Encrypted Text: Leveling a rogue, level 71-80

Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about leveling a rogue from level 71 to level 80.
Your goal is firmly in sight: your rogue is ready to being his or her assault upon the Lich King's lands. With only a fleeting few levels between you and the level cap, these last few minutes are among the most important in your rogue's development. With nearly every trick available and our DPS rotations fleshed out, your rogue will be feeling more and more like the level 80 you are about to become.

All three talent trees are fairly viable for leveling, and so this is by far the most flexible period of the leveling process. As I mentioned in the last installment, experimenting with different specs, rotations, and playstyles will only become harder and harder to do once you reach level 80. During these important formative levels, max out your respect costs and give every build a fair shake. You'll be a better rogue for it in the end.

New abilities:
While there's only really two new moves between level 71 and level 80, one of our earliest spells gets a complete makeover. Feint, which we learn at level 16, finally becomes the spell we always knew it could be. If used, it reduces all AoE damage that a rogue will take for 6 seconds. This spell alone will save you a hundred times while raiding, as there is plenty of AoE damage being thrown around. You won't pick up Rank 8 (the version with the bonus)until level 78, but be sure to use it in any dungeons you explore while leveling up. Sap sees a similar change at level 71, with its Rank 4 version offering a rogue the ability to sap Beasts, Demons, and Dragonkin in addition to its normal effects. This is great for sapping the pets of your opponents, and since there's such a large variety of fauna in Northrend, you'll be using it lots. -Thanks for catching this, Shadowmute!

Prior to that, you'll be receiving one of, in my opinion, our "signature moves". Tricks of the Trade is our threat redirection / damage boost combo, which sees extensive use in both PvE and PvP. In a raid or dungeon environment, it becomes the tank's best friend, and can really make your dungeon experiences much smoother. In certain fights where DPS gain significant buffs (like Hodir), Tricks of the Trade is crucial to a tank being able to maintain aggro on a mob. It can even be a DPS buff to share with another rogue during "burst phases" of certain fights. Tossing this to your partner in PvP can often be enough to score a kill, as the damage bonus is significant. 

One of the reasons I see TotT as so integral to the WotLK rogue is its integration into the new T10 set. The 2 piece set bonus makes TotT yield energy instead of costing it, resulting in a significant DPS boost for everyone involved. We want to cast it more often, it allows more threat to be redirected due to increased energy, and it results in a higher uptime on friendly DPS classes. Imagine it as a poor level 80's Renataki's Charm of Trickery: pop it when you're low on energy to give you just enough juice to extend that stunlock a few more seconds.

If you're leveling with a partner (either a tank or DPS), be sure to toss them TotT every time it's up. It takes the pressure off of you for incoming damage (and rogues are pretty frail in that regard) and boosts their damage, making the entire leveling process much quicker. You can check out my guide to macros to find a great TotT macro that will let you set it to an easy keybind and forget about targeting someone to cast it on.

The final move a rogue receives on their journey is also their just reward for reaching level 80. Fan of Knives has become a true game-changer for the way that rogues play. We're no longer relegated to throwing grenades or making campfires in the back of the raid during AoE phases. Fan of Knives has been one of the top AoE abilities in the game today due to its unique scaling and properties. If you want to learn more about this ability, I wrote a full article dedicated to all of its intricacies. Let it suffice to say that if it weren't for FoK, rogues would be nowhere near our current spot at the top 10% of the damage meters. Yogg+0 and Anub'Arak hard mode are two fights where FoK simply outshines every competitor, and resulted in both world first kills of the last two "end bosses" seeing rogues at the top of the meters.

Posterity:
While I strongly recommend you go crazy experimenting with specs while leveling, I would also caution you that due to the repetition of leveling and grinding, bad habits will eventually work their way into your subconscious. If you start letting Slice and Dice drop while you're farming the Scourge, it will work against you later, when it's actually pretty important. Start reading up on raiding rotations and playstyles, and try mimicking those as much as possible.

If you're playing as Mutilate, it's a great time to work on keeping Hunger for Blood up full time, while trying to maintain a good Slice and Dice uptime via Cut to the Chase + Envenom or Eviscerate. As Combat, keeping Slice and Dice up full time should be your goal, while also using your cooldowns wisely to take out 2+ mobs when Blade Flurry is available and destroying elites with Evasion and Killing Spree. Subtlety rogues should be looking out to also keep Slice and Dice up (I told you it was our most important ability!) and keeping the Hemorrhage debuff active while also using good energy management to maximize your finishers.

