[center][SIZE=5][COLOR=orange]Combat PvE Rogue Guide[/COLOR][/SIZE] By popular demand...

There has been a lot of talking about the viability of Combat for both PvP and P vE. I already did a Combat PvP guide and Combat has proven to be viable on this server, regardless of the minor bugs it has. Now, after being asked multiple tim es already, I am going to do a short guide. [SIZE=3][COLOR=red][b]~Contents~[/b][/center][/size][/color] Starting off directly with the talent build that you should be using at early ge ar levels, we will move on to the early-build rotation, gems & glyphs. Then we a re going to discuss the end-game build, its rotation, gems & glyphs. Finally, we are going to delve deeper into how Combat actually works. [center][SIZE=3][COLOR=red]~Important Stats~[/center][/size][/color] [center][SIZE=2][COLOR=red]Hit Rating[/center][/size][/color] [center]The most important thing about DPSing no matter what you do is getting H it-capped. No other stat matters at all if you're not Hit-capped. It does not ma tter if you crit for 10k Sinister Strike if that SS *misses*! Hit rating until t he Hit-cap is the biggest DPS increase you will get. So, [b][COLOR="White"]the H it-cap for special melee abilities is 8%. You MUST always have it![/COLOR][/b] N o Sinister Strike misses, no finisher misses. The Hit-cap for spells (poisons) i s 17%. You might want to have this as well, since poisons are a very big & impor tant part of Rogue DPS. The Hit-cap for Dual Wield auto-attacks is 25%. It is NO T worth it reaching this cap. [SIZE=2][COLOR=red]Expertise[/center][/size][/color] [center]This is a negligible stat. Not that it is not important, you kinda need it, because when attacking from the front (happens in dynamic fights) it is twi ce as important as Hit. However, you get a good quantity of +Exp from Weapon Exp ertise & Racial Weapon Specializations, making the 21 Exp cap easily obtainable just from gear. Furthermore, Exp loses half of its value just by the fact that y ou're attacking from behind (NPCs cannot Parry from behind, they can still Dodge ) and then another big chunk from Surprise Attacks enabling your finishers to AL WAYS land when Hit-capped & attacking from behind. [SIZE=3][COLOR=red]~Talents & Rotations~[/center][/size][/color] [center][SIZE=2][COLOR=red]Talents[/center][/size][/color] [center]The talent build you should be using as a Combat PvE in early gear level s is highlighted below in a link. vvvvvvvvv [U][SIZE=4][COLOR="YellowGreen"][URL="http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?rogue#30cx nSHdjRcC1K,6bJ,12213"]EARLY 80 TALENT BUILD[/URL][/COLOR][/size][/U] ^^^^^^^ [SIZE=2][COLOR=red]Rotation[/center][/size][/color] [center]Gather 5 combo points and then use Slice and Dice + gather another 5 com bo points and use Rupture. This is the basic Combat rotation. It will yield mos t of your DPS and make a mediocre Rogue out of you, but that's not what you're a iming I guess... ;) In those times when you wait for either Rupture or Slice and Dice to fade, you s hould include an Eviscerate or two. You could spare some Combo Pointss from your Slice and Dice and take them into your Eviscerate filler. [B]In this case your rotation should be 3combo points then Slice n Dice + 5combo points Rupture + 5combo points Eviscerate.[/center][/B] [b][center][SIZE=1][COLOR=red] "Why use Rupture when I can spam Eviscerate, tara

