The Subtlety rogue has not always been considered in the past as a viable PVE talent build for rogues and usually only used in PVP situations where it is exceptionally strong. However, since patch 4.0.1 more and more rogues have been testing out Subtlety builds in PV situations and reporting great success. Since the 4.0.1 combat scare many combat rogues switched builds to subtlety too, so this guide should help you on your feet in this relatively new world of PVE DPS for rogues.

Talent Build

First of all you will need a talent build to get you started. At level 80 your talent build should look like this:

Subtlety Talent Build Level 80

If you are looking for level 85 talent builds these have not yet been decided upon but many rogues are leaning towards a Sub/Combat mix for level 85. A good place to start for a level 85 talent build is this:

Subtlety Talent Build Level 85

Rotation

The rotation for Subtlety is often seen by many rogues are the most complex rotation of all three builds. However, once mastered it is very powerful in PVE and particularly excels at single target “tank and spank” fights (i.e. Saurfang ICC).

1. premed/shadow step/ambush =  5 CP
2. SnD
3. hemo/backstab to 5 CP
5. rupture
6. shadow dance/premed/shadowstep/ambush
7. recuperate
8. ambush/backstab to 5 CP
9. eviscerate

It is thought you may want to leave Hemo out entirely except when target switching if you prefer. This is entirely up to you at the moment with the Subtlety rotation.

As you can see from the basic structure of this rotation the idea is to use your ShS/ShD/Ambush where ever possible and fill the remaining time with backstabs to generate combo points. In terms of finishers Subtlety rogues need to keep three main finishers up at all times:

• Slice and Dice
• Rupture
• Recuperate

You may find the inclusion of Recuperate odd as a non damage dealing buff, however coupled with the talent [Energetic Recovery] every time your recuperate ticks you will gain extra energy making recuperate highly valuable. It may seem like a lot to keep up at first but Subtlety rogues also have the talent point [Serrated Blades] which refreshes your rupture every time you use eviscerate.

Therefore once you have all three finishers active you can keep them going by rotating Slice and Dice, Eviscerate and Recuperate finishers. This can be tricky at first so it’s recommended you get as much practice in as possible on a target dummy and in dungeons beforehand.

Glyphs

Glyphs for a subtlety rogue can be tricky to decide upon especially with the major glyphs. Make sure you have a good stock of all the glyphs your sub rogue could use as you may find them very situationally handy.

Major Glyphs

[Glyph of Backstab]

[Glyph of Slice and Dice]

Then one of the following:

[Glyph of Hemorrhage] – Remember that Hemo is worthless without this glyph.
[Glyph of Rupture] – If not using Hemo this will help keep your rotation smooth.

Major Glyphs

[Glyph of Sprint] (Improves Damage Uptime).

Then any other two major glyphs. Good examples are:
[Glyph of Premeditation]
[Glyph of Ambush]

Minor Glyphs

[Glyph of Poisons] (Optional)

[Glyph of Safe Fall] (Highly Recommended)

Then any one other minor glyph.

Weapons

Subtlety Weapon choices are at the moment the same as Mutilate rogues. Sub rogues need to use daggers in order to use Backstab in their rotation and the preferred weapon speed type is 1.8 in the main hand and 1.4 in the off hand.

Stats Priorities

This is the order of priority you should place your stats in when considering reforging and gemming. It is essentially the same as a Combat rogue which mean reforging crit for mastery when poison hit capped is not a good idea in general.

Agility >> Expertise > Spell Hit = Haste > Crit >> White Hit > Mastery > AP.

This means when considering other aspects of Subtlety rogues such as Consumables, Enchants and Reforging looking at combat rogue choices is a good place to start. You can find more information on these here:

Gemming for Rogues

Reforging for Rogues

Enchants and Consumables

Firstly there usually isn’t a considered “rotation” for resto druids like you see with DPS classes. Healing will depend on the situation and requirements of your raid in most situations. However, this guide can help you through the process of picking and choosing spells in an encounter and hopefully stop those pesky DPS classes from dieing too much.

Resto Druid Role

Nothing much has changed in Patch 4.0.1 with regards to resto druid roles. You can adapt your talent build and glyphs to some extent to tailor your role in a raid but for the most part resto druid are designed to be strong supportive raid healers and extra hands on tanks. Most of the resto druid abilities are Heal over Time spells which means we will be mostly dealing with preemptive healing rather than reactive healing. This also means you will not be as strong as other classes when it comes to keeping up tanks or fast on the spot healing in general although good players can be quite competent in these roles.

If you are new to the life of a resto druid it’s a good idea to start with the basics, to master your rotation and spell priority and then start practicing more complex factors to your rotation as you become more comfortable with your druid.

Main Healing Spells or Abilities

[Rejuvenation] This is the resto druid’s main spell in raids. If you are operating correctly in a raid you should expect to see Rejuvenation as the most commonly used spell on the meters. This spell should be aimed firstly at tanks then on anyone taking damage or due to take damage especially if dot based and finally anyone expected to take damage within the raid for example melee DPS. If you have any spare time during a raid, throw Rejuvenations at anyone who doesn’t have one yet.

[Wild Growth] This is our group heal and our main way of coping with group damage in a raid. It has a very short cooldown so for heavy damage encounters it can be used almost constantly on every CD. It is often also used a reactive group heal and for topping up a group. Wild growth automatically targets the 5-6 people with the lowest HP but they must also be within range of the druid so make sure you are in a central location to those that need the heal the most. This often means melee clusters or centrally in the ranged area. You can now target the heal onto another player to set up a new radius for the heal around that person instead of yourself.

[Nourish] This is a cheap but slow heal mainly used if you’re in a tight spot and need a reactive heal without using up too much mana. However, with our large mana pools at level 80 it’s not likely you will need to use this heal.

[Regrowth] The better version of Nourish. This heal will complete a very quick reactive heal on your target especially useful if they are near death or a HoT won’t cut it. It then applies a HoT afterwards to ensure that pesky DPS stays alive. Regrowth is used on tanks coupled with Rejuvenation and also as a reactive and protective heal throughout the raid.

[Healing Touch] This spell is generally not used on it’s own as it’s very slow to cast and uses up a lot of mana. However it is a very powerful heal and very useful when used in conjunction with Nature’s Swiftness (NS) which makes it an instant cast. This heal is best used on tanks that are taking too much damage such as from soft enrages or general infrequent abilities. It can also be used to heal others in trouble but without Nature’s Swiftness you’ll find other healers beat you to the punch. NS has a 3 minutes cool down so it’s a good idea to save it for tanks and sticky situations.

