Subtlety Rogue DPS Guide — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.5
General Information
Welcome to our Subtlety Rogue guide for World of Warcraft — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.1.5. 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.
Pages in this Guide
1
Introduction
2
Easy Mode
3
Spell Summary
4
Builds and Talents
5
Azerite Traits and Armor
6
Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
7
Mythic+ Tips
8
Crucible of Storms as Subtlety Rogue
9
Battle of Dazar'alor as Subtlety Rogue
10
Uldir as Subtlety Rogue
11
Stat Priority
12
Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
13
Macros and Addons
14
Gear and Best in Slot
15
Simulations
16
How to Improve
17
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Subtlety Rogue Overview
Subtlety has not received significant changes in Battle for Azeroth.
Subtlety Rogues continue to provide strong single-target pressure, but it now
brings respectable AoE to the table as well. Much of the rotation involves
actively shifting between two stances, in and out of 
Stealth. Some
abilities can be used at anytime, however, certain abilities can only be used
while you are in Stealth. There are only a limited number of ways to
activate Stealth during combat, and therefore the core component of
this specialization revolves around managing your abilities to correctly time
windows of burst.
2. Patch 8.1 Changes for Subtlety Rogue
- Shuriken Combo has been removed.
- Sharpened Blades has been removed and replaced by
Replicating Shadows. 
The First Dance has been reworked. The trait now gives you two
Combo Points and moderate amount of Haste whenever you activate
Shadow Dance.
Blade In The Shadows damage has been reduced slightly, but now
also reduces the Energy cost of Shadowstrike by 2.
Perforate now also reduces the cooldown of 
Shadow Blades
by 0.5 seconds for each Backstab cast.
Shuriken Storm damage has been increased by 35%.
3. Subtlety Rogue Strengths
- Cleave fuels additional single-target damage
- Versatile, can specialize into multiple things by changing talents
- Phenomenal defensive capabilities
4. Subtlety Rogue Weaknesses
- Mistakes in rotation punish Subtlety more than most other specs
- Low AoE damage
5. Subtlety Rogue Viability in the Current Patch
Due to how versatile Subtlety Rogue is in Battle for Azeroth, Subtlety
is looking to be one of the strongest specializations for raiding and dungeons.
Subtlety is able to provide immense single-target in raids while having an
option to spec into more AoE damage for dungeons with 
Secret Technique.
6. Changelog
- 15 Apr. 2019 (talents page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (Crucible of Storms page): Guide added.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (enchants page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (gear page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (azerite traits and gear page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (stats page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (rotation page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (this page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (spells page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 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 (how to improve page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (mythic+ 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.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (easy mode page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (simulations page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (FAQ page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 15 Apr. 2019 (addons page): This page has been reviewed for Crucible of Storms and no changes are necessary.
- 21 Jan. 2019 (mythic+ page): Updated with description of Reaping Season 2 affix.
- 21 Jan. 2019 (Battle of Dazar'alor page): Page added.
- 21 Jan. 2019 (easy mode page): Updated page stat priority slightly.
- 21 Jan. 2019 (gear page): Updated BiS for Battle for Dazar'alor
- 21 Jan. 2019 (azerite traits and gear page): Updated descriptions.
- 08 Jan. 2019 (talents page): Updated Honor talent section.
- 08 Jan. 2019 (simulations page): Updated Racial simulations.
- 08 Jan. 2019 (FAQ page): Added additional questions.
- 14 Dec. 2018 (rotation page): Added conditionals when playing with The First Dance trait.
- 14 Dec. 2018 (stats page): Updated stat priority.
- 14 Dec. 2018 (azerite traits and gear page): Added note about The First Dance.
- 14 Dec. 2018 (easy mode page): Added The First Dance to traits to lookout for.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (this page): Updated for Patch 8.1.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (FAQ page): This page has been reviewed for Patch 8.1 and no changes are necessary.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (how to improve page): Updated for Patch 8.1.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (easy mode page): This page has been reviewed for Patch 8.1 and no changes are necessary.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (spells page): This page has been reviewed for Patch 8.1 and no changes are necessary.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (gear page): Updated for Patch 8.1.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (addons page): This page has been reviewed for Patch 8.1 and no changes are necessary.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (talents page): Updated for Patch 8.1.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (enchants page): This page has been reviewed for Patch 8.1 and no changes are necessary.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (azerite traits and gear page): Updated for Patch 8.1.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (stats page): This page has been reviewed for Patch 8.1 and no changes are necessary.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (rotation page): This page has been reviewed for Patch 8.1 and no changes are necessary.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (Uldir page): Updated for Patch 8.1.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (mythic+ page): Updated for Patch 8.1.
