Rogue FAQ

[Bonzoe-Jombi]

This is from EJ, which should be your guide if you are a rogue. None of this is mine, though I do have a comment or two in there in italics.

http://elitistjerks.com/f78/

--------------------------------
3.2 Rogue FAQ (If you're new-ish here, read this before posting) - Updated 8/20/09
I figured I'd perform a service for the community and compile an list of the most common questions that people seem to be having regarding the patch. Also because I'm tired of reading the same stupid stuff over and over.

Note that, because the answers are now compiled in an easily-found location, anyone who asks a question answered herein will now get an extra infraction point for being stupid.

I'm generally not going to provide the full reasoning behind these answers, either; if you wish to know the reasons, rest assured that the discussions are out there, and, as such, you should search for them rather than asking. I'm not going to have a lot of patience for that, either. Also, as a global caveat, the answer is to most of these questions can be summarized as "use the spreadsheet(s)". If, however, you can't or won't use the spreadsheet, these are some rough guidelines to get you pointed in the correct direction.

So, without further ado, the 3.2 Rogue FAQ:

Mutilate

Q: What's the highest-DPS Mutilate spec?
A: In general, some close variant of 51/13/7. The proposed 51/7/13 and 51/18/2 specs are, as far as anyone has ever been able to tell, inferior.

Don't even waste time with this. 51/13/7 is the only way to go.

Q: Those links have TtT instead of Master Poisoner. Why?
A: They're too close together to make a general recommendation, and I had to pick one. If you want to know which is better for you, check the spreadsheet. Many people find splitting points between them to be better than maxing out either one.

Having talked with other rogues the consensus seems to be that Master Poisoner is now the choice.


Q: Is Murder really worth it?
A: Against the stuff that it works on, it's awesome. And there's a fair number of things in Ulduar and ToC where it does. For those where it doesn't apply, Fleet Footed is probably the best option.

Q: Fast weapons or slow weapons?
A: Slow MH, Fast OH as a general rule; however, weapon speed tends to be less important than weapon DPS in the MH. That is: fast OH is relatively important, but a fast MH can be viable as well if it's higher DPS than your available slow options.

1.8 in MH and 1.4 OH is ideal.

Q: Which stats are good for Mutilate?
A: The simple answer would be Yellow Hit > AP = Agi > Expertise > Spell Hit > Crit > Haste > ArPen > White Hit > Strength. However, there is some minimal amount of Expertise that is necessary for cycle stability - hence, if you have low expertise on gear, you may find it worthwhile to socket some to stabilize your cycles. Additionally, ArPen generally improves in quality as you accumulate 3.2 gear; for exact details of its quality at your gear level, check a spreadsheet.

Q: Which glyphs should I use?
A: Hunger for Blood, Mutilate, and either Rupture or TotT.

Without the 4p T8 bonus rupture is a small component of my dps (3-8%). I find that keeping the Envenom buff up constantly brings my instant poison damage up a ton. I have to do some analysis to confirm, but I still wouldn't drop rupture for its constant background dps.

Q: Which trinkets do I want?
A: From Ulduar, Dark Matter, Mjolnir Runestone, and Comet's Trail are all strong. From ToC, Death's Verdict owns for everyone. If you don't have access to these, Darkmoon Card is, as always, awesome.


Combat

Q: What's the highest DPS Combat spec?
A: Something of a matter of debate. Personally, I'd say 15/51/5. A case can be made for 18/51/2. In either case, replace CQC with the appropriate weapon specialization if you're using swords or maces. At high gear levels - as in, late ToC type gear levels this variant takes over.

Q: Which weapon spec is best?
A: Whatever you have the best weapons for. However, in late-ToC gear, Mace Spec with a fast dagger OH tends to pull ahead due to the runaway value of ArPen. Otherwise, swords/axes seem to be the best itemized throughout ToC as a whole and are thus a strong option.

Q: What should I look for in weapons?
A: For a MH, you want something slow (2.5-2.7) and as high-DPS as possible - DPS matters more than speed. For an OH, you want something as fast as possible - 1.4 is best, and failing that 1.5. Since two-weapon specs are basically dead, you thus want two weapons of the same specialization that satisfy this as well as possible - until you get to the point where MH Maces just take over. For more information, see your local friendly spreadsheet. But in particular: CG/WD for BIS T7, GSD/Bladetwister for BIS T8, and Remorseless/Steel Bladebreaker (Heroic) for BIS T9.

Q: What trinkets are best for combat?
A: Until your gear reaches a certain level, Mjolnir Runestone and Death's Verdict are the strongest options. However, once you have "enough" ArPen, it becomes worthwhile to drop Mjolnir Runestone for a trinket without an ArPen proc - at this point, Comet's Trail is the strongest option. Assuming you don't have access to those, Darkmoon Card is as always strong, Dark Matter is not a bad option, and Banner of Victory is strong for how easy it is to get.