[Lifebloom] This spell places a small heal over time on the target and gives them a small heal when it is removed or finished. This HoT becomes particularly powerful when stacked (up to 3 times) making it a very strong HoT which is especially useful for tank healing. When used in conjunction with rejuvenation and regrowth on the tank resto druids become very powerful tank support healers.

[Swiftmend] is now a Restoration specialisation. This spell provides a small instant heal on players that already have one of your HoT’s on them. Since you should be popping HoT’s left right and center this shouldn’t be a problem. Coupled with the glyph that allows you to use swiftmend without consuming the HoT buff this is a very good reactive heal for tight spots. It has a 15 second cool down so can be used frequently throughout the encounter on anyone with low health.

Tree of Life

[Tree of Life Form] replaces our ability to shape-shift into trees as standard during an encounter and is now a 30 second duration spell with a 3 minutes cool down. This cool down improves our healing in general as well as improve a few select healing spells in a specific way:

Lifebloom – Now cast-able on any number of targets.
Wild Growth – Now affects up to 2 additional people.
Regrowth: Now instant cast.

This means Tree of Life form is particularly useful when the entire group starts taking insane damage, when tanks start getting flattened or just in general when healing is tight. You will only be able to use this once or twice during an encounter so it’s best to save this spell for when you need it. If you know the encounter should have no need for it, you can pop it at the start of the fight and lifebloom your little wooden heart out and then again when it’s cooled down.

Tank Rotation

If the tanks are taking a lot of damage in general or if you are on tank duty use predictive heals:

• [Rejuvenation]
• [Regrowth]
• [Lifebloom] x 3

Keep all HoT’s active on the tank at all times. You may also wish to throw some HoT’s on the off tank in your spare time.

For serious tank damage use reactive heals in addition to your predictive heals:

• [Swiftmend]
• About to die? – Nature’s Swiftness & [Healing Touch]
• [Regrowth] until swiftmend is available again or until damage eases up.

Group Healing

General rule of thumb:

• [Rejuvenation] on all targets taking damage especially DoT based damage.
• [Rejuvenation] on all targets you expect to take damage soon.
• [Regrowth] on targets with low health and possibly taking damage.
• [Swiftmend] on anyone with low health or in need of a top up on every cool down.
• [Wild Growth] as necessary or when you predict group damage.

For intensive healing:

• Same as above but with [Wild Growth] on almost every cool down with intensive HoT placement in between.
• Use [Tree of Life Form] for emergencies.
• Use Tranquility in emergencies.

Adapting your Rotation

The above rotations are just general guidelines for you to follow. Do not be afraid to adapt your rotation as necessary, this can be on a per fight basis or even mid-flow. As you progress with your druid healing skills you will learn to adapt and tailor your druid healing experience in your own way to fully develop as a raiding healer and become a valuable asset to anyone’s team. Remember that while your mana supply is copious at Level 80 this will all change at Level 85 in Cataclysm so be prepared for future mana management.

Tree Healing Calculator

To help you get to grips with your tree and your healing capabilities you may wish to try out one of the many Druid Healing calculators. Tree Calcs displays estimated HPS for a variety of standard rotations, estimated OOM time and mana regen expenditure and requirements. This can help you see how minor changes to your druid could affect your healing throughput and more. More information on this useful tool can be found at TreeBarkJacket.

Further to my previous post on Discipline Priest Talent Changes in patch 4.0.1, today I’m going to discuss Gemming options, Glyphs, Consumables and reforging as a Disc Priest. First of all before we begin, it has been noted for Gems, enchants and consumables that you could probably just stick to what you have for now and see how you do in raiding first before you make any drastic changes. Discipline priests were remarkably over powered prior to the patch and now post-patch it looks like they are something bordering on superhuman. So with that in mind you may be comfortable as you are while you wait for Cataclysm even if you are still raiding.

Glyphs

These are the current best glyphs according to the Elitist Jerks Discipline guides. Some of these may be optional or dependant on your build specifics so don’t be afraid of playing with them.

Prime Glyphs:

[Glyph of Penance]
[Glyph of Power Word: Shield]
[Glyph of Prayer of Healing]

The first two glyphs are pretty standard and are must haves for all disc priests. You may wish to consider [Glyph of Renew] if you are an Improved Renew Build Disc Priest especially for fights such as Valithra but this is optional. However [Glyph of Prayer of Healing] should be your main used glyph as it provides a much larger benefit for most fights.

Major Glyphs:
[Glyph of Holy Nova]
[Glyph of Divine Accuracy]
[Glyph of Dispel Magic]

These glyphs are a little less convincing for many people. [Glyph of Dispel Magic] is a good choice if you are on dispel duty often in raids all in all. However the top two glyphs are not so important for raid healing unless you are going for the “Heal through DPS” build. If you are not going for this build then these two glyphs could be replaced by others. For example, [Glyph of Fear Ward] and [Glyph of Mass Dispel] would be particularly handy on fights such as Heroic Blood Queen. You could even choose [Glyph of Fade] if you for some reason have threat issues.

Minor Glyphs:
[Glyph of Shadowfiend]
[Glyph of Levitate]
[Glyph of Fortitude]

These three glyphs while optional do provide decent benefits for you in a raiding environment. [Glyph of Shadowfiend] provides additional mana if your shadow fiend dies prematurely however this can be interchanged with [Glyph of Fading] instead if you find your shadowfiend simply doesn’t die and especially if you use fade a lot. [Glyph of Levitate] helps to keep those pesky fire loving DPS out of trouble as well as all purpose use around Azeroth. Finally [Glyph of Fortitude] is highly beneficial if someone has been battle ressed in a raid and needs re-buffing, this glyph should never really be overlooked.

Gems

Intellect is the new wow factor stat for Discipline Priests (and other casters alike) since it is the only way to obtain additional spell power since patch 4.0.1. As such your gemming options should look something like this:

Red Sockets: 20 Intellect [Brilliant Cardinal Ruby]

Yellow Sockets: 10 Intellect 10 Haste [Reckless Ametrine]
Unless haste capped then: 20 Intellect [Brilliant Cardinal Ruby]

Blue Sockets: 20 Intellect [Brilliant Cardinal Ruby]

In summary, if you are haste capped (a bit of reforging should do this anyway if you aren’t already) then your best bet is to ignore all socket bonuses and gem for pure intellect. You don’t need anything except red gems to activate your meta gem so you don’t need to worry about that at least. Socket bonuses as they are, are simply not enough of a benefit to outweigh the extra 10 intellect you get with gemming for pure Intellect, even with a small amount of regen tacked on.

