Rogue FAQ 1.0

It's pretty basic so far, but feel free to drop in some suggestions. e.g. "stuff you wish you knew earlier but never bothered to ask" It's a FAQ though, not a guide. Simple questions, simple answers. Rogue FAQ 1.0 Q: What's the ArPen Cap? 100%, or 12.31 * 100 = 1231 Armor Penetration Rating. Less if you have talents that boost this obviously. Be aware that having both of these active: * http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40256 (612) and http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45931 (665) Is already more than the cap, especially since you'll likely already have a decent number of ArPen rating on your gear. So it is highly discouraged to use both at the same time. Q: What's my HitCap? Assuming you have 5/5 precision: * To cap specials (yellow attacks) you need 99 hit rating. Shouldn't be too hard to reach that. * 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(shadow priest) are active, you'll need only 237 hit rating. * To cap white attacks you need 722 hit rating. Don't bother with that though. * If you have a Draenei in your group, you'll need 33 rating less. If you don't have 5/5 precision or simply less of it: ~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 Once you reach your poison hit cap the value of hit rating will decrease substantially (provides you with much less dps increase per point), thus, once you reach the poison cap it's recommended you try to work on the expertise cap and/or start stacking agility or ArPen. Q: What's the expertise Cap? ~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) or Orc(with axes) then you only need 13 = 107 rating Q: What gems should I use? Epic ones obviously. Or the Jewelcrafting ones if you have access to those. Alternatively, The difference between 20 Agi, 40 AP, or 20 ArPen are "very" marginal. Personally I'd suggest the following: Meta: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41398 Red sockets: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40112 Yellow sockets: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40147 Blue sockets: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49110 : only one though, you can usually just flood the rest of your gear with red gems. Q: What does AEP/EP/MAEP mean? Agility Equivalence Points and alike. Basically it is a way to compare other stats to 1 point of agility as a base. For example 1 Agi = 1.5 hit = 1.75 crit = 2 AP (Those values are just an example, for now) Q: What weapons are best for Mutilate? Two big juicy high dps daggers, a slow (1.7-1.8 speed) for mainhand, and a fast (1.3-1.5 speed) one for offhand. Q: What weapons are best for Combat? That really varies what the best weapons in the current patch are. For 3.1 that was Mainhand fist + offhand dagger. For 3.2 it's 2 axes (MH slow, OH fast obviously), nobody knows yet what 3.3 will bring but the MH slow OH fast will always remain true. Q: What is better for DPS, combat or mutilate? Or Honor among thieves? This is a FAQ, not a theorycrafting guide. And it really depends on your playstyle. HaT got nerfed in 3.2 so it's worthless now. Combat is king, but only marginally ahead of mutilate at the time of writing this. Mutilate isn't bad, and blizzard has intentions of making it more prominent. As they want rogues to be a primarily "dagger wielding class" Q: What stats are beneficial to me? Get: Agility and Attack power. Avoid: Spirit and Strength (Strength only gives half the AP value per point) Get: Crit, Hit, Haste, Expertise, ArPen rating. Avoid: Spell power, Mana regen, armor, block, dodge, parry rating. Stamina is never bad, but it doesn't help your DPS either. Q: Why can't I use some abilities when I'm not standing behind my enemy? Some abilities require you to be in front (gouge) while some require you to be behind (backstab, ambush) your target. You can't really go "lol backstab in your face". Front and back are actually two 180 degree circles, but don't take those as 100% accurate all the time. If you want to backstab something, get behind the target. This also means combat spec (which doesn't rely on backstab) is quite good for leveling. Mutilate can also be used from the front as of a recent patch. Q: Why "is" a slow mainhand better than a fast one? Slower weapons have a bigger damage range than faster weapons. e.g. a 1.3 speed dagger might do 50-60 damage, while a 2.6 speed sword will do 100-120. Even if their DPS is the same. Over time the damage will be the same, but that only applies to autoattacks (white damage). Since sinister strike, mutilate, ambush, backstab, hemo all use the weapon's damage for instant attacks it's simply a matter of BIGGER is better. And thus slower weapons are