Outlaw Rogue DPS Guide — Shadowlands 9.0.2

Ahoy! Outlaw Rogue is a specialization that centers around managing resources while sustaining high damage to stacked targets. As in previous expansions, Outlaw is a fantastic jack of all trades that can comfortably handle any situation or fight type. Between the three Rogue specializations, Outlaw is the most effective in situations involving heavy cleave or burst-AoE.

Strengths

• Blade Flurry allows for consistently high cleave and AoE damage.
• Very versatile in both raiding and Mythic+ content.
• Exceptional survivability thanks to Feint, Cloak of Shadows, Riposte and Crimson Vial.
• Very good group utility for Mythic+ in the form of Shroud of Concealment, Sap, Blind and Gouge.

Weaknesses

• Variance in damage output depending on Roll the Bones outcome.
• Relies entirely on Blade Flurry to deal AoE damage. While it has a high uptime, mistakes on using it are punished hard.

We are maintaining a list of changes for Rogues, so you can see what changed between Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands. The new expansion also introduces new character customization options with Covenants and Legendary Powers, for which we have Rogue-specific pages that you can access below.

All in all Rogue has been largely unchanged going into Shadowlands, with Assassination and Outlaw only receiving a few minor rotational changes while Subtlety is getting a complete rework. A handful of previously lost abilities will make its return as well, so if you enjoyed the way that Rogue has played in Battle for Azeroth, you will surely fall in love with it all over again in Shadowlands.

Some of the biggest new features are the Covenant system, the return of legendary powers as well as the introduction of Torghast, Tower of the. You can find more information on these new features on our dedicated sections.

Roll the Bones received the biggest change compared to its previous iteration. Instead of being used with Combo Points, it is now on a 45-second cooldown. As with all other Outlaw cooldowns, this CD gets reduced due to Restless Blades whenever you spend Combo Points. This ultimately lowers the cooldown of Roll the Bones to ~20-25seconds, and, if you happen to get a True Bearing roll, this CD gets lowered even further. Ultimately, this allows you to still re-roll for buffs, and while the priorities for which buffs you will want to keep and which buffs you will want to re-roll have changed, the functionality of the ability itself is very similar to the old one.

If you want to prepare for Shadowlands by leveling a new Rogue you should check out our leveling guide to help you on your journey.

If at any point you feel like you would like to customize your user interface or have been wondering if there are any useful macros or addons that might further your enjoyment and performance on your Rogue, you should check out our Addon section.

Outlaw Rogue is a spec that is heavily centered around the maintenance of its buffs and cooldowns. The decision to either re-roll Roll the Bones whenever it comes off cooldown, or sticking with the current buff you have and waiting for its expiration, will depend on each individual buff and the current situation you find yourself in.

Playing around Roll the Bones will quickly become second nature as you watch out for not wasting any of your resources or sitting on cooldowns for too long. Most of your cooldowns do not have a static cooldown-timer, since Restless Blades will constantly lower all your cooldowns whenever you spend Combo Points. Utilizing this cooldown reduction is key to playing Outlaw Rogue efficiently.

For more information on the basics of the spec you can check out the Spell Summary to get a good idea of the abilities you will be using while playing Outlaw. If you are completely new to playing Outlaw Rogue, we suggest taking a look at the Easy Mode page below to get a general idea on how to setup your new character.

If you already have some experience playing a Rogue or have familiarized yourself with the basics of the Spec you can also read up more information on how to optimize your Rotation and the individual strengths of the different Talents.

With all the different gearing options that are available to you, you might ask yourself what gear is worth chasing after. Since a lot of the decisions and variables depend on the gear that you are already wearing right now we strongly recommend "simming" yourself. You can find more information on how to do that, as well as a list of the current Best in Slot gear that drops in this tier on our dedicated gearing page.

After gearing up your character, the next step is to apply the appropriate enchants and gems, as well as preparing the best potions, flasks and buff food. Which consumables are the best for you depends on your stat priority, which might change depending on your gear, talents and the type of content you are about to tackle. The following two sections of the guide address all questions about consumables as well as the shifting stat priorities for Outlaw Rogues.

The gameplay of your Outlaw Rogue will change drastically once you start getting access to better and higher item level gear. Once you feel that you are ready to tackle some of the most difficult content the game has to offer you should check out the dedicated pages for each type of content below. You will find helpful tips and tricks, recommendations on your talents and equipment as well as general information on mechanics and guidance on what to look out for as you make your way to the top.

Once you have your gear in order and are looking to improve not just your character itself but also your gameplay, you can check out these helpful sections as a first step into analyzing your own performance in more detail.