lej?" You ask, Scratching your head gently in confusion.[/center][/size][/color] [/b] [center]I'm glad you asked, figment of my imagination! As Combat, you aim for Ar P, but not on early gear levels. Same way it goes for platers and mailers with S trength & pure Attack Power being more useful for them, pure Attack Power will h ave a greater potential on low gear levels. This potential however does not incr ease as fast as ArP's potential, so at a point (the 45% ArP soft-cap) ArP become s much more valuable. You are also gemming for pure AP (not agility - you don't need crit as bad as Assassination, you don't have Focused Attacks, only GoSS) [b ][color=white]because you simply cannot hit the ArP cap straight off - you need to switch from AP to ArP gems when you see you are able to get around 45% armor ignorance, with gems & gear.[/center][/b][/color] [center][COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Note[/COLOR]: the so-called ArP soft-cap is not set i n stone. The ArP soft-cap is the amount of ArP sufficient to hit the hard cap (9 5-100%) when your ArP trinket procs. Only then will Eviscerate be able to show its potential. Also, since you will be doing that gemming & chanting, you will have a massive amount of AP, further in creased by Savage Combat. Rupture deals [COLOR="Red"]BLEED[/COLOR] damage, which does not give a crap about how much armor the target has and it also scales qui te well with Attack Power - that's why you use Rupture before you get good ArP g ear. [SIZE=3][COLOR=red]~Glyphs~[/center][/size][/color] [center]The glyphs you should have are not set as mandatory except for one: [COL OR="White"][B]Glyph of Sinister Strike[/B][/COLOR] - you [COLOR="White"][B]*must * [/B][/COLOR]have this glyph no matter what the hell are you doing. Other glyph s you can use are GoAR(+5sec is +5sec), GoFoK(your only AoE, which is the second strongest AoE in-game after Blizzard), GoSnD(for more filler-damage), GoRup(for more filler-damage), GoEvi(for more filler-damage), GoKS(more usages in 1 bossfight). You are absolutely free to pick whichever 2 from these that you want, bu t your 3rd glyph must... always... be... GoSS! [SIZE=3][COLOR=red]~Trinkets~[/size][/color] An Armor Penetration trinket is an[COLOR="Red"] [B]absolute must-have[/B][/COLOR ] for Combat. When it procs, it causes your attacks to almost fully ignore the o pponent's armor if you are already Armor Penetration -soft- capped. This is a li st of the 3 pre-ICC ArP-proc trinkets: [URL="http://www.openwow.com/?item=45931"]-Mjollnir Runestone,[/URL] [URL="http://www.openwow.com/?item=50198"]-Needle-encrusted Scorpion,[/URL] [URL="http://www.openwow.com/?item=40256"]-Grim Toll[/URL] (don't mind the haste rating - ArP is being converted to Haste in Cataclysm) [COLOR="Orange"][B]When you have all of this Armor Penetration stuff,[/B][/COLOR ] you can regem your AP for Armor Penetration &[B][COLOR="orange"] stop using Ru pture[/COLOR][/B], which has nothing to do with Armor Penetration whatsoever [CO LOR="orange"][B]and start spamming Eviscerate[/B][/COLOR]. [B][COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"]Note![/COLOR][/B] Having Set bonuses which boost Rupture , such as the [URL="http://www.openwow.com/?spell=67209"]T9 Set2 bonus[/URL], ca n make the difference between staying on your Rupture spec or respeccing to Evispam when sitting on the ArP soft-cap. Keep the Set bonuses into consideration. [SIZE=3][COLOR=red]~Talent Build after obtaining trinkets~[/size][/color] The talent build you should be using after you get soft-capped and obtain one of the trinkets I mentioned is located below. vvvvvvvvv [U][SIZE=4][COLOR="YellowGreen"][URL="http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?rogue#l0cF DKpGJ1cC6o,dbJ,12213"]TALENT BUILD (AFTER TRINKET)[/URL][/COLOR][/size][/U] ^^^^^^^

