Outlaw Rogue DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities (Legion 7.3)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes
  • 4. Strengths
  • 5. Weaknesses
  • 6. Viability in the Current Patch
  • 7. Contents
  • 8. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics
  • 2. Talent Choice
  • 3. Stat Choice
  • 4. Basic Rotation
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Spell Summary
  • 2. Main Resources
  • 3. Basic Abilities
  • 4. Important Procs
  • 5. DPS Cooldowns
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Talent Cheat Sheets
    • 2.1. Raid Encounters
      • 2.1.1. Heavy Cleave & AoE
    • 2.2. General Purpose/Leveling
  • 3. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents
  • 4. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents
  • 5. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents
  • 6. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents
  • 7. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents
  • 8. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents
  • 9. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents
  • 10. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression — First 35 Points
    • 1.1. Early Point Investment
    • 1.2. Second Golden Trait
    • 1.3. Final Point Investment
  • 2. Patch 7.2: 35+ Trait Path
  • 3. Relic Choice
    • 3.1. With Greenskin's Waterlogged Wristcuffs and Mantle of the Master Assassin
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority
    • 2.1. Top Tier
    • 2.2. Low Tier
  • 3. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority
  • 4. ChangeLog
• ×Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Ability Priority List
  • 2. Important Notes
    • 2.1. Curse of the Dreadblades
    • 2.2. Roll the Bones
      • 2.2.1. Pro Tip: How to Roll the Bones
    • 2.3. Death from Above
    • 2.4. Combo Points and Energy
    • 2.5. Adrenaline Rush
    • 2.6. True Bearing CDR
    • 2.7. Blade Flurry
    • 2.8. Defensive Utility
  • 3. Core Concepts
    • 3.1. Practical Usage of Roll the Bones
    • 3.2. Resource Management
  • 4. Opening Sequences
  • 5. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems
  • 2. Enchants
  • 3. Consumables
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. AddOns
    • 1.1. ElvUI
    • 1.2. Weak Auras
    • 1.3. Boss Mods
      • 1.3.1. BigWigs Bossmods
      • 1.3.2. Deadly Boss Mods
    • 1.4. Name Plates
      • 1.4.1. KUI Nameplates
      • 1.4.2. TidyPlates
    • 1.5. Damage Meters
      • 1.5.1. Skada
      • 1.5.2. Details
    • 1.6. Extra AddOns
      • 1.6.1. Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 1.6.2. Death Note
      • 1.6.3. Doom CooldownPulse
      • 1.6.4. Angry Assignments
  • 2. Macros
    • 2.1. Startattack Macros
    • 2.2. Tricks of the Trade
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Tier 20 Set Bonuses
  • 2. Best in Slot List
    • 2.1. Trinket List
  • 3. Evaluating Upgrades Using Stat Weights
  • 4. Racial Bonuses
  • 5. Legendaries
  • 6. Loot Competition
  • 7. ChangeLog

General Information

On this page, we list your Outlaw Rogue core abilities and how they should be used together (rotation) in World of Warcraft Legion 7.3. We also explain when to use your various cooldowns. Then, we go deeper and present all the subtleties that you will need to know if you want to excel at playing a Outlaw Rogue.

The other pages of our Outlaw Rogue guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author and Reviewer

This guide has been written by Furty, who has an illustrious history in the World of Warcraft raiding scene and race for World First. He has been a member of guilds such as Serenity, Midwinter, and many more, and is currently raiding in Future. He plays most classes at the highest level. You can follow him on Twitter and watch him play on Twitch.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Perfecto, an Outlaw/Assassination Rogue who raids in Method.

1. Ability Priority List

1. Activate Blade Flurry if more than one target is present and stacked.
2. Cast 4-6 Combo Point Roll the Bones (see dedicated Roll the Bones section for details).
3. Maintain Ghostly Strike debuff if talented. Always refresh before Curse of the Dreadblades.
4. Activate Adrenaline Rush.
5. Activate Curse of the Dreadblades.
6. Cast Marked for Death (when talented) if you have 0-1 Combo Points.
7. Cast Between the Eyes 5+ Combo Points if you have Greenskin's Waterlogged Wristcuffs or a Mantle of the Master Assassin proc.
8. Cast Run Through at 6 Combo Points (5+ if Broadsides).
9. Cast Pistol Shot if you have an Opportunity proc and you have 4 or less Combo Points (and will not Energy cap during the GCD).
10. Cast Saber Slash to generate Combo Points.

There is some debate whether casting finishers at "only 6" Combo Points is more damage than using finishers at "5-6" Combo Points (to avoid Combo Point overflow). Sims have confirmed that the damage difference is very negligible, so you do not have to stress over it too much. That said, there is a very slight damage advantage to instead use your finishers at 5-6 Combo Points.

Vanish does not play an important role in the Outlaw rotation. Feel free to use it on cooldown for an Ambush, or use it to Cheap Shot important adds so your group can benefit from Prey on the Weak (if talented).

For more information about the optimal opening sequence, refer to our dedicated section.

