Last Rogue

Shiv and Enrage – Soothe the Savage Beast

Patch 4.0.6 will bring a lot of PVP changes to WoW with several specs getting the buffs they deserve (disc priests for example) and several being rightfully nerfed. Rogues are still looking balanced (even with the halved duration of smokebomb) and the buffs to Subtlety are definitely a step in the right direction. Warriors will be affected by a lot of changes in today's patch, something the class does not seem too happy about. One effect of the patch will be an increase in the number of.... Click to read more .

Cataclysm Addons for Rogue PVP

It's been seventeen months since I last made a post about addons so another one is probably overdue! Several addons I used to use have since been discontinued, so here's a quick review of some PVP mods that can help in arenas and battlegrounds. Battleground Addons PvPness & Deadly Boss Mods As well being the best named mod I've seen, PvPness gives you easily readable objective timers, health reports on SotA/IoC gates, and FC information. The only complaint I have about this addon is.... Click to read more .

Combat PVP

With the patch notes showing some interesting looking changes to the Combat tree, it's worth having a look at what was once the king of rogue PVP trees. HArP offered rogues the best bits from the combat and subtlety trees, but was sank during S3 when Blizzard swapped Preparation and Premeditation around. The tree infamously returned at the end of S6, when several rogues used/abused the talented interupt mechanism of FoK that it offered. Once 4.0.6 goes live, the guild I play rated BGs in will.... Click to read more .

Cataclysm Keybinds for Rogues

This is partly a repost from August '09, but I thought it was worth updating it for Cata content. As before, please don't treat this as me saying 'your keybindings are wrong, change them to match mine!' cause it all boils down to what works for you. If you are looking at reworking your bindings, there are a couple of basic tricks that can help you come up with an efficient and comfortable layout. You may be doing this already, but hey it might be of use to someone! Firstly, you obviously.... Click to read more .

Poisons for PVP

A couple of people have asked about which poisons to use in PVP - here's a quick run down on picking the right ones for your spec. Poison Proc Basics Your poisons can be split into two categories depending on how their proc mechanic. Crippling, mind-numbing and deadly poisons have a %chance to proc on all your hits. Instant and wound are limited to the number of times a minute they can proc (PPM) and are normalized around a 1.4 speed weapon. With a typical 1.8 speed dagger, Instant poison.... Click to read more .

Patch Notes Released for 4.0.6

Check out the potential incomming patch changes - http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2011384#blog. Blind now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds. Combat Readiness now lasts for 20 seconds, down from 30 seconds, but the Combat Insight stacking buff lasts 10 seconds, up from 6 seconds. Crippling Poison now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds. Garrote now costs 45 Energy, down from 50. Sap now has a PvP duration of 8 seconds. Smoke Bomb now lasts for 5 seconds, down from 10.... Click to read more .

Glyphs for Assassination Rogues

The new glyph system has brought with it some fantastic changes to WoW, including buffs to several very important rogue abilities. Here's a quick rundown on the main decisions to make when glyphing for Assassination PVP. Prime Glyphs There are two essential choices for Assassination prime glyphs, two strong choices and a fifth option that can be worth considering with the correct talents. Glyph of Mutilate For some reason I really hate taking this glyph, but every time I try and find.... Click to read more .

Assassination PVP Specs

Playing the highly mobile support-orientated spec of Subtlety can certainly bring utility and finesse to your games, but if you want a more damage-focused talent build, then Assassination is currently the way to go. There are so many useful first tier talents in the Combat and Subtlety trees that ideally you don't want to spend more than the required 31pts in the Assassination tree. Assassination Tree Choices I count the talents highlighted in red as essential -by not taking them,.... Click to read more .

Upcoming Class Changes

According to the WoW Blog it looks like there are some more changes incomming. In a nut shell, Assassination rogues are likely to gain more benefits from crit and Recuperate may have its HP5 reduced. Blizzard have magically addressed the several aspects of PVP that almost everyone seems to feel are inbalanced at the moment (with the exception of the feral and mage communities on mmo-champion). Hats off to them for listening to their player base! Warrior damage and feral bleeds are likely to.... Click to read more .

Happy Holidays!

Hi everyone, just wanted to wish everyone a great time over the forthcoming week - have a good one! I'm catching a train in a few hours, then it's a flight to Germany for a week of awesome-snow-fun with friends snowboarding at Garmisch. I really wanted to make a post about assassination specs before I went (plus reskin the site) but I suck at preparation so have spent the day running around trying to pack instead. Drop wound poison and run instant/deadly - all I have time to say :/ Hope.... Click to read more .

