Rogue WotLK stuff

We've been compiling some data, which in hindsight could mostly be found on the EJ forums as well.. but in retrospective most things can be found there sooner or later right? The only problem with that, is that you'd need some background information before being able to understand half the stuff there. So, a small compilation never hurt anyone I guess. Tricks of the trade You will want to cast this spell as much as you can during raids, thus it's a good thing to set a focus target to your main tank, and simply be able to press a single button. Easy, efficient. #showtooltip Tricks of the Trade /cast [target=focus, exists] Tricks of the Trade; Tricks of the trade This will show the Tricks of the Trade tooltip on your macro button, and cast tricks of the trade on your focus target, or if that target is not valid, cast it anyway. Stat choices I bE 1337 rougle lolol 700 hit rating keke? No. No. No. don't even go there. Hit rating isn't the all powerful stat that it was in TBC, it's quite weak even. The main reason it was "good" was because it worked with Windfury totem and Swordspec. The totem is now a flat haste, and swordspec has been fixed. It's still relatively nice for getting more combat potency procs, but even that is a very tiny contribution to your dps when you look at it more closely. Quite useful info on that here. So, what stat should you be going for then? The guys (and girls) over at the EJ forums have listed some Equivalence points for combat and mutilate.

Agi : 2.0

AP : 1.0 (2 AP = 1 Agi in terms of gear cost, and gems. So basically it's the same as Agi)

Exp : 1.6

Crit : 1.5

Haste : 1.4

ArPen : 1.2

Str : 1.1 - Expensive stat, avoid it. Hit is ~1.8 while you are below the yellow hit cap(~99 which is patheticallly easy to reach), 1.6 below the poison hit cap(315), and 1.4 thereafter. For mutilate stats you can look here. The values aren't all that much different though. Get your hit rating to 315 or 237 if you have a SP/moonkin in the raid, after that gem for Agi and AP. Expertise is valuable but ridiculously easy to get. It's literally everywhere due to the new itemisation method blizzard is using, and thus druid tanks share our gear pool. Hit rating and Expertise Hit rating ~32.78 hit rating equals 1% hit ~65.56 hit rating equals 2% hit ~98.34 hit rating equals 3% hit ~131.12 hit rating equals 4% hit ~163.9 hit rating equals 5% hit Assuming you have 5/5 precision:

To cap specials (yellow attacks) you need 99 hit rating. Shouldn't be too hard.

To cap poison attacks 315 hit rating. Poison is considered a spell and affected by precision as of 3.0.1

To cap poison attacks, while improved Faery fire or misery are active, you'll need only 237 hit rating.

To cap white attacks you need 722 hit rating. Spell miss and resist rate can be found on wowwiki as well. Improved Faery fire will lower the poison hit cap, It no longer works with physical attacks though. Expertise ~32.78 expertise rating equals 4 expertise = 1% less dodge, parry, and block on your target. So 1% increase to hit your target from behind, 3% increase from the front. Bosses are presumed to have 6.5% dodge, which means you need 26 expertise, or 214 expertise rating. If you have Weapon expertise 2/2 you need 16 expertise, or 132 expertise rating. If you're a human(or dwarf) wielding a sword(or mace) then you only need 13 = 107 rating Gems

Meta gem: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond. No exceptions.

Red sockets: Delicate Scarlet Ruby. No exceptions.

Yellow sockets: Deadly Monarch Topaz if you are above the poison hit cap, otherwise Glinting Monarch Topaz.

Blue sockets: Enchanted tear if able, otherwise Balanced twilight opal. Odd enough there's no Agi+Stam gem in WotLK at the time of writing this. If you are a Jewelcrafter, use the 27 agi one. Preferably in blue sockets. If you can simply flood all sockets with red gems, go for it. Sometimes the activation bonus is rather small and pathetic compared to using a blue gem, and losing half the gem's worth to something like stamina. Enchants These are the best enchant choices available to a raiding rogue.

