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Combat Rogue: Mists of Pandaria Rotation Changes, Talents, and Glyphs (Patch 5.0.4)

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This article is no longer being updated. Please check our Combat Rogue guide, which is fully compatible with Mists of Pandaria, and is being constantly updated. Thank you.

In preparation for the updates to our guides for Mists of Pandaria Patch 5.0.4, we are releasing articles such as this one, explaining what has changed for a particular class and spec, and what the new rotation is likely to be.

Keep in mind that this is still a work in progress (both from Blizzard's side and from our own) and that this article assumes you are at least somewhat familiar with the Cataclysm version of the Combat Rogue rotation and playstyle (such as from reading our guide).

We will first list the most important changes to the Combat Rogue Cataclysm abilities, and then we will proceed to explaining the (likely to be) optimal rotation. Keep in mind that we do not document every single change or new ability, only those that impact the rotation.

Finally, we will give you some information about the most useful talents and glyphs you should choose.

Main Changes

Combat Rogues will notice three main changes in Mists of Pandaria. Two of them are general to Rogues while the last one is specific to Combat Rogues.

The first main change is related to Combo Point management. The three Rogue specialisations have mechanics that cause Combo Point generating abilities to sometimes generate an extra Combo Point. In the case of Combat Rogue, inv_sword_97.jpgRevealing Strike gives spell_shadow_ritualofsacrifice.jpgSinister Strike a 20% chance to generate an extra Combo Point, for 18 seconds. Also, Rogues get a new DPS cooldown: inv_knife_1h_grimbatolraid_d_03.jpgShadow Blades, which temporarily causes your Combo Point generating abilities to generate an extra Combo Point. To prevent you from wasting Combo Points, Blizzard introduced a new, nigh-mandatory Tier 6 talent: ability_rogue_slaughterfromtheshadows.jpAnticipation. This talent enables you to have up to 10 Combo Points on a target. When you use a Finishing Move, it will consume up to 5 Combo Points. This means that if you have 8 Combo Points and cast ability_rogue_eviscerate.jpgEviscerate, you will be left with 3 Combo Points.

The second main change will concern AoE damage. When facing a few enemies, doing your normal single-target rotation while enabling ability_warrior_punishingblow.jpgBlade Flurry will be the optimal choice. When facing a certain number of enemies (number that we will determine later on, when we will update our Combat Rogue guide for Mists of Pandaria), it will most likely be more efficient to switch to ability_rogue_fanofknives.jpgFan of Knives. Fan of Knives now generates Combo Points on your Combo Point target. These Combo Points can then be consumed by inv_knife_1h_cataclysm_c_05.jpgCrimson Tempest, a new AoE ability.

The third main change is that it will become viable to use slow off-hand weapons. Indeed, inv_weapon_shortblade_38.jpgCombat Potency now has a chance to proc that is proportional to your weapon speed. The idea is that slower weapons and faster weapons should generate the same amount of procs during the same time window. We will do more testing on this later on in the expansion.

New Abilities

As mentioned above, inv_knife_1h_grimbatolraid_d_03.jpgShadow Blades is a new DPS cooldown that increases Combo Point generation and inv_knife_1h_cataclysm_c_05.jpgCrimson Tempest is a new AoE ability that you will use to consume the Combo Points built by ability_rogue_fanofknives.jpgFan of Knives. In addition, you gain the following new abilities:
  • ability_rogue_shroudofconcealment.jpgShroud of Concealment is a raid-wide Stealth. It works just like Illidan's concealment aura in the Well of Eternity dungeon.
  • ability_rogue_envelopingshadows.jpgShadow Walk temporarily increases the efficiency of Stealth.
  • ability_creature_poison_06.jpgMaster Poisoner is a passive ability that causes targets afflicted by your poisons to take +5% increased spell damage.
  • ability_rogue_disembowel.jpgSwiftblade's Cunning is a passive ability that grants your party and raid members +10% melee and ranged attack speed.

Removed Abilities

As far as we could see, no ability has been removed.