Q: Which stats are good for combat?
A: As a rule of thumb, I'd go with ArPen > Agi > AP > Yellow Hit > Spell hit > Crit = Expertise > Haste > White Hit > Strength. However, the ordering of those stats depends somewhat on your gear level - at pre-Ulduar gear levels, ArPen is relatively weaker, and at near-BIS T9 levels Haste starts to catch up with Crit in value.

Q: Which glyphs should I use?
A: For the most part, Sinister Strike, Rupture, and XXX. Once you reach a sufficient gear level (see above notes about gear and spec), Sinister Strike, Eviscerate and XXX.

Q: What's XXX?
A: There's some reasonable debate about the third glyph. For sustained DPS, Killing Spree is probably the best. For fights where KSp is unsuitable, TotT is a strong option. If you don't like either of those, probably SnD or Adrenaline Rush. For serious AoE encounters, FoK can be worthwhile.

Q: You've mentioned a couple of times that answers change at high gear levels - what's this about?
A: With enough ArPen to push the ArPen hard cap, it becomes worth it to drop Rupture from your cycles and just SnD and Eviscerate. Getting here requires mace spec and generally a lot of ArPen both on gear and in sockets. For details on whether you're at this point or not... you guessed it, check a spreadsheet.

Q: But why do you use an OH dagger and 1/5 CQC with this? Why not a mace?
A: Because all the OH maces suck.


Combat Daggers

Q: Is combat daggers viable?
A: No.

Q: Really? But my friend told me it's good, and...
A: Still no.


Subtlety
This section's answers courtesy of Mavanas. So if they're wrong, blame him.

HaT is basically dead. Don't waste your time.

Q: What's the highest-DPS Subtlety spec?
A: 8/20/43 with lightning reflexes

Q: Fast weapons or slow weapons?
A: Slow MH, Fast OH.

Q: Which stats are good for Subtlety?
A: While exact EP values are stll not certain, approximate order is Yellow hit > Expertise > Agility > AP > Poison Hit > Armor Pen > Crit > Haste

Q: Which glyphs should I use?
A: Eviscerate, Rupture, and either Slice and Dice or TotT.

General
Q: Okay, which of those specs does the most damage?
A: At the moment, HAT with a stacked group is tops, followed by Combat and then Mutilate. However, in 3.2.2 HAT is being nerfed and preliminary indications are that it will be behind both Combat and Mutilate at that point. It might also be noted that the difference between combat and mutilate is not large, so depending on what you've picked up itemwise, either spec may be better for you personally.

Q: I notice you say Agi = AP some places above. Which should I use?
A: At T7 gear levels, AP may be slightly more DPS; however, the increased survivability from agility also has some value, and the DPS difference is really not large. So some people prefer to use agi for this reason. Once you get T8 4/5 - and thereafter, even after you break that set bonus - Agi is pretty clearly ahead.

Q: How good is the T8 2/5 set bonus?
A: Good.

Q: How good is the T8 4/5 set bonus?
A: Really really good.

Q: Would you like to be a little more helpful?
A: Fine. Both are better than the corresponding set bonus in T7. You will almost certainly want to wind up using 4/5 T8 as a result, barring the arrival of really crazy offset items. T7 4/5 will mostly likely be worth breaking for T8 2/5 by the time you pick up 3 pieces of T8, even if it's just T8.10. For specifics, check a spreadsheet.

Q: Okay, what about the T9 set bonuses?
A: T9 2/5 Suuuuuuuucks. T9 4/5 is decent, though weaker than either of the previous two 4/5 set bonuses. However, given that there are no higher-ilvl alternatives to the highest-level tier set, it does usually work out to be worthwhile to use 4/5 T9.258 when and if you can get it.

Q: But I tested on a target dummy and got different answers!
A: Was the target dummy fully raid debuffed, and you fully raid buffed? Did you perform multiple trials totaling at least an hour to reduce variance? I didn't think so. That's why you got different answers.

Q: Which poisons should I use?
A: MH should be Instant Poison if you're specced into Improved Poisons and Wound Poison otherwise. OH should be Deadly Poison pretty much no matter what.

Q: Why don't you recommend using the Envenom glyph?
A: Because it doesn't exist. It was on live servers briefly, but was nonfunctional and has since been removed.

If you have comments/questions/corrections/things to add/whatever, feel free to let me know. But if you're wrong or obviously stupid, I will make fun of you, so please try to make sure you know what you're talking about before making such suggestions.

6/2/09: Combat answers adjusted to reflect the implementation of an ArPen cap.
6/20/09: Mutilate spec recommendation adjusted based on updated theorycraft.
8/20/09: Miscellaneous updates.

I am happy to help people out in game if they have any questions.