Subtlety Rogue DPS Guide — Shadowlands 9.0.5
Welcome to our Subtlety Rogue guide for World of Warcraft — Shadowlands 9.0.5. Here, you will learn how to play as a Subtlety Rogue in both raids and Mythic+ dungeons: from the very beginning to maximizing your DPS.
If you were looking for WoW Classic content, please refer to our Classic DPS Rogue guide.
Subtlety Rogue Overview
Subtlety Rogues revolve around burst damage windows by combining
Shadow Danceand
Symbols of Death whenever possible for maximum
burst, however this means that damage outside of these cooldowns is very
mediocre at best. Like other Rogue specializations, Subtlety has one of the
best defensives in the game.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Decent burst damage on demand.
Powerful defensive cooldowns such as
Cloak of Shadows,
Feint,
Evasion and
Crimson Vial.
Cleave situations fuel additional single-target damage.
Utility such as
Shroud of Concealment,
Kidney Shot,
Cheap Shot and
Blind can come in handy in some situations, mainly Mythic+.
Damage outside of
Shadow Dance and
Symbols of Death windows is very low.
Due to Combo Point spenders reducing the cooldown of
Shadow Dance, losing uptime is significant loss of DPS.
Shadowlands Changes for Rogues
We are maintaining a list of changes for Rogues, so you can see what changes with every patch of Shadowlands.
Leveling a Subtlety Rogue
If you are planning on leveling a Rogue, make sure to check out our Leveling page below for tips regarding talents and more.
Addons make it easier to track important buffs and debuffs which is why we recommend that you get used to them while leveling, so check out our addons page below. You can also find few useful macros there.
Basics of Subtlety Rogue Gameplay
Subtlety Rogue is a spec that deals with multiple different resources and bunch of cooldowns, which may seem daunting to a new player trying to pick up the spec. Understanding the core concept of the specialization makes it quite a bit simpler, which is that the goal is to stack as many cooldowns as possible to deal massive burst damage.
Cast Shadow Blades,
Symbols of Death and
Vanish on
cooldown.
Aim to align Shadow Dance with Symbols of Death whenever possible.
Maintain Slice and Dice and
Rupture, cast
Backstab,
Shuriken Storm or
Shadowstrike to generate Combo Points.
Spend Combo Points on
Eviscerate unless Slice and Dice or Rupture are
about to fall off.
Outside of Shadow Dance, cast Shuriken Storm on 2+ targets. When Shadow Dance is active, cast it on 3+ targets.
If you are an absolute beginner to the spec, but would like to learn the basic fundamentals of the class, recommend looking through the Spell Summary first, as well as the Easy Mode page linked below.
If you have previous experience with Rogues, you can head straight to the Talents and Rotation pages to jump right into the more complicated information regarding rotation and talents.
How to Gear Up as a Subtlety Rogue
Since the game offers so many routes of gearing now, be it through Mythic+, PvP or raiding, it is very difficult list exact best in slot items, as these often change for every character depending on what gear they are already wearing. Keep in mind that the best way to find out upgrades is by simulating your character, however we will have Best in Slot items listed below from the current raid tier.
Important part of the gearing process is to make sure that you try to aim for gear that has good stats for Subtlety along with proper gems, enchants and other consumables as these provide you with decent amount of DPS. Check out our dedicated stats page, as well as enchants and gems page to find out what to use as Subtlety Rogue.
Subtlety Rogue in Shadowlands
Shadowlands brings us a ton of customization options with the introduction of Covenants, Soulbinds and Legendaries.
Choosing a Covenant gives you a new class specific ability along with miniature talent trees in the form of soulbinds that you can customize depending on the content you are planning on doing. On top of that, we have access to bunch of legendaries that are a mix of old set bonuses, legion legendaries and new powers to enhance our gameplay. We have detailed pages ready to tell you what Covenants, soulbinds and Legendaries excel in certain scenarios and more below:
End-Game as a Subtlety Rogue
Once you feel like you have the basics down and are ready to take the step into end-game content, whether it is PvP, Torghast, Mythic+ or Raiding, we have pages that are ready to tell you optimal talents, tips and tricks and more below.
Improving as a Subtlety Rogue
If you feel like your performance is subpar, but do not really know why, giving the pages below a read might help you or answer some questions you have regarding Subtlety.
Changelog
- 10 Mar. 2021 (gear page): Added Valor section.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (enchants page): Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (gear page): Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (Legendaries): Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (spells page): Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (Torghast): Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (this page): Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (rotation page): Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (mythic+ page): Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (easy mode page): Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 09 Mar. 2021 (Covenants and Soulbinds): Updated recommended Covenant in Patch 9.0.5
- 09 Mar. 2021 (stats page): Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 02 Mar. 2021 (mythic+ page): Updated talents and added paragraph regarding talent choices for Tyrannical and Fortified weeks.
- 15 Jan. 2021 (Covenants and Soulbinds): Small updates to Necrolord soulbinds.
- 05 Jan. 2021 (Covenants and Soulbinds): Mostly wording updates.
