Welcome to theSubtlety Rogue Mythic+guide for the World of Warcraft prepatch 11.0! Here, you can find tips and tricks to maximize your damage output and ensure your character is ready to top the damage charts.
Like all rogue specs, Subtlety Rogue uses energy and combo points as their primary resources.
Energy is a resource that regenerates over time, and is used to activate most abilities to either build or spend combo points. Combo points are your spender type resource that lets you use your most powerful abilities; your finishing moves.
Subtlety Rogue is a specialization that heavily relies on cooldowns, leading to significant bursts of damage during cooldown windows, but also resulting in lower damage output outside of these periods.
Whether you're new to the spec or looking to refine your skills, you can find the information needed to dominate in Mythic+ environments and prove to your group that you are not the disappointment they think of you.
Overview
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
Subtlety RogueMythic+
Single-Target
Strong
AoE
Strong
Utility
Weak
Survivability
Strong
Mobility
Excellent
- Subtlety Rogues are known for their exceptional burst damage with the massive amount of stacked up cooldowns, most notably Shadow Blades and Flagellation.
- Their toolkit includes powerful defensive abilities like Cloak of Shadows and Feint, which can potentially allow for the spec to be extremely durable depending on the dungeon.
- However, like any specialization, Subtlety Rogues have a weakness. The damage you provide outside of your cooldown window is pretty small and because of that the spec can feel underwhelming to some players.
Talents
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
Standard M+ Build
Gameplay Altering Talents
Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation and Deep Dive sections below.
Spec Tree
- Shadow Dance
- Shadow Dance puts you in a stance where you can use all your stealth abilities and also buffs your damage for its duration. This is your bread and butter spell for your cooldown windows and will be a major contributor to your core gameplay.
- Danse Macabre
- This talent makes it so each unique spell cast during Shadow Dance buffs your damage by 6%.
- Shadowcraft
- This talent modifies your Symbols of Death to generate double combo points from Shadow Techniques and causes your finishers to generate combo points if you have enough to fill your combo point bar. This turns Symbols of Death into a strong cooldown which you try to use as often as possible.
- Shadow Blades
- Shadow Blades causes most of your damage to be increased by 20% and all your combo point generators to generate full combo points.
- Flagellation
- Flagellation stacks up to 30 stacks based on combo point spent and buffs your finisher damage for its duration.
- Secret Technique
- Your biggest damage finisher for both AoE & single target situations.
- Premeditation
- Causes your first generator out of stealth to fill your combo points bar to full.
Class Tree
- Cold Blood
- Cold Blood is always used in combination with Secret Technique for strong burst damage.
- Thistle Tea
- Both a energy generating spell and a damage cooldown baked into one. Therefore you want to use it both inside of your cooldown windows and also as an energy restoring spell.
- Elusiveness
- Shares a node with Cheat Death so it is not commonly picked due to the strength of Cheat Death, it is a very strong talent however and should not be slept on in Mythic+ especially.
Rotation
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
Tier Set
- 2-Set: Using Eviscerate, Rupture, or Black Powder has a chance to summon a shadow clone to echo your finishing move for 70% additional Shadow damage.
- 4-Set: Your shadow clones deal 20% increased damage with all attacks and grant you 2 combo points per clone when summoned.
- The Tier bonuses for Subtlety Rogue are mainly passive but there is an interaction with Secret Technique and the 4P, since Secret Technique spawns 2 clones it also generates 4 combo points.
Single-Target
Opener Rotation
- Your main goal with your cooldowns as a Subtlety Rogue is stacking as many of them as possible for maximum burst potential, there are a few priorities and rules when it comes to using your cooldowns as efficiently as possible.
- Use your active trinkets, Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power and racials like Blood Fury together with Shadow Blades
Priority List
This is a general priority you aim to maintain throughout the fight.
The rotational priority for Subtlety Rogue changes based on if you have Shadow Dance active or not:
Shadow Dance Priority
- Use Eviscerate with 2 or less targets or Black Powder with 3+ targets if above 5 combo points and Secret Technique if 3+ Danse Macabre stacks.
- Shadowstrike if under 5 combo points.
No Shadow Dance Priority
- Cast Slice and Dice if it's not active.
- Cast Rupture inside of a pandemic window (30% of the spell's original duration).
- Cast Eviscerate or Black Powder if above 6 combo points.
- Cast Shuriken Tornado if neither Shadow Blades or Shadow Dance are active.
- Cast Backstab.
Cooldown Usage
- Flagellation with 6+ combo points or if your next spell would be Shuriken Tornado in AoE, you typically always hold this for Shadow Blades.
- Shadow Blades is typically used together with your next spell after Flagellation.
- Symbols of Death on Cooldown except if the buff is already active with more than 3 seconds left to not waste duration if you reset its cooldown with Invigorating Shadowdust.
- Sepsis is used with Shadow Blades.
