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Combat Rogues in the Future of WoW

Posted on: Nov 06, 2010 | Author: Garona

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Survive as a Combat rogue in patch 4.0.1

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.

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Posted in PVE, Patch 4.0.1, Rogue | 9 Comments »

Protection Paladins in 4.0.1

Posted on: Nov 03, 2010 | Author: Recrypt

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This article outlines changes to Paladin tanks in patch 4.0.1.  It covers headline changes, example talent specs, gems and glyphs.

Headline changes to tanking paladins in 4.0.1

Changes that directly affect play

  • [ Consecration ] now lasts 10s  and has a 30s CD.  This is therefore no longer spammable and therefore cannot form the basis of an aoe tanking build. [ Hammer of the Righteous ] (HoR) has been given an aoe effect and a 4.5s CD so aoe tanking is still possible with a rotation based around HoR (basically rotating HoR with any other multiple attack such as an un-glpyhed [ Avenger's Shield ] or Consecration or [ Holy Wrath ] etc).
  • [ Holy Power ] has been added and linked into specific spells.  This is a type of combo point like ability (similar to rogues combo points/DK runes/the changed warlock soul shard concept etc) whereby the paladin can charge a Holy Power battery in steps of 1 to a max charge of 3 and release this charge all at once.
    • For a tanking paladin Holy Power can be gained through [ Crusader Strike ] or Hammer of the Righteous (which share a 3s CD).
    • For a tanking paladin Holy Power can be released through [ Shield of the Righteous ] (does damage based on the number of charges consumed) or [ Word of Glory ] (WoG, instant heal, based on number of charges, on friendly target for zero mana)
  • [ Argent Defender ] must now be manually activated (10s Duration).  It reduces damage by 20% and heals for 15% HP if paladin would have died.  Its is important to emphasize that this ability (including the 15% heal on death) only lasts for its 10s duration, it has a CD greater than 10s.
  • [ Hand of Reckoning ], this taunt now has no damage component so is basically only a taunt rather than something that can also be used to effectively pull.

Changes that indirectly affect play

  • [ Divine Protection ] has had its CD and damage reduction halved.
  • Specializations – choosing protection gives the paladin
  • Blessings have been changed.  [ Sanctuary ] has been removed (both mana regen and hp boost are part of the prot specialization).   Wisdom has been removed, ([ Might ] now also increases mp5)
  • Holy shield has been removed, this has effectively been made part of Shield of the Righteous (SOR) as you now get a bonus to block for a limited time when you activate SOR.
  • Block is now provided by mastery (not strength as before).
  • [ Forbearance ] is still present but only for targets of [ Divine Shield ], [ Lay on Hands ] and [ Hand of Protection ].
  • Defence rating no longer exists, reduction in crit chance is now talented.  Only defensive stats are Dodge and Parry though Agility appears to still provide some dodge (~0.01% per Agi) and Strength will provide some parry (as it has always done for DK’s).
  • Divine Intervention has been removed in 4.0.1, so no more cheap repair bills :/

Example builds

Solid tanking build 0/33/3

This build takes all key tanking talents as well as [ Divine Guardian ].

Basic rotation on multiple targets mobs is HoR interleaved with Avenger’s Shield, Consecration and Holy Wrath when available.  When HoR, AS and Consecration are all on CD Judge or burn Holy Power with SoR.

For single target mobs replace HoR with Crusader Strike.

Fun 5-man Word of Glory build 3/31/2

This build maximises self healing, even more healing could be obtained by using Seal of Light instead of [ Seal of Insight ] but at the expense of dps/threat.

For this build maximum self healing is obtained by using a rotation based around Word of Glory (e.g. rotate Crusader Strike with Word of Glory for single target or HoR with WoG for multiple targets).  It is important to note that if you have a good healer you will want to use a high threat rotation as your healing will be effectively wasted – same rotation as above for the solid build.  Only if your healer is in trouble should you switch to WoG spam.

