With the return of Season of Discovery, Rogue will get some shiny new runes! This guide will cover everything you need to know to maximize DPS in a level 25 Blackfathom Deeps 10-man raid.

Best Races

For Alliance, the best choice for PVE raid scenarios is always Humans. This preference stems from the significant advantages offered by Sword Specialization and Mace Specialization.

These Specializations improve your weapon expertise. So this reduces the amount of equipment you need by about 3%, saving you a lot on the cost of your WOW Classic SOD Gold.

On Horde side, Orcs stand out as versatile options for both PVE and PVP scenarios. Extra cooldowns, Blood Fury, and increased resistance to crowd control through Hardiness make Orc Rogues a formidable contender in a variety of situations.

Basic Rotation

The rotation of Daggers, Sword or Mace Rogues is different, mainly because Sword and Mace Rogues add Saber Slash. Here are the recommended rotations for a Rogue PVE setting in Season of Discovery.

Dagger Rogue Rotation

First use Mutilate, Slice and Dice. Then repeat Mutilate until you get 5 Combo Points. At this point, if the enemy has 5 layers of Deadly Poison, use Envenom. Otherwise, use Slice and Dice.

Then repeat this rotation while keeping Slice and Dice active and timing your Envenoms to consume as much Deadly Poison as possible without limiting energy.

Also Read: How To Level Up Faster In WoW Season Of Discovery? - Waylaid Supply Crates

Sword Or Mace Rogue Rotation

First, we use Saber Slash, Slice and Dice until we have 3 stacks on the enemy. If the enemy has 3 bleeds, use a Sinister Strike. And keep using Saber Slash until you get 5 Deadly Poison.

If Saber Slash has expired, and there are other enemies to deal with, use Slice and Dice. If not, use Envenom.

As with Dagger rotation, repeat this rotation while keeping Slice and Dice active, and time your Envenoms to consume as much Deadly Poison as possible without limiting energy.

In situations where multiple enemies are present and alive for more than 12 seconds, you can stack Saber Slash on the enemy until 3 bleeds, refresh your Slice and Dice, then move to the other enemy and repeat. Continue to bleed any enemy that survives long enough, allowing the bleed to continue for a period.

Best Rogue Runes

While runes and damage parsing are still incomplete, we can infer each rune’s value based on how synergistic it is with your chosen talents and the types of skills and weapons you like to use.

Mutilate Rune only applies to a dagger, and is more effective when the target has been poisoned. Mixing this with Rune of Deadly Brew means you can use 2x instant poison on your dagger, and also use Deadly Poison every time you use instant poison.

From a raid and PVE perspective, Deadly Brew and Envenom Rune are still the best runes to use at level 25. Mutilate Rune only works on Dagger, while Saber Slash lets you apply blood damage over time. You’ll want to stay active on your target.

Talents

Here are the two versions we recommend, depending on whether you want to use Dagger Rogue or Sword/Mace Rogue. There are many variations of these builds available. But once you’re ready for dungeons and raids, this should be a good place to start.

Dagger Rogue

As this guide explains, hit percentage is essential to any Rogue’s stat prioritization. For this reason, we want to find Precision talent. Since we’re not using Sinister Strike and Gouge, we put the first 5 points into Lightning Reflexes to improve survivability.

The 5 points of Precision can increase the hit rate by 5%. Another 3 points of Improved Backstab increase critical hit chance by 30%, which also applies to Mutilate.

For the last 3 points, take advantage of Opportunity in Subtlety Talent Tree, which increases the damage done by Backstab, Garrote, or Ambush skills when attacking from behind by 12%.

Sword Or Mace Rogue

A level 25 Sword or Mace Rogue will want to start in Combat tree. Combat tree also offers an Improved Sinister Strike to reduce its energy consumption.

Take Improved Sinister Strike, Lightning Reflexes for 3 points, then Precision for 5 points for an extra 5% to hit.

After this, the next 5 points in Combat tree don’t really give you any offensive gains, you’re only left with 6 points. Therefore, we put the next 5 points from Assassination Talent Tree into Malice.

For that last bit, add one in Improved Slice and Dice to help keep it on longer.

Consumables

Here are all the consumables that Rogues can use at level 25 to help increase our damage or survivability in Season of Discovery:

• Offensive Consumables
• Elixir of Lesser Agility
• Elixer of Ogre’s Strength
• Defensive Consumables
• Elixir of Fortitude
• Elixir of Defense
• Strong Troll’s Blood Potion

That’s our simple guide to maximizing DPS on your Rogue in Phase 1. With this guide, you’ll be fully prepared to tackle every challenge that comes your way. Hope your raid goes well!