Outlaw Rogue PvP Talents and Builds (Shadowlands / Patch 9.2.5)

Level	Choices
15	✘ Weaponmaster	✔ Quick Draw	✔ Ghostly Strike
25	✔ Acrobatic Strikes	✘ Retractable Hook	✘ Hit and Run
30	✘ Vigor	✔ Deeper Stratagem	✘ Marked for Death
35	✘ Iron Stomach	✘ Cheat Death	✔ Elusiveness
40	✘ Dirty Tricks	✔ Blinding Powder	✘ Prey on the Weak
45	✘ Loaded Dice	? Alacrity	✔ Dreadblades
50	✘ Dancing Steel	✔ Blade Rush	? Killing Spree

While the above table provides a generally accurate overview of the viability of talents, some finer points are discussed in the sections that follow, and we recommend you read those for a deeper understanding.

Quick Draw is the best talent in this tier in most scenarios. It will help you generate more Combo Points and deal a bit more damage as the game goes on. This talent truly shines if you play the Legendary Greenskin's Wickers and spend the buffed Pistol Shot with an Opportunity proc. That combo will deal a huge amount of damage.

Ghostly Strike is a great option if you play Kyrian with the Invigorating Shadowdust Legendary, as you will then play around cooldown reduction as much as possible. Ghostly Strike is reduced by Restless Blades so will be able to have a lot of uptime on the debuff, greatly increasing both your sustained and burst damage.

Acrobatic Strikes is the best talent in this tier. The extended melee range will allow you to keep hitting an enemy who is trying to get away from you. It will also allow you to keep hitting a melee enemy that you are running away from, without them being able to hit back. On top of that it will make it a lot easier to land Kick or to Kidney Shot an enemy while dealing damage to one of their teammates. It is often very difficult for enemy healers and casters to anticipate that you can kick them from 8 yards away.

Deeper Stratagem is the best talent in this tier. With it your Kidney Shot will last up to 7s, allowing you to get extremely long CC chains on the healer as it is easy to land a Sap off such a long stun, or to have one of your teammates land a CC of their own. It is also useful to lock the DPS down in order to burst them. On top of that the damage of your finishing moves will be increased. This talent has great synergy with Dreadblades, a talent on the 6th row.

Elusiveness is the best talent in this tier as long as you are playing with a healer. Rogues do not have a lot of damage mitigation, so this spell is essential to your survival. You want to time this ability right before being hit by a powerful spell such as Chaos Bolt or Divine Toll. Also, you want to try and time it before being stunned. Pre- Feinting a Lightning Lasso, a Kidney Shot, or a Storm Bolt often makes the difference between living and dying.

Blinding Powder is the best talent in this tier. Blind will now have a 90-second cooldown. This means that even if the healer trinkets the first Blind, they will not have a trinket for the second. Since you will reduce the cooldown of your Vanish with Restless Blades throughout the fight your Vanish will also be around a 90s cooldown, allowing you to Sap every Blind. This will allow you to have an extremely long CC chain the enemy healer cannot escape, since their trinket will have a longer cooldown than your Blind. The added range on Blind is also very helpful as it makes your setup a lot less predictable.

Dreadblades is the best talent in this tier. This gives you another strong burst cooldown. It works particularly well with Deeper Stratagem as your finishers will deal massive damage. It also synergizes rather well with Flagellation, the Venthyr Rogue ability, as they share the same cooldown and cause every Combo Point spent to deal Shadow damage to the enemy. It also has the same cooldown as Blind with the talent Blinding Powder selected, allowing you to burst down the enemy during your long CC chains.

Alacrity is a great talent. It gives you Haste, which is your best stat, leading to a noticeable sustained damage increase. The synergy between Flagellation and Dreadblades is too good not to use, but if you are not playing Venthyr then Alacrity becomes the best talent in this tier.

Blade Rush is the best talent in this tier. It gives you an additional gap closer to catch classes with high mobility such as Mage, Druid, or Monk. It also gives you a bit of Energy, which is always a good thing to have.