For each build the panic skills remain as Argent Defender, Divine Protection and Lay on Hands.  At lvl 85 a new skill [ Guardian of Ancient Kings ] with a 5 min CD that reduces damage by 60% comes into play and gives the paladin tank the same CD based mitigation as other tank classes.

Agro

Given the number of changes to the class it is worth mentioning something true prior to 4.0.1 but equally true after with respect to agro, hit and dodge.  You won’t generate agro from an attack that misses or is dodged.  In short this means you want,

at least 26 Expertise (rating of 200@80, 781@85) up to a max of 55 Expertise (rating of 422@80, 1652@85). 8% hit (rating of 246@80, 961@85).

Gems – General

It seems that the main point of giving everyone more HP and removing things like Defence was to allow people to gem/enchant for a balanced character, instead of having no choice but to stack specific things like stamina (though this isn’t a crazy plan).   It would probably be a waste of money to re-gem/re-enchant for the hell of it unless agro is a problem (in which case make sure you have enough expertise/hit, and haven’t forgotten to activate [ Righteous Fury ]).

  • Stamina is still important (indirectly it gives some threat through the AP generated by the specialization Vengeance) however don’t just assume that stacking stamina is the way to go for upgrades you acquire, it depends on the situation (see below discussion on the method behind gems/enchants).
  • Dodge/Parry, these two now provide the same avoidance so one is not vastly superior to the other, both are useful.
  • Strength provides threat through AP but not block anymore though it does now appear to increase parry (~0.002 per str) as it has always done for DK’s.
  • Agility no longer provides Armour rating but still gives dodge (~0.01% per agi).

Gems – Method

As with many classes the logic behind choosing gems tends to be simple for most people.  In the case of paladin tanks the Meta gem choice at 80 is basically

Most people would then gem to maximise stamina with [ Solid Majestic Zircons ] while getting the required gems to activate the meta.  This means gems like stam/dodge/parry/strength assuming you have enough expertise/hit.

The key to the question “stam or avoidance” is usually to ask the question “why did the tank die?”  If a tank dies because he takes too much average damage (the healers simply can’t keep up or run out of mana) then avoidance is better than stamina as it will reduce the load on the healers, however, if the tank dies from spike damage (the healers have plenty of mana and could have landed more heals given time) then stamina is better as it gives the healers more time to heal before death. This means that the right gear/gems/enchants for the tank depend not only on the tank but on the group i.e. including healers and dps.  The dps are important as they determine the length of the fight, low dps means a long fight and average damage could become an issue for the healers.

Glyphs in 4.0.1

There are now 9 active at once (up from 6), three each of prime, major and minor.  Your character now learns glyphs permanently and can switch with a regent (bought from a vendor for a nominal amount).

Glyphs can be expensive relative to pre 4.0.1 prices as demand is up (every character can learn all rather than just 6, so many people want a full set).

Recommended tanking glyphs

Prime

Major

Minor

Glyph tweaks

Macro’s

I used to use the following macro for Righteous Defence however having tested it for this guide I find it isn’t necessary (and probably never was), I list it only to show that one should regularly test macro’s to make sure they are doing something useful!

#showtooltip Righteous Defence

/cast [button:1, target=target-target] Righteous Defence

This macro would allow Righteous Defence to be used as a taunt, i.e. you cast it on the enemy mob rather than your ally.  Blizzard must have realised it was going to be used on a mob rather than an ally as the spell already has this functionality built in.

The following macro allows the use of Divine Shield to quickly clear negative buffs, agro is of course reset when used so a taunt will be needed.

#showtooltip

/cast Divine Shield

/cancelaura Divine Shield

I have found this needs to be pressed twice in 4.0.1, it allows the paladin to remove all debuffs and minimises the agro down time (agro is reset so you will have to taunt after this but it actually allows you to use Divine Shield on yourself in certain circumstances).  Doing this without causing a wipe makes you look pro, using it and causing a wipe makes you look poo ;)

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Posted in PVE, Paladin, Patch 4.0.1 | 7 Comments »

Patch 4.0.1 – Concise Rogue Guide Level 80

Posted on: Oct 08, 2010 | Author: Garona

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Patch 4.0.1 Rogue Guide

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.