- Thistle Tea is normally paired with your Shadow Dance to buff your finisher damage. The most optimal usage is for it to both give you energy and buff your Shadow Dance damage at the same time.
- Shadow Dance is always used together with Symbols of Death.
- Use Vanish together with Invigorating Shadowdust when all of Symbols of Death, Shadow Dance, Flagellation, Shadow Blades, Shuriken Tornado in AoE and Secret Technique are on cooldown.
- Use Vanish without Invigorating Shadowdust when you are not in Shadow Dance with low combo points.
Multi Target
2 Target Opener Rotation
- Below, you see an example of how your opener looks like using the recommended Multi-Target talent spec.
- Your opener for single-target and 2 targets does not change at all, the only difference is the Replicating Shadows talent applying Rupture to both of your targets.
2 Target Priority List
- The 2 and 3 target priority remains the same as single target, except for keeping your Rupture active on all important targets and replacing Backstab with Shuriken Storm as your main builder. Furthermore, for 3 or more targets, you also replace Eviscerate with Black Powder as your main finisher.
4+ Targets Opener Rotation
- Depending on how fast you need to pop your cooldowns, consider spreading a few more Rupture, this varies based on the situation but it is recommended to keep Rupture on as many targets as you can.
- Depending on the amount of targets you might not reach full combo points after every Shuriken Tornado tick. This means that if you would land at 4 combo points before your Secret Technique is supposed to be used you would instead wait for the next tick of Shuriken Tornado and then use Secret Technique.
4+ Target Priority List
Similarly to 2 or 3 target priority, you replace Backstab with Shuriken Storm and Eviscerate with Black Powder.
The biggest switch-up from having fewer targets is that your combo point generation will be significantly higher. Additionally, you should aim to keep Rupture active on as many priority targets as possible.
Deep Dive
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
Eviscerate vs Black Powder
When to use Eviscerate over Black Powder might seem obvious or easy if you simply refer to your priority, however the reality is that it's not that black and white.
A lot of people that play Subtlety Rogue see a bunch of targets and instantly start pressing Black Powder without much thought behind it. However, there are situations where you would want to press Eviscerate, even if at the cost of overall DPS. Let's take a scenario from a current content Mythic+ dungeon, the bird packs before the second boss Crawth in Algeth'ar Academy.
There is 1 high health priority mob and 4 mobs that have way less health and don't pose a threat, this is a perfect example for when you would use Eviscerate over Black Powder as your finishing move.
Other examples that are less obvious are when you have a lot of targets and only a small amount of those matter, as an example, say you have 20 targets but only 3 of those actually matter, you would then think that Black Powder would be better, right?
It's not that simple unfortunately, Black Powder has a Soft-cap of 8 targets before it starts doing less damage to every target, so on 20 targets your 3 priority mobs would take less damage compared to if it was only 8 targets, which is a bit confusing but it is important to know.
Rupture usage
How and when you use Rupture matters a lot as a Subtlety Rogue. In most Mythic+ scenarios there are windows of time from when your tank pulls a pack until it is fully stacked and the tank has threat. How you utilize this time is very important.
Getting a bunch of Ruptures up on the targets before the pack is stacked is going to significantly boost your damage in Mythic+. A pretty standard and safe way to do this is to use Tricks of the Trade on your tank and Sprint or Shadowstep to maximize your Tricks of the Trade window and get as many Ruptures up as you can.
Another tip to get the most out of your Rupture is to always make sure you have Ruptures up on the important targets before entering your Shadow Dance windows. It can be hard to do this consistently in all scenarios, especially when you have cooldowns ready, but as a rule of thumb, it's a good thing to keep track of.
Understanding Secret Technique
Secret Technique is your hardest hitting spell and therefore it's important that you understand how it works and avoid common mistakes.
Secret Technique has an initial instant damage part and two delayed shadow clone attacks, one of them being 1 second delayed and the other 1.3. To clarify, this means that the latest time you can press Secret Technique to get its damage in your Shadow Dance window is 1.3 seconds before it ends. This is very important since you lose a lot of damage not getting the damage inside of your Shadow Dance.
Understanding Danse Macabre
Danse Macabre is very straightforward in its function. However, there are a few misconceptions about how to maximize its effectiveness. Although it may be tempting to accumulate as many stacks as possible before using your Secret Technique, this is typically not the best approach. Instead, focus less on the number of stacks and more on your order of operations.
For most scenarios, Secret Technique should either be your first or second finisher in Shadow Dance during your cooldowns. Otherwise, it can become too delayed for the next time you want to use it. Additionally, it might end up being cast too late, causing it to miss the damage buff from Shadow Dance, which was mentioned in the previous segment.
Understanding Mechanics
Rotational min-maxing is just one aspect of mastering a specialization, but there are numerous other key mechanics that influence your performance. Use the following guides to improve them.
