active consume it with Eviscerate instead of casting Black Powder.