Enchants and Consumables

Generally speaking you should begin by keeping your enchants and consumables as they are. Flasks and Food for instance still provide pure SP bonuses. Since there is no such thing (just yet anyway) as intellect food for level 80 raiding, your best options for food and flasks remain [Firecracker Salmon] (or fish feasts) and [Flask of the Frost Wyrm].

Enchanting wise, you wont see any differences either. Since no new Intellect enchants have popped up things are pretty much the same as they always have been, spell power enchants will remain BiS alongside the increasingly popular Tuskar’s Vitality for boots.

Reforging as a Disc Priest

The one stat all disc priest currently drool over is Mastery. That’s because it directly affects the absorption amount of shields and yet prior to Cataclysm there is no way of stacking Mastery with enhancements like gems. Therefore the one stat of choice for reforging your gear will be mastery. When reforging gear take note of the following order of preference:

Crit < Haste until capped < Regen < Mastery

Since we cannot reforge any stats into Intellect these are the four stats we will be dealing with. First and foremost you can take it as a given that you will want to reforge all the crit on your gear to a more beneficial stat. Crit is still not that worthwhile for disc priests and is botom our priority ladder. Secondly check your Haste against the Haste cap. With the changes in patch 4.0.1 the haste cap is now 19% (was 5%) so make sure you reach this number first before considering anything else. If you are under the haste cap, check to see if gemming Int/Haste gems in your yellow sockets will finish off the job. Then if you still need to, pick out all the gear on your priest that does not have the haste stat on it and reforge the crit into haste. However ideally, you want to get as much mastery as possible instead.

Once you are haste capped or as close as you possibly can go with your current gear and reforging, Start reforging the rest of your gear to mastery. This means reforging crit into Mastery or in the case of those who are easily over the haste cap, reforging haste into mastery if there is no crit on the item. Don’t worry about touching your regen stats.

Ideally you want to simply reforge all your crit into mastery rating whilst staying at (or above) the haste cap. Alternatively you can simply fully reforge to mastery.

In patch 4.0.1 some of the favourable enchants and consumables for rogues have changed due to the tweaks and changes to our stats. This means many rogues will need to re-enchant some of their gear and purchase new food to ensure they are ready for raiding and maximising their DPS. This post will not only detail which of these enchants and consumables have changed or remain the same but also why they have changed using EP values as our basis for comparison.

EP Values

EP stands for Equivalency Points and is the measure by which we can determine the “worth” of each stat compared to other stats. In order to calculate which enchants and consumables will be the best DPS gains for a rogue in patch 4.0.1 we will need to use the new 4.0.1 EP Values for rogues. Today we will just be looking at Mutilate and Combat rogue EP values although Sub values may be released soon.

Combat EP Values

• Agility 2.88
• Crit 1.62
• Haste 2.25
• Mastery 0.60
• Expertise 2.20
• Spell Hit 2.38
• White Hit 1.69
• Attack Power 1

Mutilate EP Values

• Agility 2.8
• Crit 1.4
• Haste 2.2
• Mastery 1.7
• Expertise 2.6
• Spell Hit 3.1
• White Hit 1.7
• Attack Power 1

Using these values we can now determine which buffs and enhancements are going to be the best DPS increase for rogues and make some comparisons to re-evaluate the old top contenders.

Weapon Enchants

Old Weapon Enchants: [Berserking] MH, [Berserking] OH
EP Value of Berserking: 400 x 1 = 400 EP

Mongoose (same proc rate)
Combat: 120 Agility + 30 Haste = (2.88 x 120) + (30 x 2.25) = 413.1 EP
Mutilate: 120 Agility + 30 Haste = (2.8 x 120) + (30 x 2.2) = 402 EP

Therefore our new MH and OH enchants are: [Mongoose] MH, [Mongoose] OH.

It’s worth mentioning that for a while it looked like black magic may be a contender for combat OH weapons. However this was resolved as a slight error in the Combat 4.0.1 Spreadsheet (created by Lightshadow) and has now been ruled out as a possibility.

Armor Enchants

Only a few of the enchants for armor need to be modified. Essentially speaking if you have any Attack Power enchants on your gear you should consider swapping them out for Agility enchants instead. Here is the new complete list of armor enchants for a rogue in patch 4.0.1:

• Head – [Arcanum of Torment]
• Shoulders – [Greater Inscription of the Axe]
• Back -[Major Agility] NEW
• Chest - [Powerful Stats]
• Wrists - [Greater Assault]
• Hands - [Major Agility] NEW
• Waist – [Eternal Belt Buckle]
• Legs – [Icescale Leg Armor]
• Feet – [Superior Agility] NEW or [Tusker's Vitality]

From this we can see that the back, hands and feet enchants have changed to the agility ones. We can see why by simply plugging in the EP values of each enchant.

Back: [Major Agility] versus [Greater Speed]

22 Agility= 63.36 EP (Combat) and 61.6 EP (Mutilate).
23 Haste = 51.75 EP (Combat) and 50.6 EP (Mutilate).

Hands: [Major Agility] versus [Crusher]

20 Agility = 57.6 EP (Combat) and 56 EP (Mutilate).
44 AP = 44 EP (Combat and Mutilate).

Feet: [Superior Agility] versus [Greater Assault]

16 Agility = 46.08 EP (Combat) and 44.8 EP (Mutilate)
32 AP = 32 EP (Combat and Mutilate).

Consumables

The flask we use will remain the same. We compared it to the [Elixir of Mighty Agility] just in case and these were the results:

[Flask of Endless Rage] : 180 AP = 180 EP
[Elixir of Mighty Agility] : 45 Agility = 129.6 EP (Combat) and 126 EP (Mutilate).

Therefore the [Flask of Endless Rage] is still the best option for rogues in raids.

For food we no longer have use of Armor Penetration food (Combat only) since the stat has been removed. Combat rogues will therefore need to get rid of their old [Hearty Rhino] as it has now become crit which is quite worthless. We have compared all the major food groups to find out the new winner for both Mutilate and Combat rogues:

Haste Food: 40 Haste Rating
40 Haste = 40 x 2.25 = 90 EP (Combat)
40 Haste = 40 x 2.2 = 88 EP (Mutilate)

Agility Food: 40 Agility
40 Agility = 40 x 2.88 = 115.2 EP (Combat)
40 Agility = 40 x 2.8 = 112 EP (Mutilate)

Attack Power Food: 80 AP (Includes fish feast)
80 AP = 80 x 1 = 80 EP (Combat and Mutilate)

Hit Food: 40 Hit Rating
40 Hit = 40 x 1.69 = 67.6 EP (Combat)
40 Hit = 40 x 1.7 = 68 EP (Mutilate)

Crit Food: 30 Crit Rating
30 Crit = 30 x 1.62 = 48.6 EP (Combat)
30 Crit = 30 x 1.4 = 42 EP (Mutilate)

Therefore the Agility food [Blackened Dragonfin] is now the best food to use in raids for both Mutilate and Combat rogues.