- Pandemic
- Spell Queue Window
- Stat Diminishing Returns
Dungeons
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
← Scroll for more Dungeons →
Brackenhide Hollow
Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr
The Nokhud Offensive
Algeth'ar Academy
Halls of Infusion
The Azure Vault
Neltharus
Ruby Life Pools
Boss Tips
Hackclaw's War-Band
- Make sure to interrupt Earth Bolt as much as possible.
- If you get targeted by Marked for Butchery you can use either Vanish or Evasion to negate it.
- If you get targeted by Bladestorm you can stand still with Evasion to not lose uptime.
Gutshot
- If the hyenas are not trapped and you get Meat Toss on you, Evasion works to just stand there and tank them. The hyenas typically do not need any AoE damage as they should take enough damage from the traps. Be careful when the hyenas spawn as the tank will most likely not have threat and they can one shot you.
Treemouth
- You can use Cloak of Shadows after soaking Consume to instantly get out and remove his shield.
- Depending on your groups cleave damage you can opt out of AoEing the Decaying Slimes and funnel Eviscerate into the boss instead for more priority damage.
Decatriarch Wratheye
- This boss is the hardest boss in this dungeon because of its Rotburst Totem mechanic. The totem spawns every 20 seconds and you need a solid amount of burst damage to kill it, try to use your Symbols of Death 3-4 second before the first totem spawns and you will have it up for both totems. If the totem cast goes off, you can Cloak of Shadows the Withering Rot debuff.
Trash Tips
- Make sure to keep an eye out for potential Kidney Shot or Blind to stop important casts in this dungeon, the main targets for using CC and Kick on are the following:
- Trickclaw Mystics Earth Bolt - Kick or CC.
- Bracken Warscourges Hideous Cackle - Kick.
- Other than just interrupts or stops there are a few notable mechanics in this dungeon to pay attention to: the Withering Contagion cast from the Vile Rothexer and the Summon Totem from Fetid Rotsinger. Both of these mechanics put diseases on targets and can both be dispelled, it's generally advised to have an alchemist in this dungeon to make use of the Cleansed Rot Cauldrons that are placed around the dungeon. You can also Cloak of Shadows these mechanics.
- A general tip for trash as a Subtlety Rogue in Mythic+ is to focus high health mobs with Eviscerate instead of spamming Black Powders where it is not needed, in this dungeon there are a few times where you could opt to do this.
Pre Dungeon Start
- In Brackenhide you can get some value out of using Shadow Blades & Combat potion prior to the keystart, you can also stack up combo points and go into the dungeon with a full Slice and Dice.
Boss Tips
The Lost Dwarves
- Use Evasion or Feint on the Ricocheting Shield if you are targeted, especially if it overlaps with Dagger Throw.
- Baelog has a Wild Cleave which can be dangerous to melee, just keep in mind the tanks positioning to never die to this.
Bromach
- The most dangerous mechanic on this boss isQuaking Totem, make sure to optimize your cooldowns in a way where you can do good damage on these totems.
- Pre Feint the totem spawns to avoid wasting a global cooldown during the totem duration.
- Make sure to always Kick or CC the Chain Lightning cast from the Stonevault Geomancer.
Sentinel Talondras
- Make sure to use Feint for the Crushing Stomp cast, you can also Evasion it to negate the damage completely, usually you would want to hold Evasion for Earthen Shards to negate a dangerous overlap.
- If for some reason your tank is not moving the boss into a Resonating Orb during the Titanic Empowerment cast, you can Kidney Shot the boss instead as a backup.
Emberon
- Make sure to use a defensive on Unstable Embers, Feint works excellently here so it should be your default option to save the other stuff for the intermission.
- The intermission is very awkward damage profile wise as a Subtlety Rogue, the best you can do is find an add that nobody else is hitting and use your Shadow Dance window on it.
Chronolord Deios
- Feint the Wing Buffet every time.
- You can remove Time Sink with Vanish or Cloak of Shadows or simply by getting dispelled. If you have no way of getting it removed you should use a defensive here, especially if it overlaps with Wing Buffet.
Trash Tips
- Make sure to keep an eye out for potential Kidney Shot or Blind to stop important casts in this dungeon, the main targets for using CC and Kick on are the following:
- Stonevault Geomancers Chain Lightning - Kick or CC.
- Vicious Basilisks Spiked Carapace - Kick or CC, i would recommend saving your Kick for Chain Lightning since these two mobs overlap in packs and Chain Lightning is way more deadly.
- Earthen Weavers Hail of Stone - CC.
- Earthern Warders Curse of Stone - Kick or CC.
- Cavern Seekers Sonic Burst - Kick or CC.
- Infinite Agents Hasten - Kick or CC.
- Refti Custodians Ancient Power - CC - While this is not a damaging spell it makes the tank take a lot of damage, the mob also gets Systemic Vulnerability which makes it take more damage.