By doing the little things like keeping the right poison on both weapons, using the right gems (even if they're just green quality), and starting to work on your end game rotations, you'll be building the foundation for a long and prosperous life as a rogue. Take pride in your achievement of nearing level 80, and focus on refining your playstyle to the point that it becomes second nature. I talked about a few combat opener / sequences last time, and finding out how to go from an opener to a dead opponent in the most efficient way should be your objective. 

Reputations:
While this will certainly change once Cataclysm is released, the message is still relevant today: focus on reputation quest hubs. There's several reputations you'll want access to once you hit level 80, and working on their quests while they still give experience is simply making them twice as awesome. The Sons of Hodir are key for their shoulder enchants (and decent starting weapons), while the Knights of the Ebon Blade will sell you a great helm enchant if you perform enough of their dirty deeds. Read up on which reputations yield what gear, and then go to their areas and quest your heart out. Anything that you can do while leveling to give you an easier time at level 80 is like pure gold.

Level 70 gear:
One last tip for the leveling rogue, you can often find level 70 gear that players had stashed in their banks available on the AH for mere fractions of their original price. Level 70 BoE gear, epic gems, and consumables will greatly increase your leveling speed, so check the AH for any relics from level 70 that are left over that you can score for yourself. I find that the old DPS flasks and BoE level 70 blues are typically only a few gold total, which should be affordable with all of the questing and grinding you've been doing.

Conclusion:
I know that many of you are already level 80, and you're interested in reading about the things that are affecting us now. However, there are still a ton of rogues that are leveling up, and we honestly need the fresh blood as the "great rogue to death knight reroll exodus" ofWotLK left us pretty decimated. Look at the bright side, you won't have to read another leveling column until Cataclysm! To those rogues who are just entering the fold at level 80, we welcome you with open arms, and we look forward to stabbing those cursed cloth-wearers and praying for Armor Penetration trinkets at your side. 

Encrypted Text: Leveling a rogue, level 51-70

Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about leveling a rogue from level 51 to level 70.

If you've ever leveled a rogue (or really any class) to 80 before, you know that there's certain spots in the leveling curve that can get downright boring. We play like a "dual wielding warrior" far too often, preferring to simply walk up to enemies and Slice and Dice our way to a kill. Rogues have a variety of skills, but it seems like Sinister Strike is really the only one worth pushing. Where's the fun in spamming one ability mindlessly until the enemy falls over from boredom?

Luckily for us, all of that ends at level 50 and above. We receive some of our core abilities via our 41-point talents, and each spec becomes a completely different playstyle from what you've been using for the past 50 levels. In addition, we pick up some of the clutch PvP abilities that were added in TBC that allowed rogues to compete in the arena environment. To summarize: leveling a rogue just got real.

New abilities:

While you've been picking up all of the new ranks of our rogue abilities, they've largely been simple "now does more damage"-type upgrades. We get to see a truly new feature added to an ability once we hit level 61 and receive Garrote (Rank 7). This version of Garrote includes an incredibly useful 3 second silence on top of the normal bleed effect. Try it on the next caster mob you attack, and you'll be pleasantly surprised to see them try to melee you with their feeble weapons. Laugh as you then smash their cloth-wearing faces in.

Immediately after receiving our revived opener, you'll pick up Envenom at level 62. It's a Mutilate raider's finisher of choice, but only if you're using Instant and Deadly Poisons, which not every rogue will have due to more attractive talents while leveling. It also requires you to get a 5 stack of Deadly Poison to deal maximum damage, and so you likely won't have time to use it while leveling on regular mobs. It does Nature damage and therefore pieces through armor, so don't knock its usefulness on highly armored targets. I just didn't use it much at all while leveling, and unless you're looking for a cool new finisher, stick to Eviscerate.

