HDL

The ADHD version:

- Get a fucking combat spec for the best weapons you can currently get. See below.
- Get your hit rating up to 300 or so and your expertise to 16 (132). See this post.
- Trash mobs: Use Tricks of the Trade on the tank, see macro below. Spam Fan of Knives. Use boss attacks on big trash.
- Bosses: STAY BEHIND THE BOSS unless instructed to stay to the side. Use Tricks of the Trade on the tank, Sinister Strike spam to generate combo points. Keep Slice n Dice and 5 point Ruptures up at all times. Blow cooldowns like Blade Flurry, Adrenaline Rush, Killing Spree, and trinkets whenever possible.
- 0 HP = 0 DPS. Heal yourself and dump aggro when necessary.
- Ask Tony (Snique) or Joe (Hrusk) for advice in game if any of this is unclear. Both of us have been playing rogues for years.

The detailed version:

First, spend some time reading through the Elitistjerks rogue forum, especially the WotLK Pocket Guide. Bookmark it. Much of the info in this post comes from there.

Second, study this page: Shadowpanther.net
Bookmark it. This provides all the information you could ever want on gear, enchants, specs, buffs, and much more. Yes, it's a lot of numbers. Just look for the highest ranked items.

Also, study this Wowhead filtered list for gear rankings, weighted for standard combat specs. Bookmark it.

Remember that hit rating and expertise need to be maintained at around 315 and 16(132), respectively. This assumes you're using a cookie cutter combat spec with 5/5 Precision and 2/2 Weapon Expertise. Don't obsess on these numbers, though. Being a little under or over isn't going to hopelessly gimp your dps - but overkill or neglecting them will.


Specs and Weapons

For the purposes of simplicity and effectiveness, you should always combat spec for your best available weapons. Don't be one of those scrubby fuck rogues who won't give up daggers for far superior swords or fists. Don't think that your pwnz0r PvP spec is going to be viable in raids. You need to do high sustained damage over time, not monster crits.

There are four basic combat specs which maximize your raid DPS with appropriate weapons. I prefer 7/51/13 builds over 15/51/5 for the 30% extra Rupture damage with 3/3 Serrated Blades, which gives 60% total with 2/2 Blood Spatter. This is a consistent bleed damage bonus on every Rupture tick and does not rely on crits or even uber weapons. When you eventually get purpled out on your gear, switch to 15/51/5 which will benefit more from unbuffed crits over 30%.

The weapons listed below are in order of rank/dps according to Shadowpanther. I've omitted PvP weapons but if you happen to be doing well in arenas these still rank pretty high and are suitable for raids until you get better drops.


Swords: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0xbZMgVb0bxqru0xRtxbc0h

Combat swords has been the standard for raiding and leveling since release. Although various nerfs and buffs have made other specs more or less effective through the years, you really can't go wrong with this. Slow main hands with higher damage benefit from Sinister Strike spam which is energy based, not weapon speed. Fast offhands benefit from both Sword Specialization and Combat Potency. Decent blue swords with hit rating can be gotten dirt cheap with questing rep and heroics with appropriate tabards.

Pre-raid main hand: Krol Cleaver (AH/BoE), Reaper of Dark Souls (KEB revered), Crypt Lord's Deft Blade (AN-H)
Offhand: Avool's Sword of Jin (AH/BoE), Grasscutter (50 heroism), Fang of Truth (Wyrm honored)

Raid drop main hand: Silent Crusader (Naxx25 trash), Broken Promise (Naxx25 4H), Torment of the Banished (Naxx10 Thaddius)
Offhand: Hailstorm (EoE10), Widow's Fury (Naxx25 Grand Widow), Hatestrike (Naxx10 Patchwerk)

Source: http://shadowpanther.net/swords.htm


Two daggers, or fist/dagger: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0xbZMgVbxbxoru0xRtxbc0h

Because this spec gives 5% crit to both daggers and fists, you can mix and match them. Note that all daggers in either hand rely on fast over slow for poison applications rather than Sinister Strike damage.

Pre-raid daggers (MH and OH): Librarian's Paper Cutter (Get these! AH/BoE), Lightblade Rivener (KT Honored), Titansteel Shanker (BS/BoE)
Main hand fist: Greed (Strat-H), Fist of the Deity (Gun-H)
Offhand fist: none worth having.

Raid drop daggers (MH and OH): Webbed Death (Naxx25 Anub'rekhan), Murder (Naxx25 Sapphiron), Omen of Ruin (Naxx10 trash), Sinister Revenge (Naxx25 Kel'thuzad)
Main hand fist: Calamity's Grasp (Naxx25 Kel'thuzad), Kel'Thuzad's Reach (Naxx10 Kel'thuzad), Crimson Steel (OS10)
Offhand fist: The Hand of Nerub (Naxx25 Loatheb)

Source: http://shadowpanther.net/daggers.htm
           http://shadowpanther.net/fists.htm


Maces: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0xbZMgVb0bEoru0xRtxbc0h

Although combat mace isn't as good as it once was, I'm including it here in case you get a really nice Naxx drop or decide to make/buy BS recipes for pre-raid gearing. Keep in mind for 3.1: All classes now receive 25% more benefit from Armor Penetration Rating.

