Outlaw Rogue PvP Rotation and Playstyle (Shadowlands / Patch 9.0.5)

The Outlaw Rogue has two roles in PvP: shutting down casters/healers with relentless mobility and crowd control and having strong sustained damage outside of burst cooldowns. With high damage, high control and great sustained damage, this is the top PvP spec for Rogues.

To lock down healers, you will aim to push in and get crowd control on the healer ( Sap, Blind when they do not have trinket, Kidney Shot).

The ability to deal sustained damage is what makes Outlaw Rogues so deadly. They have the ability to damage an enemy down to below 50% without using a single cooldown. It is at this point that they can stun you and use your burst rotation.

Knowing how and when to generate/spend Combo Points is crucial to maximizing your damage as an Outlaw Rogue. Here are the ways you can generate Combo Points.

• Sinister Strike generates 1 Combo Point every time you use it. This is your primary Combo Point generator.
• Pistol Shot generates 1 Combo Point, but will generate 2 if you use Pistol Shot with an Opportunity proc and talented into Quick Draw. Ideally, you will wait for an Opportunity proc to use Pistol Shot to deal more damage and generate more Combo Points.
• Gouge generates 1 Combo Point and crowd controls the target. This will mostly be used to setup crowd control on the enemy healer when your team has damage.
• Shiv generates 1 Combo Point. Because you will be using Crippling Poison, this will also significantly slow the enemy.
• Marked for Death is a very crucial talent. This ability instantly generates 5 Combo Points. This will mostly be used to get an instant Kidney Shot.

Now that you know how to generate Combo Points, it is even more important to know when to spend them. Here is how you do that.

• Between the Eyes costs 1 to 5 Combo Points and puts a debuff on the target. This debuff increases your Critical Strike chance and should be used during your burst rotation.
• Kidney Shot costs 1 to 5 Combo Points and stuns the target. This stun should be used on your kill target when the enemy healer is in crowd control.
• Dispatch costs 1 to 5 Combo Points and this will be your primary damaging ability.

Regarding Roll the Bones, it is worth mentioning that some buffs are better than others. If you get a buff that is not as good as the others, continue your rotation. Each time you use Roll the Bones, you can get 1,2 or 5 of the following buffs. Here is a list from best to worst for the Roll the Bones buffs.

1. Ruthless Precision
2. Broadside
3. True Bearing
4. Grand Melee
5. Buried Treasure
6. Skull and Crossbones

Have a plan for who you will be mainly using your crowd control on. Rogue crowd control is powerful, but dealing any damage to the target will break and waste it. Also, remember to enter Stealth. Finally, make sure you apply your poisons. The two best poisons to use are Wound Poison and Crippling Poison.

The opener refers to your team's opening crowd control chain and damage done as soon as you get out of the gates. The main goal in the opener is to force your enemies to use their cooldowns.

If the enemy healer uses their trinket in the opener, they are in trouble. Blind is one of the most devastating crowd control abilities in the game, with very few ways of getting out of it without having a trinket. Save Blind for when the enemy healer does not have their trinket.

If an enemy DPS uses their trinket, you can crowd control the healer and stun the DPS without a trinket. This means they can be burst down in a stun and possibly killed. You will often use Smoke Bomb as once they are stunned with no trinket.

When opening, always try to Sap the enemy DPS player who is trying to bring you out of Stealth,then Sap the healer. Then, use your burst rotation. After you are done with your burst rotation, perform your sustained damage rotation until your burst abilities are available again.

This is the rotation you should use on your target at the beginning of the game.

1. Use Sap on the enemy healer.
2. Use Roll the Bones.
3. Use Sinister Strike and Pistol Shot to generate Combo Points.
   • Use Opportunity procs immediately if you need the Combo Points. In combination with the Quick Draw talent, Pistol Shot will generate 2 Combo Points.
4. Use Cheap Shot.
   • This stuns the target and applies Prey on the Weak.
5. Use Shiv if you need to slow your enemy and generate 1 Combo Point.
6. Use Sinister Strike to 5 Combo Points.
7. Use Between the Eyes to increase your Critical Strike chance against the target.
8. Use Sinister Strike until you have 2-4 Combo Points and then use Dispatch.

When you have the enemy healer in crowd control and you are trying to kill an enemy, you use your burst damage. You also want to make sure you have at least 1 good buff from Roll the Bones. However, this may not always be possible.

1. Use Roll the Bones.
2. Use Echoing Reprimand if you are Kyrian to generate 2 Combo Points.
3. Use Sinister Strike or Pistol Shot to get to 5 Combo Points.
4. Use Tricks of the Trade on your teammate that is bursting with you.
5. Use Kidney Shot on the kill target.
6. Use Killing Spree.
7. Use Pistol Shot if you have an Opportunity proc.
8. Use Adrenaline Rush.
9. Use Dreadblades.

For the remainder of your burst, you will want to use Sinister Strike to generate Combo Points and use them on Dispatch. Use Pistol Shot, especially when you get an Opportunity proc. Also, depending on your buffs, Between the Eyes might come off cooldown. Use it immediately to deal damage and increase your overall damage to the target. If your kill target trinketed, you should use Smoke Bomb next time you have Blade Rush.

Sustained damage is damage you do when your burst cooldowns are not available.

1. Use Sinister Strike and Pistol Shot to generate Combo Points.
   • Use Opportunity procs immediately if you need the Combo Points. In combination with the Quick Draw talent, Pistol Shot will generate 2 Combo Points.
2. Use Roll the Bones.
   • You now have a full duration of any combination of the buffs.
   • You want to see Ruthless Precision, Broadside or True Bearing buffs. These are the best buffs you can get after using Roll the Bones.
3. Use Echoing Reprimand if you are Kyrian to generate 2 Combo Points.
4. Use Shiv if you need to slow your enemy and generate 1 Combo Point.
5. If your team has damage, use Between the Eyes to increase your Critical Strike chance against the target.
6. Spend Combo Points on Dispatch to deal single target damage.

A quick note about an important passive you have, Restless Blades. This passive makes Finishing Moves ( Between the Eyes, Roll the Bones, Dispatch) reduce the cooldown of multiple important abilities by 1 second for each Combo Point used. For example, if you use Sinister Strike to generate 6 Combo Points followed by a Roll the Bones or Dispatch, it will reduce the cooldown of certain abilities by 6 seconds. This is what makes Outlaw Rogues so powerful.

Cloak of Shadows is a strong defensive cooldown when playing against casters. Use this when in trouble against caster teams and run to your healer or re-enter Stealth.

Feint (with the Elusiveness talent) grants you a flat 30% damage reduction from everything. This is a buff that should be active on you at all times. A Rogue is very weak against stuns, so having Feint up when stunned greatly increases your chance of surviving heavy damage from the enemy team.

Evasion is a strong defensive when playing against melee. This grants you 100% Dodge chance. Use this when the enemy team has melee and is focusing you.

Retractable Hook is very strong for kiting. It can be used when in trouble to get behind a pillar.

Crimson Vial is the trickiest, but most useful defensive ability a Rogue has. If you feel a hard swap onto you or you are about to be stunned, use Crimson Vial. Using this efficiently can enable you and your teammates to save your other cooldowns.

It is advised to use Macros to use abilities on enemies or allies without having to target them. For this reason, we have a page dedicated to them.