There have been some huge changes in the latest World of Warcraft patch, none so drastic as those given to the hunter class. The most notable of these being hunters no longer use mana, but instead now use focus. Focus generates much like a rogue’s energy, by slowly building up.

Another major change is the removal of ammunition. Guns, bows, and crossbows now do damage without consuming ammo and consequently there will be no more ammo slot on the hunter’s character display. 

The big move from mana to focus means our shots will cost focus now and in doing so the way in which we play our hunter entirely changes. Playing the hunter class will now take a fair bit more concentration and skill as we never want to be capped at 100 focus nor have our focus too low so that we always have the option for burst or any of our utility abilities. Gone are the days of an almost unlimited mana pool where we did not have to sacrifice our big shots for much weaker ones and where we had the luxury of spamming volley. Enter the age where we will weed out the good hunters from the bad due to the more difficult class mechanics. 

Recommended Marksman level 80 build 2/31/3 

The build above focuses on boss dps output and is currently recommended as the best Marksman level 80 dps build by the clever minds at warcrafthuntersunion. Please remember that it is still early days and everything is subject to change. None of this is final and all information will be reviewed and updated once the wrinkles have been ironed out over the next few weeks of testing. 

The following choices where made while trying to reach [ Chimera Shot ] at the bottom of the tree. 

• Omit [ Concussive Barrage ] as it does not work on bosses and does not provide a dps gain.
• While there has been some discussion on the topic of whether to include [ Silencing Shot ], I believe that it is beneficial to do so as it does not cost a GCD, you can macro it into your other shots and most importantly if using the [ Glyph of Silencing Shot ] you get back 10 focus from a free shot which can ultimately be a dps boost.
• There has also been a lot of speculation surrounding whether to put 1 or 2 points in [ Careful Aim ]. Currently at level 80 with a majority of players being icc geared and therefore already having a ton of crit, it can be argued that much of the second point is wasted. However others argue that raid buffs now are contributing much less crit than they did before which would make a second point in Careful Aim the best dps choice over talents such as [ Rapid Killing ], [ Resistance is Futile ], or a second point in [ Bombardment ]. 
• There has not been enough testing done with Bombardment as yet , so it may be the case that further testing will show 2 points here will be more beneficial then filling either Careful Aim or [ Sick’em! ] for example. But being a situational talent it is unlikely.
• [ Marked For Death ] is an interesting talent and one that is worth grabbing. In a single target fight it has limited use as you can use [ Hunter’s Mark ] but the fact that you don’t have to worry about reapplying Hunter’s Mark on long fights means that you can focus solely on your dps rotation. It’s most beneficial use is for raid fights where you have to switch between adds. It allows you to apply the Marked For Death debuff to multiple targets and ultimately means 1 free GCD every time you switch targets.
• Sick’em! was chosen as a filler talent, boosting your dps slightly by allowing your pet to convert much more focus into damage.
• Resistance is Futile has been a confusing talent and one which is omitted as the Marksman build does not currently use [ Kill Command ] within its rotation.
• There are 5 floating points to be used in other trees. Currently the preference is 3 points in [ Pathing ] for the haste boost and 2 points in [ One With Nature ]. There has been argument over the fact that the small dps increase for the 2 points in One With Nature is not worth it and that it might be more beneficial to spend the 2 extra points in [ Improved Serpent Sting ]. Only time and more testing will tell.

Rotation

As can be expected hunters are noticing significant dps losses since the patch 4.0.1 changes. This is probably largely due to hunters struggling to get used to the more challenging focus based system and either getting capped at 100 focus or finding themselves with not enough focus to perform their rotation correctly. All hunter rotations in patch 4.0.1 are priority based. Below is one recommended shot priority rotation for a Marksman Hunter. 

1. If there is no Marked for Death or Hunter’s Mark on the target and the target’s health does not allow for [ Kill Shot ]
    ——> Cast Hunter’s Mark
2. If Kill Shot is off cool down and target’s health is below 20%
   ——> Cast Kill Shot
3. If [ Serpent Sting ] is not on target and you have enough focus
   ——> Cast Serpent Sting
4. If Chimera Shot is off cool down and you have enough focus
   ——> Cast Chimera Shot
5. If [ Master Marksman ] buff is up and focus won’t over cap
    ——> Cast [ Aimed Shot ]
6. If [ Steady Shot ] won’t over cap focus and [ Improved Steady Shot ] buff needs a refresh
    ——> Cast Steady Shot
7. If you have enough focus to cast an [ Arcane Shot ] and then have enough left over to cast Chimera Shot whenever it comes off cool down
   ——> Cast Arcane Shot
8. If none of the above
   ——> Cast Steady Shot

We can see that this rotation will definitely require some concentration and may be quite challenging for some if not most players at first. The hardest part of this rotation will be managing the Improved Steady Shot buff. You will want to fire Steady Shot in pairs to maintain this buff as much as possible. It will provide a decent haste increase which will make your rotation somewhat hard to optimize. For example there will be times when it will be more beneficial to hold off on your free Aimed Shot proc if it hits after just one Steady Shot. The rationalization here is that it is better to wait 1.5 seconds or so on Aimed Shot and casting another Steady Shot then letting the Improved Steady Shot buff drop for 3 or more seconds. 

For those of you that still feel a bit overwhelmed by this rotation, fear not! I have attached a video clip of a Marksman Hunter rotation created by Frostheim from warcrafthuntersunion. Please note this rotation is somewhat outdated as it uses obsolete casts such as Scorpid Sting, but on the whole it provides a great visual guide on how our rotation works. 

Furthermore to give you that extra edge on all those other Marksman hunters out there, I have attached some of the Power Auras scripts I use to keep track of my Improved Steady Shot buff, Chimera Shot cool down and Master Marksman buff (free Aimed Shot proc). I find these to be invaluable and hopefully you will make good use of them to. Import the snippets below using the Import function within Power Auras. Also check out how they look in the image attached below.