Pre Dungeon Start
The first pull of Uldaman is a pretty big pull usually which is at the start of the dungeon so getting that pre Shadow Blades and combat potion to get your Ruptures going faster is always nice.
Boss Tips
Granyth
- Use Kidney Shot on the Nokhud Saboteur to give your group more time to kill it.
- Feint is usually enough to live Shards of Stone, on a higher tyrannical key level you might have to Rotate Evasion, Cloak of Shadows and Vanish with the Cloaked in Shadows talent.
Raging Tempest
- Use Feint for Lightning Strike and rotate Evasion, Cloak of Shadows and Vanish together with Feint for Electrical Storm
- Try to always extend your Surge of Power during Electrical Storm. To do this easily is simply take one of the orbs just as it's about to hit the boss, which will be enough to extend the duration until new orbs spawn.
Teera & Maruuk.
This boss is very rough due to Feint not working on Gale Arrow. Rotate Evasion, Cloak of Shadows together with Feint with Elusiveness talented for the Gale Arrow.
Balakar Khan
- You can use Shadowmeld & Vanish during the cast of both Iron Spear & Static Spear. Try to have both your Vanish charges ready going into P2 due to the danger of Static Spear. If your Vanish is on cooldown, make sure to press either Cloak of Shadows, Evasion or Feint.
- Always save cooldowns if you can for the intermission. It is the hardest part of the fight and bursting those adds down as quickly as possible will remove a lot of difficulty from the fight.
Trash Tips
- Make sure to keep an eye out for potential Kidney Shot or Blind to stop important casts in this dungeon, the main targets for using CC and Kick on are the following:
- Nokhud Warspears Swift Stab - CC.
- Nokhud Hornsounders Rally the Clan - CC.
- Nokhud Plainstompers Disruptive Shout - Kick.
- Stormcallers Stormbolt - Kick.
- Primalist Thunderbeasts Thunderstrike - Kick.
- Primalist Stormspeakers Tempest - Kick or CC Stormbolt - Kick.
- Soulharvesters Death Bolt Volley - Kick.
- Desecrated Ohunas Rotting Wind - Kick or CC.
- A general tip for trash as a Subtlety Rogue in Mythic+ is to focus high health mobs with Eviscerate instead of spamming Black Powders where it is not needed.
Pre Dungeon Start
- Channel your inner dragonriding master.
Boss Tips
Overgrown Ancient
- It is recommended to Eviscerate the priority targets, either the boss or the Ancient Branch on every second Germinate wave due to the fact that the Hungry Lashers lie dormant and do not pose a threat to your tank. However, it's worth mentioning that depending on your group composition you may have to help with AoE.
- Deal with Burst Forth by pressing Feint or Cloak of Shadows.
Crawth
- Try to play your cooldowns in a way that they are ready for whenever your team activates the Goal of the Searing Blaze to maximize that Firestorm burst window.
- You can remove all stacks of Sonic Vulnerability with Cloak of Shadows, immuning the 3rd stack is usually the best play since it also comes back for later in the fight at a good timing.
Vexamus
- This boss is quite rough defensively as a Subtlety Rogue, make sure to press Feint on Mana Bomb and alternate between Cloak of Shadows, Crimson Vial and Evasion if you are playing Elusiveness.
Echo of Doragosa
- Make sure to use a defensive, ideally Feint or Cloak of Shadows whenever you get an Energy Bomb. It's worth mentioning that Cloak of Shadows removes your Overwhelming Power stacks so you might not want to use it early on in the fight.
Trash Tips
- Make sure to keep an eye out for potential Kidney Shot or Blind to stop important casts in this dungeon, the main targets for using CC and Kick on are the following:
- Corrupted Manafiends Surge and Mana Void - Kick or CC.
- Spellbound Scepters Mystic Blast - CC.
- Unruly Textbooks Monotonous Lecture - Kick or CC.
- Spectral Invokers Arcane Missiles - Kick or CC.
- A general tip for trash as a Subtlety Rogue Rogue in Mythic+ is to focus high health mobs with Eviscerate instead of spamming Black Powders where it is not needed.
Pre Dungeon Start
- Something you can do prior to the dungeon pull is to use Shadow Blades, it doesn't do much in Algeth'ar Academy though since you are walking for a long time.
Boss Tips
Irideus
- If you are targeted by Power Overload you can easily drop it and Shadowstep to the boss for safety, try to always stack with the other person with this mechanic.
- Static Charge is the main dangerous damage on this fight, Feint makes it fairly trivial as a rogue but you might have to press either Evasion or Cloak of Shadows, use your judgement here to not waste anything prematurely.
- AoE Blind and Kidney Shot works as effective stops for the Nullification Devices Purifying Blast in the intermission phase, you can also remove the Purifying Blast debuff with Cloak of Shadows if you get too many stacks.