Changed Abilities and Mechanics

As we mentioned in the introduction, ability_rogue_fanofknives.jpgFan of Knives now generates a Combo Point every time it is used. We also mentioned that every time you use inv_sword_97.jpgRevealing Strike, it grants you a 18-second buff that gives your spell_shadow_ritualofsacrifice.jpgSinister Strike ability a 20% chance to generate an additional Combo Point. That buff also increases the damage of your Finishing Moves by 35%. In addition to this, you will notice the following changes.
  • ability_rogue_slicedice.jpgSlice and Dice now has a built-in duration of 36 seconds, which is 5 seconds shorter than what you had in Cataclysm when taking both ability_rogue_slicedice.jpgImproved Slice and Dice and inv_glyph_primerogue.jpgGlyph of Slice and Dice.
  • The insights of ability_rogue_preyontheweak.jpgBandit's Guile (which is now given to you automatically when you choose the Combat specialisation) no longer drop when you change target. Previously, you had to use ability_rogue_redirect.jpgRedirect to transfer your insight of Bandit's Guile to your new target.

Poison Changes

Poisons are now spells so you no longer need to buy reagents from vendors. Also, a poison is always applied to both your weapons, so you can no longer have different poisons on your two weapons. Finally, all your poisons now have a set chance to be applied by each strike of your weapon; this means that slower weapons will have a smaller chance of applying poisons than faster weapons (though we believe that as a Combat Rogue, it will not make a big enough difference that you should use fast weapons).

Poisons are now either Lethal or Non-Lethal. Lethal Poisons are your damaging poisons while Non-Lethal Poisons provide crowd control and utility.

ability_rogue_dualweild.jpgDeadly Poison and inv_misc_herb_16.jpgWound Poison are your Lethal Poisons. ability_poisons.jpgInstant Poison has been removed from the game, so the slightly redesigned Deadly Poison will be your poison of choice. Wound Poison will only be used when you need the healing reduction that it provides.

Your Non-Lethal Poisons are listed below. Using inv_throwingknife_04.jpgShiv when a Non-Lethal Poison is active on a target will apply a concentrated version of the poison effect.

Rotation

Your rotation does not really change.

The fact that ability_rogue_slicedice.jpgSlice and Dice now has a 36-second duration will make it harder to keep it up.

Since you will probably choose ability_rogue_slaughterfromtheshadows.jpAnticipation as your Tier 6 talent, inv_sword_97.jpgRevealing Strike should only be used to refresh the 18-second buff that it gives you. Using Revealing Strike for building the last Combo Point is no longer necessary since Anticipation makes it impossible to waste your Combo Points. Maintaining a high uptime on Revealing Strike will be a priority, as the buff grants you a 20% chance to build an additional Combo Point with spell_shadow_ritualofsacrifice.jpgSinister Strike and increases the effectiveness of your Finishing Moves by 35%.

ability_rogue_rupture.jpgRupture currently seems to deal more damage than ability_rogue_eviscerate.jpgEviscerate, so it will make its return into the rotation. With the decreased duration of Slice and Dice, it will be hard to weave in Eviscerates while maintaining Rupture up.

Taking all this into account, we believe that the Combat Rogue rotation in Mists of Pandaria will follow this priority list:

Cooldowns

From Cataclysm, you retain spell_shadow_shadowworddominate.jpgAdrenaline Rush and ability_rogue_murderspree.jpgKilling Spree, which you should use in the same way as you did before (see our Combat Rogue guide). In addition, you gain inv_knife_1h_grimbatolraid_d_03.jpgShadow Blades, which increases your Combo Point generation and should be used together with Adrenaline Rush. Lining up these two abilities will not be a problem as they both have a 3-minute cooldown.

Multiple-Target Rotation

As we mentioned in the introduction, enabling ability_warrior_punishingblow.jpgBlade Flurry and doing your single-target rotation on one enemy will remain the optimal choice when you are facing a few enemies.

When facing a certain number of enemies (number that we will determine later), you should build up Combo Points with ability_rogue_fanofknives.jpgFan of Knives and consume these Combo Points with inv_knife_1h_cataclysm_c_05.jpgCrimson Tempest, your new AoE ability.

Talents

Tier 1 talents improve Stealth, which is largely useless to Combat Rogues who still do not benefit from Stealth. You have the choice between ability_stealth.jpgNightstalker, rogue_subterfuge.jpgSubterfuge, and rogue_shadowfocus.jpgShadow Focus. We believe that Nightstalker will be the preferred option, as it can be useful while questing.

Tier 2 talents provide you with survival and crowd control abilities. Whichever you take should make very little difference on your performance as a raider. You have the choice between inv_throwingknife_06.jpgDeadly Throw (interrupts and slows movement), rogue_nerve-_strike.jpgNerve Strike (damage reduction), and ability_rogue_combatreadiness.jpgCombat Readiness. Deadly Throw will be largely useless in PvE while the other two can be useful in fights where you take direct damage from an add.