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Posted in PVE, Patch 4.0.1, Rogue | 33 Comments »

Beginner’s Guide to Discipline Raid Healing in 3.3.5

Posted on: Oct 07, 2010 | Author: Aura

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Discipline Raid Healing Guide 3.3.5

Discipline raid healers are very much in demand at the moment and this is in no small part thanks to the nature of their healing. Unique amongst all other raid healing classes, the discipline priest uses shields rather than direct heals to provide preventative healing rather than reactive healing. On certain encounters, such as the Lich King for example, this ability to predict and occasionally completely prevent incoming damage makes the discipline priest even more desirable. Although previously thought of as a tank healing build by those not in the know, discipline priests are raid healers first and foremost. While they can and do provide ample support on tanks to help out and in fact can excel at this too, it is not their primary focus and so they are essentially being wasted if forced into this role. This article will take a brief high-level look at all the things a discipline priest will need to know in order to start healing in a raid environment. It will not go too deep into the details but should cover enough to give anyone a helping hand when just starting out with a Discipline Priest.

Talent Build

The first thing you will need to sort out in order to effectively heal a raid is your talent build. The basic talent build for a disc priest after Patch 3.3.5 is Discipline 54/17/0 although some of this can be changed according to personal preference. In order to get to Inspiration for example, most people will take the pushback reduction from a single point in Healing Focus and the overall spell damage reduction of five points in Spell Warding. If this doesn’t take your fancy, and/or if you happen to use Renew or Greater Heal a lot, you could put points into Improved Renew or Divine Fury instead. The three talent points currently in Focused Will could also be reassigned somewhere else if you feel you have enough crit. For those that like an extra panic button, a talent point may also be placed in Desperate Prayer.

It is imporant to remember that while there are recommended ways of assigning talents and of playing your priest, healing can be a very personal endeavour and many people do find their own style which differs from the norm and yet works just as well. A discipline raid healing build is a fluid thing and can be adapted to your own healing style pretty easily. You should try not to remove points from the lower half of the discipline tree as much as possible however, since this is where the most powerful talents are.

Glyphs

Once you have your talents all set up, it’s time to think about Glyphs. There are only a few to choose from really:

  • Glyph of Power Word: Shield – An extremely powerful glyph that adds a heal to your shield ability. Since discipline priests are usually assigned to shield spam, you may find the heal from this glyph alone can easily reach about 10% of your overall healing.
  • Glyph of Penance – Reduced cooldown on one of our primary spells? Yes please. This glyph makes Penance much more useful to say the least.
  • Glyph of Flash Heal – A large 10% mana reduction on Flash Heal may sound lovely, especially when considered with the 2pc Tier 10 bonus which adds a 33% chance to Flash Heal of applying a HoT that heals for 33% of the healed amount over a few seconds. Then you remember that we’re discipline and not holy, we don’t really use Flash Heal much anyway. So what does that leave us with?
  • Glyph of Prayer of Healing – Although not used too much in most fights, when cast under the influence of Borrowed Time after casting a shield, PoH can be extremely useful when the raid damage is extraordinarily high. Add the 20% HoT on there and you have a relatively useful spell. While this still won’t be likely to give you the group heal throughput of a shaman or resto druid, it will still help the other raid healers get everyone topped up again after a big hit (think Whiteout for example).

In terms of Minor Glyphs there are none that will actually help you heal so take whatever you like. Personally I use Glyph of Fading since I Fade a lot, Glyph of Fortitude since I buff a lot and Glyph of Levitate since there’s nothing else I like.