2. Important Notes

2.1. Curse of the Dreadblades

While Curse of the Dreadblades is active you will be able to alternate between Saber Slash and Run Through every cast. You should still use your Opportunity procs whenever you do not have the Energy to Saber Slash. You should always pair Curse of the Dreadblades with your Adrenaline Rush unless the boss will die before Adrenaline Rush comes off of cooldown.

If you have the True Bearing buff and your Adrenaline Rush is 1-3 finishers away, you should pool full Combo Points and Energy and then use your Curse of the Dreadblades to get your Adrenaline Rush off of cooldown immediately, then activate it.

2.2. Roll the Bones

Roll the Bones is a finisher that grants one or more random buffs. The duration of the Roll the Bones (and the buffs it gives you) is increased by the amount of Combo Points consumed by Roll the Bones (12 seconds for 1 Combo Point and up to 42 seconds with 6 Combo Points and Deeper Stratagem talented) and is affected by Pandemic (meaning you can safely refresh when Roll the Bones has less than 30% of its duration remaining). There are 6 different buffs you can potentially receive, and it is possible to receive multiple buffs from a single cast, although the chance to receive extra buffs is lessened per extra buff. The buffs are as follows:

• True Bearing causes finishing moves to reduce the remaining cooldown of some of your abilities (including Adrenaline Rush) by 1 second per Combo Point;
• Shark Infested Waters increases your Critical Strike chance by 20%;
• Jolly Roger grants Saber Slash an additional 25% chance to strike an additional time;
• Grand Melee increases your attack speed by 55% and your Leech by 20%;
• Broadsides causes your Combo Point generating abilities to generate 1 additional Combo Point and increases their damage by 20%;
• Buried Treasure increases your Energy regeneration by 30%.

The chance of receiving multiple buffs is as follows (taken from 1 million Roll the Bones casts in a simulation):

• 1 Roll the Bones Buff: 100.0% chance;
• 2 Roll the Bones Buffs: 19% chance;
• 5 Roll the Bones Buffs: 1% chance.

Roll the Bones has significantly different gameplay implications than Slice and Dice had for Combat, or currently has for Outlaw.

Order of buff value for an extended encounter (raid boss):

1. True Bearing;
2. Shark Infested Waters;
3. Broadsides;
4. Jolly Roger;
5. Buried Treasure;
6. Grand Melee.

The value of each buff fluctuates somewhat depending on the combination with other buffs and whether or not cooldowns are available, but this can be used as a rough reference.

2.2.1. Pro Tip: How to Roll the Bones

There are several basic rules to satisfy regarding Roll the Bones, excluding the opener (where you will only reroll once if you get very unlucky with Loaded Dice).

• If you have 1 buff and it is Grand Melee, reroll.
• If you have 2 buffs and one of them is Grand Melee, you should reroll only if Loaded Dice is available.

In any other situation you should only cast Roll the Bones if your buff(s) are about to expire or Loaded Dice is available.

2.3. Death from Above

Death from Above is a strong finisher, particularly when you are talented into Deeper Stratagem. It should be noted, however, that casting Death from Above during Adrenaline Rush (particularly if you have a True Bearing buff active) is a DPS loss, as you will Energy cap during the animation. It is more worthwhile to spam 5-6 Combo Point Run Throughs during this time to significantly reduce your Adrenaline Rush cooldown (via True Bearing).

The Run Through cast at the end of Death from Above is affected by Blade Flurry.

2.4. Combo Points and Energy

As a Rogue, most of your abilities need Energy to be used. Your Energy bar has a capacity of 100 Energy (150 with Vigor chosen as your Tier 3 talent) and refills at a rate of 10 Energy per second. Your Energy regeneration is increased by:

• Melee haste (haste + haste-enhancing buffs);
• The Combat Potency passive, which causes your off-hand attacks to have a chance to generate 18 Energy;
• Your Adrenaline Rush cooldown, which temporarily increases your Energy regeneration by 100%;
• Vigor, if chosen as your Tier 3 talent.

The faster you regenerate Energy, the more finishers you can cast which (via True Bearing) will result in higher Adrenaline Rush uptimes.

Note that, whenever you are in Blade Flurry, your Energy regeneration is reduced by 20% (reduced to only 10% by the Artifact).

Letting your Energy reach its maximum is something to avoid. You should always try to spend your Energy by (literally) spamming your buttons. Unlike for Subtlety and Assassination Rogues, Energy pooling is generally not beneficial for Outlaw Rogues. There are many situations when you will generate more Energy than you can spend (haste trinket procs, Bloodlust, Heroism, Time Warp, Adrenaline Rush, Buried Treasure, etc.), and you should spam your buttons even harder than usual during such times.

Combo Point generation is increased by a variety of factors, such as:

• Tier 1 talents;
• Opportunity procs;
• Saber Slash striking twice;
• Roll the Bones buffs such as Broadsides;
• your Ruthlessness passive ability, which grants your finishers a 20% chance per Combo Point consumed to grant a Combo Point;
• Energy regeneration, allowing you to cast more generators.

You should never waste Combo Points. Never cast a Combo Point-generating ability when you are at maximum Combo Points.