Killing Spree is an interesting option. It does not deal enough damage on one target to be considered a good cooldown, but it can still be played. It is very iconic so you might just want to pick it because the animation is really amazing. It has one interesting specificity though, and that is that you will always follow your target throughout the animation, and be brought back to your starting location when it ends. That means you can use it to finish off someone who will port away when very low on health, such as a Monk, or you can use it to effectively negate a Death Knight grip as you will remain on your target, hitting it, and will be placed back where you pressed the ability, which is right on your target as if the Death Knight had never gripped you.

You can choose 3 of the following PvP talents. Each of them have their uses, but some are better for certain strategies than others. The top three choices are the most useful, but can be replaced with other PvP talents depending on your team's goal.

Enduring Brawler is an extremely powerful talent. It makes you more durable by increasing your Maximum Health, but it also gives you a lot more damage by increasing the chance for Sinister Strike to hit an additional time by up to 15%. That means you will have a 50% chance for Sinister Strike to hit an additional time, dealing twice the damage, giving you two Combo Points instead of one, and giving you an Opportunity proc. This in turn will allow your next Pistol Shot to deal double damage at half cost, and if you play with the talent Quick Draw it will deal even more damage and generate an additional Combo Point.

Dismantle is a strong PvP talent that allows you to disarm an enemy for 6 seconds every 45 seconds. Disarming an enemy can delay their next kill attempt or stop it entirely if they have already pulled the trigger. It is a great pick against Warrior, Rogue and Marksmanship Hunter. It is also helpful against other Hunter specs, although they can still use many threatening abilities while disarmed, and the same goes for Retribution Paladin and Death Knight. One thing to note is that you can use Dismantle offensively against Death Knight and Warrior, as being disarmed prevents the use of Death Strike and Die by the Sword.

Float Like a Butterfly is an amazing PvP Talent when facing melee DPS. It will allow Restless Blades to reduce the cooldown of Feint and Evasion. That will make you extremely durable versus Melee Cleaves or Jungle in 3v3, and versus any Melee/Healer comp in 2v2. Paired with Conduits such as Prepared for All it is possible to have Evasion every minute!

Take Your Cut is a decent pick. Giving 15% Haste to your team every now and then is powerful. You may pick this when you do not have better options.

Thick as Thieves is a decent pick. Giving 15% damage one ally every 30s is powerful, and will greatly increase their burst damage. You may pick this talent when you do not have better options and one of your teammates is a DPS with very high burst damage, such as a Fire Mage or a Retribution Paladin.

Maneuverability is a strong PvP talent versus teams with multiple slows. This can be taken so you can maximize your uptime on your target. It also removes any root on you when you use it so you may escape a Frost Nova or a Steel Trap with it as well. However, Outlaw already has decent mobility, and has access to better talents so you will not often be playing this one.

Smoke Bomb creates a smoke cloud around you. Enemy players who are outside the cloud will not be able to target anyone inside of it. This talent is strong for multiple reasons. Firstly, it can help you land a kill by stunning a target when they have no trinket. By using Smoke Bomb right after a stun you will prevent the healer from saving their teammate. Secondly, you can use it defensively to save yourself or an ally from a lethal cast that is about to go off, such as Greater Pyroblast. And lastly, you can use it to prevent incoming crowd control on you or your team if such crowd control would result in you losing a game, such as a Polymorph or Repentance on your healer when they have no trinket and you are low on health. This talent used to be a must-have, however Outlaw Rogues do not have enough burst damage to make it more powerful than other strong PvP talents in 2v2, so you will rarely use it in that bracket. It makes more sense in 3v3 if your other DPS has extremely high burst, Fire Mage or a Retribution Paladin, and you do not need other talents to survive.

Control is King is a talent that will make your opener and your goes with Kidney Shot a bit more bursty. This would be a decent option when playing double DPS comps, but that is not the strong point of Outlaw at the moment.

Against melee DPS that rely on a weapon yo will pick Enduring Brawler, Float Like a Butterfly, and Dismantle. When facing a melee that is not susceptible to being disarmed, such as a Windwalker Monk or Feral Druid, you will replace Dismantle with Maneuverability if you need a root breaker, Thick as Thieves if you have partners with high burst damage that benefit from it, or Take Your Cut otherwise. Smoke Bomb may have a bit of value defensively sometimes, or offensively if you play a comp with ultra high burst damage, but it is rarely picked as Outlaw. When facing casters you will go with Enduring Brawler, and then fill the last two slots the same way as described just above, only you have two slots to fill instead of one.