Subtlety PVP Specs

Patch 4.0.6 will be coming soon - this will bring several changes to the Subtlety tree. Content here is not yet updated to reflect the changes it will bring. Unless Blizzard dramatically alter the viability of the Combat tree, rogues currently have the option of chosing between their two other trees - the 'mindless no-skill tunneling' spec of Assassination and the 'float like a butterfly, sting like a errr butterfly' spec of Subtlety. Despite lacking in damage, the Subtlety tree does.... Click to read more .

Gems and Reforging for Rogue PVP

Season 9 has started and the PVP vendors have finally opened for business, so it's time to gem and reforge your equipment. With the removal of Attack Power gems, Agility is now the undisputed king of stats for a rogue, but the secondary stats you should be looking at reforging to depend on your spec. Reforging for Subtlety Getting your Haste as high as possible should be your objective with reforging for a Subtlety spec. The extra energy regen works out better than the currently pitiful.... Click to read more .

Rogue PVP Starter Weapons for Cataclysm

The new PVP season is starting in less than a week, so if you want to hit the (battle)ground running it's important to start getting geared up as soon as possible. Here's a break down of some viable PVP weapons you may want to aim for over the next six days. Main Hand Dagger For assassination and subtlety specs you'll be wanting a slow, hard hitting dagger in your main hand. There aren't really that many great daggers to choose from for PVP - Season8 and IC25 daggers are better than the.... Click to read more .

Cataclysm Classes vs Rogues (Part 2)

Following on from previously, here's a quick run down of Cataclysm changes made to other classes. Paladin Paladins have been affected by several unusual changes, which seem to be causing a fair bit of drama. Retribution paladins are having survival issues (they can no longer dispel magic), while Protection is just generally terrible in PVP. Retribution/Assassination/Priest looks like it could work as a rush-down comp, but I don't know how viable it will turn out to be once teams start.... Click to read more .

Cataclysm Classes vs Rogues (Part 1)

With the launch of Cataclysm imminent it's probably a good time to quickly go through how the other Warcraft classes have been changed, and how that will affect rogues. This isn't a full guide to handling each class in PVP, just a quick overview of what you'll be encountering in battlegrounds (and maybe world PVP) on the way to level 85. This morning I'll be covering Death Knights, Druids, Hunters and Mages - the remaining classes will follow shortly. Death Knights With Blood being the.... Click to read more .

Cyanide Poison Reminder Updated for Cataclysm

I've got round to updating the Cyanide Poison Reminder (CPR) so that it will also offer warnings when the poison on your thrown-weapon is close to running out (or missing!). By default the addon only monitors mainhand/offhand poisons, but the command '/cypr thon' will enable thrown-weapon checking ('/cypr thoff' to turn it off again). It's quite a small addon that doesn't really do anything fancy, other than pop up warnings every minute when your poisons have expired or are close to running.... Click to read more .

Resurrected!

After two months spent out of game (thanks go to a knackered graphics card and an ISP who decided throttling me down to 2.5k download would be a laugh) I'm back and once again enjoying WoW. In all honesty I was unsure if I'd return - being forced to have time off killed my interest in the game some what, especially as I was unsure if I'd get back before the season ended. However, an evening spent talking to Cragrock got me to activate my subscription, so I'm back in game at last! I don't.... Click to read more .

Cataclysm Rogue Talent Tree, A Quick Glance

I haven't had a chance yet to play around with talent specs, but I've just taken a look at the (current) rogue talent tree for Cataclysm. The link is here at www.wowtal.com. A few new talents have found their way into the tree and a lot of things have moved around. Assassination Deadly Momentum After killing an opponent that yields experience or honor, gives you a 50% chance per talent point to refresh Slice and Dice or Recuperate to their original duration. PVE/levelling talent,.... Click to read more .

Know Your Enemy – Hunters

Warning, pre-cataclysm content detected! This article was written before patch 4 went live and will contain information that may no longer be relevant. While not as troublesome as frost mages or resto druids, hunters have more than enough tricks up their sleeves to make things pretty hard for you. Without your cooldowns, rogue vs hunter is not only virtually impossible to win, it's also mostly impossible to escape from. A hunter has a lot of defensive abilities on short cooldowns so you.... Click to read more .

Anesthetic Poison in PVP

Warning, pre-cataclysm content detected! This article was written before patch 4 went live and will contain information that may no longer be relevant. Wound poison and Deadly poison may be the staple poisons for a rogue, but there are a couple of situations where it can pay to make a quick switch to anesthetic poison. You will naturally need an extra weapon handy (with a weapon chain if needed), but if anything, it's a way of getting a bit more life out of an old dagger. I'm currently.... Click to read more .