2.5. Adrenaline Rush

Adrenaline Rush increases your Energy regeneration by 100% and your attack speed by 20% for 15 seconds. It should be used on cooldown. Do not hesitate to stack it with Bloodlust, Heroism, or Time Warp as you will still benefit from the increased attack speed, though you will likely Energy cap (this is not a problem). Adrenaline Rush has a 3-minute cooldown, but this can be reduced by the True Bearing buff. Adrenaline Rush can easily be reduced to ~60s when True Bearing and Curse of the Dreadblades are combined.

2.6. True Bearing CDR

True Bearing reduces the cooldowns of the following abilities by 2 seconds per Combo Point consumed by a finisher:

• Adrenaline Rush
• Sprint
• Between the Eyes
• Vanish
• Grappling Hook
• Cannonball Barrage
• Killing Spree
• Marked for Death
• Death from Above

2.7. Blade Flurry

It is worth reiterating that the source of Blade Flurry cleave is you, not the target. Therefore, you can stand with one mob directly in front with another directly behind you, and your Blade Flurry will still cleave both, as the player is the source of the cleave.

2.8. Defensive Utility

All Rogues come ready made with a dizzying phalanx of defensive cooldowns, which make them the best candidate for soaking required mechanics and dealing with heavy incoming damage.

• Feint reduces AoE damage taken by 50% for 5 seconds for only 20 Energy. When talented into Elusiveness it also reduces all other damage by 30%. This is one of the most overpowered abilities in the game and a huge asset on fights with heavy raid damage. Do not forget about this button!
• Cloak of Shadows provides magic immunity for a second, followed by 5 seconds where all spells will miss. This spell is mostly used for clearing debuffs that might otherwise force you out of melee range, like Fel Surge on Xhul'horac. Cloak of Shadows is also a fantastic tool for soaking abilities that do not pierce immunities.
• Cheat Death is a talent that allows you to escape lethal damage once every 2 minutes. The damage cannot exceed more than twice your maximum health. Cheat Death is great for soaking mechanics that pierce immunities and damage reductions as it guarantees your survival. It is also great for encounters with bursty damage that might take you by surprise, as you get a free get out of jail free card once every 2 minutes.
• Crimson Vial provides a respectable amount of healing on a very short cooldown. Use this often in boss encounters.
• Riposte is unique to Outlaw Rogue, and provides 100% parry chance for 10 seconds. Each time you parry an attack you will riposte the attack for a small amount of damage (max 1 per second).

3. Core Concepts

Outlaw Rogue has is an entirely new specialization, and though it mirrors many of the concepts that Combat revered before it, there are a variety of new surprises to keep track of. This specialization involves a lot of fast finger work, particularly during cooldown periods. Learning to focus on what is important and master the core concepts of a specialization is what leads to strong overall performances on the damage charts. Outlaw features 2 major concepts that form the central tenets of optimizing for success:

1. practical usage of Roll the Bones;
2. resource management.

3.1. Practical Usage of Roll the Bones

If you get 2 exceptionally valuable buffs, you should wait until Roll the Bones falls or is about to fall before refreshing and fishing for new buffs. If they are low value buffs, you can start to fish for new buffs any time in Pandemic range.

3.2. Resource Management

Unlike the other Rogue specialization, Energy management is incredibly easy for Outlaw Rogues as you have a very high rate of regeneration. It can be very easy, however, to overcap Combo Points if you are not careful. Pay close attention to your current Roll the Bones buffs along with your Combo Point tracker. Do not waste Opportunity procs when you are already capped on Combo Points.

4. Opening Sequences

Always open from Stealth. These openers assume you have Hidden Blade.

1. Cast Marked for Death on the boss ~17 seconds before the pull if no short lifespan adds will spawn in the opener.
2. Cast Roll the Bones at 1 second before the countdown.
3. Use Potion of Prolonged Power.
4. Activate Curse of the Dreadblades.
5. Cast Ambush.
6. Cast Ghostly Strike.
7. Activate Adrenaline Rush.
8. Re-roll if necessary.
9. Cast Saber Slash.
10. Cast Run Through, or Between the Eyes if you have Greenskin's Waterlogged Wristcuffs or a Mantle of the Master Assassin proc.
11. Repeat Saber Slash/ Run Through dump. Only use Opportunity procs if you run out of Energy or are consuming Greenskin's Waterlogged Wristcuffs procs.

5. ChangeLog

+ show all entries - show only 10 entries

• 28 Aug. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.3.
• 20 Jun. 2017: Updated opener and APL.
• 12 Jun. 2017: Updated openers (split into 2 sections). Updated Roll the Bones section.
• 27 Mar. 2017: No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 09 Jan. 2017: Checked and confirmed for 7.1.5.
• 30 Nov. 2016: Updated Opening Sequence to be more clear. Also updated APL to include more contingencies for different buff combos.
• 02 Oct. 2016: Updated Roll the Bones section.
• 15 Sep. 2016: Updated opener.
• 29 Aug. 2016: Updated for Legion's launch.
• 24 Jul. 2016: A few tweaks and improvements to the rotation and the explanations.
• 18 Jul. 2016: Updated for the Legion pre-patch.