Tier 3 talents provide you with powerful survival abilities.

  • ability_rogue_cheatdeath.jpgCheat Death, which used to be only accessible to Subtlety Rogues, works in a similar way as it did in Cataclysm. We believe that this will be the preferred choice.
  • rogue_leeching_poison.jpgLeeching Poison provides you with a self-healing poison that will be useful in situations such as the Twilight Realm against Valiona and Theralion in Bastion of Twilight.
  • ability_rogue_turnthetables.jpgElusiveness grants ability_rogue_feint.jpgFeint a 30% damage reduction, which can be very useful if you often need to mitigate the damage you take.
Tier 4 talents provide you with survival and mobility abilities.
  • ability_rogue_preparation.jpgPreparation is an improvement over the old ability of the same name that was previously only available to Subtlety Rogues. It resets the cooldown of several survival and defensive abilities. This will most likely be the default choice for every specialisation.
  • ability_rogue_shadowstep.jpgShadowstep used to be a Subtlety-only ability. It teleports you behind your target and can be useful on fights where you often have to move away from the boss.
  • rogue_burstofspeed.jpgBurst of Speed is a very powerful movement-speed-increasing ability that has a 4-second duration. While active, It also removes movement-impairing effects and prevents their re-application. It has no cooldown and costs 60 Energy to cast. We believe that this talent will be extremely powerful in PvP and while questing. It might also be punctually useful in raids, but that will depend on encounter mechanics.
Tier 5 talents give various boosts to your poisons (mostly to the Non-Lethal Poisons) and will have almost no implication in PvE. You have the choice between ability_rogue_deadlybrew.jpgDeadly Brew, rogue_paralytic_poison.jpgParalytic Poison, and ability_rogue_dirtydeeds.jpgDirty Tricks.

Tier 6 talents deal with Combo Point management. ability_rogue_slaughterfromtheshadows.jpAnticipation is so appealing that it will be nigh-mandatory for raiding. It basically allows you to store extra Combo Points so they don't go to waste if you happen to generate more than 5. ability_rogue_versatility.jpgVersatility, which removes the cooldown of ability_rogue_redirect.jpgRedirect, and inv_throwingknife_07.jpgShuriken Toss, which allows you to generate Combo Points on a remote target, might be useful, but that will depend on encounter mechanics.

Glyphs

The only major glyph that has an incidence on your DPS will be inv_glyph_majorrogue.jpgGlyph of Adrenaline Rush because it reduces the global cooldown on all your important damaging abilities, which enables you to make better use of the increased Energy regeneration.

All the other major glyphs provide either utility, more survival, or more mobility, and your choice of glyph will largely depend on the encounter. Those that will come in handy are:

Regarding minor glyphs, it is worth noting that inv_glyph_majorrogue.jpgGlyph of Tricks of the Trade has been changed. While this glyph still removes the Energy cost of Tricks of the Trade, it also causes your ability_rogue_tricksofthetrade.jpgTricks of the Trade ability to no longer increase the damage of your target. Therefore, you will usually not use this glyph, meaning that using Tricks of the Trade on a fellow raid member will have a much higher penalty than before on the Rogue's DPS.

Other than that, we believe that the two following minor glyphs will be used by almost everyone: inv_glyph_minorrogue.jpgGlyph of Safe Fall and inv_glyph_minorrogue.jpgGlyph of Poisons.

Finally, inv_glyph_minorrogue.jpgGlyph of Killing Spree and inv_glyph_minorrogue.jpgGlyph of Blurred Speed can be useful for dealing with particular encounter mechanics.

This concludes our Combat Rogue preview for Mists of Pandaria. We hope you have enjoyed reading it and that it proved useful to you. As always, we are looking forward to reading your opinions on the matter!

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Currently Combat is underperforming. Assassination and Subtlety are about the same.

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      Table of Content:
      GENERAL CONCERNS
      COMMON TALENTS AND GLYPHS
      ENCOUNTER SPECIFICS:
      KARGATH BLADEFIST
      THE BUTCHER
      TECTUS
      BRACKENSPORE
      TWIN OGRON
      KO'RAGH
      IMPERATOR MAR'GOK
       
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      GENERAL CONCERNS (top)
       
      If there are situations during a raid where you feel that all your heals are going nowhere, try to make some changes to your healing frames. If you are using an add-on for your Healing Frames and not the default Blizz UI, you should be able to track the following:
       
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      COMMON TALENTS AND GLYPHS: (top)
       
      TIER 1:
       
      STONE BULWARK TOTEM
       
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      When you summon it, it grants you a 10-second Shield that absorbs (Spell power * 0.875 * 4) damage. After that 10-second period is over, it casts a smaller shield of (Spell power * 0.875) on you every 5 seconds (overriding the previous shield, even the large, initial one, if it is still active). This smaller shield absorbs exactly 4 times less damage than the first shield and lasts for 10 seconds.
       
