How to play a rogue Rogues are hard to play and it requires something that most other classes do not need . Smarts . A while back , rogues were the least played class for a few years . This wasn ' t because they were weak or have crappy skills , it was because it required you to use the skills they gave you correctly or else you would be dead . If you played a rogue but yet don ' t know what you are doing wrong , then this guide was made for you . If you want to see if you are playing your class right or if I am a dumby on the class , that is your opinion . You can also read this to learn how to fight a rogue by knowing their main moves in battle . It is all up to you and how you use this information . Class build . To tell you the truth , you can build your rogue however you desire . I am not going to tell you that you need this one talent to win all the time . I hate it when someone comes on to the party , raid , or just questing with me and says , " Duh , you know Nightstalker is better than Shadow Focus , right ? You should switch it now to be top dps . " . To be all fair , if you want to build the most powerful rogue of all time , then you need to learn there are different types of rogues out there . Also , you won ' t have the heart and soul to play your rogue at a lower level set and even at 90 level set . If you want to build the most powerful player , pick a class that can feed your need on power . Like I said above , there are different rogues out there that you can play as . You can play as the stealthy kind where you keep yourself hidden almost all the time . You can play as a killer , where you pick a target and dish out a lot of dps to kill it before moving on to the next one . Or you can be the one that worries about everyone and does a lot of AOE skills . Each one has something that the other doesn ' t have so be sure you know what you are getting yourself into . The stealthy one is the Subtlety . This here focues on your stealth abilities the most and on a later level ( 80 I believe , used to be when you picked it but was removed until you reach 80 ) you get an ability called Shadowdance where you can use your stealth abilites without being stealthed . This can be very dangerous since Ambush does a lot of dps . Another thing that you get that the others do not is your energy regen . If you play your cards right you will never run out of energy and therefore can do whatever skill you want to do whenever , so long you have points on the target . The cards you need is being higher than level 50 ( I believe ) and have Slice and Dice on . You see , when you turn a certain level you learn a passive ability that lets Slice and Dice increase your energy regen in battle . This is very useful in both PvP and PvE . The one target rogue is the Assassin spec . This is the spec I normally go for since they do a lot of damage . This spec has more dps moves than the Subtlety but because of this they don ' t have very much ways to regen energy like Subtlety . Later on once you become level 50 , you get a passive ability that lets your Rupture and Garrote abilities to give you more energy ( but not both at the same time ) . If the target dies while it is still on , than whatever time is remaining it gives you that much energy . You also get another ability that is only to the Assassins , an extra 20 energy . So you have 120 energy to spend , very helpful . However , to get this you must wear daggers . This class focues on using daggers , if you use maces , swords , or fist weapons than you will be loosing a lot of passive buffs . Daggers are weak , but Assassin has a lot of buffs to make them good as or better as the other one handed weapons you can use . This spec is very useful in PvP but in PvE it is good but not great . The last time of rogue is the least played ( for me ) , combat . I only tried combat a couple of times but always I grew a dislike on it . Combat is great for PvE but is terrible in PvP due to the damage you do and the energy regen they have . Their target is AOE and because of this they have a lot of AOE skills than the other types of rogues . So they can focus on multible targets at a time . Abilities like Blade Flurry and Killing Spree makes this spec stand out quite a bit . Sadly even if they get a 20 % energy regen at a low level , having Blade Flurry on will cancel this effect . Also the class is more accepting to the off hand damage with the buffs it gives . This way you can do about the same damage with your off hand as your main hand . This is very desireable since off hand weapons have a reduce of damage with all classes . Like I said , with the builds you can pick yourself . Most are better with certain specs than the other specs . For example Shadow Focus is better for Assassin than Subtlety because after you use a stealth ability , you have enough energy to use Mutilate ( cost 55 energy ) two times . Whereas Nightstalker is better for Subtlety than Assassin since it increases your stealth speed and ambush damage . Subterfude isn ' t something I use but a lot of other rogues get them with Assassin because you can do Ambush two times ( ambush cost 60 energy and you have 120 if you go for Assassin ) . It is also useful for stunning the target and using ambush at a row ( This way you don ' t have to pick to do damage or stun at the target ) . The rest of the talents is up to you and if you don ' t understand them then test them out or do some research . Playing a rogue . Most people see Rogues are these weak little guys that can ' t dish out damage when needed when others see them as over powered one hit kill kind of class . Both people are right , rogues can kill you in one hit and they also cannot dish out enough damage to do the job . The only thing missing here is what level the rogue is . Rogues at level 10 - 70 can kill you in one hit with the right gear . Of course heirloom gear fits in this area and since so many people have heirlooms