Deadly Throw is our next new finisher, received at level 64. It gives rogues their only ranged presence, and can be useful for taking out fleeing targets. DT used to be far more potent when it had the ability to interrupt via a pair of PvP gloves, but is now fairly limp outside of very specific situations (usually PvP). There are a lot of great macros that can combine Throw and Deadly Throw into one easy-to-push button. Be sure to keep rolling on guns and bows and stealing them from those dirty hunters, because DT is hardly useful enough to warrant restricting yourself to a Thrown weapon. The other PvP ability added, Cloak of Shadows, is far more useful.

Cloak of Shadows will remove nearly any magical debuff from you instantly once you receive it at level 66, as well as providing significant spell resistance for a few seconds afterwards. A magical debuff could include poisons, magic effects, diseases, and other similar ailments. It won't remove physical debuffs like bleeds or some rogue crowd-control moves such as Blind or Kidney Shot. A lifesaver against any caster you may fight, and a short enough CD that you can use it regularly when fighting a magic-using mob. Learning when to Cloak will become a big differentiator between a good rogue and a great rogue, especially in PvP, so bind it to an easy to access key and use it often.

Our level 70 class ability is Shiv, which used to see quite a bit of use in PvP and PvE alike. It was valuable for guaranteeing a poison proc in PvP, but that's been all but eradicated due tothe PPM change for poisons and Deadly Brew. Blizzard has also made it a point to completely cripple the ability in PvE, by adding several penalties and nerfs to the ability over its lifetime to ensure it's never a viable option for long. I use Shiv incredibly rarely, almost exclusively on bosses or adds with an Enrage effect that I need to quickly purge via Anesthetic Poison. Keep it on your bar somewhere, but don't worry about having it quick at hand.

Specs:

Now that we have access to our coveted 41 and 51 point talents, we can finally start the process of building the perfect rogue playstyle. I would suggest looking at two things: what are your best weapons, and what type of rogue abilities do you prefer? If you've got a great pair of daggers, Assassination will be a great way to level up. Once you pick up Mutilate, you're truly capable of dealing tons of damage, provided you have the energy to do so. You also get several useful poison effects, your CDs provide pretty significant burst damage when necessary, and you'll be killing targets before they even have a change to react. With Fleet Footed, you'll be running around much faster than any other rogue. Hunger for Bloodwill greatly boost your DPS as well, though many Assassination rogues skip it due to the bleed requirement for use. Make sure to only pull one mob at a time, as you have no AoE at all and you have the worst defenses of any rogue spec.

A typical Mutilate build will pick up all of the core DPS talents while also grabbing the quality of life improvements that are the most useful while leveling. Your typical fight will start with a quick opener (Cheap Shot or Ambush) and immediately start using Mutilate. Your poisons will be dealing massive damage and adding several debuffs to your target. A quick Improved(and glyphed) Eviscerate later, and the mob will be at your feet. Quick bursts via unloading all of your energy will be the name of the game. You can use Cold Blood to add some burst against a strong target, and always remember to Stealth between mobs to take advantage ofOverkill's extra energy regeneration.

Do you have better combat-style weapons, with a nice slow main hand? Combat provides very constant sustained damage, while having the cooldowns to tackle an elite or two while possessing the strongest multiple target presence via Blade Flurry and Unfair Advantage. If you enjoy a brawler or swashbuckling playstyle, find yourself a slow weapon and spec combat. You have the highest defensive capabilities of any tree via the Stamina, Parry, and Dodge bonuses from talents. You're hard to kill and will be able to easily dispatch any opponent. The downside is that Stealth becomes almost useless for you, and you'll end up just spamming Sinister Strike a lot. Even your 41 point talent is simply a DPS boost (though a huge one). At level 60 you receive Killing Spree, which adds even more potency to your AoE damage and provides another amazing CD ability.

I bet you couldn't guess, but Combat's playstyle is still pretty flat. You'll be using Sinister Strike a lot, while Eviscerating when at 5 combo points. Your white damage becomes incredibly potent via all of the Combat talents, and your critical strikes will be dealing massive damage once you reach Prey on the Weak. You won't have the quick burst of Mutilate (well, without using a CD) but you'll be able to take on mobs incredibly quick, take far less damage, and dispatch multiple targets via Blade Flurry with ease. I suggest using your cooldowns like Adrenaline Rush as often as possible, to maximize their benefit. If you're always "saving" your CDs, you're not getting the use out of them you could be. A rogue has plenty of CDs, feel free to use them all! I simply save Vanish for a bad situation and use my other CDs as soon as the situation warrants it.

