Subtlety Rogue DPS Guide & Best Runes – Phase 4 Season of Discovery (SoD)

Welcome to the SoD Phase 4 Subtlety Rogue DPS Guide!

This guide focuses exclusively on the Assassination specialization, exploring key components such as Runes, Talent Trees, Stat Priorities, Rotations & Abilities, Best Professions, BiS (Best in Slot) items, and Race Choices. The new Rune System introduced in the Season of Discovery has allowed Subtlety Rogue to no longer be a PvP-dedicated specialization, providing several new AoE abilities, Direct Damage abilities, and passive effects. The build best suited for the Subtlety specialization is typically known to the community as the “Backstab Build”, with Phase 4 introducing some very neat changes that make Subtlety Rogue DPS even more fun to play!

Talents

Runes

• Helm: Combat Potency
• Cloak: Fan of Knives/Crimson Tempest
• Chest: Slaughter from the Shadows
• Wrist: Carnage
• Hands: Cutthroat
• Waist: Shadowstep
• Legs: Envenom
• Feet: Master of Subtlety
• Ring: Nature Specialization
• Ring: Sword Specialization

Stat Priority

1. Hit Chance
2. Agility
3. Attack Power
4. Critical Strike Chance
5. Strength
6. Stamina

Rotations & Abilities

Phase 4 of the Season of Discovery brought some new and exciting changes, making the Subtlety Rogue build finally viable for PvE and quite exciting to play! The rotation revolves around Slaughter from the Shadows and Cutthroat, with the latter now allowing you to finally use Ambush without being in Stealth! The Subtlety Talent Tree provides some very powerful bonuses for this play style, allowing you to deal finally deal powerful critical strikes while also empowering the Physical Damage dealt to the target.

Single-Target Rotation

1. Apply Instant Poison and Occult Poison to your weapons
2. Start combat from Stealth to benefit from Master of Subtlety
3. Cast Vanish to trigger Master of Subtlety and receive 6 seconds of increased damage for Burst Phases
4. Cast Preparation to refresh the cooldown of Vanish and continue your Burst Phase
5. Cast Slice and Dice and upkeep it 100% of the time
6. Cast Expose Armor and upkeep it 100% of the time if nobody else can provide a similar effect
7. Cast Rupture and prioritize upkeeping it 100% of the time
   • Upkeep Rupture to maintain the damage buff received by Carnage
8. Cast Hemorrhage to debuff the target and increase the Physical Damage dealt
   • Refresh Hemorrhage once the debuff expires
9. Cast Envenom whenever you have 5 x Combo Points (Main Finishing Move)
   • Cast Envenom when you don’t need to refresh Slice and Dice or Rupture
10. Cast Ambush on every Cutthroat proc
11. Cast Backstab (Main Combo Point Generator)

AoE Rotation

1. If you pick the Fan of Knives rune
   • Spam Fan of Knives as much as possible in the initial moments of the encounter and throughout it
2. If you pick the Crimson Tempest + Carnage runes
   • Cast either Mutilate or Saber Slash to build up combo points
   • Cast Crimson Tempest as quickly as possible to deal damage and heal off Carnage
   • Cast Slice and Dice and upkeep it after the initial Crimson Tempest cast

Best Professions

Leatherworking

Leatherworking is among the top professions for a class such as Rogue, providing the ability to craft Leather Armor. Moreover, Leatherworking provides access to special epic recipes in the Season of Discovery, granting Subtlety Rogue powerful equipment that will increase its overall performance.

Engineering

Being known as one of the top professions in both PvE and PvP in the Classic Era, Engineering’s reputation also remains true in the Season of Discovery. It grants access to powerful bombs, various gadgets, and even specially crafted equipment that can be used to enhance your overall performance.

Skinning

Skinning is a viable alternative for gold and material generation in case you pick Leatherworking. This profession is one of the easiest to grind as all you have to do is kill mobs in the world and skin their pelts.

Best Races

For the Alliance, the best race for Subtlety Rogue is a choice between Human and Gnome, with Human providing  Sword Specialization and Mace Specialization while Gnome provides Escape Artist. Meanwhile, for the Horde, the best race is a choice between Troll and Orc, with Orcs having a slight advantage thanks to Blood Fury. Trolls are also very strong, however, they need to be injured to fully benefit from Berserking.

Human

• The Human Spirit, Sword Specialization, Mace Specialization, Perception, Diplomacy

Dwarf

• Stoneform, Frost Resistance, Gun Specialization, Find Treasure

Night Elf

• Nature Resistance, Quickness, Shadowmeld, Wisp Spirit

Gnome

• Expansive Mind, Escape Artist, Engineering Specialization, Arcane Resistanc

Orc

• Blood Fury, Command, Hardiness, Axe Specialization

Undead

• Will of the Forsaken, Shadow Resistance, Cannibalize, Underwater Breathing

Troll

• Berserking, Beast Slaying, Bow Specialization, Throwing Specialization, Regeneration