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      NATURE’S GUARDIAN
       
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      ASTRAL SHIFT
       
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      TIER 2:
       
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      TIER 5:
       
      In my opinion, the only reasonable choice for most of the fights in this tier would be RUSHING STREAMS.
       
      ANCESTRAL GUIDANCE was nerfed so heavily in WoD, that even while having a 2 min CD, as a major raid CD it converts only 20% of your direct healing to healing on up to 3 nearby injured raid members. It’s such a minor amount of healing that I wouldn’t recommend it for any fight.
       
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      TIER 7:
       
      CLOUDBURST TOTEM or HIGH TIDE
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      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM - all fights in Highmaul, except for The Butcher and Mar'goc with Arcane spells have a magic damage component that may be reduced with this Glyph. Even in the Kargath fight, where the boss has only physical abilities, the adds and Pillars add a magic damage component.
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE - with the new healing style in WoD, we are using HW a lot. So why not get free self heals?
       
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS - reduces the cooldown of Spiritwalker's Grace by 60 seconds but reduces its duration by 7 seconds. I prefer it above Glyph of Spiritwalker's Grace.
      The reason for this is that in almost all the fights in Highmaul, we have ground abilities from which we have to move out or knockbacks after which we have to run back to our spots. Mostly they are short but frequent. I see many situations where 8 seconds casting on the move every 60 seconds can be more beneficial than being able to cast on move every 2 minutes.
       
       
      ENCOUNTER SPECIFICS (top)
       
       
      KARGATH BLADEFIST (top)
       
      This is the fight with very low raid damage in both Normal and Heroic versions.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3:
      Call of the Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice. I prefer Totemic Persistence with CBT because it gives you the flexibility to use other Water Totems without ruining your CBT timings.
      You can use Call of Elements in this fight too but there is no specific advantage to it. CoE is very good when you have to use a utility Totem twice in a row due to fight mechanics (Tremor, Windwalk, Capacitor, etc.) or when the overall damage is so high, that even one more HST could help. There’s nothing like this on Kargath.
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: we don’t need additional CDs for this fight.
      Ancestral Swiftness: no real need for additional Haste or instant casts.
      Echo of the Elements: I would say that this is our talent of choice on Kargath. A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams. No reason for Conductivity - the raid is never stacked.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury: your choice if you are aiming for single target healing in this fight. Not valuable if you chose High Tide in Tier 7.
      Primal Elementalist: An acceptable choice. There is nothing to heal for most of the fight, so you could use elementals for DPS!
      Elemental Blast: I can’t see any reason for having mana issues in this fight, so I wouldn’t take this talent.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst Totem: This is my preferred Talent for this fight. Damage on the Raid is low, so it feels better to single target heal while CBT will redistribute our healing to the raid.
      High Tide: The only reason to take this talent on Kargath, in my opinion, is when you are assigned to go upstairs. It’s problematic enough to time CBT there, people are running all over the place, so it might be easier to Riptide the group and Chain Heal them.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (you can take something else instead but I don’t see anything really useful)
       
       
      THE BUTCHER (top)
       
      This is the fight with very high raid damage in both Normal and Heroic versions, especially for soaking groups.
      My guild uses a very specific tactic for this boss:
      We have two healers for 2 soaking groups (5+5 people) - myself (Restoration Shaman) and Disc Priest. Our Restoration Druid stays on the raid full time while our Holy Paladin prioritizes the Tanks. Sub-30%, our Healers come into the soaking groups to help minimise the damage, 2 healers in each group.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: I take Nature’s Guardian for accidental (or not accidental Sub-30%) Cleave damage.
       
      Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3:
      Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      I prefer High Tide for The Butcher. According to my assignment, I will have at least 5 heavily injured people during the entire fight. It’s clearly worth the constant use of Chain Heal.
      So Call of Elements is my choice here. The overall damage is very high, so even one more HST could help.
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: I wouldn’t take it. The other two talents are much more useful.
      Ancestral Swiftness: If you like to cast faster and to have an ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once every 90 seconds, this is a good choice.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too so you can benefit from EotE when taking the High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams or Conductivity.
      I prefer Rushing Streams but if you are good in handling Conductivity full time on melee - why not?
      You can find the WeakAura for tracking HR with Conductivity talent in our WA thread.
       