Got slow weapons, but the combat way of life isn't for you? Or do you have daggers but just want to try something different? Subtlety may be for you. It possesses very strong opening burst and can give you a lot of control via Hemorrhage's low energy cost. It's also a great option on a PvP server where you may need to defend yourself from the opposite faction:Preparation is a lifesaver. Shadowstep provides a very useful tool to add to your belt while also making grinding multiple mobs just a little bit more bearable. You can also use a Dagger to unload an amped up Ambush upon your opponents, and then swap to another weapon for Hemorrhage action. Shadow Dance provides a unique CD at level 60, but it's unfortunately not that useful in a PvE environment where you are able to get into Stealth easily.

If you're wielding slow weapons, you'll typically open with a Garrote or Cheap Shot (both of which have greatly reduced energy costs) and start using your Hemorrhage ability. This will make all of your future attacks hit harder, in addition to buffing any teammates. You can quickly use a finisher and regain the energy cost via Relentless Strikes, and then start using Hemorrhage again. You'll be pushing more buttons per minute if you choose to level as Subtlety.

If you prefer daggers, a case could be made for a powerful Ambush/Backstab based build. Opening with a quick Ambush to deal massive damage while slowing your opponent and then using Hemorrhage -> Gouge -> Backstab can yield you some pretty amazing critical strikes. It will require 3 points into Assassination's Puncturing Wounds, as this significantly increases Backstab's viability (from non-viable to "kinda"). Subtlety does great damage when coming out of stealth, so try to stack as many attacks into that 6 second window of Master of Subtlety as possible.

Conclusion:

With several available playstyles to experiment with, levels 51-70 are truly the golden years for rogues. We're only really missing our true AoE with Fan of Knives and our pseudo-Misdirection via Tricks of the Trade, but you won't typically be using those while soloing anyway. Try out each of the talent trees and figure out which one suits you the best. If you're not enjoying one, simply swap to another. Weapons are typically easy to find via quests or the auction house, and so there's no reason not to experiment with a spec that tickles your fancy. Leveling is one of the only times where you can truly spread your wings, as by the time you reach 80, everything seems to take a seat unless it maximizes your DPS. 

Encrypted Text: Leveling a rogue, level 1-10

Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we talk about leveling a rogue from level 1 to level 10.

So, after reading the list of pros and cons, you've committed to starting your new rogue. This is a proud day for the brotherhood of assassins, as we welcome a new member into our fold. You will learn to embrace the shadows and your adrenaline will spike after your first kill. You will learn to hide your tracks and strike fear into your enemies.

Before you're ready to slay dragons and assassinate high-profile targets, you've got a lot of learning to do. Rogues can be a complex class, with our nearly limitless bag of tricks and a playstyle that is uniquely our own. You must learn how to use your techniques effectively, and how to maximize your damage output while staying alive. The journey from a young rogue to a powerful assassin begins today.

I'll assume you've read the first article of this series, and you've chosen a great name and customized your new character to your liking. You're thrown right into combat upon logging in, with the goal of killing some variety of low level beasts. You'll be presented with two abilities: Sinister Strike, and Eviscerate. Your basic attack structure will revolve around using Sinister Strike to do damage to a mob, and using Eviscerate when you have built up a few Combo Points.

Combat will be mostly boring for the first few levels, as your attack structure and rotation will be the same for quite some time. The idea of building combo points and then releasing them via a finishing move is a core rogue mechanic, and so building combo points and then using them will be your method for killing just about everything. The only variety comes in how you build the combo points and what you choose to use for your finishing attack. This is a great time to set your key bindings for your basic moves, so that they become second nature as you begin your journey to level 80.

Combo Points & Finishers:
The combo point -> finisher cycle will be what dictates the pacing of a rogue attack sequence. If you were to stack combo points using Sinister Strike, and then finish with Eviscerate, you would have to wait around 30 seconds before your Eviscerate is ready. Knowing when your enemy will die is key to your ability use decision-making. If your enemy will die in 4 seconds, there's no point in saving your combo points: use them immediately so that you don't lose your investment. I suggest TimeToDie as one of your first addons. It's great for knowing how long your enemy will be alive so you can choose whether or not to use a finisher or continue building combo points.