The Combat part of the build, as you can see, stays the same. However, there are changes in the Assassination part, the effects of which change the play-style o f your Rogue from this point on. Instead of striving to keep Rupture up and incl ude an Eviscerate from time to time, you are now going to spam Eviscerate. So th e fight will basically be a 5cpSnD and then just spam Evisc and refresh SnD when you see it's going to fade. Note! It is arguable if your poisons, considering the high natural AP you will h ave at that point, will be worth more than speccing 5/5 Rele Strikes, considerin g the high gemmed & natural ArP you will have, to maybe perform 1 more Eviscerat e. It is a personal choice but it also greatly depends on your gear - whether yo u have a high Haste rating or are closer to the ArP hard-cap. In Case 1) poisons will outdmg the extra Evi; in Case 2) the extra Evi will be better. [SIZE=3][COLOR=red]~Glyphs~[/size][/color] The you are going to use. Again GoSS and also GoEvisc, since it is now a big chu nk of your DPS. You are free to get whichever glyph you like from the others - G oAR, GoSnD,GoFoK, GoTotT, GoKS. Don't worry - you will have that massive amount of energy needed to perform thos e moves (Combat does 3 or more combos in a rotation, Assassination only spams 1 after the initial setup burst). All of this energy comes from Vitality & Combat Potency. Because of that second talent, [B][COLOR="White"][B]you must [COLOR="Re d"][U]ALWAYS[/U][/COLOR] have a fast weapon in your OffHand[/B][/COLOR][/B] (and a slow one in your MainHand for hard-hitting Sinister Strikes, ofcourse). Choos ing 5/5 Rele Strikes over improving your poisons will also help you in this dire ction. [B]Combat PvE relies extremely on [COLOR="White"][U]"white damage"[/U][/COLOR] [ /B]and some basic rules about the talent tree derive from this. First, this is t he reason why you ultimately gem for ArP and [B][COLOR="White"]why SnD is your N umber One priority - [COLOR="Red"]IT... MUST... ALWAYS... BE... UP![/COLOR][/COL OR][/B] Second, Haste is an important stat for you too. Haste increases your att ack speed & thus the number of "white hits" you do. In doing that, haste also in creases the potential of your Combat Potency talent. You will start gemming for Haste when you get hard-capped on ArP. Yes, this is totally possible with Combat Rogues as of patch 3.3.5. By that time you should have pretty nice AP-Use & ArP -Proc trinkets. All you need to do is to replace the ArP-Proc with an AP-Proc on e ([URL="http://www.openwow.com/?item=50343"]Whispering Fanged Skull [/URL]is Bi S) [SIZE=3][COLOR=red]~Important Abilities~[/size][/color] [B][COLOR="Red"][SIZE="3"]Rupture[/SIZE][/COLOR][/B] This is a very important finisher early-game for Combat Rogues. SnD + Rup has be en the bread & butter for Rogues ever since this freaking game exists. There are also alot of Set bonuses which favor Rupture. Such is the T9 Set2 Bonus - you * should* stick with the early-game Rupture build & rotation as long as you have t his Set bonus for obvious reasons. [B][COLOR="Red"][SIZE="3"]Killing Spree[/SIZE][/COLOR][/B] Be EXTREMELY CAREFUL when using Killing Spree - it can wipe the whole raid group on certain bosses like Thaddius. Yes, it was the best laugh I've ever had about this game, but my friend's Guild's Officers didn't think so & he ended up losin g some DKPs... You can use KSpree in conjunction with TotT to help your tank wit h a massive aggro gain. You should watch your Proc trinket and any crucial debuf fs on your target too and then use your AP-Use trinket and perform the KSpree fo r maximum effect. Watch to have 5xDP on your target before you perform it - KSpr ee can & will proc poisons.