      Tier 6:
      Elemental Blast: I would say that this is our talent of choice for the Butcher. The fight is very intense and we’ll need every possible bit of mana.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst Totem: you can choose this it if you prefer single target healing. If you are using spells wisely, CBT will nicely redistribute your healing to all the injured people.
      High Tide: This is a very good talent for this fight. You will always have a lot of injured people and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (for knockbacks)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a Resto Druid in the raid, it can be a possibility. If you can’t manage your High Tide CH targets without blanketing the raid, it’s a possibility too. But frankly, the amount of Riptides you'll have with the EotE talent should be enough to fully utilize High Tide.
       
       
      TECTUS (top)
       
      This is a fight with very intense movement for the entire raid, including healers.
      The tactic that my guild uses for this boss involves the whole raid spreading out in a big circle around the boss, no stacking.
      We have the assignments for raid healing CDs during Tectonic Upheaval for every Healer too.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: Nature’s Guardian for accidental ‘standing in crap’ damage or Astral Shift for Tectonic Upheavals.
       
      Tier 2: Doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Many people prefer CBT for this fight because of constant movement and obstacles that cause loss of LoS for direct target heals.
      Call of Elements can be a good choice too. One more HST in the moments when you have to run from Crystalline Barrage or around Earthen Pillar could definitely help.
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: You can take it if feeling like one more CD is needed but it will burn your mana really fast.
      Ancestral Swiftness: If you like to cast faster and to have an ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once every 90 seconds, this is a good choice.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptides or an Unleash Life without CD definitely increases our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too so you can benefit from EotE when taking the High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams is the only choice here really.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      If you are able to cast a lot and burn your mana quickly or if you took Glyph of Riptide for this fight, then take Elemental Blast.
      If you prefer single target spells and CBT, take Unleashed Fury - 50% increased heal is really good - you can cast less and pay more attention to your movement.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst Totem: you can choose this it if you prefer single target healing. CBT will also nicely redistribute your healing to all injured people when you’re moving around!
      High Tide: good talent for people who are good in positioning or with Glyph of Riptide. You will have a lot of injured people in this fight and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (so much movement)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility. If you are not very good in finding safe spots and move a lot, it’s a possibility too.
       
       
      BRACKENSPORE (top)
       
      By the tactic my guild uses for this boss, we have assignment for every healer. On Heroic progression you will need two healers assigned to heal mushrooms (one healer in Normal).
      I have to say that a resto shaman with Cloudburst totem assigned to Mushrooms can do miracles ^^. I was able to pull 11% of total healing from CBT on this fight.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: Nature’s Guardian for accidental ‘caught in crap’ damage or Astral Shift for Infesting Spores.
       
      Tier 2: doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Call of Elements can be a choice too. One more HST on Infesting Spores - why not?
       
      Tier 4:
      Elemental Mastery: no need really and it burns your mana too quick.
      Ancestral Swiftness: if you like to cast faster and to have ‘oh, shit’ instant cast once in 90 sec. - it’s your choice.
      Echo of the Elements: I like it on this fight. More UL for mushrooms!
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent would be the best choice here really. Conductivity is very arguable, imo. While there are periods when all the raid is stacked on mushroom, I’m not sure that this time is long enough for using this talent.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      I would take Unleashed Fury, especially if assigned to mushrooms. 50% increased single heal is really valuable here. If you are healing the raid, Elemental Blast could be your choice too, but frankly, you can refill the mana from blue mushroom.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem: best choice for healing mushrooms. CBT will nicely redistribute your healing on mushroom to the raid.
      High Tide: good talent if you are healing the raid.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it’s weak and burns your mana fast.
       
       
      TWIN OGRON (top)
       
      This is the fight with intensive movement for all the raid, including healers.
      By the tactic my guild uses for this boss, the ranged dps and healers are mostly stacked together and move together, except of moving of fire and Pulverize.
      It would be nice if your hunters will cast Aspect of the Fox, so you could cast when moving from the fire.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: I would advice Nature’s Guardian here, especially if you are not very good in moving out of fire.
       
      Tier 2: doesn’t matter
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Many people prefer CBT for this fight because of movement it demands.
      Call of Elements can be a good choice too. One more HST for fire times or Pulverize could definitely help.
       