people think being a rogue is over powered . Level 80 - 89 you start to see a little less one hits and a little more " why can ' t I kill this guy ? " Depending on the gear you have and how you play your class , you will get a different result to another rogue . In battlegrounds , sometimes I would get the most kills while other times another rogue will have most kills . This is mostly due to the part that when a rogue sees an enemy with low hp , they can use Cloak and Daggers to port behind him and do Ambush at the same time , resulting in a kill . If you do this to someone that has full health then you will be in a real battle and may die if you are not careful . At level 90 , you are at the bottom of the list almost all the time until you get better gear . This is almost the same for every class , but rogue at 90 is different . If you fight someone that has the same gear level as you you might not win . The only times you win is if you battle a lower item level gear player . Of course since the update with Patch 5 . 4 they really upgraded rogues damage so it will be less stuns and pokes and more stuns and kills . Levels 1 - 15 , you are going to suck . Even with heirloom gear you are going to suck more than the other classes . For one when you are stealthed , you cannot catch up the the person until you are level 15 and get the talent that increases your stealth speed . Another is that you cannot flee when you need to flee ( Unless you are a night elf ) You don ' t get Vanish until 34 so you have to be careful on how you pick your battles . I know that a lot of people who play tanks or plated geared classes will call rogues wimps for running away in battle . That they should be a man and take the damage and die honorable . There is nothing honorable about dying and rogues cannot take in damage like mail or plated classes . Even Druids and Monks have a skill that increases their armor value to plate gear but rogues don ' t have anything like that . So don ' t be ashame if you had to vanish before that warrior shield bashed you or if a hunter is firing too many arrows at your face . Vanish and plan out accordingly , that is how a rogue defends himself . Of course you can use vanish for other things like going back to your stealth abilities to use or to teleport to someone that is 40 ( 45 yards if you have the glyph on ) yards away from you . In PvP in the Eye of the Storm a Shaman had the flag and pushed me off the hill to the bottom . So I vanished and teleported behind him with a stun and killed him off . This was just me being level 72 , it is just how you use your skills in the field that makes them powerful . The class that is the weakest to rogues is Mages . Mages cannot heal themselves unless they have first aid or race ability and most of their skills are quite useless against a rogue . Don ' t get me wrong , a mage can kill a rogue but it isn ' t going to be easy . If you have the right glyph on you can find a mage that is invisible . If the mage freezes himself in a ice block use this time to vanish and wait . If he uses blink and teleports to another area while having you frozen to the ground , vanish and use Cloak and Daggers ability on him to teleport yourself out of that ice and behind him . If he is using a powerful spell that can kill you , use Cloak of Shadows to make your guy immune to all spells ( however , you cannot use this if you are stun ) . Mages have no hope against a rogue on their own , unless they have better gear and can kill you in one hit or two . Other spell casters like priests , warlocks , and druids are a little harder to kill . Priests can shield and heal themselves by a butload and even with the poison the reduce the healing they take in isn ' t enough . Warlocks have pets and an ability to shield themselves with the 10 % of damage they can do with certain abilities , and it stacks . Druids can heal themselves and even sometimes shield themselves , but it isn ' t as powerful as the priests shields . Druids can out rogue you in dps so watch out . Places to hide ! Sometimes going stealth isn ' t enough , sometimes you need to hide while you are hidding . A lot of players have AoE skills that can make you come out of your stealth and others know where to run to if they are looking for a rogue . Them with their mounts are going to be faster than you and if you can ' t sap them in time or if they are immune to it due to the 3 other saps you gave them you can be caught . Here is a few tips that will keep you hidden even if someone is looking for you . First one , use your surroundings . If you see a tent , go inside it . If you see a hill , go on top of it . If you see Kingsbloom or some herbs , go to it and sit in it . There are a lot of stuff around you that can help you hide , you just need to find them and use them right . The other is not going to a place that is well known for rogues to be in . Like in Warsong in the flag room , don ' t stand in the corner or the little room , go towards the wall or even above the flag . A lot of players know that rogues are in the corner to their left and will sometimes throw an AoE at the flag . Another trick , and possibly the most useful one , is to hide out of sight and port out of there . I know this cannot be used in Battlegrounds but in the outside world if you are facing a group of 5 hunting you down because you killed their healer , it is better to get out of that area . PvP tricks . Here is a little trick if you are into PvPing in the outside world . If you know you can one shot them or kill them quickly while they are in booty bay or their own little town , you can vanish after the kill . This will remove the guards in the area that want to kill you or see you as a threat . I used that trick a few times to help out a friend that is being stalked by an enemy player that has heirloom gear on . They will be waiting in a town thinking they are safe and boom , they are dead and no one is there .