- 05 Jan. 2021 (enchants page): Added note about Lightless Force for Mythic+ along with mention of Agility potion scaling with Item Level.
- 05 Jan. 2021 (rotation page): Updates to openers and added some extra paragraphs.
- 05 Jan. 2021 (talents page): Update to Premeditations and Marked for Deaths descriptions.
- 01 Jan. 2021 (rotation page): Fixed paragraph regarding Kyrian opener.
- 09 Dec. 2020 (Castle Nathria page): Small update to recommended talents on few bosses.
- 07 Dec. 2020 (Covenants and Soulbinds): Updated Niyas optimal Soulbind tree and paragraph regarding spec-specific conduits.
- 07 Dec. 2020 (Castle Nathria page): Page updated with tips for release of Castle Nathria.
- 07 Dec. 2020 (enchants page): Adjusted formatting a little bit along with adding a paragraph regarding Agility gems.
- 04 Dec. 2020 (Covenants and Soulbinds): Updated Combat Meditation description and highlighted that Kyrian is slightly ahead in DPS at lower Renown levels.
- 03 Dec. 2020 (enchants page): Added cloak enchant.
- 03 Dec. 2020 (Covenants and Soulbinds): Updated paragraph regarding Night Fae Soulbinds.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (enchants page): Added mention of Kraken's Eye of Agility gem and updated recommended chest enchant.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (Castle Nathria page): Added placeholder Castle Nathria page.
- 01 Dec. 2020 (Covenants and Soulbinds): Added paragraph talking about simulations for Kyrian and Necrolord.
- 26 Nov. 2020 (rotation page): Clarified usage of 2 Shadow Dances whenever Shadow Blades is up.
- 24 Nov. 2020 (Torghast): Page added.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (how to improve page): Page has been revised for release of Shadowlands.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (addons page): Added couple of useful Macros and updated page for release of Shadowlands.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (enchants page): Page updated with new consumables for release of Shadowlands.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (FAQ page): Removed mentions of Azerite armor and updated the page accordingly for release of Shadowlands.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (stats page): Stat priorities updated for Shadowlands.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (mythic+ page): Added legendary recommendations for Mythic+ for release of Shadowlands.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (rotation page): Added openers for each covenant and updated page in general for Shadowlands.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (this page): Page updated with mentions of Covenants, Soulbinds and Legendaries for release of Shadowlands.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (talents page): Talent recommendations updated for Shadowlands.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (spells page): Added new spells that are coming in Shadowlands.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (easy mode page): Page updated for Shadowlands and added recommended Legendary and Covenant.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (simulations page): Removed Azerite trait simulations.
- 23 Nov. 2020 (gear page): Updated page for Shadowlands release with gearing recommendations.
- 21 Nov. 2020 (Covenants and Soulbinds): Page added.
- 20 Nov. 2020 (Legendaries): Page added.
- 04 Nov. 2020 (rotation page): Removed potions from opener and added separate paragraph.
- 22 Oct. 2020 (Ny'alotha page): Updated Major Essence recommendation for N'Zoth.
- 22 Oct. 2020 (rotation page): Added mention of Essences in opener.
- 14 Oct. 2020 (Ny'alotha page): Page updated with new Essence recommendations for bosses.
- 14 Oct. 2020 (enchants page): Updated recommended weapon enchants.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (addons page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (spells page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (Ny'alotha page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (how to improve page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (simulations page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (FAQ page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (mythic+ page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (enchants page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (easy mode page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (talents page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (stats page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (this page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (rotation page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 12 Oct. 2020 (gear page): Page updated for the Shadowlands pre-patch.
- 10 Sep. 2019 (The Eternal Palace page): Page updated with some tips and talent choices.
- 12 Jul. 2019 (The Eternal Palace page): Added tips to most of the bosses.
- 08 Jul. 2019 (The Eternal Palace page): Page added.
- 24 Jun. 2019 (Crucible of Storms page): This page has been reviewed for the release of Patch 8.2 and no changes are necessary.
- 24 Jun. 2019 (Uldir page): This page has been reviewed for the release of Patch 8.2 and no changes are necessary.
- 24 Jun. 2019 (Battle of Dazar'alor page): This page has been reviewed for the release of Patch 8.2 and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (Crucible of Storms page): Guide added.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (Battle of Dazar'alor page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (Uldir page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 21 Jan. 2019 (Battle of Dazar'alor page): Page added.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (Uldir page): Updated for Patch 8.1.
- 25 Sep. 2018 (Uldir page): Added talent recommendations for Mythic.
- 10 Sep. 2018 (Uldir page): Small updates because of changes made to the bosses.
- 04 Sep. 2018 (Uldir page): Changed formatting on the page.
- 31 Aug. 2018 (Uldir page): Page updated with short description of bosses and recommended Talents.
- 11 Aug. 2018 (Uldir page): Page added (empty for now).
More Rogue Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Ashine. He is raiding with FatSharkYes and has been competing in the MDI for multiple years, achieving 1st place in 2018 and 3rd place in BlizzCon 2019. You can watch him play on Twitch.
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