TBC Classic Rogue DPS Guide

As Alliance you can choose to be one of four races as a Rogue: Human, Gnome, Dwarf and Night Elf. Human will be your default choice as Alliance thanks to Mace Specialization/Sword Specialization. Expertise is difficult to find on gear especially early in the gearing process so any additional Expertise is a great benefit. Other Alliance Races offer little in the way of increases to your DPS but do provide some unique benefits.

Human is your default option as a Rogue. Sword Specialization/Mace Specialization provide valuable expertise which especially early in the expansion is incredibly difficult to find. Perception is another great tool if you are interested in PvP and can often give you the opener over any other race of Rogue.

• Diplomacy increases your reputation gains by 10%.
• Sword Specialization increases your Expertise with one and two-handed swords by 5.
• Mace Specialization increases your Expertise with one and two-handed maces by 5.
• The Human Spirit increases your Spirit by 10%.
• Perception dramatically increases your stealth detection for 20 seconds on a 3-minute cooldown.

While Dwarf offers no direct increase to your DPS it does offer Stoneform which removes all Bleed, Poison and Disease effects. Stoneform paired with Vanish is an incredibly powerful combo that can allow you to re-stealth in situations where you may otherwise be stuck with a nagging debuff. Gun Specialization is also a nice bonus if you find yourself using a Gun but its rare you will be using your ranged attack unless you are trying to finish a fleeing foe.

• Find Treasure allows you to sense nearby treasure, making it appear on the minimap. Lasts until canceled.
• Gun Specialization increases your chance to critically hit with Guns by 1%.
• Frost Resistance increases your frost resistance by 10.
• Stoneform removes any active and grants immunity to Bleed, Disease, and Poison effects for 8 seconds while also increasing your Armor value by 10% on a 3-minute cooldown.

Night Elf has the highest base Agility of any of the Alliance races but otherwise cannot offer much in the way of racial bonuses. Shadowmeld does improve the potency of your stealth making you harder to detect than other races but offers little use in combat otherwise. Quickness increases your chance to dodge by 1% so in any situation you are taking incoming melee attacks this is a nice bonus.

• Shadowmeld slips you into the shadows, reducing the chance for enemies to detect your presence. Lasts until cancelled, taking damage, or moving. Also increases the effectiveness of Stealth for Druid and Rogues.
• Nature Resistance increases your Nature Resistance by 10.
• Wisp Spirit transforms you into a wisp upon death, increasing your movement speed while in ghost form by 50%.
• Quickness increases your chance to Dodge by 1%.

Similar to Night Elf and Dwarf, Gnome does not offer a true dps increase but Escape Artist instantly removes any slow/snaring effects allowing you to keep up with targets that you otherwise may not be able to.

• Escape Artist instantly removes any slowing/snaring effect.
• Arcane Resistance increases your Arcane Resistance by 10.
• Engineering Specialization increases your Engineering skill by 15.
• Expansive Mind increases your Intellect by 5%.

As Horde you can choose from four options for your Rogue: Orc, Blood Elf, Troll, and Undead. This decision is a bit more complicated than Alliance as both Troll and Orc offer considerable increases to your DPS. Troll will offer a slightly higher DPS increase if you are able to consistently maximize the effectiveness of Berserking which requires you to reach low health before activating it, but as Orc you can use Blood Fury at any point making it much easier to line up with other procs. My personal recommendation is Orc as the difference is rather small and it is much easier to manage Blood Fury than Berserking but both are great choices that will increase your damage output.

Arcane Torrent from Blood Elf also offers a considerable dps increase as it will return 10 Energy for each stack of Mana Tap it consumes. Energy is by far your greatest limiting factor as a Rogue so any extra Energy helps. Undead does not offer a direct DPS increase but Will of the Forsaken can help keep you active against mobs that will attempt to Fear, Charm, or Sleep you.

As highlighted above Orc is the default choice for Rogue thanks almost entirely to Blood Fury which increases your Attack Power for 15 seconds. Most of the other racials for Orc will not benefit us but Hardiness gives us a 15% chance to resist stun effects giving you an opportunity to gain more up time on your target.

• Blood Fury Increases your Attack Power for 15 seconds and reduces incoming healing effects by 50%.
• Hardiness gives you a 15% chance to resist stuns.

Troll is another great choice because as previously mentioned an optimal use of Berserking will yield the greatest increase to your DPS of any racial but using it optimally every time will be incredibly difficult. Troll also has Bow Specialization and Throwing Specialization which will increase your chance to critically strike when using a bow or a thrown weapon, this is a very niche benefit but if you find yourself trying to deliver a killing blow to a fleeing enemy this can help. Beast Slaying is another thing to consider, while beasts are not particularly common in The Burning Crusade you will definitely find opportunities to benefit from the bonus damage against them.

• Berserking Increases your casting and attack speed by 10% to 30% with the effect increasing based on your current health lasting for 10 seconds.
• Bow Specialization increases your chance to critically strike with bows by 1%.
• Throwing Specialization increases your chance to critically strike with thrown weapons by 1%.
• Beast Slaying increases your damage done to Beasts by 5%.
• Regeneration increases health regeneration by 10% and continues during combat.

Undead is the one Horde race without a true DPS increasing racial but is still a strong choice especially if you find yourself wanting to PvP. Will of the Forsaken removes any Charm, Fear, or Sleep effects and grants immunity to them for 5 seconds. Shadow Resistance will also reduce the amount of incoming Shadow damage you take, with Shadow being the most common magic damage type in The Burning Crusade this damage reduction will quickly add up.

• Will of the Forsaken removes any Charm, Fear, or Sleep effect and grants immunity to them for 5 seconds.
• Cannibalize regenerates 7% of total health every 2 seconds for 10 seconds when standing near a Humanoid or Undead corpse. Any damage taken or movement will instantly cancel the channel of this ability.
• Underwater Breathing increases your breath by 300%.
• Shadow Resistance increases your Shadow Resistance by 10.

Blood Elf is in a unique spot as their racial ability can at times be difficult to use but optimal usage of it can greatly increase your DPS. Arcane Torrent will return 10 Energy for each stack of Mana Tap, so optimal usage of this will grant you 30 Energy. Pairing this extra energy with increased sources of damage or procs can provide a considerable increase to your damage done. Keep in mind Arcane Torrent is also a powerful AoE silence should you find yourself fighting against multiple spell casting enemies.

• Mana Tap steals Mana from your current target, applying a buff that will stack up to 3 times. Using Arcane Torrent will consume these buffs and grant Energy based off your current amount of stacks.
• Arcane Torrent silences all enemies within 8 yards and consumes any Mana Tap stacks returning Energy based off of your Mana Tap stacks.
• Magic Resistance increases your resistance to all types of Magic by 5.
• Arcane Affinity increases your Enchanting skill by 10.