a prime choice for your main hand attacks. Q: What are the best glyphs to use for DPS? Combat: Sinister strike, slice and dice, rupture, killing spree, tricks of the trade. Sinister strike is mandatory really. Minor glyphs don't matter much. Mutilate: Mutilate, tricks of the trade, hunger for blood. (rupture and slice and dice can be used, but probably won't give you much benefit) Q: Why doesn't Vanish always work? Server sync lag mainly. You click vanish, and your client thinks you're in stealth. The server receives an attack command from the other player or npc. The server "then" receives your vanish command. The server allows you to get hit. You lose stealth, you die, etc. As a "fix" blizzard has added a 0.5 second immunity to vanish. It's nearly impossible to notice but there have been many cases where a rogue has been able to survive a lethal crushing blow from a boss mob by vanishing "right" at the correct time. Your combat log will show you received a 60K hit, gain stealth. But not actually taken damage. At any rate, blizzard is "aware" of the issue and has some plans for fixing it in due time. Obviously, it's not a very high priority. Q: What professions will give me the best DPS improvement? See this link. Basically: * Engineering gives "up to" 47 EP for mutilate and "up to" 57 EP for combat, depending how good you keep all your cooldowns on the glove enchant and belt enchant running. See here * Jewelcrafting gives 42 EP (or, AEP if you prefer) * Blacksmithing, inscription, enchanting, leatherworking and skinning are all 40 EP. * Alchemy is 40 but requires you to have a flask active. Don't bother with the rest if you're looking for more damage. Tailoring is shit, and both herbalism and mining are primarily just for PvP. Q: What races are best for PvE? In order from good to bad: * Horde: Orc, Troll, (goblin?), blood elf, undead. * Alliance: Human, Night elf, Dwarf, Gnome. If you want to know "why", just look at the racials. Q: What addons do you recommend I use? Classtimer, to see your "timers". Bartender, for more bars. Grid, to see who else is in the raid with you, and allow you to select tricks of the trade targets more easily. Fubar, just because it's awesome. Bigwigs, because you need it for raid warnings. Get them on curse (yuck) or through mmoui minion. Q: What enchants should I use? * Weapons: Berserking. This one was 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. (Or inscription enchant) * Chest: Powerful Stats +10 to all. * Cloak: Major Agility +22 (or engineer enchant) * Bracers: Greater Assault +50 AP (or Leatherworking enchant) * Gloves: Crusher +44 AP (or engineering enchant) * Legs: Icescale Leg Armor +75 AP +22 crit. * Boots: Icewalker +12 hit, +12 crit (or engineering enchant) * Belt: Eternal Belt Buckle +1 socket = 20 agi Q: What poisons work best in PvE? For combat: * MH Wound poison and OH Deadly poison. Depends on the speed of your offhand, attack speed, and haste which one should be MH and OH though. Generally you want it like that however. 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 axe or both): * OH speed = 1.4: WP/WP * OH speed > 1.4: WP/DP For assassination: * Deadly + Instant (someone verify?) Q: Why not use Instant poison as Combat? Without talents wound poison simply does more damage. Less damage per hit, but WAY higher proc rate = more damage over time. Instant poison is still useful, but only if you are specced deep into mutilate. Q: What poisons work best in PvP? Crippling is pretty much mandatory. Mind numbing poison / Wound poison depending on the situation. Q: Why can't I use cloth / Mail? You can use cloth, but there is no cloth with stats that benefit you. And, you can't train mail or plate armor. Rogues are "stealthy", so no clinking mail for you. Q: Where do I train certain weapon skills? At the weapon master, see: http://www.wowwiki.com/Weapon_master As a rogue you can learn: * Melee: Unarmed, Daggers, Swords, Axes (as of 3.2), Maces. All one handed only. * Ranged: Bows / Crossbows / Guns / Thrown Q: Are there any useful links where I can look for more information? Some Extra info sources: * Some old stuff this FAQ is based on: http://rrvs.blogspot.com/2009/01/rogue-wotlk-stuff.html * 3.2 Professions in detail: http://rrvs.blogspot.com/2009/07/slow-week-for-32-professions.html * PvE DPS: http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t24301-rogue_pve_dps/ * Spreadsheet: http://elitistjerks.com/f78/t39136-combat_3_2_mutilate_3_1_spreadsheets/ * Spreadsheet: http://elitistjerks.com/f78/t27244-roguecraft_spreadsheet/ * Rogue Info: http://www.wowwiki.com/Rogue * Rating values: http://www.wowwiki.com/Combat_rating_system * Gear list: http://www.shadowpanther.net/