1. Ready, Set, Aim… -  This keeps track of your Master Marksman stacks so you can easily identify when your Aimed Shot it is ready.
   Version:3.0.0W; icon:Ability_Hunter_MasterMarksman; buffname:Ready, Set, Aim…; alpha:1; owntex:true; exact:true; size:0.15; y:251; texmode:2; stacks.enabled:true; stacks.Relative:TOP; stacks.Transparent:true@
2. Fire! – Second part of the macro above, inidicating when you should hit Aimed Shot.
   Version:3.0.0W; anim1:4; icon:INV_Spear_07; buffname:Fire!; owntex:true; size:0.3; y:249; texmode:2; timer.enabled:true; timer.Relative:TOP; timer.Transparent:true@
3. Chimera Shot – This keeps track of your Chimera Shot timer.
   Version:3.0.0W; icon:Ability_Hunter_ChimeraShot2; buffname:Chimera Shot; x:250; groupany:false; timerduration:10; unitn:Only for raid/group.; bufftype:7; owntex:true; stacksOperator:=; PowerType:0; spec1:false; combat:true; size:0.12; y:56; texmode:2; inverse:true; timer.h:1.49; timer.Texture:Digital; timer.enabled:true; timer.Relative:RIGHT; timer.Transparent:true@

Final Note

There are some exciting and challenging times ahead for us hunters. I think like with anything once the new focus concept is thoroughly tested, optimized and practiced we will see improvements in our dps. I believe that similar to the builds pre patch 4.0.1 we will see Marksman pull ahead as the top dps build at higher gear levels. However in saying that it should be noted that Marksman once again seems to be the more difficult to play out of the 3 tree choices and a player that is only competent at their class could likely see more dps from the easier rotation that Survival provides. I think it will only be the very good players that will see the advantage Marksman dps will have over Survival dps.

With the new patch 4.0.1 many things are changing in the World of Warcraft. Most discipline healers it seems are having a pretty hard time figuring out what Blizzard intended with the new discipline talent tree. It’s a confusing time indeed; there is a new almost pointless spell (Heal), another new not-so-pointless spell (Power Word: Barrier) and some DPS talents mixed into our tree with healing side effects. Along with the new Mastery stat the patch has left much head-scratching and general bewilderment in its wake. Fear not, fellow Azerothian bubble blowers, there is still something to be done!

The Talent Builds

There is basically a choice between three approaches to a discipline talent build for patch 4.0.1. We can either: A) use our experience in WotLK to craft a level 80 healing build so we can continue raiding until the expansion or B) try to guess at what Blizzard wants us to do in Cataclysm and start building a new talent tree for that or C) go for all of the semi-interesting-looking shiny new talents and play with them to see what they do. It turns out that B and C are actually very similar and the resulting talent build is pretty much the one Elitist Jerks came up with. Option A was my choice and the talent build is my own design. You can find them below:

• Option A: 31/2/3
• Options B, C: 31/3/2

Discussion

Basically, in the first set of talents you will notice I have avoided all talents that include some form of DPS. This is largely because I have faith in Blizzard and don’t believe that they would ever force a healer to DPS and that in fact the DPS options are either to be used for leveling or for PVP. I have stayed with several classic talents that are still there and should still prove useful to us in raids at the moment and have gone with a focus toward spamming shields and throwing around Penance and Renew. I have never been a Greater Heal user and so I have stayed clear of Divine Fury and Empowered Healing, although due to the Borrowed Time nerf and the loss of the 6% haste talent I have opted for Darkness. The second option from Elitist Jerks has taken all the DPS talents (Evangelism, Archangel and Atonement) and is also Greater Heal focused, taking Divine Fury and Train of Thought in addition to Darkness.

It is important to bear in mind that there has not really been enough testing to verify exactly which talent build is the best as yet, and with Cataclysm things will probably change again as we learn more. In the meantime you are more or less free to do what you like. These talent builds are only meant as a guide to steer you toward some workable build. Feel free to customize to your heart’s content and find what works best for you. Happy healing and have fun!

Rotations

So how does this affect your rotation as a discipline priest in patch 4.0.1? Essentially speaking the healing rotation remains very much the same. Make sure you spam shields everywhere (particularly if you are the only disc healer). Fire off PoM’s to the tanks on every cool down unless you have a holy priest with you in the raid. In which case, fire your PoM’s at DPS players that tend to take a lot of damage instead as the Holy priest will have the tanks covered.

Make use of your new ability [Power Word: Barrier] whenever you know the group is going to take large amounts of AoE damage. It has a large (3 minute) cool down so you won’t be able to keep it up on AoE intensive fights all the time. This ability is most useful in large AoE damage situations when you need extra damage control. For example, the last Whiteout on Toravon before he goes down, the second Fear on BQHeroic, and similar situations. Ideally you want to get as many people as possible under the barrier so it is best used on the melee and tanks in an encounter as the ranged are more likely to be spread out across the room. Festergut for example provides a nice lump of Melee DPS and tanks in the center of the room where barrier could be useful to reduce damage.

Disc priests will still have two basic specialities just like before the patch. Essentially the disc world is divided between Renew and Flash builds versus Greater Heal builds. Whichever heals you choose will depend on your talent build and how you placed your optional talent points. Again, nothing much has changed here, renew and flash heals are more suitable for raid healing and greater heals are more for tank healing. Disc priest who opt for tank healing may also enjoy the new [Heal] coupled with 2/2 points in [Strength of Soul] to reduce your Weakened Soul debuff time by 4 seconds allowing you to have a much more fluid shielding rotation on the target.

You can also pop out your Shadowfiend just before a heroism so that it takes advantage of the haste buff and give your raid some extra DPS. As a disc priest in patch 4.0.1 it’s very unlikely you will ever run out of mana in a Wrath raid so do not worry about saving this cool down.

Right now everything is being argued over, theorycrafters are gouging each other’s eyes out with an ice scream scoop called “math” while others are stabbing “combat log” shivs into their backs. So with everyone humming about this latest patch what have they said about glyphs? Well, it seems Glyphs is the one topic everyone is avoiding! Trawling through the Elitist Jerks 4.0.1 Rogue Guide yielded little results and when it was questioned the post was promptly ignored several times throughout the thread. So it seems for now we are very much on our own when it comes to Glyphs.

Changes to Glyph Mechanics

The way we use glyphs in WoW has changed a lot in Patch 4.0.1 and it’s worth taking note of these changes. First of all we now have 3 tiers of glyphs to use. Where we use to have either Major or Minor Glyphs to choose from we now have Prime, Major and Minor glyphs.

