Cataclysm Classic Combat Rogue Stat Priority

The stat priority for Combat Rogue is as follows:

1. Agility
2. Hit Rating (8% Hit Cap)
3. Expertise Rating (6.5% – 26 Expertise Cap)
4. Haste Rating
5. Mastery Rating
6. Hit Rating (17% Spell Hit Cap)
7. Critical Strike Rating

Agility is the primary stat for all three Rogue specializations, including Combat Rogues. Agility is now the main source of Attack Power, converting 1 Agility into 2 Attack Power and a very small amount of Critical Strike rating, 83 Agility will grant you 1% Critical Strike chance. Due to the nature of how your abilities primarily scale off of Attack Power, this will be by far your most valuable DPS stat and also scales incredibly with buffs like Blessing of Kings, making it even more important.

Your second stat priority will be to reach the Hit cap of 8% which only comes from the Hit Rating stat we can find on Gear, with Gems or even talents like Precision. As Combat we are only seeking 8% as opposed to the 17% for Spell Hit cap as the added damage from the bonus Poison procs is less than DPS we will gain from other secondary stats.

At Level 85:

• 120.1 Hit Rating = 1% Hit Chance

Expertise rating prevents bosses from being able to Dodge your attacks even when attacking from behind. Similar to missing, if an attack is dodged it deals zero damaging making Expertise quite valuable.6.5% Expertise Cap, or 26 total Expertise is our goal. Any expertise beyond this will likely be wasted as Bosses are not able to parry from behind and especially as a Rogue you will be spending the majority of your time behind the boss to avoid being parried.

Rating	Skill	Percent	Information
30.02	1	0.25%	1 Expertise Skill
691	23	5.75%	Dodge cap on bosses when racial is active: Sword Specialization, or Mace Specialization, or Axe Specialization, or Shortblade Specialization.
781	26	6.5%	Dodge cap on bosses without racial
1592	53	13.25%	Parry cap on bosses when racial is active: Sword Specialization, or Mace Specialization, or Axe Specialization, or Shortblade Specialization.
1682	56	14%	Parry cap on bosses without racial

Haste rating is a great stat as an Combat Rogue for a number of reasons but most importantly the more Haste Rating the quicker you are able to auto-attack the more you are able to proc Combat Potency which greatly increasing the rate at which we regenerate Energy. Haste Rating also causes your Energy to regenerate faster allowing you to use more abilities like Sinister Strike to generate Combo Points for finishing abilities.

At Level 85:

• 128.05 Haste Rating = 1% Haste
• 310 Haste Rating = 1 additional Energy recovered every second

Mastery is the new stat added in during Cataclysm and provides a different, unique benefit for every single specialization in the game. For Combat Rogues, Mastery gives Main Gauche, which gives you a chance to have your main-hand weapon attack dealing 100% of the main-hand weapon's damage to the target, the frequency increasing with your Mastery rating.

At Level 85:

• 179.28 Mastery Rating = 1% Mastery

Critical Strike Rating is our lowest rated secondary stat due to the nature of how Haste and Mastery both play a role in generating additional Energy which is by far the largest limiting factor of your DPS output as a Rogue. Reforge this stat into a higher priority stat like Haste or Mastery Rating.

At Level 85:

• 179.28 Crit Rating = 1% Crit

At 27% Hit rating you guarantee a hit every time with your off-hand weapon, this is a relatively small damage increase compared to other options found with our secondary stats but if you find yourself in a situation where you are able to add hit rating without sacrificing stats elsewhere then it is something to consider.