Rotation

In essence, for most raid environments the discipline priest has a straight-forward job: spam shields on the raid. Initially this may mean trying to shield everyone, but in 25 man content you will have to be a bit smarter. For example, you will always need to try and make sure that you shield those that need it first and foremost; those that are actively taking damage or are about to and especially those that are low on health and still taking damage. As you get to know each fight better, you will learn who needs shielding and when, until then use your best guess. On top of shield spam, on those fights with a lot of raid damage you will also need to use Prayer of Mending on every cooldown. If there are no other priest healers in your raid then you can probably just fire it at the tanks, otherwise you should pick a DPS that you know will need a heal soon to ensure the heal goes off.

You will also need to provide tank healing support, which basically just means helping the tank healer out when the tank takes spike damage. If you see the tank going down too fast, throw a shield and penance in his direction. In extreme circumstances (tank healer out of action for a while) you may need to follow up with Flash Heal and/or Greater Heal spam for a bit. You can probably leave a renew on there too just for that bit of extra help. Don’t forget about the raid at this point though and try to maintain decent healing on them throughout.

Should your shield not quite soak up the damage and you happen to need some stronger healing on the group, use alternating shields and Prayer of Healing as mentioned above. With the 25% haste from Borrowed Time, and especially if you have it glyphed, PoH can really help get the raid topped up again quickly. If something goes horribly wrong or if there is predictable heavy damage incoming you can use Inner Focus with Divine Hymn for some extra powerful raid heals, but remember this has a long cooldown so can only be used once per raid boss usually.

Mana Management

Discipline priests have it pretty good when considering how hard some healers have it really, but we still need to be smart when it comes to mana management. We do have 15% extra intellect from Mental Strength, and we also have some abilities and talents at our disposal, but on long fights you will notice it is still quite easy to run out of mana completely. Once you get to high gear levels, it is important to start gearing/gemming for regen. Our number one regen stat is intellect so getting split SP/int gems can be quite handy at this point. Spirit helps too but not as much and given the choice between spirit and pure MP5 go for the MP5. Until really high gear levels (very large mana pool) spirit just won’t be able to compare.

We should always be receiving little boosts to mana through Rapture and this can be encouraged along. For example, many discipline priests will use a lower rank shield on the Lich King encounter so that Infest will just break through it. The priest will also avoid shielding the tanks so as not to put Rapture on cooldown prematurely. When shields are broken on multiple DPS and healers at once, Rapture actually stacks and returns a nice big chunk of mana.

Aside from Rapture, our primary spells for mana regen are Shadowfiend and Hymn of Hope. Since the shadowfiend works on a percentage of the priest’s mana pool size and hymn of hope increases that pool, using them simultaneously can return an amazing amount of mana. Because of this, the use of fiend+hope should be saved until you are practically out of mana completely.

Practice, Practice and Practice

This post has covered many of the basics but some things you just have to learn as you play. You should now be able to fill in your talent build, buy the correct glyphs and have a basic idea of which spells to use and when in raid encounters. The rest comes with experience and there’s nothing as fun as getting stuck in and figuring things out. Roll a discipline priest and you won’t regret it, that’s for sure!

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Posted in PVE, Pre Patch 4.0.1, Priest | 2 Comments »

Max DPS PVE Mutilate Guide 3.3.5

Posted on: Sep 26, 2010 | Author: Garona

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A Mutilate Rogue with the Top DPS in VOA

 

Welcome to my quick and comprehensive guide to Assassination rogues and how to maximise your DPS as a Mutilate rogue in patch 3.3.5. You may often find Assassination rogues referred to as Mutilate rogues instead, this is because the main combo point generating ability for an Assassination rogue is called Mutilate. Therefore Assassination rogues and Mutilate rogues are one and the same.

 

If you are looking to enter into PVE content in the World of Warcraft you will be competing with many other players who all have the best gear, the builds and the best rotations. Your gear upgrades will come in time through raiding Icecrown but everything else you need to sort out yourself before you begin serious raiding. This is a quick guide to Mutilate rogues in Wrath and includes everything you need to know to get you started and to ensure you maximise your DPS.