Secondly, once you have learned a glyph you can then use that glyph indefinitely using your Glyph tab (in the Talents window “n”). This means you will no longer need to stack glyphs in your bags to change out per encounter. Once you have learned a glyph it will remain in your Glyph book to use or switch out with others as and when you need them. So, if you are thinking about using a particular glyph for one certain encounter make sure you learn the glyph and you will be able to pop it in a space when you need it and then remove it again afterwards without losing the glyph if you need it in future too.

You will however need to purchase [Vanishing Powder] in order to replace glyphs which can be purchased from an Inscription Vendor for just 32 silver per 5. You only need to have some of this in your bags for it to work, when you click on a new glyph over an old one to replace it, you will see a pop up box asking if you are sure you want to do this and it will cost exactly 1 Vanishing Powder to do so. Click yes and viola, job done. You can view how many powders you have through the Glyph tab on the bottom right hand side.

So far Aldriana recommends the following Prime Glyphs for rogues but unfortunately has not mentioned any Major Glyphs:

Combat Prime Glyphs

[Glyph of Sinister Strike]

[Glyph of Adrenaline Rush]

[Glyph of Rupture]

Mutilate Prime Glyphs

[Glyph of Mutilate]

[Glyph of Backstab]

[Glyph of Rupture]

Other Glyphs to Consider

These are not yet set in stone so be prepared for the recommended glyphs to change at any time. However, you may also wish to consider alternatives to these glyphs. For example, if you are a combat rogue and you are optimising your build for target switching type fights you may not be using Rupture, Mutilate rogues with low haste may also wish to drop rupture for now. Therefore you may wish to consider replacing your Rupture glyph for:

Combat Glyphs: [Glyph of Revealing Strike] or [Glyph of Killing Spree]

Mutilate Glyphs: [Glyph of Vendetta]

Major Glyphs

No definite information about major glyphs has been stated as of yet. So it’s up to us to flesh out a good glyph combo.

[Glyph of Tricks of the Trade]
If you have the two piece Tier 10 set bonus stay away from this glyph. This glyph simply reduces the energy cost of your Tricks ability whereas the Two Piece Tier 10 set bonus not only removes it entirely but also gives you 15 energy. Using this glyph in conjunction with the two piece bonus would simply mean your tricks does less damage. If you happen not to have it, then it could be a good glyph for you to use although it is highly recommended you obtain the two piece set bonus instead.

[Glyph of Blade Flurry] (Combat Only)
For combat rogues this looks like an excellent choice for a major glyph slot. Blade flurry, while it has a reduced cool down is now completely useless for single target encounters but will be used frequently with multiple targets. This will be quite handy for trash, leveling up and multiple mobs in general during boss encounters allowing you to use Blade Flurry much more freely and not just when you have AR or KS free.

[Glyph of Expose Armor] (Probably Mutilate only)
Mutilate rogues with talents in Improved Expose Armor may find this glyph useful. Typically only rogues who suffer from a lack of Prot Warriors in raids would consider this talent but if they do this glyph is the perfect partner for you.

[Glyph of Fan of Knives]
This glyph while at first glance may seem good for multiple targets, may in fact be a bit of a waste of time. Unlike previously where this glyph increased Fan of Knives damage it now simply increases the radius of your Fan of Knives ability. Since the Fan of Knives ability is still 8 yards and this is often ample enough for most situations it may cause you more trouble than anything else when it becomes 12 yards. This remains to be seen however but if you do put this glyph on make sure you get used to it’s new larger radius and don’t go pulling unwanted mobs on your adventures!

[Glyph of Sprint]
This glyph seems to be wonderful for both combat and mutilate rogues. The increase in speed for sprint means you have a better damage up time on encounters with target switching. Helping you get from a to b is always a damage increase even if you can’t see it on the spreadsheets. A must have for all rogues.

[Glyph of Feint]
This glyph focuses on allowing you to avoid heavy AoE and reduce your threat when necessary without deterring you too much from your rotation. Reducing the energy cost of feint could be very handy so you don’t waste too much energy when you nee dot get yourself out of a bind or in fights where heavy AoE damage could be fatal (HC Blood Queen for example). Definitely a glyph worth considering for a spare slot.

[Glyph of Cloak of Shadows]
This glyph focuses on damage reduction and would be particularly helpful on fights such as Heroic Sindragosa where we rogues need to pop our Cloak of Shadows ability often. However this is very situational dependant so make sure you have this glyph to hand and you’ll be able to switch out a lesser glyph such as Glyph of Feint or even Blade Flurry if it’s not needed, for this one on such fights.

Major Glyphs Summary

Combat:

[Glyph of Sprint]

[Glyph of Blade Flurry]

[Glyph of Fan of Knives] or situational: [Glyph of Cloak of Shadows] or [Glyph of Feint]

Mutilate:

[Glyph of Sprint]

[Glyph of Feint]

[Glyph of Fan of Knives] or situational: [Glyph of Cloak of Shadows] or [Glyph of Expose Armor]

Minor Glyphs

Unfortunately for Mutilate rogues the Glyph of Vanish has been removed. So essentially speaking the only 100% solid Minor glyph all rogues need is [Glyph of Safe Fall] to reduce extra falling damage in certain encounters. on a side note you may also wish to consider [Glyph of Poisons] for situational encounters such as the Lich King for rogues that need to switch to Crippling Poison on their weapons to slow down Val’kyr.

A Quick Note on Reforging

Now you have your glyphs sorted out I want to take a minute to talk about reforging. For a complete reforging guide see Reforge me a New One! over at PVE Rogues. To summarize:

What Reforging Does:

Reforging a stat will only convert 40% of that stat to another stat of your choice.

You can only reforge lesser stats such as: Hit, Expertise, Crit and Haste. You cannot reforge Agility.

You can only add lesser stats from reforging too.

Reforging will cost you every single time you do it the vendor cost of the item in question.

You cannot reforge new stats onto gear that already exist on the item. For example, if you have 23 Haste and 23 Crit on your gear, you can reforge the Crit into Hit or Expertise but you cannot turn it into Haste.

Excerpt taken from http://pverogues.blogspot.com

As a rogue the main stat you need to reforge is Critical Strike Rating. This is because this is the one Stat on your gear that has the lowest EP value (except for Mastery rating which we don’t have yet). As a rule of thumb you should always reforge all your gear. This will make a huge difference to your DPS overall. The order of reforging stats should be:

Expertise until capped (or extremely close) > Hit until Poison Capped > Hit (on gear that already has the haste stat on it) > Haste

Reforging your gear will therefore ensure you are safely above the poison hit cap and have as much haste as possible. When reforging your gear make sure you first reforge all gear with Haste on it already to obtain the expertise and hit caps before moving onto haste gear if needed. This will ensure you do not reforge items with hit that could be haste and end up after reaching your caps with gear that you cant reforge haste onto.

