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Since patch 4.0.1 combat rogues have taken a very nasty blow to their DPS. Many people are struggling to cope with the changes and thinking of retiring as a combat rogue entirely. This post will hopefully provide some useful information about these problems as well as provide help for the combat rogues out there that haven’t yet given up hope.
In terms of how each build stacks up against the other the current rumours are that Mutilate and Subtlety are the new PVE kings leaving combat in the dust. While this may be true to some extent it’s not quite time to hang up your combat axes just yet.
First of all I’d like to bring your attention to the first post in the EJ Patch 4.0.1 rogue thread which provides a brief summary of what we know so far:
Okay, which of those is best?
Good question. We don’t know.
But…
We don’t know. Stop asking.
Quoted from Elitist Jerks Forums
With this in mind remember that Blizzard are indeed thinking about this problem as well. With raiding coming to a close in Wrath and Cataclysm a mere weeks away now it’s up to us to perfect our combat rogues and embrace the changes. It is a very real threat that we combat rogues may have to switch to Mutilate or Sub but I wouldn’t jump into action just yet.
It seems Blizzard is aware of the problems facing combat rogues at the moment and are starting to attempt to fix things slowly. Many combat rogue abilities have been buffed along with mastery values already. You can also expect many more changes to come in the future too so do not despair quite yet, let’s give them a chance to fix things first.
Mastery
Both Combat rogues and Mutilate rogues saw a boost in mastery but only Mutilate rogues seem to have benefited from the boost. Mastery EP values for Mutilate have increased to 1.9 up from 1.7 which now makes it a reforge-able stat for them in place of white hit. This means Mutilate rogues can now reforge crit into mastery on gear that already has haste on it, once they are above the poison cap. Unfortunately, combat rogues have not seen this beloved change and remain at an EP value of 0.6 meaning Mastery is still very much worthless.
This is a massive problem for combat rogues and leaves us with a bitter taste in our mouths. The promises of 400% mastery rating effectiveness now even out at about 60% and still the stat is sub-standard as a reforging option. Not exactly the diamond studded stat we were hoping for.
Macros
The humble combat rogue now has plenty of macros to juggle for seamless game play. With the introduction of Revealing Strike and the strong favour of rupture rotations it seems we will need macros more so than ever now to improve our rotation accuracy. For many of you hardcore raiding rogues out there with Engineering this can seem very daunting and more than a bit of a headache.
For engineers they should already have something like this for their macros:
/Cast Sinister Strike
/Cast Saronite Bomb
This macro allows the user to activate their Saronite Bombs whenever they do not have enough energy to perform a Sinister Strike. This allows them to click the aoe symbol on the location they want to throw the bomb whenever the bomb has cooled down without needing to keep an eye on the item during the encounter.
/Use Aldriana’s Gloves of Secrecy
This macro uses the rogue gloves with the engineering enchant Hyperspeed Accelerators on it. The glove name will change depending on your own gloves of course.
You may also wish to add another macro which rotates between Sprint and Rocket Boots on a single key to cut down on extra key space.
With regards to your rotation you should consider a sequence macro to rotate a single button between your finisher of choice and Revealing Strike. This will help to prevent you from pressing RvS at the wrong time or forgetting it and missing it entirely. This button should then follow a slightly different rotation method to accommodate for this.
A cast sequence macro is very simple and should look something like this:
/castsequence reset=2 Revealing Strike, Eviscerate
This will rotate between Revealing Strike and Eviscerate once pressed. You will need to follow something similar to this rotation to use this properly:
1. SS x 3
2. SnD
3. SS x 3
4. EvisMacro
5. if combo points = 5 then Evis Macro, if combo points = 4 then SS x 1 then Evis Macro
You should also include rupture into this rotation if properly glyphed etc particularly for tank and spank fights. Rupture will also need to follow the same rules with an RVS/Rupture cast sequence macro.
However, you can also use the macro constantly at 4 points and then use an alternative evis only button at 5 combo points to be even more accurate. This is because it is unavoidable to waste combo points as a combat rogue but RvS decreases your dps if used after 5 CP. This is what makes combat rotations and abilities so much more confusing and hard to master. Do not expect to perfect this rotation overnight no matter how skilled you are. If you are having troubles with your new macros or rotation then spend long periods of time on the training dummies! Hours, weeks, months if you have to to make sure you perfect the rotation as much as possible.
