With Forever launching on November 4, we’re looking at how each class performed during beta, how players received their changes from Classic, and how they are shaping up for the Forever launch and level 60.
Check out all our series:
- 8: Druid
- 7: Mage
- 6: Shaman
- 5: Warlock
- 4: Priest
- 3: Rogue (You’re here!)
The info below was written based on our experiences during beta and feedback from our Rogue writers, Sellin and Seliathan.
Assassination Rogue
At Level 30, Assassination felt strong in content and rewarding to play. The addition of 
Mutilate was a welcome one, as it removed the requirement of always staying behind enemies from 
Backstab.
One of the biggest concerns with Assassination in Forever has been Poisons, with a lot of its talent tree having bonuses for 
Deadly Poison. The problem with it comes from situations where it can’t actually last a meaningful duration, as in short-lived enemies, or even be applied at all, with enemies immune to poison; what will the spec do against those?
Another question comes from raid utility, which Assassination and other Rogue specs bring nothing to the table. There have been suggestions about a raid utility poison which, while fine, would raise the question of “could it be used in conjunction with other poisons?” or would it cost a poison slot and thus a possible DPS loss.
Besides the addition of Mutilate, Assassination hasn’t seen many changes in Forever. One nice general change has been that Weapon Oils and Sharpening Stones can now be used together with Poisons.
Assassination has been clearly designed as a spec that picks a target and sits on it. The spec gets penalized when swapping targets, and its AoE is nonexistent. If that’s a gameplay that feels compelling to you, Assassination is your pick!
Combat Rogue
Gameplay-wise, Combat’s gameplay felt very solid at level 30, albeit slightly repetitive due to low-duration abilities, like 
Expose Armor. One of the highlights has been big 
Eviscerate crits, which really sell the “finisher” fantasy. Due to the level limitation, the lack of Energy tools left the spec feeling a bit too slow.
The spec feels well-rounded, without any apparent core issues. While having a simple design, all the pieces fall into place, and it makes sense. If any complaint exists, it would be the lack of real AoE tools, which are only present with 
Blade Flurry. It allows Combat to excel at low-count cleave like boss and one big add, but leaves the spec lacking in other contexts. If you see a large group of enemies ahead of you, the best you can do is hit one bad guy really hard.
Similar to Assassination, the spec received little core changes from Classic, with the largest improvement being the ability to use Weapon Oils and Sharpening Stones alongside Poisons.
Combat is another spec that will shine when it is able to sit and DPS a single target over long stretches of time, likely able to deal very competitive damage in those situations. However, any scenario that requires you to swap targets constantly or deal with prolonged multi-target situations will be unfun.
Subtlety Rogue
During beta, Subtlety only really felt online upon reaching Level 30, when it unlocks its signature builder, 
Hemorrhage. Hemorrhage is a low-cost Combo Point builder, at only 35 energy. This allows the spec to cast it three times in quick succession in PvP, one of the reasons for Subtlety’s PvP fame. It also allows the spec to be way more flexible in PvE content, as it doesn’t have the weapon or position requirements from Backstab.
Upon reaching the end of the Subtlety talent tree, you’ll find many Bleed-buffing talents. The problem here is that one of our two main spells that apply Bleed, 
Garrote, is only castable when in 
Stealth. The result is a loss of impact on longer raid fights.
The other Bleed, 
Rupture, has been changed to scale off Attack Power and Crit (it can now crit!), meaning it doesn’t scale off Weapon Damage anymore. This emphasis on Bleed leaves Subtlety in a scenario where any enemy that is immune to Bleeds will technically be immune to Subtlety, so pray that there aren’t any of those in end-game content.
The latter part of the Subtlety tree received some nice love in Forever, with Thousand Cuts providing some nice Energy savings, totalling about 1.5 extra Energy/s during a fight. This provides the spec with a nice boost in the number of abilities that you can cast within an encounter and, ultimately, less reliance on auto-attack damage.
The newfound reliance on Bleed damage from Subtlety is unique, likely leading the spec to be even stronger than its Classic counterpart in PvP scenarios. Rogues always struggled in PvP against Warriors and Paladins due to their high armor and Rogue’s reliance on physical attacks, so having a larger part of your damage attached to Bleeds that can crit may lead Subtlety to be even scarier in Forever.
Historically, Subtlety has never been the go-to Rogue spec for PvE content, but that might change in Forever. Subtlety has a more fluid rotation than it had in Classic; plus, with the extra Energy from talents, it will end up being able to cast more builders than both Assassination and Combat, being less reliant on auto-attack damage.
These changes, combined with the indirect nerf to Combat due to Weapon Skill nerfs in Forever, could end up having Subtlety taking the crown as the best Rogue spec. The changes with Weapon Skill in Forever end up hurting specs that rely on auto-attacks a lot, as it is harder to reach high enough levels to make Glancing Blows disappear from the Hit Table, which is one of the reasons Combat was so strong in Classic.
Tomorrow Preview
While not receiving the most changes, never doubt the potential of these scoundrels; otherwise, they pickpocket all your loot.
Tomorrow: Hunter! See you then!
