Mists of Pandaria Classic Subtlety Rogue Guide
Welcome to our Subtlety Rogue guide for Mists of Pandaria Classic, tailored for PvE content. Here, you will learn how all you need to know to play Subtlety Rogue proficiently. Click the links below to navigate the guide or read this page for a short introduction.
Subtlety Rogue Guide for Mists of Pandaria Classic
Subtlety Rogue is one of the best DPS in Mists of Pandaria and is widely considered the strongest of the three
Rogue specializations. Subtlety Rogue has a unique play style focused largely around using Ambush to proc
Find Weakness. This is done a number of ways but primarily by utilizing our
Shadow Dance and
Vanish
cooldowns to maximize the amount of Ambush casts throughout an encounter. Your goal as a Subtlety Rogue is to deal as much
damage as possible inside of these windows of Shadow Dance and Find Weakness up time.
Is Subtlety Rogue Viable in Mists of Pandaria Classic?
Yes! While all three Rogue specs have a place in Mists of Pandaria Subtlety is often considered the strongest
of the three and scales incredibly with gear. As a Subtlety Rogue you have access to nearly unmatched burst damage
and provide consistent AoE to help get through large groups of enemies. In Mists of Pandaria Rogue also has a considerable
amount of utility in the form of crowd controlling abilities like Blind, a powerful raid cooldown in
Smoke Bomb
and a raid buff that increases your groups Attack Speed in
Swiftblade's Cunning.
Competes for highest single target damage in the game.
Massive burst damage makes dealing with priority targets easier.
Powerful defensive cooldowns like
Cloak of Shadows and
Smoke Bomb.
Incredibly mobile thanks to abilities like
Shadowstep.
Provide the raid with buffs in the form of
Master Poisoner and
Swiftblade's Cunning.
Very gear dependent.
Cleave damage lacks compared to Assassination or Combat.
Maximizing
Find Weakness up time is required to deal competitive damage.
Best Races for Subtlety Rogue
As Horde, you have six different options; Pandaren, Troll, Orc, Goblin, Blood Elf and Undead. Undead and Orc both offer unique benefits in the form
of Will of the Forsaken and
Blood Fury but will fall behind Troll or Pandaren. Troll is our default pick due to the
way
Berserking interacts with your cooldowns. Pairing Berserking with
Shadow Blades can greatly increase
the amount of damage you are able to deal while it is active. When fighting Beasts that are quite prevalent throughout
Mists of Pandaria you will also benefit from
Beast Slaying which is just a flat 5% increase to your damage done when
fighting a Beast. Pandaren offers
Epicurean which doubles the effectiveness of our Food buff. As all three
Rogue specs but especially Subtlety Agility is king so getting as much of it as possible should be your goal.
As Alliance, you will have six races to choose for your Rogue; Gnome, Human, Worgen, Night Elf, Dwarf, and Pandaren. Similar to Horde
Pandaren is a great choice due to the increased Agility granted from Epicurean which far outweighs the bonus Critical
Strike you would gain from being Worgen. Human can be a solid choice due to
Will to Survive but will fall behind in PvE. Worgen
is another race to consider but again struggles to compete with the bonus Agility provided by Epicurean.
Darkflight is a great
cool down but can be made a bit redundant by abilities like
Sprint or
Burst of Speed. If you are finding yourself exclusively
playing Subtlety than Night Elf is likely the best due to their ability to gain
Find Weakness with
Shadowmeld which
allows you to cast another
Stealth ability while under the effects of Shadowmeld.
Best Professions for Subtlety Rogue
Engineering — Engineering is the default choice as a Subtlety Rogue. Pairing
Synapse Springs with your
Shadow Dance will greatly increase the damage dealt by your
Ambush which acts as a huge part of our damage profile.
Nitro Boosts can also be very situationally useful if you find yourself without access to
Sprint allowing you to quickly close the gap between you and your target or possibly avoid an incoming boss ability.
Tailoring — provides us with
Swordguard Embroidery which greatly increases our Attack Power. A Well timed Swordguard proc can greatly increase the damage done in one of your burst windows when
Find Weakness is active. As Subtlety the goal is really to do as much damage as possible within these burst windows so the static stat bonuses offered by other Professions yield slightly lower increases to your overall damage done.
Rogue Addons and Macros
Addons and Macros can greatly improve your quality of life during Mists of Pandaria. Listed below are some of our recommendations on Addons and Macros to help get the most out of your time playing the game.
Changelog
- 14 Jun. 2025 (leveling page): Guide created.
- 12 Jun. 2025 (talents page): Guide created.
- 10 Jun. 2025 (this page): Guide created.
- 05 Jun. 2025 (spells page): Guide created.
- 03 Jun. 2025 (rotation page): Guide created.
- 31 May 2025 (enchants page): Guide created.
- 29 May 2025 (stats page): Guide created.
- 26 May 2025 (pre-raid gear page): Guide created.
- 26 May 2025 (gear page): Guide created.