Pre-raid main hand: Titansteel Bonecrusher (BS/BoE)
Offhand: Furious Saronite Beatstick (BS/BoE)

Raid drop main hand: Angry Dread (Naxx25 Noth)
Offhand: Split Greathammer (Naxx25 Patchwerk), Maexxna's Femur (Naxx10 Maexxna)

Source: http://shadowpanther.net/maces.htm


Fist/Sword: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=f0xbZMgV0x0xaru0xRtxbc0h

This is the highest raid DPS you can get with the best rogue weapons available. Don't go for this unless you get a sweet fist drop in Naxx and have good raiding gear, because pouring on the deeps with this spec will sacrifice survivability: Endurance and Improved Sprint are lost for 4/5 Sword.

Main hand fist: Calamity's Grasp (Naxx25 Kel'thuzad), Kel'Thuzad's Reach (Naxx10 Kel'thuzad), Crimson Steel (OS10)

Offhand swords: Hailstorm (EoE10), Widow's Fury (Naxx25 Grand Widow), Avool's Sword of Jin (AH/BoE), Hatestrike (Naxx10 Patchwerk), Grasscutter (50 heroism)


Crazy combos: Similar to fist/sword, if you're good at staying alive and don't mind losing four points in survivability talents, any combination of rogue weapons can benefit from a combat spec by putting 4/5 on the offhand. Fist/mace, sword/dagger, whatever fits for your best weapons. Mace/sword or sword/mace will only get 3 points in the offhand with one put back in Endurance due to talent tree requirements, though. So you could compromise by putting 4 points in both.


Attack Cycles and Tactics

Working on this. Posted to save work in progress.

isnt mutilate a better dps spec overall with a mildly retarded learning curve?

Quote from: tulion on Thu, 2009-04-02 : 01:12
isnt mutilate a better dps spec overall with a mildly retarded learning curve?

Yes, mutilate will do somewhat more dps if you have top end daggers and gear and if you're hit/expertise 'capped' and if you know what you're doing with timers and cooldowns and poisons and compensating for other classes' raid buffs. Seal Fate in the Assasination tree is a monster combo point generator if your crit rating is through the roof. That's way too many ifs and ands for rogues who can't even gem/enchant appropriately.

The point of this post is to outline the basics and get inexperienced rogues up to speed. Combat specs crank out respectable dps and don't rely on so many variables. 

At the top end, combat fist/sword and mutilate daggers are very close in dps. The rest is timing and luck to have the biggest cock on the meters.

Thanks Tony!  Awesome good stuff here.  I'm already thinking of altering my Sword/Dagger re-spec.  This sure beats the work I'm supposed to be doing...

Quote from: Fleas on Thu, 2009-04-02 : 13:25

Quote from: tulion on Thu, 2009-04-02 : 01:12
isnt mutilate a better dps spec overall with a mildly retarded learning curve?

Yes, mutilate will do somewhat more dps if you have top end daggers and gear and if you're hit/expertise 'capped' and if you know what you're doing with timers and cooldowns and poisons and compensating for other classes' raid buffs. Seal Fate in the Assasination tree is a monster combo point generator if your crit rating is through the roof. That's way too many ifs and ands for rogues who can't even gem/enchant appropriately.

The point of this post is to outline the basics and get inexperienced rogues up to speed. Combat specs crank out respectable dps and don't rely on so many variables. 

At the top end, combat fist/sword and mutilate daggers are very close in dps. The rest is timing and luck to have the biggest cock on the meters.

i do agree that combat is the best derder rogue spec, hands down. but once a rogue starts to get into the groove of thier class there are other specs available.  that being said unless you play wow the way i play wow lately (14+ hours a day) you dont have the gear to do hat (which once you have the gear should be the top spec considering our usual raid composition) or mut.

So, I went with Shadow Panther's Sword/Dagger  7/51/13 build last night, and set up a macro to switch the sword to off-hand when stealth-ed so I could still drop Ambush, and switch the sword back to main after stealth is dropped.  I'm not running any meters, but it seems to take less time to kill the same enemies.  Tony is right.  You'd think a slower sword in the main hand would slow you down, but the extra damage from Sinister strike seems to compensate for that.  This will be interesting to play with.

Update on the previous post.

Well, I've changed, revised, and re-revised my spec about 7 times. I've gathered some fairly decent gear, and worked on my rotation for hours on end. I've read everything I could find on Shadowpanter.net and Elitist Jerks. I've even downloaded spreadsheets designed to help you gem and enchant appropriately.  So, having done all this, and having seen where I stand in most of the damage meters in Naxx 25 and the few Ulduar 10's I've been on.  I can only come to one conclusion:

I am changing Capuloclavo's name to DYSON. 
Why?  Because I am the Dyson Vacuum cleaner of Rogues.  As I've told Pat and One Ear recently.  "No matter what, I never, ever stop sucking."  I haven't a god-damned clue what else it could be other than I'm just a tard.  Any of you new rogues have any suggestions?  My only option at this point is to stop playing WoW and start playing "Hello Kitty Island Adventure".

Admittedly, part of the reason I've been away so long is that I'm just too frustrated with how much I suck at this game to come back.

rod try a different class. i hated wow too until i started my hunter and shit canned my pally. if you wanna test out my acct i can pm you the info. just lemme know.

Quote from: tulion on Fri, 2009-07-10 : 21:30
rod try a different class. i hated wow too until i started my hunter and shit canned my pally. if you wanna test out my acct i can pm you the info. just lemme know.

Thanks for the offer man.  That's seriously damned generous of you.  No need to let me do that though, I have a hunter and a shaman close enough to 80, I should suck it up and level them on up.  Truth be told, I will probably suck at those too!