Gear Scaling
This is also a major problem for combat rogues. Mutilate always had the upper hand for raiding builds until combat started reaching new levels of gear scaling that mutilate could not hope to achieve. With the removal of Armor Penetration from the game it looks like combat rogues in current gear are suffering tremendously. No longer able to take advantage of crazy gear scaling our dps has actually taken a blow overall from pre-patch dps as opposed to Mutilate rogues who have seen an increase to dps. This is where many rogues have started crying into their pillows at night. It was supposed that Mastery when boosted might fix some of these problems for us but as of yet we’ve seen no beneficial changes overall.
Weapons
Okay okay enough bad news already! Notice this post from WoW Insider about weapons for combat rogues:
Combat rogues can use any main-hand weapon, as long as it’s slow.
If I’m using an axe in my main hand, as I often do, I want to be using an axe in my off hand. It’s just that simple. However, with Combat Potency and Deadly Poison emphasizing the importance of a quick off-hand weapon, daggers are going to yield better DPS
Quoted from WoW Insider
Sounds like bad news to many who like symmetrical weaponry (myself included) but think about this for a moment… at least we can start stealing all those tasty daggers from the Mutilate rogues in earnest now. No longer will we have to wait for a lucky drop of say umm 2 axes or so from ICC that fit the bill. Now we can roll on those daggers too unashamedly and that gives us all a much better chance of getting a decent level of gear from those with unlucky weapon drops. Not to mention [Heaven's Fall, Kryss of a Thousand Lies] we were previously unable to roll on. Okay so it’s not enough to make us a raiding viable build but it brings a quiet smile to some. Of course do not forget our optimal weapon speed for an Off-Hand dagger is 1.4 unlike the Heaven’s Fall.
It’s also worth mentioning that our AoE ability Fan of Knives now requires us to have a thrown weapon in our offhand. This means bows and guns are now pretty sub standard for rogues and should be left for other classes to fight over.
Cool downs
Many of our favourite staple cool downs have changed and the mechanics that affect them have also changed. Make sure you are familiar with these changes thoroughly, one of your DPS problems could actually stem from a poor cool down management. For example, you can now use abilities during Killing Spree! So do not wait for the teleporting to finish anymore, keep bashing your rotation out throughout it.
In addition do not ever touch Blade Flurry on a boss! The haste benefit from Blade Flurry is now on Adrenaline Rush instead and Blade Flurry also comes with a significant energy decrease while active. This means using Blade Flurry for any single target mob will always decrease your DPS.
Try to time Killing Spree with your passive proc Bandits Guile to maximise KS damage.
Remember many cool downs are now much shorter and also can be further reduced by finishers. With this in mind keep an eye on your cool downs and make sure they are popped on every cool down as much as possible.
It will definitely take time to sort out your cool downs, macros and rotations so they feel natural to you again. Take some time on the practice dummies and also jump into heroics to practice your cool downs and multiple mob techniques.
Gear Sets
If you were the type of rogue to horde side grades or to partake in an alternative PVE Mutilate spec then now is the time to go through your bags and bank and sort out all your gear. Perhaps there are some secret upgrades you have stored away that could be of use to you? Since the stat changes and particularly the Arp removal from the game many of your old gear alternatives may suddenly become better options for your gear. Play around with your gear set, enter in EP values if you have to to sort out which ones may be more beneficial to you. What was BiS for you pre-patch 4.0.1 may not be so great for you anymore.
What to Do
- Practice on the training dummy until your fingers bleed
- Await a nice new spreadsheet preferably from Aldriana!
- Play with macros to make your rotation easier.
- Play with your cool downs in heroics.
- Roll on daggers for your offhand.
- Make sure your rogue is fully up to date with gems, enchants, reforging.
- Play with your gear sets.
- Make sure your Ranged weapon is a thrown in order to use FoK.
Doing all of this won’t suddenly grant you insane combat powers and allow you to beat those pesky mutilate rogues, but it can mean you hold your own against them to a reasonable standard while you wait out the storm. Don’t give up your combat rogue just yet if combat is what you truly love to play. We can wait a little longer while we find out how things are going to develop for combat rogues.
(5 votes, average: 3.60 out of 5)