As far as starting gear goes, there's really not many options. Most won't have any stats on it, and if it does, you don't really have much variety or any choices. Try to pick up as much leather as possible (for the higher armor class) and anything with Agility, Strength, or Stamina (in that order). The suffixes of perfect rogue gear are "of the Monkey" or "of the Tiger". Your stat selection will matter more at later levels, but right now, be happy with whatever you can find. Do not buy any gear from the vendors, as it is not worth it.

Level 2:
After completing your first quest, you'll be asked to go visit your friendly rogue trainer. He'll have a new spell for you: Stealth! While Stealth may seem fun, you actually don't have any Stealth-only moves at this level, and so it is mostly used for sneaking around. However, you'll want to be killing almost everything you see for experience, and so you won't spend much time in Stealth at all.

Level 4:
At level 4, you'll be eligible for two brand new moves. One is a personal favorite: Pick Pocket. This is your first move you can perform in stealth, and it allows you to steal some copper or items from your enemies. While leveling up, I would suggest using Pick Pocket as often as possible to ensure you always have some gold available for training new abilities or buying reagents. The second move you acquire is Backstab, which will unfortunately not even warrant a position on your hot bar. It's a largely useless move currently, with no Backstab spec being viable anywhere.

Level 6:
Level 6 brings an update to Sinister Strike which should make it fairly more potent, and our first defensive ability: Gouge. Gouge is one of the most underused of rogue techniques. Use this if you are being attacked by two mobs, as you can effectively knock one out of the fight. Use this if you need to run away, as it will give you a fairly big head start, or if you need to use a bandage. It's a great ability that should find its way to one of your hotkeys. Try using it as often as possible to get used to its nuances.

Level 8:
Level 8 brings another update to a base ability, making Eviscerate do more damage. You alsopick up Evasion, which is the first powerful rogue CD you'll acquire. At lower levels, nearly all mobs are melee attacks, and so this will make you nigh immune to their attacks for 15 seconds. This is great for taking out elite or group quest bosses, and for mistake pulls where you end up with more mobs attacking you than you'd like. It's key to remember that you can only dodge an attack if you are facing your enemy, so this does nothing for you if you are running away from a fight. Use Evasion every time it's available, as the longer that Evasion is sitting "ready", the more time it is being wasted.

Level 10:
Finally, upon reaching level 10, you receive quite a few new abilities. Blizzard tends to stagger abilities every 10 levels (for 1-60, at least) and so every 10 levels you will see a major playstyle shift. This time, you receive another Stealth-only move of Sap, which is the rogue's best form of crowd control. It can allow you to solo groups by Sapping one of the mobs and then killing the other quickly. We also receive another infamous cooldown, Sprint. This one is more for escaping fights than for staying to rumble. If you think you can win, use Evasion and tough it out. If you're sure that you'll be defeated, use Sprint to escape from combat. There's no shame in sneaking up and taking a second shot at your prey.

Finally, you'll receive Slice and Dice. This is a staple of rogue DPS, and you should bind it to a key that you can reach easily. Attacking 20% faster will have you doing a ton more damage, and will become even more useful when you gain the ability to apply poisons to your weapons. If you're in combat, you should try to keep Slice and Dice up at all times, especially when fighting multiple targets. If you finish every fight by dumping your combo points into Slice and Dice, you'll be able to keep it up between targets, and you'll hop from mob to mob with great ease. You don't always need to save up 5 combo points before using Slice and Dice, usually 2-3 combo points is enough to keep it active for an entire fight.

While you're on your way to level 10, you'll have questions like "what speed should my weapons be?" I would suggest reading up on the basics of rogue axioms. The short answer is that any gear you use will be fine while leveling, and that you shouldn't worry terribly about min/maxing while on your way to 80. The key suggestions I can provide would be to use the best equipment available to you at the time, and focus on your abilities instead of your gear. A well-played rogue can often defeat a well-geared rogue, and the lower levels are an even greater example of this.

Conclusion:
Once you've reached level 10, you've started to get some of the meaty rogue abilities that you'll be using all the way until level 80. Next week I will be covering a larger range of leveling, complete with a few choice rogue quests and some of our great new abilities and tricks to try out while experimenting with the rogue class. Please post any tips you have for a rogue between the levels of 1-10, or any tricks that you have to share for those just starting a new rogue.