[B][COLOR="Red"][SIZE="3"]Blade Flurry[/SIZE][/COLOR][/B] BF is a short-cd (2min) skill which increases your attack speed by 20% and grant s you the same effect as Sweeping Strikes, allowing your attacks to strike a nea rby target in Melee range as well. Activating BF means you get a short DPS boost right away since Auto Attacks are Combat's main source of damage. However, ther e are some smart ways to use BF. The skill works very good in conjunction with K Spree and Fan of Knives. Combined with KSpree when attacking 2 nearby targets in Melee range will result in doubling the effect of KSpree. Combine BF with FoK a nd activate Adrenaline Rush before that and you will get the most insane AoE dam age in the whole game for the duration of BF and AR. [B][COLOR="Red"][SIZE="3"]Weapon Specialization[/SIZE][/COLOR][/B] Weapon Spec in PvE is an issue that a lot of Rogues hate. Basically because they have to respec every time they get a cool new weapon. This is the reason why We pSpec is being removed in Cataclysm. Having said that, weapon specialization dep ends mainly on what type are your current best weapons in possession. Of course, there are some general things that should be mentioned about Weapon Specializat ion.[/center] [COLOR="yellow"][B]- Mace Spec[/B][/COLOR] - good if you are in a hurry to switc h to ArP or you are going for the hard-cap [B][COLOR="Yellow"]- CQC -[/COLOR][/B] crit is always nice, unless you are cappe d on it already (yes, there is a thing called crit cap) [B][COLOR="yellow"]- H&S [/COLOR][/B]- the general talent of choice, H&S is unre lated with ArP or crit - it just grants you an extra hit... which can proc poiso ns & crit. I think this makes it clear why H&S is the best choice. [center][SIZE=3][COLOR=red]~Bugs~[/size][/color] [B][COLOR="White"][SIZE="3"] Hack & Slash has been reported in the [URL="http:// forum.molten-wow.com/bugtraq.php?do=view&vbug_id=993"]Bug Tracker[/URL] as bugge d. [/SIZE][/COLOR][/B]This means 2 things: 1) it's heavily inferior to the other weapon specializations & 2) you will have to change your spec depending on whet her you're not ArP capped yet (picking Mace Spec) or crit capped (picking CQC). Have in mind that getting maces through raiding and dungeons is much more harder than getting a [URL="http://www.openwow.com/?item=50315"]slow MH fist weapon[/U RL] & a [URL="http://www.openwow.com/?item=50319"]fast OH dagger[/URL]. [SIZE=3][COLOR=red]~FAQ~[/size][/color] [B][COLOR="Red"]1) [/COLOR][/B][COLOR="White"][U]Why not gem for Crit & Agility instead of pure AP?[/U][/COLOR] - Two reasons: First) you are not Assassination & you do not have Focused Attacks or Seal Fate - you do not benefit from crit as much as Assassination & it is more important for you to get high damage and *th en* to crit, instead of critting for low damage; Second) Savage Combat. [/center][B][COLOR="red"]2)[/COLOR][/B] [COLOR="white"][U]Does Eviscerate work?[ /U] [/COLOR]- [B][URL="http://forum.molten-wow.com/bugtraq.php?do=view&vbug_id=9 94"]YES[/URL][/B][center] [B][COLOR="red"]3) [/COLOR][/B][B][COLOR="White"][U]So which is better for PvE Combat or Assassination?[/U][/COLOR][/B] - The general case says that in a moti onless tank'n'spank fight Assassination will always outperform Combat (consideri ng same gear & skill levels). However, a lot of raid fights require movement, ta rget switching & interacting. This is how it is supposed to be - otherwise it wo uld be plain boring. This is where Assassination's flaw is - changing targets, l osing the 5xDP stacks and the Envenom buff results in a massive DPS drop for Ass assination. This is where Combat shines out - it does not rely on DP as much as Assassination, it doesn't have a short-time buff to keep up, so everything you h ave to do in a dynamic fight is just to make sure you have SnD up & continue spa mming SS... And then, of course, we have personal preferences - if you like Comb

at more than Assassination, don't ask which of the 2 you should play if you alre ady have the answer in your head [U][B]Off-topic[/B][/U] - In that point of view, even playing Sub as PvE can pr ovide some support for the raid-wide Physical DDs in the face of Hemmorhage & Ex pose Armor, although it is seen as a slot-taker because of its awful DPS & is th e reason why it is not prefered for PvE. I will update this Guide as often as possible. I will appreciate all kinds of constructive criticism, mistakes & friendly On-To pic discussions! Peace^^ __________________ [COLOR="Yellow"][B][URL="http://forum.molten-wow.com/showthread.php?t=76969"]Che ck out my Combat Rogue PvP Guide[/URL][/B][/COLOR] as well as my [COLOR="Red"][B][URL="http://forum.molten-wow.com/showthread.php?t =79315"]Combat Rogue PvE Guide[/URL][/B][/COLOR] -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_Also, be sure to check my [COLOR="DeepSkyBlue"][B][URL="http://forum.molten-wow. com/showthread.php?t=80277"]Frequently Asked Questions thread[/URL][/B][/COLOR] as well as the [COLOR="White"][B]Sticky Threads [/B][/COLOR]provided by the Rogu e Forum Community before asking any kind of questions - the answers are very lik ely to be present already. Thanks![/center]