Gulping Goliath
- Crippling Poison can be of great assistance to defeating this boss. The frog spawns together with the Overpowering Croak, which you simply Feint, is the main mechanic here. Ideally you would funnel Eviscerate into the boss over using Black Powder here. By spamming Shuriken Storm you ensure that Crippling Poison slows the frogs if your team lacks another slow. Just make sure to not tank any melee hits from the frogs since they can one shot you.
Khajin
- This boss has permanent rot damage which is not a good damage pattern for Subtlety Rogues, the best you can do here to help your healer is to rotate defensives when they are low on healing cooldowns. It's can be good using Cloak of Shadows together with your cooldowns here since there are some mechanics that force you out of melee otherwise.
Primal Tsunami
- Feint is very strong here for Tempest's Fury cast.
- Save Sprint for the intermission to get back to the boss as soon as possible.
- Use Kidney Shot & Blind in the intermission to help stopping the Primalist Infusers Inundate cast.
Trash Tips
- Make sure to keep an eye out for potential Kidney Shot or Blind to stop important casts in this dungeon, the main targets for using CC and Kick on are the following:
- Containment Apparatus Containment Beam - CC and Expulse - Kick or CC.
- Refti Defenders Demoralizing Shout - Kick or CC.
- Primalist Shocktroopers Elemental Focus - Kick or CC.
- Primalist Galesingers Thunderstrike - CC.
- A general tip for trash as a Subtlety Rogue in Mythic+ is to focus high health mobs with Eviscerate instead of spamming Black Powders where it is not needed, in this dungeon there are a few times where you could opt to do this.
Pre Dungeon Start
- In Halls of Infusion you can get some value out of using Shadow Blades & Combat potion prior to the keystart, you can also stack up combo points and go into the dungeon with a full Slice and Dice.
Boss Tips
Leymor
- Both the Consuming Stomp & Explosive Brand are easily survivable with Feint, on a higher tyrannical key level you might need to rotate between Cloak of Shadows and Evasion for the Consuming Stomp or if there are any trees leftover.
- For the adds on this boss it is not worth pressing Black Powder ever, stick to funneling all your damage into the boss instead as they pose no threat to either the tank or the rest of the group.
Azureblade
- Make sure to lockdown the adds that come withSummon Draconic Image either by simply interrupting or worst case using a Kidney Shot if your group overlapped interrupts.
- Spreading Ruptures in the Draconic Ritual can be good depending on how high the key is, it is not recommended to use big cooldowns like Flagellation or Shadow Blades in this intermission since you will waste a lot of its value overkilling one target.
Telash Greywing
- Press Feint on Frost Bomb if necessary depending on key level and always on Absolute Zero
- Make sure to keep track of the Absolute Zero timer so you don't waste your cooldowns if the boss jumps away.
Umbrelskul
- Always pool cooldowns for Brittle and focus the Hardened Crystal until the shield goes away. Keep track of the boss HP and rotate Cloak of Shadows and Evasion, you can also pre Feint to not lose any uptime on the Hardened Crystal.
Trash Tips
- Make sure to keep an eye out for potential Kidney Shot or Blind to stop important casts in this dungeon, the main targets for using CC and Kick on are the following:
- Crystal Furys Piercing Shards - CC.
- Arcane Tenders Erratic Growth - Kick
- Conjured Lashers Mystic Vapors - Kick or CC.
- Arcane Elementals Waking Bane - Kick or CC.
- Rune Seal Keepers Icy Bindings - Kick or CC.
Pre Dungeon Start
- The first pull of The Azure Vault is a pretty big pull usually which is at the start of the dungeon so getting that pre Shadow Blades and combat potion to get your Ruptures going faster is always nice.
Boss Tips
Magmatusk
- Try to always bait the Blazing Charge towards a close wall so he doesn't charge too far away from your range. I would recommend saving Shadowstep for this mechanic and using it shortly after he stops the charge to quickly get back into melee and dodge the waves.
- You can Cloak of Shadows the Magma Eruption to immune the DoT, use Cloak of Shadows early to get it back for a later and more deadly one, due to its stacking nature. Feint is a good alternative defensive option.
Chargath, Bane of Scales
- Make good use of Shadowstep and Feint on this boss whenever he casts Grounding Spear to prevent unnecessary damage taken, usually you would Shadowstep after the initial damage and break the chain as the first person. If your team decides to break 2 or more chains you can always Cloak of Shadows the debuff.
- This boss also has a 15 second duration Fetter 50% damage taken increase when breaking all chains, try to line up your cooldowns for this if possible.
Forgemaster Gorek
- You can Vanish or Shadowmeld the Blazing Aegis, if you are the first target the boss does not cast the spell at any of your party members either.
- Make sure to always Feint the Might of the Forge channel.