      Tier 4:
      Ancestral Swiftness: don’t think that more Haste could be very useful in this fight.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptide or Unleash Life without CD definitely increase our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too, so you can benefit from EotE when taking High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent is the only choice here really. I don't think that there is enough time of stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      I would advice on Elemental Blast, this fight is way mana intensive and has more raid-wide than single damage.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem: chose it if you move a lot. CBT will nicely redistribute your healing to all the injured people in the time when you are moving around.
      High Tide: good talent for people who are good in positioning themselves. You will have a lot of injured people in this fight and the power of High Tide will be fully utilized.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS (so much movement)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility. If you are not very good in finding safe spots and move a lot, it’s a possibility too, but remember that it burns your mana!
       
       
      KO’RAGH (top)
       
      This is the fight with a high damage from both the boss mechanics and not paying attention.
      One of the fights where you should use shaman utilities.
      Remember that there are two main healing strategies for this encounter regarding dealing with Expel Magic: Frost: you can heal through it or move away if you don’t have enough HPS throughput.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1:
      Nature’s Guardian, if you are not very good in moving out of things.
      Astral Shift if you are able not to forget to use it on Expel Magic: Frost or Expel Magic: Fire.
       
      Tier 2: Windwalk totem! Use it to help the raid to get away from Frost Orbs.
       
      Tier 3: Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Call of Elements can be a good choice too to reset the cooldown of Windwalk totem. Especially if you don’t have druids for Stampeding Roar.
       
      Tier 4:
      Ancestral Swiftness: not sure that more Haste will really shine in this fight, but it worth a shot if you like it.
      Echo of the Elements: A chance for additional Riptide or Unleash Life without CD definitely increase our healing output. Remember that Unleashed Life empowers Chain Heal too, so you can benefit from EotE when taking High Tide talent.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent is the only choice here really. Not enough time stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
       
      Tier 6:
      Unleashed Fury or Elemental Blast.
      I would advice on Elemental Blast, this fight is way mana intensive and has more raid-wide than single person damage.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem: chose it if you like it.
      High Tide: just the same.
      Both talents are valuable for this fight.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING STREAM TOTEM
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF PURIFY SPIRIT (Purify Spirit has 2 charges now. Useful for Expel magic: Fire dispels)
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it burns your mana and cuts healing output of Riptide!
       
       
      IMPERATOR MAR’GOK (top)
       
      This is a very long fight with a high damage from both the boss mechanics and not paying attention. There are many boss abilities that will do a raid-wide damage if people handle them in wrong way.
       
      TALENTS:
       
      Tier 1: I would recommend Astral Shift here. Use it on Force Novas or when you are Fixated.
      You can take Nature’s Guardian too, but there’s enough raid damage, so I think it’s better to mitigate.
       
      Tier 2: You can use Windwalk Totem on Slow debuff, but I think that it’s better to just dispel it.
       
      Tier 3:
      Call of Elements or Totemic Persistence.
      If you are aiming for Cloudburst Totem in Tier 7, Totemic Persistence could be your choice.
      Call of Elements can be good for another HST too. It is a long fight, so you’ll be able to use it at least 3-4 times.
       
      Tier 4:
      Ancestral Swiftness or Echo of the Elements: both talents are valuable for this fight. Chose what you are more comfortable with.
       
      Tier 5:
      Rushing Streams talent would be the best choice here. Not enough time stacking in one spot to benefit from Conductivity.
       
      Tier 6:
      Elemental Blast.
      The encounter is more than 10 min. long. You will definitely run out of mana without this talent.
       
      Tier 7:
      Cloudburst totem or High Tide: both talents are valuable for this fight. Chose what you are more comfortable with.
       
      MAJOR GLYPHS:
       
      GLYPH OF HEALING WAVE
      GLYPH OF SPIRITWALKER’S FOCUS
      Other possibilities:
      GLYPH OF FLAME SHOCK (a bit more of passive self healing)
      GLYPH OF RIPTIDE - if you don’t have a resto druid in raid, it’s a possibility, but remember that it burns your mana and cuts you healing output of Riptide!
      (top)
    • By tarokor
      Recently looked at starting to tank with my pally again and was looking through your site regarding tanking. On the Paladin protection page one of the Major glyphs you recommend is shield of the righteous however unless i am going blind it is no longer available as a glyph. Was it renamed or removed and if renamed what is it now called.
      Cheers guys
      ps:- apologies if i am blind, have searched the majors 3 times thou and cannot find it lol
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