- 10 Dec. 2018 (simulations page): Updated for Patch 8.1.
- 27 Nov. 2018 (mythic+ page): Correction about proper Find Weakness usage.
- 26 Sep. 2018 (azerite traits and gear page): Restructured the page.
- 25 Sep. 2018 (Uldir page): Added talent recommendations for Mythic.
- 12 Sep. 2018 (talents page): Updated descriptions on few talents.
- 12 Sep. 2018 (easy mode page): Added multi-target stat priority and updated the page.
- 12 Sep. 2018 (rotation page): Added a note about third Shadow Dance in the opener along with few other small fixes.
- 11 Sep. 2018 (rotation page): Added finisher Combo Point threshold when talented into Deeper Stratagem.
- 10 Sep. 2018 (Uldir page): Small updates because of changes made to the bosses.
- 04 Sep. 2018 (gear page): Updated page for Uldir launch.
- 04 Sep. 2018 (enchants page): Updated Off-hand weapon enchant description.
- 04 Sep. 2018 (Uldir page): Changed formatting on the page.
- 04 Sep. 2018 (azerite traits and gear page): Updated layout of the page and added couple of notes regarding Azerite traits.
- 31 Aug. 2018 (mythic+ page): Added mention of Find Weakness on Priority Targets and changed formatting.
- 31 Aug. 2018 (Uldir page): Page updated with short description of bosses and recommended Talents.
- 29 Aug. 2018 (simulations page): Updated simulations.
- 29 Aug. 2018 (azerite traits and gear page): Updated Azerite trait simulations.
- 27 Aug. 2018 (mythic+ page): Added openers for different scenarios in Mythic+.
- 27 Aug. 2018 (rotation page): Changed wording on few paragraphs and added Shadow Dance AoE rotation.
- 25 Aug. 2018 (stats page): Updated single-target stat priority.
- 23 Aug. 2018 (gear page): Updated best Azerite gear and their traits.
- 18 Aug. 2018 (simulations page): Updated simulations.
- 18 Aug. 2018 (talents page): Updated descriptions on couple of talents.
- 18 Aug. 2018 (stats page): Added multi-target stat priority and removed stat weights.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (mythic+ page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (rotation page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (azerite traits and gear page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (stats page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (talents page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (enchants page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (gear page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (simulations page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (how to improve page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (FAQ page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (this page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 13 Aug. 2018 (easy mode page): Updated for Battle for Azeroth launch.
- 11 Aug. 2018 (FAQ page): Page added.
- 11 Aug. 2018 (mythic+ page): Page added.
- 11 Aug. 2018 (azerite traits and gear page): Page updated with simulations for BfA.
- 11 Aug. 2018 (Uldir page): Page added (empty for now).
- 03 Aug. 2018 (how to improve page): Updated page to reflect the current talent build meta.
- 31 Jul. 2018 (azerite traits and gear page): Page added.
- 18 Jul. 2018 (stats page): Updated stat priority.
- 18 Jul. 2018 (talents page): Fixed the Talent table and few of the choices.
- 18 Jul. 2018 (this page): Updated strengths and weaknesses.
- 18 Jul. 2018 (rotation page): Removed redundant rotations and openers.
- 18 Jul. 2018 (enchants page): Updated recommended gem to correct one.
- 18 Jul. 2018 (easy mode page): Updated stat priority.
- 16 Jul. 2018 (this page): Updated for the Battle for Azeroth pre-patch.
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Pages in this Guide
1
Introduction
2
Easy Mode
3
Spell Summary
4
Builds and Talents
5
Azerite Traits and Armor
6
Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
7
Mythic+ Tips
8
Crucible of Storms as Subtlety Rogue
9
Battle of Dazar'alor as Subtlety Rogue
10
Uldir as Subtlety Rogue
11
Stat Priority
12
Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
13
Macros and Addons
14
Gear and Best in Slot
15
Simulations
16
How to Improve
17
Frequently Asked Questions
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This guide has been written by Ashine, Winner of the second Mythic Dungeon Invitational and a member of two top 60 guilds, Wiping as Intended and Group Therapy. He is regarded as one of the top Subtlety Rogues in the world and contributes a fair bit to the spec's theorycrafting. You can watch him play on Twitch.
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