Warlord Sargha
- You can use Cloak of Shadows on both the Curse and Gold mechanics, what that means is that if you get targeted by the gold you can go over and loot a Curse weapon and remove both debuffs at the same time. Try to save some damage cooldowns, even if it’s just a Shadow Dance window, for whenever the shield breaks and the boss gets Backdraft.
- Evasion works on the add that spawns from Burning Ember which is nice to keep uptime if it gets close for whatever reason.
Trash Tips
- Make sure to keep an eye out for potential Kidney Shot or Blind to stop important casts in this dungeon, the main targets for using CC and Kick on are the following:
- Qalashi Thaumaturges Molten Core - Kick or CC Magma Conflagration - CC.
- Qalashi Bonesplitters Pierce Marrow and Dragonbone Axe - CC.
- Qalashi Lavamancers Molten Barrier - Kick when the shield breaks.
- Lava Flares Melt - Kick or CC.
- A general tip for trash as a Subtlety Rogue in Mythic+ is to focus high health mobs with Eviscerate instead of spamming Black Powders where it is not needed.
Pre Dungeon Start
- Typically in Neltharus you can pre-use Shadow Blades & DPS Potion and start rolling your Rupture and Slice and Dice on the first mobs of the dungeon, just make sure that you will not die to threat by using of Tricks of the Trade.
Boss Tips
Melidrussa Chillworn
- It is recommended to Eviscerate the priority targets during the Frost Overload, the Infused Whelps can usually be handled by other members of your team with more efficient cleave than what Black Powder provides.
- Defensively speaking this boss is very nice for Rogue since Feint and Cloak of Shadows both work on all of her group damage. Chillstorm is also easily handled with a simple press of Shadowstep.
Kokia Blazehoof
- The most dangerous part of this fight is the Ritual of Blazebinding add that the boss spawns, try to always save some damage for this add as it can quickly spiral out of control if it casts more than one Inferno.
Erkhart Stormvein / Kyrakka
- Make sure to always have something ready to be pressed for when the boss casts Flamespit. It does a lot of damage and if you are not actively looking for it ahead of time there is a high chance that you are going to die, especially with the overlap with Interrupting Cloudburst. If you see that overlap happening, be ready to press Cloak of Shadows.
Trash Tips
- Make sure to keep an eye out for potential Kidney Shot or Blind to stop important casts in this dungeon, the main targets for using CC and Kick on are the following:
- Primalist Cinderweavers Cinderbolt - Kick or CC.
- Primalist Flamedancers Flame Dance - CC - Can be stopped with Living Bomb from the Blazebound Destroyer.
- Flame Channelers Flashfire - Kick.
- Flashfrost Earthshapers Tectonic Slam - CC.
- Flashfrost Chillweavers Ice Shield - Kick or CC.
- A general tip for trash as Subtlety Rogue in Mythic+ is to focus high health mobs with Eviscerate instead of spamming Black Powders where it is not needed.
Pre Dungeon Start
- Something you can do prior to the dungeon pull is to use Shroud of Concealment to skip the first Primal Juggernaut, this is a very popular mob to skip and your group can pass safely without usingPotion of the Hushed Zephyr .
Affixes
Learn how to effectively handle various Mythic+ Affixes as a Subtlety Rogue. Depending on the level of the Mythic+ Dungeon you face up to two additional Affixes alongside Fortified and Tyrannical.
- Entangling
- Entangling is sort of a non affix, usually you would just move out of it, but any slow removal including Vanish gets rid of it as well.
- Incorporeal
- The most you can do on Incorporeal week is to maintain good awareness and help out with Blind, it won't be up for all of the Incorporeal spawns but it is still worth keeping in mind.
- Bolstering
- Prioritizing big HP mobs with Eviscerate over Black Powder can smooth out the dangerous bolstering stacks.
- Spiteful
- Spiteful is a really annoying affix for the other two Rogue specs, however as a Subtlety Rogue you don't really care for restealths, you can equip Crippling Poison to make sure you have an easy time dodging these.
- Sanguine
- As a Subtlety Rogue you can spec into Improved Wound Poison and use Wound Poison during this week. It makes sure whenever mobs are in sanguine they don't heal as much.
- Bursting
- Cloak of Shadows removes Burst stacks, if it looks dangerous, press it!
Stat Priority
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
Understand your secondary stat priority and the tertiary stats needed for optimal performance during Mythic+ dungeons as a Subtlety Rogue. For more detailed information, visit the Stats and Attributes guide.
Higher Item level items are better in most scenarios. For an accurate representation of what item to equip you should use Simcraft! A static "Stat Priority" is just a starting point and can easily shift depending on your individual gear.
All secondary stats are affected by diminishing returns. Click here to learn more!
Tertiary
- Avoidance - Great stat to reduce the damage intake of "Area of Effect" abilities.
- Leech - Provides additional healing through damage dealing. The damage of your pets does not heal you, but most of your damage is coming from your own spells which makes Leech a great tertiary for you.