Weapons: Berserking. This one will be made a bit less dramatic in 3.0.8 -5% reduced armor instead of a whooping 25%

Helm: Arcanum of Torment. Requires revered with Knights of the Ebon Blade.

Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Axe. Requires exalted with the Sons of Hodir. Start on that asap, it's quite a pain to raise. As of 3.0.8 you can also turn in Relic of Ulduar for rep.

Chest: Powerful Stats +10

Cloak: Major Agility +22

Bracers: Greater Assault +50 AP

Gloves: Crusher +44 AP

Legs: Icescale Leg Armor

Boots: Icewalker +12 hit, +12 crit

Belt: Eternal Belt Buckle +1 socket = 16 agi If you're a Leatherworker, tailor, Scribe or enchanter then you could get some profession specific enchants. Don't bother with the engineering ones, they suck. The tailor enchant is very borderline useful as well, weak compared to what the other professions can give you. Poisons Instant poison -vs- Wound Poison. Instant Poison Each strike has a 20% chance of poisoning the enemy which instantly inflicts [245 + 0.10 * AP] Nature damage. Wound Poison Each strike has a 50% chance of poisoning the enemy, causing [231 + 0.04 * AP] Nature damage and reducing all healing effects used on them by 50% for 15 sec. Deadly Poison Each strike has a 30% chance of poisoning the enemy for [244 + 0.08 * AP] Nature damage over 12 sec. Stacks up to 5 times on a single target. Instant / Wound poison Base unmodified 0 AP * IP : 300 / 5 = 60 * IP (5/5 imp) :300 / 3.33 = 90,09 * WP : 231 / 2 = 115,5 Diff : -55,5 unimp Diff : -25,41 imp 5/5 Base + 3000 AP * IP = (300+300) / 5 = 120 * IP (5/5 imp) : (300+300) / 3.33 = 180,18 * WP = (231+120) / 2 = 175.5 Diff : -55,5 unimp Diff : 4,68 imp 5/5 Base + 10000 AP * IP : (300+1000) / 5 = 260 * IP (5/5 imp) : 300+1000 / 3.33 = 390,39 * WP : (231+400) / 2 = 315,5 Diff : -55,5 unimp Diff : 74,89 imp 5/5 Deadly poison Base unmodified 0 AP = (244+0 * 5 stacks) / 12 sec = 101,67 dps while it can be kept on 5 stacks. Base + 3000 AP = (244+240 * 5) / 12 sec = 201,67 dps Base + 10000 = (244+800 * 5) / 12 sec = 435 dps How useful DP is, will depend on your attack speed for IP/WP, hit rating, expertise, and whether you can keep the DP stack at 5 or not. What and when to use it It basically comes down this: Without sword spec (fist/mace MH and dagger/fist/mace OH):

OH speed = 1.4: DP/WP : For example 2.6 MH, 1.4 OH

OH speed > 1.4: WP/DP : For example 2.5 MH, 1.6 OH With sword spec (either MH or OH sword or both):

OH speed = 1.4: WP/WP

OH speed > 1.4: WP/DP Instant poison is still useful, but only if you are specced deep into mutilate. Speccing for win What should you be speccing like? A few things are down to your personal taste, but there's only two real ways to spec for raiding. As of 3.0.8 the "bug" for Honor among Thieves will be fixed, and it should no longer be viable competition for the other specs. Blizzard has stated they want all three trees to be competitive so there may be more changes in the future. For now, these work:

51/13/7 Mutilate.

7/51/13 Close Quarters Combat. Or 15/51/5 but imo this is inferior.

7/51/13 Combat Swords. DPS wise, the mutilate spec will output higher DPS than the combat builds on their own. The raid buff from mutilate is also given by Retribution Paladins, while the raidbuff from combat is also given by Arms warriors. Arms warriors however, are few nowadays since Fury simply beats them off the charts. Hence the combat specs are fairly competitive with mutilate. You only need a single combat rogue in your raid however, any additional rogues should spec mutilate. Relevant Links

EJ Rogue Gear Discussion.

EJ Rogue WotLK Pocket guide.

When to break the T6 socket bonusses.