 

Talent Build

Mutilate Talent Build – 51/18/2 (Up to date with Patch 3.3.5)

 

This build has a strong focus on your key abilities as a Mutilate rogue. This includes poison damage, Mutilate and Envenom. Mutilate rogues no longer use Rupture in their rotation so the ability [Blood Spatter] is not included. The two talent points found in [Fleet Footed] are somewhat interchangeable but most rogues will keep them here for added damage up time on bosses where a lot of movement is required. At lower gear levels you may see less  benefits from [Lightning Reflexes] and more from 5 points into [Relentless Strikes] instead. This is because at lower gear levels you may not have the desired amount of haste for this build. As you gear up however, Lightning Reflexes becomes more and more powerful.

 

Rotation

For a single target the Mutilate rotation is pretty straight forward.

  1. Enter Stealth
  2. Break Stealth
  3. Begin auto attacks
  4. 1 x Mutilate
  5. SnD
  6. HfB (Refresh before it drops off)
  7. 2 x Mutilate
  8. Envenom
  9. Repeat from point 7

Some mutilate rogues may prefer to stealth over to their target and use Garrote instead. This has however come under dispute recently and most rogues now no longer do this in a raid environment. This is because the downtime received from stealthing over to your target is considered too large overall so that you lose too much damage up time. You should also remember to cast [Vanish] on every cool down and immediately break stealth by using an ability such as garrote in order to activate your [Overkill] ability.

 

It is also vitally important that you maximise the use of your [Tricks of the Trade] ability. This improves raid DPS considerably and also helps you to easily manage your threat without holding back on your attacks. Finally, use [Cold Blood] when you have 5 combo points before you use [Envenom] on every cool down as much as possible.

 

Glyphs

The following Major Glyphs can be used for a Mutilate rogue:

  1. [Glyph of Hunger for Blood]
  2. [Glyph of Mutilate]
  3. [Glyph of Tricks of the Trade]
  4. [Glyph of Fan of Knives]

The first two glyphs are a strict requirement for a raiding Mutilate rogue. The third and final glyphs however are often interchangeable. It is generally accepted that raiding rogues use the  [Glyph of Tricks of the Trade] as their third and final Major Glyph. This is because while it does not generate any personal DPS is does generate extra DPS for your raid. For a well organised raid group with at least 2 rogues present, rogues will often exchange Tricks of the Trade on each other to maximise DPS. The fourth Glyph is for personal DPS only and is not as beneficial for a raiding environment. However it can be used effectively for heroics and trash.

 

You will also need to ensure you at least have the following two minor glyphs for raiding:

These will help you reduce damage when thrown around  (for example Eye of Eternity for those that have been there) as well as increase damage up time when you make use of your Vanish ability and your target moves.

 

Poisons

Mutilate rogues will use only two poisons (one on each weapon), these are [Instant Poison] and [Deadly Poison]. Many mutilate rogues get easily confused by poisons and what weapons to place them on. There is only one solid rule of thumb for Mutilate rogues but it can mean some rogues will have Deadly Poison on their off hand and other on their main hand. Follow these guidelines to find out which is which for you:

  1. Deadly Poison will always go on your fastest weapon.
  2. If your weapons are the same speed, Deadly Poison will then go on the weapon with the highest DPS average.
  3. Your fastest Weapon will always go in your main hand.
  4. If your weapons are the same speed, the weapon with the highest DPS will go in your main hand.

This will maximise your poison proc damage first and foremost which provides more DPS than the extra mutilate damage from a high DPS weapon in the main hand. If weapon speed is the same it will then factor in Mutilate damage.  Make sure you look at your weapons carefully and follow these steps to find out where your weapons and poisons should be. For high gear level weapons you will often find a high DPS, fast weapon in your MH with deadly poison. For lower gear levels it is often (but not always) the other way around.