Before Cataclysm is released Blizzard will be launching Patch 4.0.1 to prepare us for this exciting expansion pack. Not only will we get to savour some delicious new quest lines about the Twilight Cultists and their plans to level our home cities but we will also have some time to get used to our new talent builds and abilities before Cataclysm is launched.

As far as rogues go no official theory crafting has yet been published and Aldriana has been taking a back seat to the discussions so far. That means it’s up to us to formulate a solid plan of action for raiding at level 80 with the new builds and abilities. Fear not though, because we’ve done all this leg work for you and this guide will take you through the basics to raiding at Level 80 in Patch 4.0.1.

Combat Talent Build

UPDATED: Level 80 Talent Build: Combat 2/31/3

This talent build can be modified slightly to suit your personal tastes or the types of raids you will be doing.  The main areas of change would be 2/2 [Recuperate] and 2/2 [Reinforced Leather], which are non DPS talents necessary for progressing down the combat talent tree. These can be placed anywhere in the combat tree you prefer as no other talents in the tree can improve DPS. This build has focused on survival which is particularly beneficial for heroic modes or other intense healing scenarios. It’s also a good basis for leveling 80-85 particularly if you are doing it solo without compromising your raiding ability before Cataclysm.

Mutilate Talent Build

Level 80 Talent Build: Mutilate 31/3/2

This build can be exchanged with: Mutilate 31/2/3 depending on the amount of hit you currently have on your rogue. With Mutilate rogues, hit tends to come much easier than combat rogues so it is likely if you are well geared that you will be able to go for the Mutilate 31/2/3 build instead. This again is your own personal choice so make sure you judge it carefully as to whether or not the extra 2% hit is going to wield more DPS for you than another point in [Relentless Strikes]. If your hit is low (i.e. just above the poison hit mark) stick to the basic Mutilate 31/3/2 as it is likely to be much more beneficial to you.

Some talent points within the Assassination tree are also interchangeable. It is strongly recommended you keep the 2/2 [Quickening] talent points as it will indirectly increase damage by increasing damage up time as well as improve survivability in intensive raids. However you may choose to move 1/2 [Deadened Nerves] if you so choose to. As far as level 80 raiding goes however, this is the standard best suitable talent make up.

Gemming

Red Sockets – Agility (Delicate Cardinal Ruby)
Yellow Sockets – Agility & Haste (Deft Ametrine)
Blue Sockets – Agility & Hit (Glinting Dreadstone)

Agility will be our new number one stat as pure Attack Power and Armor Penetration are no longer available. Attack power and crit will be gained through Agility only and haste will become much more valuable to both Mutilate Rogues and Combat rogues as it effects our Energy Regen. So far initial theory crafting has placed haste caps at 7,000% so currently there is no limit to the amount of haste you can stack as a rogue. However, Agility will remain our number one stat and will come as top priority for all sockets.

Additionally, Hit rating has now become a blue gem allowing us to place mixed Agility and Hit (Glinting Dreadstone) gems in our blue sockets. This will prove much more useful to us and hopefully mean more socket bonuses are kept and not ignored. However this also means you can expect a massive regem when Patch 4.0.1 is launched as your socket bonuses and gems may be completely mixed up (in particular combat rogues).

Armor Penetration

This stat is being completely removed from the game. Rogues will no longer be able to stack any amount of Armor Penetration and all Armor Penetration that currently exists in the game will be converted into Critical Strike Rating. This means many combat rogues will have an excess of Crit at level 80 and this will need minimising as soon as possible. If you have a spare Mutilate gear set get it out ready for the patch as it will be much easier to balance stats and regem than your combat set.

Combat Max DPS Rotation

* 3 x SS
* SnD
* 4 x SS
* 1 x RvS
* Eviscerate
* 5 x SS
* SnD
* repeat from 4 x SS

This rotation factors in our new combo point generating ability [Revealing Strike] (RvS). In order to prevent an RvS where it is not necessary and to prevent RvS timing out at low energy levels the rotation places RvS as the last combo point in our rotation. So far it has been suggested that if a 2 combo point Sinister Strike lands at the 4 combo point mark (making 5 combo points before an RvS) then it is still beneficial to use one RvS even though your combo points are full so that the buff from RvS can be used. Never use an RvS when you are refreshing your Slice and Dice as RvS is weaker than Sinister Strike and does not affect SnD in any way. Do not forget to use Tricks of the Trade on every cool down.

Mutilate Max DPS Rotation

*Vendetta & Tricks of the Trade
*Stealth
*Garrote
*1 x Mutilate
*SnD
*2 x Mutilate
*Envenom
*if target < 35% Health: 5 x Backstab, else 2 x Mutilate
*Rupture
*if target < 35% Health: 5 x Backstab, else 2 x Mutilate
*if Rupture < 11 seconds Rupture, else repeat from Envenom.

This rotation looks a lot more complicated than we are used to seeing with Mutilate rogues. The good news is [Vendetta] (the new HfB) does not require a bleed effect to activate. Make sure you keep Vendetta refreshed throughout the fight and try not to clip it by more than a second or two. This means Mutilate rogues will have a lot more interesting things to do instead of the cool downs that Combat rogues enjoy.

The rotation is basically the same as it has always been, simply make sure you keep Rupture up as well on your target and keep refreshing SnD by using Envenom at 4 or 5 point combos. Additionally, when your target is below 35% your backstab ability is suddenly much more powerful so if you are in a boss fight where you are naturally behind your target you can start using Backstab instead of Mutilate at this point. Remember to always keep your Tricks of the Trade ability on cool down just like combat rogues, and use Vanish and Garrote on every cool down too in order to activate your Overkill ability.

Summary

There are lots of changes going on at the moment with rogues as you can see and it will take a long time to get used to them and to iron out all the wrinkles. Topics such as glyphs are still very much up in the air at the moment and it could take some time before the final values are released. As with all new expansions and patches where the mechanics are modified you can expect to see yet more changes popping up as time goes on so make sure you keep checking back for updates and new information. In the meantime this is a solid base to begin your new raiding lives at Level 80 and hopefully you will get all you need to get done before the Expansion Cataclysm is finally launched on 7th December 2010.

