Raiding as a Rogue might seem like a simple affair. After all, all you’ve got to do is output the most damage you can without becoming a burden for your raid. But there are a few simple things you can do to get yourself ahead of the game. Keep in mind that Rogues are a very gear dependent class. Therefore, you've got to do the very best with what you've got.
Enchant your gear!
Guest post, Rogue HowTo
About a week ago I posted it'd be interesting to have a guest post or few up. Out of three responses one has so far submitted an article. The other two haven't been too responsive yet... Hopefully we'll hear more soon! :)
So, without further ado here's the post you were waiting for.
How To: Prepare Your Rogue for a Raid
by: Andy Salisbury, A Rogue's Eye View
Raiding as a Rogue might seem like a simple affair. After all, all you’ve got to do is output the most damage you can without becoming a burden for your raid. But there are a few simple things you can do to get yourself ahead of the game. Keep in mind that Rogues are a very gear dependent class. Therefore, you've got to do the very best with what you've got.
Enchant your gear!
Weapons: Mongoose
Mongoose is always the best enchant for your weapons as a Rogue, PvE or PvP. Everything about its proc is worthwhile, and no matter what spec you are it’ll be beneficial. If you’re a Combat based spec, the extra attack speed from Mongoose will give you more Combat Potency procs, and having more energy means more damage. If you’re a dagger based build (Combat Daggers or Mutilate) the 120 agility that comes from the very same proc will give a huge boost to your crit.
Helm: Glyph of Ferocity
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Vengeance or Greater Inscription of the Blade, depending on your faction.
Cloak: +12 Agility
Chest: +6 All Stats
Bracers: +24 Attack Power
Gloves: +15 Agility
Legs: Nethercobra Leg Armor
Boots: Surefooted
I get asked about this one a lot, and the reasoning is simple: hit rating. You need it, and the closer to the hit cap (which is 363 hit rating) the better. Questions about hit cap? Be sure and read #3 in my guide to maximizing your DPS.
Optional:
Rings: +4 All Stats
Have consumables!
Now that you've got your gear enchanted, make sure that you’ve got all your consumables ready! You’ll want to make sure that you always have some of these on hand:
Flask of Relentless Assault/ Shattrath Flask of Relentless Assault or Elixir of Major Agility
Haste Potion
Grilled Mudfish or Spicy Hot Talbuk (depends on your hit rating)
Gathering all the consumables might not be the easiest thing in the world, but being a Rogue means that you can farm with virtually no downtime. Plus, farming the mats for these is your responsibility. It's your job to make sure that you're prepared. Don't worry if you're not an alchemist or a high level cook, if you get the mats there's bound to be someone in your guild that will make them for you.
Know your spec!
Now, let’s make sure that you’ve got your spec in order. No matter what your spec is (Combat Swords, Combat Daggers, Mutilate or Tri-Spec Hemo) there is an ideal rotation that you should follow in order to get the most damage out of your spec. Be sure to check out the Elitist Jerks forums to make sure that you know what yours is.
Know the fights!
As a Rogue your role is simple, do your job without becoming a liability. There are a lot of exciting boss fights to memorize in World of Warcraft, but learning them can be a bit daunting at times. Be sure to keep a guide site like BossKillers by your side, and you'll be golden.
Watch movies too! Seeing the fight in action will give you a great frame of reference on what to do, so be sure and make your way over to Warcraft Movies and download a few. It's free, and absolutely worth your time.
All right! It’s time to raid! Make sure that you’re online on time, and that you’ve completed all of the steps mentioned above. Apply your poisons (always Deadly Poison offhand and in the absence of a Windfury Totem, Instant Poison on the main hand) and make me proud!
Raiding as a Rogue might seem like a simple affair. After all, all you’ve got to do is output the most damage you can without becoming a burden for your raid. But there are a few simple things you can do to get yourself ahead of the game. Keep in mind that Rogues are a very gear dependent class. Therefore, you've got to do the very best with what you've got.
Enchant your gear!
8 comments:
Your correct in everything except for your misconception of hit rating. Your assertion that you "must be as close to the hit cap as possible" is wrong and quite frankly, misinformation. I urge you become an avid reader of Elitist Jerks, as that website is a much better site for this kind of advice then this short and not completely accurate post.
While you don't "have" to cap your hit rating, it's still the best stat to invest in in terms of improving your dps. As long as you're combat or trispec hemo at least. So the information he's given certainly isn't false.
For comparison, you'll find the rogue spreadsheet gives a value of about 1.24 AEP to hit rating as well as expertise up to a point, about 1.02 to 2 AP, and about 0.8 to crit rating. It only makes sense to get your hit rating close to the cap.