 

Gems

Mutilate rogue gemming is pretty straight forward when compared to combat rogues. Mutilate rogues will never use Armor Penetration gems so the focus is always on Attack Power and Haste. At lower gear levels you will start off by gemming Agility until you critical strike rating is at a reasonable level (something like 35-40%). Once you reach Emblem of Triumph gear and above (ilevel 245+) you should begin changing your gems. As a general rule of thumb you should gem:

 

Red Sockets: Bright Cardinal Ruby (40 Attack Power)
Yellow Sockets: Stark Ametrine (20 Attack Power & 10 Haste)
Blue Sockets: 1 x Nightmare Tear (+10 to all stats), then Bright Cardinal Ruby in all others (40 Attack Power)
Meta Gem: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond (21 Agility & 3% Critical Damage)

 

Make sure you place the nightmare tear into the item of gear with the best socket bonus. For any other gear with blue sockets in you can ignore the socket bonuses and gem for pure attack power. You will also need to keep an eye on your hit rating and crit rating, to do so use a Crit Cap Calculator program. If you are in need of more hit to become hit capped or to avoid wasting crit, replace your yellow gems with Pristine Ametrine (20 Attack Power & 10 Hit).

 

Enchants

Excluding special enchants from professions you will need:

Head - [Arcanum of Torment]: Requires Revered with the faction Ebon Hold
Shoulder – [Greater Inscription of the Axe]: Requires Exalted with the faction Sons of Hodir
Back – [Major  Agility]
Chest – [Powerful Stats]
Wrists – [Greater Assault]
Hands – [Crusher]
Waist – [Eternal Belt Buckle]
Legs – [Icescale Leg Armor]
Feet – [Greater Assault]
Weapon 1 & 2 – [Berserking]

 

Ideal Raid Situations

Now you have everything you need to get started maximising your DPS and being the best rogue you can be. However, I will leave you with one last word of advice. Mutilate talent builds are for tank and spank fights, they are designed to maximise DPS on a fight where you stand still and nuke. This means you may not be performing optimally in all raid situations. Many rogues will have two talent builds for different raid situations, typically one Mutilate build and one Combat build. Mutilate rogues will excel in fights such as: Deathbringer Saurfang (ICC), Toravon (VOA), Festergut (ICC). However for other fights such as Marrowgar (ICC), Anub (TOC) and The Lich King (ICC) where movement and target switching is necessary throughout the boss encounter you may find your DPS is lower. Similarly combat rogues will struggle more on Saurfang and excel on The Lich King encounter. This is because they perform well in these types of fights because their build is designed to do so. To fully maximise your DPS in Wrath raids, it is always recommended you have both a PVE mutilate build and a PVE combat build to change according to the boss you are about to fight.

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Posted in PVE, Pre Patch 4.0.1, Rogue | 29 Comments »

Combat rogue PVE build and rotation – patch 3.3.3

Posted on: May 02, 2010 | Author: Skorne

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Combat rogue build 

 

Today I’m going to discuss the PVE Raiding Combat Build (20/51/0) I use, why most Combat rogues are using it and the rotation that I utilize to consistently top or be near the top of the damage meters.

 

Topping damage meters

Smashing 10man Toravon

 

Build
20/51/0 Ruptureless
Weapons
Main Hand: Sword – Slow
Off Hand: Axe – Fast
Poisons
Main Hand: Instant
Off Hand: Deadly
Glyphs
Eviscerate
Sinister Strike
Killing Spree

BUILD

 

Combat has always been regarded as the mainstay rogue PVE talent tree
and continues to remain a strong option in WotLK. I choose a Combat PVE build over one of the viable Mutilate builds, mainly due to the playstyle of Combat builds. I like the builds flexibility in having both multi-target dps potential through abilities like Killing Spree (KS), Blade Flurry (BF) and Fan of Knives (FoK) and also great single target dps.

  

With the poison buffs Blizzard has implemented in patch 3.3 we have seen a move from the popular 15/51/5 Combat build to the more poison focused 20/51/0 Combat build. The buff to Deadly Poison in patch 3.3 ensures that Deadly Poison will now proc Instant Poison once it has reached 5 stacks on a target. This means that Combat rogues have returned to using Instant Poison instead of Wound Poison on their Main Hand weapon, and continue to place Deadly Poison on a fast Off Hand weapon to ensure fast stacking of Deadly Poison and triggering Instant Poison thereafter. 