- Speed - Niche tertiary that can be very useful and has been proven useful in the past. Makes playing certain mechanics a lot easier.
Gear
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
Overall BiS
Farmable Alternatives
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Violent Gravemask | Kazarra |
| Neck | Torc of Passed Time | Crafting |
| Shoulder | Lurking Specter's Shoulderblades | Tier / Catalyst |
| Cloak | Voice of the Silent Star | Sarkareth |
| Chest | Lurking Specter's Brigandine | Tier / Catalyst |
| Wrist | Cuffs of the Savage Serpent | Magmorax |
| Gloves | Lurking Specter's Handgrips | Tier / Catalyst |
| Belt | Vengeful Bladebeak Girdle | BoE |
| Legs | Lurking Specter's Tights | Tier / Catalyst |
| Boots | Life-Bound Boots | Crafting |
| Ring 1 | Seal of Filial Duty | Brood Keeper Diurna |
| Ring 2 | Seal of Diurna's Chosen | Eranog |
| Trinket 1 | Ashes of the Embersoul | Smolderon |
| Trinket 2 | Manic Grieftorch | Brood Keeper Diurna |
| Weapon | Cruel Dreamcarver | Igira The Cruel |
| Weapon 2 | Nick of Time | Dawn of the Infinite Hardmore |
Below you are presented a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.
| Slot | Item | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Crown of Roaring Storms | Ruby Life Pools |
| Neck | Custodian's Medallion of Delusion | The Azure Vault |
| Shoulder | Shoulders of Animated Stone | Uldaman/Catalyst |
| Cloak | Mammoth-Trainer's Drape | Neltharus |
| Chest | Invader's Firestorm Chestguard | Ruby Life Pools/Catalyst |
| Wrist | Ferocious Hyena Hidebinders | Brackenhide Hollow |
| Gloves | Ruby Contestant's Gloves | Ruby Life Pools/Catalyst |
| Belt | Watcher's Clasp of Purpose | Halls of Infusion |
| Legs | Lavabearer Legwraps | Neltharus |
| Boots | Treads of the Swift | Uldaman |
| Ring 1 | Scalebane Signet | Neltharus |
| Ring 2 | Platinum Star Band | Algeth'ar Academy |
| Trinket 1 | Irideus Fragment | Halls of Infusion |
| Trinket 2 | Globe of Jagged Ice | Halls of Infusion |
| Weapon 1 | Croaking Dagger | Halls of Infusion |
| Weapon 2 | Nick of Time | Dawn of the Infinite Hard mode |
Trinkets
Below you can find active and passive alternatives to the recommended trinkets. Do note that some trinkets are better than others depending on the scenario.
Active Trinket alternatives
- Ashes of the Embersoul
- This is your strongest active trinket option and should always be used if possible.
- Manic Grieftorch
- This is your second best option for most scenarios, this trinket offers a massive amount of burst damage and its cooldown is reduced by 90 seconds whenever somebody in your group dies.
- Irideus Fragment
- This is a decent option if you got unlucky with loot and are low on bullions.
Passive Trinket alternatives
- Spiteful Storm
- Very strong alternative to Manic Grieftorch
- Whispering Incarnate Icon
- Is better or worse depending on how many people in your group are using it.
- Ominous Chromatic Essence
- Is better or worse depending on how many different buffs your group has active.
- Neltharion's Call to Suffering
- Decent alternative, has heavy variance in its usefulness but provides very fun high-roll moments.
Simcraft
To find the best combination of gear available to you or identify the best possible upgrades, visit our Simcraft guide to learn how to utilize Simcraft easily and effectively.
Embellishments
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
- 2x Blue Silken Lining
- It doesn't matter too much which slot you craft out of bracers, boots, belt, necklace or ring. Sim your own character and replace whichever slots are your weakest slots.
- 1x Blue Silken Lining 1x Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch
- This is another strong alternative, as it lets you proc your rings more frequently. Both of the embellishment options are viable, and the difference between them is very small. However, Blue Silken Lining becomes increasingly valuable with more targets and higher uptime.
Remaining Sparks
- Make sure to apply Alchemical Flavor Pocket if you have an additional crafted item equipped.
- Crafted items are 525 item level and regular items are 528 on max item level therefore it's not beneficial to equip crafted items outside of your 2x embellishments unless you don't have access to other high item level gear on that slot.
- If you play Mythic+ on a serious level, consider using the Needlessly Complex Wristguards with the battle ress tinker. There are times your team composition lacks a natural combat ress and the bracers can be of high value.
