Subtlety Rogue DPS Easy Mode — Dragonflight 10.2
On this page, we explain how to easily play Subtlety Rogue in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2, using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.
Foreword
This section is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty, or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous priorities and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.
The Basics for Subtlety Rogue
Subtlety at first glance can seem very simple. You build combo points and spend them to do damage. However, to maximize your damage potential it can be a very involved process which requires knowledge and understanding of the basics which will be addressed here. This section aims to point players to a way to play Subtlety by easing into it. This will not be the absolute best setup, but it will perform better for those who are getting up to speed with the intricacies of the specialization.
If you are completely new to Subtlety Rogue and are looking to understand what tools we have at our disposal, make sure to check out our spell summary page first to read what each ability does.
Talent Choice for Subtlety Rogue
These choices are optimized for ease of use. There are a variety of builds that are floating around, and we may even see new builds floating around when more people experience the new raid. Although some talents might offer marginally higher gains when played perfectly, if played improperly they could cause the player do less damage. The talents recommended here aim to present the best setup that has very little punishment for unfamiliarity or mistakes.
Single Target (Raiding)
You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by clicking 'Copy Export String'.
Multi Target (Mythic+/Cleave)
You can easily import the talent tree below into the game by clicking 'Copy Export String'.
If you are looking for the absolute best-performing talents for Subtlety, you can find a more in-depth analysis on our full talents page below.
Stat Choice for Subtlety Rogue
Single-Target Stat Priority
The general single-target stat priority for a Subtlety Rogue is:
Agility > Versatility >= Mastery > Critical Strike > Haste
- Versatility
- Mastery
- Critical Strike
- Haste
Multi-Target Stat Priority
The general multi-target stat priority for a Subtlety Rogue is:
Agility > Mastery >= Versatility > Critical Strike > Haste
- Mastery
- Versatility
- Critical Strike
- Haste
To learn more about how stats interact in different scenarios and why in the stats page below.
Subtlety Rogue Single Target Ability Priority List
Note that the current best-performing single-target build uses Danse Macabre,
which forces you to cast different abilities during
Shadow Dance. For us,
this simply means we want to cast
Backstab and
Secret Technique
once per Shadow Dance.
- Cast
Shadow Blades on cooldown.
- Maintain
Slice and Dice. Aim to refresh it before
Shadow Dance windows.
- Maintain
Rupture on your primary target and any targets that live over 12 seconds. Aim to refresh it before
Shadow Dance windows.
- Cast
Symbols of Death on cooldown.
- Cast
Shadow Dance on cooldown.
- Cast
Thistle Tea if at 3 charges in combination with
Shadow Dance and after that, use it when you are running out of Energy.
- Cast
Secret Technique with
Cold Blood to spend Combo Points when reaching 6 or more and 5 or more during Shadow Dance after you have gained some
Danse Macabre stacks.
- Cast
Eviscerate to spend Combo Points when reaching 6 or more and 5 or more during Shadow Dance.
- Cast
Vanish on cooldown to get an extra
Shadowstrike.
- Cast
Shadowstrike to generate Combo Points if
Shadow Dance is active. Otherwise, use
Backstab (from behind the target if possible to gain 20% extra damage on it).
As mentioned above, try to combine and sync your offensive cooldowns together to deal maximum damage.
Subtlety Rogue Multiple Target (3+) Ability Priority List
- Maintain
Slice and Dice. Stop casting on 6+ targets.
- Maintaining
Rupture on any target that lives at least 12 seconds is a DPS gain; however, this can sometimes be hard to estimate.
- Cast
Symbols of Death on cooldown.
- Cast
Shuriken Tornado/
Thistle Tea on cooldown in combination with
Shadow Dance.
- Cast
Secret Technique with
Cold Blood to spend Combo Points when reaching 6 or more and 5 or more during Shadow Dance after you have gained some
Danse Macabre stacks.
- Cast
Black Powder to spend Combo Points when reaching 6 or more and 5 or more during Shadow Dance instead of
Eviscerate if there are 3+ targets.
- Use
Shuriken Storm during
Shadow Dance instead of
Shadowstrike, if there are 3+ targets.
- Cast
Shuriken Storm to generate Combo Points.
While Shadow Blades still does decent damage on AoE, the value of
extra Combo Points gained is diminished. Use Shadow Blades at your own
discretion on multi-target or save it for a single-target situation.
Vanish has fairly low value on multi-target and is best used to extend the
duration of Find Weakness or refresh
Slice and Dice.
For the opener sequence and to see how the rotation changes with multiple targets, visit the rotation page.
Changelog
- 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed and Updated for patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Page updated for Patch 10.1.5.
- 11 May 2023: Changed recommended talent to Flagellation over Dark Brew.
- 01 May 2023: Page reviewed and updated for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Page updated for Patch 10.0.5.
- 17 Dec. 2022: Added multi-target ability priority list and updated single-target.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Rogue Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Oxi, a life long Rogue player since early Classic. He is a Moderator in Ravenholdt, the official Rogue Class Discord. He also maintains the Ravenholdt website, and helps ensure that the Tricks of the Trade Rogue podcast runs smoothly.
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