  

The added benefit from poisons has shown to increase dps when putting points in [Vile Poisons] and [Improved Poisons] instead of the popular and reliable [Relentless Strikes]. Rogues that choose to stay with [Relentless Strikes] can continue to use Wound Poison as they will not have the appropriate Instant Poison buffs available in the Assassination Tree to take full advantage of the patch 3.3 changes. However with the lack of poison dependency 15/51/5 rogues will be unable to complete equally with 20/51/0 rogues on single target encounters. 

  

  

ROTATION 

  

Once you get the hang of your Combat build and the special abilities that come with it you will realize that there is really no set rotation that you must strictly follow. To be honest it is quite simple to use, but takes time and experience to master. 

 

What I do in a raid environment: 

  • First thing I do is Tricks of the Trade (TotT) on the tank. I have a focus macro setup for this.
  • I will then usually start with a Garrotte and then get Slice and Dice (SnD) up straight away (it is very important that you do not let SnD fall off as it increases your dps significantly).
  • If I start out, out-of-stealth I will do a Sinister Strike (SS) and similarly get SnD up.
  • Now depending on what type of scenario you are in I do either of the following:
  • Single Trash target
    • I will SS until 5 combo points (cp) are accumulated and then use Eviscerate (if SnD is still up). However on trash mobs you will usually not get to 5 cps.
  • Multiple Trash targets
    • If there are more than 2 targets I will hit FoK and then KS if it is up. I will then spam FoK. Usually trash mobs in Heroics die very fast so there is no need to blow all your cds on a single group. I usually alternate KS and BF between groups and spam FoK. If you notice only one target alive switch to SS. Always make sure SnD is up. I time my AR so that I always have it up for the Bosses. (I find that AR is not very effective on trash mobs in Heroics anyway because they go down way to fast to make full use of the ability)
    •  For harder-to-kill trash mobs such as those in ICC I pretty much follow the same strategy. I hit FoK and then KS if it is up. I then hit AR and BF and continue spamming FoK (make sure that you are targeting your tank’s target). I blow all my cds as fast as possible because ICC mobs have a lot of HP and it takes a while for them to go down so stacking your abilities on these guys ensures your dps goes through the roof! It usually takes about 30-40 seconds to down an ICC trash group so you will at least have KS available for every group you face (if you have the KS glyph) and BF for every second group.
  • Boss
    • For tank-n-spank boss fights such as Saurfang or Festergut I hit SS a couple of times after SnD is up after initial contact then hit KS and blow my other cooldowns thereafter. I then spam SS until 5 cps and Eviscerate if SnD is still up. I TotT the tank when it is up and use my abilities as soon as they come off cooldown.

Remember! 

  • Refresh your TotT on your tank when it is up.
  • Dismantle when possible to ease the pressure on tanks. Interrupt the target through Kick whenever possible. I.E DeathWhisper in ICC or Jaraxxus in ToC.
  • For mobs that aoe such as the skeletons in ICC use Feint right before they explode as it halves the damage you receive. This eases the healers job and can save your life in situations.
  • Make sure SnD is up at all times. If not get it up asap
  • Never use KS with AR because you will cap out on Energy. Similarly only use KS when you have low Energy.

 

 

Summary  

  

As you can see there is no strict rotation Combat rogues follow and it does vary depending on your situation. Most important thing to note is to always keep your SnD up as this provides a signifcant boost to your dps. Vary the number of combo points you SnD depending on when it is about to fall off. Use your special abilities (KS, BF, AR) as often as possible and during the right situations. Eviscerate at 5 cps. Never use KS with AR. Use FoK when fighting more than two targets and lastly don’t forget to TotT your tank whenever it is up. 

 

If you liked this post please rate and leave any comments that you may have. I would love to hear from other rogues about the rotations they use and the success they have had with them. Thanks for reading.

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Posted in PVE, Pre Patch 4.0.1, Rogue | 53 Comments »

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