Enchantments
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
| Head | Incandescent Essence |
| Neck | Tiered Medallion Setting 3x |
| Cloak | Enchant Cloak - Regenerative Leech |
| Chest | Enchant Chest - Waking Stats |
| Wrist | Enchant Bracer - Devotion of Leech |
| Belt | Shadowed Belt Clasp |
| Legs | Fierce Armor Kit |
| Boots | Enchant Boots - Plainsrunner's Breeze |
| Ring 1 | Enchant Ring - Devotion of Mastery |
| Ring 2 | Enchant Ring - Devotion of Mastery |
| Weapon | Enchant Weapon - Sophic Devotion |
Consumables
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
Phials
- Phial of Tepid Versatility This is your default Phial for most cases. It provides versatility which boosts both your damage and survivability.
- Iced Phial of Corrupting Rage This Phial is a solid alternative. It does however come with a downside, because of that, consider using this in trivial content.
Food
- Great Cerulean Sea Is your food of choice for all content, it's better than main stat food so i wouldn't recommend eating a feast even if your party members put one down.
Combat Potion
- Elemental Potion of Ultimate Power
- Residual Neural Channeling Agent
- Can be used while being dead if your potion is ready.
Health Potion
- Dreamwalker's Healing Potion This is the recommended potion for most scenarios.
- Potion of Withering Dreams This potion is verysituational. As an example: you are at very low HP and there is a big damage event incoming, this potion may have value. You are well off only using the Dreamwalker's Healing Potion potion if you don't feel like adding an extra keybind for very situational occurrences.
Weapon Rune
- Hissing Rune
Augment Rune
- Dreambound Augment Rune -- Requires Reputation
- Draconic Augment Rune
Sockets
- Skillful Illimited Diamond -- Unique, made by work order
- Zen Neltharite
Races
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
For min-maxing a Subtlety Rogues in Mythic+, different racial traits can provide a tremendous benefit to your characters. If this is not your top goal, picking a race that fits your style works just as well.
- Stoneform -- Dwarf
- One of the most potent racials in Mythic+ currently and historically.
- Use-cases:
- Bursting stacks.
- Splinterbark on Overgrown Ancient (Algeth'ar Academy).
- Deep Chill from Glacial Proto-Dragons (Halls of Infusion).
- Withering from Fetid Rotsingers and Brackenhide Shapers (Brackenhide Hollow).
- Earthen Shards from Sentinel Talondras (Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr).
- Stolen Time from Infinite Timereavers (Uldaman: Legacy of Tyr).
- Dragon Strike from Chargath (Neltharus).
- Bold Ambush from Qalashi Hunters (Neltharus).
- Shadowmeld -- Night Elf
- Also one of the most potent racials in Mythic+ historically.
- Use-cases:
- Cast Shadowmeld when Forgemaster Gorek (Neltharus) targets you with Blazing Aegis, this will completely negate the mechanic for you and the rest of the group.
- Run past basically any mob and then cast Shadowmeld to make them reset. Even works on mobs that have stealth detection if you get enough distance before you Shadowmeld.
- War Stomp -- Tauren
- War Stomp does find some value in Mythic+, the target cap however is the main reason why it is not that strong. However, similar to dwarf, the Brawn Passive is the main reason why Tauren is a strong dps race.
- Spatial Rift -- Void Elf
- This ability can be quite nice, it acts as a blink that you first shoot out as a projectile then re-activate to teleport to the projectiles location, the reason however, why it's a strong dps race is Entropic Embrace.
Recommendation
Dwarf and Night Elf abilities have such a big impact on your Mythic+ experience that you need to use either of them if you're serious about pushing keys with your Subtlety Rogues.
Recommendation
Dwarf luckily for us is one of the best races for Subtlety Rogues. Night Elf, however falls a bit short in the DPS department, however it is not that big of a deal. If you are serious about pushing Mythic+ as a Subtlety Rogues consider playing Dwarf or Night Elf.
Macros
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
Discover recommended macros for Subtlety Rogues during Mythic+ dungeons and watch a quick video guide on creating simple macros for your character.
Macro Import Guide Video
Mouseover Macros
Mouseover Rupture Macro - will cast on your mouseover or target if there are is no mouseover target present.
#showtooltip Rupture/cast [target=mouseover,harm,exists,nodead] rupture; ruptureMouseover Kidney Shot Macro - will cast on your mouseover or target if there are is no mouseover target present.
#showtooltip Kidney Shot/use [@mouseover,exists][]Kidney ShotMouseover Focus macro - very handy when selecting a focus target to make you not have to target it.
/focus [@mouseover,exists][]Focus Macros
Dps & Utility Macros
Addons
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
Below, you see a screenshot of the author's User Interface for their Subtlety Rogue, outlining which addons are used and how they are utilized in Mythic+ dungeons to make your life easier.
Addons
WeakAuras
Changes this Patch
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
Patch 11.0
FAQ
Patch 11.0 - The War Within
Subtlety Rogue
Q: Why is my Energy so low that i sometimes cannot hit my buttons?
Credits
Written By: Kush
Reviewed By: Perfecto