If you have a new rogue, an alt rogue or even your main rogue who needs a bit of TLC the gear choices out there can be somewhat confusing and daunting. This guide will take you through the steps for gearing your character quickly and effectively ready for Icecrown Raiding straight away.

First of all a brief explanation on how to get gear in the first place. There are a few different methods for doing so and these are:

• HEROICS – Many of the instances you can do while leveling up can be completed at the level cap of 80 on heroic mode. Completing these heroic dungeons will give you a) Better loot drops and b) Emblems of Triumph (1 per boss in the encounter, maximum of 5 emblems per instance).
• RANDOM HEROIC DAILY – Every day you will be able to complete a random heroic through the Dungeon Finder Tool. Selecting to find a group for a random WOTLK heroic dungeon will reward you with 2 x Emblems of Frost for the first dungeon completed that day and 2 x Emblem of Triumph for each subsequent random dungeon completed on the same day.
• WEEKLY RAID – The weekly raid quest can be picked up in Dalaran near the Violet Hold instance. The weekly raid is usually completable by anyone regardless of current gear levels. Simply ask to join a raid group through trade and complete the quest by killing the required boss in that raid. The Weekly Raid will provide you with a) Epic quality gear drops from the boss and b) 5 x Emblems of Frost and 5 x Emblem of Triumph. This quest can only be completed once a week in line with raid lockouts.
• Emblems of Triumph – These emblems themselves can also provide you with additional gear. In order to obtain full ICC ready gear Emblems of Triumph (EoT) will be very important for your rogue. You can trade in EoT with the EoT Vendor in Dalaran in the Silver Enclave (above the room with all the portals in).  EoT vendors provide you with either a) Item Level 245 gear or b) Emblems of Conquest or lower. Exchanging your emblems for other emblems will always mean you are exchanging them for lower quality gear. When you obtain Conquest Emblems, you are acquiring ilvl 226 gear, Valor Emblems are ilvl 213 gear, and Heroism Emblems are ilvl 200 gear. The higher the ilvl of a gear item, the more useful it is likely to be to you.
• Emblems of Frost – This is currently the highest level of Emblem you can obtain in Wrath of the Lich King as of Patch 3.3.5. You can only obtain Emblems of Frost (EoF) from completing the weekly raid, the daily random heroic dungeon and raiding in Icecrown Citadel (ICC – the highest level raid available). You will not be able to go to ICC until you are properly geared for it first so raiding for EoF is not an option to gear up your rogue.

Now you know what to do to get your gear now we will help you decide which gear is best to obtain before you begin raiding in Icecrown Citadel. The easiest and quickest way to obtain good rogue gear ready for raiding is to farm heroics as much as possible for EoT. EoT will be your main staple method for obtaining gear, however make sure you do complete the random heroic dungeon every day as well as as many weekly raids as you can while gearing up.

Your goal is to obtain a total of 310 Emblems of Triumph.

You will then be able to acquire from the Emblem of Triumph Vendor the following gear:

• Ranged – [Crimson Star] (25 EoT)
• Chest – Tier 9.0 Alliance [Vancleef's Breastplate of Conquest] or Horde [Garona's Breastplate of Conquest] (50 EoT)
• Finger01 – [Dexterous Brightstone Ring] (35 EoT)
• Hands -Tier 9.0 Alliance [Vancleef's Gauntlets of Conquest] or Horde [Garona's Gauntlet's of Conquest] (30 EoT)
• Head – [Mask of Lethal Intent] (75 EoT)
• Shoulders – [Duskstalker Shoulderpads] (45 EoT)
• Trinket01 – [Mark of Supremacy] (50 EoT)

Alongside farming heroics for emblems you will also need to specifically complete the following dungeons at least once per day for additional gear drops:

Forge of Souls Heroic
Pit of Saron Heroic
Halls of reflection Heroic
Forge of Souls Normal

Doing these instances will give you the following gear items to add to your set:

• Legs – [Fleshwerk Leggings] (PoS Heroic: Scourgelord Tyrannus)
• Back – [Accursed Crawling Cape] (FoS Normal: Devourer of Souls)
• Feet – [Blighted Leather Footpads] (HoR Heroic: The Captain’s Chest)
• Ring02 – [Band of Stained Souls] (PoS Heroic: Scourgelord Tyrannus)
• Neck – [Barbed Ymirheim Choker] (PoS Heroic: Forgemaster Garfrost)
• Wrists – [Chewed Leather Wristguards] (PoS Heroic: Ick and Krick)

Combat Specific Items:

• Trinket02 – [Needle-Encrusted Scorpion] (FoS Heroic: Devourer of Souls)
• Main Hand Weapon – [Nighttime] (FoS Heroic: Bronjahm)
• Off Hand Weapon – [Liar's Tongue] (HoR Heroic: The Captain’s Chest)

Mutilate Specific Items:

• Main Hand Weapon – [Blood Weeper] (FoS Heroic: Devourer of Souls)
• Off Hand Weapon - [Heartshiver] (FoS Normal: Devourer of Souls)

Additional Gear

You will also need to obtain an additional 28 Emblems of Triumph and convert them into Emblems of Conquest to obtain [Belt of the Twilight Assassin].

Mutilate rogues only, will need to obtain another 50 EoT for [Shard of the Crystal Heart] as thier Trinket02 slot instead of the Needle-Encrusted Scorpion (NES).

Final Notes

Once you have the above gear set in full you will also need to supplement it with upgrades from the Emblems of Frost vendors. This will ensure you are easily Icecrown Citadel 10 man and 25 man ready. Without frost gear you will only be ICC10 ready until you gear up further. However, you do not need to start thinking about ICC25 until you have obtained plenty of gear drops from 10 man ICC first as well as some EoF vendor items. If you are a part of a raiding guild they may be happy to boost you in ICC25 mans once you are ICC10 man ready. In addition you may also purchase certain gear items from the Auction House if you have enough money. Many good gear items can be purchased or crafted so keep an eye on the AH for ilvl 245 and ilvl 264 gear for rogues.

The upcoming 3.3.2 patch is set to be released next week (February 2^nd at this stage). Blizzard has posted the patch notes for this mini-patch on the official Korean WoW site. The most noticable changes include some small fixes to make dungeons run smoother, some class buffs for druids, shamans and warlocks and a much needed nerf for prot warriors. We will also see the introduction of Toravon the Ice Watcher in the Vault of Archavon and the start of Season 8 (Arena). 

The translated patch notes can be seen below. Please note that some of the wording or accuracy may be slightly off. If you notice any mistakes, please post in comments with the correct wording.