Myself i aim for ~3% miss chance due to the fact that we have a moonkin druid who will keep faery fire active on the boss.
It wasn't so much that it was a bad idea, more than it creates this false concept that hit rating is the most vital stat. A lot of guild wrongfully look for rogues with 300+ hit rating and guides like this add to that problem. The rest of his guide was fine, but for those willing to spend more then a minute of their lives reading about rogue mechanics, EJ is a vastly superior choice.
No offense made to the writer of course, but my point stands.
That would be more fault to the guild looking to recruit such a rogue. Good gear is a given, but when you look at their gear I always make sure they don't do silly things like use crit or attack power gems when their hit rating is below the cap.
I certainly would not demand a rogue to get 300+ hit rating and force him to use blues if there are epic items available to him which are vastly superior.
I'm sure that Andy realizes this as well. /pokes him to reply.
The EJ forums are a good source of information if you know where to look. I know for a fact that a lot of people find them to be rather overwhelming though. 100+ page threads going on and on and on about a subject. It's usually a lot easier for those looking for information to scroll trough a summary post.
I try to make them from time to time, as do others. Comments on such summaries help improve the quality and knowledge of those who come after the first readers. So any comments are obviously always very welcome.
While I hear what you're saying, I suppose my wording may have been a bit misleading. While yes, I say that having hit rating as close to the hit cap is needed, perhaps I should have said "aim."
I personally believe that getting the hit cap is the absolute best thing you can do as a Rogue, because you can't crit what you can't hit. Not to mention the fact that just about everything that a Rogue helps us boost our DPS is hit reactive. Therefore, hitting more = getting more of these hit reactive abilities.
But, on that note I'd never insist that someone gimp themselves to the extent of using blues over epics. This is something I was understandably unclear on, and I can understand the animosity in your first reply. Know that's not something that I meant, and I'll be sure to watch myself in future posts.
"...because you can't crit what you can't hit."
Also not true. And in reference to getting as close to the hit cap as possible, there have been numerous and very strong arguments where having below 300 hit are superior to above 300 hit (simply as a reference point). And while yes, stacking 10 hit gems is powerful, and hit is the most dmging stat for its item budget, there is a lot of problems with getting near the hit cap.
Namely: Balance druids, heroic presence, decreased performance on non sustained fights where hit becomes less important, over the hit cap for lvl 72 and lower mobs, agl cut off points in relation to vitality, and more.
I know I'm nit picking an otherwise solid guide, and I'm sorry, but seeing rogues getting surefooted on boots when it is glaringly inferior to cats swiftness and dexterity because they feel their hit is "too low" is a problem I don't want to see spread.
In summary: Don’t worry about your stats. Don’t "aim" for any amount of hit. Get appropriate upgrades (as per recommendation from given spreadsheet or EP value assignment), gem appropriately (10 hit, 5agl/5hit, and 10agl), and follow your rotation.
I'm going to have to still disagree with you on the matter of hit rating, mostly because of the fact that critting isn't the only thing that Rogues can do. Poisons, Weapon Specializations, Mongoose, Dragonspine Trophy, Warp-Spring Coil, Madness of the Betrayer, Romulo's Poison Vial, Blinkstrike, etc. are all hit reactive, and they outweigh the crit chance from gems. There's far too many buffs to ignore there.
You should aim for a certain amount of hit, because it's your responsibility to have your own stats. As a pure DPS class I tend to rely on myself to bring food, consumables and having myself in order before I start relying on the members of my raid for buffs. When the people I intended this guide for, those preparing for their first raids, become consistent enough raiders to understand the mechanics of the buffs that they get from the members of their raid, I imagine they'll graduate from my suggestions and figure out their own proper gemming techniques, hopefully from somewhere like Elitist Jerks.
I know I'm a bit behind on this post, but I couldn't help responding to Anonymous...the EJ posts are really helpful for this, but you seem not to be reading them accurately.
Many of the EJ forums state that aiming for the hit cap is an essential for high DPS. This is because 50-65% of a rogue's damage output is white damage, depending on the talent build. Of course, there are obvious limitations, such as needing more AP and crit from agility, but the gear tends to equalize this to some extent.
I think it's pretty bad advice to say:
"In summary: Don’t worry about your stats. Don’t "aim" for any amount of hit. Get appropriate upgrades (as per recommendation from given spreadsheet or EP value assignment), gem appropriately (10 hit, 5agl/5hit, and 10agl), and follow your rotation."
Of course you should worry about your stats and should aim for an amount of +hit that is recommended by EJ posts, etc. Once you achieve that +hit, you can work on your other stats like +agil. In fact, you seem to be doing that already, based on your last post.
In summary: This is a good guide that gives good advice about how to handle your stats.
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