Classic Rogue DPS Guide
Welcome to our Rogue DPS guide for WoW Classic, tailored for PvE content. Here, you will learn how all you need to know to play the Rogue class as DPS. Click the links #below to navigate the guide or read this page for a short introduction.
If you were looking for TBC Classic content, please refer to our TBC Classic Rogue DPS guide.
Viability of Rogues in Groups
Rogues have a lot of CC abilities such as 
Gouge, 
Sap,
Kidney Shot, and 
Blind, as well as 
Crippling Poison
and 
Mind-numbing Poison, which makes them incredibly useful in groups,
especially dungeons. Rogues also have an ability called 
Expose Armor,
which is very useful in a group where either your Warrior tank is not using
Sunder Armor or your group does not have a Warrior tank at all.
If you are talented into Improved Expose Armor, then Expose Armor will
reduce more armor than Sunder Armor.
Rogue in the Season of Mastery
Although the Season of Mastery brings with it a number of changes to how you may experience the content of WoW Classic, these tweaks do not include any adjustments to how you play Rogue. As such, this guide will cover all you need to know regardless of which version of Classic you wish to play.
However, due to certain pieces of content from later Phases now being available at an earlier date, gearing recommendations for Rogue will be different. Because of this, we have created additional pages detailing your best in slot items for both pre-raid gear and the current raids available.
Rogue Strengths
- Has Lockpicking, which is a fantastic way to make gold without worrying about combat or survivability.
- Very powerful burst in PvP, thanks to Stealth allowing you to open on a target at your own discretion.
- Amazing CC abilities (
Blind, 
Sap, 
Kidney Shot). - High base damage on moves such as
Eviscerate makes them strong even
when undergeared. - Stealth allows safer exploration of areas.
Rogue Weaknesses
- Can be very difficult to level due to lack of self healing.
- Rogues are not able to do much AoE damage beyond
Blade Flurry's
cleave effect. - Rogue abilities have long cooldowns that are very impactful, such as
Vanish, 
Evasion, and 
Sprint. - Some abilities require reagents, which also take up inventory slots, such as
Blind, Vanish and poisons.
Best Races for DPS Rogues
To find out which races are the best for DPS Rogues in WoW Classic, please refer to the dedicated pages we wrote for Alliance and Horde.
Rogue Poisons
For more information about Rogue poisons, please refer to our guide.
Changelog
- 02 Dec. 2020 (gear page): Updated for Phase 6, added Naxrammas BiS Gear.
- 02 Dec. 2020 (enchants page): Updated for the release of Phase 6, added new enchants from Naxxramas.
- 02 Dec. 2020 (stats page): Updated for Phase 6.
- 02 Dec. 2020 (rotation page): Updated for Phase 6, improved the Rotation section to be more optimized.
- 02 Dec. 2020 (talents page): Changed notes on Seal Fate build's viability with release of Phase 6.
- 06 Aug. 2020 (gear page): Guide updated for Phase 5.
- 21 Jul. 2020 (gear page): Guide added.
- 15 Apr. 2020 (enchants page): Updated for the release of Phase 4.
- 27 Feb. 2020 (gear page): Updated recommended gear.
- 11 Feb. 2020 (gear page): Revamped for Phase 3.
- 10 Dec. 2019 (gear page): Added link to PvP BiS page.
- 17 Nov. 2019 (gear page): Fixed drop source for Hand of Justice and location for The Unforgiving.
- 15 Nov. 2019 (gear page): Updated for Phase 2.
- 15 Oct. 2019 (gear page): Updated for the release of Dire Maul.
- 14 Oct. 2019 (gear page): Added a Raid BiS list.
- 29 Sep. 2019 (talents page): Fixed Ruthlessness' explanation.
- 28 Sep. 2019 (talents page): Clarified description of Ruthlessness.
- 14 Sep. 2019 (gear page): Updated Ring recommendations.
- 09 Sep. 2019 (gear page): Updated some choices.
- 05 Sep. 2019 (gear page): Updated some choices.
- 26 Aug. 2019 (enchants page): Added a note about Grilled Squid.
- 16 Aug. 2019 (rotation page): Improved rotation.
- 13 Aug. 2019 (enchants page): Added Winterfall Firewater to consumables list.
- 13 Aug. 2019 (stats page): Added much more detail about the stats.
- 13 Aug. 2019 (talents page): Added the Seal Fate Dagger build guide.
- 13 Aug. 2019 (spells page): Added more info about Lockpicking and Pickpocketing.
- 13 Aug. 2019 (this page): Added more detail to the races and poisons sections.
- 20 Jun. 2019 (gear page): Page added.
- 20 Jun. 2019 (enchants page): Page added.
- 20 Jun. 2019 (stats page): Page added.
- 20 Jun. 2019 (rotation page): Page added.
- 20 Jun. 2019 (talents page): Page added.
- 20 Jun. 2019 (spells page): Page added.
- 20 Jun. 2019 (this page): Page added.
More Classic Rogue Guides
More Classic Guides from Other Classes
Classic Dungeon Guides
Classic Profession Guides
Classic Reputation Guides
This guide has been written by Sellin, a former top 10 US raider and current season and several time Gladiator, long time WoW Player and passionate about all things Warcraft and Theorycrafting. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him on Twitch.
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